February 28, 2015 Punta Arenas, Chile

A correction: we weren’t in the Straits of Magellan when went to Cape Horn; the straits are further north.

We were given the Chilean Customs and Agricultural Affidavit to complete and carry with us whenever we are ashore.  We may be asked by a Chilean Official for our “papers” and better be able to produce them.  Sounds very eastern European to me.

We had an enjoyable city tour today.  We visited 2 museums and our guide was very good at making it interesting.  No wonder, since she’s a teacher.  Punta Arenas had 3 “gold rushes”.  The first was actual gold, although not that much was eventually found.  Next was the “white gold”, which is sheep and that is still a major part of their economy for both meat and wool.  And more recently, the “black gold”, which is, of course, oil.  We went to the Shacklelon Bar which was recommended after the tour for a Pisco Sour and a light bite to eat.  It was just after 1:00 pm and they had just closed until 4:00 pm.  So we wandered around the main square for a while, then took the tender back to the ship.

I was thinking this morning that we have only 3 more weeks of this trip.  Then I realized that I thought “only” 3 more weeks.  Boy, that is quite a different mind set.  But the 49 days is going to be just fine.  We find that we pace ourselves - we don’t feel we have to do everything right away, because there will be plenty of other opportunities.  And if we decide to spend an afternoon reading in the cabin or taking a nap, we don’t feel that we’re wasting time.  It’s a very relaxed pace and I like it.  I feel now that any cruise less than a couple of weeks would be too short.

Next up are 3 sea days before Valparaiso (Santiago).

February 27, 2015 Ushuaia, Argentina

This is the southern most city in the world.  It’s pronounced “oo-SWY-a” - the “h” is silent according to our guide, although most people call it "oo-SHWY-a:.  We took a bus tour into the national forest and then to the end of the Pan-American highway that runs some 17,000 km from Alaska to Ushuaia.  We were warned by those on the ship not to wear anything that said “Falkland Islands” on it.  Argentina still claims the Falkland Islands, or “Malvinas” as they call it, as their territory and say the British are illegally occupying it.  There’s a sign at the port that informs everyone of this.  We didn’t mention that we had been there before coming to Ushuaia.  Peter and Carole, our British table mates, were going to say they were Australian!  If it’s their territory, why don’t they go back and remove all the land mines they left behind?

This is a very nice city with a nice central shopping street.  We had lunch with a good bottle of Tempranillo wine that was only $11.  The ship was scheduled to depart around 4:00 pm, but we were delayed an hour because they needed to send a passenger to the hospital.  The ambulance was late getting here and then it didn’t have the right equipment, so we had to wait for another one.  We heard at dinner that the patient was a Brazilian so at least s/he doesn’t have too far to go home when possible.

As expected the temperatures have taken a definite turn for the cold.  Stanley was cold and windy and today was cold, but no wind.  The seas have been a little wilder the last few days, but the ship is very stable.   Speaking of wind, we heard of someone who was on deck taking pictures with his iPad and the wind took it.  It was last seen flying by the ship with it’s cover flapping behind - a new species of sea bird.

After leaving, we sailed through the Beagle Channel past the beautiful glaciers.  Even though we were late departing, the captain made up some time and we were able to see them before it got dark.

Tomorrow is Punta Arenas, Chile.

February 26, 2015 Rounding the Horn (sort of)

So geography wasn’t ever my strong suit.  I thought that Cape Horn was the southern tip of South America.  In fact, there are a bunch of islands off the tip and Cape Horn (Isla Hornos) is the southern most of these.  The plan was for us to go west between some of the islands through the Straits of Magellan, then go counter clockwise around the Cape and come back east again to get to the Beagle Channel and then to Ushuaia.  We would have literally gone “around the Horn”.  However, apparently when we got there in late afternoon the sea conditions were such that the captain decided it wasn’t safe to do all that.  So we went up next to the Horn on the relatively protected north side and hung around for a little bit, then turned around to avoid the rough weather on the west and south side of the Horn.  So when I say I’ve been “around the horn”, I mean I‘ve hung around it.  The approach was pretty rough all day and it got a little hairy when we turned the broad side of the ship to the strong wind.   We then headed for Ushuaia, Argentina which is tomorrow‘s port..

