9th Day at Sea

Our table mates
Edwin our asst. waiter
Deck 6

Lope our waiter

This is our last day of the cruise. Sadness hangs over us like an unwanted dark cloud. The morning has started out hazy and windy but does clear up later. Today we have to pack in order to put our suitcases out in the hall before turning in for the night. I always hate that part.

After exercise and breakfast we head out for the pool. They had movies on today outside so we enjoyed that.

8th Day at Sea

Sports deck
Formal night
Lido deck
Champagne waterfall

Another beautiful sunny morning. I started off my day by exercising and then another great breakfast. We sat out mostly all day by the pool and watched the sea pass by. It was formal night once again. We really enjoy these nights. We don't have too many opportunities to dress up at home. Tonight's dinner for us was Beef Wellington. Lobster was the biggie of the night I'm not really a lobster person.

At 11:30 p.m. they had made champagne waterfalls out of over 700 glasses. It was kind of interesting to see but we

7th day at sea

Coming into port
Beautiful

Outside Margaritaville
Swimming pool at port

We arrived in Grand Turk (Turks and Caicos) about 1:00 p.m. We both walked/ran on Deck 7 before we got there. It was a beautiful, sunny morning. We had never been here and were excited to see it. The port area was built mainly for passengers. It had nice shopping, Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville, a gigantic pool, and a beautiful beach!

Snorkeling was great here! There was a large drop off and lots of beautiful fish. We even saw a stingray swimming by. We have actually fed them in the Caymen Islands but haven't seen them just swimming about. Our day here was fantastic! We left about 7:00 p.m. We wished we could have stayed all day.

6th day at sea

Magen's Bay in St. Thomas
Hill top view
Catching some rays
Enjoying the water

The sixth morning brought us to St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. This is a hilly, beautiful island. It was 77 degrees with a high expected to be 81. We have been here before and loved it so off to Magens Bay we went. St. Thomas has replaced regular taxis with what looks similar to safari trucks. This can be kindy of scary riding over the hilltops on their skinny roads with nothing between you and the cliff side. The water was a little chilly but okay after you got into it. We snorkled a little but there isn't much to see in terms of fish. However we were treated to the greatest bird show. They had some type of sea birds, larger than gulls, but smaller than pelicans that put on the best show. They would hoover high above the water looking for fish then fold their wings back and dive. I tried to get a pic of this but couldn't time it right. The birds did this over and over. It was so entertaining!! Everyone would just stop what they were doing to watch. Even the pelican tried doing it but made such a big splash that it probably scared the fish off. Luckily it was beautiful and sunny the whole time we were there.

After a while it was time to return to the ship. Lucky us, we got to ride in the cab of the safari truck taxi. Okay, can I just say how scary that was. We didn't think the truck was going to make it over the hills. The driver saw I was trying to take a couple of pictures so he pulled over to the side of the road so I could. The poor people in the back probably thought they were going to go over the cliff for sure. Because you see, there really wasn't any side of the road to pull off on. I'm really glad we were in the cab. But I was really glad when we made it back to the ship.

Of course, later that afternoon it began to rain. We tried to sit out by the pool but that didn't happen. Funny thing is, it seemed to be sunny over the whole island except where the ship was.

Day 5 at San Juan, Puerto Rico

Old Town San Juan
Copper plant
City park
Front of ship
Sail-away party

The ship docked in old town San Juan. The weather was gorgeous, hot and humid. After exercising on ship we had a great breakfast and got ready to head out. Three ships were docked in San Juan so the streets were crowded. They were also having some sort of festival in town as well which added to the congestion.

As we walked around town there were many noticeable smells. It reminded me so much of New Orleans; lots of shops and restaurants. We came across Cafe Mallorca. This little cafe was featured on the Food Network under Rachel Ray's Tasty Travels. We decided to get a couple of pastries and eat them in the park. They were wonderful!!

