Onboard the Emerald Nov 25th 14 days

[MissiCruzs]

The Christmas elves were onboard today. 

[memoak]

10 minutes ago, MissiCruzs said:

Vines Menu

As I have mentioned Vines has a lot better wines in the plus package than the other bars do. That Zin is really nice

[MissiCruzs]

Today we are in St. Lucia.  I was very disappointed to pull into the harbor and find Jewel OTS at the cruise village dock and we ended up in the industrial dock. Before the C word it was one of the best docks... interesting stores and bars selling $2 beers. There are new buildings going up behind it now... condos maybe? 

 

We went on a ships tour... Coastal cruise to the Pitons with a beach stop. The company appears to be new. It's called Carnival Sailing and we were on the King of the Carnival. Big boat with a great crew.  It was a great ride until the beach stop. We were surrounded by canoes... kayaks... etc... with locals hawking their wares. We could barely walk down the steps and get in the water. The whole time they were yelling to get our attention... just surrounded the ship. Really irritating. The Cat shouldn't have allowed it. It went on all the way until we got back on the boat. 

[MissiCruzs]

Wines by the glass Michaelangelo DR.

[canadarocks]

3 minutes ago, MissiCruzs said:

Wines by the glass Michaelangelo DR.

Wish they’d grace us poor Plus people with the actual names! 

[MissiCruzs]

1 hour ago, canadarocks said:

Wish they’d grace us poor Plus people with the actual names! 

Yeah I thought that was ridiculous. I'm drinking a Martini with dinner and I'm sure the waitstaff has no idea what the wines actually are... so stop in Vines and bring your own. 😁

[BeeeJay]

2 hours ago, MissiCruzs said:

Today we are in St. Lucia.  I was very disappointed to pull into the harbor and find Jewel OTS at the cruise village dock and we ended up in the industrial dock. Before the C word it was one of the best docks... interesting stores and bars selling $2 beers. There are new buildings going up behind it now... condos maybe? 

 

We went on a ships tour... Coastal cruise to the Pitons with a beach stop. The company appears to be new. It's called Carnival Sailing and we were on the King of the Carnival. Big boat with a great crew.  It was a great ride until the beach stop. We were surrounded by canoes... kayaks... etc... with locals hawking their wares. We could barely walk down the steps and get in the water. The whole time they were yelling to get our attention... just surrounded the ship. Really irritating. The Cat shouldn't have allowed it. It went on all the way until we got back on the boat. 

 

its almost unbelievable you can be in such a remote spot and still inundated by sales dudes.....they need to kill that for sure

[cjpj]

1 hour ago, MissiCruzs said:

Yeah I thought that was ridiculous. I'm drinking a Martini with dinner and I'm sure the waitstaff has no idea what the wines actually are... so stop in Vines and bring your own. 😁

I'm just going to order the Premier wines and pay the difference. Still won't add up to 20 dollars a day difference. For a couple of glasses at dinner. For lunch, I'll often have beer - depending on what I'm having.

[trbarton]

On 11/29/2023 at 3:00 PM, MissiCruzs said:

Vines Menu

Thanks for posting. 
 

Tom😀

[MissiCruzs]

Double rainbow this morning in Barbados. 

[MattnTricia]

Thank you for posting the wines. By the glass menu’s

 

that was very helpful!!!

[MissiCruzs]

Yesterday we went online and booked Harbour Lights beach club. For $20 total we reserved 2 chairs and an umbrella with a credit card. Today we walked through the cruise terminal and out the other side and followed the signs to the right until we reached the taxi dispatcher. We were guided thru until we got to the taxis telling them along the way we were going to HL.  We got into a taxi that ended up with 6 couples and he stopped at every beach club that was asked for.   HL was last. There is a huge parking lot next door for taxis and a small lot in front of the building. The only beach club we saw that had this. Taxis are $5 pp.  I think this is the nicest beach club along Carlisle Bay. We checked in up front and were fitted with a white wristband and walked thru the building to the other side. There's an inside bar and an outside bar, food service, lots of tables, restrooms and showers. We had 2nd row reserved seating with our name on the umbrella but Derek moved us to the front row because we were so early. Furniture and umbrellas were good quality and condition. Derek does come around later and takes drink orders. There's a tour desk onsite if you want to swim with the turtles. The water was drop dead gorgeous, crystal clear with a white sandy bottom.  It's a gentle slope into the water... there's no dropoff!  We left a little before 1, were directed to a taxi with another couple and again it's $5 pp back.  This is the perfect beach day!

