Day 11 - Aruba

Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2013

What a day.  We woke up because I heard the PA announcement about arriving in Aruba, and being able to get off the boat.  The usual showers and getting dressed went on, and then we went out on our balcony to see what we could see.  There were 15 ships in view, some quite far out, and we could also tell that we were docked in Aruba.

Aruba Yacht Club

The deck was wet, which we thought was from the rough seas overnight.  Then, we got somewhat wet as the steward was washing the decks and windows on the floor above us.  However, we learned within a short time, that the weather today was not great, and there were rainshowers throughout the day.  Too bad for us, but even worse for those who had not been here before.

Breakfast was good, as usual, and then back to the room.  We waited around for a while, and then decided to go up on a higher deck to sit and read.  we met Karen and Lloyd coming off the elevator, and decided to head into Aruba, instead.

Getting off the boat was easy.  There was a building just off the gangway, with quite a few shops, and we spent some time in there looking things over.  Then, we decided to walk to the next building.  Outside, it was pouring.  we waited under cover for about 15 minutes, but it didn't let up.  Then we decided to go back on the ship and play some cards, instead.

Hotel By The Sea

Three games of cribbage showed me that the women in our group must cheat at cards.  Otherwise, how could they whip Lloyd and me 2 out of 3 games?  Then we decided to have a hot dog for lunch, which we could get right where we were sitting.  They weren't great, but at last my desire to have one has been sated.

We thought we would head back to our room, and Karen and Lloyd went for a smoke.  The would call us if the weather improved, and we would head off the ship, then.  Well, in about an hour, the sun did start to shine, Karen called, and we left the ship again.

On getting out of the building, it was raining again.  This time, Dawn and Karen wanted to walk to the next set of stores, about 200 metres down the pier.  Lloyd and I decided to stay right there and keep dry.  There were a lot of very wet people returning to the ship, so we were quite happy that we didn't go.

Loosening the Ropes

When the ladies got back to us (wet but happy), we boarded again and returned to our room.  We were cold, so sat and read for a while.  The sun came out a bit, and things started to dry out, so Dawn and I went up on one of the top decks to have a look and possible take some photos of Aruba.  The sun was shining, but the wind was really blowing hard up there.

We stayed, watching the people return to the ship.  Off in the distance, things looked pretty good, but the rain was hanging around, to the east of the island.  Then we watched the ship get ready to sail, the ropes dropped, and we slid away from the pier.  Some photos were taken as we left Aruba, and then we were out to sea, heading to Curacao.

Back in our cabin, we began watching a show on TV.  I had a bit of a nap, and Dawn did some knitting.  About 5:50, I called Karen and Lloyd's cabin, but there wasn't an answer.  I left a message saying we were there, and if they hadn't had supper yet, to call when they were ready.  Within about 10 minutes they called, and off to supper we went.  Tonight was a German theme, and once again, the food was great.

View Along Aruba as we Left

After dinner, Dawn and I went to the Princess Theatre to watch a movie.  It was a Clint Eastwood movie called "Trouble With the Curve", and we enjoyed it a great deal.  Far more comfortable to sit in the Theatre seats and watch it on a big screen, than to watch it in our room.

Then, home and get ready for bed.  As I said earlier, we are on our way to Curacao, and we have an realy tour booked, so have to get up early tomorrow morning.

Day 10 - At Sea

Monday, Jan. 14, 2013

Today was another day at sea.  Things were pretty good when we woke up, but a little later in the day, it got quite rough.  The ship was bouncing around, and every once in a while there was quite a shudder as a big wave hit.  They were hitting us close to straight on the side, so that is what caused the movement.  Tough to walk along the halls and on the deck, in a straight line.

We didn't see Karen and Lloyd for much of the day. but when we returned to our room about 4:45, there was a message on the phone waiting for us.  Karen had invited Dawn to Bingo again, but it started at 4:00, and she was heading to the venue at about 3:30.  We didn't make it home in time for Dawn to attend.

We did eat dinner together, and after that, Karen and I went to the show in the Theatre, Dawn went to watch a movie under the stars, and Lloyd went back to the stateroom.

After the show in the Theatre, I went up to see how Dawn was doing, but didn't find the movie too interesting, so went back to our room.  I watched some TV there, and when she got back, we watched some more together before deciding it was time for bed.

Aruba tomorrow.  The time we arrive isn't exact because of the rough seas, but it will be early in the morning.  Until then, ...

