St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands, April 6th/2016

The US Virgin Islands are America's paradise, offering an easygoing blend of island ways and American practicality. St. Thomas, capital of the island group, offers every imaginable sport: snorkeling, golfing, hiking, and sailing. Just a few miles away lay St. John and Virgin Islands National Park. Stunning mountain scenery, crystalline waters, and white-sand beaches with palms swaying in the breeze - the US Virgin Islands are truly a slice of paradise. The harbor is easily one of the Caribbean's most scenic. The United States purchased the Virgin Islands from Denmark for $25 million in gold. St. Thomas has a reputation as a duty free-mecca for shopping.

A Sea Day

Day Three, a Sea Day

This a sea day so we just relaxed. We did not set the clock and we just slept until we woke .

At around 8:30 we made our way to the Concerto Dining room to have breakfast. The service was fantastic. Your every need was anticipated and satisfied. We were at a table for eight so it was a bit difficult to visit. There was a lady from Winnipeg, a couple from Florida and another couple from England.

After breakfast we checked out the sale in the Piazza. I was seriously tempted but I resisted.

Then we took on the job of finding Barb  Cail’s  photograph. There was a contest where by passengers were invited to submit photos taken on various cruises. These pictures would be framed and used to decorate the various decks aboard the Regal princess. One of Barb’s photos was chosen and she asked us to find it for her since she has not yet travelled on the Regal. We found it quite quickly . It was on Dolphin deck opposite state room 225. We took several photos of the photo.

Back in our room Ken got ready to go and sit in the sun for awhile and I worked on the blog.

The tie and cummerbund were delivered to our box and Ken brought it in when he returned from deck 19, Sky Deck!!

We decided to take it easy for lunch because tonight is formal night so we will have treats before and dinner will be special. We went to the international café and had a light snack.

Soon it was time for the Meet and Greet with Cruise Critic. There was just a small turn out of members but there were 5 officers present. So it was very nice. 

The big thing that was planned was a cabin crawl. We visited an inside room, a balcony, 2 mini suites and the owners suite. We were really impressed with how nice the side ways inside was. But the biggest impression was made by the owner’s suite. The owners or I guess I should say occupiers ordered canapés for us all. We nibbled and enjoyed the spacious suite. 

Them Lourdes presented gift bags to each of the ladies in the group. We visited and were very social for almost a half hour. The suite has a separate living room and bedroom and bath rooms of course. The wrap around balcony afforded an amazing view of the wake. It was wonderful. If ever we win the lottery that is where we will be.

In all we visited 5 rooms and as we left each room we drew a card from a deck of cards. The person who had the winning poker hand received a prize. Neither Ken or I had a poker hand worth mentioning. Three tens was the winning hand.

Then we came back to our room to get ready for formal night and to post to the blog.

We dressed and Ken poured a glass of wine and then we left.

The last couple appeared at the dining room today so now the table is full. The wait staff is Mel and Aladdin.

The people at the table are Greg and Janice, Roy and Christine, Randy and Janice and Ken and I.

Dinner was very good as usual. There was another Norman Love dessert.

We left the dining room right away and we went to the champagne waterfall and picked up a glass of champagne and then went to the Princess Theatre. We were royally entertained by Nathan Foley who 2 weeks ago won the award as  Princess’ Entertainer of the year. He was a fantastic singer who had the audience eating out of his hands.

After the show we went to the atrium to listen to Rhapsody and enjoy the dancing.

Then we came back to our room to get ready for the stop in St.Thomas tomorrow.

Day 3 has come to an end.

Princess Cays

Port of Princess Cays: An Overview

Exclusive to Princess Cruises passengers on Eastern, Southern and Western Caribbean itineraries since 1992, Princess Cays -- located 70 miles east of Nassau, on the southern tip of the island of Eleuthera, one of what's known as the Bahamas' "Out Islands" -- comprises 40 acres that offer more than 1.5 miles of white-sand beaches, food, water sports and even shopping.
Although more ...

Exclusive to Princess Cruises passengers on Eastern, Southern and Western Caribbean itineraries since 1992, Princess Cays -- located 70 miles east of Nassau, on the southern tip of the island of Eleuthera, one of what's known as the Bahamas' "Out Islands" -- comprises 40 acres that offer more than 1.5 miles of white-sand beaches, food, water sports and even shopping.
Although Princess uses a section of the island, the rest of Eleuthera is inhabited by a population of about 11,000 residents. The cruise line does run excursions to some of the smaller villages outside the complex, such as Rock Sound (known for its bottomless blow hole) and the picturesque fishing village of Tarpum Bay. (Although it's Eleuthera's best-known tourist draw, Harbour Island, with its tony shops and restaurants, is too far away to visit.)
But, for most people, Princess Cays remains a guilt-free beach day, where you can rent water toys, sign up for a snorkel excursion or simply hang out in a private cabana. Bring water shoes, as the shoreline by the water can have sharp rocks and coral fragments.

