Day 8 – Fort Lauderdale to Toronto

Woke early to enjoy one last breakfast buffet before leaving the ship.

Took a final walk about the decks were we could see the people already disembarking. Not much longer and we were off the ship too. Fortunately the disembarkation went very smoothly and it didn’t take long before we were at the airport, checked in and waiting for our turn to proceed to security. Security went very smoothly and we were at the gate waiting for the flight home.

The flight home went faster than the flight down, wonder why? And when we arrived at Pearson, we were shocked to find that customs was dead ... they were actually fighting over customers. This I had never seen before! We were through and found our luggage in no time and met with Mom, Dave and Aunt Deb who had come to pick us up at the airport.

All in all it was a fabulous, relaxing vacation. Although it was a little hotter than I like and we weren’t impressed with the people harassing you to spend money or take a cab. But it was nice to get away and have a little down time to recharge.

Day 7 – At Sea

This morning we had the Ultimate Ship Tour, which is a behind the scenes look at the ship. We have seen the Princess Theatre and Galley on previous tours, so thought this would be a great experience to see some other hidden gems.

We started in the theatre, where we were given the same tour as before, up on stage and down into the dressing rooms. We also had a chance to meet the cruise director, the dance captain and the stage crew lead and ask questions. Most were about what it’s like to live on the ship and visit the world. From there we saw the pit and the rising platforms.

Next we moved to the mooring deck where an officer explained how they moor the ship when coming into a port, as well as how they use the anchors.

We then visited the galley for chocolate covered strawberries and a refreshment. We saw the pastry kitchen ... Dave would be jealous of the large mixers. And the large kettles where they make all the soups. Then on to the stores, where they store the fruit, produce and all the items needed to make all the goodness we enjoyed all week.

We then proceeded to the Engine control room where we learned about the engines, the ballast tanks, the water treatment and release as well as how much fuel they use.

The next stop was the printing press, which prints all written material for the ship. I wish we’d had more time here, but since we were running behind, then kinda rushed us through here.

The photo shop was the next stop, where they print all the photos that are taken by the ship’s photographers. The use pucks for the colours instead of a liquid ink. They were already working on printing some of the pictures that the photographer was taking as we were on the tour. Very interesting.

The Laundry was the next stop, and probably the most interesting. They have HUGE washers and dryers that run 24/7. They also have different machines that press and fold all the linens. In goes a towel, or sheet, or pillowcase, etc and out comes a perfectly folded ready for use item ... where can I get one of those?

Next we went to the bridge to meet the Captain and his officers. The view from the bridge was amazing, but frankly, the Captain isn’t someone that I would associate myself with. His attitude and manner in which he spoke was very condescending. And he spoke poorly of the people below him on the "food chain", when in fact those at the bottom, work MUCH harder in my opinion than he ever will.

Our last stop was the medical centre, which is staffed by 2 doctors and 4 nurses. It is a fully functional hospital which provides medical treatment to passengers and crew. The crew is fortunate that they can received medical treatment 2 times a day, 365 days a year, at no cost to them ... better than the American’s receive, and most of them were visibly shocked that the crew receives this benefit.

Of course the logical question that came up was about a morgue, and yes, they do have one. What was in it today? Cheese! No dead bodies (yet) this cruise.
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At the conclusion we were told our chef’s jackets, bath robes, stationary and pics would be delivered to our staterooms later in the day.

We attending our “re-meet and greet” for the cruise critics, which was very interesting to see how everyone enjoyed their cruises.

Then off the do some packing before attending the egg drop competition in the piazza. Very funny ... some people didn’t understand that less weight is better. One person though a container of sand would protect it. The winning team used a Foster's beer can with balloons attached that blew up on landing.

There were many that used balloons or pillows and one that used a depends pad. The best in my opinion was the one that used garbage bags inflated and assembled to look like the mars lander. Great idea for a competition!

Saw the acrobatic comedian, Uber Rossi, tonight. He was hysterical, and made fun of several people in the front couple of rows. He is definitely a must see, and it would have been nice to see him for both performances, as I am sure that the comedy would have been different in each as he draws most of it from the crowd.

Packed early and had our stuff outside the stateroom with lots of time for the staff to gather it up. Most people seem to wait, which creates a lot of work for the guys the last night hauling all the luggage.

