Emerald Princess, December 2008, Day 9

Princess Cays, Bahamas

Much cooler weather this morning and mostly cloudy. The sea has been slightly rough since last night but not so choppy this morning. The tenders could take passengers to the beach at Princess Cays. It's a private retreat owned by Princess and used for a variety of beach recreation activities, some are free, some you pay extra for. It's on Eleuthera Island a part of the Bahamas. We have never been over there.

Breakfast was in the Horizon Court and lunch on deck at the pizza place.

We were pleased and surprised to get upgraded to Platinum status in the frequent cruiser program. You get a new member card, a shiny pin and best of all, free Internet on the next cruise. Also, and perhaps even better, when you embark next time there's a special express line to use and when it's time to depart there's a dedicated lounge to wait in with coffee and buns and lots of room.

It is time to pack up and put our luggage in the hall by early evening. A wonderful thing about a cruise is that we have been many places in the last ten days but once we unpacked on November 30 we haven't had to pack or unpack again.

We had a bit of maritime drama this afternoon. The sea got quite rough around noon and the tenders bringing people back from Princess Cays were really rocking and bobbing. By 3:00 when we were preparing to set to sail for Ft. Lauderdale, one of the winches that brings in the tender boats was damaged. Probably by the rough seas. There were many announcements and updates by Commodore Romano.

When the crew finally got a winch working it raised boat #21 very slowly and not as smoothly as usual. But it worked, at last the boat was secured and we were on our way. We were supposed to leave at 4:00 and it was after 5:00 when we did.

After dinner in the Michalangelo we braved the tossing deck and went to the Princess Theater to see John Bressler's show, music with comedy. The sea was really rough and we were happy to get back to our room.

Distances Sailed
Fort Lauderdale to Aruba
1137 nautical miles = 1308 statute miles = 2103 kilometers

Aruba to Bonaire
120 nautical miles = 138 statute miles = 222 kilometers

Bonaire to Grenada
395 nautical miles = 454 statute miles = 731 kilometers

Grenada to Dominica
199 nautical miles = 229 statute miles = 368 kilometers

Dominica to St. Thomas
274 nautical miles = 315 statute miles = 507 kilometers

St. Thomas to Princess Cays
740 nautical miles = 851 statute miles = 1369 kilometers

Total distance so far
2865 nautical miles = 3295 statute miles = 5300 kilometers

NOTE: 1 nautical mile = 1.15 land miles = 1.85 kilometers

Grand Princess Cruise, December 2007 -- Day 6

Friday, Princess Cays, Eleuthera, Bahamas

We didn't visit Princess Cays. But I did take some photos of the Grand Princess.

SUMMARY OF THE CRUISE SO FAR
From Fort Lauderdale to Ocho Rios, Jamaica
754 nautical miles, 867 statute miles, 1395 kilometers
average speed 20.4 knots

From Ocho Rios to Grand Cayman
254 nautical miles, 292 statute miles, 470 kilometers
average speed 18.9 knots

From Grand Cayman to Cozumel
334 nautical miles, 384 statute miles, 618 kilometers
average speed 21.7 knots

From Cozumel to Princess Cays
806 nautical miles, 927 statute miles, 1491 kilometers
average speed 21.9 knots

TOTAL DISTANCE SAILED
2148 nautical miles, 2470 statute miles, 3974 kilometers

May 2006, Caribbean Princess Cruise -- Day 7

Friday, Princess Cays, Eleuthera

Distance sailed so far:
Fort Lauderdale to St. Thomas, 1131 nautical miles
St. Thomas to St. Maarten, 115 n.m.
St. Maarten to Princess Cays, 844 n.m.
for a total of 2090 n.m.

We didn't arrive at Princess Cays until mid-morning. It's a private beach on Eleuthera, an island in the Bahamas. There is no place to land there, so you get to the shore by tender.

Shortly after we anchored we were sitting on the balcony and heard strange whirring sounds. I looked down and saw that the life boats were being hoisted up and out from the ship from four decks below us. It hadn't occurred to either of us that the ship would use its own life boats as the tenders. Of course it makes good sense to make sure the boats are always in working order. By using them frequently.

We had thought about going ashore but what with the all the comforts of the ship and the discovery of the ultimate cruise feature (for us at least) -- an adults-only pool with a bar and waiter service -- we never made it to Princess Cays. But I did get a nice photo of it with my cell phone. I was on Emerald Deck 14, at the very front of the Caribbean Princess. You can see the Cays and the beach in the distance. There's a photo of the ship at the bottom of this post, the red dot shows where I stood to take the picture of Princess Cays.



The adults-only Terrace Pool is in the far back of the ship on Riviera Deck 14, a few steps down from the Lido Deck's Horizon Terrace and the Outrigger Bar. The water is cold but it never gets very crowded, maybe because the water is so cold. From the pool and bar there is a great view of the ship's wake -- fourteen decks below. And one of the ship's officers is always there by the rail watching for jumpers.

Tommorrow we leave and we need to have our baggage in the hall outside our cabin before we go to dinner tonight. They gave us special color-coded tags to help us find our bags when we get to shore.