(Backup) Day 14 - Return trip Home

We appreciated moving clocks back one hour so 6:30 felt like 7:30 this morning. For disembarkation day, the dining room opens for breakfast at 6:30 am (and the Lido buffet opens at 5:30 am). So we were seated in the dining room before 7 am for one final breakfast. The staff work so hard to keep us attended to in every way possible. I will miss the great food prepared for me and dishes cleaned up by somebody else. I will. Is Mahdi cleaning my bathroom twice a day and making my bed!  Cruising is such a privilege and such a vacation from ordinary life, never mind the exotic ports you get to visit. 

JG said his favourite Port was Bonaire (where we had two amazing drift snorkels). P said his favourite was a toss up between Princess Cays (beach and snorkelling) and Grenada (tubing down the river). I liked the variety of activities we did at all the ports. 

Having two balcony rooms side by side was really fun because the boys are old enough to appreciate the views and watch as we pulled in and out of port to dock. 

We walked off the ship carrying all our own luggage. P bravely carried my 48 pound suitcase down the 6 flights of stairs as elevators were backed up with lots of passengers. We walked to Symphony Dining room on 5 were told we could immediately walk off (though we were assigned 8:15 am and we arrived at 8 am). We scanned out of the ship and were directed to a customs officer where we were the front of the line.   J had to give up his orange, and then we walked out to get a taxi. We immediately loaded into a taxi van. The metered fare to the airport was $14.10. John gave him a $20 bill and we were at the aiport, checked in to our United flight and going through security by 8:45 am. Plenty of time before our flight at noon. 

The FLL airport just got busier and busier as the morning went on. Our flight was full and they had to take on extra fuel for the plane. Once connecting in Houston we charged up devices and ate a mid afternoon meal. 

Day 13 - Last Day at Sea

Today we wanted to fully enjoy this last full day of vacation!  And to our family eating in the dining room 3 times is how we enjoy the pampered life onboard a cruise!  So I awoke around 7:30 am but our family delayed breakfast u TIL everybody was ready to go about 8:45. You see the dining room serves breakfast between 7 - 9 am. The Lido begins serving breakfast buffet style at 6 am and that goes until about 11:30 when it switches over for lunch. The international cafe is open 24 hours a day and has fancy coffees to buy (if you need a daily cappuccino or the like - for a price). The small selection of food they serve has no charge associated with it. 

After my oatmeal and fig compote and fresh papaya, I was energizedfor the day. J, JG and I went to a culinary demonstration in the princess theatre.  Executive Chef, Florin Dragan and Maître D’Hotel, Federico Arcos of Spain demonstrated how to put together a 4 course meal in 45 minutes  (if all the prep work and clean up is done by others). The Maitre D provided the comedy and the chef provided the substance!  They prepared and shared recipes for pasta with smoked salmon, flambeed shrimp, Caesar salad and Black Forest cake. They also provided the recipe for a 5th dish, chicken luai.

They offered a tour of the galley after the demo and showed where 600 of the staff work on the Regal Princess - that is nearly half of the staff onboard. Roberto the F & B supervisor at our dinner table said the ship was designed with a kitchen far too small for all the food they prepare. You would have thought they consulted with experts when they design a class of ship!

After lunch in the dining room we headed up to the Lido deck for dessert - because we knew they had a dessert buffet - with large cakes. I chose a chocolate gluten free cake. I chose also, to have three bites of JG’s gluten and dairy filled dessert and that earned me an immediate trip to the washroom. While I was there, J and JG hung around the back of the ship and spotted a number of dolphins swimming alongside the ship. What a thrill for them!

We returned to our room where J packed up and I talked to my sister on Facebook messenger video. Amazing that the technology on this ship allows for that ( messenger is one of the free apps associated with the Ocean medallion technology) and carry on a conversation in the middle of the ocean!

I then showered up and went to hear the finale of the voice of the ocean contest. And what a contest it was!  All of the 9 singers had excellent voices. The winner, Brian, was born in Montreal and now lives in Sacramento. 

