Menus 2/20/2008 to 3/3/2008
Click the link above to view menus. A note here about viewing the photo files of text. Doubleclick on the first image and on the next screen you can use the magnifying glass to enlarge it so you can read it. Then you can use the arrows to scroll through the rest of the menus.
Whew, this is the end of all the menus we brought home. This should give anyone who is interested an idea of what eating on RSSC ships is like. Again, the back page of the Compass Rose lunch menu is always the same, so it is only posted once. Please go back 4 entries to find it.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Menus from February 6 to 19th, 2008
Menus from February 6 to 19th, 2008
Click the link above to view menus. A note here about viewing the photo files of text. Doubleclick on the first image and on the next screen you can use the magnifying glass to enlarge it so you can read it. Then you can use the arrows to scroll through the rest of the menus.
Again, the back page of the Compass Rose lunch menu is always the same, so it is only posted once. Please go back 3 entries to find it. Also, for some reason, we are missing some lunch menus. Sorry.
Click the link above to view menus. A note here about viewing the photo files of text. Doubleclick on the first image and on the next screen you can use the magnifying glass to enlarge it so you can read it. Then you can use the arrows to scroll through the rest of the menus.
Again, the back page of the Compass Rose lunch menu is always the same, so it is only posted once. Please go back 3 entries to find it. Also, for some reason, we are missing some lunch menus. Sorry.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Menus from January 21 to February 3, 2008
Menus from January 21 to February 3, 2008
Click the link above to view menus. A note here about viewing the photo files of text. Doubleclick on the first image and on the next screen you can use the magnifying glass to enlarge it so you can read it. Then you can use the arrows to scroll through the rest of the menus.
Again, the back page of the Compass Rose lunch menu is always the same, so it is only posted once. Please go back 2 entries to find it.
Just some extra thoughts on RSSC and menus.
I've just discovered that we only brought home one Signatures menu. We have only all eaten there once as I am just way too picky an eater and I cannot make a meal there. Anyway, the one Signatures menu we brought home is not posted because getting ready to scan it, I realized that we only had 2 copies of page 1 and not a complete menu. So, nevermind on Signatures. Sorry!
Just as a point of information, all of these menus were either asked for and taken out of the restaurant with us. Or, more commonly they were delivered to our cabin the night before per our standing request. For whatever reason, RSSC across the board, in our experience, does not like to advertise what will be served in any restaurant in advance. The menus delivered to the cabin the night before are intended for people with special needs that need to have custom-ordered meals, not for the simply curious, picky or record-keepers like us. In any event, they never deliver breakfast menus, or LaVeranda lunch menus, Signatures or Latitudes menus. Presumably, they don't because you cannot get substitutions in Signatures and Latitudes and if you had special dietary needs you would only be eating breakfast and lunch in Compass Rose anyway.
Click the link above to view menus. A note here about viewing the photo files of text. Doubleclick on the first image and on the next screen you can use the magnifying glass to enlarge it so you can read it. Then you can use the arrows to scroll through the rest of the menus.
Again, the back page of the Compass Rose lunch menu is always the same, so it is only posted once. Please go back 2 entries to find it.
Just some extra thoughts on RSSC and menus.
I've just discovered that we only brought home one Signatures menu. We have only all eaten there once as I am just way too picky an eater and I cannot make a meal there. Anyway, the one Signatures menu we brought home is not posted because getting ready to scan it, I realized that we only had 2 copies of page 1 and not a complete menu. So, nevermind on Signatures. Sorry!
Just as a point of information, all of these menus were either asked for and taken out of the restaurant with us. Or, more commonly they were delivered to our cabin the night before per our standing request. For whatever reason, RSSC across the board, in our experience, does not like to advertise what will be served in any restaurant in advance. The menus delivered to the cabin the night before are intended for people with special needs that need to have custom-ordered meals, not for the simply curious, picky or record-keepers like us. In any event, they never deliver breakfast menus, or LaVeranda lunch menus, Signatures or Latitudes menus. Presumably, they don't because you cannot get substitutions in Signatures and Latitudes and if you had special dietary needs you would only be eating breakfast and lunch in Compass Rose anyway.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Menus 1/14/2008 to 1/20/2008
Menus 1/14/2008 to 1/20/2008
Click the link above to view menus. A note here about viewing the photo files of text. Doubleclick on the first image and on the next screen you can use the magnifying glass to enlarge it so you can read it. Then you can use the arrows to scroll through the rest of the menus.
Since the back page of the Compass Rose lunch menu is always the same, to save time and work, I have only posted it one time. Go back an entry to view the back page of the lunch menu. Also, LaVeranda and Latitudes menus will only be posted when a new one is available.
Click the link above to view menus. A note here about viewing the photo files of text. Doubleclick on the first image and on the next screen you can use the magnifying glass to enlarge it so you can read it. Then you can use the arrows to scroll through the rest of the menus.
Since the back page of the Compass Rose lunch menu is always the same, to save time and work, I have only posted it one time. Go back an entry to view the back page of the lunch menu. Also, LaVeranda and Latitudes menus will only be posted when a new one is available.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Menus from 1/7/08 to 1/13/08
Menus from 1/7/08 to 1/13/08
Click the link above to view menus. A note here about viewing the photo files of text. Doubleclick on the first image and on the next screen you can use the magnifying glass to enlarge it so you can read it. Then you can use the arrows to scroll through the rest of the menus.
RSSC Mariner's Menu notes: There are no breakfast menus scanned and posted because we never got one! Obviously, an oversight on our part. Since the breakfast menu is only available at Compass Rose and it never changes it is not one of the menus that is delivered to your cabin on request the night before. We did not think to ask for one in the Compass Rose. That said, here are some thoughts and comments on breakfast. Compass Rose offers a full service breakfast and usually opens a half-hour to hour later than LaVeranda. LaVeranda offers a full buffet with an eggs-to-order/omelet station. You will need to have your table selected and secured before placing an order here. LaVeranda usually always has one item from the Compass Rose menu that you can special order from your waitperson each day. Our experience has been that this service is so slow that if we want something from Compass Rose that we will just walk down there and have it there. Compass Rose breakfast notes: Avoid the French Toast unless you like very thick, almost pudding consistency French Toast. We don't like it! There is a pasty tray that should be offered at the same time/before the menu. Pastries are not listed on the menu. Sometimes they forget to offer the tray, or offer it after you have ordered breakfast and would be too much now. If you don't get offered the Pastry Tray before ordering ask for it. The chocolate croissants are wonderful! A new thing this year is the Eggs Benedict singular/plural debate. Eggs Benedictnever appears on any menu, never has to my knowledge, but you can always order it. In the past, if you ordered in LaVeranda you got a singular egg and 2 eggs in Compass Rose. There is a sign up in LaVeranda that says Eggs Benedict (plural) when it is available there. Eggs Benedict is usually the featured Sunday Morning with Champagne Special Breakfast (almost always with some kind of seafood, like crab, or salmon roe or caviar or sometimes with spinach, etc.). Even though again the sign says Eggs (plural) this year you only get ONE egg unless you ask for 2. Likewise, if you order it when it is not offered and it is always available, you will only get ONE now unless you specify 2. We were told that the waitstaff/kitchen had been instructed to cut back to ONE unless a guest ordered TWO. Now you know.
Final notes on menus here: At this point in our cruise, LaVeranda settled in to having one menu for a week or so at a time. So, the LaVeranda menu will only appear when it changes and not everyday. Also, at some point the menus stopped being delivered and it took a day or so to get them started back up. So, you may notice the time gap.