February 25, 2015 Stanley, Falkland Islands

Stanley was one of our favorite ports.  Being part of the British Commonwealth, it was very easy to navigate around, besides it’s a very small town with only about 2,400 people.  The main industries are sheep, agriculture and fishing.  They are very welcoming to tourists, which are becoming a more important part of their economy.  We did a walking tour with an English woman who came here 18 months ago with her husband who took the job as the government planner.  He is the only planner for everything from placing plaques in parks to locating oil rigs, so it’s a very interesting job for him.  They have two young boys and came on a two year contract with an option to renew for another two years, which they plan to do.  After that, they’d have to apply for permanent residence.  She loves it here and I can see why.  Although the weather isn’t the best, it’s safe, clean and there’s a real sense of community and pride.  One thing I wouldn’t like is that there are still land mines here from the 1982 “conflict” when Argentina invaded and the British beat them back.  They know where the land mines are, so the areas are well marked, but they are hard to find individually so removal is a hard process.  We didn’t see penguins here, but we did see a sea lion “playing” with an octopus in the bay, much like a cat plays with a mouse.

I didn’t have cell service here, although I did see someone on a cell phone.  Everyone has broadband internet, apparently very expensive as you’d expect.  The one bank has no ATM and closes at 3:00 pm every day, not open on weekends.  And they close for 2 weeks at Christmas, so you’d better plan ahead or you end up with IOUs at the local stores, which apparently is not a problem.

Next up is sailing around Cape Horn.

Feb 22, 2015 Montevideo, Uruguay

Again, we didn’t have a tour booked here.  Right outside of the cruise terminal is a little shopping area inside what apparently was originally built as a train station, but never used for that, so it was converted to shops and restaurants.  There was another hop-on, hop-off bus there so we decided to ride that one also.  This one was cheaper than yesterday’s in Buenos Aires, and a better operation all around.  The bus was newer, had a cover upstairs and the tour information was better.  It went to all the main areas and squares, of course, but also went through neighborhoods and parks and the beach so it gave a better overall feel for the city.  It’s quite nice, we liked it a little better than Buenos Aires, but can’t quite say why.  Both have a real European feel.  We didn’t get any specific safety warnings for here, which may have helped.

After the bus, we had lunch at one of the restaurants in the shopping area.  This is beef country so we had to try their barbecue.  I had a petite sirloin (huge) and Michael had pork and we each had a glass of wine.  It was all very good, but again, we came back to the ship and took a nap - no laundry for me to do this time.  And, amazing as you’ll find this for me, I wasn’t hungry at dinner and only had a cold coconut “soup” and Caesar salad.  For dessert I had to try their apple cider sorbet, which was actually very good - I’d never have thought so.  I’m sure tomorrow I’ll be back to eating regularly.  Two sea days, then to the Falkland Islands.  The weather forecast is for 55 degrees and windy, but no rain and the captain said he expects we’ll have no trouble getting in.  It’s a tendering port, so the weather has to cooperate.

Feb 21, 2015 Buenos Aires, Argentina

We didn’t have a formal tour, so we took another one of the free shuttles into the center of town offered by the H. Stern jewelry stores.  It dropped us off at the base of Florida street, which is the main pedestrian shopping street and runs probably ½ a mile.  We walked up and down the whole thing, but didn’t buy anything.  Every 20 feet or so are people offering to change money, but we’d been warned not to make use of their services.  And speaking of warnings, we’ve had them in nearly every port, but for Buenos Aires we got a specific letter saying that recent months had seen an increase in crime against tourists.  And, indeed, our table mate Carol met a man in the terminal who had just been robbed at gun point while in a taxi at a red light.  He was obviously quite shaken up.  We also spoke with a woman whose friend had been tazed and robbed in Santos.  We make sure not to carry anything in a bag - we put everything in our pockets and don’t carry much money.  And I always stay close to Michael and try to be aware of our surroundings.

