Skywalker's Bar and dinner

Eat, drink, nap, be entertained....our cycle of life on board a ship while at sea.

We've just had afternoon tea and a nap. There's a fruit bowl in our room that gets replenished each day. Some canapés get delivered each day around 5 pm and at that time there are also free munchies and a half-price cocktail of the day for Elite, Platinum and Suite passengers in a bar called Skywalkers which sits behind the funnel overlooking the back of the ship. This "event" is off-limits to most passengers. You become "Platinum" after 5 cruises and "Elite" after 15 and you get a growing number of perks as you climb the ladder of Loyalty to the Princess Brand. We are currently Platinum which gets us 150 free minutes of Internet use on the ship and priority boarding.

Skywalkers is seen in the next photo underneath the deck which has the two circular satellite domes. It spans the width of the ship (where you see the orange lights)

The view forward

and aft

Interior

Skywalker's is not used until 5 pm and if you go up there before that you may find just one or two people quietly reading books. The bar isn't open so it doesn't draw a daytime crowd.

After the free munchies from 5 to 7 it is unused again until 10 pm when it becomes a disco until 2 a.m or so, depending how many people want to dance the night away. I'm not one of them.

Here's a shot showing the location of Skywalkers with people standing on it's roof-which is where the jogging track is located.

After Skywalker's it's time to think about dinner, following a walk on deck. Tonight will be our first night in the MDR-Main Dining Room. We usually eat after 8 pm-sometimes as late as 9.30 (they serve until 10.)

We always ask for a table for two ONLY. The only part means we don't want to share with strangers.
Tonight's menu is "Italian Night" which means the waiters will be wearing red and white striped shirts, and Limoncello is offered at $4 a glass (Now $5). You get to keep the Princess Logo glasses!
My bottle of Pinot Grigio which I bought the night before in Sabatini's is brought from the lockup upon my request.

Beef carpaccio

I think this was veal Milanese...

Whatever it was, Delicious was it's name!

On this first night in the MDR we were impressed by our waiters- Michael from Mexico and Natalia from Ukraine. They were efficient and could take a joke and at dinner I like to banter with the servers to help them feel relaxed as we are "low-maintenance" diners. We don't order the staff around or make a fuss over simple mistakes. A good dinner makes us happy and jolly and Princess serves very good dinners! The wine and Limoncello both contribute to the happiness.

Here are our servers... (photo taken on our last night when "American" was the theme of the meal)

So impressed were we with their service excellence and sense of fun that on the way out of the room I spoke to the Head Waiter and asked him if there was a chance we could always be seated in their section. He couldn't "promise anything" but on each subsequent night he seated us as requested and consequently earned a $20 tip on our last night (which is when you usually give out tips).

He usually seated us at the same table-which was meant for 4 people. It was right by a window which is what we always ask for.

After dinner usually means a show in the Princess Theater or for us a visit to Club Fusion at the back of the ship where they have Karaoke. Passengers with enough courage (or wine) get up to sing and entertain us. Good clean fun and something we enjoy on every ship. Some of the singers are very good, some painful to hear, but we salute them all. They are having fun and so are we.

At the end of a day packed with eating, drinking, napping and being entertained, we fall into bed by midnight.

As we have 800 miles to cover before reaching our first stop-the island of St. Maarten we will have a day at sea when we wake...

Private Island

Like many cruise lines Princess has a "private island" in the Bahamas. It's actually just a small part of the island of Eluthera, not an entire island. For people who have been shivering in the Northern half of the USA or any half of Canada (brrrr!) it is a welcome sight- soft sandy beaches, palm trees, blue water and sun.

On our first stop here, a year before, when we sailed on the Crown Princess to Aruba, we didn't bother to get off the ship. As most passengers go ashore for the reasons listed above, we decided to stay on the quiet ship and relax in the Sanctuary.

This time we were just curious and decided after breakfast to go ashore. The ship has to anchor offshore in deep water as there is no pier on land for something this big.
This means we "tender ashore" in a small fleet of the ship's lifeboats which shuttles back and forth during the ship's visit here.

The ship has big doors at the waterline and this is where the lifeboats are loaded during a shuttle. They have the words "No Tug"written on them when closed.

It's a long ride ashore....

Once the tender reaches the landing dock we get off and find a signpost to help get our bearings...

