A grand effort of hospitality

Even as I was finishing my first cruise to Aruba and that part of the southern Caribbean on board the Norwegian Dream in February 2000 , I had an interest in seeing the islands that lie further east, for they promised to have some exotic attractions that would be sure to broaden my knowledge of the region even more.  I later decided on a three-cruise, three-year "trilogy", including my second cruise to Jamaica and Cozumel on the Voyager of the Seas in January 2001, which covered the western Caribbean, and one to the eastern islands such as Trinidad, Barbados or Martinique in the winter of 2001 - 2002.  My mother, having heard of the good times I had on the first two trips, became interested in making this a winter vacation for her and Dad, something they truly deserve as residents of Michigan.  Well, as the one I lovingly refer to as La Cheapa, Ma found an outfit called Cruise Club of America that proved to offer rock-bottom pricing, and I know I'm not the shopper she is.  On 9 March 2001, with my barely having returned from the second cruise, I put down a deposit of $250.00 and paid the $35.00 service charge at CCA and $82.00 in travel insurance, for a 27 January 2002 itinerary aboard the Sea Princess.  This included Trinidad, but also Tortola and St. Thomas, which I had already seen in 2000.  Ma insisted that she and Dad have a stateroom with a balcony, only my sole request was for a stateroom of my own having a guarantee of an unobstructed window view.  This turned out to require booking category FF, on the lowest stateroom deck, but I was upgraded a single notch to category E, one deck higher, by the time push came to shove.

As we all know, 11 September 2001 came and went, and the upheavals thereby propagated throughout the travel industry had us moved to a 26 January 2002 itinerary aboard the Dawn Princess, this one going to Barbados instead as the southernmost island, and also skipping Tortola.  We were thus assigned to Princess Voyage #D205.  This sounded fine with me, and they gave us $50.00 shipboard credits for taking the switch.  In November 2001, my bonus came through at work and I could afford to pay off the fare, to include air to San Juan, PR (SJU).  This was another $1601.00, or $1851.00 total for cruise and airfare.  Ma kept getting indications as time wore on that the fare was being lowered, and our agent at CCA made sure that we were the beneficiaries of this.  I heard, though, that Princess wanted to put me on one of those dreadful connecting flights in each direction from Washington, DC, so I had Ma find out about ordering custom non-stop flights through the cruise line.  As one might expect with an airline change, this cost an extra $60.00.  Still, I felt the whole deal was rather inexpensive, for what I was getting; I could probably have afforded my own balcony cabin, since they don't charge 200% of the double occupancy rate for a single traveller.  The cruise was at the back of my mind, of course, as I hustled my way through the Christmas holiday and getting caught up at work in January 2002, but I still had knowledge of my exact cabin, #E317, some time in advance, so I could find it and the nearby ship features on the Princess brochure.  It seems the Dawn Princess is one member of a 77 000-ton class of vessels that also includes the Sea Princess, the Ocean Princess and the Sun Princess.  Next to these 1950-passenger ships, the original Pacific Princess of Love Boat fame looks pretty minor.

26 January 2002 -- Back to the other side

Washington, DC to San Juan, PR

Since my departure from Washington Dulles (IAD) was scheduled at Saturday morning, 9:30 AM, and because we are now advised to arrive two hours in advance at the airport, I had to check my 11-year-old cat Thomas at the kennel on Friday after work.  I did a good piece of packing that evening, too, and was pretty much set to go when the alarm woke me.  I drove up in the early morning to work, where my associate Thomas N. took over driving the rest of the way to the airport.  He was saving me the $6.00/day parking fee at IAD and getting use of the vehicle as well.  It is good to have such local contacts.  At the airport itself, I didn't encounter the kind of lines that the news stories had been warning about, even to check my larger bag full of clothing for the Formal and Smart Casual dinners.  I sat for some time, actually enough, after I reached gate D19, before I could get settled in to the B-737 window seat for the trip to SJU.  I was able to sleep some, as we passed the US coastline at Hatteras Island, NC and began the long leg above the sea.  Upon arrival at what looked like a facility renovated since my 2000 visit, the biggest trouble I had in getting transferred to the ship was getting out of my hot northern clothing.  I shoved my M-65 field jacket into the larger bag, which the porters handled for me, while I carried my airline carry-on bag onto the bus for the ride across town.  I did note a number of run-down street-scenes among all of those luxury high rises in San Juan, only a similar observation of ruin could apply to the view from an Amtrak window, as the train passes through Philadelphia, Newark and Bridgeport, CT.  The routine for check-in at the passenger terminal, which tended to remind me of a livestock display barn from a county fairgrounds, was fairly simple and fast, but then I also know what I'm doing now.  Before long I was headed up the gangway to the entrance of Plaza Deck (deck #5), with my newly-minted charge card in hand.

