Vacation Day #10 (Saturday 3/25/06)

What a night! We all slept soundly until about 1 or 2 AM Saturday morning. My husband awoke first and went out onto the balcony to find whitecaps everywhere. He fell back asleep quickly but I was awake until the sun came up. Between 3 and 5 AM, the ship rolled non-stop back and forth (port-to-starboard) - it was the wildest thing I'd ever felt! Surprisingly, I wasn't really scared - it was just odd - like nothing I'd ever experienced. I know in my head that the ships are built to withstand a fair amount of movement but the constant "creaking" and "squeaking" threw me for a loop. Thankfully, the kids slept right through it and never felt a thing.

When I got up at 5:45 AM, we were already pulling into Port Everglades. All four of us definitely felt a bit sad that the vacation was over. I honestly think we could've handled a few more days - maybe even another week! The morning was cool - cooler than we'd felt for the whole week - but beautiful nonetheless. We showered, packed the carry-on luggage that we'd kept with us and reviewed our final bill before having a quick breakfast in the Caribe Cafe and heading to the Princess Theatre at 8 AM as we were instructed. While CNN (with coverage of the fire on the Star Princess that occurred while we were at sea) aired in there, we listened to Captain Romano's final "farewell announcement". The first group was called to disembark at 8:20 AM. Our group (Silver 2) was called at 9 AM and we followed the crowd of people to the gangway and through customs. We gathered our luggage easily once off the ship and in the Princess terminal and then made our way outside to board the bus. We were on it and headed for the airport by 9:40 AM - a totally painless and efficient experience. Curbside check-in at FLL was easy (like at LAX, $2 per bag) and, by 10:15 AM, we had boarding passes in hand and were prepared for our (long) day at the airport. Since FLL doesn't allow passengers into the gate area until 2 hours before their flight is scheduled to depart, we went to Chili's (at the airport) to eat, read a newspaper and reminisce about our all-too-quickly-ending trip. At 1:30 PM, we made our way through security and were allowed, finally, into Terminal F. The gate area was very busy (I'd heard how crazy this airport was on weekends with all of the cruise-passenger traffic) and our plane (American Airlines #2083 non-stop to LAX) was delayed over an hour. The flight was long (an hour longer than our east-bound one!) but we enjoyed a snack and Harry Potter: Goblet of Fire as well as a few naps and arrived at LAX just a bit late. Our luggage retrieval was uneventful as was our short drive home. It was good to sleep in our own beds (for the first time in 10 days). We always say - no matter how great a vacation is or how much fun you have, it's always nice to get home.

We loved everything about this trip and will definitely cruise again. (Like I mentioned in a blog a few days ago - we have already booked a Spring Break cruise for the Mexican Riviera in 2007!) Travelling via cruise-ship is a great way to visit places that we, most likely, would never see otherwise. And while the ports are wonderful and exciting, the ship itself is just as enjoyable. We loved it - the activities, exploring the decks... The at-sea days were great. There is something so peaceful and beautiful about the endless and brilliantly blue ocean. I thought I'd feel isolated and nervous while at sea (not seeing land or other ships) but I loved it. I did get a bit of that out-of-touch feeling - very little cell phone coverage and limited news coverage - but it almost forces you to relax, assume all is well with the world and enjoy the uninterrupted time with your spouse and your family.

Vacation Day #9 (Friday 3/24/06)

We awoke early on this day - excited about our "day at the beach" on Princess' private island in the Bahamas, Princess Cays.

"Princess Cays is located on the southern portion of Eleuthera Island, about 30 miles across the sea from Nassau. Two miles wide and 100 miles long, about forty acres of this land is reserved exclusively for Princess Cruise Line passengers. Princess Cays is a wonderland of white-sand beaches and mangrove trees is surrounded by beautiful turquoise waters, and blessed with a tropical, warm climate."

We showered and gathered our beach bags before heading to breakfast at the Horizon buffet at 8 AM. The whole ship seemed to be abuzz with news of the weather and, at 8:30 AM, the official announcement was made by Captain Romano that he had decided not to tender to Princess Cays. The weather was not good and was expected to worsen throughout the afternoon. He informed us that Nassau was fully booked and Freeport was too far so we would spend one last day at sea before returning to Port Everglades in Florida early Saturday morning.

