Itchy&Scratchy

A visit to the buffet post dinner revealed this lovely Mimosa cake:

Italian themed dinner on Bonaire night: I enjoyed Peach Bellini soup very much - again, served in a bowl. Delicious! DH enjoyed Prosciutto, minestrone soup and italian salad. DS ordered spaghetti and meatballs and LOVED it: Mushroom lasagna was very enjoyable (I enjoyed it even though I don't like red sauce all that much): Shrimp and scallops were good, but I didn't like the vegetables. DH ordered stuffed chicken and it was surprisingly good: The trio wasn't all that. Our kid ate the chocolates, I tried eating the gelato sandwich (very awkwardly). Tiramisu was ok. Not even sure if anyone ate the pistachio muffins. Lemon merengue cheesecake was mouthwatering and worth every bite! Everything about it was amazing! 10/10 would order and enjoy again.

Next port was of our absolute favorites: Bonaire! What a magical place. After driving through some very desert like areas, we arrive at Sorobon Beach at Lac Bay ($5 pp taxi). Shallow water as far as an eye can see: caution: the floor is sandy, but after stepping on something sharp, I decided to wear water shoes. Most of the area is just a wild beach without amenities - you can get away from the crowd. If you want the bar and amenities, you have to stay close to the bar. $10 per chaise (wifi is included and is pretty good). Arrive early (too bad our ship arrived at noon) if you want one in a shade. They roped off a large area with chaises for Enchanted Princess excursion. A very short excursion - they arrived much later than we did and left much earlier than we did. And must have paid a lot more than we did. a gorgeous sunset back on the ship: Many houses had fences made out of cacti: sturdy and sends a clear message. 🙂

yeah, I should have said "interesting looking". 🙂 I wasn't tempted to try them.

Happy Thanksgiving in Grenada!!! Our son ordered Winter Citrus Supreme, but didn't like it, so we finished it for him. 🙂 The pate was great. Seafood martini (not pictured) was great. 🙂 Since I don't care for either turkey or ham on TG, I ordered seafood. It was great! Very flavorful. Gnocchi in parmesan sauce were simply fabulous! My husband ordered two helpings, but I stole one of them. I had all the intentions of just trying one or two gnocchi, but they were amazing. Kiddo ordered a VEGAN plate, despite my protestations. He likes veggies, but I had a feeling he wouldn't like this dish. I was right. I ate all of it. I was concerned that the sauce would be too gingery, but it was more on a nice cranberry side. Sugar Free Strawberry napoleon - it was ok. Apple pie sans cinnamon - we didn't enjoy it. And as usual: a customary follow up visit to the buffet after MDR dinner. These ones were very yummy: these ones weren't:

The next day we were in Grenada - also a port we'd never been to before. The weather was once again super rainy, but after a little while we decided to hop into a taxi and head to the beach. We picked the closest one.... Upon arrival (a huge traffic jam all the way to the beach, rain all the way) the driver pulled up to the beach so we could see for ourselves whether we all wanted to get out. None of us did (about 10-11 people), so back to the ship we went. At least there was a small mall area where people could shop, eat and get a drink if they wanted to. We looked though a couple of stores, some very cute touristy stuff like shirts, hats, magnets, etc. Some expensive, some not. A lot of people walked around town close to the port - shopping for spices and whatnot. better luck next time, right?

yes, they had some kind of a chocolate celebration during the last day lunch at the buffet. Complete with rose petals. 🙂 All sorts of interesting chocolates and desserts at the back of the buffet.

Thank you! we did use that bar several times, only because of its proximity to the buffet. The area was lovely, a small squarish pool, pretty crowded on sunny days, quite a bit of seating (chairs with tables) in the shade. Few loungers. The pool seemed to always be in the sun (when it wasn't raining) - not something we enjoy at all. I saw many sunburned people.... The last two days it was too hot to sit in the more enclosed areas (sofas), so tables closer to the pool (but still in the shade and with more air moving around) were better. Lots of people reading, playing games, cards, etc. I sat there reading a book as well. Some people don't even ask if you want to share your small table with them. An older guy came over and sat at my table without even asking. There were very few kids on this sailing, but I have seen a couple of preteens in that pool. I don't believe it has an age restriction, but I mostly saw adults only in it.