Click the link above to view menus. A note here about viewing the photo files of text. Doubleclick on the first image and on the next screen you can use the magnifying glass to enlarge it so you can read it. Then you can use the arrows to scroll through the rest of the menus.
RSSC Mariner's Menu notes: There are no breakfast menus scanned and posted because we never got one! Obviously, an oversight on our part. Since the breakfast menu is only available at Compass Rose and it never changes it is not one of the menus that is delivered to your cabin on request the night before. We did not think to ask for one in the Compass Rose. That said, here are some thoughts and comments on breakfast. Compass Rose offers a full service breakfast and usually opens a half-hour to hour later than LaVeranda. LaVeranda offers a full buffet with an eggs-to-order/omelet station. You will need to have your table selected and secured before placing an order here. LaVeranda usually always has one item from the Compass Rose menu that you can special order from your waitperson each day. Our experience has been that this service is so slow that if we want something from Compass Rose that we will just walk down there and have it there. Compass Rose breakfast notes: Avoid the French Toast unless you like very thick, almost pudding consistency French Toast. We don't like it! There is a pasty tray that should be offered at the same time/before the menu. Pastries are not listed on the menu. Sometimes they forget to offer the tray, or offer it after you have ordered breakfast and would be too much now. If you don't get offered the Pastry Tray before ordering ask for it. The chocolate croissants are wonderful! A new thing this year is the Eggs Benedict singular/plural debate. Eggs Benedictnever appears on any menu, never has to my knowledge, but you can always order it. In the past, if you ordered in LaVeranda you got a singular egg and 2 eggs in Compass Rose. There is a sign up in LaVeranda that says Eggs Benedict (plural) when it is available there. Eggs Benedict is usually the featured Sunday Morning with Champagne Special Breakfast (almost always with some kind of seafood, like crab, or salmon roe or caviar or sometimes with spinach, etc.). Even though again the sign says Eggs (plural) this year you only get ONE egg unless you ask for 2. Likewise, if you order it when it is not offered and it is always available, you will only get ONE now unless you specify 2. We were told that the waitstaff/kitchen had been instructed to cut back to ONE unless a guest ordered TWO. Now you know.
Final notes on menus here: At this point in our cruise, LaVeranda settled in to having one menu for a week or so at a time. So, the LaVeranda menu will only appear when it changes and not everyday. Also, at some point the menus stopped being delivered and it took a day or so to get them started back up. So, you may notice the time gap.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Assorted Videos
Big swells! - January 7, 2008 - Mariner at sea on the way to Grand Cayman
Paso Horses at Salaverry, Peru - January 11, 2008
Rounding Cape Horn - January 28, 2008
Sparrow Cove, Falkland Islands - January 31, 2008 - One penguin just went bonkers a few times. Clay managed to get him on video once. It was very funny.
Gaucho games - February 5, 2008 - Estancia Los Patricios, Argentina
Brazilian side of Iguazu Falls - February 10, 2008 - Lots of water falls!
Brazilian side of Iguazu Falls from Macuco Safari's wet & wild zodiac ride - Feb. 10, 2008
Argentine side of Iguazu Falls - February 11, 2008 - Amazing amounts of water!
Argentine side of Iguazu Falls - February 11, 2008 - Views from another vantage
We're Home!
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| Mileage |
So, if Clay is back to work then we MUST be home!
A few final notes about disembarkation. All passengers were indeed off the ship by 10:30am. We ate a final breakfast in Compass Rose and only the starboard side of the restaurant was open. We were out of our cabin for only several minutes after the 8:30am deadline before the first group (us) was called to disembark. It was all quick and painless.
Here is a scanned image of an interesting document we received onboard Mariner regarding our miles traveled. Also, our favorite video of the trip. I will try to add more of these things in coming days. Specifically, I will work on posting menus.
Since this is just Debbie working on this from home now, I will use the word I!
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Day 61 - March 4, 2008 - disembarkation
We arrived at Port Everglades early, around 6am. Docked on the starboard side by 6:30am. Breakfast is served in LaVeranda starting at 6:30am and at Compass Rose at 7:30am. We are to be out of our cabins by 8:30am. Disembarkation is to begin at 9am and we should all off the ship by 10:30am.
So, farewell Regent Seven Seas Mariner and to all who worked aboard her to make our trip what it was we say thanks and best wishes.
Day 60 - March 3, 2008 - at sea
On route to Ft. Lauderdale and Port Everglades and our departure from Mariner. It has been an excellent adventure for all of us. We'll be able to live the next decade on our memories. We picked a great Big O circumnavigation for our Big O birthdays. We suffered fairly rough seas with big rolling swells for most of the day. It made major packing projects a challenge! There was a pretty light schedule onboard, guess they knew we'd be busy. Debbie and Clay did make it to the 3pm Big Screen Popcorn Movie in Constellation Theater of Carousel. Somehow none of us had seen it before. Margie skipped lunch and the movie to lie down and keep herself going with the motion sickness to get packed. We all went down for big breakfast in Compass Rose. Tonight is Country Club Casual. Good thing! At 6:15pm there is a final Theater at Sea performance. Encore! Encore! is the show. Starring Ed Asner, Nat Chandler, George Dvorsky, Shirley Jones, Karen Mason, Patricia Neal, Susan Powell, and Thelma Ruby, with Norman Duttweiller, Marilyn Langner. It was a good show and we enjoyed it. After dinner, they are showing the movie Things We Lost in the Fire. None of us plan to go. We have a last DVD we have been waiting to get a hold of and plan to watch it tonight after dinner. Brokeback Mountain.
We ate pretty lightly at dinner in Compass Rose. Bryan Townsend sent us off from the final show to our Last Supper. We got all our luggage out in the hall after dinner and then Brokeback Mountain. We finished just before the 11pm DVD return deadline. Just after 11pm, the luggage was still not being picked up yet. So, to bed since we will probably be up early in the morning to get off Mariner.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Day 59 - February 2, 2008 - Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos
Grand Turk photos
We have a half-day of sailing to reach this small island chain of the British West Indies. We expect to be docked at Grand Turk Island of the Turks Islands at 1pm. All aboard will be 5:30pm and final sailing will be at 6pm. This is our last Sunday and our last shore stop. We planned to sleep late, but since we got an extra hour back last night, everyone onboard was up pretty early this morning anyway. Debbie got a final 2 loads of laundry in before heading to breakfast. We had our last, big, late Sunday Breakfast. Margie and Debbie had chocolate croissants and berries followed by Eggs Benedict without the caviar. Clay started with a cinnamon roll, then had 2 eggs over easy with 3 baby lamb chops, lyonnaise potatoes and whole wheat toast. We had accepted the glass of champagne when it was offered. Margie said she was not feeling well, that she was nauseous and had a headache. She felt badly all morning and could not decide if she was sick or just feeling bad because she had to pack up and leave. The seas have been fairly calm and the ship not moving around too much. There were a lot of big silver flying fish to be seen today. The water is some beautiful shades of blue here.
