Wet deck chairs

The decks were completely flooded

The cabin is dry and comfortable

Well the good news is the ship has lots of great places to eat and things to watch and do.

6:00 pm Update. I am still delayed. The winds are too strong to move the ship away from the dock. The winds could bash the ship into the dock or hit something leaving the port. 🌊🛳️

Dinner in the Main Dining Room

Black Bean Soup

I usually don’t eat in the main dining room. Most ships try to be fancy and serve you a very gourmet dinner. \240Gourmet is not my style but I thought I would try it tonight just to see what Princess Cruises has to offer. I should have gone to the buffet. The soup was good but it went downhill quickly after that course.

Linguine with clam sauce. \240 \240 \240 \240 \240 \240 \240 \240(Not what I was hoping for)

The linguine in clam sauce had some grit in it, which is common when you’re dealing with clams. However, that started the downward turn into the main dish. \240Next was the fried chicken, which sounded amazing. I should’ve known that a bunch of cooks from foreign lands could not make American style fried chicken with biscuits and gravy.

Cajun Fried Chicken with coleslaw, biscuit, mashed potatoes and gravy. (Very Disappointing)

The menu description was promising but the actual product was just crap! \240The chicken had soggy breading with some unusual seasoning. \240The biscuit was so tiny and tasted nothing like a biscuit. I would like to meet the person that labeled this thing as a biscuit. \240It was the size of an Oreo and flavorless. You know it’s a bad meal when the best item on the plate was the coleslaw. \240

Tiny flat “biscuit” 🙄

In my next life, I’m gonna train cruise ship chefs on how to cook. \240Overall the meal was a 5/10. I am always disappointed in main dining room food on cruises but I’m not giving up. I’m going to try it a few more times and see if I can find anything worth eating in the main dining room over the next 14 days.

Premium Dessert

I turned down the dessert menu in the main dining room, and ventured out to the center of the ship. There I found a place called Gelato. The dessert there saved the evening. \240With two premium desserts included in my fare per day, this could be a dangerous place for me. Definitely not low carb but definitely good! 😬

Merry Christmas 🎅🏻

Now for some entertainment? \240Nope I skipped the magician and headed back to my cabin to get some rest. The magic show will have performances several times during the next two weeks so I will check it out then.

Maybe when I wake up, the ship will actually have left the dock in Fort Lauderdale. As I write this, they are still waiting for the winds to calm down so that we can leave port. Unfortunately, the weather forecast for the next week. is not looking good. The El Niño in the Pacific is affecting weather all over the world. What makes a mild winter for the Pacific Northwest brings rain and storms to the east coast and the Bahamas. But one of the best things about cruising is that you can always find something to do even when the weather is bad. 🪄

Plan for Tomorrow

If we make it out of port tonight, we are scheduled to go to Princess Cay tomorrow. It’s supposed to be a beach day. I will not be sitting in the sun, but I might find a shady spot under a coconut tree to relax a little, \240that is if there is any sun. 🌞☀️⛅️ If there is, I plan on taking lots of pictures to make you all jealous. \240Good night from a rainy Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Days 1-2 The Journey so Far

Sometime last night the ship set sail. I was supposed to wake up this morning ready to disembark onto a tropical island but that won’t happen. Lots of things can alter a cruise itinerary. The captain announced late last night that the itinerary was going to change due to the weather. The scheduled day at Princess Cay (private island) was not possible because they have to tender people to the island in small boats. This process would’ve been too dangerous due to the ocean swells. So the captain announced that he is taking us somewhere else for a “scenic cruise” in some calmer waters.

Weather Radar for Florida

Breakfast in the Buffet

The buffet on this ship is huge and has so many different choices. I had breakfast there this morning and I was really impressed. Insider tip: Get up early and enjoy the ship. There are no lines in the buffet, all the food was fresh and hot.

I forgot to take a picture of my breakfast but I did get some pictures of the buffet.

Multiple lines of food with anything you can think of for breakfast

Sausages, breakfast burritos, fried eggs and much much more

A small part of the pastries available

What a difference a day makes!

2:00pm Ship Time

The sun is out and the cruise is on! \240The pools are packed with people watching the NFL games and there are food and drinks everywhere.

🕶️☀️😎

People everywhere, hard to find a chair on the deck

Last night was rough the ship was rocking and rolling, but we finally got away from the stormy weather. I had the buffet for lunch today. It was hard to choose what to eat because of the amazing variety of foods. My choices really didn’t go together, but it still tasted great. It reminded me of the Swanson TV dinners I had as a kid. Lots of peas and carrots.

