Cruising The Caribbean

Today we are making very good progress on our trip toward St. Barthelemy. Since we departed Fort Lauderdale yesterday evening we have traveled over 390 miles. We are currently located at Latitude 23 degrees 54 minutes North and Longitude 73 degrees 23 minutes West. This places us East of San Salvador Island. he Royal Princess has 691 more miles to travel tonight and tomorrow before we reach St. Barthelemy. We are traveling at 19.6 knots with only about a 6 foot swell. Wind and swell are both expected to increase before tomorrow morning. Great weather otherwise with partly cloudy sky and a temperature of 82 degrees. Last night we had a near full moon over the water which made for great viewing.

Just after lunch today we attended a special screening of a movie produced by Princess Cruises about the Amazon River. This really gave us a better insight into what is ahead of us when we reach Brazil.

Fort Lauderdale Arrival

This morning we arrived in Fort Lauderdale. Made it to the hotel at about 10:00am, but our room wasn't ready. However, our friends Pat and Barry from the UK drove over from their time share and had us over to their place for lunch. We also picked up a few supplies. We know that along the Amazon River we will be visiting some villages that have children in need of school supplies. We purchase some erasers; rulers; colored pencils and some colored hair bands to give them. This is a tradition that the Princess ships do when they traverse the Amazon River.

About midday tomorrow we will be boarding the Royal Princess for the trip south.

Medical Evacuation

We are just off the coast of Cuba this morning. The Captain came on the public address system and said that a passenger needed to be medically evacuated from the ship and that a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter was en route to the ship. Approximately 40 minutes later the helicopter arrived. The ship’s crew had closed the forward pool area and secured all loose items. The helicopter came into that area and hovered above it. They lowered the crew chief and two baskets. They then took the spouse off in a basket followed by the patient and finally the crew chief. The Captain said that the helicopter was taking the passenger to Nassau.

In the morning we will be arriving at Fort Lauderdale and will link up with our friends Pat and Berry from the UK. Don’t board the Royal Princess for the Amazon until Saturday afternoon.

Colorful Aruba

Colorful Aruba is our port of call this morning. We arrived around 7:00am inside the reef surrounding the island. It’s always nice to come here and see all the colorful buildings, buses, signs and its unique Dutch influence. The interior is dotted with cactus and divi-divi trees. It has numerous white sandy beaches with many secluded coves along the coast. The people speak Papiamento which is a language that combines elements of Spanish, French, Portuguese, Dutch, African, and English.

Cindy looked for some linens, but again the prices are too high here in Aruba. We will look again when we get on the trip down to the Amazon. We did pickup a 7 inch tall Hummel that was being closed out at over 50% discount. Here is Cindy at the local bus depot.


There are plenty of tour buses waiting for tourists as they arrive.


At 5:00pm we depart for Fort Lauderdale. We will have 2 sea days en route. Once there we will spend the night in the Las Olas area where there are water taxis and boats. This is only a pit stop to spend the evening and pickup a few supplies before boarding the Royal Princess for the Amazon.

Bypassed Curacao

At about 12:15pm today we got a real surprise from the Captain. He came on the public address system and said that if we had been watching we would have seen the Pilot boat leave the ship and head back to Willemstad, Curacao. The reason the pilots had not remained with our ship and escorted us to the port was due to the high swells and wind. Evidently they were unable to put men on the “dolphins” which are tie-down points in the water that the Ruby Princess would have been tied to. Because of this, we are now leaving the area of Curacao and heading for Aruba. We don’t know when we will arrive, but probably in the morning.

Isle of Spice

Today we arrived in the St. George’s, Grenada, also known as the Isle of Spice. It’s the smallest independent country in the Western Hemisphere made up of three islands (Carriacou, Petite Martinique and Grenada). Grenada is one of the world’s major producers of nutmeg, mace clove, cinnamon and cocoa. There are plenty of shops selling these spices. One local ordinance is that no building can be built higher than a coconut palm.


Cindy bought a nice little basket full of various spices. The lady that sold it to her added some extra nutmeg nuts and recipes to the package.

The weather today is the nicest we have seen. The temperature is 82 degrees and very little humidity.

Depart at 2:00pm today en route to Curacao. Don’t get to Curacao tomorrow until 1:00pm.

Welcome to Dominica

Welcome to Dominica. Lying between Guadeloupe and Martinique is the island of Dominica an unspoiled Caribbean mountainous paradise. It is covered with rain forest and is a sanctuary for rare birds and other animals. It is a former British possession which became independent in 1978.


We arrived here this morning about 9:00am. The sky is crystal clear and so is the bright blue water surrounding the island. The temperature will reach 81 degrees today.

Walking around the city of Roseau this morning was a real delight. We were able to see many of the shops as well as much of the local culture and color. Pier side we were met by a man in native dress playing the steel drums, then on into town to checkout everything. Of course not everything is wonderful. As can be seen by one of the photos, some people do sleep on the street here as in most cities. As we were walking we looked into the kitchen window of a small restaurant and one of the two ladies cooking really didn’t like me taking her photo as she yelled at me, “no no”.