We arrived at Grand Turk around noon, which was an hour early. There is almost nothing on this very small island. You can see all the way across it from the ship. There is a very large cruise port/terminal area. There is a Margaritaville, beautiful beaches and a big swimming pool. It is our understanding that all of this area is free for the use of cruise ships passengers docked here. That you only have to pay for food and beverages, souvenirs, etc. as expected, but that the facilities and beaches are provided for the use of cruise ship guests. We never heard any announcement made about shore excursions or the ship being cleared. We just looked over the port side where we were docked and saw people going ashore. We were the only ship here today. Since there are only really water activities here, no one wanted to do anything. Clay and Margie went ashore and checked out the port/cruise passengers area and Debbie stayed onboard. Everything was as described immediately above, as well as the report of some quite expensive souvenir shops. Clay returned fairly quickly with a T-shirt. Margie spent a little more time sitting in a beach lounge chair in some palm tree shade before returning to the ship. We all watched the DVD Chocolat this afternoon with some popcorn and the remains of last night's cake. It can't even technically be called cake because we could find very little to even chew. It was just layers of brown sweet goo! Anyway, we still don't get Chocolat. It is a nice little movie, but none of us really love it. Sorry, not even with the aid of some awesome chocolate.
Tonight is Formal Night, the Captain's Farewell and Krew Kapers. Since we had our Farewell last night, and we have been to a few of the standard crew show/Captain's farewells we will most certainly skip it tonight. The 9:45 PGT show is a repeat so we'll skip that as well. The Compass Rose dinner menu is not to anyone's liking tonight, so we all wonder how we will make enough courses to get through our dinner at the Captain's Table tonight. This is our last Formal Dinner.
We left just about on time. It was getting dark as we backed away from Grand Turk. Here's hoping for some really smooth seas all the way since we have lots of packing to do tomorrow. About 6pm, our disembarkation packets were finally delivered. We have yellow luggage tags and are in the first group to disembark. They say they expect to begin disembarkation at 9am. It is being done a little differently than we remember at the end of the World Cruise in 2006, but hopefully all will go smoothly.
We went down for drinks in Mariner Lounge before our 7:30pm dinner at the Captain's table with him and Elsa. There were 11 people at our table. One woman we had dined with before at Franck's table. One couple was from Naples, FL and we had seen a lot of during shore excursions. Another woman from Las Vegas was on for the full Circle cruise. The last couple was from Alabama and had boarded in Buenos Aires. Dinner was enjoyable. Captain Philippe is funny and delightful. Margie was seated to his right and he told her he is 53 years old. He drives a motorcycle at home because his wife doesn't want him denting up the car! He has 3 children. He says there are no scorpions in the north of France, but that those in the south of France are small and friendly. His 3 favorite places to cruise are in order, Alaska, the Chilean fjords and the Amazon River. His least favorite is the Caribbean. Chef Mike came by to remind everyone to go to the PGT show to see his girlfriend, Heather. Some of table went, but the 3 of us did not. Tomorrow we pack, ugh!
Grand Turk photos
We have a half-day of sailing to reach this small island chain of the British West Indies. We expect to be docked at Grand Turk Island of the Turks Islands at 1pm. All aboard will be 5:30pm and final sailing will be at 6pm. This is our last Sunday and our last shore stop. We planned to sleep late, but since we got an extra hour back last night, everyone onboard was up pretty early this morning anyway. Debbie got a final 2 loads of laundry in before heading to breakfast. We had our last, big, late Sunday Breakfast. Margie and Debbie had chocolate croissants and berries followed by Eggs Benedict without the caviar. Clay started with a cinnamon roll, then had 2 eggs over easy with 3 baby lamb chops, lyonnaise potatoes and whole wheat toast. We had accepted the glass of champagne when it was offered. Margie said she was not feeling well, that she was nauseous and had a headache. She felt badly all morning and could not decide if she was sick or just feeling bad because she had to pack up and leave. The seas have been fairly calm and the ship not moving around too much. There were a lot of big silver flying fish to be seen today. The water is some beautiful shades of blue here.
We arrived at Grand Turk around noon, which was an hour early. There is almost nothing on this very small island. You can see all the way across it from the ship. There is a very large cruise port/terminal area. There is a Margaritaville, beautiful beaches and a big swimming pool. It is our understanding that all of this area is free for the use of cruise ships passengers docked here. That you only have to pay for food and beverages, souvenirs, etc. as expected, but that the facilities and beaches are provided for the use of cruise ship guests. We never heard any announcement made about shore excursions or the ship being cleared. We just looked over the port side where we were docked and saw people going ashore. We were the only ship here today. Since there are only really water activities here, no one wanted to do anything. Clay and Margie went ashore and checked out the port/cruise passengers area and Debbie stayed onboard. Everything was as described immediately above, as well as the report of some quite expensive souvenir shops. Clay returned fairly quickly with a T-shirt. Margie spent a little more time sitting in a beach lounge chair in some palm tree shade before returning to the ship. We all watched the DVD Chocolat this afternoon with some popcorn and the remains of last night's cake. It can't even technically be called cake because we could find very little to even chew. It was just layers of brown sweet goo! Anyway, we still don't get Chocolat. It is a nice little movie, but none of us really love it. Sorry, not even with the aid of some awesome chocolate.
Tonight is Formal Night, the Captain's Farewell and Krew Kapers. Since we had our Farewell last night, and we have been to a few of the standard crew show/Captain's farewells we will most certainly skip it tonight. The 9:45 PGT show is a repeat so we'll skip that as well. The Compass Rose dinner menu is not to anyone's liking tonight, so we all wonder how we will make enough courses to get through our dinner at the Captain's Table tonight. This is our last Formal Dinner.
We left just about on time. It was getting dark as we backed away from Grand Turk. Here's hoping for some really smooth seas all the way since we have lots of packing to do tomorrow. About 6pm, our disembarkation packets were finally delivered. We have yellow luggage tags and are in the first group to disembark. They say they expect to begin disembarkation at 9am. It is being done a little differently than we remember at the end of the World Cruise in 2006, but hopefully all will go smoothly.
We went down for drinks in Mariner Lounge before our 7:30pm dinner at the Captain's table with him and Elsa. There were 11 people at our table. One woman we had dined with before at Franck's table. One couple was from Naples, FL and we had seen a lot of during shore excursions. Another woman from Las Vegas was on for the full Circle cruise. The last couple was from Alabama and had boarded in Buenos Aires. Dinner was enjoyable. Captain Philippe is funny and delightful. Margie was seated to his right and he told her he is 53 years old. He drives a motorcycle at home because his wife doesn't want him denting up the car! He has 3 children. He says there are no scorpions in the north of France, but that those in the south of France are small and friendly. His 3 favorite places to cruise are in order, Alaska, the Chilean fjords and the Amazon River. His least favorite is the Caribbean. Chef Mike came by to remind everyone to go to the PGT show to see his girlfriend, Heather. Some of table went, but the 3 of us did not. Tomorrow we pack, ugh!
Grand Turk photos
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Day 58 - March 1, 2008 - San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan photos
So, we get our passports back this morning for keeps! That is sad, because it either means we get no passport stamps for Turks & Caicos, or else that we have to personally present our passports again tomorrow!
We arrived in San Juan on time. Terry Breen spoke on open decks, Observation Lounge and Channel 2 from 8:30am until about 9am as we were docking. We backed in next door to Crown Princess right at the foot of Old San Juan. We are docked on the port side. Capt. Philippe made an announcement to expect heavy swells as we entered the harbor, but it was perfectly calm. Inexplicably, Terry made a little speech about how to pronounce and spell El Morro. Full name of the fort at the entrance to the harbor is Fuerte San Felipe del Morro. But, in any event she was quite specific that Moro is with one r. We have never seen it written that way. No idea how she could think it only has one r instead of 2. At 10am, Bryan began calling passengers to report to different spots to clear US ICE. Everyone gets their passports back and has to present themselves individually to US officials to clear for departure. The sheet of paper we got last night stated that no one could leave the ship until everyone had done this, but once cleared individually you can leave. All ship's tour participants were called first and then deck by deck starting at the top and working down. Since we are on deck 7, and independent, we were some of the last off the ship. Really, no matter as we have no plans because we have all been here before. All aboard is 4:30pm. Sailing at 5pm. So, it will be a pretty short day ashore here anyway.
