nreeder

We had mixed results with room service. First week no problems. Second week one of our orders “got delivered” according to the app, but not to us! The good news, is that we are now back home in Los Angeles, and we tested negative for Covid after being on the ship for two weeks! We did wear our masks in public areas and spent a lot of time out on our balcony rather than by by the pool. So not all 3,000 passengers come down with Covid! Norm

To answer the question above about the Amber Cover tour, it was a Princess tour called Eat, Drink and Dance, a Dominican Fiesta. Great tour that wasn’t all that expensive. We are now off the ship in Fort Lauderdale which welcomed us at lunch time with a giant thunderstorm, drenching rain, and lighting! Must have been fun for the boarding of new passengers. That storm is gone. But more a predicted this afternoon. We had an absolutely wonderful cruise. The ship, the food, and the staff were great. We made lots of memories! Norm

For the last port we visited Amber Cove in the Dominican Republic. We drove to the central square where the Cathedral is. Then we drove high up in the mountains to a restaurant called La Catalina. Beautiful grounds and spectacular views of the coastline. The first course was a fresh fruit buffet with bananas, mangoes, papayas, passion fruit, oranges, and watermelon. So fresh and refreshing. Then they took us to the kitchen to see how they cook their national dish sancocho. This is a stew with beef, chicken, sausage and everything on that platter of vegetables. Spiced with cilantro, garlic and Thyme. Delicious with a wonderful broth. A wonderful day. Norm

We had a wonderful day at Grand Turk. We booked an independent snorkeling tour from Exclusive Supreme which we found on two travel websites. One begins with a V and the other can be abbreviated as TA. The reason was we had 12 people on the boat. The Princess snorkel boat had 60. We snorkeled at two sites. Then dropped off 6 passengers as they hadn’t paid for the next part. We went to a deserted island. On the way one of the staff dove down with a snorkel 30 feet and picked up two giant conchs. We stopped at the island and got off the ship. Captain dug out the conch from the shell and cleaned it up. The he marinated it kind of like ceviche. Spicy and crunchy. Really good with their rum punch. Finally the other boat staff attracted two stingrays as he fed them the cut off pieces of conch. The island is at the divide between the open Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean. John Glenn’s first space flight landed just off the island. Great day. Norm

Today we did a walking tour of Old San Juat. Also visited the El Convento Hotel next to the Cathedral where we stayed long ago. Still beautiful. Had traditional Puerto Rican lunch with corn cake logs, and Mufungo. Got to use Mortor and pestle to mash cassia which is like cooked potatoes. Once mashed you make an indentation in the middle and they pour in chicken stew. Wonderful. More to come! Norm

I have mixed feelings about the post that started this thread. Yes lines for International Cafe with not enough help. We have seen lines at dinner but it depends on what time you want. We go at 7 pm and short lines for Coral Dining room. Two lines one for reservations that’s shorter and one for walk in that’s longer. No waiting for us in Club Class. Room service has been OK except for tonight where we haven’t yet received our drinks in a hour from ordering. Turns out they delivered to wrong room. We never got them. Hasn’t happened before and we have been on for over a week. Norm

So the weather from the tropical storm affected us today at Princess Cays. The wind and waves prevented Caribbean Princess from using the tender boats permanently docked at Princess Cays. They no longer use the ships tenders as they are too small. So we had a sea day as well as tomorrow. No problem. We like sea days. I did a two mile walk on the promenade deck but the front stairs were blocked off due to weather. So I did giant back and forth walk. Enjoyed our balcony and caught up on news. Tonight we went back to Club Class dinner. Same waiters as last week as they know us. I’m not going to post menus as I did that last week. But know this is prime rib night. However since we had that last week we ordered different entrees. We had the pate, pea soup but not green kind and Caesar salad. Maureen had seafood bowl with bok choi. I had Coq au Vin, ie braised chicken in red wine. Both excellent. We plan to order different entrees this week as menus are the same as last week. Not a problem fo us. Norm

