Adventures in the Caribbean

Due to the recent hurricanes, we weren't sure how much of St. Thomas and Puerto Rico we would be able to see, but we were pleasantly surprised.

Our first outing was to St. Thomas.  We got off the boat, followed the signs and got on a "taxi" which consisted of a pickup that had the bed replaced with seats for 16 and a rickety roof.  Our destination was Megans Bay, a large popular beach on the other side of the island.  It was quite a trip in the "taxi" with no seat belts and going up, down and around roads with huge potholes and electric poles leaning in every direction.  There was a lot of damage to foliage and property from the hurricane. Then, to add to the fun, it started pouring rain.  When we finally got to the beach, most of the Asian tourists in the taxi decided to pay to go back.  But Jeff and I and another couple from Ames Iowa, Audrey and Matthew, decided to stay.  We were so glad we did!  Eventually the rain stopped and the beach was amazing.  There was even a makeshift bar and restaurant.  We found out that the hurricane had completely stripped the beach of vegetation and they had to replant everything.  We had a wonderful time swimming, sunning, and people watching.  Then it was back on the taxi to the port of Charlotte Amalie.

Coming into port at Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, USVI

The giant ship

The "taxis"

Hold on tight

View from the top

And it started to rain really hard

We got out anyway

Wet, warm and happy

Megans Bay

I'm the one with my hands up

Under the umbrella

View on the way back

Next we came to San Juan, Puerto Rico.  They had only opened the cruise ship dock the week before.  We didn't know what to expect, but although we did see some damage, San Juan was looking pretty good, at least around the harbor.  We walked through an artisan's market and did our best to help the economy, stopped at the CVS for some supplies and went back to the ship.

Jeff and his "Sorry about our President" shirt. It repeated the phrase in many languages and got a lot of comment

Ready to shop

San Juan Harbor

The artisan's market

Our last shore excursion was Labadee Haiti.  Labadee is a private island owned by the cruise company.  Jeff said that when he first visited it, there was no dock and no amenities.  Now it looks like Disney.....several beaches, water park, zipline, roller coasters.  Well, all I was interested in was a beach, sand, sun, beverage and a place to lounge next to my sweetie.  We debarked and got on another boat that took us to a beach full of people.  But they were nice people so we paid for an umbrella for me and a float for Jeff and really enjoyed the day.

The boat dwarfs the dock

Enjoying the ride to the beach

Just a few people

Jeff and his float

lunch on the island

Other beaches on Labadee

Back to the lounge chair

Scenes from the Harmony of the Seas

One of the things I soon realized was that technology was going to be important on the ship.  Everything was organized by your room number which was also connected to your status (Diamond or not), your credit card and all the activities you registered for.  I did not realize you could reserve space at all the shows up until 3 days before your cruise left, so we were at a disadvantage from the beginning.  But we bought the internet and downloaded the app and started reserving shows and dining times.  That was a relief to the type A half of my traveling personality.  The type B part wanted the sun, the water, and a massage.

The ship was so large, it was a challenge just to figure out where you were.  We managed to navigate by learning which floors contained the activities we were most interested in.  Like eating. That was on the 4th floor.  For dinner.  But there were lots of other options, including the giant buffet and the restaurants were spread around the ship.  So it was complicated. The first two days were at sea, so we did a lot of walking and exploring while trying to avoid the major crowds. There was a starbucks, a carrosel, a casino, an ice rink, a huge auditorium a spa and beauty parlor, and a whole bunch of bars.  Whew.

After an afternoon at the main pools on the 15th floor, listening to loud annoying techno music for two hours, dodging screaming kids and drunken adults, we spent some time going from bow to stern to try and locate a more relaxing spot.  And we found it.  The solarium was at the very front of the boat.  It had baffles to interrupt the wind that is usually a problem at the bow, and lots of sun, quiet, lounge chairs and two hot tubs.  There was also a small buffet with really good food and hardly any germy kids!  Yay!

We enjoyed getting dressed up and going to the Diamond club room before dinner where we had snacks and free drinks.  Dinner in the dining room was great and felt a lot safer than eating in the buffet.  Jeff tried the casino, but found the machines to be less than rewarding.  Jeff tried out the Abyss slide and we both enjoyed the water slides.  Even on our at sea days, there was plenty to do (or not do). 

By the end of our voyage, we had gotten into a good routine, met some people that were fun to hang out with and were able to make our way around the ship without getting lost too many times

Central Park in the middle of the ship

15th floor.  The zip line

Miniature golf

Surfing.  Some people were really good at it.

Toward the stern.  The purple tubes are the Abyss slide

The main adult pool

The Solarium

Peace at last

The weirdly sexual sculpture.

The chandelier in the main dining room

James Bond at Casino Royale

Diamond Member lounge

Enjoying free wine

A rare moment alone in an elevator

Hitting the nightclub

Jeff enters "The Abyss" which drops 9 stories!

Ahhhh, the Solarium

Headed Home

Mea Culpa and The Biggest Cruise Ship in the World

Hello everyone and welcome to the renewal of our blog.  This is Kathy, and I admit that ever since last spring, I have been neglectful of keeping up with our blog.  I know that many of you have expressed missing the concise and entertaining prose and National Geographic quality photos that characterized the blog in the past. (Ha-ha)  My only excuse is that it's hard to catch up once you get behind.  I'm going to do my best though.  I'll start with our most recent adventure.

I have really been enjoying my first months of retirement.  Jeff and I got our little property ready for cold weather and planned our winter getaways.  First on the agenda was a cruise of the Eastern Caribbean.  So after a lovely Thanksgiving celebration, we packed our bags and left for Ft. Lauderdale FL on Nov. 30.  The best part of the flight was coming into Newark airport when we could see all of New York City including the Statue of Liberty in the harbor.  We got to our hotel in Ft. Lauderdale, got settled and enjoyed the view of sea and harbor. The next day we spent most of our time at the pool and the rest at the beach.  A Hispanic couple was getting married on the shore and it was fun to watch the ceremony and listen to the waves.  We walked to a great seafood restaurant and celebrated the start of our trip with a mouth puckeringly delicious slice of real key lime pie.  Yummm!

Views from our room

At the pool

vacation ready

Ft. Lauderdale Beach

The wedding

On December 2, we repacked and caught the shuttle to the cruise ship.  Due to Jeff's "Diamond" status with Royal Caribbean, we jumped through all the hoops in record time.  I had read about the ship, but actually seeing the worlds largest cruise ship, all 17 floors, and with rooms for 6500 people was amazing.  We had lunch in a giant buffet and put on our suits for a trip to the pool which was crowded and noisy. By the time we fought our way through the crowd to our stateroom and saw that the ship was beginning to leave port, I was in tears.  How could I survive a whole week in this giant floating hotel with all these people???  But Jeff was reassuring.  He convinced me that we would soon get used to where things were and find spots that were more quiet and restful.

Boarding the big ship

Leaving port and a view of the ship behind us

off to sea

After the meltdown.....feeling better

And enjoying the balcony