LIVE From the Crown Princess - 10-day Southern Caribbean - Dec 7, 2019

[sunsetme]

any word what caused the ship to list?

[canadarocks]

Hmmmm..... Your Grenada tour is very similar to one I've booked, but ours is from 9am-1pm and includes an hour at the beach. How was Laura's Spice Garden? 

Edited December 13, 2019 by canadarocks

[CanadianBurger]

3 hours ago, jdechter said:

any word what caused the ship to list?

I’m going to ask at the Captain’s Circle cocktail party. 

[CanadianBurger]

Pics from the distillery. We didn’t actually see any of the distillery at all. Just rusting relics from the 1800s, then a room with random artefacts (typewriters, a telephone, sewing machines, Coke bottles...). The only thing briefly explained by the guide was the original history and the use of water power to run things. Then came the tasting, which was more of a sales pitch for the rum. 
 

[CanadianBurger]

Some sights around the island from the minibus. It is crazy hilly. The weird palm trees are called Traveller Palms, according to the bus driver, because they always face east-west. But these two were oriented 90 degrees apart, so which one was east-west is anyone’s guess. 
 

[CanadianBurger]

Laura’s Herb & Spice Garden was more interesting, with a knowledgeable guide who explained quite a bit about the different herbs and their medicinal or culinary uses. She picked samples and passed them around for people to smell. Then she talked about nutmeg, and how every part of it is used, including the shells, which is what made up the walkway. Also shown were cinnamon, cocoa, and vanilla. It was quite informative. Unfortunately it started raining halfway through, but it was only a light shower. At the end you could buy spices and other products. The pure vanilla extract was super inexpensive, at only $2 a bottle. My only complaint was the crowds. About half a dozen more busses showed up at the same time we did. 

[CanadianBurger]

The last stop on the tour was

De La Grenade Industries. It was, quite honestly, somewhat lame. We all filed into a room overlooking the production floor, where nothing but some packaging was happening. They talked about their products that they had for sale, handed out some samples (some of which were quite tasty),  then we got back on the bus. 
 

[CanadianBurger]

To get back to the dock, you have to go through a shopping mall. We were happy to see the ship again. The Celebrity Summit was docked next to us. We managed to JUST board as the sky opened and it started pouring rain. 
 

[CanadianBurger]

Fortunately, the rain stopped by sailaway time, which was around 2pm. 
 

[CanadianBurger]

This afternoon was our CruiseCritic Slot Pull. We had 17 participants who kicked in $15 each. While we didn’t win any money, we were able to go through the roster several times, and had some exciting Wheel of Fortune spins. We were at it for about an hour and a quarter, and had a lot of fun. Thanks to Ponstad for organizing it!

 

[CanadianBurger]

The other items available at Slice on Lido besides pizza...

 

[CanadianBurger]

We tried something we’ve never done before, Princess’ Escape Room at Sea. 

 

We ended up being a team of 6, and gathered at The Mix on Lido with no idea what to expect. A member of the cruise director’s staff met us there, and gave us a background story of the haunting of Crown Princess. We then went up to Hearts & Minds Chapel, where our adventure took place. No photography is allowed, and I won’t give anything away here, so as not to spoil it for anyone. I will say that through our collective brainpower (all of us were Canadians!) and working as a team we escaped in 22 minutes. It was fun, and I’m glad we did it. 

[M2ice]

Did you see anything in Grenada that you really wish you had done, or spent more time on?

We are doing one of the Feb sailings and have not found anything of real interest yet to do while there.

[JF - retired RRT]

11 hours ago, CanadianBurger said:

Pics from the distillery. We didn’t actually see any of the distillery at all. Just rusting relics from the 1800s, 
 

Hmmm. Maybe the rum is "made in China". Seems like everything else is made there.

