Day 66 - At sea - yes, again - July 29th

A good night’s sleep and even during the night, it was obvious that Paula was much better – thank goodness.  With 4 weeks to go tomorrow, hopefully I’ll keep the lurgi at bay.  The Vick’s ‘First Defence’ seems to be working well.  Up to the buffet a bit later than usual and I decided to stick with my cooked breakfast, but as a sop to dietary and weight-loss considerations, I managed to do without either bacon or the grilled chicken fillet.  Darryl and Sue joined us even later still, suitably relieved that Paula seemed OK again.

New boy Jase had a baptism of fire running his first trivia – and on his birthday!  We didn’t win and there were some tough, new, questions so the winning score wasn’t too high.

Afterwards, a quick sprint to deck 5 and our new coffee waiter, Dio, got the order spot on again. 

Paula still a little off colour but this time, it was a dash for the Immodium rather than Strepsils!

Lunch around 2pm and once again, I managed some very nice fish – grilled grouper and what was advertised as ‘fish fingers’ but really, crumbed and deep fried fish.  We sat with dance instructor John and had a quite a long chat (he is normally a woodwork and arts teacher) and he highly recommended the rice pudding.  It was delicious, so that is three days on the trot I had something sweet at lunchtime.

We had a leisurely afternoon (nothing new there) and failed to win trivia, but that was fine.  We’ll treasure the two wins for ever more.

We accidentally missed the pre-dinner show as we didn’t read the Patter properly, but dinner was Thai night.  With chicken satays and also a nice green chicken curry on the menu, the choice was easy enough.

We called in at Jammer’s night club for a bit of a dance, but with us and D & S included, there were still only 4 couples in there.

The movie under the stars at 9:45pm was “Saving Mr Banks” which we’d already seen at the cinema back in Auckland, but lying outside on the open deck (with free popcorn for those that wanted it) on a warm Caribbean evening was a pleasant enough way to spend time.  A before, sitting well forward, you are closer to the screen but the noise from the fans and whatever else is going on behind the funnels, tends to swamp the quieter on screen conversations.

The last of our Caribbean stops tomorrow, Bonaire, with a strong Dutch influence.  We cancelled our Princess tour for the afternoon so it will just be a wander off and a wander around again.

 

Day 65 - Castries, Saint Lucia - another Caribbean call

I got up in the night and as Paula was suffering a bit, I opened the ranch slider to let some fresh air in from the balcony.  I’m sure there is a reason why you can’t turn off the air conditioning on the ships, but you can’t.

I was awake at a reasonably early time, but I let Paula sleep on as she probably needed the sleep.

We’d docked in a tiny harbour which must be deep enough, as there was no need for a tender transfer – which is always a relief, as tender transfers can mean long queues either on or off the ship and often in the blazing sun.

After a leisurely breakfast, town looked to be within walking distance, but we still had to run the gauntlet of pushy taxi drivers.  My stock response, which seems to work well enough, is simply “No thanks.  We are walking today.”

It was pretty warm and we walked through to town OK but didn’t venture far.  We should really have gone to the supermarket, but we missed seeing it.  The market, across the road was either very touristy or very local.

Back across the main road on the water side, was another market and once again, all they seemed to have was touristy clothing and knick-knacks.

Paula rather likes the colourful throw-over sun frocks, but prices do vary from country to country but most are probably made in India anyway!  At one stall, she spied a rather nice one and while she sorted that out, I started chatting to one of the other the young ladies on the stall, whilst watching yet another doing the nail painting.  Bear in mind that this was just a tiny market stall.  She called me ‘young man’ and offered to do MY nails!  If she thought I was a young man, I presumed her spectacles were away for repair, therefore she might have had trouble with painting my nails.  Anyway, she was good fun and I challenged her to state where young finished and old started.  When she said 58, my face dropped…  We asked how old she was and we were as far out in our estimations as she was.  We thought she looked about 23.  She was 38.  So we’ll call that a draw. Definitely the highlight of the day though, as we meandered back to the ship quite early accompanies by Len.  He volunteered to pick up some Strepsils if he went ashore again, as the ship’s shop had run out – as usual.

