I had won a place in the $75,000 slot tournament. 140 people either won a place or bought in for $500. I lost in the first round. and was eliminated but at least 15 people won nice amounts of money. It was exciting. The casino was hopping all cruise. It was open 24 hours and even in Bonaire. This was a repositioning cruise from Brooklyn to Fort Lauderdale with only three ports. Two had been changed for the worse because of the Hurricanes. I wish Princess had ships from New York all winter but this was the last won until spring. It was a lively crowd. The entertainment was uneven. Two of the shows Bravo and Born to Dance were terrific and not to be missed. Fieri was just awful. Carlos Oskar the comic was very funny. The theater filled up 45 minutes before the first show. You had to plan ahead. Four of the young assistant cruise directors (Gary, Mikey, Aaron and Ramon were fabulous. They did trivia and game shows like Liars Club and Newlywed game. I never laughed so hard in my life. They were over the top.

We took a club class mini-suite. The Regal cabins are small but this one had an angled balcony which really helped. The extra money was worth it. Coupled with our Elite status we had all the perks the suites got and the dining room situation was great. We had a private area with our own chef ( chocolate crepes for breakfast YUMMM) and could waltz in any time between 5:30 and 9:00. We were treated like royalty.

We took the Ultimate ship's tour. It was a pricey $150 each but lasted over 3 hours. The charming Captain Tim spent 45 minutes with us on the bridge talking and drawing maps . I felt I was in the Navy. We got all sorts of presents and it was worth it. Because Princess is converting to Ocean Medallion they were mucking about with the software and half the ship's televisions went out in the second inning of the seventh game of the World Series. You could only see it in the Casino. Surprise! They refunded us $300 to make up for it. Very nice. Service throughout the ship was fabulous.