We had a last, late, big Saturday breakfast in Compass Rose this morning. Tomorrow will be our last Sunday Brunch breakfast. Boo! They have big juicy raspberries aboard right now. Delicious! For the past 2 mornings, they have served them in the silver-footed bowls. Debbie pours milk over hers and her bowl has leaked causing some minor havoc and much amusement. Ludovich came by this morning to ask us where we were having dinner tonight. We know only because the only thing any of us saw on any menu that we really wanted was Debbie and Peanut Butter ice cream. Margie wanted to know why Ludovich wanted to know and he wouldn't say, only that it was a surprise. We are not big surprise lovers. Debbie told him that our only preference for dinner at this point was Peanut Butter ice cream in Compass Rose. Panic was writ large over his face as he reminded us that just because it is on the menu now does not mean it will actually be served in the restaurant. Debbie told him that he better have Peanut Butter ice cream, she was counting on it. Ludovich quickly summoned someone to make sure that it was actually in a refrigerator and not buried in some deep freeze! Funny! So, we will plan on the PB ice cream and a surprise.
Tonight at 6pm in the Constellation Theater is the Full Circle South America Farewell Party. We are advised to bring our cameras. More later. It is Country Club Casual tonight. Tonight the show in Constellation Theater at 9:45pm is Theater at Sea. It is Karen Mason in a show called Make Someone Happy. She originated the role of Tanya on Broadway in ABBA's Mamma Mia. Debbie is planning to attend. More later. Tonight we turn our clocks and watches back one hour. Hopefully, this is the last time change and we will put us back on East Coast time.
Tomorrow night is Formal and we are invited to dine at 7:30pm with Captain Philippe Fichet Delavault and Social Hostess Elsa McLean. Tomorrow night at 6:15pm is the Captain's Farewell Party for the segment. We still do not have departure information or luggage tags. Tomorrow afternoon we are in Grand Turk, then a sea day and on Tuesday we get the boot, or disembark.
We're back on the ship now! So, Deck 7 was finally called about 10:30am. We only stood in line about 5 minutes and then pretty much walked straight off the ship. We entered the starboard side of the Constellation Theater and were handed our passports by giving our suite numbers. We walked them to the front of the theater where a Customs & Immigration official compared us and the photo. We walked back out on the port side where someone gave us a Landing Card (just a slip of paper saying that we had been cleared and had our passports). Clay took the passports back to the safe first and met Debbie and Margie outside. We handed our Landing Card slips to the Security Officer on the ship that swiped our ship's card as we exited. You have to have your ship's card and a photo ID to re-enter the port terminal, but we all had our driver's licenses on us. We were at Cafe Mallorca having our toasted Mallorca sandwiches by 11am. Second breakfast. Clay and Margie had a really strong, thick and icy homemade lemonade to drink and Debbie had cafe au lait. She got the end of a pot as they started a new one right after they poured hers. That 2nd cup of really potent and thick coffee kick started her for the rest of the day. Her eyes were just about spinning in her head before she hopped off her counter stool and hit the ground running. Clay and Margie would play catchup for the remainder of the day. We had earlier abandoned the idea of going over to Bacardi. No one was really that interested in doing it and we all were thinking of taking it easier than we had on earlier visits here. Margie especially was feeling the heat, humidity and the uphill walks. Debbie was trying to keep ahead of her racing heart. Clay was just trying to keep up at all. We walked past La Bombonera, which is a competitor to Cafe Mallorca. A Mallorca is a local delicacy of a kind of flat, circular sweet bread or pastry. They slice it in half and put in butter, cheese, ham and or any combination and grill it like a panini, then cover it with powdered sugar. It sounds kind of weird, but it is really good. Margie had never heard of it and was really unsure since we just ate breakfast at 8am. But, she got the cheese one and really liked it. She sucked it right down anyway. It was pretty crowded in there and we just took stools at the counter. We got to watch them making everything. It was cool! After that, we continued walking down Calle San Francisco to the Plaza de Armas, where we watched the little 2-year old boy from the ship chase pigeons. he was having a blast. Then we walked up Calle San Jose to approach the Cathedral de San Juan from the rear. We went inside and saw the marble tomb of Ponce de Leon. He died in Cuba and was originally interred at the Church of San Jose. It is the 2nd oldest Roman Catholic church in the Americas, but it is closed. Anyway about Ponce, his remains were brought from Cuba in 1559 and moved to San Juan Cathedral in 1908. Next to the church was the Dominican Convent which is now a museum. It was built in 1523. It was closed for lunch. At the Plaza San Jose next to the church is a statue of Juan Ponce de Leon that was cast from English cannons captured during a naval battle in 1797. We then took a seat in the Plaza del Quinto Centenario. There was a snow cone stand there. Debbie read the flavors and picked Cane Syrup. Our bus driver in Barbados had talked about how he could not get enough of this stuff and it was currently available as the cane was now being harvested. He said it is only freshly available for a short period before it becomes molasses and sugar and rum. So, as you might imagine it is very strongly flavored and must be one of those acquired tastes. Margie and Clay both thought it was nasty. Debbie stepped up. You do not want to imagine the buzz emanating off her by this time! She was practically levitating! This plaza has multiple levels and at the lowest is one of those flat, action type fountains. It being Saturday, there were tons of families with kids out and a passel of screaming kids in swimsuits was running and screaming through the water fountain. Debbie was green with envy and wished she had known and worn Tevas and a swimsuit! Who knew. So, we went down and took some photos. There is a recurring image of a sheep with a flag that we have seen and there 2 bronze statues there representing the image. We aren't sure if it is like a state seal for Puerto Rico or if it is a San Juan thing or what. It was inside the Cathedral near Ponce too. Anyway, Debbie really liked it, so we took pictures. From there we could see a lot of kites flying on the green in front of El Morro. Debbie decided to do that. We went over to a stand and bought a kite and string for $4.09. Margie was so ready to see Debbie burn off some energy that she stepped up with $3 towards the purchase price just to get Debbie away. Remember we are officially in the US now, so US dollars. Debbie flew the first time out and got the string off the spindle and onto the handle. Margie and Clay both thought she had the easiest kite launch/flight ever. Then Debbie showed them her bloodied left hand. Nothing is ever as easy as it appears. Clay finished bringing the kite back down. We all had some water and sat in the breeze for a while to cool off from all the kite excitement. Debbie decided that we should have another kite launch by Clay before we donated the kite to a local kid. Clay got it up and then handed it off to Debbie to string out. After some close calls with Margie's head and an attack by another kite it was more than half way out when the string broke and it was lost forever. Debbie went hunting it and came up with a lost Care Bears and Cinderella, but our psychedelic kite was just MIA. Ah, well. It was great, cheap fun while it lasted. We made our way down to the city walls and started down and around the entrance to the harbor. We walked past the Casa Rosada (1812) and Casa Blanca (1540) which had been our goal. Casa Blanca was built to be Ponce de Leon's home, but he died without ever living there. His descendents lived there for 250 years. It is now a museum. Once we got there we decided that it was better just to go to lunch and then the ship. So, we did not enter. We found the Plaza de La Rogativa. It has an iron sculpture. It was done to mark the 450th anniversary in 1971 of La Rogativa, meaning the Procession. Here is the story; after a 2 week siege of the city, the city thought defeat was imminent and asked the Bishop to lead a night vigil in honor of St. Catherine. Marchers bearing torches went through the streets. The British in their ships in the harbor, saw the torchlights and hearing the bells ringing assumed that reinforcements had arrived from overland. Rather than face an uncertain battle, the British hoisted anchor and slipped away in the night. The next morning, ready to surrender, the townspeople found their prayers were answered! Great story, right?! We walked back across the Old City on Calle Sol. El Jibarito is at 280 Calle del Sol between Calle San Justo and right before Calle Tanca. Terry Breen told us this morning during her talk that El Jibaro is a symbol of Puerto Rico and is like the country, peasant whose hard work made this country. The other symbol is the Coqui, a small noisy, nocturnal singing tree frog. At El Jibarito, which serves Criollo food, Margie had Sanchoco, a soup. It had a ham hock, a beef rib, potatoes, carrots, peas, some kind of dumplings and a corn cob in it. It was a bowlful! It was very tasty though and came with a side of white rice that you could put in the bowl with the broth as you made room. Debbie had plantain tamales with pork and brown rice with black beans. The tamale part was very sticky and looked like molded sweet potatoes, it was kind of weird. Clay had chicken stew with white rice and red beans. It was very tasty as well. Clay also had a Medalla, a local beer. No room for dessert. Plus the place was packed with locals with screaming kids and it seemed like there were a couple of large groups gathered for celebrations. It was ear-shattering noisy in there. We walked back downhill to the port on Calle Tanca and stopped and bought our cheapest T-shirts of the entire trip! Crown Princess was disembarking and embarking today, so the Cruise Terminal building was a little crazy every time we came through, but we weren't long delayed either way. We were back on board an hour before the 4:30pm all aboard. We had beautiful sunny weather again today. On the warm side, but with a pleasant breeze most of the time. Our good weather wish is still on track even if seas are rougher than we wished!