We went for our last supper in the dining room. I had turkey with most of the trimmings and a coconut gluten free, dairy free cake!  Everybody else ate baked Alaska for dessert. We said farewell to the family of four from Thunder Bay. The moms exchanged contact information so we can keep in touch. 

This evenings weather was a continuation of the days weather - cold and rainy. So our family was the only family on deck to watch Spider-Man-the Homecoming on the MUTS screen. The rest of my family lasted about half the movie, I persevered and watched it all. Then I headed to passenger services desk to pay our bill with most of our leftover American cash. There was the inevitable lineup at guest services the night before disembarkation!  Once that was taken care of I returned to my room to pack.

Tomorrow we will walk off carrying our own luggage sometime between 7 - 9 am. In gaining an extra hour of sleep, we shouldn’t have to get up extraordinarily early!  All good things must come to an end!

Day 12 - Day at Sea

Today was a truly relaxing day st sea with no set schedule. Breakfast in the dining room was busy once again at 8:45 am!  

Our 10 am trivia was very challenging once again!  P kept busy with grade 12 math homework today. JG was feeling a little under the weather at lunch so he just had green tea. After a sleep in the afternoon he felt much better. J went for a workout. After sitting on the balcony, the weather turned a little cool and it started to rain. I  enjoyed some television. We had a surprise delivery of two shrimp plates courtesy of our favourite travel agent! (Thank you Laurie!)

Tonight was formal night so all of a sudden it was time to get cleaned up and dressed for a lovely meal!  We have been served so well by our waiter Richard from the Philippines and Lisette from Peru they remembered our preferences every night and made excellent suggestions!

After dinner I was the only one of the family interested in seeing the production show Bravo. The singers performed the most memorable tunes from a variety of difference musicals and dancers performed alongside. What an excellent show. Very deserving of the standing ovation following the final appropriate song , “Time to say Goodbye”.

P and I made a trip down to the photo studio to buy a family picture. If you leave such purchased to the final day st sea, it is usually very busy!

One last glorious day at sea!

Day 11 - Curaçao

Today was a beautiful, sunny, hot day in Curaçao. We had no formal organized excursion planned but J had put in some effort in planning a walking tour for us to explore the town of Willemstad. The city (also the capital) is a UNESCO World Heritage site, offering a look at the past while celebrating all the island offers today.   The people of the Netherlands established the trading port of Curaçao in 1634. 

Lots of pastel coloured buildings can be found in Curaçao, making it look festive and friendly. We walked across the floating Queen Emma bridge, which also functions as a sideways draw bridge so boats can pass through. We explored the many sights J had researched and printed up two walking tours. We read about the history as we walked and backtracked along and shopped. Today the boys wanted to spend their Christmas gift money and they each bought some souvenirs. JG is old enough now that some of the souvenirs were the alcoholic kind bearing the name of the country we visited today!

We returned to the ship for lunch in th buffet overlooking the beautiful port. J set off to do a second walking tour of a residential area, the boys wanted to stay on the ship and I didn’t feel comfortable taking a taxi to a beach on my own. Curaçao is a safe place, I just didn’t think it was prudent for a woman to travel alone unescorted off the ship. So I went for a swim on deck 16. 

They have done a smart design of the pool on th Regal. A person can walk all around the poo in water ankle deep to cool off if they wish or sit on the edge of the pool, or choose to jump in the centre that has a depth of 7 feet. A lovely refreshing way to cool off!

I did make a trip back to Cariloha- the bamboo store to buy a pair of grey shorts on sale. Once back on the ship, the four of us went up to the Lido Deck to play a a few card games and have a drink. We got so abdorb d in our care game we were nearly late for dinner. We had a lovely conversation with the family from Thunder Bay. Evidently on their snorkelling tour, a woman was nearly left behind. Crazy that the leaders or perhaps the husband of the woman involved weren’t on a closer look out for the well being of each other. The woman wasn’t able to keep up with the group so swam ashore then scrambled her way across the island back to the boat -⎌through cacti and the like. Yikes!  

After supper J and I went to hear the musical comedian, John Bressler. Twice before, he has been nominated for Princess cruises entertainer of the year. He was talented on the piano - but not so much a comedian!