The kids were very disappointed, as they hadn't spent any time during the week relaxing on the beach, but happy to learn that their beloved Kids' Camp was going to open. We brought them there at 9 AM and then went to the cabin to finish our packing. We spent 2 hours at the aft Terrace Pool - resting, talking and napping. The morning was gorgeous but definitely different than the others we'd experienced all week - skies in the distance were darker, wind was more noticeable, temperatures were cooler...

Just after we picked up the kids and headed to the Lido deck for lunch, a huge storm (rain, wind and thunder) hit us. All of the people on deck chairs started making a run for the covered areas and the deck was packed with people trying to get lunch and hiding from the storm. We gathered drinks (for us) and food (for the kids) and went to our room. At 12:20 PM, an announcement was made regarding staying indoors. Updated patters were received regarding the quickly changing planned afternoon activities. We watched a movie in the cabin before dressing for dinner.

At 6 PM, we met some friends we'd met online before the cruise for dinner in the Coral Dining Room. What lovely people! We were fortunate enough to have met so many new wonderful people during this cruise. Our service, unfortunately, wasn't so wonderful (again - Delmonico from Italy!) but the food was good and the conversation was great. Afterwards, we ran down to deck 7 to pick up our pre-ordered video (with highlighs from the cruise) and headed to the room to finish packing. Our luggage had to be outside in the hallway before midnight - ready for customs the following morning. I think we were all in bed and out-cold by 9 PM!

Vacation Day #8 (Thursday 3/23/06)

We again woke early on (what we thought was going to be) our last day at sea. We had a light continental breakfast delivered to the room at 7 AM while we showered and dressed. At 8:30, we headed to the Horizon buffet to feed the kids before taking them to the Kids' Camp. While they were there, T and I were busy. We picked up pictures on deck 7 taken on previous days/nights, shopped on decks 5 and 6, visited the Future Cruise Sales desk and put a deposit down for our Spring Break 2007 cruise (to the Mexican Riviera on the Princess Diamond!), had coffee at the Lobby Bar and did a bit of packing in the cabin before picking the kids up at noon. After lunch (pizza and hamburgers by the pool), we went to the room to work on homework sent from the kids' teachers. While they did that, I poured over and filled out the customs paperwork and disembarkation forms that had been delivered. This was the only day I made use of the self-serve laundromat on our floor. I had to iron Chase's dress clothes for the evening - our 2nd and final formal night onboard.

Once we were all dressed, we headed to the atrium to have pictures taken before dinner. We entered the Coral dining room a bit early - at 5:45 PM - and enjoyed a great dinner of Beef Wellington, twin lobster tails and more. Chase was thrilled with the sorbet selection for the night - mandarin orange - delicious! We walked the promenade for a while before heading to the room. Once there, we found that our future cruise documents (for the Mexican Riviera) and our passenger questionnaire (regarding this cruise) had been delivered. We let the kids change shoes and brought them to the Kids' Camp when it opened at 8 PM. This was the only night we'd used the Camp at night as, most nights, our kids were too tired from their busy days to even think about going. We spent an hour at Club Fusion before picking them up and heading to the room. There, we packed our beach bag for Friday and were in bed by around 9:30 PM.

We realize that we missed out on a lot of the evening/nighttime activities onboard (having exhausted children that needed to get to bed early) but know that, as they get older and we enjoy more cruises together, those things will still be there for us to enjoy.

Vacation Day #7 (Wednesday 3/22/06)

From St-Maarten.com:

"St. Maarten is the smallest Island in the world to be shared by two sovereign governments-namely the Dutch and French. The Dutch side, with Philipsburg as its capital occupies the southern 17 square miles of this 37-square-mile island; St. Martin, a French dependency, occupies the northern half. The dual nationality adds variety to this most unique of island gems in the Caribbean Sea. Both Dutch St. Maarten and French St. Martin have maintained a peaceful coexistence for over 350 years, the longest of any two bordering nations. The two territories have enjoyed harmonious relations through their history and have shared the prosperity of many years without dispute. The Treaty of Concordia executed on March 23rd 1648 established this coexistence and has the unique distinction of being the oldest Treaty still in force today.