I had a fine chance to settle in and get rested (and also cooled off, by stateroom air conditioning), prior to my meeting up with Ma and Dad.  They hadn't arrived at the time of my 3:30 PM boarding.  All I wanted to do was lay heavily in the queen bed in E317 and watch TV, though I knew there were things I could and should have been doing in getting prepared for the trip.  When I finally felt ready to go see what I could of the rest of the ship, I learned that I was on 6 Deck, while Ma & Dad's balcony cabin A606 was way up on the 11th, or Aloha, deck.  Orientation to an unfamiliar ship always takes time, usually the first couple of days for me.  Wearing shorts and open-toed sandals now, I took a trip up to the pool and spa deck, #12, and a look at the lift console showed that superstition had kept the Dawn Princess from having a 13 deck as on the Dream and the Voyager.  While I waited for our small family reunion to take place, I paid $600.00 into my shipboard account and got some cash for playing at the casino from the purser's desk on 5 deck.  This was along the bottom of a 4-story atrium, that opened onto a number of public areas like the formal dining rooms, several lounges and the casino, only it did not compare to the incredible 4-deck high Promenade aboard the Voyager of the Seas and its sisters, something that ran a good part of the ship's length.  I returned to my cabin and Nestor, who was my steward, showed me how to call Ma & Dad's room on the phone, at about the same time he attempted to repair the problem with my toilet not flushing reliably.  This never was resolved, though the situation never grew critical--the vacuum system would "hang" on occasion until some hidden condition was met.  I finally got to see the balcony stateroom at 5:30 PM, after crossing half the ship's length and riding 5 decks up on those lifts that were not reserved for newly-embarking passengers.  Ma was in the process of stowing a truly extensive quantity of clothing and other items in the closet space near the door.  The balcony was a nice touch for a stateroom, and I told them as much.

Fortunately, the big suitcase with my dress clothes made it to my room in time, so I was able to don a pair of grey Dockers and my polo shirt from the Mirage, in hopes of satisfying the "casual/tropical" dress code in place for that evening's dinner.  I waited for some time in this attire at the entrance of the Venetian Dining Room on 6 deck, where I had early seating along with my parents.  I had been instructed to wait there for them, only I wondered what was going on, after I had hung around for 20 minutes, so I went to the mâitre'd, who discovered that they were already seated at number 133, a table with 8 seats total.  I ordered the prime rib, cooked well done, and they remembered to leave off the sauce as per my instructions.  When I found something like that that a "picky eater" like myself "would eat", it tended to be pretty tasty, putting Princess food at least one cut above what we had to settle for on Royal Caribbean's Voyager.  After dinner, I planned to settle in to my room, since there was no casino action until after the departure scheduled for 10:00 PM, which was past my typical bedtime.  I had to submit to the hassle of the life jackets drill as Princess envisions it, which took place at 8:00 PM, a time I'm frequently "in" for the night.  They didn't have to call roll this time at our musterstation, which was in the forward theatre, because of some advanced way they have of "finding" everyone in the case of an actual emergency.  After what I went through in the air travel system, I had to wonder about the further Constitutional affront posed by this surveillance.  Though I thought I might be awake when the ship cast off, I was too tired this time from the flight and was asleep when we got under way.

27 January 2002 -- Along the southerly course

Our only at-sea day

After a night's sleep during which I woke at one point and was assured by the ubiquitous ship motion that we had set out on schedule, I finally woke to the morning's sun in my 36" x 48" window.  It was a relatively slow start, where I watched TV until I found the motivation to take a shower and be about my business.  Those bathrooms have such an interesting design, being essentially a single fiberglass "enclosure", as is also the case with a porta-john.  There wasn't room enough in there to dry myself and get dressed, but that was all right, since I was there by myself.  When I finally entered the public areas, I found an assortment of enriching activities and diversions about the ship.  I also had to satisfy further curiosities, such as the precise kind of internet access they had in the business center on 12 deck.  It was a $7.50 charge for each 15-minute increment, on a browser-based interface using MS IE.  I was not as tied this year to things online as I once was, so I didn't even use my entire allotment.  The next item of concern was where to get breakfast.  I finally located the buffet on forward 14 deck, the Horizon Court.  Their food was pretty good, and they know how to cook link sausages like an on-land diner.  Eating there was a bit like exploiting the free continental breakfast at a Hampton or Comfort Inn, only with a wider and more substantial set of offerings.  After breakfast, I wanted a bit of time outdoors, so I found my way aft to the 11 deck stern, where I could see the rolling wake in our rear.  I decided to spend awhile there on a chaise lounge, though it was wet from the rain we had encountered on our was south past St. Croix, US Virgin Islands.

