Cruising into Twenty - Twenty two : Something old and something Nieuw

[scubacruiserx2]

It's about 2600' to the top of mountain where there is a garden with many plants that grow here in South Florida .

 

Stag horn fern

 

 

Shrimp plant

 

 

 

Hibiscus

 

 

White Bird of Paradise

 

 

 

This one we don't know . Anyone ?

 

 

It must have been the thin air

 

 

The Australian Pine

 

 

It's an invasive species that Florida is trying to eradicate but you saw them in Grand Turk and HMC .

 

http://fnpsblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/australian-pine-one-of-floridas-least.html

 

The wind turbines near Amber Cove

 

 

Puerto Plata and the new cruise port Taino Bay

 

 

Tiger told us that this small version of the Christ the Redeemer statute was a gift from Rio de Janeiro .

 

 

 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

More mountain top views

 

 

 

 

 

Darwin's peppered moth on the menu

 

 

 

 

Photo stop for Neptune 

 

 

We did stop at the cathedral but it was closed . Back at the port with Henry

 

 

And the long walk back .

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 20, 2022 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

Walking back with a couple of photo stops

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our cabin was the corner and second from the top

 

 

 

After a quick pit stop and bag drop we hustled up to the Retreat . It was about 3:30 and with no lunch stop we were ready to eat the paint chips off the wall . But we settled for a Back flip chicken and a Dive in Dog .

 

 

 

Back in the cabin and time for a quick nap before sailing and Dinner .

 

 

 

Edited January 20, 2022 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

Nami sushi

 

Hamachi , scallops and Salmon Ceviche

 

 

Rainbow roll

 

 

Asparagus and Salmon

 

 

Crispy Lobster roll

 

 

Sake

 

 

Dessert

 

 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

Trip tip #8 ( I think )

Improved wine corks . We tried out these improved stoppers and they were great . Our good bottle of Champagne kept it's bubbles and opened with a resounding pop each time that we uncorked it 3 days in a row . Well worth cost of avoiding flat sparkling wine !

 

[scubacruiserx2]

Speaking of wine , one minor whine about the Tamarind . They had no mochi the entire trip and no Yuzu Cheesecake on our second visit to the Tamarind . Also they offered 5 kinds of Sake in the bottle but none of them were available . The one that we purchased for our final 3 visits to the Tamarind was fine though . 🙂😊

[scubacruiserx2]

Oops , forgot the photos of the improved wine corks .

 

 

 

 

This was the sunset leaving Amber Cove before dinner at the Tamarind

 

 

 

 

[Dismomx5]

1 hour ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

 

 

 

I have some of these at home. I'm still looking for one in the cupboard that popped and landed who knows where. 🤣 

Edited January 20, 2022 by Dismomx5

[scubacruiserx2]

10 hours ago, Dismomx5 said:

I have some of these at home. I'm still looking for one in the cupboard that popped and landed who knows where. 🤣 

 

It is a Rabbit . Maybe it hopped away . 😊

[scubacruiserx2]

We could use some help in booking our next cruise . We have a credit with Princess that's burning a hole in our pocket and have booked a couple of cruises and we're trying to decide . Same cruise , different dates and if we don't pay today we lose the cabins that we have on hold . We haven't heard back from the guide if she's available ( she says no on her web site but sometimes it's wrong ) . On the cruise that shows she is available we had booked first and were happy until Princess downgraded our cabin to 80' smaller cabin . They said it's for space and we think it may be an isolation zone . But why did they offer it as available and change us 2 hours after we booked ?  

  On the other cruise date the cabin is better but she may not be available - until we hear differently . So if we book that date she may not be available and Princess could downgrade us again - after we pay . What would you do ?

[scubacruiserx2]

We had a bumpy night at sea and started out our first day at sea in a similar manner .

 

 

The day was cloudy and we tried to find a sunrise before breakfast

 

 

Almost

 

 

 

A video clip :

 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

At breakfast my lips refused to say the P name of the fruit that I had chosen , but I was able to mutter dried plums in a half whisper . "What" ? the server enquired . Dried Plums came my full whisper . " Can you spell it please ? " , came the servers request . D-R-I-E-D  P-L-U-M-S was my answer . "Oh you mean Prunes , very good sir . " And they were just as bad as I remember them .

 

 

I fared much better with the next 3 courses .

 

 

 

 

After returning to the cabin to plan the day I swapped shoes to my Retreat slippers which had made their way down to our cabin .