At 3:00pm today there will be an official parade marking the start of the carnival celebrations. It will be very colorful and march directly in front of our docked ship. Tonight the ship will depart Dominica en route to our next stop which is Grenada.

Crown Bay

A clear sky and great 80 degree temperature greeted us upon arriving at Crown Bay, St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. We had never been to Crown Bay. On previous trips we had docked at Havensight pier instead. There aren’t as many shops at Crown Bay, but all are very nice and well stocked. I looked at some of the cameras and DVD burners. The prices were good but held off on purchasing anything. Cindy checked out some linen and has decided to wait until we get further south and hopefully the prices will come down some.

While walking around Crown Bay we ran across plenty of Iguanas. They are really not afraid of anyone. Most of them would come right up to you and look into your camera lens. Cindy thinks they were smiling, but I think they wanted to just get a finger or toe.


Later today at 5:30pm we sail for Dominica on our southern track across the Caribbean.

Princess Cays Today

This is a shot of Princess Cays approaching from the ship. The beautiful blue water of the Bahamas greeted us as we arrived at Princess Cays this morning. Princess Cays is located in the southern portion of the island of Eleuthera which was discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492. It averages 2 miles wide and is generally nothing more than deserted white sand beaches. This private beach area maintained by Princess Cruises has water sports of all types; sailboats; kayaks, volleyball, baseball, BBQ, snorkeling, scuba and many more activities. This photo is of one of the ship’s first tenders going ashore to the beach.

We are underway to St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. Tomorrow will be at day at sea before we arrive there on Friday, January 22nd.

Sail Away

Tonight we departed on our Southern Caribbean cruise at exactly 5:00pm with our new Captain, Tony Yeomans. He really isn’t new because this is his permanent ship and he just returned from vacation. Also, we have sailed with him several times previously.

The people of Fort Lauderdale were outside their homes and viewed our sail away from their balconies along the waterway as we departed. The Captain blew the ship’s whistle/horn in the traditional 3 bursts as we passed the homes in this photo. To our surprise, many of the shore side people had their own air-horns to blow back at us.


In the morning we will again attempt to visit Princess Cays in the Bahamas if the seas aren’t too rough. Will be going ashore on the ship’s tenders. The weather warmed up today to 73 degrees to 10 days ago.

Lauderdale Tomorrow

After 2 sea days we complete our Eastern Caribbean cruise in the morning. We are expected to arrive in Fort Lauderdale at 6:00am. Passengers continuing on the next cruise don’t have to disembark until 9:45am to clear U.S. Customs and Immigration and then return to the ship. Hopefully we won’t have any issues with U.S. Public Health Service. There has been a Stage 2 Noro Virus outbreak on the ship for the past couple of days. All food service has been by the crew and nothing is on the tables. Everyone is using hand sanitizer and washing their hands a lot.

After completing the Customs formality in the morning, we will be ready to begin our 10-day Southern Caribbean cruise. The stops along the way include Princess Cays, Bahamas; St. Thomas, USVI; Dominica, Grenada; Curacao, Antilles, and Aruba. Departure from Fort Lauderdale will be at 5:00pm.

St. Kitts

Another beautiful day here in the Caribbean as we arrived in St. Kitts. Along with its neighbor Nevis, St. Kitts is an exotic landscape that looks more like Polynesia than the Caribbean. The island of Nevis is only a few miles away across the bay. The mountains here are much higher than on most other West Indies islands. And the people are very friendly and polite to visitors.


Cindy and I went into the town and looked around. We also looked at some of the locally made items in the market. It was a surprise to see that the prices for most things weren’t too high. Of course there were men everywhere with small monkeys offering to let you hold the monkey for a photo and of course money. I’m sure we will see plenty more monkeys on Devil’s Island and in the Amazon.

The temperature today will reach a high of 82 degrees with a little humidity.

It’s an early 4:30pm departure today en route back to Fort Lauderdale. We will have 2 sea days before pulling into Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday morning. Once we arrive we will have to clear customs and then we can reboard the ship. Won’t have to wait on luggage or anything, since we are staying in the same stateroom for the Southern Caribbean cruise.

St. Lucia

The Ruby Princess pulled into the harbor here in Castries, St. Lucia this morning. We went ashore for a little shopping and a look about shortly after reaching our pier. While out, we checked out some car rental information for our return trip. We plan to do more here on the island when we come back on the Royal Princess with our friends Pat and Berry from the UK. All four of us will be renting a car on that trip and exploring the roads down toward the Pitons. This thanks to Berry having an International Drivers License.

Another day of excellent weather here on St. Lucia. The temperature is expected to reach 82 degrees and be partly cloudy.

We will be out on Deck 7 (Promenade Deck) this evening at 6:00pm when we sail-away to St. Kitts. The Ruby Princess has some very comfortable deck chairs all along Deck 7 that makes the sail away really nice. St. Kitts is a very small island in the Eastern Caribbean.