When I headed back inside, I met up with Ma & Dad in A606, so as to attend to further duties of "togetherness" in this scenario.  We ended up leaving their cabin for lunch, after I spent a moment out on their balcony.  The cost of such a luxury would not be hard, if only I had a roommate to justify the cost.  We ate at the La Scala Pizzeria, amidships on 8 deck.  Unlike the pizza offered buffet style by the slice on the previous 2 ships, this was a sit-down café, with service like California Pizza Kitchen (though the pizza itself was not quite as good).  I chowed my pie, then indicated that I was returning to E317 to rest.  I stopped at one of the bars to obtain a few more beverages to stow in the refrigerator in my cabin--O'Doul's, Coca-Cola and Diet Coke.  Princess, while charging for ice cream on the sun deck, does not run the mini-bar racket they have with Royal Caribbean refrigerators.  I led Ma & Dad back to my own humble chamber, which they (and I) thought quite livable.  I appreciated that I had the freedom on this vacation to do more or less what I liked; it was not like business travel or those family vacations as a kid, which were highly regimented.  I crashed out and slept a goodly piece on my made-up-for-daytime bed, until 2:30 PM or so, when I knew the casino's table games would be open.  I had lost miserably at the slots earlier in the morning, when they were all that was open.  I played blackjack for a couple hours, then returned to my stateroom to make ready for the "formal dinner".  I wore the white dress shirt, tie, Haggar slacks and dress socks that Ma had given me for Christmas, topped off by my old JCPenney blazer, which is growing a little small for me.

I assume the pose of Snorlax (#143, Sleeping Pokémon) on my bunk in E317.

At the table 133 that evening for dinner, I noted that there wasn't anything listed in all that fancy epicurea that I thought I would actually eat, so I ordered the any-time grilled chicken breast.  This was good enough eating, served as it was with a baked potato.  Our waiter, who changed his eastern-European name to "Magic" for English-speakers, was halfway sympathetic to my plight in facing that extravagant menu, so he made a special point of getting the galley staff to bring out my entrée as soon as it was available, while the others worked their way through those unacceptable salads and appetizers.  Ma & Dad seemed to understand when I left at 7:00 PM to go play a little more blackjack.  It did not seem, from the night's losses, that I was on a "winning trip" like the cruise in 2000.  In my disillusionment with what is after all a game slanted towards the house, I became grateful that the upcoming days would have islands to visit, and with other things to do.  At about 10:00 PM, when I had finished my daily journal entries, I went to bed.

28 January 2002 -- A place beneath the sun

Bridgetown, Barbados

Though the night's sleep was troubled and interrupted, I was at least able to be up in plenty of time, at 6:00 AM, for the Dawn Princess's arrival in Bridgetown, Barbados.  Since the ship stores were closed because of being in port, I relied upon Ma's ample supply of Kodak Max film to load my Nikon N-70.  I stopped by their cabin for this purpose on my way to the outdoor upper decks, from which I saw the vessel reach a certain point at the entrance to the harbor, then "back in" to its mooring position.  When this excitement was over, I went to get breakfast in the dining hall.  This turned out to be an order of huevos rancheros that was watery and left something to be desired.  I then found the exit gangway on 5 deck, where I bought a 1.5-liter bottle of water before heading off through the cruise terminal building to meet Ma & Dad at the tour bus area.  We went on a "highlights" tour from 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM, in which we got a fine sense of what the island "is like".  It really isn't such a terribly large place; it surprised me to see how much of the coast was visible from Gun Hill, our first stop and a former British defensive position.  The British influence was further evident in our next stop, St. John's Anglican Church.  This was on the Atlantic side of the island, while we had docked on the Caribbean side.  The cemetery on the church grounds had a large number of above-ground family graves like the ones I saw in Aruba.  The third stop was at the Sunbury Plantation House, which was smack in the middle of a great deal of flourishing sugarcane.  The mansion itself was certainly well-appointed, only the intense and stifling heat, felt even inside the massive coral masonry structure, made me wonder about the lives of the slaves in earlier times.  We were told that they had staged a revolt in 1816.