yes, the hotel room was clean, and the beds were comfortable. The bedding was nice and white. We checked for bed bugs under the sheets and mattresses, because one of the hotel reviews mentioned bed bugs. I am still freaking out over that, even though we didn't see any. The window AC was a bit loud, but I sleep with the ear plugs, so it didn't affect me. The shower was very nice and spacious, but the bathroom itself (outside a shower) was very small. The door didn't open all the way to prevent it from hitting the glass shower door. Kind of cramped if you have three people trying to use it. 🙂 Floor 6 hallway smelled very strongly of fried fish, but the room itself was odor free (thank goodness). They provided a menu for the restaurant, but the prices were sky high. The location is kind of industrial. There is a gas station on the corner, if you need anything. Soda machines are in the hallway - $3 per bottle. So, all in all, if it weren't for the shuttle fiasco, our stay would have been very pleasant. But it definitely had a rather negative effect, I am afraid. We were very tired after traveling (worked and went to school as well), and it was late, and had we known it was going to take this long, we would have ubered or taxied over there and been asleep by 10 pm.

yay, just got an email from Princess that we have reached Platinum status!!!!! Woohoo!

glitch

but it's caffeinated. Wouldn't Sprite or ginger ale be a bit better? Not sure why anyone would drink a flat warm coke to rehydrate.

it's not everyone's cup of tea, so I wouldn't worry about it. Like Celine Dion or Frank Sinatra tributes may not be everyone's cup of tea. You watched it once - didn't like it - I wouldn't watch it again. I did not. We didn't stray too far away from the buffet all the way to the left (looking at the island) where I found a shaded spot for the chaises. By the time we took a walk, everything was already wrapped up, even the bars were closed or closing right in front of us.

last week on Enchanted we saw a passenger do just that. He brought over a plastic bag filled with the contents of his minibar to his presumably favorite bartender and asked him to use the contents for the crew.

oh, good catch!

I agree - it was definitely a VISUAL show.

I have just told my husband that... He replied that seeing a guy who is doing impressions is only good if you know who he is impressing. I told him we already knew the people whom he was trying to impress. It's us! I got him good, lol.

you do know that you are not obliged to buy this package, right? especially if it doesn't include the gratuities. We don't get it because it doesn't make sense financially for us, even at $50 pp pd with grats included. We pay the gratuities ($14.50) and pay per drink, and we still come out way ahead of $50 pp pd. are you not going to pay the gratuities then?

let's talk about drinks, man.... 🙂 We are not big alcohol drinkers. I would say - we don't drink ever. Maybe, a cocktail or two on a cruise. Not a day. Like, total. 🙂 Since we had some non-refundable OBC, we decided to try out a couple of cocktails. I ordered a Midori Sour at the Wakeview bar: It looked fantastic. It tasted horrible. Nothing like Midori Sours I had years ago and on my previous cruises. I love Midori Sour and it's my go to drink for that once a year occasion. So, the next time I ordered Dunes (also Midori based) at the Salty Dog bar before being seated at the Santorini. You can look at the drink recipes on the app (click on Order and then look through the beverage categories and individual drinks) and choose what you like best. Looks the same, right? But Dunes was simply amazing. The next day another Dunes was made for me by the same bartender, and it was quite a bit more on the pineapple side. The following day it was right again. DH ordered a Georgia Tea and really liked it. No photo. Some random dude order a Dark and Stormy (rum based, I think) while I waited for my Midori sour and I snapped a pic: We bought a soda and mocktails package for DS, and he loved getting all the mocktails. His absolute favorites are Key West cooler (passion fruit based) and Zero mojito. He also tried Sunshine Daquiri which was good and came with a brain freeze. He was not brave enough to try Strawberries on Fire (strawberries with jalapenos) - doesn't like spicy. And, of course, he drank all the sodas. Coke products only. Turns out, adding limes and mint to a regular Coke makes it uber tasty. Key West cooler ($5.50) - really really good, more sour than sweet. The adult version of this drink is called the Ultimate Cooler ($10). What we really LOVED about this cruise is that room service is FREE (some food items have a price, but a lot of snacks and dishes are free), so if you have a drink package, you can just order the drinks to be delivered to your room or location for free. You can choose on your TV who is ordering (make sure it's the person with the drink package or else) and then order away. During busy times, however, it takes about 30 minutes, but you can order several drinks at once so you don't have to do it again. Hint: don't order the Sunshine daquiri to be delivered to your room. It will be completely melted on arrival. Also, Zero Mojito was not available to order on TV, and it wasn't on the bar menus. But it exists, and it's great. Another hint: when your kid orders himself some drinks while out and about on the Lido deck, the waitress will only ask for the room number. It will then get charged to an adult without the drink package. You will then have to go to the GS to remove it. Waiters at the buffet were a lot better at this - you tell them the kid has a package, and they don't charge it to an adult.