Day In Barbados

A clear sky here in Bridgetown, Barbados welcomed us as we arrived today. As far as you can see around this 166 square mile island is beautiful deep blue water. The inland hills on Barbados aren’t too tall and there is a very gentle breeze today from off shore. Barbados lies at about 13 degrees north latitude placing it very near the Equator and just to the north of Venezuela.

So far on this 10-day cruise the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean have been smooth as glass. You really couldn’t ask for a gentler ride. In fact most passengers haven’t felt the ship move at all.

We sail back to the north at approximately 6:00pm en route to Castries, St. Lucia. It was discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1502. It’s a very beautiful lush island with the spectacular Piton mountain peaks and world renowned Marigot Bay.

Antigua

The Ruby Princess arrived in St. Johns, Antigua early this morning. The sky is clear with a comfortable temperature of about 85F. At the pier to our port side is the Caribbean Princess, one of the large grand class ships that are very similar to the Ruby Princess. The small town of St. Johns is very crowded with passengers and crew from both of the visiting ships.

We went out midday to see what goodies were offered in the shops. Caught glimpse of a couple of local women balancing items on their heads. Really amazing what they can do.

We depart here this afternoon at 3:30pm en route to Bridgetown, Barbados.

St Thomas

What a great surprise last night. The Maitre d’Hotel, Jose Florencio shown in the center of this photo, presented a birthday cake to me and Fred Perry since we were both celebrating our birthdays. We have sailed with Jose many times on many different ships. The cake was great with only two candles for the two of us to blow out!

This morning we arrived in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands with a big change in temperature. It was 83 degrees F. at noon. Cindy and I walked around Havensight Mall in the port at Charlotte Amalie. You can sure tell that we have moved further south. Even though it was just 83 degrees the sun was very intense. Will have to put on plenty of sun screen as we continue south in the Caribbean.
We have run across many old friends on board the Ruby Princess. Beside the Maitre d’Hotel, we know the Cruise Director, Lisa Ball, The Master of the Ship Captain Tony Draper, the Captain Circle Hostess Crissy Reid, the Future Cruise Manager Kirk Alexander, and loads of wait staff.

Tonight at 6:00pm we weigh anchor and sail for our next stop St. Johns, Antigua. This small 108 square mile island was sighted by Christopher Columbus on his second voyage to the Americas in 1493.

Sailed

Saturday afternoon about 5:00pm we sailed out of Fort Lauderdale for our Eastern Caribbean experience. The weather wasn’t the best. It was raining and had been all day long. This morning we were supposed to have dropped anchor and spent the day on Princess Cays, a private island that Princess Cruises has in the Bahamas. However the wind was strong and the waves/swells were large with overcast skies, so the Captain cancelled the call at Princess Cays. We are now en route to St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. For the next 2 days we will be at sea traveling in a southeasterly heading for Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas. We will arrive in St. Thomas on Tuesday, January 12th. We are currently passing Conception Island in the Bahamas.
The Ruby Princess is a very nice ship. It was launched in late 2008 and is extremely well maintained. It is 951 feet long and has 19 decks. We ar

Sunset Over Ft. Lauderdale

What a great sight as the sun slipped below the horizon tonight. This shot was taken from the balcony of our timeshare on the 7th floor of the Wyndham Palm-Aire Resort.

We went out and about today to stock up on some food and for some items we will need on board the Ruby Princess. The high temperature today was 52F and tomorrow we should hit 70. But as for Saturday, it looks now like we will be back in the 50's when the next cold front moved into Southern Florida.

Fort Lauderdale

What a day....We departed Washington Dulles this morning at 10:30am en route to Dallas. Yes, you heard me correctly. When you fly on frequent flyer points/miles you sometimes have to r0ute yourself in funny ways. After that flight we then flew from Dallas to Fort Lauderdale. Arrived here at 6:00pm and then spent the better part of an hour getting a rental car then off to the timeshare. Finally arrived at the Wyndham Palm-Aire Resort. Really a nice place in a good location. Out in the morning to my favorite place--Super Walmart.

Evening At ICE

Last night the whole gang took off for Maryland and had a chilling evening touring ICE! at Gaylord National Resort. Cold really can't descibe the feeling of 9 degrees inside the ice event. But, it is well worth the adventure. The event is held inside of a hugh tent with some of the most powerful cooling units I have ever seen. They provided the heavy blue coats to put over our own coats. (On the front row is Marisa. Back row, left to right Curt Jr., Lance, Maria, and Cindy.)

Yes, this sign is made of real ice! And how about this cool looking gang?

And Grandma really enjoyed the penguins. We had a great time and would definately do it again.

Happy New Year

Happy 2010 to everyone!  We spent the evening at Curt and Maria's--didn't venture out with freezing rain and light snow.  Also, Curt Jr. seems to have either the flu or food poisoning......not good.

We don't head south to Fort Lauderdale until January 6th.  Once we do head out we will be spending 3 days at the Wyndham Palm-Aire Resort prior to boarding the Ruby Princess on January 9th.  The Posting activity will pickup once we board the Ruby.

Hope everyone has a great year.