Mom, elsaf, judiang and I all returned to our respective homes today after our beautiful, wonderful 7 day cruise. I had a wonderful time and wrote long entries for each day of the cruise, which I will post to my journal this coming week. (I’m far too tired to do it today.) If they don’t pop up on your friends list and you’re curious to see what all went on, look for the tag “cruise” (which this entry is tagged with). I don’t know how LJ does back-dated entries. Will learn soon enough!

Anyhoo, in anticipation of the coming entries, I leave you with a photo of the four intrepid explorers as they rest for a spell on Eleuthera.

Elsa, Judi, me, and Mom. Aren’t we cute?

Today was our last day on the cruise. Awwww. Still, I’ll be happy to see my kitties again. And be able to get online for far less than 75 cents a minute! Hopefully we’ll make our flight tomorrow – it’s a bit earlier than they recommend, but hopefully everything will go smoothly tomorrow!

Anyhoo, I had set the alarm to get us up at a decent hour this morning… only to set it for Thursday, not Friday! Whoops! No matter, I wound up waking up 9 minutes later than my alarm was set for. We got to breakfast and I had eggs Benedict, bacon, strawberries (which trump pineapple any day), bread & butter pudding, apple juice and milk. I will miss those breakfasts!

We then headed to the Piazza to meet up for the Susan G Komen breast cancer walk. There were under 40 participants, but we headed up to the promenade deck and started walking. They figured that 10 times around the ship was equivalent to 5000 meters. So that was the goal. Mom and I got around 5 times, then she bowed out. I rested with her briefly, then did two more laps. Judi had already lapped me at least once and was pulling away again at that time. Then I headed out and completed 3 more laps. By the time I returned to the Wheelhouse bar, they had removed the Walk Supplies and were setting up for lunch. Sort of a let down after walking for 5k m!

Ship poop! Saw this 10 times that day, walking around the ship.

The view from the front of the ship.

A view which I saw 10 times that morning…

It was swim & spa time! I joined mom on the sun deck to rest & relax, took a dip in the pool, and melted under the hot sun. When it was lunch time, we pondered the pub lunch, but mom had also heard people talking about there being Asian food somewhere on board. So we investigated and discovered that Cafe Caribe was serving sushi & other Asian delights. Since I’d had fish & chips earlier in the week, sushi trumped it. I finished with a fruit tart. Gonna miss those, too!

We returned to the room after some more swim/jacuzzi time (where we met up with elsaf and judiang) and got dressed for the wine tasting we’d signed up for. We met up with Judi and the three of us headed for the Michelangelo dining room for the tasting. Turns out that they’d lost our original registration, but were able to seat us anyhoo. The three of us sat with a couple and a single. The wines were less expensive than the ones we’d sampled on Tuesday, but they still tasted like wine and thus were not my style. However, I did like the dessert wine – it wasn’t sickening sweet like others I’ve had. And it wasn’t $100+ a bottle like other wines I’ve liked. Go figure!

We returned to the sun deck to melt, swim, etc. It was bloody hot today, and the sun especially shiny. Despite my 100 SPF coating (AKA lead shielding), I do have some red patches on my skin. Especially under my arms – ick! Still, the warm sun was very nice.

When it was nearing supper time, mom and I returned once again to the stateroom to change for supper and pack. We got everything in our bags (for the most part) but weren’t ready, yet, to put them out to be collected. So we headed to dinner with the girls around 7pm.

Today was to be my celebration day. I had signed up for it as my graduation celebration. But unlike Judi, who had celebrated her birthday on Tuesday, I didn’t get any balloons taped to the wall outside my door. Awwww. But I did get a card to hand to my head waiter regarding my celebration. Cool beans.

Dinner tonight was full of tasty choices as usual. I opted for shrimp cocktail as my appetizer, followed by beef consumme (with puff pastry croutons), and New York strip with a green peppercorn sauce and “fried shoestring potatoes.” Yes, folks, it was steak & chips night! 🙂

As it was the last night of the cruise, they had Baked Alaska (or ice cream bombe, as they called it), so I ordered that. And while I was eating that (it had neopolitan ice cream in it), they brought my celebratory dessert as well. It was like the one they gave Judi only with a pink rose instead of red. They sang “Happy graduation to you!” to me. And then I dived into the second dessert, managing to eat most of it. Yes, yes, I am a pig!

Watch out! It’s a bombe!

I successfully break through the chocolate crust of my celebratory cake!

Although our bags weren’t outside our room yet, we went to the 8:45 show, starring one of the cruise director’s team singing show tunes, etc, and a return of James Michael doing magic. Both were quite entertaining. Then mom and I returned to finish packing. I waved goodbye to our bags when the crewmen took them away. I hope I see ’em again tomorrow – at the cruise building and again at the Dayton airport!

