Cruise on the Crown Princess Jan-Feb 2012
We booked our cruise through Altair Travel and per our documents got a 4 category upgrade to the Aloha Deck. It was going to be our first time in an inside stateroom so the higher deck was a nice perk.
We checked in to our hotel, the Ramada Airport/Cruiseport and then quickly got ready to head out on the water. Jim and Warren picked us up and off we went to Las Olas where we boarded the Carrie B for a Ft. Lauderdale harbor tour.
http://www.carriebcruises.com/
Afterwards, we went to dinner at the Floridian, of Rachel Ray fame. We sat outside and soaked in the sun. Warren and Jim then took us to shop at Total Wine and more. We picked up case of wine to bring a long. The list included bottles of Cardinal Zin, Flichman Malbec Reserve, Gumdale Shirax, Evans and Tate Shiraz, Porta Cabernet, and others. We also packed on a bottle of Largo Bay spiced rum.
Shortly after our arrival, we found we had two special gifts from Terry Pickles. First, a bottle of Kenwood Sauvignon Blanc and also chocolate dipped strawberries. We also met our room steward Edgardo. We gave him an upfront to tip to insure we would be kept in clean wine glasses each day.
We love Princess Cay, the cruise ship private island. We enjoyed a wonderful beach day with lots of swimming, snorkeling. I had a Bahama Bay Breeze and Carol had a Captain's Bounty while we soaked up the sun before it was time to go back to the ship.
January 30th, our first day at sea, we decided to go ahead and join the wine tasting. We tested 6 premium wines, a Champagne Veuve Cliquot from France, a Pouilly Fuisse from France, a Simi Chardonnay, a Murrieta's Well from the US, a LuceDellaVite from Italy and a Robert Mondavi Cabernet from CA. Our first formal night, I made a new discovery, Limencello which came in to signature glasses. I loved it. That evening, in the Crooners Lounge, we enjoyed a Courvosiet brandy.
We docked in Curacao at mid day and set off with Jim and Warren to sight see and shop. We enjoyed photographing the interesting architecture of the island. We stopped on the way back to the ship and enjoyed a tasting of curacao as well as a blue curacao cocktail.
Later that evening, after dinner, we met Alyssa, her aunt and grandmother in the Wine Bar where we had our first glasses of Zinfandel Seghesio.
Our last port of call was Aruba, a place famous for its white sanyd beaches. We went to Eagle Beach which was not crowded at all. We rented two beach chairs and settled in. Before long, we thought we would try to ride the rather large, pounding waves that were crashing in to shore. After being turned upside down and losing our sunglasses, we retreated back to our chairs. It was a windy day and the clouds circled darkly and dropped a few showers on us but nothing to amount to much.
This was Warren's BD, which was Feb 1st, we dined at Sabinitini, the Italian speciality restaurant.
One of the cool things on Princess are movies under the stars. You sit in a pool lounge up on the top deck and they put on flannels and bring around milk and cookies. We saw Moneyball one night and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows another night.
We ended our cruise with two very relaxing sea days as we sailed back to Ft. Lauderdale. We enjoyed relaxing at the pool, with a Mojito by our side.
We checked in to our hotel, the Ramada Airport/Cruiseport and then quickly got ready to head out on the water. Jim and Warren picked us up and off we went to Las Olas where we boarded the Carrie B for a Ft. Lauderdale harbor tour.
http://www.carriebcruises.com/
Afterwards, we went to dinner at the Floridian, of Rachel Ray fame. We sat outside and soaked in the sun. Warren and Jim then took us to shop at Total Wine and more. We picked up case of wine to bring a long. The list included bottles of Cardinal Zin, Flichman Malbec Reserve, Gumdale Shirax, Evans and Tate Shiraz, Porta Cabernet, and others. We also packed on a bottle of Largo Bay spiced rum.
Shortly after our arrival, we found we had two special gifts from Terry Pickles. First, a bottle of Kenwood Sauvignon Blanc and also chocolate dipped strawberries. We also met our room steward Edgardo. We gave him an upfront to tip to insure we would be kept in clean wine glasses each day.
We love Princess Cay, the cruise ship private island. We enjoyed a wonderful beach day with lots of swimming, snorkeling. I had a Bahama Bay Breeze and Carol had a Captain's Bounty while we soaked up the sun before it was time to go back to the ship.
January 30th, our first day at sea, we decided to go ahead and join the wine tasting. We tested 6 premium wines, a Champagne Veuve Cliquot from France, a Pouilly Fuisse from France, a Simi Chardonnay, a Murrieta's Well from the US, a LuceDellaVite from Italy and a Robert Mondavi Cabernet from CA. Our first formal night, I made a new discovery, Limencello which came in to signature glasses. I loved it. That evening, in the Crooners Lounge, we enjoyed a Courvosiet brandy.
We docked in Curacao at mid day and set off with Jim and Warren to sight see and shop. We enjoyed photographing the interesting architecture of the island. We stopped on the way back to the ship and enjoyed a tasting of curacao as well as a blue curacao cocktail.
Later that evening, after dinner, we met Alyssa, her aunt and grandmother in the Wine Bar where we had our first glasses of Zinfandel Seghesio.
Our last port of call was Aruba, a place famous for its white sanyd beaches. We went to Eagle Beach which was not crowded at all. We rented two beach chairs and settled in. Before long, we thought we would try to ride the rather large, pounding waves that were crashing in to shore. After being turned upside down and losing our sunglasses, we retreated back to our chairs. It was a windy day and the clouds circled darkly and dropped a few showers on us but nothing to amount to much.
This was Warren's BD, which was Feb 1st, we dined at Sabinitini, the Italian speciality restaurant.
One of the cool things on Princess are movies under the stars. You sit in a pool lounge up on the top deck and they put on flannels and bring around milk and cookies. We saw Moneyball one night and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows another night.
We ended our cruise with two very relaxing sea days as we sailed back to Ft. Lauderdale. We enjoyed relaxing at the pool, with a Mojito by our side.
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