Emerald Princess Cruise, December 2010, Day 2

Tuesday, at sea

The sea was slightly bumpy all night but today is calm and partly cloudy/partly sunny. Breakfast in the Da Vinci dining room -- waiter service, crisp table linens, eggs cooked to order, fresh breakfast pastries -- a very nice dining experience. Lunch in the Horizon Court buffet and dinner in Michaelangelo.

These two back-to-back sea days are great for unwinding and doing next to nothing. We set up our computer accounts, browsed for books in the ship's library and got tickets for a brief tour of Antigua on Saturday afternoon. Because the cruise is just before Christmas all the holiday chores have to be finished before leaving for the cruise. It's nice to have it all done so early.

The computer connection on board is still very slow with frequent drop offs. Fifteen minutes of connect time often means 10 minutes of waiting to connect and five minutes of transmitting time. The computer cafe has a lot of computers so usually there's no problem getting one to use. But we bring a laptop and get online in our cabin. Using the ship's network isn't cheap. The best buy is 250 minutes for $100. If you have cruised with Princess more than six times you get 250 minutes free, so that's a plus.