(In order to catch up and keep up, I have combined the last two sea days into one post. I can do this, because we are camped out in our cabin for most of today. We just hit a 20 foot swell and all the drawers in our cabin flew open. Also, Hubby poured a glass of wine for me to calm my nerves/stomach (which is made of cast iron I am told). My wine glass started to slide across the table and I caught it in time before it dumped its contents on my MacBook laptop. I am not kidding when I say this is a “first" adventure for us in really rough waters and this is our 18th cruise with Princess. So many first for us on this B2B cruise! We thought our last Caribbean Princess cruise out of Houston (2014) and the Gulf of Mexico was rough…that was mild compared to what we are going through right now. D and M, be thankful you are not on this cruise with us. Hubby really means this!
We are not alone this afternoon. There are two other ships in the not too far horizon. A Carnival ship and a Royal Caribbean ship. Good thing I brought our binoculars with us. I was watching the Carnival cut through some swells, but they are going at a slower pace. So our Princess Captain is not alone. Remember when I mentioned in an earlier post that it will get rougher before getting better? I think we’re going through the rougher stage now. )
Back to our Sea Day post.
We left Bonaire around 5pm. An hour and 25 nautical miles later, the Captain makes an announcement that we will be turning around and heading back to Bonaire. We have a medical emergency. A crew member has fallen ill and the doctor onboard has made a decision, they can not do anything more for the crew member and she needs to be hospitalized. Before the announcement, I noticed we had slowed down. The Captain slowly turned the ship around on the port side and quickly cruised back to Bonaire. Two hours later and it’s completely dark outside, we could see the lights of Bonaire. I walked around the Promenade deck to see if the Captain was going to drop a tender, but there was no activity.
I wandered up to our cabin and stuck my head out of our balcony. I could see the Pilot boat from Bonaire following us. I grabbed my camera, because that’s what I do…capture the moment. I try not to hang over our balcony as I could see the Captain standing on the bridge. Remember, we can see up to the bridge and they can look down on us. So watching my P’s & Q’s, because I do have them, I carefully lean over and take a few shots:
This is an incredible feat. The crew lowers the ship’s tender door on deck 4 while the Pilot boat tries to keep up with the ship. We eventually slow down to a stop so they can offload the crew member safely. Do you see how dark it is? I watch as the Pilot boat speeds away:
By the time the Caribbean Princess starts up and then turns around to head out, I noticed the Pilot boat has reached land.
The next day (day 7: sea day) we learn the female crew member has stabilized and is in improving at the hospital in Bonaire. I know Princess will take great care of her during her recovery.
We are recovering from our three day port intensive adventures. Hubby is a bit under the weather and is in nap mode most of the day. I spend some time in the morning reviewing all the pictures taken and then go out in search of well, more food. If you notice by now, there are hardly any foodie pictures. That’s because they are all on my iPhone. Another camera device that I need to collect pictures from. Don’t worry. I will devote a whole blog post to the culinary delight on the this ship.
Tonight (Day 7) is the last formal night for this cruise. What do we do? Laundry! I don’t mind this task as everyone is getting dressed up and we’ll be the only ones in the Laundry room.
There are two sets of Maytag washer and dryer:
Sink basin:
Swipe your cruise card to get tokens. One token for washer and one for dryer. Another different token for powder detergent and for fabric softener. You can get both tokens at this machine (touchscreen): 
The machine containing the powder detergent and fabric softener:
It’s 40 minutes for the washer and 45-50 minutes for the dryer.
There are two iron stations:
Including warnings:
We decide to go up to deck 15 and watch a movie “Keeping Up With the Joneses”. I keep an eye on the time. I leave Hubby at MUTS (Movies Under the Stars) and go down to our laundry room to move the clothes from the washer to the dryer. I head back up to deck 15 and stop in the Buffet to pick up some desserts and carry them over to MUTS. This really works out well as the Buffet and our laundry room are located at the back of the ship but on different decks. I don’t mind as this helps me maintain the minimum of 10,000 steps a day routine. Burn baby burn!
I pick up the dried clothes and drop them off in our cabin. I run back to deck 15 and stop by Scoops (ice cream place) and pick up two packages of popped corn. I get back in time to see the end of the movie with Hubby. I’ve learned to multi-task while on the ship and still spend quality time with Hubby.
Yes, the sea days are a blur. We can do a lot or do nothing.
(I need to stop here and leave the cabin for a bit. I’m getting claustrophobic and need to stop looking out the balcony and see all this wave action. I’ll be back)
On the last day and last sea day of our cruise we continue with our R&R part of the cruise. We have a few things scheduled. I meet up with D and M for the Culinary Demo show in the Princess Theater. An hour later we are on a tour of one of the ship’s galley. In one area they are working on today’s desserts for the dining room.
Hubby and I meet up with D and M later in the afternoon for BOGO. D and M will be leaving the ship tomorrow and was working on their packing skills for a few hours. We invited them to the PEL or Platinum and Elite Lounge drink specials and pre-dinner hors d’oeuvres.
Mango margarita (BOGO$):
We had another appointment to attend and was late getting to the Voice of the Ocean in the Princess Theater and it was packed. Instead we went to Explorer’s Lounge to catch the “simulcast” of the show. OMG. We were definitely spoiled by the singers (fellow cruisers) on the Regal Princess last year. Still it was a fun show and Samantha, who I wanted to win, won by 52% of the votes.
The last show for our evening was the International Crew Show. This is a unique show as the Caribbean Princess is the only Princess ship to host this special event. We were not disappointed. The crew did a great job entertaining us with their songs and dance numbers. Really talented crew members onboard this ship.
While waiting for the International Crew Show to start, we entertain ourselves with balloons:
We had smooth sailing the last two sea days in contrast to the first two sea days earlier in the week. We had a great time sailing on my second favorite ship and visiting the southern most Caribbean islands. We are resting up for our next adventure. Hint…Western Caribbean!
(I will be back to add additional pictures when time allows). Thank you for your patience!
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