Fruit & Veggie Carvings on the Emerald Princess

Now that I've gone through my 1200 pictures (and then some) and posted/written most of the important cruising information, I thought I would do a fun post. I came across these pictures and wanted to share them with you.

I attended the fruit and veggie carving onboard. I was just amazed at the creativity and how fast these Princess chefs worked. Enjoy the pictures.


Working hard on their creativity


















Can you tell he's proud of his work?

My Cell Phone on a Caribbean Cruise

I wanted to do a post on cell phone use on a Caribbean cruise.

I have AT&T and use a Blackberry. Prior to leaving home, I contacted AT&T to find out about International Roaming and additional costs I should know about. I did not need to add this feature, since it's included in my monthly rate. I was more concerned about hidden charges that would show up on my bill a month or two from now. I was given rates for when the ship is at sea and rates for each of the islands we would be docking at.

I received my cell phone bill the other day and sure enough, I had about $5 in additional fees. The fee was for "data usage". When I went back to my daily journal/log that I kept throughout the cruise, I didn't recall using my phone to access the Internet or sending text messages while at sea or in port. I do recall turning off my Blackberry on the 2nd sea day and then turning it on every other evening, long enough to see if anyone left any messages.

Looking back at the dates and times, I believe the cell phone was doing an update and that's why I got a data usage charge. No problem. The data useage rate is a lot cheaper than a call. I have my phone set to automatically turn on and turn off each day. I ended up turning off that feature for the rest of the cruise.

I'm not complaining, just good things to know about cell phones and cruising. You never know what your cell phone is doing when you have it turned on.

The Galley Stats on the Emerald Princess

I mentioned on a previous post that I attended the Culinary show on the Emerald and obtained a stat sheet.

There are two main galleys, one for each restaurant and one fully equipped Lido galley for the Horizon Court.

Here's some amazing numbers. Remember these are average amounts DAILY:

preparation:
-fish prepared daily: 1,500 lbs
-poultry cooked: 1,800 lbs
-veal cooked: 400 lbs
-beef cooked: 2,100 lbs
-lamb cooked: 460 lbs

cold kitchen:
-salads served: 1,600 lbs
-shrimps used: 300 lbs
-mayonnaise used: 28 gals
-sandwiches made: 1,500 each

soups/pastas/vegetables:
-pastas made: 500 lbs
-potatoes cooked: 2,000 lbs
-vegetables cooked: 2,500 lbs
-soups made: 550 gals

bakery:
-flour used: 1,700 lbs

All of the following breads are baked fresh daily:
sweet rolls, croissants, vol-au-vents, bread rolls, bread sticks, biscuits, & pizzas

pastry shop:
-assorted pastries prepared: 6,000
-ice cream prepared: 90 gals
-cakes and pies served: 300

fruit & cheese pantry:
-butter used: 500 lbs
-fresh fruits served: 7,000 lbs

coffee pantry:
-coffee consumed: 470 gals
-coffee cream consumed: 62 gals
-sugar consumed: 400 lbs

dishwashing area:
-amount of dishes washed: 70,000
-amount of glasses washed: 21,500
-amount of detergent used: 58 gals


Again, these are daily averages. That's a lot!

The Emerald Princess Experience-Summary

The Emerald Princess

We had a great time on the Emerald Princess (1/9/09-1/19/09). I took over 1200 pictures (ship, islands, & excursions). We enjoyed our excursions and I think this was one of our best cruises. The Sea Princess, two years ago, comes in a close 2nd. This was our 6th cruise with Princess and we're Platinum members coming into this cruise.

Our leader and Commodore was Giuseppe Romano. He joined Princess Cruises in 1976 and has cruised all around the world.

Our cruise director was Neil Chandler, a very entertaining and funny guy. DH and I don't normally watch/listen to the early morning show put on by the cruise director. This cruise was different and Neil had a great sense of humor. I found myself smiling or laughing while I was watching his show. I understand that Neil has left the Emerald after our cruise. Not sure where he is right now.

We originally booked the Caribbean Princess from San Juan. Princess cancelled that cruise (CB going into drydock) and we immediately booked this one. Don't need to twist our arms to change from a 7-day cruise to a 10-day cruise. We had to change our personal booked AA flight from San Juan to Miami. No big deal, Princess took care of us there. They also gave us a nice OBC for having to rebook a cancelled cruise.