               

Princess Cays

Day two, Princess Cays,

We woke around 7:30 which wasn’t bad actually. We decided to go to Horizon Court for breakfast. It wasn’t quite as confusing this morning but I still got mixed up. When I was leaving I saw a lady with fruit salad but I had not found that when I was making my selections. We sat with a very nice couple. This was his first cruise but she had cruised before with her late husband. I seem to remember that they were from England.

After breakfast we decided to explore a bit more. We had not been to Horizon Terrace so away we went. It is a lovely spot right at the stern of the ship. I know we will enjoy eating there one day.

Then we decided to explore the walking trails since we could see it above the terrace. It is a track with one lane for walking and one for running. The sign says that 7 times around equals a mile. What is different is the fact that in several places there are different pieces of exercise equipment. You can walk a bit and then stop and stretch or lift or do push ups. We had not seen this on any other ships.

 Next we decided to explore the fitness center. OMG it is huge!! We did not count the machines but take my word for it , there are lots of them. We did find the scale and get weighed so we can sort of keep track of what happens in these next weeks.

Next we headed back to our room. The ship was anchoring and the tenders were making their way to shore. The day looked sort of mixed weather wise. One minute it looked like it might rain and the next it looked fine. After watching for a while and putting out the Canadian flag wind sock we changed into our swim suits and put towels into our Princess bag. Then we headed to the tenders.

 Our black card allowed us to board immediately. We took a seat on the top of the tender and enjoyed the 5 minute ride to the shore. We headed to the right and found a nice place to sit with some shade for me and some sun for Ken. We went into the water and picked our way across the coral lumps to a nice sandy spot. The water was warm and there were no waves, just ripples so it was great. I spent some time in the water then I left and got my camera and took pictures.

 Then I went back into the water but I took a more sandy route. It was very pleasant and I got visiting with some ladies. Then we got out of the water because we figured we had better be careful with this first exposure to the tropic sun.

As usual Princess outdid themselves with the food and drink. I had fruit and a peanut butter cookie with iced tea. Ken has a chicken burger, a brat, a cookie and some tea. By now we had been in the sun for about three hours so we decided to head back to the ship. Again we lucked out with a tender and were able to board right away and the tender returned within minutes. The weather behaved for us and even though clouds went over every once in awhile it did not rain while we were at the beach.

Back in our room I got a shower using that great bathtub. What a treat that was. That alone makes a mini suite worth it.

 Ken sat on the balcony in the shade and napped.  Soon it was time to get ready for dinner. Ken opened the wine and we each had a glass of our Zinfandel. About now Ken realized that he has forgotten to pack his bow tie and cummerbund. Tomorrow is formal night and what would he do?? Can a guy wear a colored shirt and tie with a tux??

We made our way to the dining room and we sat in a different seat so we got a different view of the room. It is so beautiful. Dinner was very good. There was a new sugar free dessert, a cheese cake and it will pass but it really wasn’t that good. This was Italian night and as usual they had Lemonchello. Much to our surprise and pleasure they have new shot glasses. We each got one and we requested a blue one. I am hoping they have then at the wine tasting and on the Island. I would love to have a complete set of these by the time this vacation ends.

We did not have to rush so we went to one of the shops to see if they sold Bow ties….. no luck. But the clerk suggested we check with customer service to see if they had them for rent. By now it was time to head for the theatre if we were to get a seat. We were in luck and we got a great seat in the middle. We relaxed and visited while we waited for the show.

The show was great. It was on Soul music and was high energy as is to be expected from a princess group. The music was basically from Motown. We really enjoyed it. The costumes were vibrant and vital and the music was very strong. The voices in this group are very good.

When that show was over we headed for the Vista Lounge and the performance by Eric Lynden. The lounge was quite full but we did find room in one of the tub chairs. They are hard to get into and out of and there was quite a bit of laughing. Another family had similar problems so we all had fun. Lynden was good but somehow not as good as last night.

At the end of the show we made our way to the International Café where I had a latte and Ken had a ginger ale. We listened to Colin Salter on the piano with vocals as well. He is good and people were dancing and enjoying the music. 