 

And while hanging our Do not disturb sign on the outside door I spied my first bathrobe outing of the trip .

 

 

We were watching the forward camera on the TV and noticed rain on the camera so we went outside under the covered deck . There we were treated to a rainbow on the railing .

 

 

 

 

Edited January 21, 2022 by scubacruiserx2

[tuolumne couple]

21 hours ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

Again, simply loving the narrative, the photos, the humanistic take on your cruise, which is our life. Good luck on booking a new cruise. Wishing you were on one of ours! By the way, how in heck do you manage to NOT finish a bottle of champagne? I am jealous of the Dom, but honestly, I do not have that kind of self control. I want my two glasses of the four. I would probably drink all four if DW would let me! The older I get, the more I want to celebrate, especially on HAL!

p.s. you really should post some of these photos on the HAL facebook page. Or on the Photo Gallery here on Cruise Critic. You never know when you could end up on the calendar, which is pretty amazing by the way! People would drool. Excuse me, I am drooling again. 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

 Before lunch we payed a visit to the Retreat

 

 

 

And the Lincoln Center Stage

 

 

 

 

[ottahand7]

I wish I could help with your Princess dilemma.   I have never sailed with the line.  Do they offer upsells like HA?  Maybe hold your nose and request an upsell.   I can't imagine ships will be full by your Princess sailing.   

[scubacruiserx2]

8 hours ago, ottahand7 said:

I wish I could help with your Princess dilemma.   I have never sailed with the line.  Do they offer upsells like HA?  Maybe hold your nose and request an upsell.   I can't imagine ships will be full by your Princess sailing.   

 

Thank you and we did book the 8th . We don't remember if they do upsells and with the virus still around we think that they are also doing things differently then normal like HAL . It will be a quick learning curve and a scramble to see if we can find guides .

[puppycanducruise]

Good luck with the cruise on Princess.  We've never sailed with them.  I'd love to read all about it too.

[scubacruiserx2]

17 hours ago, tuolumne couple said:

 

 

Thank you for your kind words and perhaps our paths may cross on a cruise one day . When we popped the cork on the Dom we were well into the Orange Bowl game and had the snacks ready to go . At dinner we had California Chardonnay and a Pinot Noir from Argentina which we had brought by mistake . We had meant to bring a Malbec from the same vineyards but had packed the Pinot by accident which turned out to be a fortunate mistake . So we were feeling no pain by the time we popped the Dom . We had wanted to try the WAF stopper so we left a large amount in the bottle - all in the name of science and research . 😉

  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07ZLSH5F1/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1

 It performed admirably ! And we would definitely recommend it .

   Yesterday was a very unsettled day with the decision on the cruise and an impending big job coming up on house . Our pool has been losing a lot of water and we been told that we will need to resurface it . We have finally made a decision on the company and they are scheduled to begin on the 9th of February . It will require draining the pool and grinding the old surfacing before resurfacing . We have well water and that will require a slow fill with carbon tanks provided by another vendor . After that the pool deck will be pressure cleaned , resurfaced and painted by a third vendor . This also figured into booking the cruise . We did chose to cruise while the work is being done and we hope and pray that all will go well in our absence . Here's a look at the next cruise . It's on the Enchanted which is Princesses newest ship .

 

 

We have an idea of what to do on St. Lucia , Princess Cay and Barbados but could use some help and insights from others on the other 3 stops . The official Princess information is that we can't book our own private tour in St. Lucia and Barbados . We have read others who say that it changes sometimes just before arrival in port . Thus we will try to book and hope for the best .

  We had diner scheduled dinner at our TA's house with her and her family last night . After lunch we noticed that the milk was warm in the fridge . As it turned out we called a repairman who was suppose to come this morning . Looking at new one's price , the going rate of $1700 to replace . He called and said that we lived near him and that he could come by in the afternoon . He as very prompt and had us empty our overstuffed freezer . He determined it to be the fan motor . The nearest one is in Jacksonville about 399 miles away . He's hoping that it will arrive by Monday with a possible fix in the afternoon or Tuesday morning at a cost of $250. We tried to find some dry ice to stick in Fridge and the freezer but the closest was about 8 miles one way in the Friday peak rush hour . We found some back roads for the return journey and with a quick shower we were about an hour late to diner . Pat is a retired TA so we had a lot to talk about with her and her hubby who is a SCUBA diver also . She made a killer Lobster Bisque from some lobster that hubby had caught 9 Sorry Pinnacle we liked her's better ) and the sipping Rum came out around 9 . Long story short is was after 1 before we got home which is late for us . We have sort of adopted them as family with Lisa being the age of our son and her sons being our middle grandson's age . She lost her parents at a young age and we think that they feel the same about us . Sometimes life is good and doesn't require Stevia in my decaf Chai tea to make it better . 🙂 😊

 

Edited January 22, 2022 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

3 hours ago, puppycanducruise said:

Good luck with the cruise on Princess.  We've never sailed with them.  I'd love to read all about it too.