As Platinum members, we did take advantage of using the Platinum check-in as there was a long line for the Dolphin deck check-in. We also signed up for the Internet package on the first day. I selected the $100 package with 250 minutes. I ended up getting an additional 30 minutes for free. Plus, Princess refunded the $100 within a few hours of signing on.

We did come across an issue with signing on initially. DH had no problem. When I tried to sign up...that's when the problem arose. We both have the same "first name initial" as in "S". George, who runs the Internet Cafe, helped me out. I needed to use the first two letters of my first name and then our last name and cabin number. Whew! There was no way I was going to be able to share my DH's Internet account as I knew I would be blogging my way through this cruise. George acknowledged that "gotcha" was not documented anywhere. So, if any of you fellow cruisers run into this same problem...there is a resolution.

Also, as Platinum members, we did not get a chance to take advantage of the Platinum lounge on disembarkation. We were one of the first groups to get off the ship.



New Additions:

DH & I noticed some significant new additions on this cruise. Note: I'm comparing this with our last cruise on the Crown Princess. First off, there is Lemonade. You have to ask for it. It was available in the Horizon Court/Caribe Cafe.

Next, the Internet Cafe is available 24x7 whether we are at sea or in port. It's available. I overheard a conversation with George...1Gigabyte bandwidth.

We tried the fish and chips in the Wheelhouse Pub. We enjoyed our light fare there. Not sure what the other stuff on the menu was. Sorry. Cottage pie?

We also tried the freshly made waffles (waffle bar) at the PIzzeria for breakfast. The waffles are also available during 3:30p-4:30p in the Horizon Court where they serve the free ice cream. Hint, hint.





The Princess Patter got a slightly new look. The Patter header had changed.

We did notice that halfway through our cruise in the Caribe Cafe, they started to place the silverware on the tables for dinner. Also, the salt and pepper shakers appeared as well. At the beginning of this cruise, we were given our silverware when we entered the buffet area (Horizon Court and Caribe Cafe) and then we had to hunt down packets of salt and pepper. The staff was readily available to serve us water and juice. I do recall the Emerald experiencing some issues with the Norovirus on previous cruises. They were probably taking precautions at the beginning of our cruise.



The Excursions/Islands:

Aruba:
We went to DePalm Island and had a wonderful time snorkeling and lounging. The snorkeling is pretty good here. DH ventured out along the buoys (and a little beyond) and saw some big fish here. The Island has snorkeling equipment (masks, fins, and snorkel) available if you didn't bring your own. There is a water slide park for the young and old. DePalm offered three eating venues. Only two were open today. One cafe offered hamburgers and fries. Another restaurant offered a fish entree and some side dishes. We ate at the restaurant and enjoyed the fish lunch.


Bonaire:
We took the water taxi over to Klein Bonaire. We had a blast here. I personally had a great time here. The water was quite clear and I was able to take a lot of pictures. We drift snorkeled several times. Getting out of the water and walking further down the beach to start our drift again. Next time, we'll walk as far as we can to the end of the beach area and get into the water. We were given a token for a free drink (water, punch, etc). We left our bags and towels on the beach closer to the brush/bushes. It was windy and we didn't want to come back and find our stuff all over the beach. I've posted pictures in my previous post of Bonaire. Between DH and myself, we took A LOT of underwater pictures here.

I will definitely come back to this island!


Grenada:
Not our favorite island. But we still like to pay them a visit. We had no excursions here and just enjoyed a "down day" of R&R. I have to add, I do like their Clarke's Court Rums.


Dominica:
We took boat out to the Champagne Reefs and went on a guided snorkeling tour. We prefer not to do "guided tours" and get entangled with a group of snorkelers. So, DH & I hung back and followed the group at our leisure. I love swimming through the tiny bubbles and the warm water.


St Thomas:
We had an absolutely wonderful time here. We did the Full Day Snorkel and Lunch excursion. We boarded the Dancing Dolphin catamaran in Crown Bay and headed to Buck Island (2 snorkel stops here). Then we headed to Honeymoon Beach for lunch and 2 hours of glorious fun in the sun. Everyone on this excursion had a great time and a few commented that this was their best excursion on this cruise. I have to agree, but Bonaire is still high on my list.

