Grenada

We took Shore Excursion GD-330 on our Royal Princess cruise port stop at Grenada to Spices of Grenada and the Westerhall Rum Distillery. This time we had an air-conditioned van, which is better than a bus because you have fewer people to wait on to get in and out. We passed buildings painted in colorful hues of lime, coral, lavender, and sand.

Right away, we got the impression of a more upscale island. We drove through crowded port city streets to our first stop, De La Grenada Industries. Here they package spices grown on this fertile mountainous island. Inside the single building is a view of the machinery. There’s a tasting area where we had a sip of rum punch that was very good. The gift shop has a decent selection of packaged spices, nutmeg liqueur, and rum punch bottles.

We drove on through lush tropical hillsides to Laura’s Herb and Spice Garden for a tour in the rain of a botanical garden. The knowledgeable guide told us about the medicinal values for all the plants grown there. As the downpour got heavier, our hosts provided umbrellas. We donned our ponchos that we’d brought along. I learned that onion boiled with sugar makes syrup that can be used as an emetic. This might come in handy for a story if it works. The outdoor path is made from nutmeg shells. Inside the lone building, there wasn’t much to buy at the small sales counter except for some spice packets or vanilla extract bottles.

Our drive took us through more mountain rainforests. We passed goats, cows, and graveyards that had white above-ground tombs. Houses appeared to be concrete. Roofs looked like tile but were sheeting of some sort.

At the Westerhall Rum Distillery, it was raining too hard for a tour. They took us to the tasting hut where we got straight rum samples while standing outside under cover. I wasn’t sorry to miss the tour. We’d seen better on St. Croix, and had better tastings too with mixed rum drinks. Here you could see rusted wheels and other implements littering the grounds. There didn’t appear to be any shop.

We sloshed back into the van for a drive through a wealthy gated community to view the impressive homes overlooking scenic views. Finally, we were dropped off back at the ship. This tour took about 4 hours.

One of the best places for shopping is Esplanade Mall right at the pier. I bypassed the jewelry stores to browse the spices, coffee, shirts, hats and souvenirs. It’s a great place to buy gifts for people back home and spices to use in your own cooking.

See More Photos Here

Coming Next: Bonaire

Martinique

Martinique

On the fourth day of our cruise on Royal Princess, we visited Martinique. This mountainous volcanic island boasts lush tropical vegetation and spectacular views through the rainforest. We docked at Fort-de-France, a big port town with narrow streets. From here, we boarded an air-conditioned bus for Shore Excursion FDF-100 to St. Pierre and the Depaz Rum Distillery. Our first stop was Sacré-Coeur de la Balata, a historic church on a hilltop. This was built in 1925. We drove up a curvy road with scenic vistas to the church.

Next we went through the dense rainforest toward the Depaz Distillery, where rum has been made since 1651. The views along the road were spectacular. At the plantation, we trudged up a grassy hill to admire the owner’s mansion. We toured the distillery past machinery and rooms with barrels for the aging process.

Rain fell as was appropriate for the rainforest. Sugar cane plants stretched into the distance.

The gift shop looked interesting, but we didn’t have enough time to browse. Wares included packaged spices, bottles of rum, and souvenirs. We got tiny tastes of one sweet coconut rum drink that I liked. Another tasted like straight dark rum that burned my throat.

We hurried back to the bus for a drive to St. Pierre. At the foot of Mount Pelee, this village was destroyed in a massive 1902 eruption that killed 30,000 residents. The only survivor was one man in a stone prison. The town has narrow streets and ruins all around that had formerly been buildings made from rock. At the museum, we took a quick glance at the artifacts dug out of ash, a damaged bell from a cathedral, and photos of the town before and after the disaster. The air-conditioning was off, making it very hot inside. No photos were allowed. This museum is on the site of an old gun battery and has scenic views.

