Thursday, January 2, 2020

Thursday, January 2, 2020

Tonight's picture was taken in December of 2007. That day I visited Mattie's kindergarten class. I read the children the Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett. Mattie's preschool teacher, Margaret, introduced me to this book. It was a favorite of hers and the main character in the book was named Mattie. After I read the book to the class, I then had a hands on activity for them. I baked big gingerbread babies at home and the children got to decorate them with icing and candies. This was Mattie's gingerbread baby that he brought home. 






Quote of the day: The cure for anything is saltwater – sweat, tears, or the sea. ~ Isak Dinesen

Last night, we saw the sun dipping into the Caribbean. It was an extraordinary sight and one we never get tired of seeing. There is something about the huge size and fire color that captures your attention. We watched it for several minutes falling into the water and disappearing. 

A glorious sunset and the Caribbean has been so calm. Unlike our first two days at sea in December. We were swaying and the ship was creaking in the water. 

A glorious sunset was matched by a beautiful sunrise. I got confused with the time today. As the Caribbean has been one hour ahead of the East Coast. We thought we had to reset the clocks last night and set them back an hour. Turns out that happens tonight and not last night. So I started the day on the wrong time. 

The beautiful sunrise. 

The Caribbean Princess and the sun. 

The beauty of the sky. It is hard to believe Washington, DC will be dealing with grayness, rain, and cold weather. Meanwhile the Caribbean looks like this.... and we are not that far away from one another. Yet I know I couldn't live on an island. I am very spoiled by living in a big metropolitan city, and truly rely on access to quality health care, culture, and other modern conveniences. 

Today was another at sea day as we sail our way back to Ft. Lauderdale. We spent a good portion of the day in the ship's Sanctuary. It is an all adult area, that provides tea time service and other amenities not found on the other decks. They charge $30 a day for this perk, but for us it is worth it..... not to be surrounded by intense sound and thousands of people.

Each of us is assigned a deck chair. This is my view from the chair! A view I will miss tomorrow, not to mention the wonderful crew who have worked with us in the Sanctuary:

Diana, Karina, Jose, Julius, Luis, Dimitri, Jenny, and Violette. 

Peter snapped some photos around the ship for me today. This is the Princess Theater. It is huge and hosts lectures, shows and other entertainment daily. 

The piazza. This is like the main gathering area in the middle of the ship. Like a hub! From it you can get to restaurants, shops, and other activities.

Another view of the piazza. The amazing part about all of this is the ship is pristine. It is cleaned constantly. You won't find even dust anywhere. I realize cruise ships have to be diligent otherwise viruses and other issues can spread quickly. 

The walking deck. 

Deck 6, where several of the shops are located. The ship has 17 decks, and to me it is as tall as a sky scrapper. 

The ship has three main dining rooms, not to mention cafes, a buffet area, a seafood restaurant, a BBQ restaurant, a steakhouse, and an Italian restaurant. 

We dined in the Coral Dining Room and at night our servers were Danielle (South Africa) and Lezann (South Africa) and in the afternoon we had Molina (Mexico) and Arapan (Thailand).



After two weeks of traveling, tomorrow we arrive back in Fort Lauderdale at 7am. I have to say the disembarkation process is never easy, as we have to pack the night before and leave our luggage outside our room. Therefore we have to pack whatever we need for the next day in a carry on. It's a process, but we always make it work. We will remain in Florida for a day and return home on Saturday.