Monday Feb 24 – Princess Cays, Bahama

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Good morning from Princess Cays – a privately owned beach on one of Bahama’s southern islands. We got up and met the Seibert’s for a breakfast in the Dining Room at 8:00. Today was a leisurely paced affair so we had plenty of time for breakfast. Janet was able to get her favorite meal – Eggs Benedict.

Today is our first port call, except there isn’t a port and we anchored off the island. Then a series of shuttles transferred everyone ashore who wanted to go ashore. We didn’t have to get into the usual life boats but instead there were larger double-decker boats taking about 200 at a time. Jim, Kathy, and David went ashore and Janet stayed on the Regal Princess to visit with the Knitters and Knatters.

The three of us got our “tender tickets” which keeps an orderly sequence of who gets to leave the ship first, second, and so on. The tickets are free of course, but it keeps the line moving without having 3500 people strung out in a single file line. The folks who had reserved cabanas, and assorted beach equipment were eager to be the earliest to arrive. We were just going to walk around and look at the scenery, so we didn’t have to rush. Anyway, we got on shore a little after 11:00.

The boat let us off approximately in the middle of the beach. First thing was to buy Kathy a wide brimmed hat and for everyone to lather up with sunscreen. The temperature wasn’t much more than the low 70’s but it felt pretty warm anyway. During the day we saw some folks who clearly had not gotten sun protection and they are going to be SORE tomorrow. We walked along the western beach and then back most of the way along in the eastern direction. They have paved paths most of the way for those not wanting to get into the sand. If you were interested in water/beach activities then there were plenty of choices to keep you busy. However we did not choose to participate so we settled down for a buffet lunch before riding the boat back to our ship. We got back a little after 1:00.

Janet hadn’t gone to lunch yet so she and David went down to the International Café where she got a fancy coffee drink and a tuna sandwich. Then we went back to the cabin to rest.

At 4:00 we went to the Internet Café to get some issues resolved with out minutes and to better understand how to operate the Medallion app features. Then we went to the Shore Excursion Desk and traded in one of our future excursions we had pre-selected. We also learned more about some of the next couple of ports, and we should be better prepared when we get there. David had to go back to understand the credit/bill changes in our account, but that was all resolved satisfactorily.

At 5:45 we met up with the Sieberts again and we went to dinner. It was more crowded tonight and we ended up sharing a table for 8 with two other couples. It was Italian Night in the dining room and we all had a good dinner. We were going to attend the 8:00 show in the Princess Theater, but it was already full when we got there at 7:40, so we just went back to our cabin.

It had been a “leisure day” but somehow, we were tired anyway. We’ve done this quick report on today’s progress and David will look for a couple of photos, but that is all for today

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