At the port are several duty free shops, including about three bars and restaurants, plus several clothing, jewellery and another tourist stores, plus a wines and spirits outlet.  I bought a plastic tankard which is double skinned, with liquid in the gap, so that you can put it into the freezer and when you pour your drink onto it, it should stay colder for longer. Cheap and tacky looking but it makes for a different memento from yet another shot glass.

The two or three bars/eateries at the dock seemed to not want to publish any prices.  Strange.

From the little we saw of Castries, it certainly looked more prosperous than Antigua but we can’t really understand how it is that purchasing just about anything in these poorer countries is often quite expensive. Whether it is just targeting ‘wealthy’ tourists, who really knows?

On board, we called at deck 5 for a coffee (I’d forgotten to take a coffee bag to breakfast) and I went to the bar and gave my instructions directly to the coffee maker.  Nice coffee!

To the cabin before afternoon trivia.  We should really have joined forces with another couple, whose paper we marked, as between us, we would have had enough correct answers for a clear win – and we only needed another 3 points!

For the first time in 65 days, we batted the moths out of our swim togs and went to the pool at the rear of the ship.  Lovely and warm.  About 29/30 degrees.  One of the spa pools was empty of cruisers, so I hopped in there too for a while.

Paula was still a bit throaty and snuffly, so we opted to stay in the cabin for dinner rather than spread the germs around and I just raided the buffet twice, once for each of us.

So, a quiet evening in as we set sail for Bonaire, well on the way towards the Panama canal and the Pacific Ocean, but a day at sea first and time for Paula to get some fresh sea air.

At last I have finished reading my Bill Bryson book – 634 pages of it and thoroughly enjoyed it. He is one of the few authors who can make any aspect of history interesting.  Now I move on to a 2013 John Grisham novel – ‘Racketeer’ at $9.95 on a Princess ship.  Much cheaper than Auckland.

We’ll sleep with the balcony door open tonight.

  

Day 64 - Antigua - Nelson and Slowhand - followed by more curry munching.

Awake before the 7:40 alarm, I managed to watch the first 8 laps of the Hungarian GP before breakfast.  Pretty good getting F1 on the ship on a channel that only seemed to appear a year or so ago.  Prior to that, it was a case of catching the sports news. 

After a cooked breakfast - Nadim on the omelette station only needs a nod from me now and the onions and a poached egg are straight on to the plate, just as soon as I grab my hot toast - with Darryl & Sue, we arranged to meet in the Atrium at 9:30am.  The F1 race was up to lap 40 and Lewis Hamilton, after another disastrous qualifying session, again, was up near the front of the field, which was a surprise as he had started from pit lane.

We walked off the ship and out of the dock gates to be met by a swarm of pushy taxi drivers, virtually blocking the street.  We fended off about three or four, all wanting about $30 or $25 per person per tour.  Whilst Darryl and I were fending them off, most from the same taxi co-operative, the girls talked to a lady driver who wasn’t at all pushy and obviously an independent.  She would charge us $20 a head and she seemed very pleasant, so we accepted her as our driver.  Out to a Suzuki van and away.  Good choice  - van TX 1303 if you are ever around.

Thankfully, the van had a/c as it was steaming hot and we headed across the island via the now derelict sugar works and the Viv Richard’s Stadium, (along with a fair few other taxi-vans and Princess tours), to ‘Nelson’s Dockyard’.  Entry, $8USD.  The ‘Hamiltons’ menu board is in local currency and the conversion was about 2.7 to the US dollar.

This is just about the most popular tourist destination on the tiny island.  A pleasant enough place.  On then to the Shirley lookout (part of the same admission fee) and a view across that part of the island and an impressive house on the point opposite, belonging to ‘Slowhand’.  Trivia question of last week – ‘Who is known as Slowhand’?  We know now, we didn’t then.

On the way back to the ship, we stopped briefly at a postcard perfect white sand beach.  Yes, I paddled and the water was beautiful, so no wonder a fair few passengers spent their time on the beach.