The starboard bow of the Dawn Princess, at the dock in Barbados.

When I returned to E317, I was able to recover much of my composure, after feeling so inordinately tired on the bus tour.  Ma & Dad went to have lunch in the dining room, with the intention of returning to the cruise terminal shops when they were done.  I thought at first that I'd skip lunch altogether, as is my frequent habit in Las Vegas, when I set out to get rested up on my bed.  I finished watching Eddie Murphy play Doctor Doolittle on the in-room movies, and I eventually felt well enough to head out for a walk.  I thought at first that I'd eat at the Horizon Court buffet, but the offerings there did not appeal to me as much as the made-to-order burger and bratwurst that I got at the Balcony Grill, in the pool area of 14 deck.  I was grateful that the ship could keep open its food and drink service, at least, while it was docked in port.  By this point, I was advancing to a nicely mellowed-out mood, and by 2:30 PM I went for a walk around the ship.  I went to aft 12 deck, where I booked a session of massage for 1:00 PM on the 30th, when we'd be at St. Kitts and back from the bus tour.  I noted with some dismay that adults were not allowed in the deserted roomful of video games, so I took a seat instead at 2:45 PM in front of the business center, waiting for it to open again at 3:00 PM for internet access.  After using the whole 15 minutes this time, I wandered out into the poolside area on 12 deck, where I listened to the steel drum band that one would expect in such a venue.  After 4:00 PM, I saw the day beginning to wind down, and I returned to my cabin.

I got to enjoy something of the "evening out" experience after the ship had left Bridgetown.  Since most of the night-time attractions didn't come to life until 7:30 PM or so, I did just as well to go to the "French Dinner" with Ma & Dad at table 133.  Amazingly, they had a menu item I could stand; a presentation of pork chop with peas and applesauce.  The rest I left alone, while Dad got his jollies eating escargots and breaded frog legs.  I played for awhile at minimal-stakes blackjack, this time coming out ahead, and then moved forward to the Wheelhouse Bar on 7 deck.  Here, I listened to a live 3-piece jazz ensemble.  At 9:15 PM, I decided to see what the Jammers disco was like in operation, only the people had not begun to arrive yet.  I'm sure there's a whole scene after 11:00 PM on these ships that I've never seen, on account of the need to sleep.

29 January 2002 -- Into the backcountry

Castries, St. Lucia

I got a good night's sleep for a change, in which the alarm woke me at 6:00 AM, and I got to watch a good piece of Toy Story 2 as I was taking a shower and preparing for St. Lucia.  I loved the character they developed for Wayne Knight, the evil toy collector.  I packed everything I thought I'd need in my backpack, then went to forward 14 deck to watch the approach to the Castries harbor.  I looked at a number of details along the coast of this rugged island with my 12 x 50 Nikon Fieldmasters, until the ship was nearly docked.  I knew I had to meet a tour at 8:20 AM, so I hustled over to the Horizon Court, to obtain what was becoming my choice for shipboard breakfast.  There were even waiters in the dining room there, which had a "270 degree" view of the surroundings, to hand out juice and coffee.  By the time I finished eating, the gangway was made ready on 5 deck, where I joined the exiting crowd.  We were moored at the "old" cruise ship berth, since the Celebrity ship before us took the one with shopping on site.  Fortunately for my making the tour, a 4WD "safari", the excursions director was able to call in and verify that I was on the list, so that I didn't have to run back and get the ticket I had forgotten in the room.

Our professional drivers stop for a moment on our St. Lucia 4WD safari.

Our journey began in the open back seating section of a Land Rover truck, having two rows of 4 seats with a padded frame built above them.  They reminded me of the old style of troop carrier you might see in a WWII movie.  We wound our way through Castries, then headed up some of those steep, narrow switchback roads that reminded me of Tortola.  After a stop at an overlook to view the 2 ships from on high, we went on through an area of banana plantation--and then--into "the jungle".  On these most rural of roads, if the term "road" could even be applied to these rugged dirt tracks, we stood up in the back, gripping and being pummeled bodily by the padded bar-framework.  The next stop, in the middle of such overgrown country, was the La Sikwi Sugar Mill, a now-defunct hydro-powered facility with a lot of antique parts and implements laying about.  I began to feel truly hot at this point, though not like I did in the cane fields of Barbados.  As the tour wore on, I saw why the brochure said to bring a swimsuit and a towel.  I had guessed we'd be at the beach, only we drove instead up a long gorge, to a place called Rock River Falls, a private, freshwater swimming hole.  After we hiked in along the river flowing past, we reached a waterfall about 50 feet high, with a dam perhaps as far downstream, to create a body of water about 5 feet at its deepest.  It was wonderful swimming, and not as cold as one would think.  Some of our drivers would climb up a stone stairway to stand directly under the falls, only that looked too treacherous for me.  After about 20 minutes at the pool, we got into the trucks to ride back.  It was some distance to return to Castries, so we must have been at a remote corner of the island.