We returned to our room to watch another movie!  Two more days at sea before our wonderful cruise comes to an end!

Day 10 - Bonaire

How wonderful to arrive in Bonaire at noon today!  The four of us enjoyed a lovely breakfast in the dining room. By not arriving until 8:45 to eat we saw just how busy the dining room can be for breakfast!  I had mush usual oatmeal because I know it is gluten and dairy free!  Today I added cinnamon apple slices from the compote section of the menu. 

We participated in trivia with Alex at 10 am and felt proud with our 16 out of 20 score, even though it wasn’t the winning score!  By 11 am we were seeing some sights pulling in to Bonaire. At noon, we were docked and disembarking. Just to test it out, J tried to disembark with his Ocean  Medallion and was told to go back to the room to get his cruise card. Guess they have more than a few kinks to work out of the system before this technology willbe released fleetwide!

Today’s excursion is a familiar one to us - we went snorkelling with Woodwind Bonaire , a private tour company that we used in 2012 and I used in 2017. We went out on a catamaran cruise and had two drift snorkels along Klein Bonaire. Klein Bonaire is a marine formation, an island really, that is protected by national and international law. Beautiful coral attracts a wide variety of fish. The island is known for nesting green turtles. 

Once aboard the catamaran, we were divided into three groups of compatible abilities and paired up with a guide. Our family of four was paired up with another family of 5 under the direction of Chanel, our guide. We were the first group in the water and soon had Chanel pointing out various species of fish that were noteworthy. We saw angel fish, barracuda, schoolmasters, parrot fish, flatfish, a few huge porcupine fish, trumpetfish and Green turtles!  JG would frequently free dive 25 feet or so to get a closer look at something and take a picture, including some scuba divers at one point!

After the two drift snorkels (each about 45 minutes long), we were offered a variety of non alcoholic and some alcoholic drinks and a hot stir fry meal followed by dessert!  What a great excursion and fairly priced at $65 per person. We met at 12:20 and were getting off the boat at 5 pm. 

I managed to stop at a shop called Elements that makes glass jewellery here in Bonaire. With only 10 minutes to shop I chose a necklace and earrings that I used Mom’s Christmas money to purchase. Thank you Mom!  I wore the necklace and earrings with a dress for tonight’s dinner!

The sun is particularly hot here. We are very near Venezuela. JG got a bit of a burn on his arms and P got a bit of burn on his neck. This despite sunscreen and wearing SPF shirts. I put on 45 SPFand had a long sleeve shirt on and think I faired okay. 

I enjoyed tonight’s production show Born to Dance with lots of hit Broadway songs to go with the dancing!  I ran out of energy climbing the four flights of stairs after watching the show so I definitely couldn’t participate in it!

The rest of the family participated in a Disney trivia contest and did okay without me. 

While they all the others want to head to bed, I want to watch another movie called Battle of the Sexes with Emma Stone. It has been an absolutely stellar day. We are so blessed!

Day 9 - Grenada

We have had absolutely stellar weather this vacation.  Actually finding out the temperature is a bit of a challenge. On previous ships they would have a tv channel that would advise you of the temperature. We keep our room at 26 C. I have a little portable thermometer/clock. When I bring that unit outside,  I can see the temperature reads 27 C sitting in the shade. Now that the ship has pulled out of port and we are in the sun it is 37 C.

Today we joined a ship’s tour to visit Grand Etang Rainforest Reserve where the purpose was to float down the Balthazar River in tubes! What a lovely fun way to enjoy the morning. We are only in port from 7 am until 1:30 pm. We were lucky enough to have a great view out our balcony on the port side as we pulled into dock. I made a point of taking some pictures because I could see a ship following us into port. Sure enough, the Celebrity ship pulled up slo guide us and blocked our view of the shore. So the early bird gets the worm. Had we slept beyond 7:30 we wouldn’t have had any view at all!  Though it is interesting to look across at another ship.  

