Early in the week, my son was invited to a Stanley the Bear character breakfast. This morning we strayed from the usual buffet or room service breakfast and instead went to the Coral Dining room. The event was in the back of the dining room and was decorated like a party. Each guest received a bear headband (think Mickey Ears headbands) and we each got a name sticker. The tables were decorated with a special blue table cloth, Stanley cups, and kids placemats with crayons at every seat. My son was more excited to see some of his shipmates at the breakfast than Stanley. Unfortunately, the family he was most excited to see didn’t make it. After everyone arrived, Stanley came to visit! He is a giant Teddy bear and my son enjoyed getting his picture taken with him. The menu was a little strange because there wasn’t one. A server came by to take our order and said they have “normal breakfast items.” I ordered fruit and bacon for my son, Brian ordered an omelette, and I ordered French toast. The food was better than the buffet, but nothing mind-blowing.
Sadly, our Caribbean Princess cruise is winding down and the thought of practical things such as laundry are coming into play. There are small laundromats on each deck and Brian has mastered them for washing his clothes. The machines take special tokens which you can purchase with your medallion. There was an issue where a machine ate one of our coins, but a member of the crew gave us another token and it worked the second time.
Princess Cruise Line has a loyalty program called Captain’s Circle and the more cruises you go on the higher your rank. I currently have Elite status and one of the perks is free laundry service! While Brian played laundry roulette, I called down to guest services for a laundry bag. I counted the number of shirts, shorts, dresses, etc. and diligently filled out my form. I placed the laundry into two bags and set them outside my door. A few minutes later they disappeared and theoretically I’ll have clean and folded laundry in a couple days. (By the way, Brian chose using the laundromat over the laundry service.)
Today’s sea day is a journey from Costa Rica to Grand Cayman. Crossing from Central America to the Caribbean Islands means crossing through a relatively large body of water with few islands nearby. We are in a prime area for rougher waters and the Neptune pool onboard has turned into a wave pool.
The pool is deep with the shallow end at 5’2” and the deep end at 7”. Watching the waves crash against the edge of the pool is mesmerizing, but my first instinct is definitely not let’s go swim. My son on the other hand sees fun. Weekly swimming lessons have prepared him for this fun, but I still find a life jacket for him. We move to the center of the pool away from the crashing waves and we both smile as we ride the waves. In my opinion, the pool is an excellent place to recover from mild seasickness. The ship moves around you floating in the pool and thus the ship’s movements are less noticeable to your body. After fifteen minutes of treading water and keeping my son centered, I start to fatigue so Brian and I switch.
Neptune’s Reef is the name of this section of the ship and it’s an entertainment area. In front of the pool, they have various things going on and when I switch with Brian the Margarita demonstration starts. Bartenders show us how to make various types of Margaritas. I think the main reason people engage is that they then give the drinks away. I was one of the lucky ones today and got one!
After swimming and Margaritas, my son expresses his interest to return to the water table. We pack up and move to the AFT of the ship where we cross through the buffet. We haven’t had lunch here because we’ve mostly eaten the food that’s available poolside. They have six massive cakes with various flavors! I wonder if this is a daily thing. I’m not hungry, but I have to try it! I ask for a small piece of the Coconut Cake and it’s absolutely Devine. My favorite food on the ship is dessert. Not just because it’s dessert, but because Princess does dessert really well. The food presentation is exquisite and it tastes amazing too! (I’ve come across a few dishes with gelatin which I am not a fan of though.)
Tonight is formal night so we grudgingly dress up, but steak and lobster is on the menu so it’s worth it. We’re not the only ones who don’t like to dress up because the dining room is relatively empty. We each ordered steak and lobster although I don’t eat seafood. Brian gets all the lobsters! Food and service is fantastic as always.
Earlier on the cruise we were asked to do a photography session. It’s free to attend and you only pay if you buy the photos. We signed up not sure how it would go. My son was not in mood for photos tonight and we actually went to cancel. The photographer was free when we found him to cancel our reservation for later. He was great with my son and we ended up getting a little mini session in!
My son loves Camp Discovery on the ship and it’s become the routine to go after dinner. He goes to play with his friends while Brian and I catch a show. Tonight’s show is a Rock Violinist and she was amazing. She played well known songs in a very unique way.
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