Sea Day – Halloween 10-31-10

Some of the girls have been very creative with not only the costumes but with decorations and little giveaways. Debbie bought cards and we signed them and put candy in them and put them in the mailboxes of the girls cabin’s. Debbie and I went with Kay, Judy, Nancy, Patty & Diane to see the Magician/comedian…he was just ok. After that we went to the casino where yours truly hit a straight flush on 3 card poker….won over $300 on that hand! So we played awhile longer and then came back to the cabin. It has been a bit rocky which seems to be because it is so windy from this storm that is out here somewhere so I’m glad that Mom wasn’t able to come. I don’t think the dizziness she has would have been helped with the rocking and rolling. Too bad though because we have a beautiful view. It seems that it is tropical storm Tomas that is causing all the action.  I have not slept well the last two nights being up taking medicine for acid reflux…do you think it could be the wine and/or alcohol? Hummmmmmm.

We had some treats at our door when we got up yesterday as well. It is amazing how much the ship was decorated for Halloween too. We saw kids with the counselor going trick or treating..very cute. We wandered around the ship after breakfast to see what was where and we met some of the girls for lunch at the British Pub for traditional fish and chips. It was fun and we agreed to all meet at Crooner’s Martini Bar before dinner. The waiter was very entertaining as you can see pouring the martini's into the glass while it was balanced on his head.  Judy B and her cabin mate Martha had the best costumes (we all voted)as Judy was a sack of potatoes and Martha a hobo but it was cute. Kay and Judy were duck a la orange and the rest of the girls pretty much did the Emerald Princess thing with the tiara and sash. We went to “Scarokey” after dinner with the girls and I think we scared Kay when all of us sang the chorus to “Witch Doctor” ooo, eee, ooo-ah-ah, ting-tang, walla-walla bing bang…you remember I think. Everyone knew the words but Kay and she looked like a deer in headlights as she watched all the girls join in on the singing…you had to be there. Carol Calvin has been supplying us with nightly brain teasers and is our casino buddy as well. We did play cards for a short while last night and lost quickly on 3 card but won it back on blackjack. We were back in the cabin before 11.  Party animals we are...

Saturday October 30th….Welcome to Princess Cays

Well, Debbie and I were going to try to go to sleep early last night but kept looking at this brain teaser…we would turn out the light and start talking about it then get up and turn the light on and try it again. We then tried to take an Advil PM so we could sleep which took an hour or so to work. It was a night of tossing and turning and finally we both woke up at 7 AM for a potty trip and promptly went back to sleep until we heard the announcement that tendering had begun. Debbie and I both got up and started on that damned brain teaser again. It all of a sudden dawned on me that this wasn’t sent by Princess but I looked at the writing and realized that Carol Calvin had put this damned teaser in our mailbox last night and she is the reason Debbie and I are still tired this morning…..Ok Carol, game on! We quickly got dressed and got a call from Kay and Judy and we were trying on the phone to figure out some of them…damned Carol. We went to the tender with the teaser in hand and had the people around us trying to help to solve them. The lady across from us did get one and the guy next to Debbie another but we looked up and there was Carol laughing her ass off in the corner watching us. She said we should wait until tonight. I told her that I wasn’t accepting anymore mail from her! I shall put it back in her mailbox marked “return to sender”. We all had a good laugh over it. It was so hot here today that my hair was soaked within minutes of getting off the tender. Debbie and I were just going to walk around and look in the shops and head back. We really didn’t get time to unpack everything yesterday since we were rushed. By the time we got back to the ship we were as soaked from sweat as if we had been swimming. I forgot to carry my camera there so Debbie was working on the door decoration and I took off to go get some pictures of the beautiful water around Princess Cay and the Emerald Princess herself. It is a pretty ship and Princess has nice elegant touches on their ships. We have an aft cabin on Dolphin deck 9 and it is very quiet and peaceful back here. It is however a long way from everywhere we need to go but then the exercise is good for me I assume. Tonight is formal night (oh joy) and we are not doing the show since it is a magician (neither of us are into magic) so we will hit the casino for a bit and try to avoid anything Carol may have left in our mailbox…at least until the morning. Tomorrow is a sea day so we can be lazy and Monday is St. Thomas. You will be impressed with how high I climbed to get some of these photos…deck 19 and then hang over! More tomorrow.