When we visited this port five years ago we took a bus tour to see various sights. What was supposed to be a three hour turned out to be a five hour tour and P got very sick on the bus so he doesn’t have fond memories of this port. Today’s excursion was rated a 9 out of 10 by P so we have vastly changed his opinion of this port!  Lots of guides were in the water physically guiding the tubes to avoid rocks where you could get stuck. We were all outfitted with helmets and life jackets in addition to a personal tube customized with a piece of foam in the bottom of the donut if you not what I mean so you wouldn’t drag your butt across any rocks!  The floating/ river running time was about 45 minutes to an hour. They said the river was quite high and that certainly made it fun!

The driving time to and from the port was about 40 minutes each direction. Two buses took our group. The other bus had two bucket seats on one side of the aisle and a single on the other. Our bus had bench seats of four across. Still a vast improvement over a school bus!  Window opened and provided fresh air. Our bus driver stopped at a roadside banana stand. I gave our driver $1 to buy a banana and she returned with two kinds of bananas, five of each!  So 10 of the freshest tasting bananas we had ever eaten cost $1!

Upon our return back to the ship, we ate lunch up at the buffet. We returned to our room to enjoy sail away. What a gorgeous afternoon we had -that is where we found 37 C temps on our balcony! Our day of hiking from yesterday caught up with me and I needed to have a nap!

After a quick game of trivia we went to dinner. I attended the production show Fiera and sat in the second row. J went for a workout. P J and I are all going to a pirates of the Caribbean movie under the stars at 10 pm. We have a leisurely arrival into Bonaire at noon tomorrow!

Day 8 - Martinique

Today we visited Martinique by virtue of the fact that Dominica suffered too much damage this year thanks to Hurricanes Irma and Maria. And what a privilege it was to visit this lovely island.  Martinique is a French island that uses Euros. Tourists are able to use credit cards in the downtown area. 

We booked a private tour through Tours by Locals with Maria C.  A few months ago she presented us with some options and my family chose to hike a volcano today - Mont Pelee. 

The Regal Princess arrived in port at 10 am and we met Maria at 10:30. She took us to a local bakery that was open on this statutory holiday. We purchased lovely fresh sandwiches (cheese and ham were the only options) and put the, in our backpack for later. After a 40 minute drive we got to the North of the island and our starting point for the hike. We climbed about 400 metres in elevation that was particularly steep. In Canada we would consider this hike a scramble that you very much have to use your hands to clamber up. After about 1 1/2 hours we got to the point where we could do another steeper trail that was a loop. Because we were climbing in the misty rain and had no views of the mountains due to constant cloud cover, JG, P and I all voted to turn around at that point. J would have kept climbing but I knew I didn’t have a hope of completing the hike and making it back for the 6:30 pm all aboard call. 

So we turnedaround and headed back down. As I get older I find the steep descent of a hike more chsllenging than  the ascent!  Leaving at this time allowed us to return to the car by 3:30. Maria left the rsi forest ar3 and we headed towards The town of Saint Pierre. There we found sunshine and a view of Mont Pelee. We learned that the last time the volcano had erupted was in 1902 and the lava spilled onto the prison in the town of Saint Pierre. One man, Cyparis,  survived by living in solitary confinement in the prison. 

She offered to stop at the beach in Saint Pierre but we were all tuckered out and keen to head back to the ship. We did do one last stop at the hospital in the Fort de France (the town where we docked). The hospital has the most splendid view of the island, the town and the pier. 

We returned to hr ship around 5:30 and thanked Maria for our splendid day. My family hustled up to the dining room to eat but I took time to shower and headed up to the buffet to eat. I enjoyed a bit more freedom in my menu tonight. 

With college soccer on  MUTS tonight J and I were happy to enjoy the movie Wonder Woman in our room tonight!  We have an early start with Grenada tomorrow morning!

Day 7- St Thomas

Well St Thomas is a pretty idyllic setting! What a glorious day we have had!