The island is in the Caribbean Sea, 150 miles southeast of Puerto Rico. It covers 37 square miles, with Dutch St. Maarten on the South spanning 16 square miles and French Saint Martin on the North covering 21.

As a part of the Netherlands Antilles and the Kingdom of the Netherlands, St. Maarten boasts 140 different nationalities. Saint Martin is a commune of Guadeloupe, an overseas territory of France.

English is spoken everywhere, but Dutch is the official language of St.Maarten, and French the official language of Saint Martin. On the Dutch side, you can also hear Spanish, Papiamentu, Italian, Hindi, Chinese, and other languages. On the French side, Creole Patois is also spoken. 41,000 people live on St.Maarten and 36,000 on Saint Martin."

We enjoyed St. Thomas Tuesday but were really eager to see St. Maarten as we'd heard it was the prettier island of the two. Our alarm went off this day at 6 AM - this gave us plenty of time to shower, dress and eat before meeting our tour guide at 8:20 AM. This tour was much larger than the one on Tuesday. We met on the dock - surrounded by the huge cruise-ships on either side of us - and were led to a large bus. Our guide was great - very informative, personable and interesting. He took us from the Dutch side of the island to the French side, stopped at The Butterfly Farm in Marigot and a flea market area before he drove us back to the Dutch side and the harbor. We loved this tour - it afforded us the opportunity to see the entire island and was a great introduction to this beautiful piece of land. Like St. Thomas, we saw areas of extreme poverty and decay and then areas that were incredibly picturesque and full of color and beauty.

We were back on the ship for lunch by 12:30 PM and the kids, again, opted to spend time in the Kids' Camp while T and I disembarked on our own to do a little shopping by the dock. We were back on the ship by 3 PM, sent a few e-mails through one of the three computers in the library (not realizing that there was an entire internet cafe on the ship as well!) and reunited with our kids at 4 PM.

Like the evening before, we collected our drinks from the bar and headed up to our room to enjoy the Sail Away on our balcony. A number of announcements were made about the departure - there were delays, initially, because of some passengers who were late getting back onboard and then, later, because an ill passenger had to be transported back to St. Maarten (before we'd left the harbor). Once we were on our way, we dressed for dinner in the Coral dining room at our usual 6 PM time. T had the rack of lamb and I enjoyed Alaskan king crab legs. We promised (bribed!) the kids that we'd go to one of the hot tubs after dinner if they behaved themselves. They did so, after dinner, we ran to the room to don our bathing suits and then headed up to the hot tub near Morgan's Bar and the Splash Pool in the aft of the ship. It was very quiet and empty but for the adorable couple we enjoyed the Coral World Aquarium tour with the day before. The 6 of us visited and shared stories about our day. We all noticed that the ship was moving at quite a clip - because of the delay leaving the harbor, we surmised. Water was sloshing back and forth in the pools and we all found it difficult to walk (up on deck 16, at least) without holding onto something. Later, in the room, we saw on the television That the seas were "moderate" for the first time all week with swells from 4-7'. We were exhausted from another busy (but wonderful) day and were in bed and asleep by 9 PM.

Vacation Day #6 (Tuesday 3/21/06)

As much as we were enjoying the ocean and its solitary beauty, it was very exciting to wake up at 6 AM Tuesday morning and see land. The sunrise over Charlotte Amalie was breathtaking. We showered, dressed and enjoyed a quick breakfast at the Horizon Buffet at 7:45 AM. That morning, two other ships were in St. Thomas with us - Voyager of the Seas (docked behind us) and the Sun Princess (tendering). We disembarked at 8:20 AM and met our almost-private tour guide at the end of the gangway. The four of us and another (adorable) couple climbed into an air-conditioned van and headed out for a Princess-arranged tour of the island. Our guide was good and we learned a lot from him. He made two stops for us to visit local vendors and take pictures before taking us to the Coral World Aquarium where we spent about 90 minutes exploring. The bus ride back afforded us the opportunity to see the rest of the island - so diverse with some (many) areas with evidence of extreme poverty and others with the whitest sand and bluest waters I've ever seen - postcard beautiful! We did a bit of shopping at Havensight before getting back on the ship for lunch at Caribe.