So, anyway, after our walk down and back Florida street we bought a ticket for a hop-on hop-off bus. The bus was rather old and had no cover over the upstairs seats.  Actually, there was only an upstairs on this bus, so you couldn’t even get out of the sun downstairs.  And every time the driver had to start from a stop light, he would struggle to find first gear and it would be a gamble whether he’d get it going again.  We stopped at one point and everyone got off to see the cemetery where Eva Peron is buried.  We didn’t really care to see it, so we thought we’d stay on.  The lady guide tried telling us something in Spanish which we couldn’t understand, and finally the driver indicated to let it go and she went with the other riders.  Then the bus took off and we went to a gas station.  We must have looked rather silly sitting up there all by ourselves on this tour bus pulling in for a fillup.  So after gassing up, off we went to pick up the other passengers and continue on the tour of the city.  It’s a pretty enough place, but again, not our favorite.  I did like seeing a couple doing a tango in a square and inviting the crowd to join them.

Next stop is Montevideo, Uruguay.

February 19, 2015 At Sea

On our second day in Rio de Janeiro, we decided to walk around a bit.  We left the ship around 10:00 am and it  was hot and humid already, and it just got worse.  We wanted to see the cathedral, so we consulted the map and off we went.  We stayed on major streets, but still saw lots of poverty.  Upon reflection, it was probably no worse than parts of Market Street in San Francisco.  We passed 2 McDonalds, a Burger King and a Subway, of course.  All of them were very busy.  We also passed a Starbucks which appeared to be open, but there was no one inside.  What??  It was across the street and by that time the sweat was pouring into my eyes (a new experience for me) and I just didn’t have the energy to go over and see if it really was open.  The cathedral was beautiful and worth the walk.  It’s built like a teepee and has openings all up the walls.  The stained glass was amazing  We got back to the ship around 1:00 and went straight to the dining room for lunch.  We’ve been meeting so many nice people, and we learn so much talking with them.  That, to me, is one of the highlights of cruising.

Today was another quiet sea day.  I volunteered for a free manicure at a spa demonstration, finished my book, took a short nap, attended a talk on Buenos Aires - the usual stuff.  Lots of people got off and more new ones got on in Rio so we now have 2 more people at dinner with us, a nice couple from Anaheim - he is originally from England and she’s American.  Supposedly an Australian couple is assigned to our table, but they haven’t shown up yet.  The six of us are having lots of fun and we have many lively discussions.

Tomorrow is one more sea day, then Buenos Aires on Saturday.  Hard to believe it will be 3 weeks onboard at that point.

February 17, 2015 Rio de Janeiro

Today was Rio de Janeiro.  Our tour took us to Christ the Redeemer statue.  We took  the train up the steep mountain, so steep that we had to fight to stay in our downward facing seats.  It’s about a 20 minute trip, with 2 stops to let the other trains pass by.  The statue is absolutely amazing.  It was pretty crowded, so it’s hard to imagine what it would be like with only a few people there, but “mystical” comes to mind.  And the views are fabulous.  The morning was a little overcast and hazy, which tempered the views somewhat, but also made the temperature a little better, which was much appreciated.  On the return down the mountain we sat facing upward so we were nearly lying in our seats.  I didn’t realize how much forest there is in Rio, but the entire train trip was through thick forest.

Next stop was at a “churrascaria” which is a  Brazilian all you can eat restaurant.  You help yourself to various cold salads at a buffet, and then they come around to your table with all kinds of barbecued meats of all kinds on huge skewers and they cut some off for you.  They’ll keep doing this until you turn your green card over to show the red side, which means “no more”.  The meats were fabulous, each better than the last.

