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Cruise Day #6 — Aruba

Apr 29th, 2011 by

This morning, Libby awoke early (closer to my wake-up time) in order to watch the Royal Wedding live on television. Being an Anglophile and interested in the Royal Family, this was a big event for her. I went out for the morning coffee and breakfast, which I brought back to the cabin.

When all was done, we ventured out to explore Oranjestad in Aruba. While not exactly charming, the city is attractive and in good condition. We enjoyed walking along the waterfront (wonderful shades of blue and green water… turquoise, aquamarine, cerulean, and royal).

Unlike St. Thomas, the shopping and resorts seemed a little more refined and upscale with fewer retailers of trinkets and trash. Here again, it pays to know pricing (free WiFi, which you can find in most ports, is a good means to double check value before making a purchase). Example, I found a Seiko watch for $300 in Aruba ($450 MSRP), which can be bought in the US for less than $200. Products from Europe, however, offered better value: Libby purchased a Longchamps purse; I got a Frederique Constant watch (not well known in the USA, but a good quality/value watch that I’m familiar with from our travels in Europe).

We returned to the ship for a light, late lunch (big dinner at Sabatini’s tonight). We ate in Horizon Court. Like last night, our impression remains the same: good quality (for a buffet), somewhat limited selection (relative to other cruise lines), and a bit crowded (both the serving and seating space seems physically constrained–it should be interesting to see what it’s like on a sea day tomorrow at peak times). We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing aboard the ship… reading, blogging, chatting, etc.

Tonight’s dinner in the ship’s Italian specialty restaurant was decent. Basically, you pick a main course (secondi piatti), and they serve you a sampling of a number of dishes (cold and warm antipasti), thin crust pizza, pastas, etc. You don’t get a lot of any one thing (though I’m sure you could ask for more), but you get a lot of everything in total. It was basically good… though nothing especially great. Overall, it was still the best Italian specialty restaurant food we’ve had at sea. But, that’s more because the competition (from HAL, RCI, and NCL) have all been rather weak. I’m still waiting for an amazing Italian meal on the high seas (like we’ve had with Asian and steak/seafood).

Today’s box score: +1 country (Aruba–bringing our grand total to 45!)

Here are a couple of photos from today:

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Cruise Day #5 — Bonaire

Apr 28th, 2011 by

Since today has a later arrival in port (noon), we opted to have an early breakfast in the main dining room. Overall, the food was fine but unremarkable. I did have my first “bad” dish on Princess: my ham and cheese omelette was, well, basically inedible — I’m not sure if it was over-cooked or made with some sort of weird egg substitute… but it was rather dry and grainy in texture. Oh well.

I attended the “Welcome to the Captain’s Circle” lecture, which was mildly informative. Libby participated in the “On Deck for the Cure” walkathon to fight breast cancer (sadly, only one other passenger participated). But, she did get hats for us and pink balloons for the cabin. :-)

I attempted to go use the golf simulator, but it was sadly closed for a putting competition (also without participants). So, I went to the casino and wasn’t an hour (and $10) playing the $0.02 slot machines. Meanwhile, Libby was on deck somewhere reading.

We arrived in Bonaire around noon. We spent a couple of hours wandering about the town. A surprising number of businesses were closed. Bonaire’s a small island with relatively few residents (about 13,000). And, I suspect that we’re now a bit passed the tourist season… so the island seemed very sleepy. I’d recommend diving or a beach day (if you’re into either of those things).

After another leisurely day, we had dinner (or any meal) for the first time in the Lido buffet, Cafe Caribe / Horizon Court. The selection at dinner was limited, but the food was good (for a buffet) and the service excellent (indeed the number of servers seemed to outpace patrons–and all were busy doing something).

After dinner, we returned to our cabin. We stepped out onto the balcony and discovered… “naked lady”… again… two decks down. You see, the Caribbean Princess have some decks with sun exposed balconies. As such, these balconies aren’t even remotely private to those above them. “Naked Lady” seems not to care… she was out there, full monty style, in front of us, the Captain (Bridge directly above), God, and everyone else. Moreover, since this wasn’t just the topless sunbathing Libby witnessed a few days ago, I feel compelled to issue this public service announcement: if you’re on a Princess ship, staying in a balcony on the 9th or 10th deck, look up! If there’s no roof, ask yourself two questions: do I want people to see me naked? would people want to me naked? If either answer is “no,” keep your clothing on!

I’m finishing up writing this entry from the Lido deck, while sipping a Long Island Iced Tea ($2.99 — Power Hour Special), munching popcorn, and watching “The Tourist” on the Princess Movies Under the Stars big screen. Cool, yes?

