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Princess Cays, Bahamas

Marc — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 13:30:03 +0000

Princess’ version of Labadee, this private resort area is located on Eleuthra Island in the Bahamas. There are free lounge chairs available, or you can rent a pair under a clamshell shade for $25. You can also rent sailboats, water bikes, beach mats, and snorkel gear, just like in Labadee. The snorkeling here is much better, though [...]

Labadee, Haiti

Marc — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 13:30:43 +0000

Labadee is Royal Caribbean’s private resort area on the north coast of Haiti, and most of RCCL’s Western Caribbean cruises feature a stop here. If you choose to take a tender ashore here, you’ll find plenty of free lounge chairs that look just like the ones on the ship. You can order drinks from the [...]

Turnaround Day

Danielle — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:20:01 +0000

Once fellow passengers find out we’ve been on the ship for more than one cruise, we are often asked: “Do you have to get off?” Yes and no. “Pack your stuff?” No. “Change cabins?” No. (Careful planning on my part.) On turnaround days (as they’re called by the crew), ships must disembark all guests and have a zero passenger count [...]

The Kids Zone

Marc — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 21:38:20 +0000

All the large cruise ships have an area designated for children, where they can participate in supervised activities while the grownups can enjoy a break from them. So far, this has been major factor in keeping us all sane. (well, at least not any more insane) The cruise lines give these areas catchy names like Explorers, [...]

Maho Beach, St. Martin

Marc — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 13:16:17 +0000

Maho doesn’t have a lot of the things beachgoers usually look for. The beach is often very small, depending on the tides, there are no watersports rentals and only a handful of lounge chairs. The attraction here is its unusual location: right at the end of the runway of Princess Juliana Airport. The beach side bar [...]

Lobster Night (Again)

Marc — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 13:00:19 +0000

A cruise director once quipped, “If you work hard, it’s possible to eat 27 meals a day on this ship!” When most people think of cruising, they think of eating – and some people definitely seem to be trying to eat their money’s worth (or more). Before we left, one of my buddies told me, “Dude, [...]

Life’s a Beach

Marc — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 17:25:30 +0000

We’ve been blogging a lot about our experiences aboard the cruise ships, but little about what we do on all the islands we visit. Yes, we do get off the ship every once in awhile, sometimes visiting some ruins or other attractions. But usually, we just go to the beach! Over the next couple of weeks [...]

What Not to Wear

Marc — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 13:00:47 +0000

After visiting a few of the best beaches in the Caribbean, I have this to say to all of the other middle-aged men out there:

Pirate School

Marc — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 13:00:29 +0000

I think nearly everyone we’ve met on these cruises has asked us the same question, in various forms. After making some kind remark about the girls, they’ll say something like: “So, is it a school holiday?” “Taking a break from school, are we?” or the more direct, “Why aren’t you girls in school?” We usually take the easy route [...]

Halloween at Sea

Marc — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 13:00:24 +0000

No trick-or-treating this year, but plenty of jack o lanterns to fill the piazza on Emerald Princess. The girls got to make some cute little Halloween crafts. They had to improvise their costumes, both choosing to dress up as zombies. (or Goth teenagers – equally scary) I wonder what Thanksgiving will be like…