Mom and I then headed off to see what was playing in the outdoor theater. It looked like When in Rome but it didn’t look like the very start or the very finish. So we decided to get drinks and head back to the Princess Theater to see the staff talent show. Mom bought me a piña colada and she had a Singapore sling. The talent show was entertaining – they’ve got some talent on board the ship.

Though there’s currently a party going on in the Piazza, mom and I are just too tired. So she’s sleeping and I hope to be joining her shortly. This has been a fun cruise and I hope to go again some time. 🙂

Today was our last day at a port (other than our return port): Grand Turk. We weren’t scheduled to arrive until 1pm, so we had some time this morning to sleep in. But we didn’t really sleep in. Mom got up earlier than I did, hoping to get a call around 8am saying that she was free to roam again. And around 8:20am, she received the call. Yay! Free at last!

We met up with the girls and went down to the Horizon Cafe for breakfast, whereupon I had dippy eggs, toast, bacon, pineapple, a chocolate-filled croissant, milk, and apple juice. May do that again for tomorrow. My last chance!

There was a culinary demonstration at the Princess Theater around 10am, which we all were interested in seeing (though judiang was tempted by a seminar on getting great abs). So we headed down right after breakfast, found great seats in row 3, and waited for the show to start. (OK, so maybe we got there earlier than needed… But the place did fill up by 10am).

The head chef and the maitre’d were practically a double act, the first from France and the second from Italy. The chef made a linguine, pesto, and veggie dish to start with, then a shrimp dish served over rice, and finished with tiramisu. It was fun to watch and even more fun to smell. Mmmm, pesto!

Maitre’D Hotel (Nicola) and Head Chef (Christophe).

Fire!

After the demo, they lead us to the kitchen behind Michelangelo, which was neat to tour. They were also selling the cookbook for this cruise line. I didn’t buy a copy (but elsaf did). They also had other things for sale in the dining room, but mom and I were strong and got out alive.

Floral arrangement – made of food!

Watermelon and butter sculptures in the kitchen.

Hard at work in the kitchen.

We returned to our stateroom to change into our swimsuits for the shore excursion. But we had some time before disembarkation (even though the ship docked early for a medical emergency), so we sat out on the sun deck (our usual haunt) for a bit. Then we had a light lunch at the International Cafe. I had a ham & cheese croissant and that lovely Greek salad. And we both had macadamia nut cake for dessert. Tasty!

We disembarked and found our shore excursion launch point. The sky was overcast and there was a light rain. I was hoping it would clear up later. (It did!) Eventually they led us to a pontoon and took us out to our first dive point. See, mom, Elsa and I were going to go SNORKELING! A first for me & mom.

They loaned us the equipment (though mom had a pair of prescription goggles which she’d borrowed from her pathologist, whose last name sounds like Magic Cow) for the “dive” and explained how to use it. The one thing I was worried about was my panic mode, which I knew would kick in when I was in water that was deeper than me. It did, as did a panic about breathing when you see water in front of your face.

However, I tried to calm myself down, blow the water out of my snorkel, and just look down at the sea floor while breathing slowly. It worked. I could see the reef and the critters swimming about. Although everything was fuzzy do to my poor eyesight, I could make out colors, like purple, blue, yellow, and basic shapes like fish shaped, anemone shaped, etc. It was very pretty.

Folks a’snorkeling. (Dunno why the picture is at such an odd angle. Guess I didn’t have my sea legs back yet!) Alas, no photos of fish – camera not waterproof.

Poor mom was also having panic issues, stemming from the lack of something to hold on to. So the folks in the boat got her a life preserver to hold onto and she was able to see the sea floor (quite clearly thanks to the goggles). Elsa’s only issue was getting into the water (the ladder was not her friend) – she had a great time snorkeling and swimming.

They drove us to a second point and I was back in the water quickly. There was panic again, but not as much. And mom had swapped goggles with me, so I got to see things in focus. So that was way cool. The second reef was even more interesting than the first. Lots of fishies of many sizes were swimming around. I was very careful not to touch the reef for fear of damaging it (or me). Mom had opted not to dive the second time. She’s beginning to suspect I’m trying to kill her making her do dangerous hikes and deep snorkels. No! I would never try to kill me mum!

Mom and I were pretty exhausted after the two dives (panic is an exhausting state), so when we returned to the shore, we headed for our room and prepared for mucho relaxation on the sun deck, at the pool, and in the spa. Although boring to write about, it’s quite fun to actually do.

Pool at the spa (see the two jacuzzis in the back? Nice!)

