Back at Princess Cays

Princess Cays,

We are back at Princess Cays. Funny how it is pronounced Keys and it is spelled cays.

The sun is shining and the sea is calm. There has been 2 occasions when we could not make this stop but fortunately this is not one of them. We went to the dining room for breakfast and we were seated with a nice couple and 2 older ladies. They were all very friendly and we enjoyed visiting with them.

I am happy to report that our account and our internet have both been straightened out and all is fine.

I had to recharge the battery on the camera. At this point I have 669 pictures taken

Today I have rented a floating chair. It is an inflated chair complete with a drink holder. I plan on sitting around all day. You float in the water and just relax. I am looking forward to that.

The day on the Cay was perfect. I just loved the Floater chair.

 We were in the water for an hour or more when it was time for lunch. It was the usual picnic type lunch of burgers and hot dogs and ribs.

 I saw the lady who made the straw purse that I bought for Emmie the last time we were here. I spoke to her and thanked her again. She seemed pleased to know her work was appreciated.

In all we were off the ship almost three hours. Then we came back here and relaxed and had a beer on the balcony. I showered to get off the salt. I find that the sea water makes you feel sticky.

We relaxed and had a glass of wine before we went to dinner.

This is Italian night so we were able to get 2 more glasses. We now have 6 and the goal is a set of eight. I am concerned that they will not have those on board the Island Princess. So I am making sure to have the set before we disembark.

As soon as dinner was finished we headed to the Vista Lounge. Troy Thirdgill was performing tonight. He did not disappoint. He is hilarious. I just wish I could remember some of his jokes to tell Len

We were back in our room to wait for the next show when Olivia arrived with the laundry that we sent out last night. The service was fast for sure.

We checked out what was called signature services at the SPA. My gift said the coupon was good only toward signature services. The only thing possible is a manicure. The certificate is for 50 dollars and most of the signature services are between 125and 399.00. I sure am glad that I am not a high maintenance person. At first I thought this would be a chance to have my first massage. I have changed my mind.

 These women who must have facials and massages etc. every month could do a lot of cruising on that money. I will get my nails done and be thankful for the prize.

Next we stopped at the International café. They have several new coffees. We checked out the menu and Ken ordered a double chocolate mocha fantasy or something similar….. I had my usual skinny latte. (Two new punches on our coffee card.) There are several new drinks you can get using your coffee card. That will be an adventure to try some of them.

We went to the Princess theatre for the production show. It was the one on soul music and it was just as good as it was last time. We thoroughly enjoyed it.

By now it was after eleven which is a late night for us so we headed back. On the way we stopped at the Piazza to watch a performance by the La Paire Duo. They do what they title Body Balancing. It is very hard to describe. His strength was amazing. He could just hold on to a pole and have his body straight out from there, He would have been perfect for the Rhythms of the Night performance. The pictures don’t do it justice; you will just have to take my word for it.

Another busy day has come to an end. Tomorrow is a sea day. We have ordered coffee and juice delivered to our room around 7:30…J

Second 7 days

Day	Port / Date	Arrive	Depart
1	Ft. Lauderdale, Florida Sunday, April 10		4:00 PM
2	Princess Cays, Bahamas Monday, April 11 (Tender Required) , (Wheelchair Access Limited)	9:00 AM	5:00 PM
3	At Sea Tuesday, April 12
4	Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands Wednesday, April 13 (Tender Required) , (Wheelchair Access Limited)	7:00 AM	4:00 PM
5	Costa Maya (Mahahual), Mexico Thursday, April 14	12:00 PM	8:00 PM
6	Island of Cozumel, Mexico Friday, April 15	9:00 AM	9:00 PM
7	At Sea Saturday, April 16
8	Ft. Lauderdale, Florida Sunday, April 17

Second Leg Begins

The Second Leg Begins,

We are awake and waiting for room service to bring breakfast. Today will be a mad house upstairs at the buffet with over three thousand people looking for one last meal before they disembark so we have decided to skip that scene. If you are disembarking you have no choice because the stewards need you out of the room so they can bet ready for the embarking passengers. All of the new rooms have to be ready by noon. But for those of us who are staying for the next cruise room service is available.

I am down to 12 minutes left on Ken’s account and 2 minutes left on my internet account so we did pretty well. I went on line to down load the last pictures this morning. I am so impressed with this new system. On other cruises it has taken minutes to download each picture but now it takes only seconds. I know you have noticed that I have pictures of almost every event we take part in. Hopefully it will be the same for this second leg.

When I checked this morning it appeared as if they had closed our account instead of carrying it over to this next part. I called and they have assured me that on their main computer it is correct and the message I received was standard. We will see when we check out and back in. I sure hope he is correct. It will be a real pain if he is not. We had a credit on our bill for this leg and they will be mailing a refund to us and we will have a bill for this leg…. Anyway we will see. I will check after noon when all should be right.

