Caribbean Princess in St. Thomas

7:30 am - pack the snorkel bag
8:00 am - go to the Future Cruise Consultant office to book something
8:20 am - pick up hubby from the International Cafe
8:30 am - walk off the ship to grab a taxi 
9:00 am - catch the ferry from Red Hook to St. John
Eat breakfast at the Cruz Bay Landing restaurant in St. John. Get a taxi for an island tour. Stop at Trunk Bay for a few hours of sunning and swimming and snorkeling.
3:00 pm - catch the ferry back to Red Hook and grab a taxi back to the ship.

Not being able to stop in Princess Cays because of the hurricane allowed us a full day on St. Thomas. Which meant we should have had a nice chunk of time on St. John. But you know us, things don't always go as planned.

When I went down to International Cafe this morning to pick up hubby up on the way off the ship I found him in a bit of pain. He had wrenched his back and couldn't hardly move. Couldn't hardly talk because of the pain and barely could get out of the chair. Poor guy.

So instead of an 8:30 walk off the ship time we took the elevator back to the cabin and he wound up with an 8:30 stretch and heat compress and massage time. Finally by 11:00 he thought he might want to take the short walk to the Smoking Rooster for a couple of glasses of sangria to dull the pain. He thought after those then he'd really be ready to go. We were at the Smoking Rooster a couple weeks back so he knows what the drinks can do. Here's the recap of that visit.

But today two glasses of sangria turned into three. And three turned into four. Of course I kept up with his number of drinks, just with the Mai Tais and a new drink, a Blue Parrot Tail. 

And 11:00 turned into 3:00, just like that. We talked to the server who waited on us just a couple weeks ago. We love hearing people's stories! We talked to the guys smoking the meats. Don't tell anyone, but the guys cut off the end of one of the racks of ribs as they were pulling them out of the smoker and gave them to us. Oh. My. Goodness.

We shared an Italian Beef sandwich and decided we had to call it a day. We headed back to the ship and hubby went to take a nap and I went right to the spa pool and stripped. Thank goodness I still had my swimsuit on, right? I floated a bit then plopped myself into one of the comfy loungers and proceeded to fall fast asleep.

It was not what we planned for the day but it still wound up being the umpteenth perfect day.

Here's the Smoking Rooster menu, just in case you're ever in St. Thomas.

Medallion™ Update:
To make the progression of the roll-out more clear I've grouped the posts by week. Today we're talking about the information on the current cruise cards versus the Medallion.
You can find the post here on the Sept 1-8 update page.
August 18-25 updates can be found here.
August 25-Sept 1 updates can found here.

Encouraging Word Money Pocket Drop Off: Left at the Smoking Rooster. 

Tomorrow we're in St. Maarten. If hubby's back holds out we're heading back to Orient Beach for the day and have the Most Traveled Guest Party tomorrow night. Should be a full day.

As usual, if you have any questions or comments, please click on the envelope icon at the top right of this screen.

How to Fold an Origami Cruise Ship - Tutorial Tuesday

It's Tutorial Tuesday and I have a cruise-themed project for you. If you're looking for a project using only one supply, check it out.

One single dollar bill and the directions in this video (which was filmed last week off the coast of Belize) will have you coming away with a little origami cruise ship.

Planks and Steamers on Caribbean Princess

We fought it as long as we could. 

When we boarded the ship over two weeks ago our plan was to walk off after three weeks with no balance due. We booked these super-cheap cruises so late that we didn't have any promotions tied to the bookings. But we did have some of the onboard credit that comes with future cruise deposits, a small amount of additional bonus onboard credit, and the $100 loyalty credit per cruise segment. It was all enough to cover the gratuities for both of us for three weeks. Plus a couple shirts for hubby at the 2 for $20 t-shirt sale. No drinks, no other shopping, and no specialty dining would ensure we walked away from the ship with no charges.

But these Planks and Steamers restaurants have been peaking our interest. Then Vickie and Bernie from http://vickieandbernietravel.blogspot.com/ were on the ship a couple weeks ago and talked about Planks and Steamers. She had written about their visit on her blog, too. So we finally took the plunge tonight and paid a whopping $12 each for our meal. Boy, it was a bargain for the amount of food we received. And the flavor? Yummy yum yum.

We ate on the Planks side but they allowed us to mix and match from the two restaurants. Here's what we got for $24 total.

Welcome starters from the Planks side: Chipotle BBQ meatballs and honey and bacon-cheddar cornbread with jalapeno-honey butter and pimento cheese

From Steamers: Tomato-Lime Ceviche with breads and sun-dried tomato-cream cheese and smoked salmon spread

Look at the bacon in that cornbread.

Next up, appetizers. We chose both from the Steamers side.
Caesar Salad and Clam and Smoked Ham Chowder

Main courses:
From Planks: You can order four different meats. If you want to want to double up on a meat and not choose four different ones, you can. We went with smoked kielbasa, ribs, and a double order of chili-spiced roasted tri-tip. It also came with wedge-cut fries, 3-bean chili, slaw, toast, dill pickles, and two different BBQ sauces.

