Saturday, September 1, 2018

Eastern Caribbean Cruise on the Caribbean Princess - Embarkation Day

Well, third time was the charm for 5 O'Clock Charlie's. If you remember, two weeks ago hubby had a fall in the airport and we couldn't go. Here's the story of that Un-Adventure Day. Then last week we got stuck in Panera Bread for a good chunk of the day because of severe thunderstorms. Here's the story of that drenching day. So today, we were going to go no matter what.

We walked from the port (I love being docked at Pier 2!) to the bus stop and caught the Sun Trolley down to Bubba Gumps. It opened earlier than Charlie's so we ate at Bubba Gumps and watched the weather.
And then at exactly noon we walked right next door to 5 O'Clock Charlie's.
And were greeted by Lee, our favorite bartender who remembered us from previous visits. Before she even made me a Rocket Pop drink, she grabbed her wallet and pulled something out to show me.
Like I've said before, over the last several years I’ve been giving away dollar bills with notes of encouragement. I’ve left them in restrooms and airplane magazines and sugar containers. I’ve left them in windowsills and tip jars and hotel room drawers. I’ve left them on buses and taxis and trains and cruise ships. Sometimes I place one somewhere once a day and other days I drop them off multiple times.

5 O'Clock Charlie's is a place I've left them more than once. During one visit quite a while ago Lee figured out I was the one leaving them in the restroom because they only showed up there when I was there.

So guess what Lee pulled out of her wallet to show me today? One of those encouraging word money pockets she had found from long ago. All this time she's kept it in her wallet. It's looking a little rough around the edges now, but how amazing is that? I had brought one to drop off again today but after finding how important it was to her I went ahead and just gave the new one to her.

And what makes getting to 5 O'Clock Charlie's even more special is that Lee told us today that the bar is closing this month. If we hadn't made our way down there we would never have seen her for the last time. Or learned how important an encouraging note had been to her all this time. 

Life is just flippin' awesome. It was a good day.

Now we're back on the ship with one last go at it.
Map showing the port stops for Eastern Caribbean. For more details, refer to the List of Port Stops table on this page.
It's always depressing when we take our last cruise. While most folks are just arriving for their one week vacation we are downtrodden about only getting three weeks on the ship. If we could find a way to stay on the ship one more cruise after this one, we would. Heck, I have no where to go!

Medallion™ Update:
I've moved my updates to make the progression of the roll-out more clear. Today I had more super-informative conversations with the folks running the Medallion roll-out. I always learn so much from them. I'll keep sharing with you throughout the week.
Sept 1-8 updates can be found here.

Encouraging Word Money Pocket Drop Off:
Left at Bubba Gumps at lunch. And then of course, the one for Lee. (I didn't take a photo of that one.)


Tomorrow we're back in Princess Cays. I'm a going a-snorkelin'!

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