Carl and I joined Bobbi and Patricia for breakfast for a final time together, followed by some goodbye hugs. Then we waited for our color (Gold-5) to be called. And waited. And waited. Seems there was a problem with the new facial recognition software in customs.
We had been told by our dinner neighbor that ALL passengers would have to get a rapid COVID test to exit the ship. We were skeptical as no such announcement had been made. But Carl called the Guest Services desk and they confirmed the rumor, saying the EVERYONE would be given a free, rapid test after clearing customs. I was still skeptical as the logistics of testing 2,000 people would be daunting.
We finally got called, exited the ship, made it through customs… and saw about a dozen people in line at a testing area. Everyone else just walked on by. Clearly, COVID tests were NOT being given to everyone. I fault Princess on this one. When asked a simple question they should be able to provide a simple and CORRECT answer.
Finding the bus to the parking area, getting the Corolla, paying the balance, driving back to Carl (who was waiting at the ship, with the luggage) was all done pretty swiftly. It could have been even more swift if I hadn’t gotten lost in the port.
Loaded the luggage and drove 2 hours to Naples. Dropped Carl off, then drove to Lehigh Acres to pick up Rusty. He didn’t recognize me and barked at me. Or maybe he recognized me and was just letting me know that he preferred to stay. In any case I got him and took him home and once he was back in the RV he seemed pretty happy.
Next up: fetching Frank, my younger son, from his hotel. Why was he in a hotel when he was supposed to be in his brother’s guest bedroom? Long, sad story involving, not surprisingly, beer.
I had planned to loan the Corolla to Frank but when I started the truck I realized that I had a big problem: the power steering was malfunctioning. Driving that beast of a truck without power steering would require superhuman strength. So I took the Corolla to pick up Frank and grabbed a quart of power steering fluid on the way back to the RV. After putting about a cup of fluid into the reservoir the truck’s power steering was, once again, functional. I took a short trip later in the day to confirm that. But the power steering clearly has a leak. I will need to deal with that. Soon.
Frank stayed with me overnight. Why? Again, a long, sad story involving, not surprisingly, beer.
Ok, let me give a wrapup of the PCL2 cruise.
The central question was: would I enjoy a cruise without Jett. The answer was a resounding YES. I had a grand time, assisted by having a congenial travel companion and meeting some very fine people.
The questions I had about how the cruise would be different due to COVID were answered thusly:
- How full would the ship be? About half.
- What COVID protocols would be in place? Strict use of masks in elevators and public spaces, except when dining. Strong encouragement to wash hands at entry into the buffet.
- What else was different? The shows were shadows of the large-scale productions I expect on a cruise. There was just one “production” show and that was pretty small. All other shows were basically lounge acts: single vocalists and a magician.
Other observations:
- The Sky Princess is a beautiful ship which, while constructed in 2019, had a “new ship” smell. I don’t think it was used at all last year so this may have been one of its first journeys.
- The onboard internet was a joy. It was, hands down, the best internet service I have ever had on a ship. I didn’t use the streaming capability, but the fact that I could have streamed live shows aboard a ship at sea is incredible.
- There were NO children aboard. I have been on cruises with few children but never on a cruise with none. Zilch. Zero. I don’t know why this was so as we saw lots of children from other ships in St Maarten. Did Princess discourage children (who might not be vaccinated)? Don’t know.
- I didn’t do any excursions. I was traveling with a man who was too mobility-challenged to do most excursions, but it didn’t matter. I have been to St Thomas and St Maarten before and wasn’t terribly interested in doing any of the excursions there.
- I saw very little of this ship. I usually spend one day at sea wandering around, getting a feel for everything the ship has to offer. I didn’t do that this time. Not sure why. Maybe I saw this cruise as more of an experiment than an adventure.
The bottom line is that I enjoyed the week very much and am glad I went.