Day 9 - At Sea

Sunday, Jan. 13, 2013

Well, today was a somewhat uneventful day.  In the morning, we were sitting on our deck, and land was in sight, off to the west.  We didn't know what it was, so I set up the GPS, and after it found a satellite, it informed us that this was Cuba.  We were sailing Southeast along Cuba's east coast.  We were close enough to see the land, and some of the features.  It looked like one long beach, with the waves lapping up on the shore.

The first thing we saw was a boat out fishing.  It looked pretty small, but through the binoculars, it appeared to be much bigger.  It was clearly fishing.  A town came into sight a little later on, and through the binoculars, I could see a tall pointed shaft at the edge of what appeared to be a harbour.  I assumed it was a lighthouse.  In the bay, I could see other buildings, but I couldn't make out what they were.  There was a tall stack with smoke coming out of it, so I figured that was a power plant for the area, but who knows.

I had to go and exchange my card again, because they gave me the wrong colour again.  The blue one I received didn't show all the cruises we had been on, and even though I had the fix made on the first half, the change wasn't there for the second half.  So, off to see Rocco, the Captain's Circle host, once again.  He was embarrased, and apologized all over the place, but he did get it fixed for us.  He also gave each of us a passport with stickers that showed all the cruises we have been on with Princess, and when we went on them.

Then it was up for breakfast, which was very late - almost changeover time for lunch.  After we had grabbed our food, we found Karen and Lloyd and sat down with them to eat.  Good food and good conversations have been had all the time.

After breakfast, we let them know that we were going to be watching the football game on the big screen.  It began at 2:00, so Karen and Dawn decided to go and play Bingo.  I sat out on our deck and read, while Dawn was away.  Very quiet, the breeze was gentle and cool, and it was quite nice.

When they came back, Dawn told me that she was 2 numbers from winning $400, so it was almost a successful venture.  Then, we went up to Deck 14 to get ready to watch the game.  After finding a lounge chair (they were hard to come by because there were so many people sunbathing), we sat back and waited a few minutes for the game to begin.

Watching the Game on the Big Screen

The game didn't look too good for Seattle.  They were down 10-0 at the end of the 1st quarter, 20-0 at the end of the half.  The started the 2nd half by going for a touchdown, that Atlanta answered (27 - 7), but then they seemed to get things going.  The defence picked up, the offence really started working, and as it turned out, Seattle scored the go-ahead touchdown with 31 seconds left to play.  This turned out to be too long left, because Atlanta basically marched down the field, got into field goal range, and scored a field goal with 3 seconds left.  Pretty disappointing, but it was sure an exciting finish.

After that, it was back to our room to warm up (we had been sitting in the shade for much of the game, and with the wind, we got quite cold).  Stanidng out on our deck, the sun was shining on us, the wind was gentle by the walls of our deck, and we warmed up.

The next game was coming on (Houston and New England) so we finally found it on our TV and settled back to watch this game.  Karen phoned to go to supper, so we went.  This was the same menu as last week, but by now, we know what we like, and only take that.  They had made rhubarb pie as one of the deserts, so Dawn and I had to have a piece of that.  We took it down to the ice cream stand and got the guy to put some of it on our pie, and then went back to the dining room to eat it.  It was very tasty.

Sheep Made Out of Towels

After that, Karen and Lloyd went for a smoke, and Dawn and I went out to see how the football game was going on the big screen under the stars.  It turns out there were just over 3 minutes left in the 3rd quarter, but New England was killing Houston, and it got worse while we sat on a lounge and watched.

There were some ladies sitting beside us who were from Rhode Island.  Dawn chatted with them, and we learned some things about their accents, and their interest in football.  They wondered about where French was spoken in Canada, so we filled them in as best we could.

With less than 2 minutes left in the game, we could see that it was over, so we went back to our cabin.  There, Jason, our steward, had made a sheep out of towels and left on our bed, when he got our room ready for the night.  It was quite well done.

An interesting movie was on, so we watched that, and by the end, we were both pretty much ready for bed, so to sleep we went.  Tomorrow, another day at sea ...

Day 8 - Turn-Around Day, Fort Lauderdale

Saturday, Jan. 12, 2013

It was a long night.  Neither of us slept too well.  It was like working when we knew we had to get up, and we kept worrying that that alarm wouldn't go off.  We arrived in Fort Lauderdale around 6:00 am, and the ship was tied up by 7:30.  We had to be up because we had a tour booked, and we had to be ready to get off the ship by 8:20.  Didn't want to miss this, as there were no refunds.

Anyhow, we made it to the bar where we were to wait to get off the ship and board our bus.  Dawn and I had gone down there without Karen and Lloyd, and they didn't show up until almost too late.  It seems they were trying to get in touch with us at the room, and couldn't find us, either.  I guess there was a communication problem, but it all worked out in the end.

