We took reading material but didn't have much time to read. Every day we awoke around 5:30, giving us time to get ready and be on deck for the sunrise. The sunrise times were printed on each daily paper, making the timing easy. It was a little difficult since there was no alarm clock, but I used the alarm built into my old watch.
We did find time to take a nap, typically around 4 or 5 after the shore excursions and a snack. This was one of the benefits of a late dinner sitting.
The shore excursions were worth the price, although next time on this route we'll make some changes (detailed in the Next Time topic). It seemed that everyone asked for a tip - the tour guides, the bus driver, etc. We were expecting this and it didn't bother us but I can see where some might complain that the cost of the tips should be in the excursion price.
Sadly, the excursions were rather hurried, but this didn't bother us except in a few instances. The tour guides all seemed knowledgeable in their respective areas, and all were friendly and polite.
The ship had a Port Lecturer that gave us shopping tips. We fully realized that she tended to steer us to shops with a relationship with Princess, but that didn't bother us as she did have good advice. I also believe we got a better price (at least on the watch and binoculars) than we would have as walk-ins.
There were shows every night but we only caught a few of them. The last night there was a passenger talent show but we left early as we had to meet with customs officials at 6:15 in the morning. They also had first-run movies in the theater and we did manage to watch Galaxy Quest. Unfortunately, there was no popcorn - a serious oversight in my opinion.
We didn't mind having to pay for our drinks, nor did we mind the 15% tip added on to the price of each. What did bother us was having to pay $1.50 for a Coke. Next time we'll bring our own and keep them in the fridge. My wife is a Pepsi drinker but there were no Pepsis to be had anywhere onboard. Again, next time she'll bring her own. Having to pay for ice cream was also a surprise, so we only did that once.
Our dinner companions were excellent - they were approximately our age and very fun to be with. Our table was usually the last to leave the dining room due to the fact that we enjoyed each others conversation.
I wanted my passport stamped in each port, but we couldn't find any customs officials (there probably were some in Georgetown but we didn't have time to look for them).
On the flight home, I carried 4 bottles of rum in my carryon. The other three were firmly packed in our luggage and managed to arrive intact. The kids loved the gifts we brought them, but we found we didn't bring back enough Blue Mountain coffee to give to everyone we should have.
Copyright © 2008 by Dana Cline
Last updated on 7/8/2008
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