Wednesday, January 1, 2020

Wednesday, January 1, 2020

Tonight's picture was taken in December of 2007. We walked to the National Christmas tree. Mattie loved seeing the tree, but he especially loved seeing the little state trees that surrounded the national tree. Each state tree was decorated with state specific ornaments and Mattie appreciated that the trees were his size. Mattie also enjoyed watching the toy train on a track around the National Christmas tree. This was always a fun place to visit and back then there was also a yule log constantly burning. Which helped on cold nights. 




Quote of the day: The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new landscapes, but in having new eyes. ~ Marcel Proust

Last night we went outside on the deck and saw a wonderful Mattie moon over the Caribbean. It was lighting the night and our way. 

This is our neighbor's door. They decorated for Christmas and now for New Year's! 

Last night was a formal dress evening! At dinner our waitress, Danielle (from South Africa), gave my dad a festive hat to wear! 

Our waitress (Danielle) and assistant waitress (Lezann) on the cruise have been wonderful with us. This is our first time ever working with an all women team. 

At dinner, we took a photo with Oscar (on the left, the Maitre D') and Mario Ciruzzi (the Captain of the ship). 

Oscar has been on a few of our other cruises, however, in the summer of 2019, we took a Canadian cruise, and it was my first time working with him directly on dining arrangements for my parents. My dad loves traditional dining, which means that we eat each night at the same time, same table and with the same wait staff. However, during our Canadian cruise we weren't assigned to traditional dining and we had issues with dining arrangements for this current cruise too. Oscar understood what I was requesting and truly helped us with both cruises. He also personally checks in with us each night. He clearly is very family oriented and I appreciate his kindness. Oscar came over to see us last night and brought the ship's captain to meet us. 

We have befriended a family from South Africa on the cruise. They dine at the table right next to us. They were kind enough to take a photo of all four of us on New Year's eve. 

Peter went around the ship today and snapped some photos of the exterior. This is the back of the ship... with a pool and tiered decking areas. I think Princess does a very good job at supplying deck chairs for almost all the passengers. Which I hear is a problem with other cruise lines..... not enough chairs for the number of passengers.  

There are 3,142 passengers and 1,200 crew on the Caribbean Princess. We are like a floating city. The ship has everything.... dining, laundry, walking track, exercise room, a medical clinic, security team, etc! It is truly amazing when you think about how efficiently and effectively a ship is run. 

The beauty of the morning from the top deck. Of course, I can't take a cruise without reflecting upon the incredible people who work on the ship. Crew members work 7 days a week. I said 7, there are no days off. Some contracts are 3 months and some are 8. Can you imagine working 12+ hour days without ever having a break? 

Yet the crew do it with a smile, great patience, and professionalism. Honestly our service industry in the USA could learn a thing or two from ship personnel. When I ask several crew members how they can work these long hours and be confined to a ship for months, their answer is typically the same. That the first two weeks are a HARD transition, but then you get used to it. For so many crew members, they cope with this tough existence because they can accrue more money this way than if they were in their home country. They pay no room and board and they have access to all the food they wish. Therefore whatever they earn in salary and tips is sent home to family. It sounds horrible but in tips alone, some crew members are taking in hundreds if not thousands of dollars PER CRUISE.

Deck chairs a plenty. All the way in the bow of the ship is the Sanctuary. This is an adult only location that is quiet and staffed with crew members. The crew in this area have been fantastic. When Peter, myself, and my mom go to shore, my dad is in the Sanctuary. He loves the comfortable deck chairs and the crew meet his every need. 

There are five pools on the ship. This is the main one.

The New Year sunrise over the Caribbean. 

We even saw a rainbow this morning! The next two days were are at sea, as we make our way back to Florida on Friday. It has been a 14 day cruise, hitting 8 ports:

1. St. Thomas
2. Antigua
3. St. Kitts
4. Barbados
5. Martinique
6. Trinidad
7. Curacao
8. Aruba