Half Moon Cay, Bahamas

So we were successful in securing a tender in to Half Moon Cay!  It is never a guarantee even though this private Bahamian island, owned by the cruise line, is on the itinerary. If conditions are rough they can just bypass the island. Mom, LC and I were on the first tender over here around 8:30 am. Last tender back to the ship is at 2:30. Six precious hours!

The sand is beautifully smooth and white and the ocean is turquoise. 

Mom walking back towards our clam shell. 

The clam shell provides a bit of shade and a place to put our belongings.

 
The clam shell proved not only to provide shade from the sun, but shelter from the rain. About two hours after we arrived a heavy shower lasted for about 10 minutes. LC was in the clam shell and I was just returning so we scrambled and got all our belongings under cover. Mom stayed dry while shopping in the gift shop. 

After the rain the clouds moved along and cleared way for the blue sky. Mom went for a swim and LC and I went for he island BBQ lunch. We were hungry as we had eaten breakfast in the room at 6:15 am. 

After lunch I went for a snorkel. Half Moon Cay has beautiful white sand beach that is silky smooth under your feet, but fairly limited snorkelling choices. I  saw lots of Sargeant Majors and a white fish that swam along the ocean floor and camouflaged itself in the ocean floor whenever I cast a shadow on it - like a great blue whale lurking above! My most exciting find was a barracuda!  A fellow snorkeller pointed him out for me!

Mom and LC had had enough heat by 1 pm and took a tender back to the ship. I stayed until 2:10 when I caught te second last tender back. 

So the sign outside the beachside bar about sums it up - "I wish I could stay here forever".  But life back in Canada beckons and we have families who we love and miss. (Though we very much appreciate having missed the -25 C weather and foot of snow this week).   I am pretty sure are suitcases are much closer to the 50 pound limit for the return flight!  (My Puerto Rican cowboy boots didn't help matters!)

We did enjoy dinner at the Pinnacle but I thought the Tamarind was better value for an extra pay meal. 

Tomorrow is just a matter of disembarking and flying home. We are flying through Houston and Dallas received snow today so we will see if our flights are impacted!

Last Day at Sea

So December 5th (yesterday) after I signed off we went to the Tamarind restaurant. Was it good food!  We paid extra to eat there - and worth it!

Here are some pictures of the food!

Then Mom and I went to last night's Las Vegas entertainer and a Canadian piano bar entertainer who were both excellent. 

Today, was our second and final day at sea (praying that we get into Holland America's private island called Half Moom Cay tomorrow so that today is the final sea day). Because if the weather isn't good tomorrow we won't be able to tender in by little boat to the island and we will have another unscheduled day at sea. 

This morning we had trivia and shopping on the Lido deck for Mom. I went to a rehearsal for the production show on tonight's mainstage. I like seeing behind the scenes life on board the ship. Earlier this morning I had seen a screening of a film showing how the cruise line deals with all the waste on board the ship. 

At 1 pm LC and Mom watched the ice carving demonstration by the pool and I went to watch the movie based on the book called Mortal Instruments. After the movie Mom and I went for a hot tub and a swim. There was even a deck chair available poolside for Laurie to lounge in. If this were a Princess cruise it would be unbelievable for a chair to be available poolside on a day at sea!  Guess Holland America caters to a different demographic!

We got all dressed up for our second formal night and went to three different photographers for pictures. Hopefully one turns out!  Supper was Mom's favourite - surf and turf. A nice little steak and a lobster tail!  Dessert was amazing too. 

After supper we played trivia and scored in the middle of the pack - not the best and not the worst. Then watched the production show, called "In Concert", I had seen in rehearsal. Best show of the cruise with lots of recognizable songs by Anre Boticelli, Celine Dion, Elton John, Cher...  We then went to the piano bar to sing Christmas carols we sat on he seats right around the piano tonight. A very fun day!

Mom's pictured her with a gorilla towel:

Piano Bar view!

St. Thomas

The weather dictated my choice of activity for today - though Mom and LC had it determined months ago - we went shopping!  Lucky for us when the downpour really happened - we were in Drake's Passage where a number of reasonably priced jewellery stores could be found. We were definitely trapped inside this covered walkway - but we could comparison shop quite easily. Even with the rain, the temperature was a lovely 29 C. As with most days, I was the Sherpa, hauling everybody's purchases and the umbrella.  I have been called Cinderella once or twice on the ship. LC said, "If you are Cinderella, then that makes me the ugly step sister!"