The beach is on the way to Madrid by the looks of it. The sailboats are for rent.

There are several bars along the beach and a BBQ buffet set up in 2 locations if you are hungry. The food is brought over from the ship as are the bar drinks. You use your ship card to pay for things.

The bars and food stands close up long before the ship sails so be aware of the closing times posted.

You can't hear it in the photograph but there are a couple of musicians playing calypso music through some loudspeakers. SO you know you are in the Caribbean! Nice touch.

It's overcast but hot and some passengers book these little cabana huts which have a table and four chairs plus air conditioning inside. They also have a couple of loungers outside. These cost $199 to rent for the day. If you pay $249 you get food and drinks delivered.

We are not keen beach-goers. It's noisy and crowded, the shore is stony, and we have sand on our feet so each time we look up and see the quiet ship out there we are one step closer to going back to the luxury.

We are thinking about the luxury of the ship and the air conditioning that waits so after an hour or so on shore we are taking another tender back.

15 minutes later we are on the ship

Now it's time for a beer followed by a nap in the Sanctuary...Carol is already on one of the comfy loungers.

Not many people around which is why we like it. It costs $40 a day per person now (then it was $20) but if you book for the week on boarding day it drops to $30. So- $420 for two people to escape the crowds and get waited on by the "Serenity Stewards". It's a great place to doze off. Alas after half an hour I could hear the strains of some steel drums wafting in the wind and I couldn't resume my nap.

Although they serve Afternoon Tea here from 3.30 to 4.30 we prefer to take it on our balcony where we have a bigger table and can serve ourselves so we asked Room Service to deliver it to us at 4.30 when we would be sailing away from the island.

Warm scones with raspberry jam and clotted cream

Cookies and cake

Sandwiches- turkey, ham, cucumber, chicken, brie, shrimp etc

Afternoon Tea is complimentary and a great Princess tradition. An assortment of teas is provided and there is a thermal carafe of hot water. After this belly-busting feed it is time for a wake--inspired balcony nap in the shade.

While we are napping again here is a video of our trip ashore....

Full speed ahead

We're off to sea!

I shoot video and stills alternatively, so these are some stills from the sail away. The champagne has been opened and it's bubbles released.

We move slowly down the channel towards the sea. We have to go slow as there are many pleasure boats entering and leaving the harbor, plus, any faster and I would spill my champagne.

We pass the rocks where I go to take photos of ships leaving port. There are many people there doing the same thing. We wave goodbye...even though we have never met them.

In the distance is the Marriott Harbor Beach

The pilot boat makes it's way back to the harbor to guide the next ship out

Now we can speed up to 20 mph or so, on our way to a private Princess island in the Bahamas

It's an hour since we set off on our cruise and the sun will be setting soon

That's Miami on the distant horizon

Once we are away from land the Casino and the ship's boutiques open for business. Passengers go to dinner in one of the MDRs- Main Dining Rooms. People swim in the 4 pools on the Lido deck or relax in one of the many jacuzzis found there. There's a band playing in one or more of the lounges. Movies are shown on a giant screen on Lido deck and the popcorn is passed around by the stewards. There may be some acrobats or jugglers performing in the Piazza- the central hub of the ship that reaches up through 3 decks.  Room service waiters push carts of food down the passenger hallways, the bars do a brisk business. The ship is a hive of activity.

For us, our first night on board always means Dinner at Sabatini's, the ship's Italian restaurant. It has become our tradition. It's a Specialty Restaurant which means there is a $25 per person cover charge for dinner but as we are suite passengers we get to eat there (or the Crown Grill steakhouse) for free on our first night on board. It's much quieter and therefore more relaxing than the MDR or the Horizon Court-the ship's "All you can eat" buffet.

Here's a video clip from our first dinner on board....

Sail away day

Embarkation day is when you join your ship, after months of anticipation-we had booked this after our Alaska Cruise on Diamond Princess in August 2012. Even though we like Ft Lauderdale we like sailing away from it even more.

I always wake early on vacation and today was up and dressed just after sunrise (but before coffee)

It's warm but very windy

From our room, now that I have had my first cup of Starbuck's Coffee-there's one in the hotel, I can see the port nearby

 The ships had already come back from their cruises, starting at 5 a.m. I watched them enter the harbor in the dark (they are hard to miss as they are lit like a giant Christmas Tree)

The tall tower at right is the Hyatt hotel, home of the Ft. Lauderdale webcam and I see our ship to the left of it.