We heard Capt. Philippe make the announcement as we went up to our cabins in the elevator that the US Coast Guard was onboard conducting a safety evaluation. He said that the crew was required to go through some drills for this and for the passengers to just stay out of the way and ignore it. Capt. Philippe announced that we were about 30 minutes late departing as a result, but that the ship had an excellent result of our evaluation and the ship was very safe.
On the health front, Clay seems to be improving though he still has a cough. Debbie and Margie were both up last night coughing again. The bronchitis appears to be relapsing as they are both coughing up yellow goo again. Does not bode well for Clay who just last night finished his 6th day of Cipro. Debbie and Margie both took a 5-day course as prescribed to Debbie by the ship's Doctor. Since Margie still has 5 days left from her home Doctor, she has started a 2nd 5-day course. Debbie and Clay will just have to wait and see at this point. In our experience, these ship-bourne respiratory infections are persistent and vicious and hard to shake off. Keeping our fingers crossed for now though that the relapse which seems to be occurring will not be too bothersome.
The Farewell Party for the Full Circle cruisers was good. They showed 2 video clips and announced that they would be providing a DVD to each cabin with about 1 hour and 10 minutes of video on it. Bryan Townsend sang a song from Porgy & Bess. Then he sang a duet from Porgy & Bess with Heather Clancy of the PGT Singers. Then Bryan sang Old Man River. Then Heather came out to sing again and was joined by the other PGT Singers. Then the PGT Singers sang Hey Jude and all the ship's staff and crew came streaming out onto the stage to sing it with them. They ended about 10 of 7pm. A good thing since all the waitstaff and kitchenstaff and Bridge staff and Reception staff, all the cocktail waitstaff, all the deck hands, all the cabin stewards, in short all the people who work on the ship plus all the officers and staff were on the stage for those several minutes. The waiters in Compass Rose joked that the ship sat still for 10 minutes while nothing else happened except our farewell. Maybe! Also, onboard last night and introduced by the Captain, but not onstage, was Andre Norseth, an executive from RSSC's Ft. Lauderdale office.
On to dinner. Everyone was being really weird tonight around us and we were worried about our surprisefrom Ludovich. After we ordered dessert, Ludovich showed up with a Big O-shaped chocolate cake with candles and decorations and the words BIG ZERO on it. It was super-rich and chocolatey! It was probably the best dessert we have had all cruise. It was way too much with our other desserts. But, we were happy for the Peanut Butter ice cream to help cut the richness of the cake. We couldn't finish the pieces they served us and we had our leftovers delivered to the room. Tomorrow we will plan to finish it while we watch Chocolat the movie. We will try very hard for Ludovich to get Chocolat once and for all.
So, we get an extra hour of sleep tonight and we need it. Debbie plans to get a final laundry day in tomorrow before or during our Grand Turk stop. Then we have to pack up on Monday. It is hard to believe it is finally over! Margie was asked by the Reception staff this evening if it was too long. Her answer was that it was too long and too short. She explained that around day 25 to 28, she thought, enough, I can't go 60 days. Then, she got over that and now it seems like it can't really already be over! Then, there was Brazil, which the Reception staff agreed seemed like we would never leave! Too long. We were in Chile a long time, but every port was so different that it didn't seem monotonous. But, Brazil just seemed like Brazil everywhere we stopped and it seemed like we would never get out of Brazil. We all needed a break, but then as soon as we left Brazil, it just seemed like we were busy, busy with no rest and now it is over!
So, ends a long and good day.
San Juan photos
So, we get our passports back this morning for keeps! That is sad, because it either means we get no passport stamps for Turks & Caicos, or else that we have to personally present our passports again tomorrow!
We arrived in San Juan on time. Terry Breen spoke on open decks, Observation Lounge and Channel 2 from 8:30am until about 9am as we were docking. We backed in next door to Crown Princess right at the foot of Old San Juan. We are docked on the port side. Capt. Philippe made an announcement to expect heavy swells as we entered the harbor, but it was perfectly calm. Inexplicably, Terry made a little speech about how to pronounce and spell El Morro. Full name of the fort at the entrance to the harbor is Fuerte San Felipe del Morro. But, in any event she was quite specific that Moro is with one r. We have never seen it written that way. No idea how she could think it only has one r instead of 2. At 10am, Bryan began calling passengers to report to different spots to clear US ICE. Everyone gets their passports back and has to present themselves individually to US officials to clear for departure. The sheet of paper we got last night stated that no one could leave the ship until everyone had done this, but once cleared individually you can leave. All ship's tour participants were called first and then deck by deck starting at the top and working down. Since we are on deck 7, and independent, we were some of the last off the ship. Really, no matter as we have no plans because we have all been here before. All aboard is 4:30pm. Sailing at 5pm. So, it will be a pretty short day ashore here anyway.
We had a last, late, big Saturday breakfast in Compass Rose this morning. Tomorrow will be our last Sunday Brunch breakfast. Boo! They have big juicy raspberries aboard right now. Delicious! For the past 2 mornings, they have served them in the silver-footed bowls. Debbie pours milk over hers and her bowl has leaked causing some minor havoc and much amusement. Ludovich came by this morning to ask us where we were having dinner tonight. We know only because the only thing any of us saw on any menu that we really wanted was Debbie and Peanut Butter ice cream. Margie wanted to know why Ludovich wanted to know and he wouldn't say, only that it was a surprise. We are not big surprise lovers. Debbie told him that our only preference for dinner at this point was Peanut Butter ice cream in Compass Rose. Panic was writ large over his face as he reminded us that just because it is on the menu now does not mean it will actually be served in the restaurant. Debbie told him that he better have Peanut Butter ice cream, she was counting on it. Ludovich quickly summoned someone to make sure that it was actually in a refrigerator and not buried in some deep freeze! Funny! So, we will plan on the PB ice cream and a surprise.