Eventually back to town having had a very pleasant tour with Maria.  She happily answered all our questions and didn’t bore us with a non-stop history lesson.

What we noticed all over the route, were that many houses seemed very small and poorly maintained and about half seemed to have at least one, relatively modern, derelict Japanese car on the property.  Throughout the day we rarely saw anything other than Japanese vehicles, in varying stages of decomposition, from new to falling apart. 

A short walk around the port entry area and the usual offers to buy the merchandise from stalls before re-entering the short street to the ship.  Almost the last shop before the ship (on the left…) was a wine and spirit’s shop, seemingly doing a roaring trade.  Local rum was the main bargain and at least one passenger in front of us at the till, had been there before - and was buying Vodka, so cruisers, draw your own conclusions from that.  I added 3 bottles of Guinness ($3 each) to the fridge, ready to mix with the cider, when I am really, really thirsty.

Back on board after a quick wash, up to the buffet.  Oh no!  Chicken curry one of the hot dishes…  Far too good to pass by;  as was the tira misu; and the fresh melon, pineapple etc. washed down with a couple of glasses of ship’s lemonade.  Maybe I’ll eat lightly tomorrow?

Although not too many people at trivia, we opted for a low profile and elected to not win.  Wasn’t that nice of us?

Down for dinner to an announcement from waiter Don that the chef had prepared for us – a lamb curry!  More than one around the table declared it as the best lamb curry they ever had.  I couldn’t argue with that either.

The late show was billed as ‘Bobby Brooks Wilson – Tribute Act’.  Son of the late Jackie Wilson who you may or may not remember, this wasn’t one of the better singers by a country mile.  Sorry Bobby, only a 6/10 from me.  Several people didn’t even see it through to the end - and we very nearly didn’t either.  D & S skipped out ten minutes before the end and they found the Tritones duo playing/singing in the atrium, level 7, and they were happily dancing.  We joined them and others, as did the dance instructor John Graham.  This was almost a return to what we enjoyed most about the evenings prior to 2013.  An opportunity to socialise and dance and even practice, not tiptoe past, getting the evil eye from the direction of the piano.

The regular occupier of the atrium piano stool sat on the side lines, on his own, with a rather grim, disapproving face (fairly normal – Darryl claims he has the charisma of a wombat!) and when he returned to the piano at 11pm, we disappeared…  Most others seemed to have gone too.  What a surprise.  The passenger dance group may now be small in numbers, but whereas in the past, they could practice their dancing and gain a bit of extra instruction and the numbers were increasing, on last year and this year’s cruise, the numbers dancing have shrunk and that is no reflection on the dance instruction.

Off to the cabin then, instead of the 12 midnight and later of pre 2013 cruises.

Another port day tomorrow and another Caribbean island – Saint Lucia.  Once again, no real expectations and as Paula is suffering a bit with the effects of air conditioning on her nose and throat, we’ll probably do no more than wander around in the fresh air for a while.

Internet/satellite access has been out all day again today, much to the frustration of most, so once again, no idea when this will be uploaded.

We are now at the stage of counting down the days every now and again and wondering what is happening back in Auckland!   

Days 61 - 63 - At sea again.

Nothing of major importance to report but the weather has been a little erratic.  Mainly very warm, but with a fair old breeze at times and even a bit of early morning rain as we head for Antigua, another new port for us.

Although I resolved the immediate internet connection problems, by sitting in the corridor, much to the amusement of staff and passengers, it is still a bit hit and miss on sea days as there are so many people trying to connect during the day time hours.  Early sitting dinner time is probably the best time but not always convenient.

We have a new cruise staff member – Jase, although born in the UK, he’s spent the last 23 years working all over the world and now considers himself homeless!  First time on a cruise ship but if first impressions are anything to go by, he is going to be a very useful addition to the current team of Mark & Matt; Kim (Matt’s fiancée – getting married next June - her birthday just happens to be the same as grandson Noah too); Alex; Prince; Keiran and Basil.

We didn’t win trivia Thursday, morning or afternoon.