I got to rest up again in the way I like to in my room, once I got back from the tour at 1:30 PM.  I watched TV for awhile on the bunk, then took time to write an entry for my online fantasy diary by hand on ship's stationery.  At 3:10 PM, I decided to go to business services and enter the text into my verizon.net e-mail client, only the script failed when I tried to send the letter to myself.  What a waste.  At 4:00 PM, I paid another visit to the Balcony Grill, where I was lucky enough to get an order of fries that had just left the fryer.  As things were loading up for our 5:00 PM departure, I called Dad & Ma up in A606, since I had gone on the 4WD tour alone and hadn't seen them all day.  I told them about my early dinner and how I wouldn't be at the dining hall that evening.  I was also in the process of doing my laundry, since I hadn't brought enough casual-wear shirts.  The machines in the self-serve laundry were free, but there was a $1.00 charge for the detergent.  At about 6:15 PM, I went back to play blackjack, though the casino hadn't really begun to fill with players yet.  I had the nerve-wracking time of playing alone, where I bet table minimum to protect myself.  The action began to pick up by 8:00 PM, only I soon found myself getting tired and losing track of the game.  I walked out, a winner again, at 8:45 PM, to begin making my way back to the cabin.  I noticed that the stores were open, so I bought a Princess Cruises polo shirt, a new tube of sunscreen and some of the "funny" Konica film they had.  Dropping off the goods, I then went to see what kind of snacks I could get before going to bed.  The Horizon Court didn't have much, and the Balcony Grill had become "the Steakhouse".  At least there was the chocolate placed by Nestor on my pillow.

30 January 2002 -- Yet another sovereign land

Basseterre, St. Kitts

I made it out of bed on my own at 5:30 AM, with plenty of time to ready myself for the St. Kitts excursion with Ma & Dad.  While watching still more TV, I allowed myself to wake fully, get a shower and make good use of my replenished supply of SPF 15 sunscreen.  I headed out with the SLR to forward 15 deck to observe our approach to the harbor in Basseterre.  It turned out that we were pretty close to docked by the time I finally got outside, and to top things off, it began to rain.  This was not the protracted misery of rain in the temperate zones; it was more of the sporadic tropical sprinkle I had experienced in Hawaii in 1986.  Still, I didn't want to damage my camera, so I hurried down the stairs to 14 deck and began the next item on my preparations-list--breakfast at the Horizon Court.  On my way in, I ran into Ma, who was also eating there.  I found us a table and she and Dad joined me.  With such weather, I figured I'd better go back and switch cameras for my Olympus Stylus Zoom, which claims to be "weatherproof".  After returning to Ma & Dad's table, I joined them on the trip to the gangway.  The usual crowd was not there on 5 deck because we had been docked for quite some time.

Our "Best of St. Kitts" tour indeed proved to contain merit.  At the pier, we waited until the 9:00 AM departure time, while Ma bought a sand dollar Christmas ornament from one of the vendors beside the ship.  She had a stated goal of collecting a Christmas ornament from each of the islands.  The trip itself took place in a minivan, which seemed to be the predominant form of "taxi" on this island.  We went first to the Romney Manor gardens and Caribelle Batik shop, where Dad enjoyed looking at the exotic plants and I bought a framed 12" x 18" print of a red, orange and yellow sunburst behind a black palm tree.  I remember making a batik dashiki as a project once when I was in 6th grade art class.  The bus then moved on to the far northwestern end of the island, to climb a steep switchback road upon which signs advised drivers to blow the horn to warn traffic on its way back down.  I have seen my share of historic sights like Brimstone Hill in the past, so maybe I was a little jaded.  Still, I ended up getting back from the tour without becoming too conscious of the passage of time.  I heard some folks saying that 45 minutes felt too long to stay at the partially-restored British fortifications, only it was quite the view of the coast and St. Eustatius in the distance.  I took a lot of pictures there.  We finally loaded back into the van and rode the coast road, through the city center of Basseterre and beyond to the cruise ship terminal.  Dad talked about possibly going back to look at the old churches we'd seen, only he and Ma were first destined to have lunch on the ship.  I, on the other hand, made my standard and characteristic separation, returning to my room to get a shower and make ready for my time at the spa.

