EMERALD PRINCESS 10 Day Cruise Southern Caribbean
Day 1, December 8, Wednesday
ALL ABOARD
We boarded the Emerald Princess at Port Everglades. The terminal doors opened at noon. It was our first time as Platinum members of the Captain’s Circle (repeat cruisers), and I was grateful for the Preferred Check-In line that allowed us a speedy process. Our room was ready, and after we dumped our carry-on luggage inside and shed our coats from the forty degree weather outside, we proceeded to the Horizon Court for a buffet lunch. I ate a half of a grilled cheese sandwich with chips, a salad, and a fudge cookie. Then we explored the ship, similar in design to the Caribbean Princess we’d sailed on in September. For dinner, I chose prime ribs. The welcome aboard show that evening had singers and dancers and a comedian who was pretty good.
Day 2, December 9, Thursday
PRINCESS CAYS
At this island in the Bahamas which is Princess’s barbecue and beach stop, the weather was cool but warmer than yesterday and hot in the sun. Short sleeves sufficed as we rode the tender to the island. We strolled along the winding concrete path past native crafts stalls toward one of two grills and found a spot on the beach near a bar. I ordered a fruity frozen drink concoction and sipped it as we waited for the lunch buffet to open. We couldn’t wait to stuff ourselves with chicken, ribs, burgers, cole slaw, potato salad, beans, corn, and fresh fruit. The beautiful water spread before us in colors ranging from teal to aqua. Guests enjoyed sunning, snorkeling, and riding banana boats. We left as it got cloudy. Dinner choice was mushroom soup, Caesar salad, Rock Cornish hen. The show was a Cole Porter tribute with lively music and dancing.
Day 3, December 10, Friday
AT SEA
It rained this morning so we stayed inside, relaxing and strolling around the shops and lounges. At 11am, I headed up to the Skywalker Lounge on a top deck with a panoramic view of the ocean—a great place to read out of the wind—to meet the group from Cruise Critic. If you want to join this fun and knowledgeable group, you’ll make new friends on each ship and gather advice on tours, ports, and more. After the meet and greet, I headed to the port shopping talk to grab the brochures before lunch on deck. Reading, lounging, napping took up the afternoon. There are plenty of activities if you want to keep busy but I like relaxing on a cruise. Dinner was shrimp cocktail, eggplant and chicken empanada, lamb shank, Key lime pie, and banana fudge ice cream.
Day 4, December 11, Saturday
ST. THOMAS
I only took one picture here and wrote no descriptions because this was my umpteenth time visiting this beautiful island. It’s my favorite among all the jewels in the Caribbean. And jewels it has galore in the many shops downtown. I spent more than I’d planned but got exactly what I was looking for so came away satisfied. We lunched at the Green House restaurant on the waterfront then indulged in pizza and tiramisu back on the ship for an afternoon snack. Dinner was tigertail shrimp. The show was a comedian whose target audience seemed to be the over seventy crowd. A hypnotist was playing in the Explorer’s Lounge but we’d just seen one on the Caribbean Princess and the Movies Under the Stars had a Jennifer Aniston film but there were no seats left by the time we went up to look. You need to get a seat at any of the venues at least a half hour early. Coming Next: Dominica
For more photos, go to http://bit.ly/i1wERn