It is hard to get motivated to write this blog when I am not able to post it. My hope is that when I get back home I can sign back in to my account and load up all the posts then.  I am getting a message that google cannot authenticate my account.  Despite my blog problems, I am impressed with the speed of the new wifi on a Regal Princess. Without paying anything, everybody on the ship is able to use Whatsapp and Messenger to communicate with friends onboard and those at home. By purchasing the unlimited wifi a person can use all their apps, and email for $10 without having to track minutes used. P is able to Snapchat with friends back home so he is happy!

We repeated an excursion we did 5 years ago called the hike, kayak and snorkel. A great way to enjoy the mangroves and all the sights they have to offer. The kayaks are two person, sit atop kayaks. It is a real sign as to how much our boys have grown in that they wanted to paddle together and I got to paddle with J!  J is definitely the most experienced paddler in the family so everybody wants to paddle with him!  For the return trip, I paddled with P and J paddled with JG. 

The mangroves definitely sustained damage from Hirrcanr Maria and Ivan this year. They had 180 mph winds sustained for two hours and that resulted in much damage. 170 boats were turned upside down I the mangrove, 70 of which were not salvageable. Most of the leaves were torn off the windward side of the mangroves and that means most of the mangroves have died. (Usually the mangrove tree puts all the salt in one leaf each year and it loss one solitary leaf. 

We returned back to the ship close to 2pm. I guess I wasn’t destined to go shopping after we got back because stores close at 2 pm downtown on Sundays. J was happy that shopping was off the books!  But I did buy a pair sunglasses to replace the pair I lost at the very end of the tour!

A quick trip to the buffet helped tide us over to supper! 

Tonight is formal night so we got cleaned up and went for a family picture before dinner. Dinner was a seafood appetizer and lobster 3 ways. They were kind enough to make me a gluten free dairy free dessert that was a chocolate cake!

I went to the Princess Theatre to see master illusionist David da Vinci his tricks were good but somehow lacking. J and I watched the movie Big then bypassed all the Ne Years Eve festivities to retire by 11:30 pm!

Day 6 - at Sea

Well today is about food and relaxing! P and JG slept later than J and I so we went for breakfast in the dining room. I learned a 5 minute soft boiled egg is too runny for my liking!

The boys were awake and P didn’t realize the time on your phone doesn’t match the ship’s time!  9:38 is really 10:38 and Animal Plant trivia starts at 10:45! P and JG were willing to skip breakfast for trivia. We scored a 16 out of 20 but the winners scored 16. We should have known a group of ferrets was a Business of Ferretts!  Who doesn’t know that?

Lunch in the dining room was delicious. I started off with mussels and chose a Cobb salad as my main. After tasting P and J’s chicken korma AND learning it was gluten and dairy free, I ordered one of those too!

Who knew that the laundromat (found on each deck) , would be so busy on a see day!  I had to go to a different floor to find an available machine. This was the first time my Ocean medallion worked - to charge my room in purchasing a token for the washer and dryer ($3 each and laundry soap was $1.50). And now I wait , but I will be joining my family for trivia at 3:30 pm. 

So trivia was well attended and tough. Once again we were two points behind the winners. I sought out the adult terrace pool for a hot tub before supper. Took me a long time to find it but finally found it on deck 16 at the very front by the Sanctuary. Had no idea of the time so returned to the room just 5 minutes before dinner. Yikes!

Dinner was a salad and a disappointing beef medallion. Mine was cooked Medium well and J’s was rare. His were  about three times as thick as mine and much better tasting.  Grapefruit sorbet for dessert for me while everybody else had Curtis Stone’s chocolate creation.   We did meet the folks seated at the table next to ours. Very nice family from Canads with two daughters about the same ages as our boys. Princess clearly made an effort in the seating plan. 

J and I went to the production show “Uptown” - great singers and dancers. 

All packs for our morning excursion to St Thomas. Looking forward to it!

Day 5 - Princess Cays

We awoke around 7 am this morning and headed to the dining room for breakfast by 7:45. I appreciated that they had oatmeal on the menu!  We made a point of packing up for Princess Cays and headed over on the third tender.  