 

That is in the future ( we hope) . But if you would like to read one of our past Princess reviews now we would recommend A tale of two Princesses

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com.au/topic/2347600-a-tale-of-two-princesses/

 

It's from Christmas of 2016 when we did a b2b on 2 different ships . The HAL equivalent would be to do a cruise on the Koningsdam followed by a cruise on the Westerdam .

 

[scubacruiserx2]

So it was lunch time on our first day at sea with no ports . We headed back to the Pinnacle Grill .

 

 

Spinach Arugula Salad

 

 

Tomato broth with spicy lemongrass chicken

 

 

Crab cakes

 

 

 

Wild mushroom ravioli

 

 

Alaskan Black Cod fillet

 

 

 

Pat mentioned the Cherry Pavlova that she had but they only had a strawberry one which she can't eat . She can't eat strawberries . They got her what must have been half a bottle of Maraschino cherries

 

 

My Coconut trifle with lime/Pistachio

 

 

 

[tuolumne couple]

3 hours ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

 

 

We have an idea of what to do on St. Lucia

 

what a great reply, Thank you so much! We have been to all but Barbados and the Princess Island (We are HMC Holland people). You will love it. We always take a catamaran / land shore excursion on St Lucia. We are birders too, so, you will see some endemic birds , plants and other wildlife. The great thing about St Lucia, is you are so close to the Pitons. You will have some amazing photo ops. You cant escape that wonderful view. The plantations are pretty nice as well. There is a Cathedral there as well that is very impressive. Wishing you the best on your cruise, with you pool and what is stacking up to be a very busy time for you. 

Your pinnacle pics look wonderful. Have you tried the cioppino?

 

Edited January 22, 2022 by tuolumne couple

[scubacruiserx2]

4 hours ago, tuolumne couple said:

what a great reply, Thank you so much! We have been to all but Barbados and the Princess Island (We are HMC Holland people). You will love it. We always take a catamaran / land shore excursion on St Lucia. We are birders too, so, you will see some endemic birds , plants and other wildlife. The great thing about St Lucia, is you are so close to the Pitons. You will have some amazing photo ops. You cant escape that wonderful view. The plantations are pretty nice as well. There is a Cathedral there as well that is very impressive. Wishing you the best on your cruise, with you pool and what is stacking up to be a very busy time for you. 

Your pinnacle pics look wonderful. Have you tried the cioppino?

 

 

Great photo . Is that from the catamaran or the cruise ship ? We have not tried the Cioppino . We were trying the Canaletto for the first later that evening .

[scubacruiserx2]

Our diner at Canaletto's

 

We were seated at the last window seat . It was at the entrance and the serving area . It's in a section of the Lido in a partitioned area . We noticed people walking back and forth behind the signs all during the meal .

 

 

Bread and accompaniments came out first

 

 

 

We used the bread for the sop of the Escargot . Non traditional but delicious .

 

 

Next was Minestrone for me and a Canaletto Salad for Pat

 

 

 

We both had the Monday night special Osso Bucco with Saffron Risotto

 

 

It was very good but HUGE . We could have split 1 .

 

Tiramisu for her

 

 

 And the Pistachio Gelato was a winner for me

 

 

For a Digestivi we had Limoncello

 

 

 

Our diner at Canaletto was better than we thought it would be .

 

Edited January 22, 2022 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

As we have booked a cruise on Princess soon we will show some contrasts with HAL . HAL retains it's Dutch heritage but Princess is more closely aligned with Italy . After showing the paid Canaletto diner we will show the free lunch and dinner at Alfredos . It takes the place of Canalettos and New York Pizza ,

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sabatinis is the breakfast room for the suites like the Pinnacle and the formal Italian Restaurant 

 

 

It was on Princess that we acquired a taste for Limoncello and the glass was free

 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

Trip tip # 9 - Lens wipes 

This one wipe will clean all of my glasses and camera lenses . It has an anti fog to keep them from fogging in high humidity and when wearing a mask .

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 23, 2022 by scubacruiserx2