Next, and final stop, was Sugar Loaf mountain.  To get to the top you take two trams that are not for the feint of heart.  But, again the views were absolutely wonderful.  The air had cleared some by then, which was great for viewing, but not so great if you couldn’t get into the shade.  I think it was about 95 degrees with 78% humidity.  We were drenched and so looking forward to a nice cool shower back at the ship.  This tour lasted over 7 hours for several reasons.  Rio is a huge city, so just getting from one place to another takes a long time, but then it was also the last day of Carnival (a holiday) so traffic was even worse than usual.  But we didn’t mind, we were seeing the sights in a comfortable air conditioned bus.  While there are no formal parades tonight, there is still a big party in the city and it seemed most everyone under 40 was dressed in some crazy costume which included very little clothing.  Apparently, the men here love to cross dress for the occasion.

We stay overnight here and we don’t have serious plans for tomorrow.  As I write this, I’m sitting on our balcony listening to the sounds of Carnival (music, horns honking, drums), gazing at Christ the Redeemer in the far distance, although lighted up so it stands out in the darkness, and watching a lightning show.  It’s still about 85 degrees, but it’s night so it feels OK.  This is the first place on our trip which we thought really had something to offer.

February 16, 2015 Santos, Brazil

The city of Santos has a population of around 400,000+, but has many, many highrise apartment buildings,  There’s a 5 mile beach which is very popular, although not as pretty as most beaches, it seemed to me.  Our tour took us to the coffee museum which is in the former coffee stock exchange building in old town.  Unfortunately, everything was only in Portuguese so we didn’t understand most of it, but the building itself was beautiful.  Next stop was to the Santos Futbol (soccer) Club where Pele played.  The club has scored the most goals of any futbol team (Pele alone scored over 1,000) and has won many trophies.  We saw the field, which would have meant more if we were soccer fans.  Next was the aquarium which was OK.  Again, our overall impression was not terribly positive.  Our guide said there is no very rich, nor very poor in Santos, that it’s all middle class.  That may be true, but the middle class live in buildings that are quite run-down and in need of basic maintenance.  He also said that there is very little crime in Santos, that Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro are dangerous places.  But we heard tonight of a woman who was knocked down and had her necklace and wedding ring stolen a block from the coffee museum.  And two others were robbed in Salvador the other day.

Yesterday for Michael’s birthday he specially requested lemon meringue pie and they also brought the special Princess birthday cake.  Our table mates, Peter and Carol, gave him a birthday card and a box of chocolate coconut patties which are wonderful.  They are the nicest people.  We’ll miss them when they get off in Santiago.

We also did the Ultimate Ship’s Tour yesterday which was great.  There were only 11 of us and we got to go behind the scenes.  The tour included the Bridge, the engine control room, the theatre dressing rooms, the medical center, photography and printing rooms, laundry and kitchen.

Next is our overnight at Rio de Janeiro.  The temperature is supposed to be only about 82, which sounds much better than the 102 it was a few weeks ago.

Feb 13, 2015 Salvador, Brazil

We didn’t have a tour booked today.  While going through the port building we learned of a free shuttle offered by a jewelry store that would take us up the huge hill to the old center of town where the churches are located.  The only obligation was to look into their store, which we did.  Carnival is on and the whole square was getting ready for the party later in the day.  Dozens of porta-potties were being set up along with stages and stands.  Many vendors were preparing their stalls and it was a little chaotic.  We wandered around for a while, but  it was getting crowded and hot so we took the elevator back down to the port area.  The elevator was free today, normally it’s about a nickel to ride.  We wandered through the craft market and stopped outside to have a cold drink and people watch before returning to the ship and a shower.  Laundry and napping were on the agenda for the afternoon (guess who did which?).  While the churches were beautiful, overall our impression of Salvador wasn’t too positive.  The parts we saw were very dirty and many places were in total disrepair.

All day long I tried to get a cell signal, but didn’t have any luck until about an hour before we left.  Hopefully, that won’t be the case in the rest of
Brazil.

We saw on the news that Oregon’s governor is resigning next week.  Sounds like his shady dealing fiancee has finally been his downfall.  We get BBC World News, MSNBC and Fox News.

Two more sea days, then Santos.