This is my view as I sit on the verandah typing!

My running shoes were on this same verandah drying from yesterday's walk around downtown San Juan. Unbelievably they got wetter with the driving rain today. I hope they dry by the time I have to pack my suitcase!

LC is now reviewing all her purchases with us and very happy with them indeed!  I bought a set of bamboo sheets for our master. My children each bought a set of sheets last year at Cariloha and I can hardly pry them out of their hands to wash them. 

So I think Mom is enjoying her week of pampering. She went across to the Neptune lounge to pour her own tea this afternoon and she didn't know how to work the machine - I laughed and gave her instructions saying Cinderella might not always be available! This was evidenced by the fact that she "ordered" us to change her hair appointment because it wasn't going to work with her onboard schedule!  Truth be known, we are enjoying and laughing while pampering her. 

This picture is of Mom and LC downtown.

This last picture is of Mom and I reboarding the ship. I want to upload this blog entry before I leave AT & T service !

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Mom, LC and I enjoyed breakfast in the Pinnacle today. We decided to walk the deck today. Three times around deck 3 equals a mile. Mom went around once, LC twice and I went three times. It was easy to pick up and drop off the circuit because there are deck chairs strategically placed all around. I didn't want to play myself out because a) I generally try to take the stairs all the time and b) I would be kayaking for three hours later in the day.

Trivia was much more successful because we joined up with friends I had made at Cruise Critic ( an online cruise discussion forum). The end result was a whopping 11 out of 15. LC knew the maker of the drug Viagra and I knew the lawless mountainous country of Afghanistan!  I think the other 9 answers came from our team mates!

We pulled into the port of San Juan, Puerto Rico today at 1 pm. After lunch at table 131 again ( with a great view out the aft of the ship) we were able to watch the Eurodam pull into port. Mom decided to lay down for a nap and LC and I decided to try our hand at shopping, never mind the need for an umbrella. A little rain never deterred the Hill girls from shopping!

Well our 30% chance of rain turned into a torrential downpour!  I left LC with the umbrella and ran through puddles above my ankles to get back to the ship in time to catch the bus for my kayaking excursion ! My paper bag disintegrated and dumped all of my purchases into a puddle. I should  have seen that one coming. I just kept running through the rain with the contents of my bags in my arms! 

I quickly shed my soaked clothes, changed into a bathing suit and dry (for now) clothes, grabbed my excursion bag and raced off the ship. An hour later on the bus, the rain is letting up!

We got off the bus about 1.5 hours later and were at a site where you can see bioluminescent bacteria in the water. We all paddled in double kayaks - I was paired up with Julie from Tennesee. Her husband Greg and daughter Lindsey were in another boat. So you have to understand that you are setting off in this bay in the dark because the sun has set, there is no moon and there is cloud cover to boot. Each boat is identified front and back with a single glow in the dark bracelet. Each life jacket is identified with one too - presumably if you capsized they could find you in the water!  And then you get into the mangrove where the trees grow up and over you so it is like you are paddling in a cave!  You follow the little glow in the dark bracelet single file. Sadly for us the boat in front of us lost sight if the boat in front of them and they pulled over to the right to wait rescue from one of the guides!  Julie and I persevered in the now BLACK mangrove and tried to catch up to the rest of the group. 

We found them - In the open bay with our guide shouting "Turtles" to direct us away from other groups. Each company was color coded - we were looking for blue but literally RAN into some orange boats that were returning from the bay! Nobody  capsized and they are pretty tough plastic boats!

We caught up with the group, heard the ecological lesson why the water has these glow in the dark features - like bubbles in the water when your paddle enters the bay. Reasons are warmth of Puerto Rican waters, mangrove and 5% more salinity than the ocean creates a favourable environment to glow. Neatest thing was guide disturbing a big fish that swam under our boat and created a wake of glow in the water bubbles. Spotted a big iguana in the tree when our guide shone his light on It!  Whole paddling experience start to finish was only 90 minutes. 