The evening entertainment was a ventriloquist/comedian Michael Zeigfeld (also a puppeteer, but more of that later).  I’ll rate him later too.

In the Princess Theatre we had singer Mark Preston.  A former member of the singing group the Lettermans – who we had probably forgotten. Very polished and well turned out, though wandering back through the theatre to shake hands with people is fine for half a minute or so, for the front row(s).  Wandering back up the theatre out of sight of most of the front portion of the theatre is a bit pointless for half a number.  A great voice though and one of the better singers we have seen.

July 25th

Early Friday (middle of the night) Paula hadn’t managed to get to sleep, so an opportune time to open the bottle of port.  Problem solved…

Afternoon trivia, we were equal first with two other teams.  Had our Geography been better we’d have scored 19/20 and no play off.  To our eternal shame (especially mine!) we didn’t win the tie-breaker, as we failed to get the year in which badminton was first accepted as an Olympic sport.

A new production show cast with just 4 female dancers and two males but 4 singers.  Not sure about that set up.  A little too much straight singing, though their Four Seasons set of three numbers was pretty good for the show entitled “Oh What A Night”.  Once again, the age/inadequacy of the Dawn Princess stage probably didn’t do the  show justice.  Maybe part of the proposed $30m refit next year will address it, along with he introduction of an International Café?

Out of our formal gear then up on deck for the MUTS. (Movie under the stars.)  “Now You See It”.  Pleasant in the warm air though we’d seen in on TV on the Emerald.  With the outside noises and my poor hearing, I couldn’t pick up much of the quieter conversation anyway!

July 26^th

A happy birthday to grandson Noah, 4 today and to Kim of course, who is a bit older.

A proposed lighter eating day didn’t last long.  The fruit – peaches and pineapple - looked a bit lonely on the plate but much happier when joined by a waffle, maple syrup and whipped cream.  A perfect breakfast for our NZ friends, Murray & Jill – but they’d have half each.  Jill would eat the fruits, Murray the waffle with cream.   I did cut out the coffee though, thus saving several spoonsful of sugar.

Paula opted for Zumba with the birthday girl.  A good turnout as usual, though there were only about 4 men taking part.  I wasn’t one of them.  This was followed by trivia and no, we didn’t win.

It was blowing a real gale when we got up this morning and the rain was hitting our windows, but by the time we’d returned to the cabin, the rain had gone and we had a warm breeze instead.

A very light lunch (back on track) with two nice pieces of cod and a bowl of cauliflower soup.  Please note the tremendous willpower exercised here, as I managed without the famous Princess bread rolls.

At 2:45pm we had what was supposed to be a 45 minute workshop on puppetry but it overran by 20 minutes.  On his opening show, Michael Zeigfeld had us waiting outside the locked lounge for about 15-20 minutes as he was fluffing around with the stage set up.  What Princess is generally very good at, is keeping acts and events to 45 minutes or less as they run very crowded daytime programmes, so if anything is late, it not only affects the following event in that venue, but also mucks up people trying  get another event elsewhere on the ship.

Having said that, the puppetry presentation was very enjoyable.

With Bingo then running late, Trivia was also late (see what I mean?) so it was cut back to 15 questions from the usual 20.  We didn’t win - but enjoyed ourselves.

Back to the cabin once more and no pre-dinner show for a change, so time to relax (such hard work..) and acute hunger pangs, a full two hours before dinner.

The lamb knuckle was very nice (Marilyn!) and the after dinner show in the vista was two half shows, the first half was Michael Zeigfeld with an ‘old lady gymnast puppet’ ventriloquist show. This was his final show and we thoroughly enjoyed it though the old lady sitting alongside us didn’t even crack a smile.  Had he kept to time, I would have probably scored Michael a 9 or even a 9.5, but he loses a mark so it is an 8.5.

Mark Preston finished off with a series of requests from passengers and once again, a very polished performance, so even though I am not a huge fan of straight singers, probably a 9 for most people.

Antigua tomorrow and our first Carribean port - and I have no idea what to expect other than it will probably be very warm.