Once mother and I were fully recovered, we returned to the stateroom, changed for supper, then headed for the Da Vinci for supper. The chef had a special menu tonight with 5 courses. I started with a goat cheese soufflé, followed by a Boston lettuce salad. Our palates were cleansed by lemon sorbet with strawberry and thyme (whereupon I had to exclaim “Well, look at the thyme!” when we saw the sprig of thyme in our sorbet). Then the main course, where I had ordered the lamb ribs, which were very yummy. Dessert was the “menage a tois”, which was fun to order. Alas, the ganache in the trio had coffee in it, so I gave it to Judi. But the raspberry panna cotta and the hazelnut ice cream thingy were very yummy.

Menage a tois!

Judi and I went to the main desk to check on a couple of things. I had them print out the latest tally from our purchases during this trip and the expensive phone call had been removed. Yay! So we returned to our rooms and I read some while awaiting the 10:30 showing of James Michael, the magician/comedian we’d seen the night before. (But which mom had to miss due to her quarantine.)

Around 10pm, mom and I headed down to the Explorer’s club and got nice seats in the front row. We watched them finish up a game that looked rather fun (Majority Rules), and then James Michael, the Bad, Bad Boy of Magic, performed. It was the same show as the night before, and just as funny. He was then to perform a midnight, adult show in Club Fusion, so mom and I headed there next. Oh, and since earlier in the day we’d discovered they have some $3 drinks after 8pm, we’d ordered those too. Piña colada for me, Long Island iced tea for mom.

Club Fusion was already packed when we arrived. They were doing a Halloween-themed dance party and we watched people dance on the dance floor and had drinks again (same again, please). A little after midnight, Tim Donovan, the cruise director, cracked some adult jokes then introduced James Michael. He had a fun half-hour show which we enjoyed. Then we finished our drinks and decided to walk outside back to our cabin.

After walking the length of the promenade, we decided to see if we could get to the front of the ship and watch the night sky as we sailed. But after arriving at deck 7, we found out that they had that area blocked off. Alas, we thought, we’ll head for bed instead. And that’s where we are. Mom’s sleeping and I’m almost done writing.

Tomorrow, we walk for a cure for breast cancer! Go us!

The ship docked at St. Thomas around 7am today. Mom and I were up and getting ready for breakfast when this happened. Before we headed out, judiang knocked on the door & informed us that elsaf wouldn’t be joining us today – not feeling well. So mom & I went to breakfast. I went with the Egg McMikey sans Mikey, hash browns, bacon, bread & butter pudding, milk and apple juice.

Mom had not been feeling 100% either, so we popped into the infirmary after breakfast to see if she could get some meds. With only 10 minutes to spare before we were to be at our rendezvous, mom popped back out to say she wasn’t allowed to join me on the excursion! Bummer. I returned to our room to get the stuff for the hike, removed mom’s stuff, and completely forgot to change into my closed-toed shoes. Whoops.

I made it to the ferry on time, however, and sat with Judi (until the spray got too much for her and she headed into the bowels of the boat). Took a little over 45 minutes to get us to St. John where we were met by our tour guide, Alex. He guided us on our hike through the woods to Honeymoon Beach. The hike was a LOT easier than the one yesterday! Although it was hot & humid, I did just fine on the walk. (Thanks, in part, to the $2 bottle of water… Alex needs to get a clue from our St. Maarten tour guide & provide the water!)

The spray from the ferry ride produced an intermittent rainbow.

I attempted to get a butt shot of Judi, but she turned around just as I snapped the photo!

We paused at Lind Point to take photos. Alex told us lots of info about the flora and fauna of St. John (lots of the plants & critters were introduced by colonists), even introducing us to a tarantula (briefly – it didn’t like the light, so I missed getting its photo). I also saw a lizard on a tree, funny egg-shaped mushrooms, and lots of other stuff.

Judi and I pose at Lind Point.

Our guide, Alex.

When we arrived at Honeymoon beach, we stripped down to our swimsuits and went into the ocean. It was warm (almost as warm as the pool on the ship). Judi was just sitting in the sand at the surf edge, but I coaxed her farther into the water. I was proud of her coming into water that was up to her shoulders.

Honeymoon Beach.

My beach!

We spent most of our allotted 45 minutes in the water, but eventually dried off and met at the rendezvous. Then Alex took us to some ruins from a sugar can refinery from the 1700s. Finally, a bus took us back to the ferry, and we returned to St. Thomas.

The sugar cane refinery.

The shrubs en route to the ruins were gorgeous! (Plumeria or frangipani, depending on your name preference.)

Sugar cane vats in the ruins.

A view from the ferry ride back.