Mom dragged a freezing and damp LC who had returned from shopping soaked to the knees, to a number of social activities on the ship - eating, entertainment and "name that tune". They returned to meet me at the room around 10 pm roaring with laughter!  They were very pleased with their 32 out of 40 score. 

Mom just said "I'm trying to sleep to which LC just replied "well get used to it, we've been trying to read for four days" - to which Mom and I burst out laughing. I guess Laurie and I are making a bit of racket for Mom in our room. 

The view as we pulled out after dark!

Grand Turk

This morning we docked at Grand Turk in the Turks and Caicos at 8 am. Our first port - woohoo !

We walked across the hall to the Neptune lounge to grab some breakfast. I had lots of fresh fruit, cottage cheese, muesli and some tea and ate it on our deck. Mom, LC and I walked off the ship between our ship and the Carnival Breeze that had arrived at port ahead of us. As we were walking off the dock I new the developed party zone of Margueritaville was on the left so we veered right. We promptly found 3 lounge chairs on the beach facing the water underneathe some palm trees. Heaven!  We met somebody from Sherwood Park today who has been on the Eurodam for the last cruise and they had poor weather. She said this was her first time floating in the ocean after 10 days in the Caribbean!  I hope this beautiful weather holds!

Mom and LC were content to sit in the chairs and watch the world go by. I grabbed my snorkel and mask and went in the water on the far side of the dock. I promptly saw a variety of fish so knew there was hope for some worthwhile snorkelling. I ended up seeing the blue Dory fish from Finding Nemo and the colourful clown fish. Beautiful warm water. 

When I returned to the chairs Mom was content to sit and enjoy the view while Laurie and I shopped in the local shops. There was nothing we had to have!  When we returned to the chairs again Mom was keen to go for a swim.  I helped her get into the water because the surf was pretty strong and could knock you over. We floated for about 30 minutes and then ventured back to shore. 

Our stomachs told us it was time to head back to the ship for lunch. 

After lunch on the Lido deck, Mom had a nap and LC and I went back on shore.  I walked to the far point of the island to see the less commercial parts of Grand Turk. I picked up a conch shell that was a bit banged up, but worth keeping. The Carnival ship departed while we were ashore ( and the all aboard blast signals made Laurie nervous we were going to miss our all aboard call at 2:30.  This was my view of the ship from the tip of the island!

 I like this picture of LC with the Eurodam in the background. 

Trivia wasn't quite as painful today with a score of 7 out of 15. I could have used my science prone husband and daughter for the chemistry question !

Day at Sea

This morning LC woke up at 6:50 and headed to the Lido buffet to pick up coffee and a bran muffin for herself. She stopped in at the Neptune lounge to pick up a coffee and bran flakes for Mom. Once Mom saw the fruit parfaits she mentioned to us that is what she'd like us to bring to her for breakfast tomorrow!  

LC and I went to the pinnacle for breakfast and enjoyed eggs Benedict !

For fun, the three of us went to a floral arranging class. Iwan did the demonstrating and Samantha did the talking. This is the workshop in progress. 

J had told me to buy some flowers for the stateroom if I wanted (wonderful husband that he is)! So I asked Iwan if I could buy the bouquet he had just created and he said yes. So the bouquet was delivered to our room this afternoon!

We had table 131 assigned to us for lunch and we had a great view out the back of the ship !

I always try to avoid the buffet and choose meals in the dining room as they offer sensible size portions (contrary to what somehow ends up loaded on my plate at the buffet). Mom ordered 3 courses off the dining room menu and then shook her head when each course arrived because she just wanted a "Taste!"  We decided that Mom should go to the buffet so she'll choose just a little spoonful of everything she wants to try !

We raced to trivia time before dessert was even offered. After getting a whopping 5 out of 15 we decided we need to sit within earshot of a smart looking group next time!   Can you believe the farm girl didn't know how many acres were in a mile?

Mom wanted to play "Name that tune" so I planted her at the Lidi Seaview pool so she could fend fend for herself. A young whippersnapper ( say 50 or so) took pity on Mom and gave her some of the answers to augment her solid score of 2 out of 15.  Thanks, but I had enough humiliation after the trivia game to want to offer Mom support with guessing song names too!