Day 60 - New York, New York. The BIG Apple; big flashes.

We had a decent night and the 6am alarm was good timing as we were just approaching the bridge.  Sorry, not sure which one!  The Statue of Liberty was on ‘our’ side of the ship and there were a fair few passengers up on deck to enjoy the sail in.  With Manhattan on the starboard side, the sun was behind the skyscraper skyline but we were determined to take pics anyway.

Up to the Horizon Court for a decent breakfast as we berthed at Pier 88, right alongside ‘The Intrepid’, a retired US aircraft carrier which is now a museum, with fighter planes and helicopters on the top deck and a retired British Airway’s ‘Concord’ alongside.

As you well know by now, we generally take a Ho-Ho bus in major ports and that was our plan today.  Leaving the rather grey terminal building, all staff were exceptionally friendly.  Across the road (12^th Avenue) I asked a policeman if he knew where the Ho-Ho buses were and he genuinely had no idea.  So we followed the other passengers walking all the way up to the Times Square area on 7^th Street – a fair step.  En route, we did meet a couple of very pushy characters trying to entice us onto two different Ho-Ho buses.

Once at 7^th Street, it was extremely busy at that time of the day and a taste of things to come.  We found the Gray Line stop number 1 on the corner of 47^th and 7^th and opted for the multiple routes for a discounted price of $54.  (Normally $59.) Still a very hefty price and although valid for two days, not much use for us!  There were about four or five Ho-Ho bus companies around but we opted for Gray Line as they seem to be reliable with plenty of buses in service.

What did surprise us was that with so many companies and three cruise ships in town, not one of the companies went anywhere near the docks!  If you have to walk 5 blocks – uphill – then it is an opportunity lost when other ports either have a Ho-Ho shuttle to stop number 1 or it is on their route anyway.  The other strange thing in New York was that all bar one Ho-Ho company had the signage totally covering the windows of the lower saloon, so downstairs, it was obstructed and impossible to take photographs.  Given the sometimes inclement weather, travelling on a wet day wouldn’t be too much fun either upstairs or down.

Anyway, we were on the green, downtown loop and the commentary was live, though I never use the ear phones.  The lady was a bit of a character by all accounts and Paula kept relaying snippets.  The guide found out that she had a couple of Australians sitting near her.

“Hey, in Australia, you have to watch out for the crocodiles.  Here in New York, we don’t have crocodiles - we have muggers!”

Not far down 7^th Avenue, we saw a large crowd on the pavement – sorry, sidewalk.  The guide explained that they were waiting for the discounted ticket office for Broadway shows, which didn’t opened until 10am.   Whilst Paula took a pic, she noticed a couple of people waving.  Sue and Darryl…  They went to see ‘Kinky Boots’.  No comment.

Progress through to downtown was extremely slow, hot, noisy and bumpy.  I explained to Paula that due to NY’s famous potholes and the rather bone jarring ride, that the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland was less bumpy.

At stop number 12, Battery Park, one stop after the One World Trade Center and the 9/11 Tribute Center (very good according to those who went) where you catch the boats to the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island Museum and so on, we had to get off.  We opted to transfer straight to another bus, rather than walk around.  There were 1,000’s of tourists in the area.

The bus continued along the East River bank, past the Brooklyn Bridge along 1^st Avenue and turned left at the United Nations building where the flags were flying and back up to 6^th Avenue.  There we turned right again, up to Central Park (stop 19) and back onto 7^th Avenue, where we hopped off on the advice of the guide.  First on the agenda was a comfort stop and taking a lesson from Sylvie de Christo, we brazenly walked into a flash hotel and straight to the immaculate restrooms!

Back onto 7^th and towards Central Park, we called into a couple of delis (pic is at one with a buffet by weight - $7.95 a pound…) then found a clean looking place and bought a warmed turkey and avocado (plus?) focaccia panini ($7.95!) and a drink, then walked the two blocks to Central Park.  Oh the bliss of a bit of peace and quiet.  The panini was really superb.  We decided that $200 for the horse and carriage ride for an hour was over the top, so we just strolled a little bit further into the park. At 867 acres, this is a very large park (based on the fact that we know what 20 acres looks like) and far too large for us to explore this time, though we did purchase a good $2 map on the way out, for future reference.

