During December 2018 I went on a Caribbean Cruise. I love cruising. I find it ultra relaxing being able to sit in the lounge and drink tea while watching the water and the people. The boat does all the travel for me, stopping in new places giving a taste of each spot. Cruise ships have lots of things to do from trivia, movies, pools, spas, shopping, live shows, but also raffles and free stuff (I got so many free necklaces and tote bags).
However, my main priority on cruises is not swimming (this owl hates water and beaches) but eating all the food. I cruise on Princess, which makes killer food. My ship wasn’t the ultra fancy ones with waterslides, rock climbing walls, zip lines, and ice rinks, but all I want is the food. I enjoy having the option to eat at a buffet, cafes, or have a luxurious dinner. Being on vacation means having at least two desserts a night.
If you read my other cruise posts, I travel with my own tea. If you do not bring your own tea, you have to drink this swill. There is the option of paying $3+ per cup additional for Mighty Leaf tea, which is expensive for slightly better tea.
I packed around 200 grams of old oolong samples, with a few sheng puer, shou puer, black, and white tea for variety. I got a lot of oolong samples in my stash, so killing those off was a priority. My hot water source is whatever dining room servers would bring me, but also this hot water machine in the buffet area.
Hidden is a sign saying “Do not refill used mugs and personal water bottles.” BOOOOO. I guess they wanted to limit the norovirus. I did it anyway. I used one clean, double-walled stainless steel bottle that I never drank out of that only held hot water. My other travelling tea tumbler was my DavidsTea matcha maker, which did matcha making, cold brew, gongfu, western and grandpa style.
Princess Cays
Princess Cays is an island the Princess cruise company owns. The single ship gets this whole beach to ourselves. The cruise staff was grilling meats on the beach. I am not a beach person at all. I’m like Anakin and hate sand.
The tea owls and I explored the island, looking for shells, plants, and good photos.
Despite being a tea writer and this is a tea blog, I didn’t find much tea. In fact, this is the only tea I found in all my stops that looks interesting. But of $12 for 12 teabags with no ingredients, I did not buy.
The Caribbean doesn’t seem to have much in terms of Camellia Sinensis tea for obvious reasons that it isn’t grown here. There were some hibiscus plants I saw in Jamaica. All other tea was crappy repackaged “tropical” mango ginger tea you can buy anywhere.
Once on the ship, it was one of many Afternoon Tea times! The staff walk around with big trays of mini sandwiches, cakes, cookies, and hot scones with cream and jam. I grandpa styled some aged Muzha Tieguanyin to go with my treats.
Sea Day
I am an only child, so I am good at entertaining myself. I chilled out, knitted at the knitting group, ate fruit, wandered the ship, and ate more food.
More afternoon tea, adding more to my owl butt.
More dinner too.
I learned on this cruise Princess’ sugar-free desserts are damn fine, however, this one was not sugar-free, but also the best chocolate dessert I ate in my life. Sandwiched in the chocolate pieces was chocolate moouse and a chocolate crunchy wafer.
Jamaica
I was very excited to visit Jamaica as has a mysterious allure of tropical wonder. However, this was my least favourite, yet conflicting stop on the cruise. I did a garden tour, and was able to wander around Ocho Rios and Falmouth.
The conflict was the amount of poverty there was shocking, sad, but also worrisome as a traveller. I got followed, yelled at, stalked for blocks, and grabbed by vendors and people on the street, despite being in tourist areas. The confusing part was the mass amount of owl things in Jamacia. They have the Jamaican Owl, which is the only species of this owl anywhere.
In the shops, I saw many handmade owl things. So many owl things! Jamaica has really good shopping and the food was good.
Grand Cayman
Drinking a stiff shot of matcha became my morning routine, as I was trying to bear with East Coast time zone.
Grand Cayman Island was nice! The clean, pristine white sandy beaches have free wifi. So many things to do, especially for the shop-till-you-drop person I am.
I did a tour trying various food on the island. Starting with rum cakes, a crazy 15 free pour rum tasting, and local lunch. I got back just in time to the ship… for you guessed it… Afternoon tea! I learned White2Tea’s White Tripel is awesome grandpa style paired with roast beef sandwiches and chocolate.
I also discovered my sample was a single chunk of cake that I could not break with my hands. I had to improvise with a saucer and a butter knife. I am sure I look like a crazy person as everyone else was drinking Liptons.
For a preview of how crazy good Princess’ food is, this was formal night dinner.
They don’t stop you getting 3-4+ main entrees either.
Cozumel, Mexico
Cozumel was also an excellent stop. I visited a Mayan ruin that was used for marriage and fertility rituals.
We did another white sandy beach stop.
I then finished with a trip to a chocolate plantation where we got to learn how the Mayans made chocolate, had many samples, and I got a Chocolate Margarita for the bus ride home (They also had Chocolate Pina Coladas)
Sea Day
I spent my final Sea Day knitting and eating food. I am gonna miss you afternoon tea.
So much food. Must get my money worth in food.
Florida
Cruises often have tours that grab you from the ship, do a tour, then take you to the airport. We did an Everglades tour and saw crocodiles cruising through. I was most entertained by our guide talking how to cook freshly caught crocodile.
Oolong Owl’s Haul
Alas, no tea in this haul but I owl hard. The owl on the left is from Cozumel. This owl in the middle is also from Cozumel and is made of mother of pearl and abalone. It is hard to see from photos, but my carved wooden owl has another owl inside it.
I did what most tourists get and purchased a stack of Tortuga Rum cakes and hot sauces. Scotch Bonnets are delicious!
With a stop in Mexico, I got some ultra cheap vanilla ($15 for a liter/34oz!) and chocolate. Grouped with this photo is my jerk seasoning from Jamaica.
My favourite purchase from the trip was Hoot Mon from Jamaica. Yes, he has dreadlocks.
Overall, the Caribbean isn’t a tea place, but overall experience I jammed in a lot of my own tea drinking while lounging around the ship. I did get a whole lot of tea drinking and relaxing in. Over 8 days I drank 164 grams of tea out of the 200 grams I brought with me. I didn’t do as much cold brewing as one would think because of time constraints.
What I was not prepared for was for the whole cruise, especially Florida, was how insanely humid the climate was. It was 80-90F / 26-32c, 80-90% humidity at all times. That’s good puer storage weather. My puer is jealous, however, I cannot live in that climate, it is like swimming instead of walking.
I got another cruise upcoming 2019 Spring that should have more tea things.
