Packing it All In

We were up and at 'em bright and early this morning, at least the adults were, so that we could have breakfast in the dining room before bidding adieu to our floating home away from home. We also had to be sure to head to the International Cafe to pick up some of their yummy Almond croissants to take as snacks for tomorrow. We also indulged in some Gelato this afternoon and they actually made our waffle cones as we watched!

Chris, Renee, Danica and I attended two dance classes today - line dancing this morning and salsa this afternoon. Admittedly, I have a few left feet and am not particularly coordinated. I am good at laughing though!

This is Jayson, the Assistant Cruise Director from South Africa.  He was our Salsa dance instructor.  He had the funniest stories and some of them reminded me of ones my dear friend, Tanya has told me in the past.  Baboons are apparently vicious and not cute.  Niche Waiter is a thing and he's done it (for those who don't know, much like we didn't last week, this would be serving food in the buff, or in his case, in an apron).  In spite of his claiming to have been Knighted by the King of Lesotho, this has never occurred.

Danica and I also went to a couple of trivia events today, including one with the whole group and one with Duncan. We still haven't won any of them so no coasters or cheap ship champagne (say that 3 times fast) for us. We have been noticing, however, that the group that seems to consistently win always has 1 less than a perfect score and tonight we actually watched one of them using her phone to, we assume based on behaviour, Google the answers.  

We thought Duncan was going to be a magician's assistant during a farewell show in the Piazza this afternoon but apparently they ran out of time. It was rather disappointing .   

For the last dinner, they had the Baked Alaska parade though it isn't quite as exciting with fake candles instead of real flaming meringues. The kids have been looking forward to trying baked Alaska this whole cruise though so they were excited to order it.

Speaking of dessert, we decided that upon returning home, a quick way to lose 5 lbs and stop feeling crapulent (it's a very apt word that we learned at one of our game shows) will be to stop eating 2 desserts per meal, late night pizza and midnight room service (I didn't partake in this but Danica definitely had some late night room service chocolate cake over the past 10 days). Of course, we will also be returning to the meals put on the table each night, prepared most often by yours truly. No more ordering whatever you feel like trying from a menu. Duncan thinks I need to step up my presentation game.  

Note that these weren't all from tonight, but are examples of what Duncan thinks is superior presentation to my "help yourself from the pot on the stove" game.

We will also not have Jon, our ninja room steward who sneaks in and out, tidying behind us. Chris has said that they have gotten to the elevator, realized they forgot something, gone back to the room and it's already been cleaned with fresh towels in the bathroom. Our experience has not been quite the same but I think it's harder for him to catch all 3 of us out of the room at the same time.

The worst thing about leaving though will be saying goodbye to sun, sand and sea...I don't want to see the snow we've missed...I do feel bad about our house and dog sitter having to deal with the weather...We do miss Hershey though.

Christmas at Sea

Somehow, we have reached the last 2 sea days of our vacation. The time has flown by and we have to return to real life soon...I am not sure how I feel about that.

The day started as most have with breakfast at the buffet since I wasn't up early enough for the dining room. Although today's was more because my brother messaged that they were going but then didn't reply to my responses so I wasn't sure whether I missed them or not.

After breakfast, we decided to explore areas of the ship we haven't seen yet, finding the adults only pool and the mini golf course. I feel like whoever designed the course had some difficulty with basic math skills though as the 9 hole course was actually only 8 holes; it appeared as though hole 6 was missing (may have been hole 5 as holes 1-4 and 7-9 had number flags and one hole was flag/number-less). I am not sure who won but I managed to get a hole in one!

My mom braved the Sea Walk.

We then hung out in the pool for a while as it was a hot, sunny day. After lunch, I headed back to the room to do a load of laundry as one of my kids had run out of unmentionables.

Mid-afternoon, we met in my parents' room to celebrate Christmas. We had agreed on stocking stuffers only as this trip and the associated excursions and expenses were the big gifts. Even so, we all ended up spoiled with some pretty special gifts. Danica had made us Memory Bears out of clothes my Grandmother and Aunt Lorraine wore. Duncan picked out a pair of earrings for me at the market we visited in Fort Lauderdale. Chris and Renee gave me a beautiful toque from Ireland. My 

parents had a fantastic photo of the kids and I engraved onto a Christmas ornament. Plus there were other pieces of jewelry, chocolates, and the like.

Dinner was yummy as usual. After dinner, we stopped to purchase our duty free on our way to the Princess LIVE for the Generation Frustration Game Show. After that, we headed to the theatre for the Spotlight Bar show.

Somewhere in our travels we lost my Dad, so after the show we had to find him. We then just went to the Piazza for a few minutes to listen to music and dance before heading to bed.

Shopping in St Kitts

The kids decided they were beached out so wanted to explore Basseterre while the others headed to Cockleshell Beach. I am not sure they're going to be happy with their decision once they return to the cold and snow next weekend as they may relish finding sand in places they didn't know they had again.