Outside, we climbed some stone steps to the ruins of a theater. We spied the jail down below on the side near the mountain. All was gone except for some stone walls and a domed stone prison where the single man survived.

I got hot and sweaty in the heat. We had periodic rain but not so much on this drier side of the island. We noted netting against the cliffs on this side to prevent rockslides onto the roads. We could also see cannon ball holes left in the rock walls facing the water.

This tour took 4-1/2 hours. A native market outside the pier held nothing interesting. The best shop was at the rum distillery. My advice for anyone going here would be to see the house and skip the distillery tour. Go straight to the shop. You could buy snacks there too and restrooms are available. Bring an umbrella.

See all trip photos here.

Coming next: Grenada

Royal Princess – Ports of Call

Princess Cays

Our first port call on the Royal Princess cruise was at Princess Cays for a beach barbecue. I always enjoy the serenity of this beach day. We took a tender to get there, which is an adventure in itself.

Once ashore, we scrambled to find a spot in the shade. Getting a rum punch became our first order of business. After finishing this drink, I trudged through the sand to stick my feet in the water. The temperature was cool but not cold. I could have gotten used to it, but I had no desire to wade in among the seaweed and get all wet. We have lovely beaches in Fort Lauderdale and our own pool at home. The barbecue offered an array of delectable items. I got a burger with accompaniments and chowed down in the covered picnic area.

Then we baked in the heat a bit more before deciding to pack it up and leave. We stopped in the few Bahamian shops on the way back to the tender. If you’re looking for a souvenir, you can find something here. The shops are not as plentiful as on the RCCL beach stops, though. It was a pleasant day on a beautiful sunny afternoon.

St. Thomas

A rainbow greeted us as we approached the island of St. Thomas. The day promised rain, so we fortuitously brought our umbrellas that we’d packed when we went ashore.

As the ship docked by Havensight Mall, we took a taxi into town for $4.00 each. Here we roamed the main streets, glad to see most of the shops open for business after Hurricane Irma. Some places were still shuttered, perhaps with water damage or without power. But most shops were open and welcomed visitors, and I bought some items that caught my eye. It began to rain off and on, and water quickly pooled in the saturated streets.

We’d been here numerous times before, so we had no need to do a sightseeing tour or go farther afield. We went back to the ship for lunch, and then strolled around Havensight Mall. You’ll get a greater selection of goods in town, but this shopping center has representative shops for most of those places. You can find plenty of souvenirs, liquor, or jewelry items here as well. After a satisfying day, the ship sailed away to music from the steel-drum band.

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Coming Next: Martinique

Royal Princess – The Food

The food in general on the Royal Princess tasted very good. Menu choices were average. For dinner, I enjoyed on different nights the prime ribs, filet mignon, tiger shrimp, and lobster tail. Vegetarian choices were available. We celebrated my birthday with a chocolate treat.

Thanks to our travel agent Adam Wolf at The Cruise Web, we dined at the Crowne Grille, one of the specialty restaurants. Here I had lobster cake appetizer, mixed greens salad, beef filet with baked potato. Our table shared creamed spinach, sautéed mushrooms, and freshly cooked asparagus. I had a lemon meringue tart for dessert.

This venue hosted a British pub lunch later on in the voyage. It was fun to eat my favorite cottage pie with a trifle for dessert.

The buffet seemed to have little variety and was very disorganized. Without any labeled station except for Pastry, you had to hunt through each aisle to see what was offered. The selections for breakfast or lunch didn’t seem to change much from day-to-day. We didn’t go here for dinner so can’t comment on that meal. Nonetheless, you could get plenty to eat whenever you came by. What I did like was that they opened for continental breakfast at 5am and breakfast at 6am. Since we’re early risers, this suited our schedules.

Outdoors by the pool, you could get pizza or hot dogs and hamburgers. An ice cream station offered vanilla or chocolate swirls, but I thought it tasted more like gelato than a creamy ice cream. Or you could dine at an Italian restaurant for free on one of the lower decks. The International Café was always a favorite. Coffee drinks cost money there, but the food was complimentary.