Bacon and Corn Chowder

Swanson “TV Dinner” Buffet Lunch

Princess Live Lounge

Now for some trivia in Princess Live. \240Trivia competitions happen many times per day covering different subjects. The prizes for winning are very minimal. Yet people get very competitive. Today they gave out a drink coaster as the first place prize. \240Yes you read that right a coaster!

Princess Live Event Area

Trivia Challenge

“Mystic Margarita”

There is a strict limit of 15 drinks per day included in my cruise fare. \240No joke! \240Hard for me to imagine drinking 15 drinks in a day. That could be my drink limit for the entire 14 day cruise.

——Free Pizza——

All of the cruises I have been on have free pizza almost all day long. Princess is no exception. They have a poolside stand called Slices. The Pizza there is excellent! \240Way better than the other cruise lines by far. Great crust, cheese and toppings.

Sausage, Black Olive & Onion Pizza by Slices on Sky Princess

Tonight’s Entertainment

Rock Opera

Rock Opera

Tonight the entertainment was Rock Opera a Princess Cruises original show. \240The show has iconic rock songs performed with live music and amazing vocalists.

Outstanding Epic Rock Music - Cast

This was a great show full of epic hit music from the 1960’s through the 1980’s. The theater was completely packed.

The Piazza

The Piazza - Central Hub

Live Music all Day in the Piazza

The Piazza is in the center of the ship. It is surrounded by shops, bars and restaurants. There is always something happening there. Live music or other performances start early in the morning and go late into the night. \240It is the place to just hang out while having a snack and visiting with others.

The captain took the ship \240to the south side of Cuba to avoid the bad weather to the north. So far it is working.

Sky Princess

Sky Princess - Princess Cruises

Guest Capacity: 3,660 passengers

Tonnage: 141,000

Builder: Fincantieri Italy

Naming Ceremony: December 3, 2019 (Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA)

U.S. Maiden Voyage:  December 4, 2019 (Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA)

Length: 1,083 feet / 330 meters

Height: 217 feet / 66.1 meters

Breadth: 126 feet / 38.4 meters

Maximum Speed: 22 knots

Number of Decks: 19

Guest Staterooms: 1,830 total

Open Ocean & Formal Night

After spending most of the day in a secluded area we are now back in the ocean headed for Puerto Rico. The ship is rocking and rolling again, and it’s actually quite cold on board. If you wanna warm up, you have to go outside into the wind. The ships air-conditioning system normally would be struggling to keep a cool inside but now it has turned the entire ship into a refrigerator.

Tonight there are multiple forms of entertainment available. A comedian, a music impersonator \240and multiple other smaller acts all over the ship. \240Tonight is also a formal night so most of the passengers are dressed to the hilt. As long as you don’t go to the main dining room, you do not have to dress up, but it seems a little awkward to be walking around in shorts when all the men around you are in a tuxedo. \240I normally just go to the buffet on these nights, and stay away from the crowds. \240A lot of people really like the formal nights. They have photographers all over the ship, taking pictures of families and couples.

———————————

My Alcoholic Drink Count for Today

1/15

My Coffee Drink Count for Today

5+/???

I think I am addicted ☕️☕️☕️☕️☕️

——————————————

—A High Tech Ship —

Princess Medallion engraved with your name, and the date of the sailing

Panel Outside of my Cabin

Princess cruises uses a device called a medallion for all of the passengers on board. The medallion is a quarter sized disc that uses RFID and Bluetooth technology to automate basic transactions on board. This includes opening your cabin door, paying for anything (including gambling in the casino 🤑) and controlling the other technology located throughout the ship. \240When you have your medallion on, and you walk up to your cabin door, the panel outside your room recognizes your medallion and it automatically unlocks your cabin door. \240It can also be used to pay for things on board and the crew know exactly where you are at all times. So in the Princess app, you can order food drinks, or other items, and have them delivered to you wherever you are on the ship. 😱 \240Seamless and scary all at the same time! \240If you lose the medallion, they can deactivate it and replace it with a new one. Also, when you use it at a cashier, your photo pops up on the screen so they know it is actually you trying to buy something.

Princess Theatre Tonight

Vocalist Don Ellis Gatlin

Don Ellis Gatlan was the musical artist in the theater tonight. \240He is a vocal impersonator singing a variety of hit songs. I was not impressed…. The people that were on drink #12 or more were way more impressed than I was. 🙊🎤

Wouldn’t be a cruise without a towel animal or two!