As Judi and I were heading back to the ship, we spied a familiar face – Elsa was on shore taking photos/videos. We walked back to the ship with her and then I sought out mom. Alas, I arrived in the room to find her quarantined! She’d spent all morning in the room, watching TV and looking out the window. Bummer. She was just finishing her lunch of boring ol’ boiled chicken and rice w/ miso soup.

Since we were in the US Virgin Islands, I had cell phone service again. I called dad, but he wasn’t home so we both left a message for him. (Earlier in the day I had sent him an e-mail, which cost around $9, but almost $4 of it was just the account creation charge.)

I met up with the girls and we went to lunch at the Horizon Cafe. I tried cock-a-leekie soup, which I discovered I didn’t care for. But also had a half of a lamb, feta, and romaine sandwich, half of a triple decker sandwich (both with crusts cut off, and not by me!), pineapple, pasta salad, a fruit tart, another fruit desert thing in a meringue cup, and a brownie. Tasty lunch. I then stole a fruit tart and a coconut roll (think dessert, not bread) for mom.

After leaving mom access to my netbook and getting the desserts to her, I met the girls back on the 5th deck for a discussion on what to do next. It may come as no surprise that we decided on pool & spa. So I returned to the room and got ready for the afternoon. I started at the pool, swimming then sunning. I joined the girls to watch the ship leave St. Thomas (it had to swing around to starboard before heading forward), then sunned more. Finally, I went to the spa, this time with my music in tow. It was very relaxing.

When I returned to the room, I showered, then changed for dinner (our second formal night). I then got mom’s excursion ticket stamped for reimbursement. Mom repolished my nails, this time the same as my toenail color. Then I sat for what seemed like HOURS before my nails were dry. (It might not have been hours). A little before 7pm, I knocked on the girls’ door and we headed to the Da Vinci for supper.

Alas, with mom gone, we lost our magic number. So we wound up sharing with two couples: one from Holland, the other from Idaho. We had a pleasant dinner (albeit with slow service) of mom’s favorite things: lobster, shrimp, and asparagus! (If there is a god, she’s a mean bitch!) They even had a peach & mango smoothie as one of the choices for a course, so of course I ordered it. For dessert I had the chocolate pudding pie with tangy cream. Very dense & rich chocolate pudding. Yum!

I returned to the room and found mom watching Sherlock Holmes on the ship’s main channel. I got captured by it and watched it with her. (I had started the movie on my iPod when we were at the airport). But then it was nearly time for the magician/comedian to perform, so I headed there. Thankfully, he’s performing again tomorrow night, so mom can see him. It was quite entertaining!

One of the things mom wanted to see tonight was the London Pub Night at 11:45pm. She may or may not have been released from prison to watch it. I’ll never say one way or the other. It was silly (and raunchy) fun. Tomorrow night at midnight, the magician has an adult show that he’ll perform. I definitely want to see that!

Anyhoo, its almost 2am and I should get some sleep. With the ship not docking until 1pm, we can sleep in. Though I suspect we’ll get a phone call from the infirmary in the morning checking on mom. Hopefully they’ll lift her off quarantine and she can go back to having mucho fun! We wanna snorkel tomorrow!

An early night tonight due to an early morning tomorrow. But this morning we had the opportunity to sleep in some. We were both up around 8am, however. We went to Horizon Court for breakfast and sat with a nice young man from California. I had two eggs over easy, toast, hash browns, pineapple, and bread&butter pudding. (And skim milk.) Had to get food for energy for our hike!

The ship docked around 10am and we disembarked soon after. We wandered around the tourist traps at the dock, then returned to the ship for a potty break. But then it was 11am and time to start gathering for our shore excursion, the Scenic Coastal Hike. Once everyone showed up (around 11:30, the official start time), we walked to our open air bus and it drove us to Guana Bay to the start of our trail. (The weather, BTW, was HOT, but thankfully breezy. Lots of humidity too.)

Our guide took us along the coast on a very uneven, rocky, undulating trail. It was scenic. And despite my camera telling me the batteries were dead, I managed to squeeze out all of the shots I wanted for the day. (I swapped places for the batteries and that seemed to help.) I had done so well the night before getting my purse ready for the hike, then deciding to switch to my fanny pack. And remembered everything EXCEPT extra batteries, knowing full well it was running low! Stupid me.

The start of the hike. Scenic & coastal!

The trail was rough-going. We were given a water bottle & granola bar. We ate the granola bar at the turn-around point. Poor mom wasn’t sure she was going to make it, but she did. She’s a trooper. We had a lady in our group who was wearing flip flops, though the rest of us were in gym shoes. She didn’t have any troubles, she said. Good on her.