Air Boat Tour

Then, we boarded the bus, and drove off to the Air Boat Ride tour.  Our tour guide was a little Swiss fellow, who talked a lot, and kept repeating himself.  He was very happy to have us there, and to see that we were speaking English.  He knows five languages, but he doesn't often get to guide English speaking guests around.  We must have heard this ten times over the tour.  It was quite funny.

Air Boat

Our Air Boat ride was 30 minutes long, but they didn't crowd us onto the seats too tightly.  There were four of us along one seat, so both sets of us were fairly close to the edge to see and to take photos.  It was an interesting tour and we learned some interesting facts.  The Sawgrass everglades depth of water is usually about a foot, but right now it was about 3 feet due to another area being drained into this one.  The everglades are fresh water, and they are where Fort Lauderdale gets their water.  The water is actually a very slow moving river, not a swamp.  The sawgrass that grows in the everglades is three sided, so as our tour guide on the boat said, "three chances to cut yourself".

Big Alligator Right at the Boat

The guide boasted about knowing where there was an alligator, and he promised that when we got there, he would call, and the alligator would come right to our boat.  Well, he called, and she came over.  Got some really good photos, and one that we will likely enlarge and frame - it is great.

Alligator Presentation

Could Get His Face Eaten Off

Once back on shore, we went to the alligator show they had there.  The fellow who was running the show, pulled a large alligator out of their pond, sat on his back, pulled its head back, and did a number of things.  It must have been dangerous, but he didn't make it seem too bad.  He did talk about not saying goodbye if something happened, so he said goodbye at that time.

It was a Big Alligator

Then it was on our way back to the ship.  We had to stop at the airport to let off passengers who were leaving the ship and flying out.  Then we returned to Port Everglades.  It was busy once again, and there were about 7 cruise ships in port.  We were parked in the same spot we got on last week, with teh Oasis of the Sea right across from us, another Celebrity ship at right angles between us, and a couple ships across the pier from us.

We did go up to the buffet for something to eat.  We thought it wouldn't be too busy at that time, because the new people hadn't boarded yet.  We were wrong.  Lots of them had already boarded, and everyone wanted to get in their first lunch (I guess).

Dawn and I went back to our cabin, and basically spent the rest of the afternoon there.  We were tired, and lay around, waiting for the football game to begin, and for the ship to sail.

Beach Toward Miami

We sailed shortly after 4:00 pm.  It is amazing how they can move this big ship around in such tight quarters.  We got underway, moved away from the pier, got turned into the channel to open water, and generally enjoyed ourselves.  There were people fishing on the breakwater, and waving at the ship as we went by.  We could see the beaches really well towards Miami, and they sure looked inviting.  The skies were pretty clear, and there were lots of boats out on the water.  A really pretty sight.

Hotels on Ft. Lauderdale Beach

Once out of the channel, we turned southeast, sailing towards Miami, this time.  By now, the football game was beginning, so inside we went to watch Baltimore and Denver duke it out.  The score was tied at the end of each quarter, and into overtime, Baltimore finally won on a Peyton Manning mistake.  A tough one for the Denver fans who were on the ship - some looked really unhappy.

By this time is was almost 9:00, so we thought we should get something light to eat.  We went up to the buffet to see what was on the menu, and decided to stay there.  After eating, it was back to our room to watch the next game, Green Bay at San Francisco.  It was another of those games that was back and forth, for a while.  However, Green Bay couldn't stop San Fancisco's quarterback, and in the end, we were asleep before the game was over.

Another day complete on this great adventure.  Tomorrow, a day at sea ...

Day 7 - Princess Cays

Friday, Jan 11, 2013

Arrival at the Cays

Interesting.  This morning was the earliest we woke up so far.  We were up and showered/dressed and on the balcony by 7:00.  The ship was just approaching the Princess Cay to anchor, and then free us for a day of relaxing on the beach.

The weather wasn't too great.  Clearly it had rained overnight, and the outside deck was still wet.  We ate breakfast on the rear deck, under the shelter of the deck above.  After we had eaten, we wanted to have a closer look at the island, so walked up a floor and got right on the stern of the ship.

Here the wind was blowing pretty well, and with the clouds, it was somewhat cool.  Also, it began to rain again, so we went in and back to our cabin.  We were sitting on our deck when the sun began to appear, and the sand on the beach looked much more inviting.