The kids "missed their friends" from Kids' Camp so we let them go there after lunch while we walked the Promenade and enjoyed the sights of the port. We ordered drinks (Rum Punch!) by the pool and watched Moulin Rouge and a bit of Bob Marley in Concert on M.U.T.S. before retrieving the kids. They wanted to swim so we changed them and went back to the pool. This was the only day they were able to swim in "the big pool" and they loved it. We quickly discovered that the pools were very available during the afternoons of port days - unlike the days at sea. We grabbed drinks (a Lava Flow for me (a Hawaiian favorite) and Bud Light in a metal bottle (never seen anything like it before!) for T) and headed up to our cabin to enjoy Sail Away on our balcony. A light rain started just as we were pulling away but it didn't put a damper on our excitement. We had a great day in St. Thomas and look forward to going again (and to nearby St. John as well) someday. The people were very friendly and there was so much to see and do. This was the only place during our cruise where cell service was good so we telephoned my Mother and ran up to the upper deck just as the sun was setting so that she could see us waving on the webcam. We had dinner at Caribe, made a quick visit to the aft pool (so I could see the wake one last time that day) and were in bed by 9 PM - eager to experience St. Maarten the next day.

Vacation Day #5 (Monday 3/20/06)

We spent much of our 2nd day at sea like we did our 1st day - eating, resting, enjoying the ship and swimming. The kids enjoyed 3 hours (9 AM until noon) at the Kids' Camp and just loved it. While they were there, T and I did some shopping onboard and sat at the Lobby Bar for our lattes and mochas. We saw our first (and only, unfortunately) show in the Princess Theater - Pianoman - at 5:15 PM. We all enjoyed it - especially our 5 year old daughter who was in heaven with the lights, music and costumed dancers. We had our 2nd dinner in the Coral dining room and made the mistake of not asking for Olsen (our waiter from Sunday night). Delmonico from Italy was our waiter and service was just horrible. We couldn't wait to finish and get out of there. When back in the cabin, we set our things out for the following morning (our first port!), set the alarm and were again in bed before 9 PM - sleeping soundly but for some rowdiness in the hallway at about midnight.


A little about our ship - the Caribbean Princess...

• Passenger Capacity: 3,110 passengers
  
• Nearly 900 cabins with private balconies
  
• "Movies Under The Stars" poolside theater
  
• Up to 8 whirlpools
  
• Asian-themed Lotus spa with fitness center and outdoor sunken terraced pool
  
• Cigar Bar
  
• Sterling Steakhouse
  
• One of largest Internet cafes at sea
  
• Art gallery and art auctions
  
• Multiple main dining rooms featuring Princess' unique Personal Choice Dining options
  
• 24-hour dining/buffet/bistro and room service
  
• Sports bar
  
• Casino
  
• Atrium with shops, two bars, art gallery, library and writing room
  
• Nautical-themed Wheelhouse Bar with P&O memorabilia
  
• Hearts and Minds wedding chapel with cruise industry's only wedding-at-sea program where passengers can be married by the ship's captain
  
• Club Fusion features nightclub, bars, gambling and cabaret
  
• Dedicated teens' and children's area with a total of 9,686 square feet of indoor and outdoor space, plus a dedicated pool area for teens.
  
• Hair salon, health center and spa
  
• Nine-hole golf putting course and two computerized golf simulators that enable passengers to virtually play the finest courses in the world

Vacation Day #4 (Sunday 3/19/06)

We were instructed to change our clocks ahead from 1 AM to 2 AM as we moved, during the night, from the Eastern Time Zone into the Atlantic one. We were awoken by a knock at the door at 7:40 AM - our pre-ordered continental breakfast was ready. The order was all wrong, unfortunately, and the coffee was cold. My husband called room service and a fresh (hot!) pot was brought the room immediately as well as the items missing from our request. We showered and went up the aft elevators to get the kids something to eat at the Horizon Buffet around 9:45 AM. They were eager to check out the Kids' Camp so we took them there at 10 AM before heading back to the Buffet to eat ourselves. We relaxed on the Sun Deck until noon - it was nice to spend some time together. We just marvelled at how amazing everything was - the ship, the beautiful (and expansive!) ocean... We knew already that we'd be doing this again. Every now and then, one of us would ask the other "Did you feel that?" but the motions, when we did feel them, were slight and never jarring or un-nerving.