See for yourself…

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Today’s box score: +1 country (Bonaire)

Posted in Bonaire, Caribbean Princess | 2 Comments »

Cruise Day #4 — Grenada

Apr 27th, 2011 by

We arrived in Grenada, the Spice Island of the Caribbean, today at 7am. Stepping out on deck before our arrival, we actually could smell the fragrance of spices perfuming the moist tropical morning air. What a nice welcome!

Unlike prior days, this was scheduled to be a brief visit with an all aboard time of 1:30. As such, we opted for a ship organized excursion in order to maximize our time. We departed the ship by 7:40 to start out tour.

We traveled north along the west coast of the island. We visited the Dougaldston Estate, where we witnessed the processing and production of cocoa. We then drove through a lovely town called Gouyave before proceeding inland to the rain forest. Like Dominica, Grenada is lush and fertile. It has all manner of foods and spices growing: breadfruit, papaya, mango, nutmeg, pineapple, cocoa, coffee, cinnamon, bananas, citrus, etc.

Our tour took us through the Grand Etang forest, stopping at the volcanic crater lake. We also visited Annandale Falls (photo below) and Fort Fredrick (for a breathtaking view of St. George’s town and the southern end of the island. All in all, this was an excellent tour and overview of the island!

We returned to the ship around 1:00 and had another nice lunch in the Coral Dining Room. After lunch, we went back to cabin and enjoyed the sail away from our balcony. We passed another relaxing afternoon doing… absolutely nothing.

Tonight, we ate dinner at the Crown Grill ($25/pp.). This is one of two speciality dining venues aboard the Caribbean Princess. I started with a prawn and tarragon foam appetizer (excellent). We both had the “black and blue onion soup” (think French onion soup made with Jack Daniel’s [in lieu of sherry or cognac] and with blue cheese added to the Gruyere topping–also excellent) and a marinated goat’s cheese and spinach salad (good but unremarkable).

For our main course, Libby opted for the grilled shrimp and onion fried rice with citrus slaw (sounds simple, but was elegant in taste and presentation). I opted for a medium-rare filet (perfectly cooked) and added grilled Maine lobster tails to the selection (the waiter brought me three — oh my!). We also had a selection of potatoes and vegetables. The garlic steak fries were amazing (maybe the best “French fry” I’ve ever had and trust me, I’ve eaten French fries). We mashed the meal down with a bottle of Le Crema Pinot Noir (good “go to” wine that pairs well with most dishes… plus it’s not a wimpy Pinot!).

For our sweet treat, I had the sampler: four miniature versions of the chef’s signature selections (all were good, but none spectacular). Libby opted for the warm fudge cake and chocolate ice cream (a mini version of which was on my sampler, but her full-size dish was better executed with a more of the warm, gooey center). Service was once again very good too.

All in all, we came away from the Crown Grill impressed and would highly recommend it.

Today’s box score: +1 country (Grenada). Another excellent day!

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Posted in Caribbean Princess, Grenada | 1 Comment »

Cruise Day #3 — Dominica

Apr 26th, 2011 by

Like most days, I awoke a good bit earlier than Libby. So, I spent my early morning hours up on deck sipping coffee and organizing pictures from our earlier vacations (which I’m hoping to finally get posted).

Once Libby awoke, we went down to the coffee bar for our lattes and then watched our arrival in Dominica from our balcony. We docked at the pier right in downtown around 9:00 am.

We departed the ship around 10:00 and walked uphill, stopping for a visit at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Fair Heaven, to the 40 acre Botanical Gardens. Unfortunately, the gardens were under construction with an irrigation system installation. It also started raining… heavily. But, we met Jeff, who was in the middle of a tour with some fellow cruisers, which we joined (@ $15/pp.) for a ride through the rain forrest.

Visiting the rainforest is clearly THE thing to do in Dominica. We drove on steep, narrow roads through the mountains and valleys. We were utterly surrounded by the lush tropical foliage, including bread fruit trees, bananas, ginger lilies, and bamboo. Being of volcanic origin, Dominica remains populated with boiling sulphur springs. We visited the bubbling and steaming springs at Wotten Waven to enjoy the smell of rotten eggs in the midst of a tropical rain downpour. :-)

Our guide suggested you really need a week in Dominica to fully explore the island. I believe him–we merely had a glimpse of what the island offers. We returned to Roseau around 1PM. Since we’d already seen the town (not too much to offer tourists), we returned to the ship for lunch.

