Life Notes in the Margin

We had a great time. The smiles tell it all. We look forward to our next cruise. It's a good vacation when you wake up in your own bed the first night back, in the middle of the night, and don't immediately know where you are! We left the ordinary world behind for 12 days.

Sailing into Bermuda. A lot of history here. A little help from Powerful the tug. West End, a historic part of Bermuda. This is a British territory so they drive on the opposite side of the road. More British influence. The steering wheel is on the right side of the car. On-board the Aristo-cat heading to the snorkel site about 1 mile offshore. Captain Jack at the helm with first mate Nickie. As we approach the snorkel site, snorkel master Jackie gives a safety briefing. Later, she'll be serving rum swizzels for the return trip. They learned to serve these drinks after snorkeling, not before! Nice hats!

The sailing days were the most relaxing of all. The port calls were very rushed. Here are some highlights of the languid days aboard ship. Eat. Often. Buffet served all day and most of the night. Full service dining in DaVinci and Michelangelo dining rooms. Great wait staff including Ivan (stop abusing your Asian assistant even though he's loud), Giuseppe, and Jon Max form the Philippines (10 contracts, gone 10 months at a time). A tough way to make a living. Everything is personalized. Emma from Mexico was our excellent cabin stewardess. The service on Princess is exceptional. They really give you the VIP treatment. Small details like our name on the phone caller ID screen makes the difference. The welcome packet was very personal. This is effortless effort when it comes to traveling. Leftover dinner I couldn't eat. I wasn't THAT hungry. The captain made an at-sea rescue of a small sailboat captain 300 miles from NYC. There was a 15 foot shark and her baby circling the sai...

From the mountain top. Pic taken by Julianna the tour bus driver. St Thomas is beautiful. We only had 4 hours to tour the island before the ship's whistle blew. We want to go back for a week to explore the beaches. Megan's Bay Island girl (non-native species indicated by the bright blue Princess cruise card around the neck.) Hazy, hot but beautiful. It was a wet heat! 90% humidity most days.

El Yonque rain forest tour. 1.5 hours in a bus each way with intermittent A/C. Beautiful when we got there. Our Indian-etta Jones in the rain forest. Old town San Juan. Great history and architecture. We could tell we were back in an American city with the heavily armed police presence. The highlight of the tour. This fort was built in the 1500's by the Spanish to repel land invaders. We toured the dungeon. Fascinating. Please don't feed the pigeons! Local wildlife.

After 2 days at sea we reached the first port, Grand Turk in the Turks and Caicos Islands. Definitely a good change in latitude and attitude. The Crown Princess docked in Grand Turk. 3,000 passengers on board. E on Chelsey M on Rocket Boy!!!! Swimming the horses in the Caribbean. Yeeehaaaa!!! E on Fly to the Moon. Ride 'em cowgirl! John Wayne (according to our wrangler, Lindo) on Golden Boy. No worries mon! Life is good when you're on vacation. Very touristy but fun. And hot!!

The Double Decker bus tour guide. Rain would follow shortly which brought out the fashionable white ponchos. Sheep's Meadow in Central Park. With headphones, it was very peaceful. My beautiful girl in M&M World, Times Square. Our beautiful girl in Times Square On the deck of the Crown Princess as we get ready to set sail for the Caribbean on Sunday evening. Brooklyn Cruise Terminal.