Caribbean Princess Sea Day, August 24

Today is our last sea day and it's a cloudy one.

And we're totally okay with that. While most folks are heading home tomorrow, we'll be on the ship for a while still. Plus neither one of us needs any more sun right now. And it's laundry day.

Although we are Elite and get free laundry, we don't always take advantage of it. We used to send out laundry a couple times a week but found having our clothes running through the ship's laundry that much were wearing our clothes out faster. So now we supplement free laundry with using the laundry room and doing some things in the sink. Hubby's the laundry guy so he's off doing it down on Deck 10 since there isn't a laundromat on our deck. The pricing and purchasing system is like this one on Golden Princess a couple months back, $3 for a wash or dry, but...an FYI for anyone coming on the Caribbean Princess soon - the token machine is empty on Deck 10 and the token machine is out of service on Deck 8. Unless they get the token machines filled or fixed, just head to passenger services to purchase your tokens.

In addition to laundry this morning, we attended an informational session for folks staying on for the next cruise. It's a smart decision for Princess to start offering this meeting for folks new to the process. We do back-to-back cruises a lot so there wasn't anything new said we didn't already know, but kudos for Princess for offering general information and having staff on-hand to answer any questions afterwards. They also had specialty dining folks there taking reservations for next week so those staying on had first choice of times for next cruise. We're trying to come away with a zero balance due after these three weeks so I don't think specialty dining will be on our list for this trip. (Although we may splurge for the $12 per person charge for Planks BBQ.)

If you'd like to see what kind of info in-transit passengers get, you can take a look here.

Otherwise today we have a pretty lazy day going on. I was hoping there was an Arts & Crafts session going on but no luck today. The other day - St. Thomas day - I wanted to go to the Arts & Crafts session being held in Sabatini's. But my route to Sabatini's was blocked. Workers had the doors to hallways surrounding Sabatini's and the photo gallery blocked for Medallion™ work. The Captain had told us there was work happening around the photo gallery but I didn't expect it would interfere with my crafts. Ugh. Later I found out the craft session was moved to Explorers. Oh well.

Which leads me to the newest Medallion™ update:
I've combined my updates to make the progression of the roll-out more clear. 
August 18-25 updates can be found here.
August 25-Sept 1 updates can found here. 
Sept 1-8 updates can be found here.

Tomorrow is turnaround day for us, disembarkation day for others. The ship has a couple excursions for passengers in transit, the Everglades Boat Tour one and the Las Olas Waterways one, but we'll be catching either the bus or trolley to make our way down to 5 O'Clock Charlies. Remember, that's the place we didn't get to last week on our Ft. Lauderdale Un-Adventure Day because of hubby's fall.

Looking for the Patter for today? It's right here.

Want to know where I'm leaving today's encouraging word money pocket? In the Planks section of the buffet at lunch.

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

Back to Florida tomorrow!

Caribbean Princess Sea Day, August 23

Today is a sea day and I was up early enough to snap some sunrise photos. The view changed from one minute to the next.

Since it's a sea day it's a lazy day for me. Hubby told me this morning I need to rename my blog from Debs Days to Deb Does Nothing Days. Part of the problem with today is I made a bit of a mistake yesterday. 

It's been a while since I've sat on a white sand beach in the Caribbean. I forgot that although I might be covered by the shade of an umbrella for four hours, that white sand is reflective. And then the chances are going to be good that I'll be red-faced by the end of the day. Hubby can pull it off because he is already darker skinned then me. But I'm pretty fair skinned so those sun-bouncing-off-the-sand rays treat me a little more harshly. So there will be no showing my face anywhere today. Other than the balcony, of course.

Which is where hubby made his mistake. I was on the balcony this morning and he headed off to the International Cafe for a while. He shut the balcony door behind him as usual. But when I was ready to come into the cabin, I couldn't. Any guesses why? He locked the balcony door behind him. 

With me on the balcony. 

Now, if you ever go to the International Cafe for coffee or snacks or a chat, you know those visits can last a while. Which his did. Which left me on the balcony. With no bathroom available. I tried to keep myself busy with the iPad (again, yay unlimited Internet) but that only lasted so long. I did get a couple photos of the sargassum that's been floating in the water almost this whole trip. Sometimes it is in strips and sometimes it is clumps. But, boy the water color is beautiful.

After a while I felt like I was going to have to behave like one of those seagulls we sometimes see on balconies in Alaska. They fly onto the balcony to eat food some passenger left out. And then they get stuck and can't find their way back out. They get desperate and fly into the railing glass, fly into the door, fly into one side of the balcony divider and then the other, all looking for the way out. Lucky for me I didn't have to do any of the above. Although when hubby finally showed back up I'm not sure what he thought when I pounded the door with an open the door I gotta go to the bathroom look on my face.

Hopefully that's all the major excitement for the day. I have some writing to catch up on, some tutorial scripts to plan out, and some lobster-looking skin to attend to.

I forgot to mention this week we are celebrating an anniversary and a birthday. Actually, I had even forgotten until the balloons and cards showed up.

When we booked these cruises it was a couple weeks before my birthday. Which then a week later was our anniversary. Which a week after that was hubby's birthday. So when the Princess Vacation Planner asked if we were celebrating anything I naturally said my birthday. Then said actually anniversary. Oh, I guess hubby's birthday. 

Well, it looks like we're celebrating at least a couple of them this cruise. For we received balloons and a sign for our anniversary for our door. We also received a card. Then we also received separate cards to present in the dining room, one for our anniversary and one for hubby's birthday. 

We picked up both cakes and gee whiz it was hard to get them from a supervisor in the buffet. Not quite right to deliver them easily to people eating in the dining room but make it such a hassle for someone who chooses to eat in the buffet. If Princess wants to  offer a celebration treat it should be available for all, no matter where they eat. Grr.

We shared one of the desserts.

And then gave the other one away to a hardworking crew member working in International Cafe.

Medallion™ Update:
I've combined my updates to make the progression of the roll-out more clear. 
August 18-25 updates can be found here.
August 25-Sept 1 updates can found here. 
Sept 1-8 updates can be found here.

Patter: Today's Patter can be found here. One new thing this cruise that we get with the Patter is a paper called the Daily Crave. It lists all the dining venues and times. I've uploaded today's Daily Crave here so you can see what it looks like.

Encouraging words money pocket:
Dropped off in a menu at The Mix Bar.

Tonight is formal night and I'll leave the balloon-dropping for those who want to fight the crowds. We're headed to another sea day tomorrow. Hopefully I'll be less lobster-y and be ready to be out and about. 

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