I decided to go to customer service since it was near here. I found out much to our pleasure that it is possible to rent a bow tie and cummerbund. Ken was very pleased to hear that. Those items will be delivered to our room tomorrow.

By now it was getting very late and time to end the day. We headed back to the suite and We filled out our orders for hor d’overs for tomorrow night, put out the do not disturb sign and called it a night.

 Day two came to an end.

Day One continued

The announcement came on the PA and we headed to the Live Studio for Muster.

We were seated next to a lovely couple from Virginia. We chatted while they checked people in. The interesting part about this muster was the sign language. There seems to be a large contingent of hearing impaired persons on board and there are ladies who sign for them. They had a close up of her on a tv screen and I spent the entire time watching her sign. She was really interesting to watch.

After muster we went back to the room and Olivia was there with our champagne. Also on the desk was a gift card that I had not noticed before. As well as the flowers from Kim we have received a 200.00 OBC from her parent company: American Discount Cruises. At first I thought it was a big mistake but when I went on line and checked it was no mistake. We have $200.00 more than we thought we had. Using Kim as our travel agent has been such a good move. I must remember to write to BJ and Henry and thank them again.

Ken’s luggage arrived and he hurriedly put things away and we changed for dinner. Sail away was great watching from our balcony. The ships horns played the theme from The Love Boat twice and I tried to get a video of it. People waved from the shore as we sailed out of the harbor. We toasted the trip, and enjoyed our champagne as we sailed away.

We are at a table for 8 and our waiters are Mel and Aladdin. The food was very good as usual. I had fruit and a cold soup and Basa filet. I had a Norman Love chocolate soufflé for dessert.

After dinner we made our way to the Princess Theatre but the show had already begun so we decided to shop instead. I got my magnet to add to the collection on our fridge, Ken replaced his anniversary pin and we got Tee for Leo and Emmie and a Sweat shirt for Noah. Now my shopping is done.

If you believe I won’t shop any more I have a bridge for you to buy, hee hee

Anyway we discovered more places we had not toured earlier.

 The fountain show was cancelled because of the wind. But on that deck I discovered a small bag of popcorn not yet claimed…. How perfect was that!

By now it was time for the second show so we proceeded to the theatre. As usual the music of the Princess \orchestra was entirely too loud.

The cruise director is Martyn Moss and he is great. He could easily earn a living as a stand up comic if he were not already employed. The actual comedian for the night was Eric Lynden and he was very good.

After the show we made our way to the International Café. I had a latte and Ken had a Mocha. We also had one peanut butter cookie.

 The band in the Piazza is called Rhapsody and they had the crowd eating out of their hands. They perform the classics and people we dancing and clapping and singing along. It was definitely high energy and we will certainly go there again.

By then it was almost eleven o’clock so it had been a very long event filled day and we were ready to call it a day and a night, so we went back to our room.

I continue to be impressed with this ship. It is grand in every way. It is so large and yet so intimate. We have not seen it all yet and I know we have walked miles. There are a lot of very young adults on this cruise which is not the usual demographic. There are also several families with small children.

There is a new TV and internet system that is a big improvement. I will tell you about it in another post.

There are so many things to report on, but the bottom line is that we just love the Regal Princess and we are looking forward to these 2 weeks even more than I  thought we would.

Regal Princess....WOW!!!

Regal Princess  WOW!!!

Much to my surprise I slept quite well and woke up at 7:50. That gave me time to be in the bathroom before the alarm woke Ken. I was able to check my e-mail and found personal messages which is always fun.

We dressed and went down to breakfast. It was actually quite good. We could have made waffles but in the interest of saving calories we ate sensibly.

Then we came back to our room and tried to get things organized. I discovered much to my chagrin that a bottle of nail polish had opened during the trip and a pocket of my carry on was now not useable. Since we did not have to weigh the cases things were rearranged with space rather than weight in mind. But there was the problem of the wine and the flowers. Ken managed to put bags between the 2 bottles so they would not clank but the flowers were a different story. I managed to use the cups that were in the bathroom and with the coffee machine as well as a plastic garbage bag to keep them in a bit of water. I had them in the tub over night but now to get them to the ship in good shape. It was not easy to keep the water from spilling while I juggled my carry on and my now very heavy suitcase and my purse on the way to the shuttle. But the flowers were very important and I managed somehow.

Once we got to the ship the luggage was checked and now I only had flowers and carry on to worry about, if you ignore boarding passes and passports that had to be shown. Soon the glass tipped and I had water in the bottom of the bag . We were placed in the preferred line for boarding and so many of the ladies admired my flowers and the men accused Ken of making them look bad.

