My dad thought I would enjoy sailing on Princess Cruises, so he did a little research and found an 8-day cruise with three ports I’d never visited. I was happy to come along with him & Sue, and here is the story of our trip. Enjoy! And if you’d like to see the trip video, the link is here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MebEubzY5xM&t.
Wednesday, May 9th, 2018
Our cruise didn’t leave till Friday, but I always like to come in early, just in case of flight delays. That being said, I booked a flight that left Hartford at 6:50pm, arriving in Orlando at 9:40pm. It normally takes about an hour to get from my house in West Haven to Bradley Airport, and it is recommended to arrive two hours before your flight, so I left about 3:30, hit the Starbucks on the way out of town, and headed up to Hartford. I made it all the way to the connector from I-91 to the airport when me & 5,000 other travelers hit a hideous detour. They were doing construction and had closed the exit to the airport! The detour led you past the airport, but had no signage to tell you where to turn to backtrack to the airport, so I quickly became very lost. I drove about five miles north before I turned around and had the GPS point me back onto the connector, where I discovered that the airport exit was closed in both directions. I got off the following exit, but that only took me to the UTC parking lot. By now I was about 40 minutes past the recommended arrival time, sitting in bumper to bumper traffic with tons of other confused people. I got my husband on the phone and had him look at a map, and he directed me one exit further back toward I-91, where I was able to backroad it to the airport. Due to my extreme lateness I decided to valet park at LAZFly, who I had used before, instead of using the airport lot. I all but threw the keys at the LAZFly attendant before grabbing the shuttle to the airport. Lucky for me I have TSA PreCheck, so I was able to skip the 30 minute line at security, and I made it to my gate about 15 minutes before boarding began. Still, for an early arriver like myself, it was super-stressful. The flight itself was uneventful, and my dad & Sue picked me up in Orlando. A quick cocktail back at the house and then off to bed.
Thursday, May 10th, 2018
No plans for today, just lunch at Bahama Breeze and some cards at the house. I am the reigning champion at cribbage AND two-player Uno! I had a margarita flight at lunch that was adorable. The strawberry margarita had a strawberry, the hibiscus one had a hibiscus, and the tamarind one had a little plastic lizard on top. So cute! Also tasty. Nothing else of note today. Cruising tomorrow!
Friday, May 11th, 2018
We were sailing out of Fort Lauderdale, also known as Port Everglades, which is a little over three hours from my dad’s house. The drive was uneventful, and when we arrived we very rapidly moved through check-in. Before we could even sit down to wait for our boarding number to be called, they were ready for us, and we quickly boarded. We had lunch in the Coral dining room, and by the time we finished our stateroom was ready. We had booked a minisuite, room D220 on the 9th deck, and it was very nice. Quite spacious, with a big bathroom and an even bigger balcony. We stopped at Crooners, the martini bar, for a welcome aboard cocktail, and quickly discovered that one of my dad & Sue’s favorite bartenders from their October cruise was onboard. Arnie would not be working until after the muster drill, so we made plans to stop back before dinner. Muster drill was held in the Princess Theater, where the big production shows were held, and they did an adorable job of incorporating the old Love Boat music into reworded safety drill tips. After the safety drill we got ready for dinner and headed back to Crooners to catch up with Arnie. We also met his new counterpart, Honey, both of whom did an excellent job taking care of us all week. From there we headed to dinner. We had booked traditional dining, so we would be eating each night at 5:30 in the Coral dining room with the same serving team, Jesus & the other guy (for the life of me I can’t recall his name, but I felt he was more of a hindrance than a help to our waiter). After dinner we popped over to Club Fusion for our first trivia of the cruise, where we did slightly better than average. From trivia I popped over to the casino to test the waters, and then I took myself on a tour of the upper decks, where I grabbed a small slice of the much lauded Princess pizza. It is, by far, the best pizza I’ve had at sea, which is not to say it’s as good as pizza back home, but still, an admirable pie. After that I decided to call it an early night, figuring I would watch some On Demand TV in bed. Unfortunately the TV is setup so you have to watch the twelve minute safety video before you can change the channel, or select anything, so my plan was slightly delayed. Sea day #1 tomorrow!
