Last day at sea

Well, our last day at sea was a relaxing one. We played trivia again, second seems to be our legacy on this trip. We have met interesting people on this trip, both at our tables and playing trivia. We find ourselves spending a lot of time in the piazza playing cribbage, eating gelato and enjoying the different coffees available, just like Starbucks. We have seen great entertainment, funny comedians, and high energy productions. The Emerald Princess has met all of our expectations. The food has been great, the service has been good and we would have to say it has really been a lot of fun, except for all the beatings I am taking from Judy at cribbage. Tomorrow, Princes Cays, the private beach island of Princess.

St Thomas

Well, today was St Thomas. I have no idea how many times we have been here, but needless to say lots. We got off the ship, walked around the dock, went through a few stores, then finally visited a liquor store to stock up the liquor cabinet. We bought more after dinner drinks because it seems that is what we use when we have dinner groups at our house. Liquor is very cheap in St Thomas and we are able to bring back five bottles apiece as long as four of them are bought in St Thomas. We only bought four, then back to the ship for more cribbage where Judy is thrashing me real good. Of course it was another day for gelato. Tomorrow, at day at sea.

St Kitts

St Kitts is another beautiful island. We did not book a tour in St Kitts, instead chose to go into the port and walk around. The have lots of store right at the dock, so we walked around and went into several of them, but didn’t find anything that we wanted to buy. Of course we played trivia again today, and came in twice in second place, seems to be the best we have been able to do on this cruise. We did meet an interesting person who joined our team for trivia. The guy we met makes his living by writing cruise reviews and putting them on a website. He has been on different cruises for the last six weeks. The ship was decorated for Valentines Day including the nice display in the atrium. Tomorrow St. Thomas.

Barbados

It is an absolutely a beautiful day here in Barbados. The temperature is in the low eighties with a light breeze. We had an early tour, so at 8am we were on our way. Our first stop was a estate from the mid seventeen century with most period furniture. Our second stop was an orchid farm. Both Judy and I were really impressed with all the lovely orchids, I think Judy took enough pictures to make a complete book of nothing but orchids. I didn’t realize that some were just air orchids and were hanging on supports without any part of them in the ground. We came away from the tour a lot smarter than when we departed, which is always nice. The entertainment aboard ship has been outstanding. Last night we seen a show that was a tribute to Cole Porter and was an extremely high energy performance by the cast. We have seen a wonderful comedic juggler, and also a really funny comedian. Tomorrow, St Kitts.

Dominica

Well, finally we set our foot on land as we arrived in Dominica. We didn’t schedule a tour here because we have been here many times. Dominica is a very lush island with a large tropical forest and lots of waterfalls. We decided to walk into the town which is right next to the ship with lots of souvenir stands all over the place. We had to buy something for Weston then back to the ship. Oh by the way, we finally won a trivia today and won a luggage tag. Hey, you can never have too many luggage tags and we already have more than our share. I also invaded the gelato stand for the first time on the cruise and it was surely worth the wait. Tomorrow, Barbados, where we have a tour scheduled

Antigua

I wish I could say Antigua was wonderful, but we didn’t get to go in. The weather has been extremely bad, and even though the ship was suppose to dock in Antigua, the winds which are in excess of 40 knots and the channel was so narrow that the Captain announced that he would not be able to navigate the ship thru the narrow passage with the winds as high as they are. So today like yesterday will be another day aboard ship. Yesterday we played a lot of cribbage in our favorite area, the Piazza. We played trivia three times and came in second twice. Maybe today will be our day. The weather has been very bad, with waves crashing against the windows while we had dinner last nite on deck five. We are still having a great time, although we are disappointed about not being to go to Antigua, we have cruised enough to know, weather happens. Tomorrow, Dominica (we hope).

First

Well, Our first full day at sea, and the weather is cool, windy and overcast. We decided that the pool was not in our future, so we played trivia and lost twice, but didn’t embarrass ourselves. Who needs to know what kind of animal a drill is anyways. We did play lots of cribbage with Judy cleaning my clock most of the day. We met some interesting people, including neighbors of some friends of an earlier cruise. We do enjoy the piazza, finding ourselves down there several times during the day. The show last nite was marvelous with good vocalists and dancers. Even though we had seen the show on our last cruise, it was still nice to see again. Today we have lunch with the Captain, so we are looking forward to that. Tomorrow, Antigua.

Leaving Ft Laudedale

After an uneventful trip down and a little confusion on where to part, we arrived on the beautiful Emerald Princess. We are on Carib Deck towards the front of the ship and with no upgrade in an inside cabin. Of course the first place we went was to get something to eat. After our evacuation drill, we went on deck to watch us sail away. Being a Sunday, lots of ships were departing and we were the last to leave at about 5 pm. Leaving Ft Lauderdale is always enjoyable because we pass many beautiful homes along the inlet and lots of high rise apartment buildings with people waving from their balconies. After a very short nite the nite before we went to dinner and saw a bit of a show, then back to our room for some much needed rest. Tomorrow, I am sure there will be some trivia, much needed study for the upcoming play and some laying on the deck and taking in some sunshine.

Tomorrow We Leave

Well, tomorrow we leave for ten wonderful days aboard the Emerald Princess. Of all the wonderful ships we have sailed on, the Emerald Princess is by far our favorite. The ship is about two years old and has several wonderful features that we like. It has a wonderful outdoor theater with a huge screen. The show current movies at nite, when they cover all of the deck chairs in a wonderful blanket, and then give you a nice blanket to cover yourself with if it gets chilly under the stars. Then they come around with popcorn and a little later milk and cookies. We always look forward to seeing movies there. Another feature we like is the area on Deck 5 that they have turned into an Italian Piazza. In the piazza the have nice comfortable chairs, a bakery with free treats, a coffee bar, a gelatto bar, a sushi bar and a wine bar. Throughout the day the have street performers like jugglers, strolling musicians, acrobats and several other things. You will find me often looking over the bakery items and of course enjoying the gelatto. This cruise is going to add another destination for us. It is the island of Antigua, and we are looking forward to seeing it for the first time. During the cruise I will be writing about our shipboard experience and of course posting a few pictures of both the ship and our ports of call.