We opted for a sit down meal in the Coral Dining Room (we still haven’t tried the buffet–a staple of our last cruise). Libby had fried calamari and parmesan chicken (both very good). I had a gazpacho soup (very good) and gnocchi in a gorgonzola cream sauce (good but the gnocchi were a little too dense). Service, as seemingly typical on this ship, was excellent.

We spent the remainder of the afternoon relaxing: reading and napping.

Dinner tonight was in the Island Dining Room. Service started a little less well than what we’ve been used to, but the staff quickly got back on stride by the time our appetizers were finished. The food again ranged from pretty good to very good–that’s a not unimpressive string for food aboard a cruise ship. Highlights included Libby’s Caesar salad, our chicken fajitas (tonight’s “homestyle” menu option–which we think is another nice touch, as you sometimes get tired of eating “fancy” food), and Libby’s fudge cookie a la mode.

After dinner, we saw our first production stage show aboard Princess: “Piano Man.” What to say? Weak vocalists, poor male dancers, and a campy staging. Think: Mel Brooks meets Christopher Guest. Admittedly, we’re Broadway/West End devotees, but I think this was nonetheless a poor showing even by cruise ship standards.

Today’s box score: +1 country (Dominica)

Here’s a photo of downtown Roseau and the mountains beyond:

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Posted in Caribbean Princess, Dominica | No Comments »

Cruise Day #2 — St. Thomas, USVI

Apr 25th, 2011 by

After a short sail from San Juan, we arrived early in St. Thomas to a beautiful day. Here’s a view from our balcony this morning:

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We started the morning with specialty coffees, which we enjoyed out on our balcony. We then proceeded into town via a short, cheap ($4/pp.) taxi ride. Princess docks well outside of Charlotte Amalie at Crown Bay. It’s not the most convenient, but it’s perfectly workable.

We arrived in downtown around 10am. Charlotte Amalie sits on a picturesque bay. Two other ships were in port with us: Carnival Victory and Celebrity Equinox. The town has few sights but a lot of duty free shopping. Indeed, it’s something of a Mecca for jewelry shopping. I have to say though, neither of us were blown away by the duty free “deals.” Since I have Internet access, I did a little real-time price comparisons on two items. At the lower end of the market, I found a Seiko watch ($170 in St. Thomas) online for $160. At the high end of the market, I priced out a $20,000 Bregeut watch (which I tried on!) at the same rate in St. Thomas as online. We found a similar pattern in women’s jewelry. Bottom line: while the prices in St. Thomas are good, they seem to be far from extraordinary relative to US market prices (regardless of the deep discount from MSRP / list prices).

All in all, we spent about four hours wandering around the city. We returned to the ship at 2pm for a light snack before our balcony dining tonight. We spent the rest of the afternoon lounging about just watching the world go by. The view from our cabin is wonderful (as noted above) and made for a nice backdrop to a leisurely afternoon.

Tonight was formal night, which we skipped. Instead, we did “Ultimate Balcony Dining” with an emphasis on ULTIMATE. Where to start? Setup began at 6:10… table, linens, stemware, LED “candle,” rose bouquet, water pitchers, ice buckets, oh my!

After all was setup, the photographer arrived to take a series of sunset pictures with us (the dinner includes an 8×10 photo). We were then served our cocktails (strawberry daiquiri and mojito respectively) and a selection of canapés (shrimp, salmon, two kinds of caviar, ham, etc.). Next, we had wonderful blue crab cakes with a mustard cream sauce served in a puff pastry crown. This was followed by a mesclun salad with marinated cherve, olives, and walnuts dressed with an aged balsamic vinaigrette.

For our main, we opted for the surf ‘n turf: a very generously sized grilled filet of beef tenderloin and two broiled lobster tails… for each of us! All of this was washed down with the included bottle of sparkling wine.

We ended with the Princess Chocolate Symphony: a series of dark, Swiss, milk, and white chocolate mouse quenelles served with fresh berries in a white chocolate cup. In addition, they served us wonderful coffees and an entire plate full of friandises!

By the end of the meal, we were moaning out in gastronomic joy like two actors trying out for Bill Murray’s role in a sequel to the “What About Bob?” dinner scene. The service, provided by Jaime and Manny (both seasoned, veteran waiters), was utterly flawless and simply enjoyable. The cost of this experience? $100 per couple. The value of the experience? priceless! This was just a magical meal and an utterly memorable experience–one of the all-time greats aboard any cruise ship!

Here’s a photo of the table setup:

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Today’s box score: +1 “country” (USVI)

Posted in Caribbean Princess, US Virgin Islands | 2 Comments »

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