Those of you that have cruised before know that each evening your cabin steward leaves you a fun little gift made out of towels. Today my cabin attendant left me two animals. The elephant was on top of the light and a turtle was on my bed.

Towel Elephant

Towel Turtle

Movies on the Deck

Each night they show a movie on the big screen by the pool. Tonight it was Top Gun Maverick.

Top Gun by the Pool

The ship was rocking so much tonight that the pools had waves. The kids in the pool thought this was wonderful. The unadvertised wave pool was a huge hit!

🌊 🌊 🤪

Next Port - San Juan, Puerto Rico

🇵🇷

I have my first excursion tomorrow in San Juan. I have never been to Puerto Rico before and I am very keen to see what this US territory is like. The weather forecast is for a warm sunny day. 😎

Day 4 in Puerto Rico.

(I am pretty sure that the ship went around the land, not as depicted by the map above). 🤔

Todays port of call is San Juan Puerto Rico. \240The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is a Free Associated State and an unincorporated territory of the United States. \240Residents \240are all American citizens with English and Spanish as the official languages and the American dollar as their currency. \240Spanish is the primary language used here. They also use a mixture of Imperial and metric system units. \240Gasoline is sold in liters. The price while I was here was $.82 per liter. That works out to be just over $3.00 per gallon. \240The road signs show the speed in kilometers per hour yet they refer to distances in miles. They also use a mix of Celsius in Fahrenheit for temperature depending on what they are measuring. \240

The Spanish Empire, Puerto Rico and the USA flags over the castle

An excursion around San Juan this morning. First stop the Castillo San Cristóbal. \240A castle fortress built by Spain in 1783. The fortress covers 27 acres and was successful in preventing attacks on San Juan. It was the largest fortification built by Spain in the New World.

Walls of Castillo San Cristóbal

Prisoners in the fort wrote messages and drew pictures of ships on the walls of the dungeon cells. Spain considered anyone that attacked to be pirates.

🏴‍☠️ 🏴‍☠️ 🏴‍☠️

Iguanas are everywhere in PR. Brown are indigenous and green are invasive. Nobody seems to like them except as food. I am told they taste like chicken. 😂. \240 \240🐓🐓🐓

Lots of ammunition for the cannons. These are real and I watched a lady move one. She almost rolled it right onto her foot. 👀

Sleeping quarters for the soldiers in the fortress. The fortress had beds for 400 soldiers but they had to share. When you were on duty someone else was probably sleeping in your bed.

\240 \240 \240 Beautiful views from the castle

San Juan, founded in 1521 by Spanish settlers. The city has old and a new sections. Old San Juan reminds me of European cities. There are a lot of narrow streets filled with shops and brightly painted buildings. They even charge you $3 to use the bathrooms in the businesses if you are not a customer.

In 1493, on his second voyage to the Americas, Christopher Columbus discovered Puerto Rico, an island that he named San Juan Bautista.

Old San Juan

The architecture is a combination of Spanish, French and Dutch

Puerto Rico’s Capitol Building

My lunch was in a small restaurant in Old San Juan called La Madre. I had a watermelon drink, pozole and a burrito. The food was excellent!

Watermelon Juice

Pozole - Already spicy but comes with red pepper flakes and lime.

Steak and Rice Burrito

Post Lunch/Pre-Dinner Meal

and a Drink

A slice of pizza and a piña colada

The piña colada is the official cocktail of Puerto Rico. That means I’m obligated by law to have one. 😐

Beautiful Day! \240Tomorrow Grand Turk

Map of the Journey so Far

The Turks and Caicos Islands are a British Overseas Territory consisting of the larger Caicos Islands and smaller Turks Islands, two groups of tropical islands. We will reach Grand Turk today around noon. \240This will be our first beach day due to the cancelation of our visit to Princess Cay. People are already lathering up in sun block.

We could see the Grand Turk Port 👀🏝️ Unfortunately, the weather has struck again! \240They made two attempts to dock in Grand Turk but due to the 35 knot winds they could not bring the ship alongside for a safe and successful docking. So this port has been canceled as well. I have been on a lot of cruises and never encountered this. It is a real bummer! \240We could see the port, but it was a no go ☹️ \240That is two canceled ports out of three so far. We are now headed for our final stop this week, Amber Cove in the Dominican Republic. The forecast for Amber Cove is a 100% chance of rain. 💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩.