The only supports for the hike were cactus & acacia – we avoided those at all costs!

Mom and I on the return part of the hike, grateful we’d survived thus far.

We got a bit behind the pack toward the end!

We returned to our starting point, then went a little further on to a secluded beach. We removed our shoes & socks and walked the length of the beach, relishing the warm sand and water on our tired feet. We reached the bar where we were promised a refreshing beverage. The only beverage that would refresh me was ice water, and they obliged. Mom was sad to discover the beverage wasn’t alcoholic (unless you wanted to pay the difference) so she settled on diet Coke. We chatted with a couple from Montreal (the flip-flop lady and her husband.) They were also surprised by the intensity of the walk, and they are seasoned Princess Cruisers.

At port, the ship gets an anchor repaint. (It had been quite rusty when we left the ship for our hike, but was pristine white afterward.)

Originally we had pondered going shopping after the hike, but we decided on lunch then spa/swimming. It was nearing 3 when we returned, so we decided on a lighter lunch from the International Cafe. I had a small prosciutto and mozzarella sandwich and some Greek salad. Mom had roasted veggies and a shrimp salad. She liked my Greek salad so much, she sent me up to get more. Then the magical Milk and Cookie lady showed up and gave us milk and a cookie. I had peanut butter, mom had oatmeal raisin. Both very tasty. I also decided on a fruit tart, too.

We started in the spa on our ceramic sofas, then I also went into the sauna and the eucalyptus steam room. Next, swimming and sunning. Later I went to check the time and saw that Judi and Elsa were in one of the jacuzzis. They had a nice time on their tour. We arranged to have supper at the Da Vinci at 7pm.

A little after 6, we returned to our stateroom to change for supper. Then decided to head down early for more shopping. They were having a 2-fer $20 t-shirt sale on shirts for our different destinations. We both wound up buying 2 shirts. Then mom and I were curious to know how our bills were going… So they printed them off at the main desk. And we discovered a discrepancy. A phone charge (for $69.30!!) from a direct call made the day we arrived. But at 7am!!! I spent more time in line and then talked with Karla from Peru about the discrepancy and I hope she can get that refunded!

We got into the dining room a few minutes later than originally intended. The theme for the night was Italian. I had eggplant Parmesan for appetizer, chilled peach soup as my soup/salad, and veal scallopine for the main. All was very tasty. I finished with the chocolate mousse on cake (the Love Boat special) which was also yummy.

Although we were late for the start, we made our way to the Explorer’s club to hear the Polonia Quartet perform some classical pieces, including opera tunes. It turns out that Mike, the man in charge of the quartet and the lead violin, is the orchestra leader for an opera in Poland. His wife, Anna, plays the other violin. I had thought there were 3 violins and a cello, but the other was a viola. Terrific music. Blue Danube, Carmen, the Can Can, etc.

The ship at night.

Mom & Elsa headed for their rooms while Judi and I explored (looking for the promised leis, which we never found. Maybe she was successful at getting lei’ed after I went back to my stateroom). Now I’m here finishing up while mom sleeps. Sleep sounds good, I think I’ll give it a try, too.

Today was our first day totally spent on the ship. Mom and I slept in (or tried to at any rate) until 8:30am. We decided to go to the talk about the Captain’s Circle (AKA the frequent cruisers club for Princess). I had tea and a jelly donut. It was interesting and lovely to think of being able to be a frequent cruiser. Probably will come to naught. We then went to Horizons for buffet breakfast. Egg over easy, toast, bacon, pineapple, banana, and French toast for me. Oh, and I found the milk, so milk too.

After breakfast, mom and I headed for the pool/spa. We’d arranged to meet the girls for lunch at the Wheelhouse bar for the pub lunch at 12:30pm. So we swam, laid out, thermaled out in the spa, etc, until a little before noon. Then we changed into actual clothes and headed for the “pub.” I ordered fish & chips (without the mushy peas) and water. It was very yummy. They had bread & butter pudding for pudding, but I had my heart set on a fruit tart from the International cafe. And I talked the other girls into it. Heh.

The ceramic beds at the Thermal Spa. Ahhhhh!

The sanctuary that was the sauna.

At the International Cafe, I got a fruit tart (as did mom & elsaf, with judiang getting the tiramisu glass) and then followed it up with a peanut butter cup (the cup being a demitasse with peanut butter mousse & whipped cream in it). I shall partake of the International Cafe several more times this trip, I think.