Day 6 – Grand Turk

We attended a talk about Grand Turk this morning before the ship arrived in port.
When we arrived, the Noordam was just getting ready to set sail. What perfect timing, as it’s quite a small island, so having 2 large ships would likely have overwhelmed them.

The nicest thing about this island, is that the people are not standing around begging you to take a cab, or trying to get you to shop. And the shopping is all centred right around the pier, nice and easy.

When we found our tour location, we found out that the bus for the 1:30 tour had broken down and they were reshuffling people onto later trips. We were fortunate that our tour at 1:45 to Conch World left right on time.

While waiting we met a man whose tour companion had cancelled, so he became our new friend “Merv”. When he found out we were Canadian, he was interested in obtaining some of our coins for his collection. Unfortunately, I had cleaned these all out and left them in the safe. Matt did have a toonie, which we gave him, and had him give us his cabin number so we could drop more off later, which we did.

It was an interesting trip across the island. We saw the US military base and the replica of John Glenn’s capsule, although we were unable to get a photo as we were driving quite fast. It was interesting to learn that they allow their animals to roam free and by “animals” I mean horses and donkeys. Apparently if they have a rope around their neck, they belong to someone and will graze and then return home when they are ready.

The bus was not in great repair and we had some difficulty getting up hills ... I still don’t understand why he would come to a complete stop before going up the hill in a manual transmission vehicle.

Conch world was very interesting. We started off with a tasting of conch fritters, which were quite good. Then some history of the conch and sales. Then on to some information about farming and we actually saw several small pools with different stages of growth. The last stop was to see the only 2 conchs in the world that are trained to come completely out of their shell, as this is not something they normally do. Very cool!

After the tour we spent quite a lot of time waiting for the bus to return us to the pier, only to find out that that bus wasn’t considered “safe” and they were waiting for another bus to arrive.

We attending the musical “Motor City” which was a revue of Motown hits. Very well done, and I especially liked how they took Boyz II Men’s Motown Philly and changed the words to Princess inspired phrases.

Day 5 – St. Thomas USVI

Had an early tour to Coral World to do the Semi-sub tour (fancy name for glass bottom boat). The Submarine tour I took the last time I was here is no longer offered. I was at coral world the last time, and not much has really changed, although the helmet dive, swim with the sea lions and semi-sub are all new.

The tour bus was an open air safari bus, and like many of the islands I have visited, the road signs are more of a suggestion, than a requirement to obey. They also drive on the left hand side, which completely floored all of the Americans, since it is part of the US. My only complaint is that they have removed the “holy shit handles” from the buses. When Aunt Deb and I were in Jamaica we learned about those, and these buses needed them too!!

The semi-sub was good, we saw many different types of fish and corals, as well as some stingrays and a small type of shark.



Had a brief tour of Coral World where we were able to see tortuses, sharks, stingrays birds and other wildlife.



Did a little shopping in their souvenier store as well before the bus ride back.

We opted not to stop down town Charlotte Amalie, as frankly we aren’t looking for jewellery or the harassment by the locals to buy crappy little souviners. We did however stop at a few shops at the pier, and picked up a new shirt for Matt.
Tonight is the Captain’s party for repeat passengers as well as the second formal night.

Our pics from the first formal were just ok, so we are hoping to have a few more taken tonight, although with the party and the new musical show, there may not be much time.

The captain’s party was VERY busy with quite the lineup to get in. Unfortunately this means that we didn’t really get to speak to the captain as we have in the past. We came to learn that this was actually the second of 2 repeaters parties that night as there are so many repeat passengers on board. In fact, 44% of the passengers were repeaters. The most travelled passenger has over 900 days at sea with Princess ... WOW!

We did go to the new musical number “Star Dust” which is “a walk down memory lane” for the blue hair passengers. Now, I like oldies music, but didn’t recognize many of these tunes. Actually it was a little disappointing. The dancing was great though, so it wasn’t an evening lost.

This is where I should mention that normally the greatest population on board is the “blue hair gang”, and although there are lots of those, I do have to say that it seems this is also a gay/lesbian/cripple (without sounding non PC or rude) cruise. Seriously, we have never seen this many of any of those groups online before, and credit has to go to the gangway staff that have to get those power wheelchairs on and off at every port.