This first week of my two week cruise has been a mess. I am hoping that the weather will straighten out for the second week.

So no beach day again. Just a crowded day around the pool. \240I really cruise for the destinations not the pool so this has been extremely disappointing so far.

Sky Walk

The Sky Walk is an area of the Lido deck on the 16th floor where you can walk on glass and see down below yourself 16 stories to the ocean below. \240I seems that the glass is not as strong as some people may think. \240Today, I noticed that one of the sections was roped off and had been covered with metal. Turns out that it broke! Nobody was hurt but now everyone is avoiding walking on the remaining sections of the Sky Walk. 😳😳😳

Afternoon Flooding

When I left my cabin to go to the main dining room for dinner, I went across the Lido Deck and it was completely flooded. There were places where there was over an inch of standing water. It was kind of a shock because I didn’t even know that it had rained. 💧💧💧

Main Dining Room - Take 2

I went to the main dining room again tonight. This time I had potstickers for the first course. They were really good. Then I had a small portion of spaghetti bolognese for the pasta course. \240The pasta was ok nothing special. For the entree I had turkey breast with sweet potato and green beans. This was not good! \240The turkey was dry and tough, the green beans were almost raw and the sweet potatoes, (what there was of them) were just strange. \240See if you can locate the sweet potato on my plate in the third picture below).

Pot Stickers 9/10

Spaghetti Bolognese 6/10

Turkey Breast with green beans and sweet potato. 3/10

For dessert I chose the apple pie ala mode. Really too sweet and the apple filling was too firm. Several of the desserts I have had on board were extremely sweet.

Apple Pie ala Mode

Overall another main dining room disappointment. Total score for this meal 6/10.

Princess Theater Entertainment

In the theater tonight is a group called Legends Live a tribute to iconic musical legends from the Beatles to Bruno Mars. \240I hate to be overly critical of cruise entertainment, but I think I would be more impressed if I drank a lot. 🎤🎤🎤

Legends Live

Tomorrow’s Port ???

Will we make it to Amber Cove? Will we sail past it? Will we get to get off the ship or suffer another sea day?

Based on the current weather I wouldn’t bet on making it. \240Amber Cove may be another drive by port. \240People onboard are frustrated but trying to make the best of the situation. \240Winds are very strong, right now 40 knots. I tried to go outside to walk to the front of the ship but the wind was blowing so hard I could barely open the door. \240I decided to stay on the inside and work my way to the other end of the ship through the interior hallways. 🌊☔️🌪️🌨️

Late Night Party

The late night deck party “Back to the 80’s was moved into the Piazza. A lot of people of all ages attended and had a good time.

Back to the 80’s Party Video

Day 6 - Amber Cove D.R.

Well we made it and they were able to dock. The winds have diminished but there is still intermittent rain showers. I even saw the sun for about 10 minutes today.

Amber Cove is owned by Carnival Corporation, the parent company of Princess Cruises.

Just like Princess Cay, this port is owned and operated by the Carnival Corporation the parent company of Princess Cruises. It is a nice, clean and safe place. \240Prices here are no bargain because the cruise line is the operator of the facility. There are shopping areas, bars, and restaurants on one side and a water park on the other side. Access to the pool area is free.

Amber Cove sign with the Sky Princess in the background

I had lunch here at a restaurant in the port.

Guava Smoothie

Ahi Fish and Chips

Lunch was good. The fish was perfect with a light breading. After I was finished, I had a Dominican Republic coffee. The coffee was very flavorful and strong.

Dominican grown Coffee

Merry Christmas!

Sky Princess in Port

Amber with Termite Inside

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

Amber Cove gets its name from the precious stone known as Amber. Amber is petrified tree resin and can sometimes include remnants of plants or animals. (AKA Jurassic Park) The Amber found in the Dominican Republic is some of the highest quality found in the world. It comes in many colors including, the well-known Amber color, as well as reds, greens and extremely rare blue color. \240The blue Amber is only found here in the Dominican Republic. Of course, they sell very expensive amber jewelry at all of the stores here.

Princess Entertainment

Spotlight Bar

Spotlight Bar

Spotlight Bar is a production show that is another Princess original. Patrons in the fictional Spotlight Bar tell their stories through song and dance. \240A musical version of Cheers? This was a good show!

