Monday, Day 4 - St. Kitts and Nevis

Apparently the weather on this island is very unpredictable. This was our view pulling into port:

See how it changes so quickly?

Wake up call this morning with coffee delivered to room service at 7:15. That tied me over until we managed to get our act together and make it down to Blu at 8:00 for breakfast. I wanted to go a little lighter this morning so just got a fruit and cheese plate with a blueberry muffin. As usual, everything we had was wonderful and we were able to leave for our beach excursion with a full belly. 

We left the ship about 8:45 to meet Liz Pereira at 9:00. On the way we got waylaid by one of the guys with monkeys ... You know I'm a sucker. And this being the monkey island (seriously, there are more monkeys on the island than people - for real!). Since we were headed to the beach you know I looked like a hot mess. Holy cow just not how I normally want to remember I looked, but it is what it is. 

So the meeting with Liz didn't go exactly as planned. At first we couldn't find her at the place she designated. Then one of her affiliates told her we were looking for her. When she came over to us it was as if she had completely forgotten that we were coming in today. When Bob showed her the email, she made an effort at recovery and walked off to find us a driver to the beach. There was some haggling with the first guy and in the end he refused. So she found Tony and he agreed to drive us. 

Tony was great. Especially if you overlook the fact that he piled us into a little as 4 seater car (there were five of us including him) to drive 30 minutes to the reggae bar. He told us stories anout the island while driving these little pot hole riddled roads dodging oncoming cars and slamming on breaks. It was quite an adventure. The kicker came when we arrived and he wanted to know who was paying him. Uh Ooohhh. We had already paid Liz for the transportation there and back. Apparently she didn't pay him. He promised us he'd be back at 3:00 to pick us up. Crossing our fingers ...

The Reggae Beach Bar was an interesting place. It's right on the beach and is lined with chairs and umbrellas to rent. (Liz was supposed to have reserved chairs and umbrellas for us - she didn't.) Either wa, we enjoyed the day laying by the beach, floating in the water -  this beach was much calmer than Sand Castle yesterday, even though it as still pretty windy. One of the nicest things about this beach is the service. You don't have to get up to do anything but go in the water. Everything as brought right to your chair. Awesome! Our server was Shirley and she made sure we lacked for nothing. We bought a bucket of local beer, 6 for $20 and were in heaven.

The water was a bit cold until we got used to it but was nice once the shock wore off. The snorkeling still wasn't great here either but at least we did break out our masks and snorkel to try them out. Looks like they're going to work great!!! - once we actually have something to look at. I saw about three fish this afternoon. Bob saw one. Oh well.

Not much is it? A guy came walking around selling his own reggae CDs. He was something else. Bob haggled with him and made a deal - we got 2 reggae Christmas CDs and 2 regular reggae CDs for $30. He had a boom box with him and played quite a few of his songs. They actually sounded pretty good. Nice local souvenir from the island.

We split a mahi sandwich with fries for lunch and started packing up to go back to the ship around 2:30. On the way out we checked out the shop and bought a couple of "Rush Slowly" t-shirts and bottle coozies. I love it. 

While waiting for Shirley to settle the tab, I noticed there were dollar bills posted on the ceiling by the bar, and flags from all over the world signed and hung up inside, and people had written their names and dates on anything they could find. You know we had to do that too!!

After we settled the tab and wrote our names on the bar, we went out front to wait on Tony.  He didn't show. Onto Plan B. We managed to hitch a ride with another company on an open trolley kind of vehicle - for $5 ea. We took it. Boy was that an experience!!

Made it back to the ship about 3:45. So I have a review to write on tripadvisor.com about Liz Pereira and the way she does business. I know things can happen but she apparently scammed Tony by not paying him up front because we had already paid her, and then didn't take care of us by making sure we were taken care of for our ride back to the ship.

We did our typical sauna thing before coming back to the room and getting cleaned up for dinner. It was nearly 5:30 by the time Bob started shaving and 6 before I got in the shower. Needless to say, we were going to be a little later tonight. I wanted to run up on the 11th deck to get a shot of the ship leaving port. St Kitts is such a beautiful island. I think we'd all like to come back and stay here for a week to explore it more. Anyway the wind was brutal!! It's been windy since we landed in San Juan Saturday and seems like it just keeps getting worse. I hope it's gone tomorrow! I've been really excited about snorkeling champagne reef. And we've learned the snorkeling just isn't that great when it's this kind of windy. But we sure are rocking this boat tonight!