An annoyance was the lack of drink stations at the buffet. There were a couple of spots that offered coffee, tea or water. Otherwise, waiters circulated and took your drink order. You had to order lemonade. Sometimes we waited and nobody came by. On other ships, these waiters wheel carts around to offer refills. Not so here. They served you individually which made for less efficient service. These same wait staff had to continuously clean the tables to make them ready for new diners. The ship should offer more self-serve drink stations and include lemonade. Also, there weren’t any take-out cups available for coffee/tea. Only ceramic mugs were available.

Food in the dining room for dinner was very good.

The desserts were noteworthy, and I enjoyed fruit crumbles with vanilla sauce, fresh baked cookies, almond or chocolate croissants, Baked Alaska, and more.

And don’t forget the tropical drinks!

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Coming Next: Ports of Call

Royal Princess – Ship Review

Royal Princess
Nov. 30 – Dec. 10, 2017

This was our second trip on the Royal Princess. Here are my notes.

The Ship

The lifeboat drill took place in a lounge, which is much more comfortable than standing outside in the heat. At least you can relax while listening to the safety spiel.

Besides the main swimming pool and deck area, there was an adults-only Retreat offering lounge chairs facing another pool. This is open to the air and not covered like the solarium on other ships. Or for a fee, you could enter the more exclusive Sanctuary enclave. Otherwise, it wasn’t hard to find a lounge chair somewhere on the ship. We prefer the shade so we would hunt down a quiet site. Being Floridians, we didn’t feel the need for sunbathing or sweating in the heat.

On deck 7, there’s an outdoor promenade but it doesn’t go all the way around for passengers. If you want to take a stroll, you can go inside at deck 7 or use the sun deck.

As loyalty members, we appreciated the free Internet minutes and the nightly appetizers (mostly veggies or cheese and crackers, except for a shrimp fountain the last night) offered in the Club Six lounge, but we missed the free drinks and more generous hors d’oeuvres from RCCL and Celebrity.

Shopping was fun here, and the shipboard shops offer a wide variety of affordable merchandise. They had sales every night, although the sale items didn’t differ much. There is a logo store with souvenirs, clothing and hats; a cosmetics store, liquor and chocolate stores, an Effy fine jewelry store, and a costume jewelry store with items from Swarovski, Brighton, and more.

The port talk lady pushed the onboard shops too much. I stayed at her presentation for twenty minutes and then left when she hadn’t even started talking about the ports of call.

We didn’t inhabit the casino, but it was a busy place. You could browse the photo gallery, attend art auctions, or stroll to the small library and pick up the Sudoku or trivia puzzles of the day. A selection of lounges gave us other places to go for a quiet drink or to listen to the music in the atrium. Plenty of other activities are available to keep you busy if you wish.

The Cabin

We had been upgraded from a balcony to a mini-suite cabin. The storage space was generous enough for all our belongings, and our luggage fit under the beds or upright in the closet. The closet was a good size with plenty of hangers. In this area was a tall built-in cabinet with a safe and more drawers.

Separated from the main bedroom by a movable curtain, the sitting room had a full-size couch, a small coffee table, a desk with drawers and shelving, plus a chair. The balcony itself was tiny, barely allowing for movement outside, with two chairs and a small table. It wasn’t very inviting being so small.

The tub shower came with a rubber mat so you wouldn’t slip inside the tub. However, the European-type hose contraption was annoying. We would have preferred a stall shower with a fixed showerhead. There’s ample space for a lady to shave her legs. However, the flapping curtain—instead of a glass door—was unpleasant and unsanitary. You never knew who it might have touched last. Also, the drain was on one side of the tub and in the middle. You had to be careful not to cover it with the mat.

