Hey Penny, mighta missed it but...how did the poker cruise go? any success? Just got back from vaca myself, not a cruise tho , so I dont know if u already answered this question.

Hi kkontny, it was way too short, but a fun time none the less. I came in second for my group. I don't understand how they were running it. I had more points than some of the ones that were in the final, but didn't make it. So, I assume, they just took the winners from each group and put them in the finals. They presented the final winner with a big check, the free cruise vouchers, and a bottle of champagne. It was a lot of fun. Of course, it would have been more fun if I would have won a little The Caribbean Princess is a beauty. She's very similar to the Emerald, but a little easier to navigate. Princess has the best muster process of all the cruise lines, it was very painless. I was on the Riviera deck, my first inside room on Princess. It was a huge room for one person. It was designed for 4, with 2 pull down beds. The closet was large (the full length of one wall with a shelf on top the entire length), there was a dresser/vanity with drawers, a refrigerator, 2 end tables with drawers, and a cabinet with 4 shelves and the safe, the blow dryer was on the wall and there were 2 mirrors above the dresser/vanity area, then a shelf with the tv on it, a shelf under the tv, then the counter top with your glasses, the ice bucket was in the refrigerator. The buffets were great, Cafe Caribe had themed lunches and dinners. I was a little disappointed in the food in the dining room, the buffets were better. There was pizza, hot dogs, hamburgers, and ice cream by the pools on the Lido deck. They had the putting greens, spa, gym, ping pong, MUTS, Skywalker Lounge, video arcade, internet cafe, library, shops, and casino. It was definitely not a typical Princess cruise, but was a wonderful weekend! I'm so excited about our December cruise. The Royal is a small ship, so I can really make a comparison from being on the behemoth ships to the tiny ones. When's your next cruise?

sounds pretty cool. Interesting how the format was tho. I really want to do that specific cruise next year if they offer it again..and that prob answers ur question of when my next cruise is. We would like to get one in this year, but we just put a pool in, so as u might imagine, much money is going into that hole in the ground . Our last cruise was on the Carib princess...she was a beaut!! Glad u had a good time (but can u actually have a BAD time on any cruise??) and too bad u didn't win!!! That woulda been a very nice punctuation mark for any cruise!

I'll still keep trying to win, and of course, it's a good excuse for another cruise Best wishes with your pool. Do yourself a big favor and purchase one of the automatic vaccuums. We finally broke down last year, it saves so much time and really does a better job than we did. Enjoy your new pool!