Dinner at Specialty Restaurant

Sabatini’s Italian Tratoria

Tonight I am dining at one of the three specialty restaurants on board the ship. Sabatini’s Italian.

Ciabatta bread with Oil and Arancini with marinara sauce 5/10

Ribollita Soup - Eccellente 10/10

Manzanilla - Decorative food that looks better than it tastes. \240No Michelin stars here. 1/10

Linguine alla Carbonara 9/10

Lasagna Bolognese Al Forno

To much bechamel sauce not enough tomato sauce. Tasted like eating a block of cream cheese between layers of pasta. \2402/10

This was supposed to be Tiramisu. It simply was not. Not on any planet! \240-1/10. A lot of decoration but no Tiramisu 🥺

Overall Impression of this Restaurant

7/10

————————

The service was outstanding. My waiter worked very hard to make sure I was taken care of. I’m sure he wondered why I kept taking pictures of the food and making notes. \240🕵️‍♂️🕵️‍♂️🕵️‍♂️

The \240food was lacking big time with a couple of exceptions. They seemed mostly interested in the appearance of the food over the taste. \240I was looking forward to this restaurant, and I was disappointed in the meal

Credit for Disruption of Voyage

Today I recieved credit of $75.00 plus a refund of port fees and taxes for the missed time at Grand Turk. \240So there was that. I did not request the credit. Everyone automatically received the credit as a refund to their ship account. 💰💰💰

Last Day of the first Week

Well, the first six days have just flown by up till now. A lot of time was spent on the ship rocking and rolling with rain soaked decks. Tomorrow is day seven and the end of the first week of my two week voyage. \240Tomorrow is also a sea day. We will end up in Fort Lauderdale early on Saturday morning. \240Most of the passengers will disembark but I will remain on board. I do have to move to a different room but I get to stay on the ship. The next week of the cruise goes to the western Caribbean with stops in Roatan in Honduras, \240Belize City in Belize and both Cozumel and Costa Maya in Mexico. (That is weather permitting) 🤞

Day 7 - At Sea

Today we sail north back towards Florida. Tomorrow we will reach port in Fort Lauderdale. This will be a turnaround day. Current passengers will get off and new passengers will get on. Normally that would be the end of the cruise for me too but this year I had the opportunity to extend the cruise for another seven days. So instead of leaving the ship tomorrow I am considered a “passenger in transit”. I will remain on board in a designated area with other transit passengers while the ship is cleared, cleaned and readied for the next voyage. I will be changing cabins tomorrow, so tonight I have to pack up everything and coordinate with my cabin attendant. They will take care of my change of cabins in the morning.

As for the rest of today, the ships activities continue. I ordered brunch in my cabin this morning/afternoon and I plan on venturing out later for some of the fun.

Dinner Tonight - Alfredo’s

Alfredo’s Pizzeria is considered a casual dining restaurant. Unlike the more upscale Sabatini’s Tratoria, where I ate last night, Alfredo’s offers mostly pizza with some appetizers and desserts. No reservations are required. There are three places on board where you can get pizza. The first is the buffet. \240The second is on the pool deck at a stand called Slices. And the third is Alfredo’s Pizzeria. Surprisingly, the pizza is very different at all three places. The buffet pizza is mostly for children. At Alfredos, pizza is their specialty and Slices offers a quick slice of pizza on the Lido deck. \240Out of these three, the best by far was Slices. \240I didn’t try to eat the pizza at the buffet, but by appearance alone, you could tell it wasn’t going to be outstanding pizza. \240I did have pizza from Alfredo’s and Slices, and there was no comparison. Alfredo‘s pizza was flavorless and boring. It seemed like there was no sauce on it. \240Slices on the other hand was hot, flavorful and with an outstanding crust. \240My advice eat at Slices on the Lido!!

Salad with Vinegar and Oil

Alfredo’s Pizza

No comments about the pineapple!

Alfredo’s Version of Tiramisu. Better than the one I had last night \240but still lacking flavor. I don’t think they put in any espresso or any liquor in it.

Red Sky at Night, Sailor’s Delight

Sunset was beautiful tonight! \240Too bad we haven’t seen much of it during this week.

Special Holiday Show

Sky Princess Senior Officers

Special Holiday Show in the theater tonight. It was really nice and there was standing room only!