There were hot and cold water faucets but no cold water. We couldn’t get cold water for showering or for brushing our teeth. Sometimes the water was too hot even to wash my hands. Try brushing your teeth with burning hot water. Not fun. My guess is that this is due to a heat pump that makes hot water quickly available for showers. The bathroom sink area had adequate counter space and shelving. Bar soap, albeit thin, was provided along with liquid soap and shampoo dispensers in the tub/shower. Hand lotion was also available.

The blackout drapes were good, although some light from the balcony seeped in. Also, LED lights on the TVs shed light at night. The cabin was quiet and the room temperature just right. The bedding was comfortable, although the pillows were overly large. Our bed faced the wall with one of the TVs. Two nightstands come with one shelf each and a couple of drawers.

We had two large flat-screen TVs mounted on the walls, but these had no closed-caption option. If you’re hearing impaired, this is a serious downside and disrespectful to people with this problem.

Our cabin came with a mini-fridge that was handy for holding drinks. Since the staterooms did not offer a coffeemaker, I would get a mug of coffee from the buffet and refrigerate it overnight. I like iced coffee anyway so this worked for me. In the morning, I would sip cold coffee while getting dressed. It helped to wake my brain up until we went for breakfast.

The Entertainment

The musicians were excellent throughout the ship. In the atrium, you could hear a violinist, a talented piano player, or different bands playing either steel drum music or big band tunes for dancing. We enjoy a Caribbean band so appreciated their presence.

You could go to “Movies Under The Stars” that showed popular films by the pool. These same movies are available on your cabin TV the next day if you don’t feel like sitting out in the wind.

The main showtime theater is too small for the ship’s capacity. We had to get there a half hour early to get a seat. There are no second-story balconies like on some other ships. Seats are crammed in, and people ended up standing in the back.

The production shows during our voyage were blah. One was downright boring where the performers wore black and sang mundane tunes. The third show was cancelled due to “unforeseen circumstances.” No razzle dazzle here at all. Shows on the other nights offered single entertainers. These included vocalists and comedians. Again, not much variety. The only performance that stirred our blood was Tom Franek, a pianist who not only played concert-level music, but did it while standing on his head and putting his hands on the keys backwards. That was the only show with a “wow” factor.

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Coming Next: The Food

Waterhouse Residence Museum

Built in 1884 for carpenter William H. Waterhouse, the Waterhouse Residence Museum at 820 Lake Lily Drive in Maitland, FL is available to the public for a peek into the late Victorian era. William and his wife, Sarah, had two children. Charles and Stella lived in the house after them, and soon Stella was left. She lived into her nineties and had no offspring of her own. It’s said her spirit inhabits her former bedroom, and she was happy when the curtains were opened at the window so she could look outside.

I took a number of photos here but no orbs showed up. So whether or not this site is haunted is questionable, if you believe in such things. Our guide does, or so she led us to think. The house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is operated by the Maitland Historical Society. The grounds overlook Lake Lily.

The house is decorated for Halloween in these ensuing photos. The front parlor is where they might have had a coffin viewing before a funeral. The sofa is called a courting couch because the young couple would sit at either end.

The dining room table is set with lovely china. Note the hand in the center, and the skull inside a cage on the chest of drawers. The room even has a creepy doll. I really liked the lace curtains.

Next we entered a sort of breezeway, which may have separated the kitchen from the main house. The house is constructed from pine, which is termite-resistant but susceptible to fire. This crank device was where you’d wash and wring out your clothes. That plunger-like device was called an agitator. Aren’t you glad we have washing machines today?

Here’s the stove and an ice box next to our guide in the kitchen.

Here’s the bedroom where Stella lived, sample clothing, the master bedroom, a desk with implements of the day. The framed wreath contains human hair. Victorian mourning customs (which you can read more about in my book, Died Blonde) involved preserving a hank of hair from the deceased in jewelry or other remembrances. More bedroom scenes and another parlor.

