This day at sea was very relaxing. I spent some time on the balcony, reading, but the main features were the 3 (count ’em – 3) trivia contests, the formal dinner, the Thursday Night Football game on the big screen under the stars and a late night at the casino. I also got some very nice sunset photos, two of which I have included here.

We (Carl and I and friends Pat and Bobbi) did well at the morning trivia, coming in third out of about 20 teams. The topic was “Where am I?” and the answers were all cities. If we had been just a bit more knowledgeable about Brazil we would have come in second.

The most entertaining contest was the midday trivia which was entitled “Terribly Twisted.” The contest consisted of video clips from commercials from all around the globe and the challenge was to pick the product being sold from a multiple-choice list. The commercials were hilarious and we actually did quite well – a tribute to our twisted minds, I guess. We teamed up with 2 women from Oregon who apparently were as twisted as we were. We didn’t win but we did better than I expected.

Dinner was formal, with broiled lobster tail, Beef Wellington and several other elegant dishes on the menu. I had escargot to start (quite good) and Beef Wellington as the entree (also very good but not as good as the ones I made many, many years ago). I wasn’t going to have dessert, but the waiter forced a Pistachio Dome on me – a chocolate-covered chocolate mousse with a pistachio center. I ate it all.

I went to watch the NFL game on the big screen. It was a blowout in the first half with Minnesota leading Pittsburgh 23-0. It turned out to be a competitive game with Minnesota winning 36-28, but I went down to the casino instead of watching the second half. I could have saved $50 by watching the entire game. Down $200. Carl, however, won about $100 at roulette.

We docked near Phillipsburg but we never made it into the city so I will just say that we visited St Maarten.

We had no excursions planned for St Maarten (or anywhere else) so we weren’t affected by the cancellation of all cruise excursions to the French side of the island. We later learned that some of the French residents were upset about mask mandates imposed from France and were striking – with some minor violence – in protest. The real risk, we were told, was that the border between the French and Dutch halves of the island would be closed and excursions could be trapped in the French area, unable to return to the ship.

But all we did was wander around the port shops, consuming some tropical drinks. Carl got a bit buzzed so I let him sit while I went in search of some duty-free alcohol. I found a 1-liter bottle of Absolut vodka for $18. I think that is about half the price of the same bottle in Florida. Now I have to find a way to use it.

The port area was busy. No surprise as 6 very large cruise ships were docked there. Phillipsburg probably would have been wall-to-wall tourists. I don’t think I missed anything by not going into town.

The highlight of dinner was a porcini mushroom soup. Delicious. And for lunch – after I reboarded the ship – was a Serbian bean soup that was just spectacular. Whoever does the soups on the Sky Princess really knows his craft.

Not so spectacular – at least in a good way – was the trivia, where we again did poorly, or the casino where we both lost money. I am now down $150. So much for my wish of paying for the cruise with my gambling winnings.

I had a real breakfast, then Carl and I went down to participate in the morning trivia contest and noticed that Christmas decorations had been put up while we slept. These people never sleep. We did badly at trivia so we went ashore.

The port area in St Thomas is like any other port in the Caribbean, with about a hundred jewelry stores and not much else. We decided to take a $4 taxi ride into the city and we were unfortunate in that we were assigned the Taxi Driver from Hell. He whizzed us through the port area like he was in a video game, then hit a curb at the end of the ride, causing one of the passengers to bang her head. Carl and I escaped without serious injury. And what did we find?

A hundred jewelry stores and not much else.

We did stumble across the birthplace of Camille Pissarro, the French/Dutch impressionist painter. And there were some alleyways that were quaint, but difficult for Carl to navigate with his walker. I think we spent less than an hour in the downtown area of St Thomas before heading back to the ship.

We made it back in plenty of time to attend the 5:15pm trivia session and again got our asses kicked. How many strings in a grand harp? You didn’t know it was 47? No, you can’t be on our team.

For the first time on the cruise we dined with other passengers. We were fortunate to get a very pleasant younger couple from Montreal and two women from Fort Lauderdale. A lively dinner. I think we have some new cruise friends.

It was Italian Night. I had the lasagna. Very good.

We spent several hours in the casino with Carl winning about $150 at roulette and me losing my entire $50 investment on the slots. But a $50 loss over 4 days ain’t bad.

Princess, like most other major cruise lines, has its own Bahamian island. This makes a lot of economic sense as there are no docking fees and all souvenir shops are run directly or indirectly by the cruise line. They have a captive audience for a day, while providing the illusion that you have visited the Bahamas. Well, I guess you have, but not a part of the Bahamas familiar to any Bahamian.

Princess Cays is a nice little island, with lots of beach chairs (mostly unoccupied because the ship was only half full) and lots of opportunities to rent snorkel equipment or cabanas. There is also a large tent which provides a free lunch of hamburgers, hot dogs, sausages, chicken, ribs and all kinds of side dishes. No cruise passenger need go hungry on Princess Cays. Nor aboard the ship, for that matter.

Carl and I wandered a bit, ate lunch and I stuck my toes in the water, all before 1pm. We then returned to the ship.

Surprisingly, there is no dock at Princess Cays so we had to board a watercraft to get to the island. It was a short trip – about 7 minutes. The trip back was aboard one of the ship’s tenders, the boats that serve as lifeboats in an emergency. I suppose it is a good idea to take then down for a spin occasionally, to make sure they are still operational.

We played trivia again and did terribly this time. I watched some of the 4pm Steelers/Ravens game on the big screen, then went to the Solos meeting and again failed to meet future a wife. Dinner was a seafood medley for me, which was very good, and a prime rib for Carl which was a disaster. It looked like a piece of chuck steak that had been trampled by a Cossack and drowned in gravy. Disgusting. How can you mess up a prime rib? He traded it in for a Caesar salad.

After dinner we spend a bit of time at the casino where Carl lost $100 (don’t worry, he can afford it) and I won $50. It won’t last, of course, but a winning night is always nice.

The entertainment was a young man who sang a variety of show tunes. He was a replacement for the female vocalist that was scheduled but who had lost her voice. I don’t know how good she would have been but the replacement was terrific.