you can see all the patters posted in my topic. All the shows were at 7:30 and 9:30 every day. Show up about 9 or before 9 to get seats/good seats. 🙂

I must report that we wore masks on our cruise last week when indoors, unless actively eating. Very few people did the same. Some of the crew members wore masks as well. We also wore them on our flights. A gentleman on the same flight with us even asked for one - we had plenty of extra masks (a pack of 50). We didn't get covid this time, and it is all that counts.

a SMALL case doesn't work for us. All of the meds - prescription and OTC, first aid (DS tends to get injured while horsing around), a fortune in bandaids, all the vitamins and minerals (especially magnesium), all the cough syrups, ointments and hydrocortisone, thermometer, oximeter, stomach meds, etc. Next thing you know - we have 5 (!) gallon sized plastic zipper bags which go into a separate backpack... 4 prior to the pandemic, since we didn't need a bag just for cough drops and cough syrups. I had a horrible cough when I got covid on our last cruise. It was so bad that muscle in my entire body were hurting from expanding and contracting so much. Not the same as body aches - this was on top of the body aches. So, I consumed a ton of cough drops with 12 hour dextromethorphan pills just to get me through the day or night. P.S. I now also bring plastic gloves to use at the buffet. I've seen many many times when people sneezed right into their hand and then went on to use public utensils to get food at the buffet. No, thank you. P.P.S. We've been using lysol wipes to wipe the entire cabin ever since we started traveling with a kid...

Dinner in Dominica... I don't know what happened, but I apparently only took a picture of the divine Double Baked Goat Cheese Souffle. It is my favorite. I get two... Next time I'll get three. In 2019 Princess decided we didn't want or need this appetizer on Regal. I was very upset. P.S. DH and DS don't like it. More for me, right? The mushroom soup was great - very much liked by DH and me. DS hates mushrooms, so he was complaining the entire time we were enjoying our soups, saying that he could smell the mushrooms... I think DH also had the scallop app - it was good. I also had the tenderloin (medium) - amazing (sans Romesco sauce), and DH had Trout (very nice). DH also loves gnocchi, so he ordered them as well. They were in a tomato sauce with chunks of gorgonzola cheese (which is just like blue cheese). Yeah, no. No go. Awful. No.

If you see a White Opera cake during your sailing, please promise me you will try it. It's exquisite.

OK, so this next post is going to be a hodgepodge of a couple of menus and random buffet dessert offerings from the day above: DH says this cake was pretty good: I think these are the sugar free grapefruit tarts. Coffee shop menu next to the International Cafe (I think the same menu is at the Horizon bistro coffee spot and maybe the one by Princess Live): Since we had OBC to burn through, I had a latte every day - something I don't do at home at all. I tried Chocolate Cookie Latte, Butter Pecan Latte and Vanilla Bean Latte (all iced) - all were very good (and very sweet), but unless you tried them side by side, they all tasted the same. When I tried Vanilla Bean Latte and Chocolate Cookie Latte side by side, I could definitely tell the difference. I also tried a Chocolate Mint Cappuccino hot, and it was good, but very little mint. At home I use sugar free Coffee Mate Peppermint Mocha creamer and it is my favorite - it has a much more pronounced mint flavor than Princess'. Unfortunately, the only sugar free syrup they have is not flavored. But we only cruise twice a year, so I overdose on sugar on every cruise and hope that it doesn't push my A1C into oblivion. Pssst, it does. We didn't try anything from the left side of the menu: