Princess Cay Day

We are pulling into Princess Cay this morning. This is a Princess- owned island in the Bahamas where you can relax on the beach and enjoy various water and beach related activities. It's a nice day to have near the end of a cruise - and yes, the end is near. Dis-embarkation papers arrived last evening as a reminder.
We did not do much yesterday after the 5K walk. Since the kids were not into lobster and the first showing of Mamma Mia on Movies Under The Stars was at 7:00, we had a very nice meal together at the Caribe buffet, then headed out to stake out our seats. Katie and Bill watched it with us and seemed to enjoy the movie. We kept our seats for the 10:30 show which was a good things since by 10:00 there were people milling around looking for seats! It was great seeing it a second time in a row.
Mary and I don't have anything special planned for today. Just head ashore and enjoy some beach time. We have to be back on board the ship by 3:30 to sail for Fort Lauderdale.

I'll post pictures once back home.

Thursday morning

At least I think it's Thursday - you have to work at keeping track of what day it is when on a cruise.
Today is our second day at sea. This morning Mary and I are doing a 5K "On Deck for the Cure" walk at 9:00. We don't have anything planned for this afternoon, but this evening is a Captain's reception for returning cruisers followed by Mamma Mia on the big screen.
Mary had a very good shopping day yesterday in Cozumel. We docked at Puerta Maya which is a ways from downtown, but they have a rather large cluster of the usual tourist shops here. The nice thing about these shops is that the salespeople were not very pushy. Some places in Mexico they are out on the sidewalk nearly blocking it to get you to come into their store. We find that a very unpleasant way to shop. Here they were helpful, but waited for you to enter the store and often to ask for assistance.
The ATV ride Bill and I went on was very cool. I had never been on an ATV before and driving down rough, stone covered trails (I hesitate to call them roads) and reaching 30 mph at some times was quite exhilarating. The sold bandanas for $2 each and those were very good
investments to keep some of the dust out of your nose and mouth. The beach segment was very disappointing. It was supposed to be some beach time with optional snorkeling, but the beach was rocky and all you could really do was snorkel. Since we were hot and very tired, we
wanted to head back for the ship as soon as we could, but that was a hassle as well. But we persevered and got back OK. After a shower, some ice cream and other desserts, we felt much better.
Well, time to head out to the walk!

Cruise Update

We had a very nice day in Grand Cayman yesterday. Mary and I took an
excursion to a turtle farm and got to hold small (8 month old) and
larger (18 month old) turtles. Those little guys were strong! If
they got some leverage on your hand with their flipper, you really had
to hold on tights. One started squawking and the guide showed me how
to rub it's neck just like you would a kitten to calm it down. Very
neat.
We shopped in town afterwards, then caught a tender back to the ship.
For all the cruise ships that visit, they have no docks so all ships
have to tender their passengers to shore and back. There were 4 ships
when we were there and our guide said he's seen as many as 16 ship
there on a single day. The town was crowded enough with just our
ships so I cannot imagine how it would be with 10 or more!
We arrived at Cozumel this morning. We are at a new dock since the
hurricane destroyed all they docks in 2004 (8 months before our April
2005 cruise). The port facilities were nice as well. Mary, Katie, Andy
and I went ashore this morning for a shopping excursion. Bill and I
are doing an ATV adventure in an hour or so.
So that's the latest update. Tomorrow is another day at sea. The big
highlight will be seeing the Mamma Mia! movie on the big Movies Under
the Stars screen at 7:30 p.m. - and quite likely again at 10:30.

Fun in Jamaica

Today we visited Ocho Rios in Jamaica. For shore excursions, Mary, Andy and Melissa went to Dunn's Falls while Katie and I did the Chukka
Zip Line. Wow! Was it fun! I could not resist uploading this picture.
We did a total of 9 lines, with two surprises. The first surprise was a line that went down at a 60 degree angle. That was pretty cool, but the second surprise was a 90 degree angle - a straight drop of about 30 feet. The grand finale was a 1000' line and that was very cool.  Both Katie and I were all set to go again.
After we got back we had lunch and Mary and I headed into town where I bought her a little Valentine's Day present, even tho it is a bit
late. It was a 10-15 minutes walk into town (and back) in the heat and
humidity so we cooled off with some ice cream and ice water, then hit
the pool.
We're meeting for dinner at 5:30. The Dark Knight is playing on
Movies Under the Stars at 7:00 so that might be nice to watch.
The on to Grand Caymen tomorrow!

Peaceful Day At Sea

Today we are spending a quiet day at sea, getting use to the rhythm of
the ship. When we got up this morning Mary spotted some land off the
starboard (right) side of the ship that our balcony faces. It turn
out we are skirting the northern edge of Cuba! Right now we are just
off Cape Lucrecia and are approaching the city of Moa. Amazing.
Everyone seems to be having a good time. We took a walk around the
deck this morning and I played a travel trivia game while Mary and
Katie went to the shopping talk. After lunch, Katie is doing some
studying this afternoon, Mary is reading in the sun, and I went to
Cards and Games with Andy and Melissa. We tried to play Clue, but
some of the cards were missing so we then played Trivial Pursuit along
with another couple.
Tonight is a formal night so we are dressing up fancy for dinner and
eating in the main dining room. Mary and I are planning to go to one
of the big production shows in the Princess Theater at 8:30 after
dinner.
As with other cruises, I put down a future cruise deposit today so we
can reserve and hold a future cruise for this very small deposit.
That's what's happening today. Ocho Rios, Jamaica, is tomorrow - our
first port of call when Katie and I have signed up for a zip line
excursion! Should be fun!

Day One on the Ruby Princess

Our cruise is off to a great start. We got to the ship just before
they were starting boarding so we got on very early and did our usual
tour of the ship before heading to the buffet for lunch with Andy and
Melissa. Shortly after we finished, Katie and Bill arrived - starved
- so I showed them the way to the buffet and we had a nice visit as
they got some food after their long trip.

After that we relaxed until the emergency drill, then watch the ship
pull out of Port Everglades together before having supper. This
evening Mary and I went to the opening night show which was very good.

So tomorrow is a day at sea with a number of presentations about the
upcoming ports and another relaxing day as we head to Ocho Rios
(Jamaca). More to come!

Gotta Warm up!

This c-c-c-c-c-old is getting bad.  This looks to be the coldest January in the last 30 years and it's back into single digits for this week once again.   BRRRRRRRR!!

But in just 17 days, we'll be warming up in southern Florida, getting ready to depart on a 7 day cruise on the Ruby Princess!  What will be especially nice about this cruise is that we're taking our kids and their spouses along!  This will be a different experience for Mary and I as we have only cruised alone to date.

I may not be posting many pictures while on the cruise due to fairly high internet costs, but I plan to make a few post as we visit Jamaica, Grand Caymen, and Cozumel, before heading back to the Bahamas and  Florida. 

So stay tuned, this blog will be getting active again after a 4 month pause.  

And we are talking about several options for this coming summer.  Haven't decided on which but there are quire a few travel deals out there now.  Stay tuned!