By the time we finally got down to dinner we had lost our table, but we still kept the same servers, Jasna and Vincent. The meal, once again, was amazing. We started of with almond encrusted Brie overtop of hot pepper jelly. Oh. My. Goodness. It was AMAZING!!! My salad was a jicama salad with cucumbers and watermelon drizzled with some kind of lemon oil.  Excellent I tell you. Excellent!! Dinner was a new kind of fish we have never had before. It was a Mediterranean Sea Bass.  Cooked to perfection. Was delicious!! And dessert was chocolate lava cake. Uh, that was Vincent's recommendation. Spot on. Perfect!

The show at 9:00 tonight was called Sirens. It was a burlesque show. Apparently I don't know what they're supposed to be. I was not entertained. It was like sitting throug a high school musical just because someone's kid you knew was in it. It was pretty bad. And that's a shame because the tat lent available is really good. But the content of this thing really sucked. Jacques and Gigi kept nodding off in hopes that when they woke back up it would be over!! Didn't work that way. Unfortunately. 

That segwayed right into something we had been looking forward to - The Newlywed Not So Newlywed Game at 10:30 in the rendezvous Lounge. We had seen it on the Alaska cruise and it was fabulous!! This one was pretty good too. It's hysterical that people will volunteer to go up in front of a bunch of people and embarras themselves by answering intimate questions. Works for us!!

After all that laughter we needed a snack before turning in for bed. LOL. Of course we did. We're on a ship! We moseyed up to the Ocean Cafe to see what we could find. Trouble. Jacques had his pizza and the rest of us got a plate of cheese, bread and olives. The ship was really rockin' and rollin' tonight. I got so tickled as we were walking back to our cabins because as the ship rocks we all walk in a zig zag line, back and forth, back and forth. It really is hysterical. You can't help it. We got back to the cabin around midnight and started journaling as soon as I got my face washed and teeth brushed. It's now 1:22am. Gonna be a short night. Wake up call is 7:00. We have to be off the ship at 8:30 for our Dominica tour. 

So G'night!!

Sunday, Day 3 - St. Croix

Woke up around 7am this morning (after not getting to sleep until somewhere around 2am - ugh). Packed our beach bags and got dressed to meet Jacques and Gigi at 8:00 to go down to Blu for breakfast. We all had omelets, wonderful service and a great start to the day ... Except it looked like rain. In fact, before we could finish breakfast it was raining a bit. They even told us on the announcement to carry an umbrella if we were leaving the ship for an excursion. Hmmm, not good. Our plan for the day was getting a taxi to take us to Sand Castle beach to hang out and snorkel. Rain and beach day do not go hand in hand. But whatever - we came back to our cabins and finished getting our stuff together. Before we left the room there was an amazing rainbow right outside of our cabin. It was splendid!!! We took that as a good omen and left with smiles.

We were at the beach, in lounge chairs, under an umbrella 30 minutes later. The skies looked a bit ominous in places and we even felt a few sprinkles but what the hell. When you're on an island in the Caribbean does it really matter? The sun would peek out now and then until eventually mostly what we had was blue sky. The more the sun shone, the bluer the water was. I don't think I will ever tire of looking at that gorgeous blue topaz color of the water. It just mesmerize me. 

Our first dip of toes in the water was a bit of a shock. It felt pretty dang cold!! We persisted and eventually we were all the way in. Once the shock wore off it actually felt very nice. Of course when the sun came out it helped to warm up things too. Gigi never did make it in but Jacques frolicked like a fish. Going back to our chairs and just chilling out was pure heaven. Later in the afternoon we had a nice walk down the beach and so the rest of the afternoon went. Water, chill, beach, water, etc. it was really windy and so a a little rough. Didn't seem good circumstances for snorkeling so we never even broke out our snorkel gear today. Hoping tomorrow is better. 

Our view ...

Our first beer of the day ...

