Feb. 5. Rousseau, Dominica. Partly Cloudy, 84.

We have not been to Dominica before, but just looking from the ship, it’s a beautiful island. It is small, at 26 miles long and 16 miles across, but the mountains rise right up from the sea, and are pretty steep. Our tour today was “Easy Dominica”, meaning panoramic and not a lot of hiking. I worn my made in Equador, Panamá hat for the first time, and whoosh, as we were walking from the ship to the pier it blew off and into the water between the ship and the pier! Several locals tried to get it but it was too far from shore. We were in mini-buses, and the streets are windy and narrow. Real busses couldn’t operate here. Our first stop was up a really narrow windy road with no guard rails, to a scenic overlook of the city. Then back down the same road to a botanical garden. We strolled the garden with our tour guide for maybe 20 mins. Then we went for 45 mins. up a road named “Hairpin”, and it was!! We went up and up and up on the narrow windy road til we finally came to our stop at a waterfall. It really wasn’t too visible, or all that spectacular to warrant the long scary ride to see it. But we did get a rum punch refreshment at this stop. Then back to the ship, down the same scary hairpin road. As we were walking back from the bus, the security guard recognized us and said that a guy had gone in the water and got my hat, but where he left it to dry out, it either blew away again or someone took it, as it was again gone. I found the guy and gave him $5 for his effort! That made him very happy, which made me happy! L&O wanted one last dinner in Pacific Rim, so after cocktails we went, just us 2, to CR. My goodness, so many people in the room were coming up to us and asking about what happened that we were 2! (Apparently our handle is “table of 4”) . Interesting that people are people watching! We had a great meal (prime rib), and just as we were finishing dessert, Harty showed up. That made the audience happy. We 4 then skipped the show and went to Observation for after dinner drinks.

Feb. 6. St. Maarten (not!).  Cloudy with passing showers, 84, windy, seas 8-10’.

Last night the Captain first said the weather would be challenging in St. Maarten, then came back an hour later and said the the port authorities had closed the port to us, so we would be re-routing with 3 sea days instead of 2 on the way home. Of course with everyone with Google, today the rumor circulated that there were 3 ships to be berthed in St. Maarten today and the other 2 were there. (Kind of like Facebook, spreading misinformation). So at the noontime update the captain had to explain. In any case, we were banned by port authorities because of our scheduled berthing spot, and the captain said he spoke to the 2 captains who are there and they are in trouble with high winds, so strong that their dock lines are breaking! Glad we have a captain who puts safety first!. After 64 days, we are fine with skipping a port. Also after 64 days, we finally discovered we could order a whole pizza for lunch. Split 4 ways, it was probably our best lunch! We went to the morning lecture on the disappearance of the dinosaurs , and the afternoon lecture on Mars. Cocktails in Observation, then our final dinner in Prime 7. Like many other things, it’s just not as perfect as it used to be. The “wedge salad” was Boston lettuce because they ran out of iceberg, and Mrs. Paul makes better onion rings! 

Feb. 7. At sea. Partly cloudy. Noticeably cooler at low-70’s, seas 8-10’, windy.

Love our at sea days!  We went to the morning lecture, then had to relocate for lunch because of the cooler air and wind. We loved our pizza yesterday so much that we split 2 of them today, then off for naps and relaxation. We had dinner in CR with a special order dessert of Crepes Suzette. They were delicious. 

Feb. 8. At sea. 70’s. Seas6-8’

Our last day. We skipped the lectures and just hung out by the pool in the morning. We had our last margarita and burger lunch. We spent the afternoon packing. At 5pm,we went to theCruise Consultant and canceled the cruise New York to Montreal, that we had previously booked, as Regent just isn’t worth $2K a day anymore!  We had a special order dinner of Prime Rib in CR, saying good-bye to all of our favorite crew.  

Feb. 9. Miami. Disembarkment. 

The ship arrived around 6am and disembarking started by 8. We had coffee with L&O in Coffee Connection, and hung there until we disembarked around 8:45. It was a long line to get through Customs, but it went fast and we jumped on an earlier bas than we were assigned and were at the airport by 10. We were too early for the Centennial Lounge, so walked the 2miles to our gate. We stopped for a grilled cheese sandwich and a beer. We took the shuttle back to the lounge at 11:30, but didn’t really like it, too crowded and crazy, so we just turned around and walked out. Our 2pm plane was on-time and the ride uneventful. We were met by Donna, and were home by 4:30. For all that both us and L&O complained throughout the cruise, all in all we had a wonderful time and saw some amazing scenery and sights.

The End