Princess Cays:
Cloudy and passing showers. We stayed onboard and enjoyed the quiet time on the ship. I did take some pictures of the beach area from the ship and they can be found in my previous post on Princess Cays.



On-Board Experiences:


Internet Cafe: There are several PCs available here, but only two have a card reader. It's on the other side of George's (Internet Manager) desk. I use an XD card for my Olympus waterproof camera and I was able to use the reader to download pictures to my blog. There is a catch for the XD card. You have to turn the card upside down (with the metal contacts facing up) and it will slide into the reader and work fine.

International Cafe (cookies):
Gosh darn, I just love their peanut butter cookies! Yes, I turned my nose up at the oatmeal raisin, chocolate chip, & chocolate/chocolate chip cookies they had. At one point, they went so many days without peanut butter cookies that I made a special request with the guy behind the counter. Wouldn't you believe? The next day, I got my cookies! I was an extremely happy camper. Oh, around 3:30pm, the staff would come out with freshly baked cookies and cold milk and walk around the Piazza on deck 5 distributing these goodies.



International Cafe (coffee bar):
DH & I got hooked on their green tea smoothies. We tried all three (mango, peach, and pomegranate/blueberry). I loved all three, but DH favored the berry smoothie. The smoothies are additional cost.



Piazza:
I enjoyed the Piazza area of this ship. It's a great place for people watching. The boutiques are located in the two upper decks. Vines, International Cafe, Internet Cafe, and the Future Cruise Sales office are located in the lower deck.

Two different views of the Piazza




There was daily entertainment in the Piazza which included this string quartet.

There was also a veggie/fruit carving demo I attended.

These chefs were hard at work to get as many carvings done. The creativity was endless. A lot of them were really cute.

Our Cabin - D616: Mini-Suite
We love the mini-suites. We enjoy our time in our cabin and especially the balcony. We love having the extra room with the sitting area and 3-seat couch. It allows us to spread out and have our own space. I use the sitting area to lay out the snorkeling gear to dry (on a towel of course). We enjoy the bathtub and the layout of the bathroom.

Oh yeah, we did get locked out of our cabin on the last night of the cruise and we even had our cruise cards with us.  




Here is our empty closet. Our luggage had not arrived yet. I wanted to take this picture before we cluttered it with clothing to give an idea of the spaciousness. The safe is large. I was able to put my DSLR, travel papers, pocket camera, MP3 player, etc. There were plenty of hangers available. Personally, the closet has more than enough space for the both of us. To the right of the closet is a door that leads into our bathroom.

Our bathroom consisted or a full tub with shower. This came in handy for soaking our snorkel gear and for washing our swimsuits.

We had a spacious sink countertop. Plenty of room to spread out our toiletries when needed. We stored most of our toiletries on the shelves. Princess provided us with plenty of their Lotus Spa products (lotion, shampoo, conditioner, and body wash gel). I love using their products.

This is two twin beds pushed together to make a queen bed. We were able to put our two large luggage underneath the bed. We each had a night stand that included a top cubby hole with two bottom drawers. Plenty of storage space.

Here's the desk area. Behind the door are two shelves with plenty of storage space.

Here's our sitting area that includes a 3-seat couch. It's also a sleeper sofa.

Large sitting area

Small fridge with bucket of ice (free) and sample of sodas ($). We're not soda drinkers, so the sodas remained untouched in our fridge. There's room next to the ice bucket for our bottled water.

Here's another view of our cabin with my back to the balcony. We found a great place to store our snorkel gear in the sitting area.

Here's what our closet area looked like after we unpacked. There's plenty of space. The safe and shelves are located behind the mirrored double doors. BTW, great place for the long mirrors.

And finally, the two TVs. This was great to have, especially when DH wanted to watch football. No problem. I just turned the other TV on and watched some great movies.

MUTS:
We enjoy watching the movies outdoors in the evening and eating popcorn. Note: the MUTS lounge covers fit the lounges perfectly. On the Crown Princess, they must have shrunk and was a snug fit. It was hard to lay on them when they made the padding bunch up. On the Emerald, the covered lounges were nice.

Movies Under The Stars

MUTS seating areas



Laundromat:
There is one on each deck with living quarters. On our port side, we had two sets of washer/dryers. They had two ironing boards with irons set on timers. There was a change machine for quarters. Also, there was a soap powder/softener sheet vending machine. The soap was $1/box. The washing machine and dryer was $1.50 each. I ended up doing a load of laundry while we were in Grenada.