We scored some great loungers under a permanent awning in the perfect location! J and I each brought a mask and snorkel from home to take advantage of some great snorkeling opportunities here in the Bahamas!  A person can rent snorkelling equipment and that is a good thing because J shattered his snorkel!  It literally broke in half during one of the flight then broke further into pieces as he and JG snorkelled around! Since the snorkel was purchased close to 30 years ago we shouldn’t have been surprised by this development!  We tried to buy a replacement snorkel at the gift shop, but had no success (though we would have it it was a mask we were looking for)!  A kind staffer at the float rental shop lent us a snorkel to finish off the afternoon. 

What a glorious day to enjoy sun, sand and snorkelling!  Temperature was around 27 - 30 C. The only thing that could be improved upon at Princess Cays is the food. We had BBQ chicken, salad and fruit, so it was totally acceptable, just not over the top good like on the ship!

The sand is so clean (they rake it), only Princess guests and staff are on the island, though there are a few locals employed piloting boats and the like too. It really was an idyllic day on the beach in the Bahamas. 

We returned to the ship by about 2:30 pm on a 300 person tender. Lines had begun in earnest by then, so the bigger tender than the usual lifeboat was needed!

After a quick shower, JG and I went for high tea. They had a few gluten free options for me which was a nice surprise. We had quite an international tsble - a family of three from Toronto, an Australian woman and a couple from Virgwho who was born in Ireland. Lovely company!

Supper in the dining room served by Richard and Lissette was tasty again. I had the sushi appetizer and the salmon main course and apple cider sorbet for dessert. 

We had fun playing British Pub trivia - which thankfully was referring to a style of play - not content. We had a couple from Toronto join our team for most of the game. I am proud to say we had the highest score with 62 out of 71. We chose to give the cheap bottle of champagne for the win to the second place team. The bottle would have been wasted on our family. We we’re playing for pride. The toughest question was what 14 countries border China!  P and JG answered some particularly tough questions!

J and I retired to our room and watched a comedy movie that was good for a laugh. Clocks move ahead tonight and we have a day at sea tomorrow!

Day 4

We had a blissful sleep in until 8 am this morning!  Breakfast was included with the room. Everybody else found something to eat. I managed to eat pllain oatmeal and supplemented it with some strawberries purchased at Winn Dixie last night. 

I have been trying to post pictures on my blog but technology seems to be thwarting me! I have been able to successfully airdrop pictures from my phone to my iPad and that allows us to see them much more clearly!

Because we were in Fort Lauderdale I had to visit the nearest Ross Dress for Less store!  I once again was focused on my size of dresses and this time I included pants in the effort. I never have enough time - and this time I had 90 minutes. I walked out with two dresses and one pair of pants!  

I raced back to the hotel to collect my family. J dropped off JG, P and I at Port Everglades where we found a bench in the shade and accessed wi-fi while J took the car to the airport to return to Hertz, then caught a cab back to the ship. We all entered the Port authority and were processed immediately because we were fortunate enough to be Ocean Medallion testers in our staterooms. Being selected was nothing we did - our class of stateroom happens to be among the 110 staterooms being tested this cruise. 

This is a picture of an Ocean Medallion that has great potential to order drinks, track teens on the ship and open your stateroom as you approach - but currently that is not operational (hence why they are still testing). For the moment it is a blue piece of jewellery to wear!

This time JG and P are in a verandah room next door to us as opposed to an inside room across the hall. As the boys are now aged 17 and 21 we figure they can appreciate the views afforded by a verandah stateroom and the associated balcony. 

After an Ocean Medallion information session where P and I signed up for unlimited wi-if for $10 per day (per device) we then all attended the obligatory muster drill. The wi-if seems to be working surprisingly well!

We made a trip up to deck 16 to enjoy sail away at 5 pm.  Our assigned dining table at 5:30 is one table away from a window seat and we seem to have another family with teens at their table too, seated near us. Movies Under the Stars (MUTS) was the poorly rated “The Dark Tower”. Though the movie was poor, the concept of watching a movie on the big screen under the stars around the pool is just stellar!

We retired to our rooms and unpacked our suitcases that got delivered over the supper hour. 

Princess Cays await tomorrow morning so we must get a good night of sleep!