Espresso Martini

Uh…Oh \240Martini Espresso

I have never been able to find alcoholic drinks that I like very much. That might have changed. I had heard of Espresso Martinis before but never tried one because I have tried regular martinis and I definitely did not like those. \240However, I really like coffee so when I saw that they had these on board I decided to try one. \240I must say they are really good. 🍸🍸🍸+☕️☕️☕️. What took so long to put these two things together?

This was my second drink of the day. I need to slow down and pace myself. \240I don’t want to be like those people they cut off at drink 15. 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫

Late Night ADULT Comedy Show

This should be interesting. Cruise ship comedians can be a little raw and over the top. Tonight’s Comedian is Scott Henry

We did a big loop

Today ( 12/23) I am back in Ft. Lauderdale for a turnaround day. Most of the people I’ve been sailing with for the last week are finished with their cruise and will disembark. I on the other hand am lucky enough to remain on board for another week. \240I did need to change cabins this morning, and I moved \240from deck 16 to deck eight. I am already checked in to the new cruise and hopefully we will sail away on time this afternoon on a whole new itinerary. This week we are going to the western Caribbean including stops in Roatan, Belize, and two stops in Mexico. \240Hopefully the weather will be on our side.

Back out to Sea

The ship is loaded and we had a sail away party with much improved weather over last week. This cruise seems to have way more passengers than last week. \240We have a sea day tomorrow followed by a stop in Roatan, Honduras.

The Love Boat was filmed from 1977-1986 for 250 episodes. The exterior shots were mostly filmed on the ship MS Pacific Princess

The ship’s horn plays The Love Boat theme song as we leave ports

Day at Sea - Headed West

The first really beautiful day. The ship is at sea headed for Roatan, Honduras. We have a port day there tomorrow.

77 Degrees and Headed west to Roatan, Honduras

Buffet Breakfast with a View

Aft Wake View Pool in the Morning

Ocean Now - Delivery

One of the best features of my cruise package is Ocean Now. This uses your medallion and the app to request items be delivered to wherever you are at on the ship. Sitting by the pool and feeling thirsty? \240You can order a drink and some sunscreen just to be safe. \240And if you have either the Princess Plus or Premium Package most of the items are included.

Ocean Now lets you order food, drinks or just about anything you would like and have it delivered to your location

Ultimate Cooler

I had an ultimate cooler drink delivered to my chair by the pool. \240It has Absolut Vodka, watermelon syrup, passion fruit puree and cranberry juice just in case you want to make one.

Buffet for Dinner

Salad

Roast Beef with Baked Potato

Pecan Pie

So it’s a formal night tonight on board. . I am avoiding all of the fancy areas of the ship and eating in the buffet. \240I did sneak into the crowd in the Piazza to see the waterfall.

Sky Princess Captain Marco Fortezze

Champagne Waterfall

There was a champagne reception in the Piazza tonight. Captain Fortezze and his senior officers were introduced. Then they opened bottles of champagne and filled dozens of glasses by pouring the champagne into the top glass and letting it cascade down into the lower glasses in a champagne waterfall.

(Note: \240Some of the glasses had rose petals in them giving the glasses a hint of red)

Dog on my bed

After dinner, I came back to my cabin and found this sweet little dog on my bed. Along with the pup there was a holiday greetings card, and some mints. I need to get to sleep now, or Santa won’t come and visit me!

Cruise ship passenger enjoying the day.

Day Ten - Roatan

Roatan is an island with a population of 100,000 people off the coast of Honduras and over 1 million people visited each year. It is a part of the nation of Honduras and has two separate cruise ports. Our ship docked at a port called Coxen Hole south of the other cruise port. I booked a private tour of the island today. The weather in Roatan was beautiful. Temperatures reached the mid 80s. The humidity was a little higher than I’m used to at about 80% but being close to the ocean there was a cool breeze most of the time.

In Roatan on the way this Evening to Belize.

After docking, I proceeded into the port area and arranged for a private tour of the island. My tour included a stop at a wildlife sanctuary, where I saw up close the rescued animals that were living there. These animals could not live in the jungle on their own due to injuries or being taken as pets as babies. They are now used at this educational wildlife sanctuary to show tourists what these animals are like. These were the best selfies I’ve ever taken.

Scarlet Macaw Digging into my Scalp

Capuchin Monkey 🙉

Fred the Sloth

My new Friend Cynthia

I had an up close and personal experience with several of the jungle animals today. It was a great experience, as I have never been this close to these amazing animals before. Tomorrow while in Belize, I will get to experience howler monkeys. A howler monkey’s roar can be heard for up to three miles through the rainforest canopy. It’s the way they communicate and stake out there territory.