From Steamers:

We went with the Fried Seafood Platter. It had fried torpedo shrimp, battered haddock, fishcakes, carrot and raisin salad, fries, and tarter sauce, cocktail sauce, and ketchup.

For dessert we went from just the Steamers side. Strawberry shortcake and key lime pie in a jar.

I probably should have taken a picture after we were finished eating. But you probably wouldn't notice we had finished because we left so much food behind. Again, all of this for $24 total!

The highlights of the meal included the jalapeno-honey butter, the Caesar salad (hubby loved the capers on it), the ribs and tri-tip, and the haddock and the shrimp. I think the desserts were a tie for what was the best. So basically everything was delicious.

If you want more detail about our menu items or want to know what else is offered, here are the menus for both places.

I'm totally okay we went over our budget by a whole $24. 

Caribbean Princess Sea Day, September 3, 2018

Hello from the balcony of Caribbean Princess.

Well, it looks like the storm that chased us away from Princess Cays yesterday is now Tropical Storm Gordon and is hitting Florida as we speak. And Tropical Storm Florence is gaining strength as she moves in from the Atlantic. It appears we will be dodging both; although if we decide to stay for one more cruise we may see some impact.

This week is also the one year anniversary of Hurricane Irma hitting the Caribbean. We will visiting two of the islands devastated by her - St. Thomas and St. Maarten - in the next couple days. It's a bit somber for us. We were on both islands before the hurricane and then revisited them two cruises back so we know the destruction that still remains. We also remember visiting New Orleans less than a year after Katrina. It's not easy to start over.

Today was another work day for me. I did take a little break where I learned something new. Towel animals! Our cabin steward was kind enough to show me how to make some so I can turn around and show you in a future Tutorial Tuesday video. I still need some lots of practice before I can show them off but I am pleased with the little doggie I made.

Tonight is formal night and we won't be joining the dressed up folks. We are planning on going to Planks for dinner instead. We'll be wearing the nicest clothes we have with us, which means we will actually wear pants and not shorts for a change. I'll do a separate post when we get back from dinner.

Medallion™ Update:
To make the progression of the roll-out more clear I've grouped the posts by week. Today we're talking about MedallionNet™.

 You can find the post here on the Sept 1-8 update page.
August 18-25 updates can be found here.
August 25-Sept 1 updates can found here.

Encouraging Word Money Pocket Drop Off:

Left at Salty Dog Grill.

Tomorrow is St. Thomas. Since we didn't stop in Princess Cays we are arriving earlier than planned. We now will be there from 8:00 am to 9:30 pm. Yay and double yay!

As usual, if you have any questions or comments, please click on the envelope icon at the top right of this screen.

Caribbean Princess at (NOT) Princess Cays

We had a stormy day and never made it to Princess Cays today. So no snorkeling for me. Boo hoo. But a big plus is that we will be arriving in St. Thomas on Tuesday in the morning instead of the afternoon. Longer is always better! Another plus was that I needed some extra time today to work. And boy, I've been working. Filming and writing and photos around the ship and voiceovers. Other than out to take pictures I've sequestered myself in the cabin. Hubby even brought me breakfast and lunch so I could keep working. I found out that audio recording doesn't work so great in a big metal cruise ship cabin with a hand held tape recorder. Nothing like my professional quality equipment at home. Oh, well.

Only one other thing worth mentioning today. I received a call about a letter I had sent to Princess a couple days back about the gals smoking on the balcony next to us. When I reported it they had sent someone up, but the ladies had their privacy sign out. Princess policy is that if a guest has their privacy sign out, they can't be disturbed - even if they are smoking. I had shared that these gals had their privacy sign out most of the time. (They are the ones who refused to pay gratuities and thought if the steward never entered their cabin they wouldn't have to.) In my letter to Princess, and again on the phone today, I had encouraged them to revisit their privacy sign policy, particularly when passenger safety is as stake. These ladies could smoke every day and nothing done about it because they kept their privacy sign out.

Not long after that call today a bouquet of flowers arrived. Now I don't know if they had to do with the issue or are from someone else - the card just said enjoy the rest of your cruise - but it was a kind gesture either way.

Medallion™ Update:
To make the progression of the roll-out more clear I've grouped the posts by week. 
The Sept 1-8 update page is here.
August 18-25 updates can be found here.
August 25-Sept 1 updates can found here.

I also did a new video today of updated information.

The one above has hubby in it, but I did one just of him down below. With him being disabled, the Medallion has made his cruise vacation even better. Take a look.

Encouraging Word Money Pocket Drop Off:
In the Piazza.

Another sea day is up tomorrow. Thanks goodness because I've got more work to do.
As usual, if you have any questions or comments, please click on the envelope icon at the top right of this screen.