February 12, 2015 At Sea

Tonight is our last night in our 5 day string of sea days.  Didn’t do too much - reading, napping, trivia, mahjong, lectures, eating, catching  movies, etc.  The seas have been very calm, and the weather is getting hotter.  It’s been in the low 80’s and will be getting warmer as we go further south.  The sun really does seem stronger here.  Even sitting in the shade I’m still getting color.  They did the Neptune ceremony when we crossed the equator, which was kind of goofy.  We’re meeting lots of nice people - it seems to be about equal parts American, English and Australian, but there are a fair amount of Brazilians on board also.

Michael is determined to maintain, or perhaps even lose a little weight.  To that end, we’ve had only a few drinks, he’s cutting out potatoes and bread from his diet (I’m limiting myself to one dinner roll) and we’re focusing on vegetables and protein.  He got on the digital scale in the gym the other day and it bounced around in a 15 pound range depending on whether the ship was rolling or pitching.  He took the average.

Tomorrow is Salvador, Brazil.  We don’t have a tour scheduled - just plan to wander around a bit.

February 7, 2015, Trinidad

Although the country is actually Trinidad and Tobago, they are two islands separated by 25 miles and we only saw some of Trinidad.  Every island we’ve seen thus far has been a colony or posession of England and/or France during the last few hundred years and this one was no exception.  They all speak English as the primary language, drive on the left side of the road, and make rum.  Today we toured the city, which is very large, the botanical gardens and finally the Angostura Bitters plant.  Little did I know that Angostura also makes rum!  It was actually pretty interesting since they didn’t spend much time on how to make rum, but more on the Bitters side of it.  Every drop sold in over 160 countries comes from one room at the plant, which we got to enter, and only 5 people know the secret recipe.  Naturally there was sampling and shopping opportunities, but we learned our lesson.  We did see one fellow who bought a clear rum and replaced the water in his Dasani bottle with the rum.  Bet he had no problem getting it on board.

Another commonality to all the islands is that there are no McDonalds here.  There a a few Burger Kings, a few more KFC (although apparently with a different “secret recipe” than in the US) and LOTS of Subways - complete with the $5 footlong.

Trinidad’s primary industry is oil and natural gas.  They are a little concerned about the price drop in oil, but we all know that won’t last, so no worries.  They pay about $2.50 a gallon here with government subsidies, whereas the other islands are paying upwards of $5-6 a gallon, which is down recently of course.

So completes one week of our trip.  Tomorrow we begin our 5 sea days to cover the 2,500 miles to Salvador.  Unless something very exciting happens, I probably won’t post again until our next port.

Feb 6, 2015 Grenada

Today was Grenada.  I wasn’t really expecting much, but we were very pleasantly surprised.  It’s very clean and busy.  Tomorrow is their celebration of independence in 1974 and the whole place is ablaze with their national colors of red, yellow and green.  Our tour took us to a spice processing plant where they make everything imaginable with spices.  The nutmeg syrup was particularly good - not too sweet.  Next was an herb and spice garden which was very interesting.  They grow nutmeg trees on the island, but  40% were destroyed in hurricane Ivan in 2004 and the replacement trees aren’t ready for production for another few years.  The cashews fall from the trees and rot because there are too many for the population to eat and, for reasons I didn’t understand, they don’t harvest and export them.  There are various fruit trees all over the place and anyone is welcome to pick whatever they need for themselves.  If the tree is on private property, it is frowned on to pick and sell at the local market.  The villages are clean and the homes very well kept for the most part.  And the people are very friendly - waving to us as we drove through their villages.  Of course, there was also a stop at a rum factory.  Notice a pattern developing?  No temptation to buy here - even if we didn‘t have 2 bottles being held in “quarantine“ for us - the 2 we sampled tasted like moonshine.  For the first time we didn’t get a celebrity report.

I should have mentioned that we can bring 2 bottles of wine on board for our consumption, it’s only hard liquor they “hold” for us.  We have a plan to get our bottles back when we change cabins for the final 17 days on March 4.  Hopefully, our cabin steward can help.