Christmas Buffet Dinner

The buffet was loaded with holiday specialties for dinner. There were just too many good looking things to choose from. I ate a lot of chilled shrimp had a fantastic lasagna, and tried mincemeat pie for dessert. All of it was good!

🍤 🍤 🍤 and 💪🏽 💪🏽

Mincemeat pie was my dessert, but strawberry cheesecake was a back up plan. I’m happy to announce that I did not need the back up plan and both desserts were wonderful!

The view from my balcony, as we were \240leaving Port on a beautiful evening in Roatan

It was an amazing day full of adventure adventures and great memories. In addition, I met some amazing new friends on board and enjoyed a great Christmas while traveling. I hope all my friends and family did as well! Merry Christmas 🎄🎁.

Day 11 Belize City - I have been busy!

The howler monkey sanctuary known as the Community Baboon Sanctuary (CBS) was founded on the 23rd February 1985 and is located on the northern coastal plain of Belize. \240The sanctuary has done amazing work to greatly increase the number of black howler monkeys in the reserve. They are an endangered species but their numbers are increasing. \240The name of the sanctuary can be a bit confusing as baboon is the creole word for monkey not the species known as baboons. I was able to visit this facility in Belize and see how they are working to preserve an amazing species.

Howler monkey groups are very territorial. They mark their territories with urine as they travel around the boundary, and communicate their presence with the howls that can travel for miles. They’re disputes with one another are mostly vocal. Although they can get physical, this rarely happens. They call out to their neighboring clans to warn them that they are too close to their territory. Here is a video I made of the roar of the howler monkey.

Recordings of howler monkey roars were used in the movie Jurassic Park as the sounds of dinosaurs. 🦕 It is an ominous sound that you feel throughout your body

Male Howler Monkeys are slightly bigger than a house cat, but a whole lot louder.

The Traditional Ways

The mosquito population in the forest of Belize is incredibly high. \240The locals make insect brooms from palm trees instead of using bug repellant. They use these like fly swatters to brush away the bugs. 🦟

Insect Broom Demonstration

\240 \240 \240 \240 \240 \240 \240 \240 \240 \240Threshing Rice by Hand

The unofficial national dish of Central and South America - Beans and Rice with Chicken. Everyone eat beans and rice and chicken but sometimes they substitute other meats for the chicken. Iguana meat is a popular choice.

Termite Nest in the Jungle

Leaf Cutter Ant Mound 🐜 🐜 🐜 🐜

I know some of you are missing my the joke of the day, so here are a few to relieve your stress.

Travel Jokes of the Day

Where do sharks like to go on vacation? Finland!

Where do hamsters like to go on vacation? Hamsterdam!

Where do bees like to go on vacation? Stingapore!

Where do cows like to go on vacation? \240 \240 Moo York!

Where do sheep like to go on vacation? \240 \240The same place I do. The Baa-hamas!

🤣🤣🤣

Next Port - Cozumel, Mexico

The next port of call will be Cozumel Mexico, where I will learn how to cook Mexican food with Tabasco’s Chef Maestro. It should be an amazing day!

Cozumel Today!

One of the best ways to learn about a culture is through its cuisine. Today I will cook a three course traditional Mexican meal, and learn how to prepare an authentic margarita under the tutelage of a Master. Chef. The lesson will take place at the Blu Cozumel facility.

Mexican Flag

Water Fall of Myan Temple

My excursion today started with a short van ride to Blu Cozumel. There we were greeted by the Tabasco Master Chef. We were there to learn how to cook authentic Mexican food. We prepared three courses - an appetizer, a main dish and a dessert. \240This was the best excursion I have ever been on from a cruise ship. \240I actually learned how to use some spices I’ve never heard of before, and some incredible techniques used in Mexican cooking. The chef was fun and entertaining and he took us through the process of making the food step-by-step. We actually made our own food. The chef did not do the cooking for us.

In the end, we were able to eat the meal we had prepared. The whole time we were there we were treated to an open bar and I think I can honestly say this was the most alcohol I had on this journey. In addition, they taught us how to make margaritas and another traditional drink made from rice three types of milk and tequila. \240I truly had a great time!

\240 \240 \240 \240 \240 \240 Tabasco Cooking School

Appetizer - Mexican Shrimp Cocktail

The Chef Explaining What to do

Eating and Drinking our Work

The Chef and I

Can you say Flambé?

