The buffet was open from 5 am to 6 am for continental breakfast. (Or at least that’s what the Princess Patters say…we were never up that early!) Full breakfast was served from 6 am to 11:30 am; lunch from 11:30 am to 3:30 pm; snacks from 3:30 pm to 5:30 pm and dinner from 5:30 pm to midnight. In looking through my Patters now I see that each night there was a dinner theme in the buffet.
The tables were already set with napkins and silverware and as soon as you were seated, a waiter came by to take your drink order. For breakfast they were mainly offering orange juice, water & coffee. However one morning I ordered cranberry juice and although it took a bit…I got it. I almost wonder if the waiter didn’t have to run somewhere else to get the juice.
We had packed up our beach bags the night before so we would be ready to head ashore as soon as we were ready. Princess supplies beach towels and we also had all of our snorkel gear. Since our flights had been on Southwest (Yay! No baggage fees!) I “splurged” and packed my swim noodle. We could have managed without bringing an extra piece of luggage, but it was nice to not have to worry about trying to cram everything in and having overweight bags.
The noodle is not made out of Styrofoam like most. Instead it is a mesh noodle filled with tiny foam “beads” and is almost weightless. I had taken the noodle to Mexico a couple of years ago and it was great for floating on the waves and to use when I snorkeled…just a little extra security in case I got tired.
We made our way to the Michelangelo Dining room as soon as we heard the announcement that we could go ashore. There was no waiting for tenders and we were able to board immediately. Side note: I always loved hearing the “ding” of the machine that read your ship card when you would come and go at ports. Apparently Princess “used” to have these machines because I saw them sitting off to the side, but now they use a hand scanner that reads the bar code. This experience was more like going through the checkout line at Walmart!
For tenders, Princess lowers the lifeboats. We were about half way to shore when it hit me…I forgot my noodle!! All that space I used up in my luggage and then I left it back in the cabin!
I had thought (mistakenly) that Princess owned the whole island, but the beach is just 40 acres located on Eleuthera…an island that is about 110 miles long and one mile wide. (I just saw an episode of House Hunters that was filmed on Eleuthera on HGTV. According to the show, there are around 15,000 residents that live on the island.)
It took a bit of searching, but we found four chairs located in the shade under one of the pavilions on the beach. (There were lots of empty chairs, we just wanted some in the shade.) From our chairs we had a beautiful view of the ship and the wonderful blue water. The guys were itching to do some exploring and took off walking down the beach.
The beautiful water turned into a bit of a disappointment when Laurel and I went for a swim. There were lots of rocks on the beach and even more large rocks once in the water. The wind had stirred up the surf enough that the water was cloudy so we never even tried snorkeling…and the murky water also made it hard to avoid stubbing your toe on the big rocks underwater. It would have been nice to have my noodle to float on!!
We alternated between spending time in the water and relaxing in our chairs. Many people had opted to rent clamshells to put over their chairs and as the morning went on, more and more of these were being placed on the rows of chairs between us and the water. Not good for our view!
Wanting to see a little more of the beach, Laurel and I wandered around a bit taking photos.
The guys finally returned from their adventure around noon, all excited that they had found a neat place to snorkel. They had walked all the way down and around this point on the island.
A free lunch buffet with hamburgers, hot dogs, grilled chicken, salads, cookies, etc. had been set up on the island. We filled our plates and ate at the picnic tables near our chairs.
It was probably around 1:30 when we decided to head back to the ship. We didn’t want to wait until the last minute and fight the crowds. Kent & Laurel make it a habit to buy a magnet from each place they visit so we stopped at the little gift shop on our way back to the tender.
We wanted to sit on the upper level of the tender to get some fresh air, but no room was left so we found a spot inside the boat. We could have gotten on the next tender instead, but then would have had to wait until it filled up. As it was we still had a bit of a wait…those lifeboats hold a lot of people...and they really crammed us in tight!
Back at the ship, Bob and Kent made sure they got to the sign-up for the Egg Drop Challenge. They are both card carrying AARP members, but on this ship they felt like teenagers and wanted a little fun and excitement. The competition wasn’t until the last day of the cruise so that gave them eight more days to plan and collect their needed supplies.
After last night’s dinner, we realized we couldn’t just waltz into the dining room at any time and get a table for four. I had made it a point to call first thing that morning to make a reservation and it worked…but only if you wanted to eat at 5:30 or after 8:00. Not exactly what I had in mind for “anytime” dining, but the alternative was to share a table or be ready to wait. So...dinner was at 5:30.
The great thing about cruising is that it is a chance to try new and unusual foods!
My choice was the famous Princess fettuccine Alfredo served in a parmesan basket. It was good...and a little less exotic!
For entertainment we took in the show in the Princess Theater for “the comedy & music of Steve Moris”. Apparently Steve had performed over 20 years with the Beach Boys, but now was trying to make a living working on cruise ships. His show was OK…nothing exceptional.
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