Tonight was formal night so we dressed in our finest. I really enjoyed the chocolate soufflé for dessert!

We tucked Mom into bed and LC and I went to the Avalon Orchestra to enjoy the entertainment.  

We have an early arrival in the port of Turks and Caicos tomorrow morning so we'll call it a night. 

Embarkation

Mom and LC and I took a cab to Ross this morning. Mom was on the hunt for pyjamas as she forgot hers back under her pillow in my guest room. I was shopping for a bathing suit and dresses, because they are so reasonably priced in the States. I had no luck in the bathing suit department but found 3 dresses for about $25 each!

We returned to the Marriott Harbor Beach Resort to check out of our room and await our shuttle to the ship. Loved the hotel but would have appreciated a queen sized bed. Sleeping with my sister in a double bed took me back about four decades to my childhood days!  The bed seemed quite a bit bigger in those days!

Lineups to get on board the ship seemed almost non-existent at noon when we boarded. We were thrilled with the size of our room. Right across the hall is the Neptune lounge where they have a concierge available for any of our questions and a constant supply of hors doeuvres and desserts and a cup of hot tea always at the ready!

We have enjoyed two delicious meals on the ship and are now awaiting a "Meet the Captain" evening and I can hardly keep my eyes open!  That must have something to do with waking up at 4 am MST and being on the move today!

My sister decided to have a shower and let out a shriek when she discovered just how much water leaked out of the shower. I went and asked Riyo, our cabin steward for some more towels to mop up the excess water. As LC is showered and in pyjamas laying on her bed, I am pretty sure it will be just Mom and I at the 9:30 production show of "Listen to the Music"!

Below is a picture of the Hydrotherapy pool. That is as close as I'll get to being in the pool as it is an extra charge to use it!

Mom just said she doesn't quite know if she will last until 9:30.  We'll see how heavy our eyelids become!

Ft Lauderdale

We checked into our wonderful suite

On Holland America's Eurodam.  Our wonderful oversized balcony, called the porch by Mom, is where she and my sister are residing. Just trying to send a few pictures before I get out if cell phone range.

Pesky Receipts

So my sister is already digging through her purse looking for her first purchase receipt. We have only made it to Houston!  The receipt was for 2 candy bars and a lanyard. Evidently her husband will want receipts for all purchases made.  So now she has actually found the receipt - sadly that location is in a garbage can and she was unwilling to dumpster dive!  Plan B is to return to the place of purchase to ask for a duplicate receipt!  At this very moment. L has returned with a handwritten receipt!

She only inconvenienced about 12 people in the lineup behind her to produce said receipt. The question is, will her husband even believe it is a real receipt?

Preparing for our Cruise

My packing room doubles as my guest room. As my Mom was arriving tonight, I needed to move everything from the bed to the suitcase, so that she had a place to sleep. 

You see my Mom, my sister and I are going on a trip to celebrate my Mom's 80th birthday. Mom and I will have some girl time together getting manicures and pedicures tomorrow morning. A little last minute shopping in the afternoon, and then we fly out the next day. 

Fort Lauderdale, here we come!  Stay tuned for updates!

Chateau Lake Louise Day 2

Today we went to the official kickoff for the Ski for Heart event at 10 am. We all gathered by the boathouse at Lake Louise. It was good to have Daryl Janz back as the official MC for the event. This is the 23rd year he has acted as the MC.

As we do every year, we crossed country skied the lake loop. The first two Kilometres are on the lake skiing away from the chateau and the last two are back through the trees in rolling terrain. JG and P have really improved their cross country skiing over the years and we completed the loop in one hour 10 minutes. It was so much fun to have the Acquroff's to ski with too!

J did the usual second loop with Norm for more exercise! The kids and Sarah and I went back to the boathouse for some amazing hot chocolate! It was fabulous with real whipped cream, chocolate shavings and marshmallows to top it off!

We then headed back to our rooms and ate lunch. We used the kettle to add boiling water to instant noodles along with other classic lunch staples - pita bread, red pepper dip, turkey bites and baby carrots.