Washer/Dryer machines (two sets)

Two ironing boards and irons

The soap powder/softener sheets Vending Machine and Change Machine


Lotus Spa/Gym:

As a ritual, DH likes getting his haircut on the ship. As soon as we boarded the Emerald, we headed to the Lotus Spa. He made an appointment for early evening.




Here's one of the hair stylists waving to me. The folks here were extremely nice and personable.

The gym is fully equipped. Lots of stepping machines...

and lots of treadmills.

Our Meals:

We're vegetarians majority of the time. We were both brought up as meat eaters. DH has been a vegetarian for several years now. I became a vegetarian when I went on the Sea Princess exactly two years ago. We have found that it doesn't hurt to each chicken every now and then. We need our protein. We ate our meals at the Horizon Court or the Caribe Cafe. It's easier for us to get our veggies and fruits here. The fish was lacking. We were lucky if we found a fish dish here. We did try their BBQ chicken and cornish game hens...delightful, tender, and juicy.

Eating in the dining room is not a big thing for us. We've been there and done that. We find eating in the dining room, takes a long time. We also don't take part in formal nights. Lets face it. With the 50lb luggage limit, it's either the snorkel gear or the formal wear that gets packed. Easy answer for us...snorkel gear.

They had my Chamomile tea bags in Horizon. They also had Earl Grey for DH. Every afternoon, DH & I would make the trek up to Horizon to get our cup of tea and bring it back to our balcony to enjoy. Of course, it was even better when I found my peanut butter cookies to go with the tea.

We tried the free ice cream in Horizon one afternoon. We had hazelnut and vanilla. We enjoyed that treat.



Here is the Ice Cream Bar located next to the PIzzeria or Pizza Bar. Besides scoops of ice cream, you can get sundaes, shakes, etc. There is a cost for the ice cream items here. I hardly saw anyone hang out at this bar.

When we didn't find anything good in Caribe Cafe for dinner, we headed to the Pizzeria or Pizza Bar. Their Margherita pizza was pretty good. Not as good as the the pizza on the Sea Princess. Pretty good, though.


I made my way to the Grill a few times. Not to get a hamburger, but to get their french fries. I just love their fries!

This was the first cruise I actually went on an eating craze. Not to worry, I managed to eat a lot of veggies as well. My DH said something about having a tapeworm. I wasn't going to dispute that, it was true. Guilty as charged.

Other Areas of the Ship:




Teen/kids play area

Video Arcade for the kids

Basketball/Paddle Ball court

Putting Green

We Are Back Home...

***************

We are back home. This morning I had to drive DH to the airport for his early morning flight out to Missouri. His father is having open heart surgery this morning. DH's family was trying to get a hold of him and didn't have my cell phone number (which I had with me on the cruise). They finally made contact with my mother, but she waited until we were back in Fort Lauderdale before contacting us (4 days later).

Something to think about and lessons learned for fellow cruisers/vacationers. When you travel far from home, make sure family members have cell phone numbers and email addresses to contact you while traveling. Also, have them leave detailed voice mail messages. You never know.

***************

I have been updating my previous posts with pictures of our snorkeling excursions (e.g. Bonaire & Aruba). Many updates will be made throughout the week.

We have already unpacked and ready to do some major loads of laundry. I also have to do a final cleaning on our snorkel gear, let them thoroughly dry, and store them until our next cruise.

I've been in touch with John, our travel agent, discussing future adventures in 2010. John--thank you for taking care of my DH's flight arrangements while we were in Miami.

I will be back to do a special post on the Emerald Princess with pictures and comments about the ship and some of the new Princess features.

Day 10 - Disembarkation

We woke up early this morning to find our ship approaching Ft Lauderdale.  We ate an early breakfast and headed back to our room to do a final look-around and made sure we didn't leave anything behind.  We left our cabin one last time.  We were sad.  We met our room steward and gave him a extra gift, thanking him for taking care of us for the last 10 days.
  