Saturday, May 12th, 2018
We started the day with some breakfast in the Coral dining room, and then I grabbed a cappuccino with Frangelico from the coffee bar. Delicious! We hit morning trivia, spent some casino time, and decided to visit the International Café adjacent to the coffee bar for lunch. At the IC they have an assortment of sandwiches and finger food, as well as a soup of the day. In the afternoon we went to the Princess Pyramids Game Show, which was basically like $10,000 Pyramid, where one person sits in the hot seat and has words described to them. For example, you could say “red condiment” to cue the word “Ketchup”. We were the second team to go up, and we ended with a score of 6, which was considerably better than the average, but nowhere near enough to win. Later we did afternoon trivia, had some pre-dinner martinis and then headed to the Coral dining room for formal night. Having sailed predominantly on Norwegian Cruises, I was surprised at the level of dress up attire seen on formal night. Tuxedos and ballgowns were everywhere! I changed back to casual clothes after dinner and discovered that I felt vastly underdressed for the rest of the night. We watched the live feed of the main show in the Princess Theater from the Explorers Lounge. It was a musician named Soloman Jaye, who was okay, but not my type of music. A quick stop back at the casino, and then off to bed. Sea day #2 tomorrow!
Sunday, May 13th, 2018
So our second sea day started with a quick bite at the International Café, and then continued with a destination presentation on Bonaire. Since I’d never been, it seemed like a good idea to check it out, and I learned lots of interesting tidbits about the island. Although I will say the hour long presentation could have been done in 30 minutes if the presenter had been more concise. Anyway, from there we went to trivia, then up to the pool deck for the Interdepartmental Crew Tug of War, which was lots of fun to watch. I did get a lemontini, but because it was by the pool they served it in a very lightweight plastic glass, which was crazy hard not to spill on myself in the wind. We grabbed lunch up on deck at the hot dog & burger place, and then a bit of casino time before afternoon trivia. Tonight we were having dinner at Sabatini’s, which was amazing! Delicious Italian food in a whole bunch of small portion courses. In all honesty I had no idea what to expect from each course until it showed up in front of me, but everything was fantastic. Dessert in particular was mind-blowing, as Princess has a chef who specializes in creating fancy chocolate desserts. It resembled a giant Rocher chocolate, but with about ten layers of additional chocolate in various forms. After dinner we went to rock & roll music trivia, where we had the pleasure of correcting the paper for the only team to get a perfect score. When I gave back their perfect answer sheet, we gave them a standing ovation. Truly, it was impressive if you go to shipboard trivia with any frequency. After trivia we checked out the main stage show, Born to be Wild, which was great! A very talented cast put on a production filled with various road trip songs, using a spinning pink Cadillac as the main prop. Nothing else of note tonight, but we arrive in Curacao tomorrow.
Monday, May 14th, 2018
We didn’t arrive in Curacao till noon, so we had the whole morning onboard. Breakfast at the Coral dining room, followed by cheering my dad on in speed sudoku, and then our usual morning trivia. A quick bite from the international café for lunch, and we are on the dock to meet for our island tour. The tour made three stops. First, we visited the home of a local artist who makes and sells Chichi figurines. A chichi is the Papiamento word for eldest sister, and in the ten years she has owned the business, she now employs 60 artists to paint the sculptures. It was kind of an amazing story, and I picked one up for my stepdaughter, who is both an eldest sister and an art major. From there we stopped at an aloe farm, and then rounded out the tour with a visit to the distillery where the original blue curacao liquor is made. Interesting bit of trivia is that it is actually sold in five different colors with the original orange flavor. They also have a handful of addition liquor flavors, but none wowed me enough to buy a bottle for home. I did a little shopping at the kiosks near the ship, and then we went back onboard. We made it back in time for afternoon trivia, followed by dinner, followed by a hilarious comedy show from Derrick Cameron. We laughed so hard it was physically painful. Nothing else of note today, but we arrive in Bonaire tomorrow morning.