Get tickets or see the hours here: http://artandhistory.org/plan-your-visit/tickets

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Epcot Food Festival Revisited

We spent another delightful afternoon at Disney World’s Epcot Food & Wine Festival. Here we sampled more foods from around the world. Hurry if you want to go. The festival ends Nov. 13.

Active Eats in Future World West (near Coca Cola pavilion on the way to World Showcase)
Loaded Mac ‘n’ Cheese – $4.75 with pepper bacon, cheddar cheese, green onions, and chopped bell peppers. My favorite for this season!
Sweet Avocado Cream with strawberries, yellow cake, and streusel topping. $3.75

China – Chicken Pot Stickers $4.00. You get two dumplings. Very tasty.

Italy – Absolut Penne with penne pasta, shrimp, and vodka sauce. $7.00. The shrimp are good but too much pasta is filling.

American Adventure Hops & Barley – Smoked beef brisket with pimento cheese served on garlic toast. $5.50. The barbecued beef flavor was good but the meat a bit overdone. The soggy piece of bread beneath the meat was unappealing.

We had a better meal at The Boathouse in Disney Springs. I had the lump crabmeat with avocado appetizer (enough for a meal) and Richard had a giant crab cake.

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Food Fun in Orlando

September is a bonanza month in Orlando for foodies like me. It’s Magical Dining Month at many of the area’s fancy restaurants, meaning you can get a three-course meal for $35 each. And it starts Disney’s annual Epcot Food and Wine Festival.
For Magical Dining Month, we visited two restaurants that would have been pricey otherwise. The first was Big Fin™ Seafood Kitchen located in Delagio off West Sand Lake Road on Restaurant Row. The restaurant is a lively place with an upscale crowd. This evening, I dined on a starter course of lobster bisque that was creamy and good. Another member of our party began their meal with oysters.

My entrée was Maine lobster tail. When I’ve had lobster on cruise ships, it’s always rather bland and doesn’t have much taste except for the sauce. This time was different. At Big Fin, the lobster meat sat atop the shell so you didn’t have to work at it. I discarded the shell in a bowl provided for that purpose and dug in. The lobster meat was succulent and flavorful, probably the best I’ve had short of a lobster meal in Bar Harbor, Maine. I dipped it in melted butter and enjoyed the accompaniment of mashed potatoes and green beans.

Dessert was Key lime pie. How can I resist one of my favorites? It was both sweet and tart at the same time with the right amount of graham cracker crust and a dollop of whipped cream.

The following night found us at Eddie V’s, where we’ve only gone before to celebrate special occasions. Also located on Restaurant Row, this place has a lovely view of a lake at the rear. The Caesar salad wasn’t the best I’ve had. It appeared to be big chunks of lettuce (Romaine?) with a dressing that was too vinegary and didn’t taste so much like Caesar’s to me, with shaved Parmesan and croutons that were small pieces of toast that not even my fork could penetrate. The eight ounce beef filet was done just right for my entrée and was tender and juicy. We had to pay extra for our accompaniments of choice being potatoes au gratin and broccolini. Dessert was a bananas foster cake with butter pecan ice cream. This dish was very sweet and reminiscent of an English plum pudding. It also stuck to my teeth. Nonetheless, we continue to like the atmosphere and excellent service here.

At Epcot, we made the rounds of World Showcase after stopping in at the Light Lab to sample a Glownut. Everything glows in this new attraction in the back of the Coca Cola hut where you can sample free international sodas. The Light Lab has a single cashier who takes your treat order from a limited menu of glowy items. Then white lab-coated staffers serve your food or drink from behind a counter. Space is limited so there could be lines. We ate the Glownut which looks cool inside the place, but out in the concourse it has a plain white frosting with sprinkles. It’s sweet and caloric.