The Polonia Quartet began played. 3 violins & 1 cello from Poland. [As will be noted in a future blog entry, it’s 2 violins, a viola, and cello.] They did a nice mix of classical and contemporary music. Quite lovely. Mom stayed the whole time while I directed Judi and Elsa to the Library by what turned out to be a convoluted way. Ooops. I returned to mom and the concert (which was being held by the main elevators/giant staircase in the center of the ship), leaving again later to get my camera. I caught their final piece and took plenty of photos. Then purchased their CD. The quartet are very nice people and we chatted with them briefly.

The Polonia Quartet in the Piazza.

Mom and I then went to the ring sale on deck 6. She found two rings for $35 the pair. They were all very sparkly and pretty, which although a fun distraction, just isn’t for me to be wearing. Mom also purchased a t-shirt with fun facts about the ship. She says she’ll wear it tomorrow on our hike.

We had a wine tasting to attend at 3pm, so we got into the Michaelangelo dining room around a quarter till and were seated with two men from Newfoundland. They were fun to talk to. Their wives weren’t much for wine, so it was just them. We had fun tasting the wines and appetizers. I didn’t find any wine which I liked (no surprise there) but several of the appetizers were tasty. We had enough fun that we signed up for the wine tasting on Saturday (with cheaper wines, thus for less moolah). As with the original wine tasting, this one will be on my tab. Go figure!

Lots of glasses! And just for me!

Mom and I decided it was Spa Time. So we returned to the adult deck and sat out sunning ourselves and reading. Then we swam for a bit, seeing Elsa & Judi in the pool before they headed for their Spa Treatments (massage for Judi, pedicure for Elsa). Mom and I returned to the deck. Which I later left to get an ice cream. Then it was down to the spa for more ceramic sofa, sauna, and shower. Heh.

Around 7pm, we returned to the room to get ready for dinner. It was formal night in the dining rooms, so we dressed up. As I told the girls before the trip, I don’t do formal, I do dumpy. But apparently I was good enough to be let in when our 8:15 reservation was ready. (Before dinner, however, we watched them fill a champagne fountain. People could pour stuff in and get photos taken, and Judi decided to do that. Mom was sad that no one came and gave us complementary champagne. They’d given us some of that earlier today as they seated us for the wine tasting, and she’d really liked it.)

Even more glasses! And none for me! (Yes, that’s Judi pouring!)

They had escargot for appetizer, which Judi, Elsa and I ordered. And it was very tasty. Snails are a perfect medium for butter & garlic, apparently. Mom liked it too (and the shrimp cocktail she ordered). I didn’t opt for the cold soup this time, instead going for a won ton soup that was quite yummy. (They did have a cold soup, which I might have gotten if this other soup hadn’t been offered.) For the main course, I had mignon medallions (medium rare) with almond croquettes. Very yummy.

Tonight was officially Judi’s birthday. So she had balloons outside her room and they brought out a fun cake wrapped in solid chocolate and topped in 3” of whipped cream. (Elsa was glad she didn’t have a birthday!) I had the chocolate/hazelnut soufflé and some of the gourmandises (aka, cookies) the waiter brought out for all of us to try.

Stuffed to the gills, we sat around a bit and then headed off to our respective evening entertainment. Mom and I opted for the comedian/juggler, Phil Prudhomme. Judi and Elsa opted for the Motor City musical extravaganza. Phil was quite fun and funny. And we got to see a member of the audience crack a raw egg on his own forehead (he was certain it was hard boiled). Heh. I think Phil was surprised the guy went that far. One of the neatest things Phil did was juggle a bowling ball, a machete, and an egg. And even threw the bowling ball around his back. (He’d started that particular set by claiming he’d kick the ball up and land it on a little girl in the front row. The girl thought he was serious and cried into mom’s arms and then dad’s. Phil apologized, said he was kidding, and that he’d toss the machete over instead. Heh.)

After he finished the show (with flaming batons, quite impressive), mom and I headed back to the room. Only we saw that the Motor City revue was still going on. So we popped into the Princess Theater and watched the final number. And noticed there wasn’t a single black person in the revue. Sure enough, we had a knock on the door once we were back in the room and Judi and Elsa were there, still laughing from the performance. It was the whitest tribute to Motown Judi had ever seen. She was too amused to be offended.

So now we’re in bed. Mom’s asleep and I’m finishing this up. Tomorrow we have a big hike ahead of us. So we intend to sleep in a bit. Hope we’re up to the challenge!

Today was our first full day on the cruise ship. We started out early with a 7am alarm from my phone. We got up to breakfast before 8:30am and had a buffet breakfast. I had an egg mcMikey sans Mikey. (Needed a paper towel wrap & pat from dad.) I had a variety of other things, including papaya. (I prefer mango. Maybe they’ll have some yet this week.) Then we put on our sunscreen, grabbed our purses, and headed for our rendezvous for our first Shore Excursion.