And I must tell you that the crew is impressed with Debbie's Black  card...when she showed it in the dining room last night they polished it and took her arm to direct her to our dining table...they left me at the door...just kidding about being left but I did just have to follow behind.  :-)

Friday October 29th

Yay, it’s finally time to leave for the airport after a long hard week of work and weather. Debbie and I get a last minute email from Kay asking us to make a pharmacy stop..apparently she and Deb are both sick. I made the drug run and met Debbie at the airport in Ft. Lauderdale. We got a cab and we at the port in no time and on the ship in record time. Since it was after 2 PM we were able to go directly to our cabin and drop off the carry ons and found a cute card and pin that Carol Calvin had made for all of us. She is so thoughtful. We headed up to Lido to get something to eat. Neither of us had eaten since the night before. We ran into Suzie, Rita, Kay, Judy, Nancy, Diane and Deb. We caught up with the rest of the gals at dinner. The captain made an announcement during dinner on the PA system (this is never a good thing) and said due to the storms forming near Barbados and en route to Aruba, they are having to revise our itinerary…there is a collective moan from the crowd. He said they would have the revised itinerary printed and distributed to our cabins later this evening. Debbie and I were both exhausted so we played for maybe 15 minutes in the casino and came back to the cabin to go to bed early. Fat chance but I will explain more on this tomorrow. The new itinerary is in the mailbox as well as what appears to be a brain teaser. We were supposed to have two sea days then Aruba now we will be in Princess Cay in the morning and they have dropped Dominica and substituted St. Kitts. For the most part it is just itinerary in reverse with St. Kitts substituted for Dominica which is all good.

Down for the Count

Every cruise lately I procrastinate longer and lament over the packing.  Debbie has purchased a new piece of luggage with spinner wheels...now I want one too.  Should I buy one?  I have a coupon for 20% off...should I use it?  Should I change my ticket to fly with Debbie?  How did we mess this up to begin with?  Next week at this time I will be on my way to Ft. Lauderdale and Debbie will be patiently waiting for my plane to arrive  (maybe) so that we can head on to the port and join the other girls already on the Emerald Princess.  My decision about the luggage and ticket will have been made and the packing will be completed but for now the last minute decisions continue. 

Debbie has just attained Elite status with Princess...what does this mean? How did she do this without cruising with them recently? She will now have the infamous "black" key card.  Will the crew bow when they see it?  Am I worthy to be her cabin mate?  Will they roll out the red carpet for us when we arrive or will they make me stand aside while she enters?  Will they give her flowers?  She says there are perks like free minibar setup, free laundry and dry cleaning too.  This is great but will she want me to shine her shoes? No, no she gets that perk too. Throw rose petals as she walks?  Maybe.  I want to be Elite too so do I have to dis Funship Freddy again to sail only on Princess until I can move up from the lowly Gold status I am currently holding? I will still have one more before I can make Platinum status which would at least get me a free internet package that I so desperately need.  Could it be she is jealous that I am Platinum Elite on Delta which gets us nothing but early boarding and a 2 Star Mariner on Holland America after only one cruise which again gets us nothing?  Whatever the reasons, I am glad she is my BFF and I get to enjoy her perks too because we have so much fun traveling together.  We are excited that we are finally at 6 days and counting.  It has been a long time coming! 

Just under a week to wait for all of the answers to these questions that everyone wants to know!!

29 Days And Counting

It's now 29 days until our reunion cruise for those of us that have cruised together for many years and for our new members to wow the Emerald Princess. I know I, for one, am truly looking forward to seeing everyone again and of course meeting those newbies. Martini's in the bar and all the stories to be told at dinner - ahhhh. Yes, another Just Us Girls Cruise is in the works. There will be costume prizes, best door decoration prizes and for that lucky soul - A Free Dinner and Show for their effort. LOL Cheryl and I will not be dressing in costume for Halloween but believe me our "normal" selves will scare the hell out of the best of them. We will contribute to the door decorating event and try to retain our dignity during the cruise - NOT !!! There are 17 of us this year - do you think Princess is ready for us? Stay tuned as planning has already started.

Cruising with the girls again

This is the first group cruise that Debbie and I have done in a couple years. The girls love cruising at Halloween and dressing for the occasion.  We usually have a cabin door decorating contest too. We are looking forward to seeing everyone again and the reunion of the "Splendor Girls".  This will be the first time that Kay, Karen, Deb, Debbie and I have all been together since our 31 day cruise around South America (their 49 day cruise).  I wonder if they will remember when  and where this photo was taken?

P.S.  We just found out Karen will not be able to join us....we will miss her humor.