Our Tender

After Lloyd and Karen phoned us, we decided to head to the Princess Cay just before 11:00.  Dawn wanted to book a tour in Ft. Lauderdale tomorrow, so we stopped by the Shore Excursion desk.  Luckily, we got there just before it closed, and there was enough room for us to book an Air Boat and Eco Tour out of Fort Lauderdale.  Then, it was off to the tender to boat to the island.

By then, it was getting pretty warm, and with the tender being enclosed, it was fairly hot in there.  These boats have 150 passengers written on the outside, but I would sure hate to be there with that many.  Of course, as Dawn said, 150 passengers might not be that bad if we had to abandon ship.

Shops at the Beach

Anyhow, we got to the island, and once the boat had let us off, we started to wander around.  Of course, there were some shops there, and a little bit of shopping was in order.  A few trinkets were purchased in a couple different shops, many owned by Princess Cruise lines.

We continued to wander up the beach until we found an area that was a buffet.  This was a buffet, similar to the ship, but we weren't too hungry.  Instead, they had a section that had fruit (pineapple, melons, cantelope, and watermelon cut up as well as apples, oranges, bananas and pears).  We decided to have a bit of fruit because we were thirsty.  The cut up fruit helped that a lot, and also filled us up.

View of the Lava on the Beach

Continuing our walk, we got to a spot where everything was beginning to look the same.  We walked out onto a walkway that led to a covered area overlooking the water.  Out there we took some photos, and saw some of the fish that were swimming along, attracting those who were snorkelling.

Our Ship From the Beach

Karen wanted to swim, so we went onto the beach and she went in.  The rest of us just walked in the surf.  The water was about the temperature of our pool in the summer.  With the surf rolling in, it was interesting.  People trying to get into the water with swimming fins were having trouble, and for some, it was quite humorous to watch.  For us, as each wave hit, we sank into the sand, and getting back to dry sand was a bit of a test.

Lounges on the Beach

After that, we had generally run out of gas, and decided to head back to the ship.  Another tender to get back, and once at our room, we decided to sit out on our balcony to read.  The ship had its rear thrusters running to keep the ship sideways to the wind.  This provided and area of calm water for the tenders to land.

Sign Showing Distances From Here to There

As the sun moved around, it got hotter on our deck, so we had to keep moving our chairs to get some shade.  Soon, we knew that the final tenders were going to be coming, and they would be lifting the boats back up onto the ship, so we started watching that exercise.  It was interesting, and finally the last tender arrived with the remainder of the crew.  Shortly after that, we were back under way, on the final leg of this part of the trip, back to Fort Lauderdale.

Tenders at the End of the Day

Supper was as usual, and we decided to go to the early show in the Theatre.  It was two acts that we had already seen (the ventriloquist and Bobby Brooks Wilson).  They each did a short set, that was different from the shows we had seen earlier in the week.  We enjoyed both of them again, and had fun.  Our hope is that they are on board next week, so we can go to some more shows.

Tonight, we have to turn our clocks back and hour, to get to eastern time, so we get an extra hour of sleep.  That is really not true because we have to get up early in order to eat breakfast and then meet to get on our excursion that leaves the ship at 8:20 - far too early for us.

Anyhow, that is it for this part of the trip.  Tomorrow, another week begins, and the adventure continues.

Day 6 - At Sea

Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013

A pretty slow day, today.  We got up fairly early, and after getting ready, headed up to the buffet for breakfast.  We left a note with Karen and Lloyd about a presentation that was to take place in the Princess Theatre, in case they were unaware of it.  This was a challenge to a cook-off between the Matre d'Hotel and the Head Chef of the ship.  It was to start at 10:00.

Matre d'Hotel and Chief Chef

When we finished, and were walking out to the theatre, we met Karen and Lloyd.  They already knew about it, but had just gotten up.  They wanted to have breakfast, and Karen was going to try to make the presentation, but she had to shower first (after breakfast, of course).

Well, we were sitting in our seats, and just before 10:00, we happened to notice Karen peering around the room, looking for us.  We waved to her, and she had to go out the door she came in to work her way around to where we were sitting.  She sat down, just before the lights went down and the show began.

Desert Making in the Kitchen

Making Pastries

It was an enjoyable couple hours, with lots of laughs, and some learning about preparing 3 Italian dishes.  The Matre d'Hotel was really there to lend humour to the presentation, and we laughed a lot at the antics on the stage.  The chef did a great job, and gave some good tips for cooks.
The final part of the show was a tour of one of the ship's galleys, to see where they prepare the food for one of the dining rooms.  Now that was interesting.  There weren't many of the workers in there, as this dining room wasn't open until supper.  However, there was a small group making some deserts, and another one working on pastries for that night.  Someone had created a number of fruit carvings and sugar sculptures, which looked great.