No testing was required or offered. Norm

Like the investment commercial says “change in plans”! An hour before we approached Princess Cays, the Captain came on and said he was apprehensive about conditions there. We rocked all night and have 45-50 knot winds and white caps where the wind blows the spray up in the air. He was hoping as we would get to Princess Cays things might calm down a little. These are the remnants of the tropical storm that came through Fort Lauderdale on turnaround day. When we got to Princess Cays offshore he talked the the land crew. Princess now uses large double decked shuttle boats housed at Princess Cays, not on the ship, to deliver passengers to the shore. The land crew indicated they had 6 foot swells coming into the little harbor where you dock and it wasn’t safe to try to get the shuttles out. So we had to skip the island beach day, and begin the long journey south to Puerto Rico. We now have two sea days in a row. We don’t mind those. I did my 2 miles around the Promenade Deck (almost around, the front stairs were closed so I did a grand loop back round and around). Princess trivia To our surprise we have a new room Steward who started to take care of us yesterday. His name is Kishore, and he’s from India. He said Sydney, who was taking care of us, rotated to the other side of the ship. So I went over this morning and found Sydney and gave him his tip for last week. We had expected to give him a tip at the end of the cruise this week. Sydney did tell me he was glad with the rotation as they received more crew so they now have 24 cabins each (sounds like a lot to me, but he is in a balcony cabin area and those aren’t as big as suites or mini suites. Our dining room waiters and busboy will also rotate in the dining room and we will follow them 20 feet beyond their old section. They told us they would make sure to make room for us each night. Our favorite guy is coming back to Crooners tonight, Paul. Last week was split between Duo Diva whose singer is a little loud for us, and Paul. Paul is just the perfect piano bar singer, with great voice and wonderful repertoire. That’s all for now. I hope you all can relax as much as we are! Norm

ok the Patter for tomorrow loaded. Norm

The debarkation process was delayed due th trouble getting off luggage in th wind and rain. Scanners at Customs not working either. We were 2 hours late with the returning passengers customs check. Boarding started close to noon. Passengers flowing on now. We will leave 2 hours later but that was announced last night. Nice to be back on board. We both just got massages as they have a 25% discount on embarkation day. Crown Grill tonight. Reminder I’m posting pictures on Princess FB page as they don’t seem to load in CruiseCritic. I’m hoping some of the new passengers will post here too as they will do other tours and dinners than us. Norm

We docked last night in Fort Lauderdale to ride out the storm in port. Debarkation is going slow as stevedores have trouble unloading luggage in wind and rain. Our transfer process has been delayed by 45 no. We’ve finished breakfast up in Steamers and waiting up here. Will go down a litlater. Just hope all new passengers made flights yesterday. Pouring down heavy rain overnight and windy. Still raining and windy now. More adventures to come! Norm

Ok techie trivia. On sea days I walk the promenade deck for exercise. Usually walk equivalent of two miles which is 6 laps. So my Apple Watch tracks this. But…it also has a built in GPS. So it’s counting steps and miles. Except the ship is moving as well as me. So for my two miles it counts 20!!! The number of steps is accurate. The joy of technology. Norm

Ok I have news from the Captain. Because of the storm we are going to dock early in Fort Lauderdale at 11 pm tonight. This is the ship can be tied down to the pier safely and endure the brunt of the storm safely. No one witness allowed off on on until regular boarding process begins in the morning as originally scheduled. Captain is expecting buckets of rain and wind. Feel sorry for the incoming passengers struggling with flights and driving today. Norm

First page of today’s Patter I’ll try for the second Norm

Ok I’m not going to try to post pictures because they fail to upload on CruiseCritic. I will however post all of them to Princess FB page as pictures load perfectly. You will see Patters, tonight’s formal night menu and food plus pictures from the production show Bravo. OMG. You have to see Bravo. Production values are first rate. Classic Broadway classics from Le Mis, My Fair Lady etc. but classics from Opera including Carmen, Flower Duet from Lackme (many of you don’t know that opera and we’ve never seen it, but you have heard this duet and it’s gorgeous. It closes with the Andrea Boccelli classic Never say Goodbye. That’s the song every cruise ship plays when leaving Venice and the entire passengers are in tears. SEE THIS SHOW!! Norm