After lunch, J and I and Norm and Sarah set off to ski the Fairview loop - an intermediate trail about 9 km in length. Always lovely to do this loop through the trees! I was feeling a bit low on energy as we were doing some of the elevation gain! All four kids went tobogganing by the chateau while we skied. When they came back to the room they were dripping with wet snow pants and coats!

J and I had time to stretch and shower before we went down to the Ski for Heart reception at 4 pm. Nice to see some familiar faces in the room. One family we have seen for at least the past 10 years was in attendance. Sadly Jan's dad had passed away from a massive stroke he suffered on Christmas Eve this year. They are returning to the Ski For Heart with a renewed sense of purpose to fundraise. The man who has been the top fundraiser for at least the past 16 years, raised $26,000 and counting this year!

On a side note, the chateau provided some wonderful appetizers at today's reception including a mushroom curry soup in a shot glass and bacon wrapped scallops! We were really pleased to see the Heart & Stroke Foundation went back to basics this year and promoted families being active in the great outdoors - not Wii gaming systems and yoga classes.

We then gathered our kids and joined the Acquroff's in the Poppy Brasserie for dinner. The meal was tasty, expensive and made more affordable in that they took more than 30 minutes to bring the kids dessert, so we were not charged for dessert!

J went out for a moonlight snowshoe, Norm went for a skate, the kids are exploring the hotel and Sarah and I returned to the quiet of our rooms. Kids have just returned from exploring, J, from snowshoeing and I am wrapping up my blog!

Photo 1: Chateau Lake Louise from on the lake!

Photo 2: JG & P on the lake!

Photo 3: The group in the trees on the Lake Loop!

Photo 4: J and I on Moraine Lake Road on the Fairview Loop trail!

Lake Louise

Here we are back at Chateau Lake Louise for the annual Ski For Heart. Our family loves this weekend! I first started participating in this Heart and Stroke fundraiser in 1989. We started coming out here as a family in 1997. Since then we have only missed participating in this wonderful winter weekend getaway maybe 3 times.

We ask friends and family to sponsor us by making a donation to the Heart and Stroke Foundation. This is the link to our personal fundraising page.

https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=1040607&supId=344592333

We always arrive Friday and go for a skate after supper. We are thrilled to have our good friends join us this year as they have for many years in the past decade.

Photo 1: JG and P posing by the Lakeview Lounge ready for a skate.

Photo 2: The group posing by the ice castle on the famous Lake Louise!

Photo 3: JG, P & G on the ice!

Disembarkation - Day 23

Our dream vacation is done! We pulled in to Ft Lauderdale at 6:30 am today. Many other ships were pulling in too. The Ruby Princess was already docked at Pier 2 so we were assigned Pier 21. I can see a Celebrity ship and Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas as we wait in the Crooner's Bar in comfortable seats before we disembark at 10:30. I have learned the Allure and the Oasis are definitively the biggest ships on the seas today. (Not the Independence of the Seas as I previously thought!)

We had breakfast with Tom and Sherrie from Petawawa, Ontario. We always learn so much from others who have cruised more than us. Princess has a Captain's Circle program. We have been classified with blue cruise cards - that means first time Princess travellers. After one cruise you are classified as gold. After 5 cruises or 50 days of cruising, you become platinum. After 15 cruises, you become elite.

More perks come along with each category. Once you hit platinum, like Tom and Sherrie after this cruise, you get free Internet minutes (250 free minutes for this 10 day cruise I believe) and other perks. Tom told us you get double credits if you stay in a suite. You also get credits for cruises as short as one or two days and I guess that is a contentious issue for some cruisers!

I would like the free laundry service that comes along with being an elite member!

In about 45 minutes we will assemble in the Michelangelo dining rom and disembark with our group. We will then grab a taxi bound for the airport and hop aboard our flight via Houston home.

My sister has already told me that she bought some bread, milk and juice for us and left them in our fridge. That will be appreciated for breakfast before school tomorrow!

Thanks for following along on my blog. I wrote it entirely on my iPhone and certainly made some mistakes along the way, but it forced me to actually write a diary that I will reflect on and wonder just what I did for 20 days onboard the Emerald Princess!