At some point we started talking to another cruiser floating in the water.  Didn't get her name but learned a lot else about her. LOL This is her 32nd cruise and she's doing another one in March and another one to Europe in September to celebrate her 50th birthday. Says she's done them all. I bet!!! She was telling us about the big group right down from us - there are about 80 in all and they're all part of a wedding party, which will be held on St. Thomas Friday. Holy cow. We don't even know 80 people, much less 80 people that would be willing to go on a cruise as part of he wedding party! How awesome is that? Food for thought. 

We started packing up to come back to the ship around 3:00. We knew we wanted to hit the spa and detox a bit, catch an early dinner at Blu and try to find the game on one of the TVs at 5:30. Wait. What game you say? Well. Let me tell you. Hehehehehe. The Cowboys vs Lions playoff game don'tcha know!!! I knew I couldn't see the entire game and eat dinner in Blu too so decided to eat as early as we could and catch whatever was left of the game as soon as we could get there. 

So returned to the ship, sauna, shower, dressed for Blu by about 5:40. The only glitch was that Blu didn't open until 6:00. Ugh. So we waited. It as worth the wait. The shaved pear salad was excellent. Bob also ordered macadamia nut crusted pan seared scallops for an appetizer that was divine. We all ordered the pacific salmon for our main course. You know it didn't disappoint. And the apple crisp with vanilla ice cream on top? Yummy. Add a couple of glasses of wine to that and we need cranes to leave. But hey, at least we skipped lunch, right? One of the best parts of the dinner tonight was that someone went and paged Gabriel for us so he came up from his current position to say hi. That was so sweet!! Even if he didn't remember us it had to mean something to him that we remembered him enough to want to say hi again. Mazy is upstairs in the Ocean Cafe these days at lunch time. So we should get to see him Thursday when we're crushing all day. Looking forward to that!

The only place we could find the game on was the casino. Surprisingly, there were very few people there. Then we discovered why. It was only audio. The picture was gone for some reason. Ever tried listening to a game in the middle of slots being played? Yeah. Didn't work too well. Eventually we decided to give up and come back tithe room. Even if the satellite was still messed up at least we could hear it better from there. Lo and behold we turned it on and magically there was a picture!!!! So we got to see most of the last quarter of the game and see my boys whoop up on some Detroit Lions patootie. <big fat cheesy grin> Works for me!! Final score was 24-20 Cowboys!!!

Not much else going on that we were interested in after that and the guys were about done so Gigi and I took a stroll up the to Emporium to see what kind of shipping we could do. Not much. We walked around but very little caught our eye. By the time we came back to our cabins it was about 9:30 and we were ready to prepare to hit the sack early tonight. 

I say that but here I sit and it's nearly 11:00 now so not but so early for me. 

St. Kitts and Nevis tomorrow. Another one of Terri's recommendations, the Reggae beach and bar. We have a 9:30 shuttle to catch. Breakfast at 8:00 in Blu! Better get some shut eye!!

Night!!

Saturday, Day 2 - San Juan

After an amazing breakfast at the Papillon Restaurant in our hotel we finished packing up and took a taxi to the cruise terminal. Check-in started at 11am and we were there about 10:45. Anxious much? LOL It as a great time to get there because we sailed right on through and were completely checked in and out the door headed to Old San Juan by 11:15. Our first glimpse of home for a week ...

A short taxi ride later we were exploring the old fort. We spent a good hour or so walking around, reading about the years of battles fought and won, and taking in the sights. It really is beautiful and so full of history. 

The views of the harbor were beautiful. More on the history later.

We left the fort walking toward Old San Juan to see what kind of trouble we could get into. I had to snap this shot as we were walking by ...

We did eventually find a restaurant where we could sit outside and enjoy an adult beverage and ended up ordering a couple of appetizers to snack on to tide us over until dinner. After our big breakfast we really didn't need a big lunch.

One of the little servers brought us a map and showed us how close we were to the cruise terminal so we ignorantly chose to walk back. After all, we needed to move and burn some calories - right? It sure sounded like a great idea. So we walked. And walked. And walked. And walked. It was like the ever elusive carrot being dangled in front of you and no matter how hard you tried you couldn't get any closer to it. After a good hour of walking, Bob managed to flag down a taxi that was up ahead of us.  Thank God he saw him and backed up to wait for us. It was at least another mile, mile and a half or more to the ship. It wàs very windy and very sticky. We were done. Best $10 we've spent yet. 