Every time we go ashore we slather on the sunscreen and then bug spray, which is oily and disgusting, but beats getting yellow fever or “chichimonga”, which isn’t the correct term I know, but I can’t remember the exact disease.  It is so hot that while we were waiting for our tour, I held the cold water bottle to my neck and then put it in my arm while I dug for something in my bag.  A while later I noticed that the colors from the bottle label had come off on my hand and arm but I was able to wipe it off.  I forgot all about my neck, and of course Michael didn’t notice it with his dark glasses until we were getting back on board, so I walked around all day with a very colorful neck.  Lovely.  Maybe the locals thought I was celebrating their independence too!

Tomorrow is Trinidad (real mosquito and yellow fever country).  That’s a lot of port days in a row.  After that we have 5 sea days, our longest stretch.  I played mahjongg with 3 very nice ladies last Monday and we plan to play again on those sea days.  This afternoon was another laundry day for me and nap day for Michael - another trend I see developing.

Feb 5, 2015 Barbados

Last night we dog paddled the 130 miles to Barbados.  Woke up to a lovely industrial port with containers everywhere and those big things that move them around.   It was actually kind of interesting to watch them zip around, but we had a very exciting tour to get to since today was our Segway adventure. So after a quick breakfast at the buffet, we headed through the gauntlet of port shopping opportunities to our tour.   It started with a 45 minute drive through some very unsightly and then some very lovely areas of the island.  Of course the required celebrity segment included pointing out there Rihanna grew up (very poor) and where she lives now when she’s in town (VERY rich, as in $3,000 - $20,000 per night rich).  Who’s Rihanna, you might ask.  She’s a famous singer, I‘m told.  And Sir Richard Branson (Virgin Air) has a home on the beach that he bought from Claudette Colbert’s estate.  And Tiger Woods got married at a famous golf club here.  Big whoop.

So we got the 10 minute Segway lesson.  I was a little apprehensive because one of the others on the tour told us about his first Segway tour when he was thrown off onto his back after  someone else came in contact.   However, here he was again, so I thought there may be a little exaggerating going on.  Turns out that driving/riding these things really is pretty easy, it just takes a little practice.  So we drove down the pothole filled country road to a beautiful beach for a little visit.  I felt pretty comfortable on it by then at which point the guide told us they were pushing the Segways into the next gear.  Hmmm.  Well, if they did, I didn’t notice any change.  I actually got stuck behind a man who was very timid and I couldn’t really open it up - they discourage passing and the lane was pretty narrow anyway especially dodging those potholes..  The next section included a ride through a field, complete with grazing cattle, to a beautiful cliff view of a different beach.  They took our pictures there, and if I could only figure out how to post pictures here, you could see it.  We look dashing in our helmets (color coordinated) and elbow pads.  Then we spent a half hour or so at a local beach where we had a beer and soda at a nice open air bar.  Since we had spent the whole time on the Segways in the blazing sun, this was a welcome respite.  And a bargain, too, since the beer and coke were only $4.

I’d say that Barbados is a step-up again from St. Lucia in beauty and overall comfort and prosperity.  However, the people don’t seem nearly as friendly.  We weren’t the only ones to notice.  Someone called them “stuffy” and our waitress calls them rude.  A generalization, admittedly, but there is some truth to it I think.

On the way back, I bought a bottle of laundry detergent and no one looked twice at it when we brought it aboard.  I told Michael we should have disguised our bottles of rum as Tide and we’d have been sitting pretty.

Tonight we do a leisurely 14 mph southwest 150 miles to St. George’s, Grenada.  We’ve come about 1,600 miles from Ft. Lauderdale.

February 4, 2015    St. Lucia

I forgot to mention that yesterday in Antigua we saw Eric Clapton’s 16 room mansion so secluded that you only get there by helicopter.  And not too far away is a rehab center he founded which has been visited by himself (convenient) and Whitney Houston, among others.  Oprah also has a home there - but she has homes everywhere, so that’s not saying much.