It was rather warm and we walked back along 7^th Avenue then hung a right and hit Broadway.  As we often watch the Late Show with David Letterman on NZ TV, we headed up for a closer look.  From the show, we were also aware of the ‘Hello Deli’. The owner, Rupert Gee, is often featured on the Letterman Show and is usually very modest and somewhat embarrassed at being in the spotlight on the show now and again and is not at all outgoing.  Spotting him through the window, restocking the fridge with water, we ventured in and he kindly consented to have a photo taken with me.  We bought a drink anyway so it wasn’t a total waste for him.  We continued our walk back and Paula found a pharmacy and bought some Vitamin C pills as her throat was a bit sore.  Meanwhile, the ‘Vick’s First Defence’ seems to be working OK for me, as I haven’t contracted my usual Princess throat and cough (yet), though there have been early warning signs.

The walk back to the ship was very warm as we believe the temperature was about 27C.  We felt hot, sticky and grubby, but a coffee stop on deck 7 rather than 5 as they were replacing the coffee machine on 5.  Back to the cabin for a much needed wash.

As is usual on a sector port day, it was open dining so we opted for the buffet.

It was dusk as we let go of the lines and we were looking forward to the sailaway on deck 11.  Nice to catch up with Ed and Bev again. Several people we spoke to seemed to have done a fair bit of walking and one or two were complaining of swollen ankles or sunburn.

A few minutes after the sailaway commenced, there were lightning flashes galore and then the heavens opened and everyone rushed for cover.  We continued to take pics and video from the cabin balcony after nipping over to deck 7 to get the mandatory shot of the Statue of Liberty.  Plenty of sheet lightning but not enough forked.

We then opted to watch “The Grand Budapest Hotel” on TV, but missed the beginning.  An odd film.

Now we have three days as sea to recover and the weather forecast appears to be pretty good.  We are now 2/3^rd of the way through this trip.

So,  what did we think of New York?   H’mmm.  Tricky.  Being stuck in slow moving traffic for the whole of the bus tour meant we didn’t really fancy doing the other routes.  Down on the ground, this may well be one of the world’s busiest cities and a ‘must see’, but if we were to rank it on the basis of a limited one day inner city stop, against the other cities we have visited over the last three years, it wouldn’t be in the top five.  I doubt it would even make the top ten.  Of the cities covered by this blog alone, we’d not only put Dublin way ahead, but also Nottingham!  Bigger doesn’t always mean better.  At least Nottingham has a defined city centre with an attractive, traffic free square.  NY does not.

If we stick to our 2015 cruise booking, NY is an overnight stop and we are not sure that in itself that is in any way an attraction.  Couple that to the rather dead evenings in the atrium last year and this, we are now seriously beginning to reconsider next year’s plans.  Much will depend on pricing, who else is doing it and what guarantees we are given regarding the on-board offerings.  Traditionally, Princess are either unwilling or unable to say what is going on by the time the six month cut off for getting 100% of your deposit back approaches.

If for example, they were able to mend the broken bridge between Princess and Alan and Alana, then we’d be ecstatic.  If they can’t do that or can’t offer anything positive, we wouldn’t be the only ones changing our 2015 plans.

Day 59 - Noisy Nuclear New England, Connecticut

No surprise to hear at breakfast, the Captain’s announcement that due to the fog last night, we’d arrive an hour late and would leave half an hour later than scheduled.  Had this not happened, we’d have missed one of those little incidents that make a stop more memorable.  From our balcony, looking ahead, we weren’t too sure what it was on the port side until Paula recognised it as a submarine - with naval escort.  What we didn’t know before today was that not only is New England a naval (submarine) base, but they also build the nuclear submarines here.

Anyway, once docked, it was obvious that the free shuttle to town was going to be busy.  They seemed a little disorganised dockside as the buses had to come in, wait for the outgoing traffic, then reverse into position ready to be loaded with 54 passengers.