We have no plans to go ashore today. We plan to just enjoy the ship. I have looked out and I can see what appears to be the stacks of SEVEN different large cruise ships. With crew members and guests coming and guests leaving I figure that there will be about 60 thousand people visiting this area of the city in the next 5 hours. Plus the people who service their needs and the ones who live here…..HORRORS!!! We plan to see if we can get a Princess transfer to the airport next Sunday. We are not getting a plane but our rental car has to be picked up at the airport. I will let you know how we make out.

I also want to report that only one rose in my flower arrangement has wilted. The flowers are still lovely. I would be so disappointed if they looked great and I had to leave them on board. It is against the law to take any plants or seeds or meats ashore so my flowers would have to go into the garbage.

Breakfast arrived and it was good as usual.

 I have lots of hot coffee left so I filled my princess glass and I will take it along with me,

The procedure this morning is to take cruise cards, in transit cards, passports and customs forms and proceed to the Princess Theatre. When all of the in transit passengers have been checked we will sign back in and then we will be good to go. The possible hitch will happen if one of the in transit passengers does not follow the rules and does not appear in the theatre. No one can leave the theatre until everyone is checked. There have been times when it went smoothly and there have been times when we all waited for more than a half hour for a dummie to appear. Some people believe that rules do not apply to them. We will see how it works out this time.

It went well … However this was the day that there was a mandatory check of all of the fire doors and the water proof doors as well as the smoke removal from the Atrium. That meant we were in the Princess theatre for well over an hour. But they tried to entertain us by telling jokes acknowledging birthdays and anniversaries etc. So it was not tiresome. It was quite pleasant as a matter of fact.

 Then we returned to our room and checked the tour tickets and schedules etc. Then we went toHorizon Court for lunch. We ate with a very nice lady whose name was Ramond Lyons. She is originally from Quebes, currently lives in FFL and she is 93 years old. She looked to be in her seventies. She was so sharp and so interesting to visit with.

After lunch we came back to call Jenny, and Budget rent a car for next week.

Then we selected shore excursions for the Cayman Islands and rentals for Princess Cay. I took the forms down to the shore excursion office, dropped off the Consummate Hosts forms, checked on the new internet minutes and returned here.

It is a glorious day. Because we were on the ship last week we do not have to take part in the muster drill. That is always such a pleasure. After 34 cruises Muster is very boring.

We went topside to explore and get a good spot to watch the sail away. There was a fun atmosphere with people dancing and drinking and visiting. I met a real nice couple from Ottawa.

Just before five I headed down to the room and got ready for dinner.

There were six of us at the table and the main course was Prime Rib. After dinner Ken and I headed for the theatre to enjoy the comedian, Troy Thirdgill. We had seen him before on another cruise. I can’t remember when but he was really funny and we enjoyed a good laugh.

Then we returned to our room. Ken decided he wanted to put his feet up. We had received an invitation to an art auction. 

It was promoted as a chance to win a thousand dollars worth of prizes. I decided last minute that I would go down.

 I went down and I won twice. 

I won the first prize which was a 50 dollar SPA certificate and I also won the last prize which was a pendant and earring set of Misty Topaz from Effy Jewelry.

What a way to end the day.!!

Tomorrow we are back at Princess Cays.

Final Leg of the First Cruise

Final day of the first leg,

Generally speaking this has been a quiet relaxing day.

We did not order room service. We decided we would get up when we woke up and not make plans.

I woke around seven so I got busy and did the blog for yesterday. Then when Ken woke we got ready and went up to the Horizon Court.

 This place continues to amaze me. I went around and took pictures. There were 24 different displays of food choices for breakfast. I chose normal items, toast scrambled eggs and 2 rashers of bacon. Then I returned and got a cinnamon roll, a muffin and 2 strawberries. Ken and I each had half of the muffin and the cinnamon roll.

Next we looked around Horizon terrace. We will have to eat there one day. It is a perfect location.

We returned to our room and relaxed. I watched a bit of MSNBC. They were doing summaries of the US political situation. Ken hates that coverage so he sat outside on the balcony watching for flying fish.

Then it was time to go up to the fountain pool area. We wanted to see the Sexy Legs competition. It was so much fun to watch.

 We looked at the throngs of people and realized how much we enjoy our balcony.

 So many people were trying to get one last sunburn. I cannot believe how many people are burned to a crisp. Haven’t they heard about skin cancer?