Once we got back to the ship and had lunch we decided to go to the pool. Of course, it clouded up. Later on we decided that we would forgo dinner in dining room and eat burgers outside and watch the Movie Under the Stars. They did this every night and this night Atonement was showing. Well this movie bored us. We decided to have dinner in buffet. They had Barvarian night. The food was pretty good and the pretzels were wonderful! They also had expresso cheesecake which was fabulous! Later on we had a party out on deck which was loads of fun!

4th day at sea

Typical breakfast (not)!!!
Breakfast table view
Beautiful day at sea
Back of the ship

The morning of the 4th day brought us a beautiful, sunny morning. I wish I could say all I had for breakfast every morning was whats in the picture but that wouldn't be quite true. I had probably already eaten, eggs, bacon, oatmeal and who knows what else. Their fruit was delicious though except for that papaya. I have always wanted to try it and finally did. I thought it tasted like an old shoe. David thought it had no taste.

We had a great day out by the pools. For dinner we both tried pasta with rabbit as an appetizer and main course was for me veal chop and David had Turbot(fish). Tiramisu was the dessert of the night. YUM!

Happy Father's Day and Happy Birthday party

I have to interrupt my postings from our vacation to say Happy Father's day to my father-in-law and Happy Birthday to my mother-in-law. We decided we needed to have the family over to our house to celebrate today. So we decided to have little snackie foods and then I made a cake(me and Duncan Hines that is). I was up at 6:00 a.m. today to get this done so I could go to church. I am happy to report I did make it to church.

The snackies we had were simple. Tortilla roll-up sandwiches with turkey, ham, cream cheese, a dollop of ranch dressing, chopped black olives and green chilles. Then we had fresh tomatoes from our garden with basil drizzled in balsamic vinegrette dressing. I sliced a couple of cucumbers from the garden and had ranch dip with those. Then just chips and dip. One of our sister-in-laws made a great bean/cheese dip.

My father and mother-in-law are wonderful people and have always treated me especially nice. I remember the night I married David, my father-in-law told me he hadn't lost a son but gained a new daughter. I thought that was so sweet.

3rd Day at Sea

Docked in Bermuda
Front street
Front street
Looking out from Front street

Third day at sea brought us to Bermuda. I thought this island was beautiful! We docked out in West-end which meant we had to take either taxi, bus or water taxi into town(Hamilton). We decided to take the water taxi and then another mode of transportation to return to the ship.

When we got off the ship we learned you had to buy tokens for the transportation. So we got in line and purchased two round trip coins and proceeded to stand in line for the boat. Well there was this little older couple in front of us waiting as well. When it came time to board the boat the little couple didn't put their money in the container. The young man standing there told them to pay their money but the older man just kept on walking. He said he was with the ship and didn't need to pay the money. The young man kept saying he needed to pay but they didn't. They just kept on walking up the stairs and rode for free. I'm sorry, but I just don't understand people. It was clearly marked you had to pay to ride.

Now you know, it's no wonder so many different countries don't like Americans.

Anyway, back to Bermuda. We loved the water taxi ride into town. The town was very nice. A little hilly but so colorful. There were shops everywhere and restaurants on every corner. And yes, we did see some business men with Bermuda shorts on.

When we were ready to leave Hamilton we decided to take the city bus back to West-End. We were so glad we did. We took Route 7 which took us out by all the beaches. All-in-all, the ride took 55 minutes but we saw so much of the countryside. The houses there are painted colors of the rainbow. Not to mention all the beautiful vegetation. Speaking of vegetation, they had pansies growing in June. This was a shocker. Plus they had beautiful hibiscus hedges and firecracker grass.

One other thing I have to mention we saw while in town. A lady pulled up to a red light on a moped with her little one that couldn't have been over 2 years of age. The child was bungee corded to the moped. Luckily she did have a helmet on. Obviously they have a little looser restrictions than we do.

But mostly when I think back on Bermuda I will always remember the colors.