Ruby Princess docked at Terminal 2- OK so now I am getting excited!

It will be about 5 hours before we can board her at noon so we have lots of time to have a leisurely breakfast outside at Riva, then pack our suitcases. This is one of the reasons we get here a day early.
We are not flying in today, maybe held up by weather and now watching the time tick away. We're not at the airport waiting for our luggage to appear and then waiting for a taxi to the port.
We're sitting in the shade eating a fine hotel breakfast, with all the time in the world to enjoy it.

At 10.30 or so we'll take the short taxi ride (15 minutes including a stop at the security gates to show passports) to Terminal 2. There sits the Ruby, towering high above the dock. We give our luggage to a porter who is loading cages. We always tip $5 as insurance against our luggage "accidentally" falling into the water. Then we can go inside and be processed before boarding the ship.

There's already 100 or so people in line, but as we are sailing in a Suite, we get to go in another entrance where there are maybe 20 people ahead of us, so things move quickly and soon we are through security (similar to the TSA experience in an airport). There is a row of over 20 Princess agents behind a long desk. When it our turn we meet one of them and show our Boarding Passes which we printed out at home from the Princess Website. "Welcome back" she said as we have cruised Princess before (this was our 4th voyage) as she handed us a small map of the ship and our Ship Cards, which is like a credit card that we will use as (a) our room key and (b) to pay for things on the ship as cash is not used there.

With that done we get to wait in a lounge until the ship is open to Embarkation. Snacks and drinks are provided.

12 Noon at the latest the doors are opened and we ride an escalator up one floor, where we meet a photographer who wants to take our boarding photo (which we can buy next day -if we want-for $20)
Once past him we set foot on the gangway and cross from the dock to the ship. Now it gets exciting!

At the end of the gangway we have to show our Ship Card to a security officer who scans us aboard and uses the same scanner to take a photo of our faces for identification when we return to the ship in port. I know the potential stowaways among you are disappointed to hear this...

NOW we are free to roam the ship and begin our cruise experience!!

Unlike some cruise lines, the rooms on the Princess ships are ready for you the moment you come onboard. Our luggage isn't here yet so we drop off our hand luggage in the room. In the photo you can see the wet bar and flat screen TV (there is another in the bedroom). There is a fridge behind the wooden cabinet doors. It holds a mini bar and for suite passengers the contents are free (hooray!) but once you drink everything in there you'll have to pay for more (boo!)

Bedroom-not shown is the bathroom which is split in two (with two entrances). One side has a large glass shower and a jacuzzi bathtub while the other has a toilet and sink. There is a door between the two so that both cabin-dwellers can use the facilities at once-which is very handy to have.

The bedroom and living room both access the large balcony (18 ft X 8 ft) which is where we will spend a lot of our time.

This is the view-we are at the very back of the ship

Our room steward, who cleans our room and makes our bed each day, has brought us two small bottles of Korbel champagne to toast our sail away from Port Everglades

Once we boarded the ship I was busy- I ran up to book two prime seats in a quiet part of the ship called the Sanctuary (I'll explain later) and to put my name on the Ultimate Ship Tour list (explained later but the name kind of gives it away)
After that we enjoyed lunch up on deck by the pool where they serve good burgers and fries and the best Pizza at sea (yes, that means thin crust!)
We are from Chicago but deep dish pizza is not something we will never look for-we'll cross to the other side of the street to avoid it.

The luggage arrives an hour after we are in the room so we unpack. The time spent before the ship leaves passes quickly. There's lunch, movies playing on the big screen up on deck, the bars are open.
Half an hour before the ship leaves there is Muster Drill where you go to a designated assembly point and learn what to do in an emergency ( I don't mean say the mini bar being empty- I mean a real emergency where you might have to get off the ship to save your life). These are mandatory by law and your Ship Card is scanned as you enter the assembly room. In our case this was 3 floors below us in Club Fusion (a night club) and there were 200 or so other passengers with us. Lifejackets are easy to put on and can save your life (hence the name). If you don't show up the crew will come find you.
The bars will be closed during the drill. The movies will stop. There will be an announcement over the ship's P.A. system.

Once the drill is done, the mooring ropes will be released and the ship will push away from the dock...

(video)