Carved Watermelon

After the tour (Karen didn't come), we headed up to look through some of the stores, and then went back to the room.  We had been there for only a short while when Lloyd leaned over our balcony to see if we wanted to get some lunch at the International Cafe.  We had some sandwiches there, and enjoyed a new experience (for us, at least).

Sugar Sculpture

Back to the room, after wandering around the ship to take some pictures for Christie, and sitting around, doing some reading. Found out that the Blazers had lost their game last night, so that is a downer.  Suddenly our phone rang and it was Lloyd saying it was time to go for dinner.  Time really flew by this afternoon, as 5:30 came really quickly.

We wanted to eat fairly early because we wanted to attend the show in the Princess Theatre.  The show was a tribute to British music, and we thoroughly enjoyed it.  It was 40 minutes of high energy singing and dancing.

After that, a bit more shopping, and then back to the room.  TV, uploading photos, and writing the blog pretty much took care of the rest of the evening.  Almost time to go to bed, so it is time to end today's entry.

Until tomorrow, ...

Day 5 - St. Thomas

Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2013

Woke up this morning and we had already docked in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands.  After showering and dressing, it was out on our deck, which was facing the shore and the gangplanks where people would be disembarking.  Things were a little noisy as there were lots of the island safari buses and other tour transportation, gathering on the dock.

After taking a number of pictures, we decided to go up and eat.  Our tour wasn't scheduled to leave until 12:30, so we had lots of time to get organized.  On deck, we got our breakfast, and sat outside at the stern to eat.  The crew were going through a number of safety exercises, so our waiter told us that there wouldn't be many of the crew available about 10 minutes after we finished.

One of the Yachts

We went back to our cabin to get our cameras because we were parked right beside the yacht club, and there were many HUGE yachts parked right beside us.  We spent quite a bit of time, looking at them and dreaming, as well as taking a bunch of photos.

Then we thought we would head back to get ready for the tour.  We had over an hour, but thought we would go to the shops and see what was available, before we boarded the bus.  We told Karen and Lloyd what our plan was, and they were planning on doing the same thing.

Shopping by the Pier

In the shopping area, we looked in a number of stores, and purchased a few souvenirs.  I walked through a shop with Cartier and Rolex watches.  The salesman thought a Cartier watch would look good on my wrist, but I didn't think my wrist was big enough to hold one.  In one shop, a young salesman spoke with me.  I found out he had been to Vancouver in July, so he had an idea where we lived.  He was going to school just north of New York, so knew about snow and the problems associated with it, as well.

Our Bus

Then we had to hurry to the bus for our tour around the island.  Lloyd and Karen were there and we all got on together so we were sitting near each other.  We lucked out and had a small bus for our tour, rather than a safari bus.  At least we had air conditioning.

View of the Ship

Bay on the Island

The tour was great.  a couple hours driving around the island, looking at many sights.  They drive on the left side of the road here, even though the steering is done from the same side as our cars.  The roads are very narrow, winding, and it seems as if they are either up or down hills.  Several places showed stop signs (which I think means slow down) and speed limit 10 MPH (which seems to mean go fast).  We got some beautiful views of our ship (and the 4 others that were in port), the harbour, fantastic bays, many of the islands of the British and American Virgin Islands, and many of the houses of the rich and the poor who live here.

We stopped a couple times for photos from viewpoints, and the final stop was at Mountain Top, another place for buying souvenirs and taking pictures of the view from high up on the mountain.  Then, it was back to the ship and getting ready to depart.

Marriott Hotel as we left

Sailing time was 5:00, and the two ships that were behind us, pulled out before we did.  Finally we started going, and it was beautiful to see the sights as we moved out of the moorage, and got on our way.  This island was one that we enjoyed visiting, and we really enjoyed seeing the sights.

Karen and Lloyd didn't come to supper with us.  They had eaten after returning from the tour, and were not hungry.  Besides, Karen had just woken up from a nap, and sounded like she was still somewhat asleep.

We had decided to go to see a couple shows tonight.  The first one was to see a ventriloquist comedian who had just come on board, and the second was to watch a singer who was the son of Jackie Wilson, a singer from the 60s and 70s.  Both were really good shows, and we enjoyed them a lot.  We were really impressed with the singer, and will likely see him again, if he has another show while we are aboard.

After that, back to our room, watch some TV, and get some sleep.  We are back into the waves, so things are moving around a bit, but it is not too bad in our room.

Tomorrow is a day at sea, as we work our way back to Princess Key for Friday, so we are going to take in some of the onboard activities.  More about the day, tomorrow...