Dec 4
As I have regularly said, Scotty and I are ship people, rather than port people. But will still disembark long enough to see the shops at the pier. No sightseeing in Grand Turk for us.
I was up at about 9AM to head to the Neptune lounge to post yesterday's blog, and check e-mail and Facebook. Not trying to keep up with work or anything, but I don't like to feel totally isolated. I discovered a wonderful layout of fruit and breads. Two great cups of coffee later and I was ready to return to the room to wake Scotty up.
She was up, on her first cup of coffee and I could smell the bacon and eggs she had ordered for breakfast. Don't know why, but we ate in the room (I had a fruit plate), rather than on the balcony. Some times we just don't think about it, no matter how much we enjoy it.
Dressed and headed to the disembarkation station. Along the way, I discovered that the ship's crew was continuing to put up Christmas decorations. Today was the trees. There are several pictures of them below. The one in the main Atrium is the largest and suspended from the ceiling over the Atrium Bar. I have a couple of shots of it in process …
Then we headed outside. Gorgeous day! Here's the pictures of the ship from the pier and the entrance to the cruise terminal.
Grand Turk has done an outstanding job of creating a wonderful place for their cruise passengers. There's a beautiful white sand beach, a huge swimming pool, and many many shops. Here's a picture of Scotty under a shop sign I found pretty amusing.
It's the normal cruise stuff for sale … trinkets, liquor and cigarettes duty-free, jewelry, and the ever-present Margaritaville. We browsed for about an hour and headed back to the ship.
Took our lunch at the Lido buffet again. We hit the pasta bar this time. Made-to-order sauce, with a wide choice of mix-ins. And pizza. Not like home, but not bad either.
So what does one do on ship when in port? We took a nap! I'm not sure what Scotty did, but I slept for 2 wonderful hours! Pulled the curtains shut so there was no light and was immediately out. No the ship wasn't rocking, like at night … in fact, we've hit pretty calm seas now … but I still fell asleep right away … perhaps the sun and sea air?!?!
After nap time, I went looking for Scotty. Found her in the Crow's Nest. A wonderful lounge/bar at the very bow of the ship that has one of the best views aboard. We watched and listened as the Cruise Director played team trivia … I might have helped a team win, but we had entered late, so just watched. BTW, who wrote “Twinkle, twinkle, little star?” (Answer in tomorrow's blog).
I then headed down to sit in on Microsoft Windows Live Movie Maker class. Actually didn't know much about this product and so I picked up a few things. Frank, the “techspert” had wanted to see my Kindle Fire anyway, so we had a nice chat. Turns out HAL has an exclusive contract with Microsoft … at least for the next three years … for these classes. After that, Frank guesses other cruise lines will come knocking on Microsoft's door. Perhaps I've found something I could do to cruise and earn a little money???
Then dinner. Here's a picture of the menu. Don't know if you can enlarge it to read it, but you get an idea of how extensive it is. Different every night and this doesn't even include dessert.
Tonight I had the eggplant caponata … not made the way I make it, but not bad. Then an arugula and pear salad with balsamic dressing … YUM. Followed by “pot roast”. That's what the menu called it, but my pot roast has never had the depth of flavors or the presentation that this pot roast did.
We also had a complimentary glass of champagne as the captain's way of apologizing for missing Half Moon Cay. We are also being refunded $18.75 (woo hoo!) for the port taxes that didn't get collected because we didn't dock. Interesting.
Returned to our room after dinner because, even with a nap, we are tired. I suited up and headed for the spa. The last time I wrote about the hydrotherapy pool, I said I was a prune. Tonight I was a noodle. It's the best way I can think of to relax prior to bed.
Here are the rest of the pics of Christmas decorations I took today:
With a tip of the hat to Budget Travel Magazine, here's cruise tip # 5
5. Internet phone services like Vonage can be programmed to send transcribed voice mails to your e-mail in-box. That way, you can check your home answering machine quickly at an Internet cafe without paying insane roaming fees on your cell. The transcriptions won't always be perfect, but you will get the gist.
I can vouch for this one. I use Vonage and I do get my voice-mail transcribed into my e-mail in-box. Even with George at home catching most of the phone calls, I feel like I still can stay in touch. And yes, the cell phone roaming charges are exorbitant. If you are planning a cruise, tell family and friends you can check e-mail intermittently, but not to plan on phone calls. I purchase an Internet time package (about $.40/min when purchased in bulk) Then I sign on … download e-mail … sign off … compose e-mails and blog posts … then sign back on and upload. It's as efficient with your minutes as you can be and still stay in touch.
Tomorrow is La Samana in the Dominican Republic. And tip # 6.
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