When we retrieved our kids, we had pizza and hamburgers for lunch by the pools on the Lido deck. They were eager to go swimming but, since the Calypso and Neptune pools were completely packed, we took them to the Splash Pool by Morgan's Bar. The temperature was perfect - partly cloudy, 75-80 degrees and the seas were slight (1.4-4 feet). They swam for a while and we enjoyed afternoon ice-cream at Scoops before returning to the cabin.

At 5:15 PM, after we showered and dressed (our first formal night!), we headed up to Crooner's Lounge for the Captain's Welcome Cocktail Party. Dinner was at 6 PM in the Coral Dining Room. Olsen from the Philippines was our waiter and we had a lovely dinner. A ship that T had seen earlier in the day behind us passed us during dinner - turned out to be a Disney ship! We spent time on the Promenade deck (deck 7) after dinner and it quickly became my favorite place to watch the sunset. We went inside to look at and purchase our embarkation picture from the day before and headed to our cabin. To our surprise, the beds had not been taken down yet. We found Mr. Kem (as our children referred to him) and he apologized and said he'd get right to it. Because of the kids, we turn in rather early - there was no way for him to know this having just met us. Every other night of this cruise, our room was perfectly ready for bed by the time we returned from dinner. Kem was truly a gem. Anyway - while he worked in the room, we took the kids up to the M.U.T.S. to see what was playing. Already in progress was Family Stone (with Sarah Jessica Parker). We found chairs easily, grabbed blankets and enjoyed the movie and popcorn for about an hour. The kids started dozing off in our arms so we headed back to the cabin and were all sound asleep after our first full day at sea by 9 PM.

Vacation Day #3 (Saturday 3/18/06)

I either adjusted to the 3-hour time change extremely easily or I was just excited - but I was up and in the shower by 6 AM (Eastern Standard Time) Saturday morning. At about 6:20 AM, my daughter was excitedly motioning at me to come see "our ship" out the window of our hotel room. I grabbed a towel and couldn't believe it when I looked and discovered that she was right! Our Caribbean Princess was coming west - headed straight for us before turning to head to Port Everglades - what a sight that was - one I'll never forget! We woke the boys up, showered and dressed before enjoying a buffet breakfast at the hotel around 8 AM. Our baggage was collected and we were driven via a shuttle bus to the port, arriving right at noon. We filled out the health questionnaires we were given while in line and met a great family with whom we interacted all week long. They, too, had 2 young children - a daughter our daughters' age and a son who was a year older than ours - but whom was Autistic too. What are the chances of that? We really enjoyed them and are so happy to have met them. The check-in process wasn't too bad. We had our picture taken right before entering the gangway to the ship and were happily in our room within an hour of arriving at the port.

The ship was gorgeous. We were all just thrilled to finally be on the vessel which we had, over the last few months, learned and talked so much about. Our room, as expected, was small. We knew going in that it would be but we live in a rather large (5,700 square feet) home and adjusting to the 224 square feet we found ourselves living in together did take a day or so. Honestly, the room was completely manageable with the ages/sizes of our children - as long as the upper berths were not down. When they were, it was very difficult to maneuver around the room. (I have bruises to prove it!) We set our stuff down, went out onto our balcony (which was starboard so the view was of the less-than-attractive dock) and then went to explore the ship as 3,000+ of our fellow passengers filed onboard. We visited the pool area - already starting to fill with people - and the kids' camp before going back to our room to prepare for the 4:15 PM muster drill. I'd warned the children ahead of time about it as I didn't want the alarm sounds to upset them. They were fine and rather enjoyed the bright orange life-jackets they were taught how to put on.

When we returned to our cabin post-muster drill, we met Kemmanat - our room steward for the week. He was wonderful and handled everything in our room just beautifully.