[Expat_Canuck]

On ‎12‎/‎8‎/‎2019 at 8:46 AM, cruisintoddler said:

Thanks so much! We live in Oakville and are boarding Crown Dec 27 for 10 days - we are glad to be getting away from our early winter!   I'm impatiently counting down the days and your posts are a a very appreciated peek at our trip! 

My wife and I live in Waterloo and we too are boarding the Crown on Dec 27!  My wife suggested that I try to do a similar live blog to this one so let's see if I can do it!  We are really looking forward to the trip - this will be my first time as Platinum on Princess!

[CruzinNoony]

Did you buy any vanilla?  $2.00 a bottle is so inexpensive.  I just bought a 2oz bottle yesterday and it was $5.99!!

[CanadianBurger]

5 hours ago, Expat_Canuck said:

My wife and I live in Waterloo and we too are boarding the Crown on Dec 27!  My wife suggested that I try to do a similar live blog to this one so let's see if I can do it!  We are really looking forward to the trip - this will be my first time as Platinum on Princess!

Excellent! I look forward to reading!

[hllwdcruiser]

Your photos and videos are just fantastic (as usual). We did this trip several years ago and your excursion in Dominica makes me want a redo. Seriously, if the photos and videos don't do the reality justice, I can't even imagine how amazing it must be. I loved Dominica and the people we met there. I told DH I would really like to vacation and stay longer there one day. 

[Tatka]

Thank you for posting photos about Levi’s Dominica tours. We just booked the same yesterday for our Dec 27th Cruise! I have a question.. if you don’t mind, which might sound strange, I’m a huge snorkeler and love underwater filming.. my husband doesn’t like it. He didn’t want to go on this tour, but I “made” him 🙂 . He will be waiting on shore. Is it possible to just swim there while we will be snorkeling. I understand it’s not a real beach, but still?

 

And same story about Titou Gorge. If in some reason (and I see this coming) is it possible to just walk near it while I’ll be swimming? Is it a nice area to be?

[CanadianBurger]

9 hours ago, CruzinNoony said:

Did you buy any vanilla?  $2.00 a bottle is so inexpensive.  I just bought a 2oz bottle yesterday and it was $5.99!!

Yes, we bought two bottles of vanilla and a spice variety pack. 

[CanadianBurger]

14 hours ago, M2ice said:

Did you see anything in Grenada that you really wish you had done, or spent more time on?

We are doing one of the Feb sailings and have not found anything of real interest yet to do while there.

To be honest, maybe only the hour-long hike to St. Margaret’s falls (more for the hike than the falls, after experiencing the ones in Dominica) in Grand Etang National Park. Other than that it might rank as one of those done-it-once-stay-on-the-ship ports. 

 

[CanadianBurger]

54 minutes ago, Tatka said:

Is it possible to just swim there while we will be snorkeling. I understand it’s not a real beach, but still?

 

And same story about Titou Gorge. If in some reason (and I see this coming) is it possible to just walk near it while I’ll be swimming? Is it a nice area to be?

I would say no to both questions. The beach where you enter the water is very rocky. We entered wearing water shoes and put fins on once waist deep in water. Levi put our shoes back on the beach for us. You snorkel a fair distance along the beach to get to the reef. I wouldn’t say it’s a beach for swimming, and Levi wouldn’t want to leave someone alone while the group was one or two hundred yards away. 

The gorge definitely not. The only place to stand is at the entrance. There’s no way to walk along where you’d be swimming. 
 

I took the tour on my own, as my wife doesn’t enjoy snorkelling either. 

[CanadianBurger]

MDR Dinner on Grenada night. 
 

[CanadianBurger]

The goat cheese soufflé was excellent, as always. I had the gnocchi, which was also very good. The presentation of the Curtis Stone tenderloin was bizarre. My first thought was that it looked like a bowl of dog food. Apparently it didn’t taste much better. And I don’t think Gordon Ramsay would be pleased if one of his Hell’s Kitchen chefs produced those scallops. 
 

Edited December 14, 2019 by CanadianBurger

[CanadianBurger]

Dessert was wonderful.