The line up for the Trident Grill was entirely too long. Our thought was to get lunch and then take it to our room and eat it on the balcony. We took one look at the line and decided to get room service. We came back and called room service. In 20 minutes we were enjoying a great lunch in the peace and quiet of our own room. Lunch was tasty and peaceful.

 While waiting and while eating we enjoyed a documentary on the building of a cruise ship. They took it from an idea to the in service ship. It was truly informative. This TV system called “Princess at Sea” is really very good. They have movies and documentaries as well as TV that is on demand. You can watch some of a program and then just resume where you left off later. We watched some before lunch and finished watching it later. When you see what goes into the production of a ship you can help but be amazed that you can sail on it for such a small amount of money.

At three o’clock was the” Grapevine Wine Tasting”. This is an event that is free of charge to the Elite card holder. I went hoping they were giving away those lovely shot glasses. But no luck! They had 5 different wines for us to sample. As usual I enjoyed the white wine and the dessert wine but I still have not developed a taste for red wines.

After the tasting we checked out the Gelato spot. You can use your coffee card to get a treat there. We are going to try it next week. I discovered they have a sugar free one, which was a pleasant surprise.

Next we checked out the Norman Love Chocolate shop. They also have a sugar free variety.

They were serving “Royal Tea”,( we would call it high tea) in the center of the Atrium. I was amused to see a grandmother explaining to one of her grand daughter that you should hold your little finger this special way when drinking tea from a china cup. Lots of fun.

Ken enjoyed some of the Masters while we waited for time to go to dinner. We were both so glad to know we did not have to pack…. We have another week on board the beautiful Regal Princess.

Soon it was time for dinner. There was the usual parade of the Baked Alaskian and the recognition of the food servers.

We ended our evening by checking out the Fireflies and the Mardi Gras Party in the Piazza.

We went topside to see if there would be a water fountain show but there is too much wind.

I grabbed a bag of popcorn and we came back to our room. The log of the cruise was in our box. We put out our Room Service for breakfast order and the “Do Not Disturb” sign.

First of Two in a Row

We will have 2 sea days before we get back to Fort Lauderdale and the end of the first 7 day segment.

As you can tell from the blog we are having a wonderful cruise. I thought I wouldn’t like the Regal because she is so big but it is amazing how seldom it feels crowded. Boy is she every beautiful. Glamorous is the word that best describes her. The secret to having it not feel crowded is having so many activities. There are between 3 and 5 things happening always. Plus there are the pools and the decks etc. so it spreads people around. You only realize how many are on board when it is the end of a show and everyone is on the move to another event.

My computer crashed this morning and I thought that was the end of it. It kept trying without success to restart. Finally with the help of system restore it started. Since this has Windows 7 in it, I wonder how much longer I can rely on it. I don’t use it often but it is several years old.

We had decided to have breakfast on our balcony this morning. When room service arrived we were up and ready for them this day. It was tasty as usual.

 We left our room around 9:30 to give Olivia a chance to clean. We sat on the Promenade deck in our little favored spot for awhile.

Then I went inside to check out the stores and watch the line dancing lessons. I did not buy anything but I discovered that they now have the magnet that I wanted so I will have to get one soon before they are gone again. There was a wonderful string quartet performing in the Piazza. They are called  POLONIA string quartet and by the accent of the leader I would guess Eastern European.

We met the Cisco’s in the Symphony dining room for lunch. They seem to be very nice. They had a lot of questions about cruising and about Princess Cruises. It was fun to give them lots of information. We were together for almost 2 hours. This may be their first cruise but it won’t be their last.

Room service arrived with the canapés for the evening. This is the night of the Captain’s Circle Party and of course that means formal night. We enjoyed a glass of our Zinfandel while dressing for dinner and keeping an eye on the Masters.

This is the night that they serve escargot and I thoroughly enjoyed it. As usual I gave Ken my lobster tail and he enjoyed that as well. All 8 of us were at the table tonight which had been the exception rather than the rule. There was another Normal Love dessert tonight. It was a new one for me. Chocolate and raspberries, a great combination.

We headed right to the Captain Circle Party and while waiting in line we visited with 2 very nice couples. They were both celebrating 50 years of marriage. We did not win the champagne. We learned that there are only 240 black cards on this cruise. The most traveled passengers were Sharon and Robert Amoruso. They have 1281 sea days and she got a certificate for 125 cruise. They are from Florida… where else would they be from??. Living in a cruise port has its advantages.

During the party Ken noticed that my ankles were quite badly swollen so we decided I should return to the room and put my feet up until it was time for the ten o’clock show. Well you know what happened… I ended up deciding to stay right where I was. We will see that show next cruise.

A very nice and event filled sea day has come to a close.

For the passengers doing only one cruise tomorrow is their last day and time to pack. Several times we commented that we were very glad it was not us, so glad we are staying for another  week.