Tuesday, May 15th, 2018
Today would be a stop in Bonaire, which turned out to be my favorite island for the cruise. We did an island tour, which took us on a beautiful drive along the coastline to Goto Lake, where we saw pink flamingos. Apparently they have about 30,000 of them living on Bonaire, and although none came close to our van, they were quite lovely to see. From there we stopped at Rincon Village, which is the original town & their cultural center. Nothing that interesting there, but one of the things you want to check off your to do list when you visit Bonaire. After Rincon Village we headed to the salt flats, which were amazing! The water is carnation pink, and the pyramids of salt are several stories high, just waiting to be shipped out all over the world. We also got to see the original slave huts where they used to rest during breaks. Back in town my dad & I walked downtown (Sue headed back to the ship) through a maze of tented kiosks where local vendors were selling their handicrafts. I bought a lovely butterfly necklace for $10, and I actually tried to pay the woman more but she wouldn’t take it. We stopped at a bar so my dad could try the local beer, and I ordered a cocktail. I believe it was called a pineapple pirate. It took them about five minutes to make, but was so tasty that it was worth the wait. They also had all sorts of kitschy signs, like “In dog beers I’m only one” and the like. Some more shopping downtown and then we headed back to the ship. From there we did afternoon trivia, followed by dinner. After dinner we headed to the Piazza, where Arnie was participating in a martini demonstration. Sue was selected to shake both the shaker and her money maker, and it was pretty hilarious. That evening’s show was a magician, which I didn’t have interest in, so I spent some casino & bar time, and then headed to bed. Aruba tomorrow!
Wednesday, May 16th, 2018
Welcome to Aruba! No shore excursion scheduled for today, so we disembarked and walked along a strip of shopping kiosks, all of which sold basically the same stuff. Past there we stopped at a restaurant on the water, where we just grabbed some cocktails and enjoyed the view. We then continued our walk up the strip to the casino, where I won just enough to buy my husband a Cariloha polo shirt. From there we headed back toward the ship, stopping at a cute little shop where my dad bought a tropical shirt, and they threw in a free beer. Since we were back early, we had the whole afternoon onboard, where we played and lost at Pictionary. Around this time I turned my phone on and had a text from my husband, telling me that everyone was okay, and the house was fine. What the heck?!?! Apparently there were megastorms, including tornados, back in Connecticut last night! Lots of damage and power outages everywhere, but we were mostly spared. One town north of us had huge amounts of damage, but inland took the brunt of the storm. Still, glad I wasn’t home for it, as I would have been freaking out! Sue & I were able to catch afternoon tea, which was brief, but nice. Not as nice as Bermuda, but the food was just as good. In Bermuda they brought you a tower of treats, and on Princess white-gloved waiters bring around trays of stuff, so you can select what you like. Since we had tea, we didn’t really eat at dinner, and just spent a quiet evening around the ship. Two more sea days and then we will be back in Fort Lauderdale.
Thursday, May 17th, 2018
Sea day today! Memory gets a little fuzzy at this point, but we did our usual morning trivia, and then I decided to play a round of bingo, which I lost. Some lunch at the burger joint by the pool, and then a quiet afternoon around the ship. My dad & I did afternoon tea, which was also nice. Nothing else of note today, and tomorrow will be our last sea day. Have I mentioned how great the weather has been for this entire trip? Because it has been beautiful!
Friday, May 18th, 2018
Our last sea day, and we basically just spent the day enjoying the ship. Beautiful day, and so relaxing! In case I haven’t mentioned by now, we all had the ultimate beverage package, which gives you up to 15 drinks per day, which sounds like a lot, but when you are on vacation it really adds up! My dad actually ran into trouble the first couple of days until we figured out that because of the vodka he was selecting for his martinis, it was counting as two drinks. If it is listed on the menu, it counts as one drink. If it’s not listed it goes by how many shots of alcohol in the cocktail, and in a martini that would be two. Anyway, on the last day I was the last woman standing, and I was up fairly late, so for the first time this cruise I hit the limit. Oh well, time for bed anyway!
Saturday, May 19th, 2018
Sadly we are back in Fort Lauderdale, and now that the casino is closed I have discovered seven dollars in casino chips I forgot to cash in. Luckily Princess has a lot of repeat guests, so I went over to the International Café and asked loudly if anyone was sailing on a back-to-back. No one was, but there was a guy who would be back onboard in a month, so I gifted him with my leftover chips. Hopefully they brought him luck. Today was rainy and yucky, but we got off quickly and were in the van heading to my dad’s fairly early. A quiet afternoon and then my dad and I went out for Chinese food for dinner (Sue wasn’t hungry). We watched a hockey game that evening (it was the Stanley Cup playoffs), and then called it a night. I fly home tomorrow mid-morning, which was uneventful, so I will end this here.