I was not on fire despite what it may look like. 🔥 🔥 🔥 👨‍🍳

Dessert - Sugar Glazed Sweet Potato

I didn’t get any pictures of the main dish because I was too busy cooking, and setting things on fire. \240It was a pork dish that was marinated in seasonings and then cooked in banana leaves. We made the meat into tacos with some pickled onions that we also made.

After the cooking, I went back to the port to do a little shopping. Then onto the ship for the evening. The cooking (and drinking) in 88 degree heat with 90% humidity wore me out. Food coma.

😴💤💤💤

Day 13 - Cost Maya, Mexico

Myan Territory

Mayan Ruins - Chacohoben

The ancient Mayan civilization covered lands that now are in parts of five different countries.

Temple 24

As archaeologists uncovered the Mayan ruins, they numbered each location in the order they were excavated, and the numbers are still used as the names of each location today.

Stairs to the top of Temple 24

The temples were built layer upon layer, taller, and taller. They are not hollow, but some of them had a room at the top where offerings could be placed for the gods.

These walkways led to the top of Temple 1. Ritual offerings, and eventually human sacrifices were made to the gods from this site.

Temple 1

Temple 1

Only a very small portion of the thousands of ruins in the jungle have been excavated and opened to the public.

Partially exposed wall of a Mayan structure that has not been excavated. The jungle covered destroyed and preserved the ruins at the same time \240

Costa Maya - Beautiful Clear Waters

There were four cruise ships in port today including the Sky Princess, the Celebrity Celebration, a German cruise ship Mein Schiff 6, and Royal Caribbean’s Wonder of the Seas (The second largest cruise ship in the world) 🛳️ 🌎

The four ships in port have the potential of carrying over 20,000 passengers. That makes the little town kind of crowded.

Steak Nachos - I do not like fake cheese sauce! \240These were not very good. Tourist trap!

A massive margarita. I would not have ordered it if I knew it came in this kind of glass. It seems like I drank for half an hour, and the level never went down. \240It was still over half full when I was done. \240I’m not even sure how much I paid for it.

Flamingos at the Costa Maya Resort

This was my final port stop of my 14 day western Caribbean cruise. The time has flown by and it will soon be time to pack my things and go home. Tomorrow will be a sea day, and then the next day I will be back in Fort Lauderdale. \240Tonight I have a reservation at The Catch by Rudi the seafood restaurant on board. We will see how that goes.

Dinner - The Catch by Rudi

Display of Lobsters

Dinner this day at The Catch. This is the seafood restaurant on board. \240I am not a big fan of lobster, I like crab better. But tonight there was no crab on the menu so I went for the surf and turf.

Cioppino - Seafood Stew

If it swims it was in here! 🐟🐠🐡

The Cioppino was loaded with seafood. There was shrimp, salmon, clams, scallops, muscles and more in this stew.

Surf and Turf - Filet under the Lobster

Hot, Hot, Hot! \240🥵 🔥 🔥 🔥 🌡️

Mixed berry soufflé

The meal was high-quality, and what you would expect from a hi end seafood restaurant. The only part I thought could’ve been improved, was the berry soufflé at the end. It was served to me scalding hot and I had to wait quite a while for it to cool down. The berries were like lava covered in a blanket of pastry. The waiter said it was straight from the oven. I believe it! 🔥

A very busy two weeks!

Ice Sculpting Demo on the Deck

Native American Chief

The last day of the cruise has arrived. Today is a day at sea. Most people are just sitting around the pool or participating in games and entertainment around the ship. There was a giant Jenga game between the ships officers and some passengers.

Giant Jenga - The passenger group won 🥇

There are so many activities on board. It’s hard to pick what you would like to participate in or just watch at any one time. Some of the events include mini golf, ping-pong, board games, trivia, game shows, bingo, watercolor painting and many many more. \240All of the public locations around the ship have something to do. It doesn’t matter if you’re skilled or not, you can find something to participate in. And, of course, you can simply choose to do nothing. Just sit in a chair, and use the app to order food or drinks, or both without having to move. \240It will be brought right to your location.

They must’ve had too much fruit on board this cruise. They were giving it out all over the place today. \240I noticed that fruit on a stick was the most popular choice.

Why is food on a stick so much better?

My plan for the night is one last trip to the buffet, followed by packing my bags. \240Time to go back to work to pay for all this! \240I hope you enjoyed following along with me on my vacation.

Phil