St.Maarten, :-)

St Maarten,

Another surprising morning. We did not order room service or a wake up call for this morning. The ship is due to dock at seven, we have no excursion planned and that meant a relaxing morning.

We woke up around 6:30 and noted how slowly the ship was moving. Before we knew it we were back to sleep.

At around 7:30 I opened my eyes and much to my surprise there was a ship and lots of balcony just opposite the balcony doors. We sleep with the drapes open and so while we were sleeping the ship docked and directly across from us was the Celebrity ship. I got up and closed the sheers and then got my robe and went out to have a peek. Well there were 2 ships across from us.

 The celebrity ship was there but the Norwegian Gem was there also. I had a big smile when I looked and saw that there was a Canadian flag on one of the opposite balconies. We have been putting a flag on our balcony when we are in port for a long time. But we have always put it on the outside and we are forever fighting with it because the breeze blows it to the inside. Well these smart people mount their flag on the inside of their plexi glass balcony. We have moved ours. The problem of a blowing flag has been solved. Why didn’t I think of that before???

Suddenly there was one of those famous tropical downpours. We were surprised that the rain did not fall on our balcony. All stayed dry.

We dressed and went to breakfast. To our surprise we sat with a couple we had met before. Christine from our dinner table was also seated there, so it was like old home week.

 Again I was surprised to look out the window of the dining room and see The Royal Caribbean, Journey of the seas. So I guess there are 4 very large ships in this port today. That means about 20 thousand people!! Yikes. There is a small shopping area at the end of the dock and I’ll bet it will be crazy!!

After breakfast we checked out the internet café because I wanted to know how to set up Ken’s account. I have used most of my minutes so now I need to open the second account

Back in the room I set up the new account, answered a couple of e-mails and wrote and posted the Blog for St.Thomas.

People watching from the balcony is very interesting. Hundreds of people of all ages and sizes are on the move. It is blazing hot, we don’t have an excursion, we have been here before and the Star Wars movie is showing in the Vista lounge. Guess what I choose to do.

We decided to go to Horizon Court for lunch. I had taco chips and salsa and Ken had a vegetable salad.

While topside we discovered that there are 5 large ships in port, not 4. The Royal Caribbean has the Nagivator and the Journey in port, We also learned that it is the Celebrity Summit. So that will add another 5 thousand people to the number of visitors.

I went to the Vista and Ken went to work on his tan. I really enjoyed Star wars. There were only a couple of dozen people there. It was almost a private screening.

After the movie I stopper at Crooners. Because it is happy hour from 3 till 4 I got 2 Ultimate Mai Tais and brought them back to the room.

Ken was watching the Masters. We sat out on the balcony and people watched and enjoyed our first cocktail of the cruise. We discovered much to our surprise that 4 of the suites on this side of the Celebrity Summit have hot tubs. I had no idea that there were cruise suites with hot tubs. But I guess why not? Imagine sitting in your own hot tub under a tropical moon. Now that is being spoiled.

I took 2 of Ken’s shirts down to the laundry area and ironed them. Just a few wrinkles from the packing.

We dressed for dinner and headed down to the dining room. Tonight there were only 4 of us at dinner. We have no idea what happened to Christine and Roy.

After dinner we roamed a little. We found the pictures that have been taken so far. We didn’t buy any . We have so many pictures that we certainly don’t need more.

Then we came back to the room because I needed to change my shoes and Ken wanted to ditch the tie.

Then we headed to the Princess Theatre to catch the 8:45 show.

Tonight’s show featured Nathan Foley and he was just as good if not better than he had been 2 nights ago. He has the audience eating out of his hand, singing and applauding every step of the way. At one point he invited one of the ladies to come on stage and he sang a love song to her.

 The hearing impaired people were at the show. They sat off to the left side of the theatre and their signer was seated at the base of the stage and a light was on them. There are 2 different ladies accompanying this group. They are truly amazing. I really hope I get to see them and tell them how much I admire what they do.

Before the show we visited with the people seated next to us. They are a very well travelled couple and they have done more than one world cruise. They are staying on the Regal and travelling on to Copenhagen. I was surprised by their travels because they look younger than Ken and I . I guess they travelled early.

At the end of the show we debated about what we should do next. There was a Love Boat Disco Deck Party taking place on deck 16 midship at the Fountain Pool. But we heard the music coming from the Piazza and we decided to do that. Colin Salter had a good crowd dancing and singing and enjoying his talent. We had our usual special coffee with the addition of our Courvoisier.

By the time we finished our beverage it was already 11:30 so we decided to end our day and head back to our cabin.

Tomorrow is a sea day and a formal night with the Captain Circle cocktail party.