Captain said in todays noon report he expects to be able to dock on time. We are full speed ahead today and tomorrow. He will slow down as we approach Fy Lauderdale. He knows predicted wind speeds and rain forecast. So hopefully all will be well. I don’t envy passengers traveling tomorrow or boarding on Saturday. We are doing back to back cruise so we have to get off at 9:30 and go through Customs. We will reboard as soon as they give clearance. The ship has to empty of all passengers before getting clearance to board new passengers and returning passengers. Norm

Ok I’ve discovered that photos load perfectly on FB and fail constantly on CruiseCritic. So I will still post text here but Patters and menu’s and foodie pictures I will post to Princess FB page. There’s a problem with CruiseCritic uploading. So we had a great day at St Kitts and an outstanding dinner at Sabbatini’s. On FB. Norm

Second page finally loaded! Norm

Ok I have a little time for reflection as our pictures appointment got canceled. A number of people prior to the cruise wanted to know what improvements were being made in the April dry dock. This however was a hull maintenance dry dock. Nothing was done to the interior. But and there is absolutely no worries about how the ship looks inside. Remember Caribbean Princess went through a major upgrade inside in 2019. That sounds like long ago. However she was out of commission for most of 2020 and 2021 due to Covid. She still looks new inside and the changes then bring many of the features and decor of Royal Class ships. The pictures on the wall of our suite are the same as those on Regal Princess on which we’ve previously sailed. There’s no more green cloth couch. It’s light beige. The carpet had been changed and the padded back above the bed is now white tufted vinyl not green cloth to match the old couch. I see new pictures on the walls of balcony cabins as we pass by too. The lido buffet is now Fresh Market Place with lots of separate stations. Hopefully the will bring back Planks and Steamers when crew staffing gets ramped up. We saw new crew board in St Thomas so they are working on it. We’ve told our waiters and steward that they are the reason we have Elite Status. Dining room staff are wonderful. They new our names the second night. They know we drink lots of water (and a bottle of wine too). The dining room looks so nice. I appreciate real silver knives and forks etc. Even Celebrity which is supposed to be upscale has everyday stainless utensils. Wine glasses are Reidel for us when we order a bottle Food is perfectly presented and portions are small. That works for us because of the multiple courses. I had a small goat cheese soufflé as an appetizer. Intense flavor and very rich. I was so glad I didn’t miss that. I know others are not as pleased as we are. But with 24 Princess Cruises under our belt, we know what to expect and they have more than met our expectations. I just hope you have as much enjoyment as we have had so far. Now off for another massage. Life is good! Norm

Today’s Patter. One page at a time! Norm

Just to let you know. I’m having problems posting pit. They don’t upload. I tried sending the Patter and menu last night and they didn’t send. Will try again. Today is St Kitts. We aren’t doing anything here as everyone recommended the scenic train and we’ve already done that. Will go ashore for lunch. Maureen discovered a place for roti which she likes. We hav massages this afternoon as they are cheaper on port days.

We have not had any smell it toilet issues. We are on Riviera Deck. The top passenger deck under the Lido deck. Norm

So today in St Thomas we did a private snorkeling trip. We chose the company because they limit the capacity to 12 people. If you have been here before you know that both snorkel and dive boat trips cater to the large cruise ships that call here. Given current health conditions we felt smaller was better but we paid a premium price. We thought it was worth it. I didn’t get a turtle picture but they were there and others did. Went to three stops. Found on two websites I can’t name because of CruisCritic policies. But both are travel sites and one starts with a “V” and the other can be abbreviated as T A. Picture taken with iPhone in a waterproof sleeve. Norm