Never before have I felt so pampered on a vacation! I have added a picture of my hand, reasonably well manicured 3.5 weeks after I got the manicure. If you give up cooking, cleaning and housework for 3 weeks a manicure can last an incredibly long time! Thank you Cesar, Victor and Janice (and so many others) for making this a true vacation for this full time Mom and part time Event Planner!

Photo 1: My hand

Photo 2: Celebrity Silhouette docking next to the Emerald Princess

Princess Cays - Day 22

What a beautiful final day in the Caribbean! Lovely warm air temperature (31 C I believe) and blue sky as far as the eye could see. Because we had been to Princess Cays on the last cruise, we knew what to expect and how light to pack our day bag!

After breakfast we went back to our staterooms to pack. We needed to keep out clothes for today at the beach, tonight at dinner and tomorrow for the flight home. Luggage is to be put out in the hallway before dinner tonight to prepare for disembarkation tomorrow morning.

We caught a tender over to Princess Cays about 10:30 in the morning. We all snorkelled before lunch.  JG & P decided they wanted to return to the ship so we saw them safely get on board a tender to return to the ship. J & I found a different snorkelling area at the far end of the beach. I left J and went to the main swimming area of the beach to snorkel at the end of the dock. Because many people feed the fish there, I saw a selection of larger fish.

I went to the buffet lunch at 1:40 and learned the buffet lunch on the island is served from 11:30 -1:30. Last time we were under norovirus restrictions so the staff had to serve our food in the buffet lines. Consequently there were long line ups and they kept the food stations open until the last tender departed.

I decided to go out of the gated area and shop at the local craft market. I bought a bracelet and a Bahamas Tshirt - both very traditional souvenirs!

J and I returned to the ship before 2:30 - the last tender was to be at 3:15. We went to our final trivia today with Lexi and the unthinkable happened - we scored a perfect 20! What a great way to end our trip! We were tied with 3 other teams for top spot so they asked a tiebreaker question. Do you know how many miles of blood vessels are in the human body? A shocking 62,000! We didn't guess the closest number (without going over, like on the Price Is Right!) so we didn't technically win but we felt the game was fun!

We had a lovely last supper with Cesar and Victor and said farewell. J and I went to an unremarkable closing show with an illusionist and comedian. I successfully printed our boarding passes in only 13 minutes tonight! And it seems I didn't have to pay for luggage on our return trip - hooray! ( I wonder if my travel agent from Coop Travel pulled some strings to make that happen?)

It has been a wonderful Caribbean cruise - I will be very sad to say goodbye.

Photo 1: Mileage sign

Photo 2: My final view as our tender pulled away from our last stop on this cruise.

Photo 3: J, JG P on Princess Cays

Sea Day - Day 21

Our final day at sea! I love sea days - there is always so much to do! In the morning J and I went to a culinary demonstration in the princess Theatre where Chef Giuseppe made a pesto pasta dish, scallops and tiramisu. We then got to walk through the kitchen (because, hooray, they lifted the norovirus code red)!
It was impressively clean and stainless throughout! Do you know they use 6,000 eggs on this ship every single day? Where do they store thousands of eggs for a 10 day cruise? Mind boggling!

We went to lunch in the dining room but I just visited while everybody else ate; I was still full from my omelette at breakfast. I caught the 12:45 line dancing class. Then I hung out by the pool and saw the men's sexy leg contest.
Lots of fun and laughter!

We then had the scrap ship builder's competition which we proudly had an entry. Proud that is, until it couldn't balance the cargo load of six cans of pop and sank like the Titanic. The winner had this tyrannosaur of ships! The family of 10 that won, is seated next to us in the Da Vinci dining room and has Cesar as their waiter too. Defeated, the kids returned to their room and I went for a swim! It was a fun project just the same!

I found P relaxing in the kids room and asked if he wanted to Ho decorate a cookie in the Piazza, where they has some kids activities going on. He was up like a
flash and by my side. After assembling a sad looking gingerbread man and star, we stopped at the International Cafe. I had a couple of salads and P had the delicious chocolate pudding.

We reassembled as a family in Club Fusion for 4:30 trivia. Questions with Heidi were tough again and the winning team only had 15 out of 20 ( we received 12 so I guess that was respectable enough!)