We gave them half an hour or so then headed out – to join a queue that didn’t seem to move very quickly at all.  The sun was rather warm by then too.  M & M walked straight past the queue, heading for town on foot – as is their wont.  By the time we’d got to a coach and travelled the mile or two into town, M & M were almost there.

Anyway, the bus went around the block into town and dropped us off at the railway station.  We have no idea how many trains pass through New England, but the blaring train horns seemed to be every couple of minutes from when we arrived to when we left.

Having been driven down what we were told was one of the main shopping streets (Bank St), we were decidedly unimpressed.  Several shops were empty and far from being a thriving area, it was almost as if they were still in depression mode.  Murals seemed to be a strong point however, ranging from number 42 of Wyland’s famous whale murals, to music and other attractive feature walls.  We walked up what was as close as you’d get to what was the second most important street – and back again.  It didn’t take very long so we saw a bus with ‘Crystal Mall’ on it and chased it through town – which was easier than it sounds, as their traffic lights seemed about as conducive to speedy progress as Auckland’s, so by the time we caught up with it at the bus stop, the very patient lady driver was still dealing with a short but slow queue of cruisers and non-cruisers.  We parted with 75 cents each and headed for the mall.  Such excitement. Such disappointment…

It was a large, modern mall but was just about deserted.  The food hall was very disappointing and we never did find anywhere for a coffee, though apparently there was one place way up the far end, but somehow we missed it.  When a mall food hall only has Burger King, Taco Bell, Subway and Chinese Wok, you can rest assured that it isn’t very busy.  We settled for a very nice Subway pizza slice and a bottle of lemon.  Add that to the $3 bus fares and you can understand why it was a cheaper stop than anticipated.  The bus driver for the return run wasn’t displaying a bus number we were looking for, but he simply announced to all those at the bus stop that he would drop us off at the railway station anyway!

Apparently, this was the first cruise ship they’d had in for about five years.  I missed out on the lobster yet again as we never did find where they were doing seafood!  M & M found it (beyond the railway station, across the tracks) and they had warm lobster (Mal), tuna (Meg) and two bottles of water for $23 and were well pleased with it. This was the first time we needed to present photo ID at Port Security but the dock staff and tour staff all seemed very friendly and pleased to have the ship’s passengers in town.  In many ways, we felt a bit sorry that they had too few cruise ships in to boost the town’s coffers and from the sail in, it looked as though there were some nice  beaches.

When we returned, on the starboard side, we stood and watched the Connecticut Police dive team.  Whether this was just a training exercise for them or they were examining the hull for damage or illegal drugs or explosives, who knows? Judging by their overall demeanour and lack of urgency, it was probably a training exercise, but we’ll never really know.  

Passengers were due aboard by 7pm and at 7pm and 7:05pm, two Princess tour coaches finally returned to the dock.  Mike and Sue later said that they didn’t get a chance to eat on their tour until 5pm, so they decided to skip dinner at 7:45.

We went to deck 11 briefly for the sail-away but we were down at dinner before the ship had even reached the submarine manufacturing hangar or the nuclear plant.

This was the famous ‘Bombe Alaska’ night but Mike and Sue weren’t the only ones absent from the dining room as it was only about a quarter full.  I had ‘turkey with all the trimmings’ which was very nice, but Darryl and I believe that should have included roast potatoes.

As is usual on the last night of a sector, it was the cruise talent staff show.  For anyone who has ever been to one of these shows, you know you are going to get some very talented staff singing or dancing.  As is also a tradition, the cruise entertainment staff always do a turn and this time, it was the Dawn Princess’s version of ‘The Fountain’ – their take on what we are now missing, because the new Royal and Regal Princess ships have these dancing waters displays.

We saw it last year on the Dawn too.  We loved it then and this was just as funny.  A great end to the sector.

Tomorrow, New York, a city that we haven’t been to before, so expectations are high.

A 6am sail in for a 7:15am docking, so we’ll be up early.