We managed to stay awake long enough to see the musical comedian, Dan Riley, who we are sure that we saw on a prior cruise. We think he may have been on the Grand Princess when we were on our honeymoon in 2003. He was brilliant!

Off to bed, thankfully we don’t arrive in Grand Turk until the afternoon, so we will be able to sleep in a little tomorrow and relax before the day’s tour.

Day 4 – St. Maarten/St. Martin

We docked on time on the dutch side of the island and met our tour guide, Danny, who gave us a tour of both the dutch and French sides of the island on the way too and from the Butterfly Farm. Very interesting location, although not as big as I had thought it would be. Took many pictures and learned a little about how to “grow” your own butterflies at home.



Stopped in Margot, on the way back to the ship for a little retail therapy. Matt found his hat for this trip, which was a good thing as today was sunny and a high of 27 ... very humid as well.

Took the water taxi to downtown Philipsburg, the capital, for more shopping. There is a store here called “The Yoda Guy” which houses some memorabilia of star wars, although you have to make a purchase to see any of the good stuff, or to take pictures. Very disappointing, as the “art work” if you can call it that, was expensive. $57 for 2 collectors cards, a yoda stamp and a pic of the artist hold Yoda, and his signature. Needless to say we left empty handed and a little disappointed.

The nicest thing today about Princess is that they now meet you on the pier as you approach the ship and give you a cold wet face cloth =) Ahhhh, so nice after a day in the hot sun.

Had some pizza and the best waffles we have ever had for a late lunch and now doing a little laundry and having a rest until the comedian/magician show tonight.

The magician, Justin Flom, was very good and nice that he had a little comedy in his show as well.

Retired early for the evening as Matt had a headache, and wanted to make sure he was well rested for our tour tomorrow.

Day 3 – At Sea

Woke this morning feeling a little “off” so decided to take a gravol, which wasn’t the best idea I guess as I felt very drowsy for the better part of the day.

Went to the port and shopping talk, which is the same everytime ... please shop at the places that pay us to send you there and give us a kick back on what you spend. Also went to see the port lecture on St. Thomas in the afternoon. We were a little sad to miss the St. Maarten one, but it was during the cruise critic meeting. We found out that once again, the lecturer was a poor public speaker and also had several technical difficulties. I really wish they would employ lecturers who are great public speakers and have some sort of creditials of what they are speaking about.

After this we spent the better part of the afternoon, and early evening sleeping as the gravol really knocked me out. Dinner was late in the buffet, and then we went to see the comedian again. Mostly the same routine, which we expected. We were also fortunate enough to get front row upper deck lounges for the movies under the stars presentation of “Avatar” which we were both wanting to see again.

Turned into a late night, after 1 am before returning to the stateroom for the night.

Day 2 – Nassau, Bahamas

Arrived in port early this morning. Took our time enjoying breakfast before heading ashore. Unfortunately, even at 9:30am, the stores were mainly closed. Sadly, the only things to buy in this port seem to be either cheap island chachkas or jewellery, neither of which we are particularly interested in. Took a stroll around town. The people are very aggressive to get you to take a cab or a local tour. Also, the main street smelt like “ass”, not a very welcoming thing.


Met with our Cruise Critic group this afternoon. Had a good turnout, about 50 people. Sat and talked with a couple from Florida. Also met Liz and Mitch that have been so active in the message board, as well as their travel agent and also an active member, Scott, who reminds me a lot of Allister.

I watched “Did you hear about the Morgans” while Matt napped after returning to the ship.

Tonight was the first formal night. I had to send Matt’s suit and shirt out for express pressing, they were due to arrive before 5pm ... they were late, putting us later than we had hoped for dinner. In the end when we arrived there was only 2 spaces left in the dining room, at a table for 10, which we took as we didn’t want to wait any longer.

Had some formal pics taken after supper. The first guy was great, the next not so much, but as I told Matt, the last time it was the less impressive guy that took the better pictures.

Caught the end of the comedian’s show after dinner. Tom Briscoe was awesome!

Went back to the cabin to change into “real” clothes before the musical production “Destination Anywhere” which we saw last cruise. It was good, but I think I enjoyed the performance in Alaska more, the lead singers were better.

Had a late night snack in the buffet before retiring for the evening. Hoping to sleep in a little tomorrow before checking out the port and shopping lectures.