It was so nice and comforting to board the ship and know where you were and where you needed to go. When we got to our cabins we were delighted to find our luggage right there waiting for us!!! Yippee! Now we can take a shower before dinner. Trust me, that was a very good thing. So we took turns unpacking - only one person at a time can do that. If you've ever been in a cabin before you know what I mean. If not, we'll let me just say ... Never mind. Just trust me. You have to take turns to unpack.

If felt so good to get cleaned up and ready for our first dinner at Blu tonight! Gigi and I hung out on the deck together while Jacques and 8Ball were showering. We shared some champagne and simply basked in the fact that we were on our balconies once again. It felt like coming home. 

About 6:00 we headed down to Blu. I was really hoping there would be some of our old people on this cruise but alas, there isn't. Not to take away anything from the current crew, we just loved the last one. Our cabin steward is Javier. We asked about Jose, who we had last time, and he said Jose was on holiday in Honduras. Good for him. Javier seems to be very enthusiastic and eager to please. I think we'll be just fine. 

Mazy did not greet us at Blu and that was sad. (We later found out that he is in charge of the Ocean Cafe on Deck 10, which is the main eating area for the ship. It's the constant buffet. A huge responsibility. I think our new maitre d, Shah, will be broken in before the week is out. Gabriel has been moved to the main dining room (we have to go at least say hi to him) and Ganna is gone. I guess she left the company and has moved back home. So tonight we had Jasna (pronounced Yasna, from Yugoslavia). She is going to be fun to work with. The guys ordered the filet minon, Gigi ordered the blackened ahi tuna. I'm not much on sushi and I was afraid the tuna would be too raw for my liking. Jasna talked me into at least trying it and said if I didn't like it she'd take it back. So that's what I did. It was ok but certainly not my favorite thing I've had and I probably wouldn't order it again, when Yasna came by to check on me and asked how I liked it, she promptly said she'd bring me the filet when I said it was just ok. Can't beat that service can you? I had the special dulce creme brûlée for dessert. Yummmm. So delicious!

We were ushered out rather quickly for mandatory muster call. Everyone had to report to their stations at 7:45. Apparently there were some who thought they were special and the exception to the rule because we ended up having to wait around until about 8:10 to view a 5 minute demonstration of how to put on and wear a life jacket because there were some absentees. Go figure!

It was getting close to time to pull out of port so we made our way up to deck 11 to hang out and watch. Dancing by the pool right under us provided entertainment while we waited. We enjoyed the fresh air and disco music for a while and eventually decided we'd had enough and we're going to to try and get a good seat for the 10pm show tonight. The first time we got there it was only about 9:30 and the doors weren't open yet. So we found a little sports bar and the guys got themselves a Guinness, that they ended up taking into the theater only minutes later. 

The show was an introduction to the cruise director and some of the acts we're going to see around the ship this week. The main attraction tonight was Rick somebody who is a juggler. He's also a comedian. He started of a little slow but definitely made up for it by the end. He included a couple of people from the audience to help with part of his act and it was really funny. 

The show was over about 11:00 and 8Ball was hungry so we went back up to Deck 10 to find food for him. While we were walking around looking to see what was available that time of night, Bob almost ran straight into a mirror thinking it was another corridor. Oh that was a good laugh. The next one came while we were sitting at the table discussing knots under the skin and Ricky says, "I have a calcium deposit right here." And Bob pipes in saying he has one of those on his thumb too! ... While rubbing his pointer finger. That's some weird looking thumb there dude!!! Good grief everyone else in there at that hour thought we had lost it. They weren't far off! LOL That was our last hurrah and sent us back to our cabins. We all were done. 

So here I sit being rocked to sleep - man that feels good!- and journaling. This is our route for the week:

Looking forward to St Croix tomorrow!!!!

Ttfn ...

Friday, Day 1 - We're Off!!!

