news from the cruise

I’m e-mailing this post to my blog, so forgive me if it looks weird.  I have no idea how it will show up once I’m done.  This seems the easiest option since I can write everything down and then just log on long enough to send my e-mail to Blogger.  The boat charges 50 cents a minute for Internet access, and it would take way too long and be way too expensive to try and blog the traditional way.  So, sadly, I can not post any pictures right now.  Those will have to wait until I get home.

 

We boarded the Crown Princess about 1:30 p.m. on Saturday.  Our room is on the 10^th floor with a balcony big enough for two lounge chairs, so we have spent a lot of time by ourselves on our little private balcony.  Well, it’s private as long as you stay back close to the door under the 11^th floor balcony.  If we stand at our railing, the people above us can look right down on us and see if they like what we’re eating.  But at least we have the option of staying out of view or being seen, and that’s really nice. 

 

The boat didn’t leave Puerto Rico until almost midnight on Saturday, which was nice because it was a pretty view and it felt like as long as we weren’t moving, our vacation time wasn’t ticking down yet.  But it was also kind of weird to go to dinner and the show knowing that we were still sitting in the same place we’d been since boarding.  Since we were still had access, I found out that evening that whatever Bailey had had passed to Bryant, and he was now throwing up every 30 minutes.  Fortunately, since my mom-in-law knew exactly what it was and had something to fight it with, his was stopped after about 5 hours instead of being the all-day affair it was with Bailey, and didn’t involve a trip to the emergency room.  Thank God for grandmothers!!

 

Anyway, part of the reason we didn’t leave until so late on Saturday is because we were only going to St. Thomas, which is about 50 miles away from San Juan.  We were going so slow that it felt like we were just drifting along.  We were docked by 7:00 a.m.  Since it was our first day on the ship and Jeff and I have been to St. Thomas before, we decided to just stay on the ship.  It was a fabulously relaxing day.  Our view was amazing, because we like to lay out at the highest point of the ship.  We just moved from one side to the next depending on whether we were in the mood for the ocean view or the island view.  Very stressful choices we are making this week!  After getting enough sun, we came down to our cabin and spent the rest of the afternoon either on or balcony or watching a movie in our room.  We decided to try the traditional cruise dining experience this time, and our seating isn’t until 8:15.  We are loving this because it allows us to not feel like we have to rush back to our room and get ready.  Because we are doing the traditional dining, we have the same two servers every night.  Now they know that I want water in my lemon and we want decaf coffee with our dessert so we don’t have to tell them.  It’s just there when we get there.  I know those of you who are experienced cruisers don’t think this is a big deal, but our other two cruises we have done the anytime dining, which is just like showing up at a new restaurant every night, except for the obvious differences like just getting up when you are finished and leaving without receiving a bill. 

 

Yesterday we were in St. Kitts.  Since we’ve never been here, we did decide to walk around a little bit.  It turned out that the view of the island was much prettier from the ship than getting up close and personal, so we didn’t hang out too long.  What was so pretty about the island from the water was the very green meadow-like hillside.  It reminded me a lot of England, which was appropriate since it is a British island.  We walked around a park called Independence Square which used to be a slave market.  Very sobering thought.  We went inside this run-down Catholic church that is still operating, but felt so sad.  The time line of Catholicism on St. Kitts that we read on the wall said that only about 6% of the island is Catholic, which of course sent my mind wandering towards the inclination of the other 94%. 

 

The interesting thing about St. Kitts was that the locals pretty much left us alone to wander.  A lot of times you can’t go five feet without being approached to either buy something or just give them money.  The only person who spoke to me was offering me weed, and it was very much under his breath, much like walking past people in New York City with stolen watches.  I was a little surprised, but the paper the ship had given out said that this would very likely happen and to please not be tempted because there’s nothing they can do about it if the police catch you.  Amazing that people would be so stupid!

 

Yesterday afternoon we had a couples massage – yes, straight out of the Bachelor.  Except our faces were pushed down in the donuts the whole time and we were worked over pretty good by two little Phillipino ladies.  Mine was so cute.  She called me Ann because she said she couldn’t pronounce the Leigh.  I think if it had been spelled Lee or Li she wouldn’t have had a problem, but I didn’t want to push it.  I kept wincing at first until she finally said, “So, you really just want it light?”  I said, “Yes, please!”  After that it was much better.  I’m really such a wimp.

 

We left St. Kitts around 3:00 p.m. and started booking it towards Grenada, where we are this morning.  We had only gone about 7 or 8 knots the two previous nights, and last night we were kicking it at about 22!  There was no doubt that the boat was rocking.  I was amazed watching the servers in the dining room carrying so much food on these trays when I had had a hard time just walking to my seat without hanging on every now and then.  Of course, I was in high heels, which those of you that know me well will not be surprised that I was having trouble walking.

 

So this morning we have arrived in Grenada.  I’m curious about this island, because my youth minister in high school spent two years here as a journeyman missionary.  They call it the spice island, so I think we’re going to see what we can find for Jeff’s kitchen.  We are only here until 2:00, because we have another 450 miles or so to go to reach Bonaire.  Don’t forget to check us out on the web cam, www.princess.com/bridgecams/crown_bridge_cam.html

 

Hope everyone back home is having a fantastic week.  We are doing a whole lot of nothing, which is exactly what we had planned.  It amuses me that older folks still ask us if we are on our honeymoon.  When I tell them we have three kids they always look at us like we must have started really early.  I always feel compelled to tell them how old we are and how long we’ve been married.  The look of shock is hilarious.  But I told Jeff that one day in the not-too-distant future people will no longer think we are on our honeymoon and it will make us sad.  Time has a funny way of doing things to your body that you just can’t help.  But we are here to relax and rejuvenate and reconnect.  So far it’s going just as we planned.