Tonight at 6pm in the Constellation Theater is the Full Circle South America Farewell Party. We are advised to bring our cameras. More later. It is Country Club Casual tonight. Tonight the show in Constellation Theater at 9:45pm is Theater at Sea. It is Karen Mason in a show called Make Someone Happy. She originated the role of Tanya on Broadway in ABBA's Mamma Mia. Debbie is planning to attend. More later. Tonight we turn our clocks and watches back one hour. Hopefully, this is the last time change and we will put us back on East Coast time.
Tomorrow night is Formal and we are invited to dine at 7:30pm with Captain Philippe Fichet Delavault and Social Hostess Elsa McLean. Tomorrow night at 6:15pm is the Captain's Farewell Party for the segment. We still do not have departure information or luggage tags. Tomorrow afternoon we are in Grand Turk, then a sea day and on Tuesday we get the boot, or disembark.
We're back on the ship now! So, Deck 7 was finally called about 10:30am. We only stood in line about 5 minutes and then pretty much walked straight off the ship. We entered the starboard side of the Constellation Theater and were handed our passports by giving our suite numbers. We walked them to the front of the theater where a Customs & Immigration official compared us and the photo. We walked back out on the port side where someone gave us a Landing Card (just a slip of paper saying that we had been cleared and had our passports). Clay took the passports back to the safe first and met Debbie and Margie outside. We handed our Landing Card slips to the Security Officer on the ship that swiped our ship's card as we exited. You have to have your ship's card and a photo ID to re-enter the port terminal, but we all had our driver's licenses on us. We were at Cafe Mallorca having our toasted Mallorca sandwiches by 11am. Second breakfast. Clay and Margie had a really strong, thick and icy homemade lemonade to drink and Debbie had cafe au lait. She got the end of a pot as they started a new one right after they poured hers. That 2nd cup of really potent and thick coffee kick started her for the rest of the day. Her eyes were just about spinning in her head before she hopped off her counter stool and hit the ground running. Clay and Margie would play catchup for the remainder of the day. We had earlier abandoned the idea of going over to Bacardi. No one was really that interested in doing it and we all were thinking of taking it easier than we had on earlier visits here. Margie especially was feeling the heat, humidity and the uphill walks. Debbie was trying to keep ahead of her racing heart. Clay was just trying to keep up at all. We walked past La Bombonera, which is a competitor to Cafe Mallorca. A Mallorca is a local delicacy of a kind of flat, circular sweet bread or pastry. They slice it in half and put in butter, cheese, ham and or any combination and grill it like a panini, then cover it with powdered sugar. It sounds kind of weird, but it is really good. Margie had never heard of it and was really unsure since we just ate breakfast at 8am. But, she got the cheese one and really liked it. She sucked it right down anyway. It was pretty crowded in there and we just took stools at the counter. We got to watch them making everything. It was cool! After that, we continued walking down Calle San Francisco to the Plaza de Armas, where we watched the little 2-year old boy from the ship chase pigeons. he was having a blast. Then we walked up Calle San Jose to approach the Cathedral de San Juan from the rear. We went inside and saw the marble tomb of Ponce de Leon. He died in Cuba and was originally interred at the Church of San Jose. It is the 2nd oldest Roman Catholic church in the Americas, but it is closed. Anyway about Ponce, his remains were brought from Cuba in 1559 and moved to San Juan Cathedral in 1908. Next to the church was the Dominican Convent which is now a museum. It was built in 1523. It was closed for lunch. At the Plaza San Jose next to the church is a statue of Juan Ponce de Leon that was cast from English cannons captured during a naval battle in 1797. We then took a seat in the Plaza del Quinto Centenario. There was a snow cone stand there. Debbie read the flavors and picked Cane Syrup. Our bus driver in Barbados had talked about how he could not get enough of this stuff and it was currently available as the cane was now being harvested. He said it is only freshly available for a short period before it becomes molasses and sugar and rum. So, as you might imagine it is very strongly flavored and must be one of those acquired tastes. Margie and Clay both thought it was nasty. Debbie stepped up. You do not want to imagine the buzz emanating off her by this time! She was practically levitating! This plaza has multiple levels and at the lowest is one of those flat, action type fountains. It being Saturday, there were tons of families with kids out and a passel of screaming kids in swimsuits was running and screaming through the water fountain. Debbie was green with envy and wished she had known and worn Tevas and a swimsuit! Who knew. So, we went down and took some photos. There is a recurring image of a sheep with a flag that we have seen and there 2 bronze statues there representing the image. We aren't sure if it is like a state seal for Puerto Rico or if it is a San Juan thing or what. It was inside the Cathedral near Ponce too. Anyway, Debbie really liked it, so we took pictures. From there we could see a lot of kites flying on the green in front of El Morro. Debbie decided to do that. We went over to a stand and bought a kite and string for $4.09. Margie was so ready to see Debbie burn off some energy that she stepped up with $3 towards the purchase price just to get Debbie away. Remember we are officially in the US now, so US dollars. Debbie flew the first time out and got the string off the spindle and onto the handle. Margie and Clay both thought she had the easiest kite launch/flight ever. Then Debbie showed them her bloodied left hand. Nothing is ever as easy as it appears. Clay finished bringing the kite back down. We all had some water and sat in the breeze for a while to cool off from all the kite excitement. Debbie decided that we should have another kite launch by Clay before we donated the kite to a local kid. Clay got it up and then handed it off to Debbie to string out. After some close calls with Margie's head and an attack by another kite it was more than half way out when the string broke and it was lost forever. Debbie went hunting it and came up with a lost Care Bears and Cinderella, but our psychedelic kite was just MIA. Ah, well. It was great, cheap fun while it lasted. We made our way down to the city walls and started down and around the entrance to the harbor. We walked past the Casa Rosada (1812) and Casa Blanca (1540) which had been our goal. Casa Blanca was built to be Ponce de Leon's home, but he died without ever living there. His descendents lived there for 250 years. It is now a museum. Once we got there we decided that it was better just to go to lunch and then the ship. So, we did not enter. We found the Plaza de La Rogativa. It has an iron sculpture. It was done to mark the 450th anniversary in 1971 of La Rogativa, meaning the Procession. Here is the story; after a 2 week siege of the city, the city thought defeat was imminent and asked the Bishop to lead a night vigil in honor of St. Catherine. Marchers bearing torches went through the streets. The British in their ships in the harbor, saw the torchlights and hearing the bells ringing assumed that reinforcements had arrived from overland. Rather than face an uncertain battle, the British hoisted anchor and slipped away in the night. The next morning, ready to surrender, the townspeople found their prayers were answered! Great story, right?! We walked back across the Old City on Calle Sol. El Jibarito is at 280 Calle del Sol between Calle San Justo and right before Calle Tanca. Terry Breen told us this morning during her talk that El Jibaro is a symbol of Puerto Rico and is like the country, peasant whose hard work made this country. The other symbol is the Coqui, a small noisy, nocturnal singing tree frog. At El Jibarito, which serves Criollo food, Margie had Sanchoco, a soup. It had a ham hock, a beef rib, potatoes, carrots, peas, some kind of dumplings and a corn cob in it. It was a bowlful! It was very tasty though and came with a side of white rice that you could put in the bowl with the broth as you made room. Debbie had plantain tamales with pork and brown rice with black beans. The tamale part was very sticky and looked like molded sweet potatoes, it was kind of weird. Clay had chicken stew with white rice and red beans. It was very tasty as well. Clay also had a Medalla, a local beer. No room for dessert. Plus the place was packed with locals with screaming kids and it seemed like there were a couple of large groups gathered for celebrations. It was ear-shattering noisy in there. We walked back downhill to the port on Calle Tanca and stopped and bought our cheapest T-shirts of the entire trip! Crown Princess was disembarking and embarking today, so the Cruise Terminal building was a little crazy every time we came through, but we weren't long delayed either way. We were back on board an hour before the 4:30pm all aboard. We had beautiful sunny weather again today. On the warm side, but with a pleasant breeze most of the time. Our good weather wish is still on track even if seas are rougher than we wished!