We booked this cruise a year ago and believe me, I've been counting down for a year!! The closer the months, weeks and days drew, the more excited I became. See, this time I knew what I was in for. Last time we cruised the Caribbean it was all new. This time? We're pros. LOL Gigi and I have been in cahoots for months waiting for this day. And now, we're finally on a plane and our countdown is measured in hours, not months, weeks or days. I am so there. Before I go any further let me explain that we all have cruising personas. Bob became 8Ball in San Juan last year, Ricky and Regina are Jacques and Gigi and I eventually adopted the handle of Bambi. The names are interchangeable and I won't always be consistent with using one or the other.

This year we decided a January cruise would be better than a December before Christmas cruise. So this time all the hoopla of the holidays are behind us. I plan to milk this chill mode as long as possible. Jacques and Gigi have the cabin we were in last year and ours this year is right next door. 😁😁😁 

Our limo (Gigi's van) arrived earlier than expected this morning and 8Ball and I weren't quite ready. That didn't squash the exitement though. We arrived at the airport about 7:30am and were checked in and through security by about 8:10. Since we had so much time before our 9:55 flight we hit the closest bar by our gate and started out in vacation mode with beers all around - at 8:30am. Well hell it was 1:30pm in England, right? LOL I think we beat our earliest record this morning.

Bob and I brought physical books to read on the beach. First time we've read a real book in ages. We also bought them digitally so when on the ship we can read on our iPads. That's pretty bad isn't it? I checked Goodreads last night and Cari and I have both read the one I brought, "Superstition" by Karen Robards and both of us rated it very high so it should be an easy read. Otherwise I have plenty to choose from on my iPad. 

Getting ready to land in Orlando. We have a couple hour layover here. I'm thinking more eating and more drinking are in order!!!

... Yup. We found our old haunt from last year Johnny Rivers' Grill & Market and planted. Some mediocre food for lunch and adult beverages, of course. It was just enough time to kill with leisure and line up for the last leg to San Juan. 

(Check out the chick yawning behind us LOLOL)

Thankful for some uneventful flights, we landed in San Juan around 6:15. The airport here is dead and it takes a while to get the luggage. Finally, we're loaded into a taxi on our way to the hotel, Marriott Miramar. I have to expound on this taxi ride. This guy was intense. We've ridden with some doozies. He may have edged into first place. The boy was driving like he stole it!! Even Jacques was putting his seatbelt on. No really, that's saying something. I think we were all saying prayers that our big adventure for the week wasn't going to end before it got started. Gigi said later that even she doesn't drive like that ... I had to remind her that indeed she does, in DC. CRAZY!!!

I think we all kissed the ground when we made it to the hotel safely. LOL Typically, we ask the locals where to eat whe visiting a new place so we asked the girl at the desk and without hesitation she recommended Casita Miramar for local cuisine. It was a short walk from the hotel and we all agreed it sounded good. We had also read wonderful things about this place on trip advisor. The worst part of the evening was the 45 minutes wait for a table but we were prepared for that as well. That time was passed enjoying a local holiday passion fruit sangria. Man was it good!! Bob tried a local beer and wasn't  impressed. So we we got to our table we ended up ordering a pitcher of sangria for everyone. I think it's saying something when even the guys really like it. 

The food. Wow. Was fabulous! Bob and I chose their Christmas special with was some kind of pork dish that literally melted in your mouth. Our server said it was a typical local Christmas dinner at most homes around here. I can see why. Was divine. Gigi decided on an avocado stuffed with shrimp and sweet plantains. It, also, was amazing!!! Jacques ordered the sword fish and cleaned up his plate. I'm just glad we had to walk back to our hotel. What a fabulous beginning to an amazing week ahead!!

And 8Ball ... I don't know what's up with him. He is so not into the chill mode yet. He was suggesting we meet for breakfast in the morning at 7:30!!!!! FRO? What was he thinking? We all looked at him like he'd grown another head! 9am sounded much better to the rest of us. Smh. We'll get him in the mode. Guess it just may take a little longer for him. 

That's it for Day 1!

She Said "YES!"

Matt FINALLY proposed last week! So the "yewts" came down for a visit this past weekend to celebrate. We had a nice lunch with Mike and Paddy down at the beach and went to Indian River Plantation to do a quickie Engagement Shoot. Here are some of my faves from the shoot:

Will let you know when we have a wedding date!