At supper, our Head Waiter, Rui, provided us with an update on the woman taken off by ambulance in St Thomas. Evidently she had a heart attack on the ship and is now doing fine in the hospital. She is only in her 50's and was travelling with an extended family onboard. That is good news.

I kept hoping to cross paths with my blog mentor, J, onboard this cruise and just never seemed to run into her like I did routinely on our first cruise. I left a sticky note on her stateroom door to catch up with her. Of course, because I left the note, J and I did coincidentally meet up with her and her husband, G today while at the Princess Theatre tonight for the upbeat performance by the Emerald Singers and Dancers of "I got the Music!". She (the woman who taught me everything I know about writing a blog!) has been suffering from what the doctor believes is an infected tooth. She is scheduled to see a dentist in Fort Lauderdale on Sunday as they are in transit passengers and will be staying on the ship for a few more months! So many complications with medical issues when not on terre firme! I do hope she gets the issue resolved in one dentist visit!

Tomorrow is our last stop, Princess Cays, so we will savour this last day of sun!

Photo 1: The Tyrannosaur of ships that won!

Photo 2: Our ship entry

Photo 3: One of the food carvings on display in the kitchen !

St Thomas Evening

Upon returning to the ship I raced to have a shower and grab some lunch so I could turn around a shop in St Thomas. Many people shop for jewellery here - I was on the hunt for linen!

I grabbed a communal cab downtown and each person paid $4.
I saw the boardwalk I could have walked, was only 1.6 km.

I went straight to Mr. Tablecloth on Main Street and found a few good choices for my dining room table. I made a point of bypassing all the jewellery stores! J later told me he looked at tanzanite rings because I had said I liked the stone; the choices ranged from $3300 to $4400 and that wasn't going to happen in our house !

We worked on our scrap heap challenge ship to compete in the Neptune Pool tomorrow. The goal is to build a boat out of scraps that will float at least 6 beer successfully! Flotation we have covered, the beauty of the boat might be improved upon.

After dinner the Captain made an announcement that there was a medical emergency on board and we needed to return to St. Thomas. That isn't good news for somebody.

We are currently dockside with an ambulance standing by with lights flashing. The Captain just paged Charles Cook from Aloha 211 to proceed to the medical centre immediately. As J said, the spouse is probably back in room packing all their belongings for departure. Total time looking out our balcony as we pulled up to the dock until the ambulance pulled away was 13 minutes. A second ambulance has now arrived. We'll say a little prayer tonight for somebody's vacation who ended on such a somber note.

Photo 1: Ambulance moving close to the ship.

St Thomas Day 20

Our dream vacation is coming to an end with our second visit to St Thomas. After today we have one more day at sea and Princess Cays as the final port before Fort Lauderdale to disembark.

Today we joined the ship's excursion to kayak, hike and snorkel at Cas Cay Mangrove Lagoon, St James & Compass Pt marine Reserve & Wildlife Sanctuary.

We began by taking an open air jeep to our sanctuary. Jason, Wes, Lauralee and Zulu guided our group of 25 from the ship. JG and I climbed into a double sit on top style kayak. We paddled for about 40 minutes and learned about the mangrove tree. It sacrifices one yellow leaf where it directs all the salt so the tree can survive in brackish water.

Upon arriving at the sanctuary we went on land and had hermit crab races. We then walked out to the Caribbean Sea where we had some great photo opportunities on the rocks. After walking back to the kayaks we donned our masks and snorkels. No fins though, the guides didn't want us damaging the protected zone as we were snorkelling in about 3 feet of water.

We saw sand divers, spotted eagle ray, parrot fish, trumpet fish, barracuda, sea urchin and more! It was neat to see the roots of the mangrove tree up close too.

I then partnered up with P for the paddle back. Glad that most of the rain fell while on the shuttle to the start so we were warm for the kayak, hike and snorkel!

Photo 1: P in kayak

Photo 2: JG in kayak

St Kitts - Day 19

We pulled into port quite late, but as scheduled, at 10 am. What was interesting about pulling into St Kitts was that for once the starboard aide of the ship really had some action. We pulled in alongside the Royal Caribbean ship "Independence of the Seas". I understand the sister ship, the "Oasis of the Seas" is supposed to be the largest cruise ship currently in operation.