All four of us had opted for “A Taste of Eleuthera” versus the other options. So we first took a tender (AKA, boat) to shore at Princess Cays (“cay” as in “Torquay” rather than “cay” as in “¿Por que?”) which was a spot invented by the Princess Cruises to flog shit to tourists. Then we got on a tour bus with a very enthusiastic tour guide named Shantina, though she just went by Tina. She lives on Eleuthera, along with the other guides/drivers, and gave us a native’s eye view of the island.

A Taste of Eleuthera.

Our Tour Guides. Tina in the middle.

Eleuthera, like most of the Bahamas, relies on tourism to stay afloat. It was a pretty poor country, so it often felt like we were exploiting the locals, and yet it was our custom that helped them pay the bills. I asked one lady how she liked living on Eleuthera and she responded simply “Well, it’s not as if I have much choice.” Oh yeah, Trina, ask a stupid question.

Anyhoo, I enjoyed the little spots where were walked around, especially the “Ocean Hole” where the fish (and seagulls) go wild for white bread. Plus mom and I got to eat fresh coconut. We drank the coconut water first, then the coconut guy chopped it in half and showed us how to scrape out the innards with spoons he made from coconut husk. Tasty but nothing like dried coconut that you get in stores.

The Ocean Hole.

A date tree on Eleuthera.

On our way back from the northernest point on the tour, we were served lunch. They had conch fritters, pineapple salsa, coconut fried chicken wings, roasted chicken wings, macaroni & cheese, and a sweet bread with a sauce. It was pretty tasty. Then we watched as Steph made conch salad. So that we’d know what “all mixed up like conch salad” means. (It’s a local expression meaning “crazy, baby.”) We then got to sample the salad (Bahamian sushi, according to one of the tour guides.) It was pretty tasty. Very oniony, which is good in my book.

A view from our restaurant stop.

Steph makes Conch Salad.

On the final leg of the tour ride back, Tina asked us trivia questions about the tour with prizes for those who get correct answers. I got a question right when she asked for us to recall any of the local expressions she taught us. I answered my favorite: “Don’t you yuck up my vexation!” and won a t-shirt which says “What happens on the island, stays on the island!” Heh. Mom also won a prize, some post cards of the Bahamas, for correctly stating the colors in Bahamas flag. (Black, aqua, and gold – I helped mom with the “gold” since “yellow” wasn’t being accepted as a correct answer.)

When we returned to the launch area, we shopped at the tourist traps outside of the Princess Cays area. Mom bought a lovely Bahamas shirt and I bought a wooden carved flamingo (the official bird of the Bahamas). The wooden carved lobsters were pretty cool and very intricate, but I figured the flamingo had a better chance of surviving the trip home.

Back on board, mom and I got our bathing suits on and headed for the spa, with a stop first to get ice cream. Elsa and Judi tagged along, too. We spent several hours flitting between thermal spa things, pool things, and laying out on top of the ship things. The girls didn’t have our stamina due to the wind and headed back, but mom and I stayed for an additional hour or so. I love those ceramic sofas. Mom loves ’em even more! I’ve been reading The Girl Who Played with Fire and made good progress on it today. Mom’s reading the first book in the trilogy, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Before we headed for supper, mom and I popped into the casino. We both transferred $10 to our key cards and started on the penny one-armed-bandits. Mom was doing pretty well at staying above $10, but my total kept going down. Thankfully supper time arrived and we returned to Da Vinci for supper.

Our waitress tonight was from South Africa and her junior was from Philippines. The wine steward was from Germany. The food was excellent, again. I had a starter of pineapple and honey roasted pistachios (tasty, but needed more pistachios – the white goo they served with it was very tasty.) My soup was another frozen one: frosty mango and pear soup. Yummy! My main course was the old stand-by, Fettuccine Alfredo (always on the menu). And I knew before I’d ordered supper what my dessert would be: crème brulee. (even if it had pineapple pieces in it, which I later discovered.) Anyhoo, the waitress said she’d be back to take our orders once she delivered a crème brulee to someone. I exclaimed that I loved those. So when she went by with it, she passed it before my face and said “Your appetizer!” Heh.

After dinner, we returned to the casino to lose the rest of our money. I moved to a 25 cent machine to lose money faster, only I wound up winning instead. $58.75 won. Sweet! I immediately cashed out my winnings (total out was $59.88, so that’s almost $50 profit!) and vowed to gamble no more over the cruise. Mom might be harder to stop! 🙂

Elsa opted to hit the hay early, but mom and I wanted to see Phil Tag again. And Judi decided to join us. So while we were waiting for the 10:30 show to start, mom and I wandered through the art gallery on deck 5. Some neat pieces there! Then I picked up Judi and we found seats in the third row, near where we’d been the night before. Phil was a hoot again. I almost lost it at one time, laughing so hard. Shame he’s done entertaining us now.