When we were finally on board we were sent to deck 16 to have lunch at Horizon court because our rooms were not ready. When we finally got to one section of Horizon we found a seat. My arms were tired from struggling with everything. I could not manage to get the flowers to stand or lean and now the bag had begun to leak. So near and yet so far from getting them to my mini. Ken managed to stand them in a corner for me. I went to check out Horizon Court…..

WOW!! I cannot believe how big it is and how many sections it has and many choices there are. I cannot think of a thing that was not there. Too much and so overwhelming.

 I choose some scallops and some salad fixings, but I could have had anything. When I returned Ken had been joined at the table but a couple from Philly ( I think). Anyway they talk non-stop and it turns out that they are scheduled to be at our table in the dining room. That was such an amazing coincidence.

We left the buffet and headed for our room…

You cannot imagine how surprised and thrilled I was to walk into the room and there on the entry shelf was the Princess Bouquet, complete with orchids and ginger blossoms and bird of paradise….. Kim (our travel agent) had sent our a bon voyage gift of flowers. I would not have struggled with flowers had I known. But now our suite has flowers in the entry way and in the living room area.

Next came the thrill of the room. It is beautiful and large and bright and the accent color is blue. What more could you ask for???

Our room steward is Olivia. This is the first time our steward has been female. Boy is she good!! She had our room all set for us and asked when we wanted our champagne, she took our mini bar changes and offered to make the swaps for us, and then she took a list of what we wanted, like wine glasses and a vase for my flowers..

Then we left our room to tour the ship while we waited for luggage to arrive. The ship is amazing. I am certain it will take 6 or more pages in my book to show just a small fraction of the features of it. 

We found our dining room and the muster stations and the Princess Theatre. The theatre is wonderful. There are no obstructions at all and the seats are staggered so even vertically challenged people get a good view from everywhere.

When we returned to the room an hour or so later and my luggage had arrived. I got unpacked and got our door decorated. 

It was great to have so much storage space. There are shelves and drawers that we will not be using. AND there were tons of hangers. I could hang all of the tee shirts instead of bunching them onto a shelf.

Soon it was time to go to Muster stations.

On our Way

Where do I start?

So much has happened in the past 36 hours that I will have a hard time reporting on all of it.

I will try and I will begin at the beginning.

April 3, 2016, dawned early. The clock was set for four o’clock and of course we didn’t sleep soundly because we were afraid we would over sleep. Well I woke 10 minutes early and so we were in the car and on our way out of the driveway at 4:30. 

We had things printed out but for some reason the machine did not like Ken’s boarding pass. We got through the line up but the flight was boarding sooner than we expected as a result there was no time to have breakfast. I had to take my meds and you have to eat with them. We ended up grabbing a scone which we shared. I was choking down a dry scone and having a mouth full of water from a fountain to wash the pills down. We went through security and the plane was loading already. We went through the line and boarded and then the plane waited on the tarmac for over a half hour.

We got to Calgary without a problem,Ken had a window seat and the mountains were glorious in the sun.

 The wait in Calgary was uneventful. Then on to Toronto. We were not impressed. It was supposed to be so easy to switch to an international flight . Well they ran us around and around and we actually had our boarding passes and passports scanned three times. But we got to our gate just in time. We were almost the last people to board the plane. Again we were delayed. The plane was put into a line to be sprayed with de icer but when we finally made it to the front of the line it was decided that we didn’t need it.

We had pre ordered our meals on both the Calgary leg and the Toronto leg and that part went very smoothly. However when we got to Fort Lauderdale there was no announcement telling us where to pick up our luggage. People were wondering around all over the area until we finally found the correct carousel. We could not believe how easy it would have been to just walk off with some ones luggage.

It was hot and humid when we stepped outside even though it was almost nine at night. After a few trials and errors we managed to connect with the correct shuttle to take us to our hotel. There was no problem checking in .

 We asked for a 10:30 shuttle to take us to the ship. Then we walked over to the little mall and we got 2 bottles of wine and I got flowers. They had wonderful long lasting daisies and carnations and astemaria for 3 bunches for twelve dollars. It was difficult but I choose the colors I wanted and away I went, flowers in hand. I knew getting them to the ship would be difficult what with all of the other stuff I was carrying. But it would be worth it to have fresh flowers in the mini suite. Mini suites just have to have flowersJ

We crawled into our most comfortable beds in our beautiful clean quiet room and we set the clock for eight. We were afraid that we might sleep in: we were so very tired. We could not believe how exhausted we were. I guess we are getting OLDER!!

Tomorrow we board the Regal Princess.