Outside, it was too hot for me to have much of an appetite. I didn’t feel like eating any beef, duck or chicken dishes that might have sounded tempting otherwise. Instead, I had my favorite potato pancake with smoked salmon from Scotland. I tried the pistachio cake with chocolate coconut mousse (?) from India. It was pretty to look at but dry to taste. The heat sapped my energy and dampened my taste buds, unless it’s the cold I’ve been fighting for a week. I won’t return here until the humidity drops along with the temperature. The weather didn’t discourage anyone else as the park was crowded.
pistachio cake
So this has been a weekend of overeating, getting in some walking to counteract the calories, and leaving the diet plan for our return home.

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Aprons Cooking School

Publix Cooking Class
We always enjoy the cooking classes at Publix Aprons Cooking School. You can choose between demo classes, where the chefs do all the work, or hands-on where you don the aprons. My husband and I like the demos. We sit at white clothed tables and follow along with our set of printed recipes while the chefs explain each preparation method. For our latest class, they started us off with a welcome glass of Chateau St. Michelle Pinot Gris. I liked this light golden white wine.

The first dish was an Apple Pear salad. As one chef showed us how to prepare the ingredients and mix the dressing, two other guys dished out the food onto a series of plates for serving. The salad was delicious, a balance of sweet to the tang of blue cheese. This was paired with a Chateau St. Michelle Sauvignon Blanc. It was too fruity for my taste.

Next we enjoyed an Alaskan Salmon Terrine with Asparagus Sauce. We always learn tricks of the trade or new info at these events, and tonight we learned about salmon. Here are the five different types/grades from the top rating down: King, Sockeye, Coho, Keta, and Pink. Keta (from the Arctic) has more oil than Sockeye so is good for grilling. (Any mistakes here are due to my misinterpretation.) Sockeye is never farmed. This dish, that looked like a paté, reminded me of gefilte fish. The asparagus sauce was a very good accompaniment as was the Chateau St. Michelle Chardonnay served with it.

For the main entrée, we had Cedar Plank Wild-Caught Salmon, along with a Couscous side dish that contained corn and cilantro. I’m not a cilantro fan and the couscous was from a mix, so I’d probably choose another flavor. I did learn that if you want to take the kernels off a stick of corn, hold the corn on top of a bundt pan in the center hole, and then scrape downward. I’d also have preferred this fish to come with a sauce so it wasn’t so plain. The Chateau St. Michelle Cabernet Sauvignon won my approval. Yes, we had a red wine with fish, and it worked fine.

Dessert was homemade cheesecake with raspberry sauce. What’s not to like?

You can see cooking lesson videos for yourself at https://www.youtube.com/user/LightsCameraCook/videos or check out the Publix cooking schools here: http://www.publix.com/recipes-planning/aprons-cooking-schools.
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Crane Point Museum and Nature Center

Located on Marathon in the Florida Keys, this 63-acre hidden oasis has nature trails, a tram ride, historical houses, and a nature museum hidden away near the highway at mile marker 50. We bypassed the orientation film to stroll down the tree-lined paths in a mile-and-a-half loop. If you’re not a walker, you can take the tram instead. We wanted to get in our exercise before the rain clouds moved in.

We reached The Point at the end, where we came across a lovely water view of Florida Bay. Crane House is here, built for Francis and Mary Crane in 1954.

We didn’t stop to view the Wild Bird Center that rehabilitates rescue birds as we have something similar at Flamingo Gardens in Davie. The Adderley House was the next attraction, built in the early 1900s for Bahamian immigrant, George Adderley. The white structure was made from tabby, a concrete-like mixture of sand, lime, seashells, and water. We peeked inside the bedrooms, the dining area, and the separate kitchen.

From here, we headed back on the trail past the Butterfly Meadow and the Cracker House with exhibits and on to the gift shop and museum to cool down. The museum portion houses exhibits on native culture and marine life.

Visit http://www.cranepoint.net for more information.
See all my Florida Keys Photos Here. Click on Photos and then Albums.
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