Monday Evening - What a Great Evening Minus the Last Guy

What a fun night.  It started with us attending the Captain Circle Party at 7:45 in Vista Lounge.  We had a good laugh as we enter and said hello to the Captain.  A little inside joke but I know he will never forget us now.

The officers are all there and we greet them all and thank them for an amazing voyage and their hard work.  Simone is giddy with thanks for the chocolate treats we gave her and Lisa.    

Federico Castro the Captain Circle Host welcomes us and we are so happy to see him.  He has just come on after vacation and he has been so busy getting things organized.  He is so professional and patient with everyone and we are so happy to see him again. He tells us to sit up front and the waiters come by with some lovely finger foods and some cocktails.  The music is lovely too.

Federico welcomes everyone and he recognizes us both with our 50^th Princess Cruise.

The Captain talks about the ship and what is up and coming.  Oh he is too funny. 

They announce the three top cruisers and they draw for the champagne.  It was a fun night and it is a great way to start the evening.

We head to the dining room where Victor has arranged a nice table for the four of us, but as soon as we take a seat we see Ted and Nancy have also just been sat and we ask if they would like to join us and they say yes! 

We have Danielle and Inna as our servers and then Franco comes by and says hi.  He tells us that the chef has agreed to do a different menu for the Wine Maker’s Dinner for the next sailing and we tell him we are definitely in and we probably will have Alice join us too.

We order a bottle of wine but they don’t have any more of that wine (second time this has happened) so we order a different bottle (they have that one). 

For my appetizer I order the salad roll with tofu which is great. Bernie and some of the others order the escargot but surprisingly none of them cared for it, they actually said it was not garlicky enough.  I ordered the steak adobo but when I got it, it was way to bland for me and as I look over at Bernie’s ravioli Danielle agrees to get me some and that was very good.  Our friends ordered the lobster and they loved it.

We wander around and catch a bit of Kory’s sing a long show, which is packed.  We stand in the background for about 15 minutes but we move on.

We run into friends in Wheelhouse and chat for a bit with them and then as we walk past the Vista lounge David Catz magic show is about to start so we grab a seat there and again he wows us. We loved it.

But then it was ruined.  This man approaches me and says “aren’t you with Cruise Critic” which I reply no I am not.  I blog and have a fan page, which seems to give he the feeling that he can now vent all his issues he is having on board to me.  But I listen patiently to him as he goes on about the Crown Grill last night and then I say “gee that is too bad and you should let the front desk know” then he goes on about something else that is wrong.  I respond “boy I am so sorry you are having such a bad cruise”.  He then says oh no I am having a good cruise.  Could of fooled me I am thinking.  Then he rants on some more about the dining, the Crown Grill, he looks to Bernie for an ally and well Bernie says too “go see the Passenger Services Desk”.  He just didn’t stop and sadly this guy had nothing good to say until the end when he said the food has been good.  Why is it that people need to look at the bad, 99% can be great but 1% is wrong and they dwell on that.

We return to the cabin and I am ticked…. This guy got to me and I sit down and let it go!  No way will I let this negative person ruin my great day and it was a great day.

So as we crawl into bed we watch the morning show and plan our day tomorrow on Princess Cays.

St. Kitts January 24, 2015

We wake slowly and so glad we don’t dock until 10 am.  We take time getting ready and I meet up with friends in Vines to go off as a group.  Note that because we dock at 10 am it is a mad rush to get off the ship, so if you don’t have to get off right away, take your time, even fifteen minutes after we dock will enable you to not have to queue up to get off.  

But today we are off to CarambolaBeach Club.  We made reservations with them prior to coming and we head off together (six of us) and we take a taxi there.  Cost is $4 per person in a taxi van.  The Club is located on South Friars Beach and takes about 15 minutes to get there.  But you can see the ship slightly from the beach.

There are a few beach clubs/bars there but this one is very nice and they have a very nice restaurant and bar there, and free wifi.

When we arrive they have our name down on a list and we pay the woman at the cashier.  Lounge chairs and umbrellas are $10 each but they are very comfortable.  We get some nice chairs facing the water and off we go to plunge in. 

We spend the next few hours in the water, sunning, laughing, walking, snorkeling and chatting with others.  

Yvonne and I go for a walk and we find a big group of monkeys down by Shipwreck Beach. 

other places you can head to - note the black sand beach from the volcanos

Ship Wreck Bar - although they don't have much of a beach

the monkeys run wild here 

the beach at Ship Wreck Bar

Bernie went in snorkeling and he even saw a turtle.  Later when we went out we saw stingrays and trumpet fist, parrot fish, and so much more. 

We did have lunch there and it was quite good, rather pricy but we found it easy to share an entrée and we were full.  Definitely try the Pumpkin soup.

It is a busy area, seems everyone now knows about it. Tons of passengers, tourists staying on the island and many of the crew are here too.  But we are coming back here the next time too.

Around 4 pm we caught a taxi back (for the same price) and we were back on board around 4:30 pm.

Back in the cabin I so need a long hot shower but darn I have burned my skin on the right shoulder, gee three applications of 30SPF and I miss an area!  Bernie’s lower back is red, I guess the waistband of his trunks have rubbed off the sunscreen.  ARGH so be careful the sun here is strong.

We are just about to sail away and the Captain comes on announcing that we are in need of blood donors.  A medical emergency is happening and they are in need of blood but I don’t match the blood type but Bernie does so he heads down and fills out a form and there are quite a few others are also lining up.  (Posted later:  50 donors came forward and they took blood from 10 of them.)  Tomorrow in St. Thomas the patient will be put off to seek medical treatment. 

Tonight’s drink in the Elite lounge is Cosmopolitans which is something we both like so we meet up with friends there just after 6 pm.  The place is busy and we order our drinks and enjoy some shrimp too.  

This lounge is nice but it isn’t special like Skywalkers is.  Plus everyone keeps walking thru it on the way to the Princess Theater so it really isn’t private or special.  The crew here are amazing though, Caesar keeps making us laugh.  Tonight he is taking orders from a couple, the gentleman is in a scooter.  Caesar says I will be able to quickly get your drinks with this scooter and scoots along in it to the bar and brings the drink right back in the scooter too.  Too funny.  He thens says “imagine all the plates and glasses I could pick up with this”.

We head to the 7 pm show of DavidCats who is a Magician and Illusionist.  The place is packed, full, hard to find a seat.  There are only two shows tonight 7 and 9 pm and everyone says we can’t miss him and boy are we glad we didn’t miss this show.  He is like WOW, don’t miss him.  

Trust me you won’t be disappointed.  I can’t wait till next sailing to see him again.  It is not like the “usual” magical show it is a real presentation.  It combines video, music, audience participation and lots of “omg how did he do that”.

We stroll out of the show and make our way to the dining room.  Tonight we are dining with Paul/Yvonne and we normally have a table for two but Victor the Head Waiter takes care of us at a nice window table for four.  Tonight is Italian night and I order the peach soup then a lovely salad and then the pasta penne as my main entrée. 

After dinner there is the Hot Latin Nights up on the pool deck but both of us are so tired (no nap) but we do watch a bit of Kory Simon tonight at Crooners.  We saw Kory at the beach today and it was nice to catch up with him again. 

Back in the cabin at 10 pm but sadly that is also the time that the band Inner Mood Quartet starts in the Wheelhouse and that is all we can hear in the cabin, but we decide to watch a bit of a movie which helps, but there is no way we are going to be able to sleep until the band stops. 

Tip never book a room above a public venue.  So far this is the only downfall on this ship – soundproofing.