St. Kitts - January 25, 2016

Our arrival today is not until 10 am but that doesn’t stop us from waking darn early.  In fact I saw the sunrise at 6:44. 

We dress and head down for breakfast and the ship seems rather quiet at 8 am.  I think many did sleep in - just a bit jealous.

I walk out to the seating area on Promenade and watch our entrance into Basseterre.  We see that the Holland America Osterdam is in port.  Looks tiny compared to us, and another thing I notice is ashtrays on their balconies.  I was not aware that they still allowed smoking on the balconies.  
Since we don’t smoke and really hate second hand smoke and would not want to risk having a smoker next to us we will not sail HAL until the policy is changed.

Bernie heads back to the cabin shortly after we tie up and I decide to just sit out here.  I meet a lovely couple from Delaware who I chat with for a good hour.  Just love all the nice people you meet on ships.

Today we had no set plans, heck we hardly have any set plans in any of the ports.  It was key to us to go with the flow and the Canadian Dollar is slowing us down too.  If we go ashore chances are we will spend around $100 in taxi, chairs/umbrellas, drink, food and that is $150 Canadian.  So after much discussion we decide to stay on board and enjoy the Sanctuary.

It has been years since we have gone to the Sanctuary.  The Royal’s Sanctuary is beautiful and large and even has cabanas to rent.  But if you want to reserve a chair for the entire cruise get on board as soon as possible and head straight to the Sanctuary to reserve your chair cause they do sell out.  They do usually keep a few lounges available for daily rentals though.

We take two chairs in the sun and we relax.  Arnold, Basil and all the Serenity Stewards pamper us to no end.  All needs were met efficiently and with a smile. 

I was especially impressed with Basil (from India) who took our food order and drinks and served us in a lovely shaded cabana that was not occupied today.  We both had the tomato gazpacho (Basil even got fresh avocado to put on it for Bernie), I then had a tuna encrusted with sesame seeds and a light salad.  We then returned to our lounge chairs after lunch. 

Around 3 pm they come around and serve full afternoon tea.  The service is amazing and I so want to come back another day.  I can’t justify reserving a lounge chair for the whole voyage but on the occasional day it is lovely and nice treat.  Plus the service the last times we did it was not that good but obviously that is not the case here.  It is amazing and well worth it.

After five hours in the sun we are back in the cabin relaxing when we get a knock at the door Vicky Kammies a Customer Service Agent from the front desk has sent us chocolate covered strawberries.  Now this woman is wonderful at her job, always smiling, always helpful and well Bernie wants to adopt her!  All the Purser’s staff are amazing - we have fallen in love with them all.  Natalya Vityuk who is the Customer Service Agent in the Concierge Lounge is very helpful and it has been nice getting to know here too.  Our Princess Family keeps growing.

Thanks Vicky we will enjoy the strawberries tonight with some champagne.

Even though we are in port today there is a lot going on around the ship.  And tonight we are not sure what we will do but we have a lot of options.

Princess Theater is featuring Guest Vocalist Rebecca Elliott at 8:15 and 10:30, Vista is having the 70s night and has a Name that Tune, Line Dancing and 70s music, Orphea Quartet is playing again in the Atrium with dancing again, Feature Film is the Walk up at MUTS, Hollywood Screen Test is happening tonight at 9:30 in Princess Live, Perry Grant is in Crooners and DJ Smokke is in Club 6.

Tonight is Italian Night - I have pictures of all the menus that I will put up when I get home.