We heard Capt. Philippe make the announcement as we went up to our cabins in the elevator that the US Coast Guard was onboard conducting a safety evaluation. He said that the crew was required to go through some drills for this and for the passengers to just stay out of the way and ignore it. Capt. Philippe announced that we were about 30 minutes late departing as a result, but that the ship had an excellent result of our evaluation and the ship was very safe.
On the health front, Clay seems to be improving though he still has a cough. Debbie and Margie were both up last night coughing again. The bronchitis appears to be relapsing as they are both coughing up yellow goo again. Does not bode well for Clay who just last night finished his 6th day of Cipro. Debbie and Margie both took a 5-day course as prescribed to Debbie by the ship's Doctor. Since Margie still has 5 days left from her home Doctor, she has started a 2nd 5-day course. Debbie and Clay will just have to wait and see at this point. In our experience, these ship-bourne respiratory infections are persistent and vicious and hard to shake off. Keeping our fingers crossed for now though that the relapse which seems to be occurring will not be too bothersome.
The Farewell Party for the Full Circle cruisers was good. They showed 2 video clips and announced that they would be providing a DVD to each cabin with about 1 hour and 10 minutes of video on it. Bryan Townsend sang a song from Porgy & Bess. Then he sang a duet from Porgy & Bess with Heather Clancy of the PGT Singers. Then Bryan sang Old Man River. Then Heather came out to sing again and was joined by the other PGT Singers. Then the PGT Singers sang Hey Jude and all the ship's staff and crew came streaming out onto the stage to sing it with them. They ended about 10 of 7pm. A good thing since all the waitstaff and kitchenstaff and Bridge staff and Reception staff, all the cocktail waitstaff, all the deck hands, all the cabin stewards, in short all the people who work on the ship plus all the officers and staff were on the stage for those several minutes. The waiters in Compass Rose joked that the ship sat still for 10 minutes while nothing else happened except our farewell. Maybe! Also, onboard last night and introduced by the Captain, but not onstage, was Andre Norseth, an executive from RSSC's Ft. Lauderdale office.
On to dinner. Everyone was being really weird tonight around us and we were worried about our surprisefrom Ludovich. After we ordered dessert, Ludovich showed up with a Big O-shaped chocolate cake with candles and decorations and the words BIG ZERO on it. It was super-rich and chocolatey! It was probably the best dessert we have had all cruise. It was way too much with our other desserts. But, we were happy for the Peanut Butter ice cream to help cut the richness of the cake. We couldn't finish the pieces they served us and we had our leftovers delivered to the room. Tomorrow we will plan to finish it while we watch Chocolat the movie. We will try very hard for Ludovich to get Chocolat once and for all.
So, we get an extra hour of sleep tonight and we need it. Debbie plans to get a final laundry day in tomorrow before or during our Grand Turk stop. Then we have to pack up on Monday. It is hard to believe it is finally over! Margie was asked by the Reception staff this evening if it was too long. Her answer was that it was too long and too short. She explained that around day 25 to 28, she thought, enough, I can't go 60 days. Then, she got over that and now it seems like it can't really already be over! Then, there was Brazil, which the Reception staff agreed seemed like we would never leave! Too long. We were in Chile a long time, but every port was so different that it didn't seem monotonous. But, Brazil just seemed like Brazil everywhere we stopped and it seemed like we would never get out of Brazil. We all needed a break, but then as soon as we left Brazil, it just seemed like we were busy, busy with no rest and now it is over!
So, ends a long and good day.
San Juan photos
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Day 57 - February 29, 2008 - Roseau, Dominica
Dominica photos
We arrived in the dark! This area during this time of year is supposed to be a mating ground for sperm whales and have lots of dolphins. So, we were hoping to watch arriving and leaving. Dominica is pronounced dom-in-ee-ka. We had to be up early for 6:30am breakfast opening of LaVeranda and then in the Constellation Theater to meet for our tour at 7:05am. All of the information from the ship, including today's Passages stated that we would be docked here today. When we arrived Explorer of the Seas was docked right downtown. When we left, HAL's Veendam was docked outside of town. Not sure whether there is no where else for cruise ships to dock or not, but we dropped anchor and we tendered here. That made us late. All aboard was scheduled at 11:30am, sailing at noon. That turned into the last tender was to be at 11:30am which lasted at least one full hour longer. And we sailed at least a full hour later as well. Past noon, we were in the Compass Rose and Capt. Philippe came over the speakers to announce that we would be another 20 minutes before we could depart. He said there was a medical emergency that had to be disembarked and tendered ashore here and we would depart after that had been handled. No idea what happened or when or where. Hopefully, someone will be alright.
So, Debbie had raspberries again for breakfast. Clay got Barbados flying fish for lunch. But, we forgot about Pizza Friday and did not eat in LaVeranda! We missed the last Pizza Friday of our cruise! We realized it because we did not like the desserts in Compass Rose and went up to LaVeranda for dessert. We got busted by Ludovich!
Everyone was relieved to see us back together again today. We really caused quite a fuss by splitting up for dinner last night!
There is a Big Screen Movie this afternoon, Michael Clayton, that we may go see. Debbie has abandoned all thoughts of returning to the gym at this late date. At 6:15pm, Theater at Sea presents "A Salute to Movies". Patricia Neal will revisit some of her most famous movie roles accompanied by Nat Chandler, George Dvorsky, Norman Duttweiller and Susan Powell. We will probably try to go to that as well. Tonight is Country Club Casual again. At 9:45pm is Sally Jones, an evening of music, theatre and laughter. Margie is planning to go since we won't get to San Juan tomorrow until 10am. We have no fixed plans for Puerto Rico. We'll be there from 10am to 5pm. We have all been here before. We have all been to the forts. Margie has been to the Cathedral but not Clay and Debbie. Clay and Debbie have been on the Bacardi tour, but not Margie. So, we may do those two things, plus Clay's favorite thing anywhere, eating local food. We have some favorite spots right in Old San Juan from our last visit here and Margie has never been to them. So, that is what is on our loose agenda for tomorrow.
The next day is an afternoon in Grand Turk. Again, absolutely no plans. At this point, Debbie plans to do laundry, either at sea or docked, and then packing on the final day at sea. Then, we're booted off and homeward bound. Boo hoo.