Dad contemplates the scene from Brimstone Hill, St. Kitts, with St. Eustatius in the distance.

I was grateful to have such a splendid way to spend my afternoon on board the ship, where I went to the aft 12 deck spa and health club at 12:50 for my massage treatment.  Once my interview with Carolyn, my "therapist", had finished, I was instructed to don a pair of paper briefs that looked decidedly "feminine", so that I might begin my total-body seaweed wrap.  I was encased in a foil blanket with the ingredients, while Carolyn gave me a scalp massage.  I showered away the gritty formulation, along with the paper drawers, and got into a second pair, this one a little on the tight side.  From doing a Mardi Gras drag costume in 2000, I learned that I take something like a size 9 in that item.  I entered a second foil wrapper, this time to "sweat out toxins", while she did my feet.  After the final shower, I got a 50-minute full-body massage, along with resupplies of the Elemis products I really need to use more often at home.  Since I was so close, I also walked across the hall to the business center to check my e-mail.  At 6:00 PM, the ship got back under way, so I went to the usual dining room dinner with Ma & Dad, choosing again to order off the every day menu--a rather decent strip steak of some kind.  I learned that "well done" on the Dawn Princess was not like the "burned to a crisp" option afforded Uma Thurman during her night out with John Travolta in Pulp Fiction.  I next joined a blackjack table where I pretty much broke even after 2-1/2 hours of play.  I began recognizing certain "regulars" at these tables by this point.  As I began to grow tired, I wandered back forward, to where I heard some good piano in the Atrium Lounge on 7 deck.  I requested a George & Ira Gershwin medley, which the performer played for me.  Ma & Dad came by just then from the theatre, and we sat there until the set was finished.  Though we were not likely travelling very fast that night towards St. Maarten, the comforting motion of the sea was still there.

31 January 2002 -- A more European experience

Philipsburg, St. Maarten

Despite my having snoozed through the entire duration of the morning's 6:00 AM alarm on my Braun travel clock, I was still up and rolling in time to make the tour I had signed up for.  Since departure was scheduled for 8:00 AM, I had to move faster on the matters of getting a shower and having breakfast.  I went initially to the lookout position on 15 deck, where I used the binoculars to observe various places ashore on St. Maarten.  As I was finishing with this, a brief-but-intense rain squall passed by, sending me back inside to have breakfast at the Horizon Court.  I watched from the buffet dining room as the rain poured down on the glass.  When I finally came to the 5 deck gangway at 7:45 AM, the ship still hadn't been cleared--but at least the rain was past.  I boarded a  motorcoach for the "See and Sea" tour I had booked, again by myself, this apparently being run by the same company that operated the Aruba tour by the same name that I took in 2000.  We rode from Philipsburg, the docking point on the Netherland Antilles side of the island, to the undefended international border with the French side, which is considered an integral part of France.  We were told about the clothing-optional beaches such as Orient Beach that were located in that jurisdiction, only we didn't get to see anything.  From what folks later said who had been there, the people they saw had no real business being naked.  The bus finally parked in the town of Grand Case, where we boarded a pontoon boat headed on a trip out to the reefs surrounding Creole Rock.  This boat had the underwater viewing gallery immediately below deck, rather than using a second craft like the similar excursion in Aruba.  The view was interesting enough, with plenty of fish gathering for a diver from the boat who came along to feed them.  On the way back, another of those ferocious squalls moved through, only it wasn't so bad being wet in such warm weather.

The town of Marigot, French St. Martin, with the old fortress above ("Fetchez la vache!")

Returning from the reef to the more urbanized side of St. Martin, we rode some more in the bus, which parked for an hour in the French capital of Marigot, where I got a supply of genuine Euros to spend from an ATM.  I have a nice selection now of notes and coins denominated in that currency, after buying an ice cream cone and a cigar to take back to John C., my supervisor.  The driver of the bus agreed to let me off in the casino district of Dutch Philipsburg, a street that probably had more action than I saw even in Aruba.  I played some of my Euros at the Diamond Casino, walking away with a small gain after an hour of blackjack.  I noticed that I didn't bet the way I saw some do, such as the ones having P & O ID tags to indicate that they were from the ship's crew.  Theirs was a more impulsive, all-or-nothing style, where they'd toss in a huge stack of $5.00 chips, as likely as not to walk away with nothing.  I took a taxi back to the seaport area for $6.00 plus gratuity, where I looked at a couple of the stores.  One was the duty-free shop, where I got Thomas N. a carton of Marlboros for $10.50, along with the obligatory liter of Mount Gay Rum, which I also ended up giving to Tom.