Our Sail Away was delayed 45 minutes becuse of passengers who had not yet made it to the ship but that didn't stop the party! We spent time on the Lido deck (around the pool) as well as at the Tradewinds Bar where we met with a few (wonderful) people I'd met online on a bulletin board for people interested in cruising. It took me a few minutes to even realize that we were moving once we did leave the dock - I couldn't believe how steady (and not scary!) it was. I loved the Sail Away - leaving the port and beginning this much-planned-for journey was absolutely exhilerating. Port Everglades is lined with hotels and homes and condominiums where people come out and wave furiously at departing ships. The kids loved it and I was in awe of everything.

By 6 PM, we were hungry and headed to Caribe for the seafood buffet. I phoned my parents (in California - cell signal was still strong) and shared our excitement with them. At 7 PM, we headed to one of the ships' lounges for the Kids' Club orientation and we were in our cabin and ready for bed by 8 PM. Unfortunately, our children - who had never seen beds like the upper berths before - were over-tired and over-excited and it took almost 3 hours (and dozens of trips up and down the ladders to their beds) to get them to sleep. The end of one big day for our family...

Vacation Day #2 (Friday 3/17/06)

Our towncar picked us up, as planned, at 5:40 AM. We boarded our 7 AM flight (American Airlines #306) at 6:45 AM and took off 15 minutes late. We sat in row 24 - seats A, B and C for the kids and me and seat D (across the aisle) for Daddy. The flight was completely full and the flight attendants and ticketing agents were very strict about carry-on baggage policies (to the dismay of a few passengers trying to carry larger-than-average bags onboard). The children kept busy with activities I'd planted in their little backpacks and, of course, our Mintek portable DVD player. (I could just kiss the person who invented that thing.) We watched Elizabethtown with Kirsten Dunst and Orlando Bloom while the kids enjoyed watching Kim Possible and Chicken Run. My husband was excited to find Steve Landesberg (from Barney Miller) seated behind me. We arrived at FLL at 2:22 PM (early!), gathered our luggage and rode a shuttle to our hotel.

Check-in at the Sheraton Yankee Clipper was smooth although when we opened the door to the room they assigned us, we found only one bed for the four of us. We called the front desk and a new room was given to us within minutes. It was in the north tower of the hotel (across the street from the main building) and had a beautiful view from a floor-to-ceiling window of the beach. At 4 PM, we walked up the street to visit an online friend of mine and two of her adorable children at the Oasis Cafe. We've known each other via the computer for about 7 years but had never met in person. We had a great dinner and enjoyed a little time on the beach before saying our goodbyes and heading back for our hotel. We put the kids in the bath tub (sand everywhere!) and were in bed and asleep by 9 PM - eagerly anticipating the next day...

Our itinerary:
Saturday - depart Port Everglades
Sunday-Monday - at sea
Tuesday - St. Thomas
Wednesday - St. Maarten
Thursday - at sea
Friday - Princess Cays (Bahamas)
Saturday - arrive Port Everglades

Vacation Day #1 (Thursday 3/16/06)

Early in the day, I used the online check-in service that the American Airlines website has for its flyers. I like being able to print out our boarding passes so that, once we arrive at the airport, we can check our luggage in (curbside for $2/each) and head straight to security and our gate. I dropped the kids off at school befire 7:30 AM and then ran errands all morning (tanning, an hour at the gym and a manicure/pedicure appointment). Once the kids were out of school, I worked on last minute packing, list-checking and straightening up around the house. T (my husband) arrived home from work at 3 (only an hour later than he told me he'd be - that's pretty good for him!) and we said goodbye to the cats and left for Los Angeles somewhere between 3:30 and 4 PM.

We love the Renaissance Montura before an early morning flight. They have a great $199 Park-and-Fly package where, for that rate, you get a room on the concierge floor (with access to the fabulous concierge lounge with complimentary breakfast in the morning and appetizers/drinks/deserts later in the day), 7 days of free parking, a car-wash while you're gone and a towncar ride to the airport on the day of your flight! We checked into our room (#10040) at about 6 PM and had a drink and a plate of appetizers in the concierge lounge before heading back to the room for the night in anticipation of our 4 AM wake-up call Friday morning.

No 15th Term for Thomas

Our local congressman, Bill Thomas (Chairman of the House of Ways and Means), announced that he will not be re-joining Congress once his current term epires. This should "heat things up" locally once March 10 comes and those interested in running for the position must file their paperwork.