East Caribbean Cruise (Part 2)

Here is how the rest of our cruise went...

Thursday (St. Thomas)

We arrived in St. Thomas early so Shannon and I were able to get off the boat as soon as we woke up. We went shopping first at the typical port shops and I bought myself a pearl necklace and earrings. Then we headed to an area that had tents and was more of a street market. I found a faux Prada purse I liked and a few other little trinkets. Because we got off the boat as soon as we woke up, I didn't have breakfast and was getting really hungry. One of the vendors was eating something that smelled fantastic so I asked him what it was. He said it was a "patty" and told me what was in it. I let him know that I thought it smelled great so he offered me one. I probably should have been more cautious about eating local food from some strange man, but hey it smelled good! It was AMAZING. It was a fried dough almost like a scone that was stuffed with chicken and seasonings. (Shannon bought a purse from him so I didn't feel bad for eating his food.) I should have found a place to buy some more. I would LOVE to find a recipe for these but don't know where to begin because of the generic name he gave me.

After shopping we went back to the boat and I met up with Peter. We took a taxi to a nearby beach called "Emerald Beach". The weather was a little cloudy but that was great because the beach wasn't super crowded (plus we were the only big cruise ship in town). We played in the ocean and laid out. Other than being hot, it was the perfect vacation activity. When we got back to the boat we ordered room service and I went to enjoy the thermal suite for a bit.

Emerald Beach

Here is where we first put down our stuff. Great spot, right? Chairs, under the umbrella...oh so nice! Well, it was nice until we were told that if we wanted to stay that we'd have to pay for that spot. No thanks, so we moved...

Here's where we ended up after we got kicked off our beach chairs. On the sand...next to some comfy lawn chairs. :)

When we got back to the room we ordered room service and I went to enjoy the thermal suite for a bit. It was formal night so we all dressed up for that evening. After dinner we went to watch a magic show and the show in the main theater.

Princess was great about having things going late at night and tonight had adult comedy from a comedian, the cruise staff, and some audience participation. Guess who got dragged out of the audience? yup... Me, Shannon, and Casen. We had to run with a balloon between our legs across the stage (keep in mind us girls are in dresses), put the balloon on Cruise Staff James' lap and then jump on the balloon to pop it. Boys vs. girls. Well, the boys won just before I was to go so rather than end the game, the cruise director drags me even further back so I can get a running start. Basically here's short, well-fed me, charging this poor guy and jumping on his lap. So the audience was well entertained, I tried not to be completely self-conscious, and eventually I lived through the whole horrible thing. I wish that I just didn't care what people think and could have a good time but my weight really gets in the way of that. Anyway, it wasn't as bad as when Peter and I did the newlywed/no-so-newlywed game and everyone on the ship new me after that. Peter took video of the whole thing, we'll see if by the end of my finishing up this post I decide to include it. :)

Our hilarious Cruise Staff

Demonstrating how we'll put the balloon between our legs. Shannon and I are at the end.
This was part of the demonstration but notice James' face (with the yellow balloon). Yup - the same face he put on when I charged at him. So, uh, funny...

Friday (Grand Turk)

Our boat - The Emerald Princess

We got to Grand Turk around 1:00. Grand Turk is a small island (from the ship you can see the ocean on both sides of the island) so there wasn't a lot of exploring to do.
Once we got off the boat we had lunch at Margaritaville. We wandered through the few shops at the cruise pier and then headed off for our excursion.


Grand Turk Power Snorkeling -"Explore one of Grand Turk's beautiful coral reefs with ease, using an underwater hand-held scooter. Upon arrival at one of Grand Turk's beautiful white-sand beaches, your snorkeling equipment and a hand-held power snorkel unit will be provided. Glide gracefully through the water, soaring over the beautiful coral reef and the 7,000 foot wall."


It sounded fun based on this description but I was a little nervous once I saw the actual unit. I was afraid I might not be able to control it or it would go too fast. However, after about 30 seconds I adjusted to the unit and it was PERFECT! We were able to go much further than if we had been swimming without the unit. The weather was overcast which was nice because then our backs weren't getting baked in the sun. I thought it was the best snorkeling we've ever had. Besides tons of fish, we also saw a nurse shark, a stingray, a lion fish, and a couple barracuda (which made me VERY nervous...I DID NOT like them). I took pictures with an underwater camera that I need to get developed - so more to come on this...

The sunset was beautiful tonight!

That night we grabbed food from the buffet and ate it outside while we watch a "Movie Under the Stars". It was fun! Princess put different covers on the lounge chairs and had blankets and popcorn. We watched Avatar.

After the movie we watched the production show in the Princess Theater. I thought it was very well done and better than the usual cheesy cruise show. We followed that up with some late-night adult comedy. Very Funny!

Saturday (At Sea)

I headed to the Thermal Suite in the morning with Shannon and met Peter by the pool afterwards. We had lunch and watched an Ice Carving Demonstration. I tried to lay out a little bit but it was crazy hot so I didn't stay out for long. We finished up the last couple of things we needed for the scavenger hunt.

The scavenger hunt ended today and we met up with the other teams to determine the winner. Only 2 other teams showed up. One of the teams was stiff competition! We tied for points and it came down to a last challenge. Luckily, I found the last answer to the last clue and we won our prizes. Now, we had worked on this basically the whole cruise and had collected 22 items, answered 22 questions, and got 22 signatures. We had to plan things out so we could attend certain functions/events and get these things. The prize for all that effort should be MAJOR, right?!?! Yup. It was. We each got a Princess Cruiseline Pen. HA! That's okay because I really had a lot of fun doing it. It gave us a purpose for exploring the boat, meeting people, and going to different activities.


We were always busy at night which made our "Anytime Dining" nice. We were able to plan to eat around the activities we wanted to do. On our last night, I documented each of the things we did with pictures.


First we had dinner.
Then we went to the Princess Theater and watched two comedians.

Then we went to the Explorers Lounge and participated in "Passenger Feud Gameshow" where you had to come up with the most popular answer. We played this game with a couple we had done trivia with earlier in the week.


After that we headed to Club Fusion for the Final Trivia. Peter must have been in a silly mood.


Our night ended back in the Princess Theater for the International Crew Show (a talent show put on by the cruise employees). It was the best talent show we've seen on a cruise. Notice the balloons behind our head - there were hundreds of these being tossed around the theater. Cheap, mindless, childish fun!

The end came so fast. Usually I'm ready to go home but this time, I hadn't reached that point yet. It was a fantastic vacation and I'm already wanting to book our next cruise.