Once I got checked through security with all of my packages (at this point in the cruise, they let me keep the rum in my stateroom), I returned to the cabin to rest and let the air conditioning remedy my state of feeling overheated.  Before long, I was rested enough to head up to 12 deck, for a session of internet.  The satellite connection was slow, so I ended up using two 15-minute increments instead of one.  On the way back to E317, I grabbed another of those fabulous brats, which were every bit as authentic as you'd find in a German Imbiss, at the Balcony Grill, though I knew I needed to save room for dinner at the dining hall.  It was a fun enough evening-in-part on the ship, once it had pulled out of St. Maarten.  I had the duty as usual of meeting Ma, Dad and the others for dinner in the Venetian room, where I hung around in the 6 deck area immediately adjacent, waiting for the doors to open.  None of the menu items looked good (I sure wish a had a taste for lobster; they served folks two tails apiece), so I ordered the grilled chicken, with ice cream for dessert.  I was up and out as the others were receiving their main courses.  I went to the casino next, to play blackjack.  I took out some of my gambling stake to pay towards my ship-board bill, yet I still had plenty to play with.  Then, perhaps on Thomas N.'s prompting from before the trip, I bought Ma an amethyst pendant, set in 14K, to match the amethyst earrings she found for my niece Georgia this Christmas.  They compared the stone to the loose amethyst on the other table and said it was 6 or 7 carats.

1 February 2002 -- Day of fewer commitments

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

I slept past the alarm again but didn't have any trouble being in line outside the Vista Lounge, aft 7 deck, as per our printed handouts concerning a need to be acknowledged by US Immigration because of our entering US waters in the Virgin Islands.  I don't seem to recall such "formalities" upon reaching St. Thomas in 2000, and it was a notable irritation that the long line of us, extending through the photo gallery, was informed at the last minute that US citizens did not need to display their papers, after all.  As I headed back to my cabin, I ran into Ma & Dad, and I was able to give Ma her pendant.  She liked it enough to buy a pair of amethyst earrings for herself during her shopping on the island.  I pretty well figured I'd go looking in those shops, too, but later, since I had had a late start and had the option.  My freed-up schedule was indeed a welcome change, after 4 islands that had to be substantively visited in the previous 4 days.  I was actually able to check in on things at the internet center's 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM hours.  I also noted that my cell phone was picked up properly, since we were in US territory, where it hadn't been during our days in other countries.  I called my home fax machine to verify that the house was still there, though the roaming charge is sure to be a steep one.  In preparation for going ashore, I took a shower and applied sunscreen, prior to attempting to find a light meal before heading out.  I would have settled for a bratwurst from the Balcony Grill, only it was 10:00 AM and they didn't open until 11:00 AM.  I then tried the Horizon Court, next door on 14 deck, and settled for a mess of those well-made link sausages, a couple small croissants and an 8 oz carton of milk, which I drank directly from the carton.  Fortunate to these operations was that the buffet eateries and the gangways were all located as my cabin was; close to the forward set of lifts.

Ma and Dad pose in the shopping area of St. Thomas.  Someone took it for them.

I am glad now that I at least set foot on St. Thomas, even though I stayed within the dockside shopping complex.  This consists of 5 or 6 rows of strip-mall style jewelry, fashion, liquor and souvenir stores, some of which carried all 4 lines of goods at once.  I had a couple of folks on my list to find things for, but the crowds from the 3 major ships docked nearby made getting through those narrow aisles a difficult matter at times.  I must have covered a major part of the mall before I found Dad a suitable wide-brimmed white and floral fabric hat.  He looked pretty good in it when I later visited A606 to give it to him.  I also wanted to find some sort of handcrafted item for Luci B. at work, only I didn't see as much of that merchandise as I had in my 2001 visit to Cozumel.  It was hot out there, and I was really ready for a break when I finally got back to my cabin.  After feeling rested, I began the somewhat involved procedure of packing the 2 bags I'd need to put in the hallway by 6:15 PM for the porters to pick up, prior to going to dinner.  Implicit in this chore, of course, is deciding which items I needed to hand-carry in my backpack for the final day in San Juan.  This job I did in a number of iterations, while I also watched TV and ran errands like finally getting my Balcony Grill chow at 2:45 PM.  I suspected that such a meal at that time would act to "spoil" my appetite for dinner, which had been a meager thing to begin with.  (Unlike what some folks say, I actually lost 5 pounds on this cruise.)  With the reality of the end sinking in, I began looking ahead to the hurtles of air travel, not to mention the hustle of passing through the cruise terminal.  Conversion back into "not a customer" is a sad feeling.