Long cruises are very different animals from normal cruises. Margie has been marveling that as the latest arrivals are still figuring out where things are on the ship, she is packing up and worrying about getting packed. It is all a matter of perspective! Margie's friend, last night could not figure out how everyone knew Margie and was stopping by to find out where Debbie and Clay were and if they were all right. Margie could not convince her that she had not made that big an impression onboard, but just that she had been here for a long time and it is like a tiny village onboard. Everyone knows everyone and their business. That kind of thing just doesn't normally happen on a short cruise. So, it is winding down and we are all sad about it. Especiallypeople who did this cruise instead of a World Cruise that they had done the previous year! While we are sad, not one of us wishes we had 2 more months to go (well, except maybe Clay!!). Mariner will do a few weeks of 7-day Caribbean cruises after March 4th and we are sure that the crew will be really missing us soon.
So, the tour. It did not come with one of those adventure warnings. No warnings that it is not suitable for people with neck, hip and back problems. It should have come with warnings! Traveling up hill this morning took more than 30 minutes and downhill took about 30 minutes. So although, it is a small island and the private park area with the aerial tram is not that far on the map, it is a long, difficult drive. This classes up there with any top 3 thrilling, breathtaking drives. Like the Amalfi Coast, with potholes. Like the road up to Machu Picchu, but narrower. Who needed the tram ride after the thrill ride and relief of survival upon arriving at the Aerial Tram Park?! It was another cool and breezy day today. We had a little rain on arrival off the tender and we had a little rain at the end of the tram ride. But, it was still a beautiful day.
After lunch as we sailed away from Dominica, we watched for whales, but did not see any. Clay and Margie went to the movie. Debbie wound up opting for an afternoon nap instead. We all went to see a Tribute to Movies with Patricia Neal before dinner. It was hosted by Theater at Sea Musical Director Michael Horsley. He talked about musical theater shows that were movies and vice versa and played some songs. Some songs were sung with him by the 3 singers we heard previously. Then a short video montage was shown of Patricia Neal, who never did any musicals. Then a short dramatic reading by Patricia Neal and Norman Duttweiller of a scene from The Subject was Roses. This was the film for which Patricia Neal won an Oscar. Somehow, none of us has never seen this movie. Yet. Dinner was at Compass Rose after which Margie and Debbie worked on the puzzle. Got run off by a very touchy maniac, who we hope was just recently overserved alcohol. Then they went to the 9:45 show. Sally Jones was a singer and comic. She was an excellent singer. The show was OK.
Dominica photos
We arrived in the dark! This area during this time of year is supposed to be a mating ground for sperm whales and have lots of dolphins. So, we were hoping to watch arriving and leaving. Dominica is pronounced dom-in-ee-ka. We had to be up early for 6:30am breakfast opening of LaVeranda and then in the Constellation Theater to meet for our tour at 7:05am. All of the information from the ship, including today's Passages stated that we would be docked here today. When we arrived Explorer of the Seas was docked right downtown. When we left, HAL's Veendam was docked outside of town. Not sure whether there is no where else for cruise ships to dock or not, but we dropped anchor and we tendered here. That made us late. All aboard was scheduled at 11:30am, sailing at noon. That turned into the last tender was to be at 11:30am which lasted at least one full hour longer. And we sailed at least a full hour later as well. Past noon, we were in the Compass Rose and Capt. Philippe came over the speakers to announce that we would be another 20 minutes before we could depart. He said there was a medical emergency that had to be disembarked and tendered ashore here and we would depart after that had been handled. No idea what happened or when or where. Hopefully, someone will be alright.
So, Debbie had raspberries again for breakfast. Clay got Barbados flying fish for lunch. But, we forgot about Pizza Friday and did not eat in LaVeranda! We missed the last Pizza Friday of our cruise! We realized it because we did not like the desserts in Compass Rose and went up to LaVeranda for dessert. We got busted by Ludovich!
Everyone was relieved to see us back together again today. We really caused quite a fuss by splitting up for dinner last night!
There is a Big Screen Movie this afternoon, Michael Clayton, that we may go see. Debbie has abandoned all thoughts of returning to the gym at this late date. At 6:15pm, Theater at Sea presents "A Salute to Movies". Patricia Neal will revisit some of her most famous movie roles accompanied by Nat Chandler, George Dvorsky, Norman Duttweiller and Susan Powell. We will probably try to go to that as well. Tonight is Country Club Casual again. At 9:45pm is Sally Jones, an evening of music, theatre and laughter. Margie is planning to go since we won't get to San Juan tomorrow until 10am. We have no fixed plans for Puerto Rico. We'll be there from 10am to 5pm. We have all been here before. We have all been to the forts. Margie has been to the Cathedral but not Clay and Debbie. Clay and Debbie have been on the Bacardi tour, but not Margie. So, we may do those two things, plus Clay's favorite thing anywhere, eating local food. We have some favorite spots right in Old San Juan from our last visit here and Margie has never been to them. So, that is what is on our loose agenda for tomorrow.
The next day is an afternoon in Grand Turk. Again, absolutely no plans. At this point, Debbie plans to do laundry, either at sea or docked, and then packing on the final day at sea. Then, we're booted off and homeward bound. Boo hoo.
Long cruises are very different animals from normal cruises. Margie has been marveling that as the latest arrivals are still figuring out where things are on the ship, she is packing up and worrying about getting packed. It is all a matter of perspective! Margie's friend, last night could not figure out how everyone knew Margie and was stopping by to find out where Debbie and Clay were and if they were all right. Margie could not convince her that she had not made that big an impression onboard, but just that she had been here for a long time and it is like a tiny village onboard. Everyone knows everyone and their business. That kind of thing just doesn't normally happen on a short cruise. So, it is winding down and we are all sad about it. Especiallypeople who did this cruise instead of a World Cruise that they had done the previous year! While we are sad, not one of us wishes we had 2 more months to go (well, except maybe Clay!!). Mariner will do a few weeks of 7-day Caribbean cruises after March 4th and we are sure that the crew will be really missing us soon.
So, the tour. It did not come with one of those adventure warnings. No warnings that it is not suitable for people with neck, hip and back problems. It should have come with warnings! Traveling up hill this morning took more than 30 minutes and downhill took about 30 minutes. So although, it is a small island and the private park area with the aerial tram is not that far on the map, it is a long, difficult drive. This classes up there with any top 3 thrilling, breathtaking drives. Like the Amalfi Coast, with potholes. Like the road up to Machu Picchu, but narrower. Who needed the tram ride after the thrill ride and relief of survival upon arriving at the Aerial Tram Park?! It was another cool and breezy day today. We had a little rain on arrival off the tender and we had a little rain at the end of the tram ride. But, it was still a beautiful day.
After lunch as we sailed away from Dominica, we watched for whales, but did not see any. Clay and Margie went to the movie. Debbie wound up opting for an afternoon nap instead. We all went to see a Tribute to Movies with Patricia Neal before dinner. It was hosted by Theater at Sea Musical Director Michael Horsley. He talked about musical theater shows that were movies and vice versa and played some songs. Some songs were sung with him by the 3 singers we heard previously. Then a short video montage was shown of Patricia Neal, who never did any musicals. Then a short dramatic reading by Patricia Neal and Norman Duttweiller of a scene from The Subject was Roses. This was the film for which Patricia Neal won an Oscar. Somehow, none of us has never seen this movie. Yet. Dinner was at Compass Rose after which Margie and Debbie worked on the puzzle. Got run off by a very touchy maniac, who we hope was just recently overserved alcohol. Then they went to the 9:45 show. Sally Jones was a singer and comic. She was an excellent singer. The show was OK.
Dominica photos
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