Edited December 1, 2023 by MissiCruzs

[MissiCruzs]

Tomorrow finally we have another Princess production show and I'm hopeful for some good entertainment. Shea Rafferty had a good voice but in my opinion didn't sing what showed it off. The first show was good but the second show was called Best of Broadway... if you're going to do that then bring it and he didn't. He sang the most obscure Broadway songs we never heard of. You just don't engage the audience that way. We want to hear what we know and sing along and he didn't do it. 

 

Tonight was Erik Bryan with Let me be Frank as in Sinatra... nope... he just didn't bring it. 

 

I was impressed that we had a lot of shows scheduled for this 14 day cruise but after 20 plus Princess cruises I'm used to their singers and dancers knocking it out of the park...Magic to Do was a fail... we'll see what tomorrow brings. 

[MissiCruzs]

Gliding into Grenada this morning... the Spice island!

[MissiCruzs]

Approaching Trinidad. 

[MissiCruzs]

Yesterday we got off the ship and did a little shopping and spent the rest of the day resting. This is a very port intensive cruise and the sun and water get to you. 

 

What we had planned on doing was walking down to the water taxi and going to Grande Anse Beach. I took some pictures to guide you along the way.  When you are docked in Grenada there is land on the right blocking your view of the beach. The water taxi is down on the left. It's a little bit of a walk but not bad and the boats are small but there are 4 or 5 of them. I saw on the sign that they've added a beach. I'll have to look that one up for the next time. In the second picture the water taxi pier is the second one way down on the right. 

[MissiCruzs]

Planks menu. 

[MissiCruzs]

Senior Officers onboard this cruise. 

[MissiCruzs]

Ocean Medallion accessories. 

[MissiCruzs]

Crown Grill menu

[MissiCruzs]

We spent the morning at the Sanctuary. It's $20pp from 8:30-12:30 or 1-5 or you can book the whole day for $40pp.  I attached the menu of complimentary food you can order and in the afternoon they do a complimentary tea. It's best to book when you board but you can check throughout the cruise if they're booked up. People do cancel. We booked the whole day and canceled the second half when we got there so that freed up 2 seats. The Pros and Cons of booking a port day are port noise... we had a little early on but it stopped. It's Sunday and then there's crew drills. One started at 9:45 and lasted an hour so constant alarms and announcements. But I had the pool to myself early on and there were only a handful of people in the Sanctuary. Overall it was a lovely morning. 

Edited December 3, 2023 by MissiCruzs

[MissiCruzs]

We went to lunch in the Lido which continues to disappoint with it's food offerings. 

 

Some Corporate peeps showed up with Carnival IDs and laptops. They got some lunch and settled into one of the tables. They had on polo shirts that read Operation Ocean Alive. Curious if we'll find out what that's about. 

 

[canadarocks]

Do they still charge $3 for food delivery in the Sanctuary? Is it $3  per delivery or per item?

[MissiCruzs]

7 minutes ago, canadarocks said:

Do they still charge $3 for food delivery in the Sanctuary? Is it $3  per delivery or per item?

Sorry I don't know. We didn't order anything. 

[mk-ultra]

On 11/27/2023 at 11:28 AM, XBGuy said:

 

This is an excellent workaround.  Good for you.

 

There are numerous restaurants within easy walking distance from San Francisco's Pier 27.  There are, of course, a number of eateries in the Pier 39 area, but right across the Embarcadero is Fog City Diner.  La Mar at Pier 2 is outstanding, and there are numerous other places at the Ferry Building.

 

Vigorously seconding La Mar.  It's high-end Peruvian food and (natch) heavy of the seafood.  Landlubbers will be happy as well with their Lomo Saltado.  Small warning: it ain't cheap.  Prepare for a wallet biopsy.