My last evening out on the ship worked out to my satisfaction, though I didn't really spend that long away from the cabin after 6:00 PM, when I watched the ship ready itself to cast off.  I met up with the bunch at our table at 6:20 PM and saw something I might possibly eat on the main menu--prime rib au jus.  Despite ordering this well done, it came to me as a soggy portion of beef such as I'm not used to eating it.  At least there was a piece of corn on the cob, to remind me of eating at Popeyes Famous Chicken and Biscuits.  I was beginning to look forward to my return to food sources I can actually enjoy all of the time.  I made my usual early exit and went back to the casino, cashing still more of my chips to pay towards the on-board balance.  The rest I played for moderately-high stakes, and despite the protestations of my table-mates, I ran for it, got the cash and paid off the remainder of my account.

2 February 2002 -- Another rough labor

San Juan, PR to Washington, DC

Seeing that I woke prematurely at 4:30 AM on the morning of our return to San Juan, I am fortunate for not having suffered any critical repercussions in terms of fatigue.  When I first got up, I noticed lights in the window, so I looked out to see us advancing along the shore of Puerto Rico.  With my cabin facing to starboard, it didn't seem "right" to be approaching from what looked like the west, since we had come generally from the east in leaving St. Thomas.  It must have been an illusion.  I watched a pre-packaged bundle of Friends, Drew Carey, and Suddenly Susan on the TV, prior to clearing out of the cabin at 6:00 AM.  I next took a trip to the open decks, to observe our surroundings in the newly-rising sun.  This was followed by a final breakfast at the Horizon Court, where I later met up with Ma & Dad.  Before too long, we said our goodbyes and went to wait out our turns for our respective tag colors to be called.

It was an abrupt transition to the real world when I was finally thrown off of the Dawn Princess.  When Light Blue 5 was called at 9:10 AM, I made for the gangway and soon found my bags in the cruise terminal building.  This procedure--selecting from an array--proved faster and more efficient than the carousel system they had with Royal Caribbean in 2001.  I then proceeded through a cursory US Customs inspection and out into the hot sun, under which those heroic baggage handlers work.  They loaded my luggage onto another motorcoach and took us to the American Airlines departures entrance.  I stood, sweating, in a formidable line for checking in my largest suitcase, though I have seen such lines before the whole 11 September situation.  With that done, I made my way through a reasonably-short security search and out into the concourse.  In the vicinity of the departure gate indicated by the ticket agent, I quickly poured down a couple medium size sodas from the snack bar.  I had built up something of a "tropical thirst", and would have been concerned if it hadn't subsided after my return to Washington, DC.  I consolidated my backpack into my carry-on suitcase, now stuffed to capacity, and began the long wait for the 3:30 PM flight.  I heard some folks approach, with one of them having noticed "gate 14" on the departures screen.  Thus, I lugged the massive carry-on some more, being grateful that I had also grabbed a couple of jumbo franks from the snack bar when it was nearby.  This other part of the concourse was mobbed with people waiting for flights, and for a time I couldn't even get a seat.  The 737 did board at 3:00 PM, though, only I must have snoozed too much on the ship and in the concourse, for I couldn't enter any reasonable state of sleep during the entire 3-1/2 hours in that window seat.  Why, I even read all the way through one of those Sky Mall magazines, amazed that some of the same old junk is still there.  The sun had just set as we re-entered the Chesapeake Bay watershed, to land on runway 01R at IAD.  Thomas N. was there when I called on the cell phone, my checked bag appeared with all items intact, including the rum, and Tom soon arrived with the truck in the 40 degree F weather to pick me up.

All was well when I got home, though I couldn't pick up Thomas my cat until the next day because of the late arrival.  It was fortunate to have been shifted back to a Saturday departure and arrival, for now I had Sunday to begin the job of catching up.  While I had shaken the cold that accompanied me on the outbound trip, I felt some of my allergy woes begin to return.  My mailbox was crammed full.  Tom seemed to like his carton of duty-free Marlboros, and I felt enriched by having seen so much in such a short time.  Still, there's nothing like watching real TV on a real sofa.

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