St. Kitts and Nevis are beautiful islands with some French language and lots of British history. Today's Excursion was My Islandtours by Javin. There were a total of 12 of us on his tour.

Our main form of transportation was an open air jeep with a roof covering. We toured past sites in town then stopped at an abandoned cotton mill.

We hiked on the very scenic black rocks. Most people take pictures of the rocks - we hiked ON them! (Hiking not recommended without a guide!). We stopped at a field of sugar cane where Chad cut down a two canes - one for the group and one for our family for a tip! We were to have stopped longer, but we were running out of time and we really wanted a sugar cane!

We then went on a hike into the rainforest, where, appropriately, it was raining! In the Gahut Cayon, we scrambled over rocks and saw bamboo that grows 12 - 24" each DAY! At the end of our hike we had a snack of coconut bread (yum!), raisin pastry or a scone along with some mango juice.

We then travelled to the southeast peninsula - where it is developed for tourists. Here we had a beautiful vista where you can see the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Caribbean Sea on the other. Stunning view with the island of Nevis in the background.

We stopped at Whitehouse Bay to snorkel. This has clearly been a rustic tour (our choice) as there were no amenities in sight to change into bathing suits. Good thing we are practiced at camping in the great outdoors! With having to get contact lenses in too, I was the last to enter the water. And that is all i did. Enter. Then scramble out. The waves were so fierce they knocked me off my feet and slammed me into the closest rocks. I quickly decided I needed some expert guidance to help me determine how best to enter the water and the experts were all 100 metres off shore already in the water. So I sat on the dock of sorts and saw the whole snorkelling group turn around to return. As the first snorkellers returned, I learned visibility was so poor they couldn't see the wreck below.

So we all piled into the van in our wet swimwear and drove for a few minutes to Cockelshell Beach. I quickly found a lounge chair under some shade and the kids swam out to large trampolines in the water. Trampolines are hard enough to climb onto with a ladder. These trampolines did not have ladders so it took a lot of core work to clamber up on them! J went for a snorkel and spotted two rays and some interesting starfish. The very last treat of the tour was to eat some sugar cane that had been cut earlier in the day.

At the end of the day when talking about what we thought of his tour, J summarized it well in that we did a whole variety of activities without doing one activity long enough to truly appreciate the experience. I would have cut out the abandoned cotton mill and hiked into the rainforest further. The black rocks were probably my favourite.

We raced back to the ship by 5:15 (all aboard call was for 5:30) to the sounds of the Royal Caribbean ship "Independence of the Seas" playing very loud party music. It was echoing off the two ships side by side. I told J, now there is a reason not to take a Royal Caribbean cruise! That volume of music would drive me crazy for 20 days! It was fun to be so close to the other ship and really study it. From our stateroom balcony you could clearly see their balcony rooms. There Lido deck was lined with people singing and waving. For interest sake, I ran up to our lido deck to view from that angle. You could hear there cruise director making comments over the loudspeaker like "Hey Princess, what time does your skating rink open? Wait, that's right, you don't have a skating rink!"

So RC is a cruise line known for its amenities on the ship. They have a Flo Rider-which is something like a wave simulator and a bit of a water park on their ships. We contemplated taking an RC cruise but because they are such big ships they can't get into many ports and they tend to offer 7 day cruises, not 10 day trips.

With all the excitement of comparing ships, I was 10 minutes late for dinner. Cesar, our waiter from Mexico, told us he worked for RC for a year and in his opinion RC didn't treat crew as well as princess does. On RC, crew are expected to buy their flight to the the port to begin their contract. Princess flies their crew to wherever they begin work. It was interesting to hear his perspective.

After dinner, we headed right upstairs to MUTS to watch the 2012 version of Total Recall with Colin Farrell and Kate Beckinsale. I declined the offer of pizza, milk and cookies bit couldn't resist a small bag of popcorn!

Tomorrow, we are in St Thomas as we are coming near the end of our glorious cruise!

Photo 1: Our Family on black rocks

Photo 2: RC Independence of the Seas on the left and Emerald Princess on the right.

Photo 3: R & P with the Atlantic on the left and the Caribbean on the right.

Photo 4: R & P playing at Cockelshell Beach! (Which I later learned had free WiFi in the restaurant!