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.