Afterward, we decided to look for food. We headed way aft on deck 15 to the Cafe Caribe. I had nachos and guac, a pear, some cheeses, and two cookies – chocolate chip and chocolate. Was fun eating so late at night. Might regret it in a few minutes when I try to sleep. Heh.

Anyhoo, we returned to our stateroom. Mom’s asleep and I’m typing this. I think I need to try and sleep now. Hopefully I’ll be more successful tonight than I was last night.

Today was the first day of our cruise. We got up at 4am and then dad drove mom & me to the Dayton airport. When we went to pay for our checked bags, I admitted to the lady that I’d tried to pre-pay online and wasn’t successful. (Tried 3 times, in fact.) So she went ahead and didn’t charge us! How nice! The rest of the day was in that vein, actually.

Our flight to Houston was actually a little early. (Imagine, Dayton to Houston to Ft. Lauderdale… Airlines are wack!) We walked & trained the length of Houston airport to get to our connecting flight, which was delayed. Then we got breakfast at one of the restaurants in the food court near us. Eggs, bacon, and croissant. Apple juice for me. Not too bad, price or flavor.

While we waited for our flight, we talked with a nice man from Tennessee who has lived in Texas for the last 28 years. We also talked with a newlywed couple who were going on a Carnival cruise for their honeymoon. Which departed an hour before ours. (They’d missed their first flight to FLL due to an error on their end. We’re hoping they got to their cruise on time!)

When we got to FLL, the cruise people were at the bottom of the escalator. After we waited an age for our luggage, the cruise lady directed us to a bus which had been waiting on us. The bus picked up a few more folks, then we headed for the Princess area of the docks. The Emerald Princess was bigger than the other two ships at port. We got through immigration quickly and were on board in time to take part in the fire drill.

Our ship, the Emerald Princess.

judiang and elsaf were already aboard when we arrived. They have the room next to us. We’re on the Emerald deck, which is deck 8. Our room is E317 and despite having an “obstructed view” it actually has a nice view of the sea (overlooking the lifeboat). I was just expecting light. Mom says the bathroom is bigger than the one on the sleeper train that she & dad were on. It’s small, but not as small as is possible.

Our view from the stateroom.

After we were drilled, we returned to our rooms, then headed to the Neptune deck for the launch party. Judi and I danced (poorly) but didn’t win anything with the raffle tickets we got for dancing. Mom and I purchased expensive fruity rum drinks ($8.95 + 15% gratuity – I think I’ll refrain from booze for the rest of the cruise!) The drink was tasty, however.

Judi and I dancing. (We ain’t got rhythm!)

Folks watching the launch. (The busiest the deck was all trip.)

Mom and I found our way to the Lotus Spa to turn in raffle tickets for that, and wound up buying the VIP Thermal Spa package where we can visit the Thermal Spa any time during the cruise. It was $150 for a couple. We felt it would be worth it. (Now we KNOW it will be worth it.)

Due to a conflict in shore excursions, mom, Elsa, and I had to cancel the Conch World tour so that we can do our snorkeling adventure. Judi will have to let us know just how tasty conch is. I did the cancellation and returned to the room in time for us to head for dinner.

We ate at the Da Vinci dining room. I had spring rolls as appetizer, followed by frozen soup (piña colada with pineapple dots), and prime rib w/ tater, grilled tomato, and bean greens. They cooked the prime rib with rosemary and served it with a horseradish sauce. Very tasty. Dessert was good too, floating islands in vanilla cream (meringue in cream). If they offer that again, I’ll probably order it.

After dinner, we returned to Lotus Spa so that Elsa could join in on the VIP Thermal Spa (Judi had bought a single pass when she was in getting her teeth whitened.) Soon after, Judi, mom and I took advantage of said spa. The warm ceramic beds are nice, as is the sauna. We also partook of the hot tub/jacuzzi at the adults only pool in the spa. Very, very relaxing.

I was still restless and wanted to explore the ship. Mom decided to come along. We wound up only exploring deck 7, the Promenade. Then we went to the Welcome to the Cruise show at the Princess theater. They introduced the entertainment team, who were entertaining, and then they had a comedian. Forgot his name atm. [Phil Tag.] He was quite funny. Hope to see his full show tomorrow night. Hope they find his luggage! (He says Delta stands for Don’t Expect Luggage To Arrive. Nice to know that before we fly back home via Delta….)

It’s almost midnight, so I’d best get to bed. I’m tired & mom’s already asleep. Busy day tomorrow!