Today’s tour included St. Mark’s, a colonial mansion.  The name “colonial mansion” gave me pause since it was built in 1948, until Michael pointed out that St. Lucia WAS a colony in 1948.  (head slap here)  We also did the obligatory stops for scenic overlooks of the harbor, and a rum distillery.  Our overall impression of St. Lucia was more favorable than Antigua.  Seemed to be more business and general activity.  In Antigua we saw many houses that were apparently started, and then abandoned.  Here we saw a few of those, but most were actually being worked on.  And they hang off the sides of the steep hills by their fingertips on great tall stilts.   Seems risky in hurricane and earthquake country.  Apparently the volcano is overdue to blow too.

The rum distillery was interesting and you could sample any (or all) of their many products.  We liked the coconut rum liqueur and the coconut and ginseng rum enough to buy a bottle of each.  We thought it would be nice to sit on the balcony having a pre-dinner cordial.  Unfortunately, we forgot that Princess takes your liquor and returns it to you at the end of the cruise.  Since that will probably put us over our airline weight limit for our flight out of Los Angeles, those $10 bottles many turn into much more unless we can jettison some weight in the meantime.

The seas have been calm and the weather has been good, quite hot and humid naturally.  There’s very little rolling on these large ships, just enough at night to rock you gently to sleep.  Every once in a while we’ll feel a jolt as if we’ve hit a pot hole.  I know that’s crazy, but that’s what I think when I’m startled awake.

Tomorrow is Barbados.

St. John's, Antigua

Our flights to Ft. Lauderdale on Friday (all 3 of them) were smooth and on time.  After a good night’s sleep and a late breakfast at the hotel, we headed to the pier.  There were 6 ships departing Saturday morning and traffic was bad.  Once we got inside, it was a 45 minute wait to get checked in, the longest it has taken since online registration was instituted.  They kept our passports, which always makes us a little nervous, but we are supposed to get them back in a day or two.  Once on board we headed to lunch in the open dining room rather than face the crowds in the buffet.  It was lovely, quiet and relaxed.  We have a nice balcony cabin on the starboard side on deck 10 (Caribe deck with the larger balconies.)  Just before we left, we received an email from Princess, via our travel agent, offering an “upsell” to a suite or mini-suite for the last leg of our cruise which begins on March 4.  By the time our agent called, the suites were gone, but we did upgrade to a mini-suite for a very reasonable extra charge.  That will be nice.  So we’ll have to pack and move, but it will be worth it.

Sunday and Monday were sea days and we took it very easy.  I still wasn’t 100% over a cold and had little energy anyway, so that was fine.  Our dinner table mates are a delightful couple from England.  They have a wonderful sense of humor and we are already very comfortable joking and teasing each other.  We’re actually at a table for 8, but the other 4 haven’t shown up once.  Ah well, their loss.  Last night we ran into the people with whom we shared a dinner table on our cruise in 2013, also delightful English people.   They’re also doing the whole 49 days, so since our new friends will leave after 32 days, maybe we can move to their table for the last leg.  Small world.

Today (February 3) was St. John’s, Antigua.  The first thing we learned is that it is NOT pronounced an-ti-gwa.  It is an-ti-ga.  We did a tour through the small towns and villages and to the various forts and lookout points of the island.  The best part was at Nelson’t Dockyards, but we were running late and didn’t get to stay there long.  They gave us a rum punch drink made with their 150 proof rum.  I had a ginger ale because I was so hot, but Michael said it actually had rum in it!  He took a nap when we got back to the ship while I did a load of laundry.  Should have had the rum punch.

T-Mobile now has free international data and texting, so I tried that out.  Of course cell phone towers are all over the island, but it still took me around 20 tries to get a text through to the kids.  However, after that it worked just fine.  Perhaps the problem was the message I got from T-Mobile when I turned on the phone in port that said “Welcome to Jamaica”.

Tomorrow is St. Lucia.


I was hoping to put pictures here, but that doesn't seem to be working.  Probably because the internet is SO S-L-O-W.   Hope to figure that out.