The weather today was a little bit odd. It started off cooler, overcast and windy as we headed off the ship. It soon started to rain a bit but then turned super hot and sunny.  

After exploring the shops and craft market, we began heading into the historic part of the city but did not venture far. Apparently after so many years of cancelations due to COVID, their Carnivale was being celebrated today. The streets were jam-packed with partying, drinking, singing, dancing and celebrating revelers and getting caught in the melee was a rather frightening prospect for the kids. Truth be told, I couldn't figure out how to get ourselves through the crowd without getting separated. Instead, we elected to head back to the ship for lunch and a short nap before Danica and I headed to Trivia (which we didn't win, again).

Now, I forgot to mention earlier that on our way off the ship, we had planned to stop by guest services to change our money into smaller bills. One of us insisted on holding our $100 US in our hands. When we realized we took the elevator to the dead end floor and quickly turned to go back up, we dropped our bill and it slid down the elevator shaft. Miraculously, we didn't cry. We continued our quest to guest services as intended but after changing some of our money, we explained the story to the attendant. He said he'd file a report but we weren't overly optimistic that it would be returned. Just as we were preparing to leave for dinner, there was a knock at the door. I opened it wide, assuming it was my brother (I guess that's what peepholes are for). Standing at my door are 2 serious looking men in ship officers uniforms. My first thoughts are that they have the wrong room but then they ask for Ms Pamela and I think I am in trouble for something and can't, for the life of me, figure out what I have done wrong. Then they hold out a crisp $100 bill with a line on it, just like the one that someone lost down the elevator shaft. They were the ones sent on the retrieval mission and they were successful. Someone was very, very happy. She tried to tip them but they wouldn't accept money so she took a photo with them instead.

On our way to dinner, we passed by a photo backdrop that was clearly set up for the photographers, however, since no one was around, Renee and I decided that we couldn't pass up the perfect opportunity to strike a pose in our Gold attire for the White and Gold Gala Night.

Our servers in the dining room have gotten to know us fairly well. When we were waiting for Duncan to arrive, they both said they could order for him. Then when he did sit down but didn't order an appetizer, our server asked him if he would like salmon for an appetizer and another order for his main, a proposition he readily accepted with a gigantic smile on his face.

The show tonight was a mind reader. It was a little freaky. Actually, it was a lot freaky. I am really glad none of us got selected or I am not sure I would be able to sleep.

We played a couple more game shows and trivia games tonight which were good for laughs but we didn't win.  We actually learned the word to describe the feeling we have had for most of the evenings since we boarded the ship.  

Apparently Chris won a game a couple of nights ago after I went to bed. They had a rematch of the game last night but we attended the white and gold party instead before heading to bed.

Turtle Time in Barbados

Merry Christmas, one and all! I am not going to lie; although I know it is Christmas Day, it doesn't feel very Christmassy. I don't know if it's the blue sky and turquoise waters and 30 Celsius temperatures or the lack of festivities pre-vacation. I am definitely not complaining though, particularly when I see the photos and videos of Snowmageddon.  

Today, we arrived in Bridgetown, Barbados and taxid to Harbor Lights Resort to snorkel with turtles. We arrived quite early and practically had the beach to ourselves. The water was calm, clear and Caribbean blue. The sand was fine and white; it felt like we were walking on icing sugar.  

Our tour was scheduled to go out at 1030. Apparently so was everyone else's. Our group was full. Before even leaving shore, I saw a turtle swim past the glass bottom of our boat so was very optimistic about the rest of the tour. After a short ride, we arrived at a shipwreck. It was very cool with so much vegetation and coral growing out of it and around it. There were plenty of beautiful fish to see. Unfortunately, between our large group of 50 people and the other boatloads from other companies, there were also lots of feet and butts in the way.

The next stop was where we could see sea turtles. Our guides gave us lots of instructions about being quiet and playing dead, allowing the turtles to come to us. I am not sure whether people weren't listening or if other groups in the area didn't get the same instructions. It was mass chaos. I saw one turtle swimming by and one moving along the bottom. There was also an enormous stingray. I think the kids and Chris and Renee saw more but they got separated from me in the fray. We realized though that 

we paid money for a tour when we could see our beach chairs a very short way down the beach so likely could have walked it.

Once back on the ship, we got ourselves all dressed up for a formal night. Chris, Duncan and I had lobster thermidor for Christmas dinner while Danica and Renee chose ham. Chris, Renee and I also shared a turkey dinner so that we could say we had turkey. After trying the lobster, Duncan 

ordered some salmon too.  

Our servers, Dejan from Serbia and Juliana from Brazil wanted to take their photo with Santa and Mrs. Claus.

After dinner, we went to the holiday show and played a Christmas Lyrics Trivia game. 

Before I headed to bed, the kids said they had a surprise for me.  What could it be?  Gifts?  Treats?  

Nope.  Scary face masks.  Apparently they had this planned before we even boarded the ship.  Oh, and notice that we were able to find some matching Christmas PJ's for Danica.  

One more port day and then a couple of sea days before we head home.