IndyKid

They built this nice display in the Piazza. Someone did a lot of work on this for sure!

We passed this ship going the opposite direction as we made our way up the north side of Cuba, I apologize as it was quite a ways off and the light wasn't that good. Anybody recognize it?

So we had our Ultimate Balcony Dinner last night, it was AWESOME! I highly recommend it. We couldn't even finish the dessert, they are still in our room for us to enjoy today. We each had a filet and 2 lobster tails, I guess because they were a bit on the small side? Today is our last full day of the cruise 😞. We did receive some good news this morning; when I got up there was a letter from our captain under the door stating that we were being given an additional $75 credit since we missed 2 of our 4 stops this week. So between that and our refunded excursions and port fees the UBD was paid for, and I still have a refundable credit coming to me. The weather tomorrow in Ft. Lauderdale could make docking a little interesting. I don't suppose we could skip that one? At least for a few days? 😄

That's It!

It's not Mr. Fortezze, I saw the display across from Crooners, it was an Italian fellow but his name escapes me. I'll be down there with the wife after our awesome balcony dinner.

Thanks @snoozecrooze. They're here now preparing it. Would it be appropriate to tip these fellows?

Not sure. I thought the seas were calmer today than earlier this week. The Carnival Vista was supposed to be at Grand Turk yesterday, same day as us, but they abandoned it. We got in just fine, as it was on the leeward side of the island. Not sure why we made it and they did not. I think bigger ships have the disadvantage of their larger profile acting like a sail, making it harder to control. And many ports don't have tugs to assist, we had 2 assist us leaving San Juan.

I've not seen it. The only Canadian whiskey I've seen is Crown Royal.

I just checked, it appears they did refund those also. Thanks!

Well, so much for a day in the Dominican Republic, our stop at Amber Cove was scuttled due to weather. Right now we're back in the room, I'm sitting on our balcony watching as the coastline slowly fades away. Our captain said winds are currently 25 knots, and expected to increase to near 35 later on. I get it that safety of the ship, passengers and crew is Job 1, but it still ticks me off☠️☠️☠️. I think they need to go beyond just refunding our excursion fees, perhaps also returning our port fee as well?

It's 6 AM, went down and grabbed a cappuccino, now back in the room attempting to get Sleeping Beauty going, we dock in Amber Cove within an hour, and we meet our excursion at 7:15 on the pier. Yesterday we spent a few hours exploring Grand Turk. It was an interesting place to be sure. British Overseas Territory, but their banks are Canadian and their official currency is the US Dollar. I was taken aback by how shabby things looked - derelict and abandoned buildings, boats left lying around to rot, etc. A few nicer homes here and there but they were very much in the minority. Last night was Sabatini’s. I had linguini with shrimp and clams, wife enjoyed linguini carbonara. Tonight I'm surprising the wife with the Ultimate Balcony Dinner, should be good from what I've heard. @Senga, I didn't see any pastries or desserts displayed at the IC, I'll look again this evening.

No worries, they'll get them all straightened out just before they sunset it and roll out the "new and improved" version, no doubt developed by the same IT sadists that wrote the current one!

I don't believe so, but I'll check tomorrow morning.

Nah, that's being way too generous. I'd say they're more like Dollar General....

As is my habit during vacation, I got up and left the wife asleep while I headed down to the Piazza for a few cappuccinos with a good book. Seas still are a bit rough, although maybe I'm just feeling it more since I'm on a ship only half the size of the last one we cruised on (Allure OTS). We stayed all night last evening in Crooners, listened to Luis Melgar perform on the piano, he's very good. I tied one on with a string of Long Island ITs, surprisingly I feel fine this morning. We arrive at Grand Turk in 2 hours, we'll see what that's like...

It's been very choppy all week, as I mentioned earlier we skipped our stop at Princess Cays due to the unsafe tendering conditions. This boat has been rockin' and rolling! The temperature has been fine, upper 70s to low 80s.

So after yesterday's missing person fiasco, I went up to Deck 17 to enjoy the hot tub. It was OK, but wasn't nearly as hot as I like it. We then got ready and went to dinner at Crown Grill. Started with the tiger prawns (decent sized shrimp actually), then went for the black and blue French onion soup, it was fantastic. For the main course I did the filet, wife had NY strip. Both were very good. For dessert, we both had the creme brulet cheesecake for dessert, also excellent. After dinner we went to Explorer's and watched the liars show and then the trivia contest. We enjoyed both. Today was our first port of call at San Juan. Visited El Junque Rain Forest, then spent some time at San Cristobal Fort. Got back to the ship, relaxed for a few hours before dinner. Right now sitting in Crooners having drinks and listening to live music. I found out a few things about Planks and Steamers that I wasn't aware of. We apparently need reservations, which to me doesn't make sense for a supposedly casual joint. They're only open for dinner (a lunch option would be nice) and they're open on alternating days. I think Princess needs to change this.

That's interesting. I booked our Ultimate Balcony Dinner that night. Oh well....

The scuttlebutt now among the guests is that it was some kind of drill. If it was, they failed miserably. And a lot of people are P.O.ed...

Yes

Yep. But there won't be enough popcorn in Orville Redenbacher's warehouse to cover the demand...

What's the hurry? Stress level, frustration and blood pressure not high enough?

So this afternoon we had an alleged missing person situation, everybody was ordered to go to their muster station with their medallions to check in. I'm guessing they got a report of someone possibly going overboard? Anyway, it's a good thing it wasn't an emergency, it was a Class-A cluster, people all jam-packed in the stairwells and elevators trying to get to Deck 7, trying to cross back and forth through the casino.

I've said this before and I'll say it again: Billions for ships, peanuts for IT support.