Cruise Ship: Star Princess
Cruise Destination: Eastern Caribbean
Cruise Dates: October 23 - 30, 2005
Guest Contributor: Mary & Vincent Finelli
One week prior to departure, all eyes were on Hurricane Wilma, the strongest storm ever recorded in the Caribbean. At first it was thought Wilma would pass over South Florida on Friday morning the Oct. 21st. However, unfortunately for those living in Cozumel and Cancun Wilma, a category 5 hurricane, stalled and pounded both of these resort areas for two days. Finally, she made a hairpin turn and headed straight for Florida and the Keys. She was not downgraded to a tropical storm as predicted, but rather on Monday the 24th she crossed over the width of South Florida and struck directly everywhere from Miami north to West Palm Beach, as a Category 2 or 3.
We were lucky, the Star Princess sailed into Ft. Lauderdale on Sunday the 23rd and disembarked her passengers just in time. We embarked at noon (even though our ticket suggested 2:00pm as the optimum embarkation time). We felt with Wilma breathing down our necks, we should anticipate the boarding time, and we were right. Star Princess anticipated sailing time by an hour and a half. We sailed at 3:30pm, since Port Everglades was shutting down for hurricane safety reasons. This cruise was to become an exercise in flexibility; at first most of the passengers were just happy that it was not canceled due to the weather. However, Commodore Cesare Ditel made welcomed itinerary changes; after all, safety comes first! He is the Senior Commander on the Princess Lines and we were delighted to place ourselves in his very capable hands.
Sunday we set sail for Ocho Rios, Jamaica; then Monday at 3:30pm it was announced that our course was changed to San Juan, Puerto Rico. We berthed there at 5:30pm on Tuesday. The new itinerary included St. Thomas USVI, Tortola BVI, and Princess Cays, Bahamas.
Embarkation on the Star Princess
Embarkation was speedy and orderly; we had wheelchair assistance from the moment we entered the port terminal straight through to our stateroom on Caribe Deck 10. We were located by the forward lifts (elevators) and had been assigned to the Amalfi Dining Room which was aft, a long walk from our cabin. We immediately went to see the 2nd Maitre D' Vincenzo Petrucci, who kindly changed us to the Portofino Dining Room Midship. We had a table for two by the window --- Excellent. We heard comments about first night dining experiences. With "Personal Choice Dining," it is always better to speak with the Maitre D' when arriving on board, rather than waiting for dinner time and ending up in a crowd of passengers attempting to make changes.
All set, we headed for the Welcome Aboard Buffet. It was ample and delicious, but a bit rushed for some, since the Boat Drill had been moved up an hour earlier to accommodate early sailing. We started our cruise with Hurricane Wilma nipping at our heels. We learned that the hurricane eye passed directly over our home in Boca Raton, FL and did major redecorating of our trees and landscaping while blowing out our pool screen structure. We saw the devastation in Ft. Lauderdale on our way home. High rises in both Miami and Ft. Lauderdale had most of their windows blown out and South Floridians would remain without electricity and traffic lights for weeks. Miami was closed to non residents for over one week. Nature's fury was evident all around.
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