We proceeded to the Michaelangelo dining room around 7:30am and waited for our group to be called for disembarkation.
Around 8:10am, our group, navy blue, was called.  We were one of the first groups called as we had an early afternoon flight out of Miami International Airport.   We disembarked the ship and proceeded into the terminal. In the first room, there were rows upon rows of luggage.  We were led to a second room/area where it took us awhile to find our luggage.   We went through customs and then out to our transfer bus for our trip to the airport.  It was a 45 minute ride from Ft Lauderdale to Miami.  We were at our gate by 10am for our 2pm flight out.  

We are finally home and well rested. I am now craving for a peanut butter cookie.

Day 9 - Princess Cays

** Update: added pictures of Princess Cays **



We are in Princess Cays this morning, tendering ashore. It's mostly cloudy and scattered showers. We're hoping for some sunshine today. If not, we're staying onboard and enjoy the almost empty ship. It's cloudy and 70 degrees here and initially, not many folks are getting off the ship. I imagine there is no waiting to get tender tickets.

The tenders are slowly filling up and dropping off passengers:



It's mid-day and a lot of folks have ventured out to enjoy the beach. Still not many are in the water.



I don't recall seeing these huts/shacks before. They are to the right of the dock in Princess Cays.








Today is our last full day on the cruise. We've had a great time on this ship, Emerald Princess. This is our first 10-day cruise. DH and I think it's tons better than a 7-day cruise. Seven days is not long enough. Ten days is fine, but still not long enough. We enjoyed the previous 14 days cruises we've been on. It's a bit more port intensive, but what a way to spend two weeks in the sunshine and liquid rain. Better than snow flakes...I always say.

I've finished filling out all the cruise surveys and comment forms last night and dropped them off at the Purser's desk. DH & I are in the Internet Cafe, burning up our free minutes checking our email and flight arrangements, etc.

It's after 9am and it looks like the clouds are breaking. So, we may get the chance to go ashore.


We are leaving our last port/island and heading back to Ft Lauderdale. We just have a few things to pack and we'll be ready to enjoy the last night on the Emerald.


Watching the sunset on the last evening of our cruise



Tonight in the Caribe Cafe for dinner was Farewell Dinner Buffet. Meaning, eat a lot! This is your last big dinner before the end of the cruise. LOL!!!


We had an interesting thing happen to us tonight. We got locked out of our cabin. We put our card in the slot, received a green light and then a red light. Nothing. Our room steward, Roi, was down the hall. He wasn't able to open our door. He called a manager to fix our lock. We waited in the hallway for 10 minutes. Finally the manager came. Apparently, the battery in our door lock needed to be recharged. We weren't the only ones with this problem. As the manager was saying "and on the busiest night for this to happen". I agree...the ship's staff has enough things to take care of on the last night of our cruise.

Day 8 @ Sea

We slept in this morning until 8am. Really late for us. We went to breakfast and made a stop at the Waffle Bar located in the Pizzeria. Great waffles! This is a new venue for Princess...the Waffle Bar.

I went to a culinary show to watch the chefs demonstrate some of the recipes they use on the ship. I picked up a stat sheet on many folks participate in preparing all this food and how much food is prepared. The numbers are astounding. I will publish the stats here when I can back home. As you can imagine, we've been well fed throughout this cruise.

Culinary Show

Also new to Princess is the Lemonade being offered during lunch. Nice touch.

Today is nice "down" day. I picked up a Scrabble game at the Library a few days ago and we still haven't touched it. We'll see if we get to that today.

I do plan on doing some "packing" today...things we no longer need for the next two days. Tomorrow, we'll be at Princess Cays for more fun in the sun and I'll have limited time to pack both suitcases and have them in the hallway by early evening.

Last night and this morning we've had calm seas. We're expecting a front to come through and some more of that "liquid sunshine" or rain.

Today is the first day we've had "sunshine" on our balcony all day since our cruise started. For my fellow cruisers, our cabin is on the port side.



Here's a picture of what we see from the rear of the ship.

Tonight is formal night.

Tonight's dinner in the Caribe Cafe was Landfall Dinner Buffet. We nixed this dining experience to enjoy Margherita pizza at the Pizza Bar.

We headed to MUTS to catch a few minutes of the movie "Ghost Town". It was a bit chilly up on the top deck.


** Update: **

We came back to our room later in the evening to find this wonderful surprise. Our room steward, Roi, had made this cute animal towel for us. He's very talented. The eyes are foiled chocolate hearts. Yummy!