Windrose Ramblings: 14 Day Caribbean Cruise: The Ship

A few months ago we were having coffee with our friends, Ed & Sharon, and they asked if we’d like to go on a cruise with them. Without a moment’s hesitation we said “Sure!” and the planning began. They had some cruise credits on the Princess line from a previous trip where they’d had to miss a few ports due to a hurricane. Fourteen days in February would be a perfect way to break up the winter, and definitely no hurricanes to worry about.

And so we headed out to the airport early one very cold morning. We were ready to leave the snow behind. “Going to Winnipeg”, said Ed, quoting the old tire commercial. How did he know we’d have to make an emergency landing there to fix the de-icing equipment? Thankfully that didn’t set us back too long. We landed in Montreal and caught the next connection to Fort Lauderdale. Whew! We made it.

The last look at the snow in Montreal

We arrived in Fort Lauderdale in the evening, checked into the Red Carpet Inn and grabbed a late night snack at the food truck nearby. It's warm enough to sit outside and enjoy the evening.

Let the fun times begin!

The next morning we took the shuttle to the cruise ship terminal and in no time we were boarding the Majestic Princess for a 14 day trip around the Caribbean.

Ready to board the Majestic Princess.

The first two days were sea days with a bit of a rock-and-roll. It’s rather entertaining to see everyone, against their will, take a giant step to the side when trying to move forward. We’ll get our sea-legs eventually.

We had time to enjoy the amenities on board: the pool, the entertainment and of course the food. To keep track of each other’s location we had an app with a button: Find My Shipmates. That proved to be very helpful between the four of us when trying to meet up to play cards or go to some of the shows.

The Majestic Princess

Our cozy state room. We were on the 15th deck near the front of the ship. Ed & Sharon were right at the very front, just a few rooms away. That had not been planned that way, but it was so convenient.

The 5th deck piazza viewed from the 7th.

Deck 16 - the pool area. It was quite hot in the afternoons.

Later in the cruise we had another sailing day to get from Trinidad to Curacao. After the busy life of excursions in each port of call, it was a refreshing break to relax on board for a day.