Grand Turk – February 15, 2015

It is so nice to get to have a sleep in today.  With the clocks going back an hour and not docking until 1 pm we enjoy the excuse of “no where to go soon” excuse.  In fact I lounge in bed until around 10 am.

We are sitting in the International Café and it is getting busy.  People are already down in the Atrium at 11 am waiting for the ship to dock.  Extra staff have been brought on to deal with the crowds.

I just relax and do some Sudoku and sip my coffee. 

Now as we are sitting here we are pulling up beside a ship!  Now that is a strange site!  In fact we are right beside the pier and a P&O Ship is docked beside us.  It is similar to the Grand Class ships on Princess with just over 3,000 passengers.  Off in the distance is an Oceana ship (I believe) that is tendering passengers ashore.  Wow three ships in port.  I have never been here with more than just us.  It should be busy ashore then.

I am tired and really could use some time alone.  Even the best relationships require personal time. 

Bernie really wants to go to the beach and snorkel and I really don’t want to fight the crowds and listen to lots of noise.  So he dresses and heads out on his own.  Isn’t it great that a couple can do their own thing on ship knowing the other one is okay.

I come back to the cabin and relax and do some writing, reading and watch part of a movie.  I head back up to the top deck for some tea and a few scones and check out the P&O ship.  It is neat to see the ship as it is exactly the same as the Crown and Emerald (which we have been on quite a few times) but to see the subtle differences.

At around 5 pm I head out on to the pier.  The Oceana ship has left and the P&O Ship is all aboard right now so it is a nice time to head ashore. 

I run into Bernie on the pier and he decides he is going on the ship.  I walk thru the duty free shop and out to the Grand Turk Center and look in the shops.  I wander to the right and the beach is totally quiet.  I lay down in a lounge chair and watch as the sun is going down.  The passengers are returning to the ship and it is so peaceful.  I reflect on the day, this cruise, this voyage. 

Check out the dueling cruise horns that happened as I sat there on the beach watching the P&O Azure leave.  

Back on board (all aboard is 6:30) I return to the cabin and shower and get ready.

They are doing the Night Sky Lounge up on the 17^th deck in the Retreat Pool area.  I love that they are doing it on a different night than the Hot Latin Night Party.  Tonight the weather is perfect, not too windy.  

The area is beautifully lit with different colored globes/shapes.  I order up the “Issac” drink and we take a seat on a couch off to the side.  It is a relaxing way to start the evening.  The lounge ends at 8 pm and we head down for dinner.

Daniel and Inna are there to greet us and we open up our champagne and share with them and some other new friends.  We are so happy.  The ship is amazing, the crew are wonderful, the food, well all my clothes are tighter!  It has been an amazing voyage.

After dinner I really wanted to see the Comedian/Vocal Impressionist Jason Neistadt but I turn to Bernie and say “we have an hour what do you want to do till the show starts” and he says bed and I couldn’t agree more.  We are tired so off to bed we go.