Scholarship@Sea: Ceramics

Okay so here it is. My first attempt at ceramics. I am really proud of this because the ship was moving while we were painting. It was kind of hard to picture what it would look like while creating it because the colours go on very pale.

This was part of Princess Cruises Scholarship at Sea program although for this class we did not have any instruction or guidance. I thought we would have a crew member explain the process and be on hand for assistance but that was not the case. The guy running it came right out and said he had no idea how to do ceramics and just told us to do 3 coats for the brightest colours. It worked out fine being a self taught class.

Cost: $25

We are home!

We are home and already dreaming of our next cruise vacation.

Our last day at sea on Wednesday was great and the best thing happened....a bunch of dolphins decided to swim along the ship. They were such cute little baby ones and they put on a good show. Sorry I do not have any pictures because I was busy trying to catch it on the video camera. Jeff even got to see some larger ones later that day as well.

I picked up the ceramic bowl I painted and it looks good (I will take a picture and post it later). I never did get to BINGO to to try my luck at the $3000 jackpot but heard it was very crowded anyway. We did do some more on board shopping that included a chaotic bargain basement sale in one of the ships dining rooms.

Our last dinner on the ship was really yummy. We had eggplant fritters and mushroom fried rice - mmmmm. Unfortunately Jeff needed to take Adam back to the cabin for a bit and once there he did not want to come back down for dessert. The assistant servers came out with flaming baked Alaska's to the Macerna on parade. I had the Love Boat for dessert (a heart shaped chocolate mouse). Too bad Jeff and Adam didn't make it back because Barb and Jim had ordered a cake and song for us to celebrate our Anniversary (June 22) but I had them send it up to Jeff and some dark cherry sorbet for Adam.

The last night was very foggy and you could not see any water around the ship which was kind of eerie along with the fog horns blaring all night - a sound I love. I woke up at 5:30 am the last morning just in time to see the Statue of Liberty as we headed into port.

Disembarkation was quite smooth. We had to be out of our room by 8:00 am but luckily we were able to relax in the Wheelhouse bar (for VIP's) until our group was called. The longshoreman that helped with our bags helped us get to the front of the lines to leave and it was a fairly smooth ride home. Adam again behaved the entire way. We stopped at Flying J/Country Buffet, Sunoco, Taco Bell , Target and Exxon Mobil.

Here are a few more pics for now.

Last Post at Sea

This will be my last post at sea. I do have much more to talk about (favorite's, what I would do different next time etc...) and hopefully more photo's to add once I am home but I don't want to spend too much more time online.

Today is our last day at sea and I am hoping to do some on board shopping and maybe take part in BINGO. The jackpot is almost $3000 - hmmm that could fund my next cruise. I finally tried the coffee from the International Cafe and had a Cafe Latte - mmmmm. Good thing I did not have one sooner or I may have used my credits all on coffee. Jeff and Adam had some yummy donuts from the Cafe as well.

It is very dark and rainy at sea today and I think the forecast for tomorrows arrival in Brooklyn is rain as well - thankfully we have had many great sunny days so far. The sun is so strong in the Caribbean and I am sad to say despite all of our efforts with Sunscreen etc... Jeff and I have terrible sunburns. I guess we stayed in the salt water too long without reapplying the SPF. Adam went a bit brown but no burn. I think we must have made it through the Bermuda Triangle by now without disappearing - whew!

See you all soon!

The Foxes at Sea.

Photo Album: Grand Turk and Stuff

Photo Album: St Thomas

St Thomas yesterday

We had a great time in St Thomas. We flip flopped from doing a tour to swimming at the beach to shopping prior to docking and ended up deciding to shop since Grand Turk (we are headed there today) would be a beach day for sure.

The views heading into St Thomas were amazing and the scenery throughout the island was even more spectacular.

We took a quick open air taxi to the shopping area where we went to Del Sol (colour change clothing) as well as a upscale bamboo clothing store, Footlocker from some Nike shoes for Adam and a few little local shops as well. By then we decided we wanted to check out the beaches although we did not have time to head back to the ship to get swimwear or to get the other side of the island to see Coki Beach which I hear is beautiful. We found a very cool taxi driver known as Big Mac that took us up around the hills for an island tour with a stop at a breathtaking lookout. Adam loved the crazy driving winding up and around the hills and giggled the entire drive. Big Mac dropped us off at Magens Bay where Jeff finally got to have his swim in the ocean. Adam liked touching the tree bark and I stood along the shore to cool off (too bad I did not have my bathing suit). We had the same driver back to the ship and Adam once again loved the ride.

More shopping before boarding the ship.

After dinner we headed to the big screen for Movies Under The Stars where they were showing the NBA Finals. Adam did not last too long but Jeff got to see the Lakers win - booooooooooo.

We have some great crew members looking after us.

Giuseppe - The Maitre D has made sure all of our meals are excellent and that we are getting enough vegetarian options and that Adam has a continous supply of soy milk in our room.

Lavinia and Gjorgi - Our dining room servers are top notch and great fun to talk with. They are so attentive to our likes and dislikes and make sure Adam gets whatever he needs. I am really going to miss them when the cruise is over.

Carmen - The Room Steward is such a bubbly energetic lady that calls me Miss Lisa and loves to say hello to Adam she makes sure our room is spotless and gets us everything we need.

I forgot to mention before that Barb and I did a ceramics session a couple of days ago out on the deck by the pool. I am very excited to get my piece back (a bowl) once it is fired to see how it turned out. I think maybe I will try my luck at BINGO the last day at sea (no laughing I think it will be fun even for someone younger like me plus I am sure I will win - well hopefully).

Today we are headed to Grand Turk where the Capital City of Turks and Caicos is: Cockburn Town. Here we will spend out time on the beach and checking out Jimmy Buffetts Margaritaville. The island has a lighthouse (most of you know I am a huge fan of lighthouses and collector of all things lighthouse) at the other end from where we are docking so I do not think I will get to see it. Maybe on our next cruise - yes I am already thinking about another cruise.

Ok bye for now and thanks for checking in.

Photo Album: San Juan