Travel Blog Jan 15-19, 2013

Travel Blog -Saturday and Sunday, January 18-19, 2014

Drawing to a close…at sea heading north---Go Seahawks!!

The last two full days of our trip were at sea. We left St Martin on Friday and continued our northbound voyage toward the home port of Fort Lauderdale, FL. Since these were not port days, we had two shows left to present for the guests. Our Friday show was scheduled for the afternoon so we spent the morning rehearsing and exercising on the ship’s track in lovely Caribbean weather. The winds were the same direction that the ship was traveling so no winds in our faces as we walked the track on deck 10. Very pleasant.

This next to the last show was our history piece on the Caribbean islands and we had a nice group attending in the main show lounge. Since we no longer have any ports to visit, we were not assigned any desk duty so we had the remainder of the day after our 1:30 show to read and relax on the lounges on the promenade deck. That has been our favorite hang-out since the start of the cruise as it is quieter than around the pool and usually has shade and a breeze blowing.

This was another formal night so we dressed in our formal clothes and had a nice evening with our great table mates and then attended the final production show. The singers and dancers on this trip are fabulous. With only eight in the whole company, we are amazed at the quality of the shows which they present twice a night. We know that they are young but even at that age, we wouldn’t have been able to do five minutes of their entertainment let alone two one-hour shows! We knew that we had to get up early for rehearsal for our final show so we opted to not attend the champagne gala at 11:00 pm.

It is the last full day of the 28 day cruise and we had one final show to present at 9:30 am in the main theater. We decided not to present our new pirate show but instead repeat the pirate show that we gave on the southbound journey as an encore presentation. We figured that only a few guests had probably seen our first pirate show as most of these guests did not take both cruises. We wanted to end with one of our tried and true shows so we could go ‘out with a bang’. It was very well received with lots of positive comments given to us after we were through. It was the last of 12 shows that we presented and we feel that we did not screw-up on a single show!

After the show, we changed into our shorts and tank tops and did our laps on the track and then went to lunch outside on deck. It was a pleasant and relaxing way to unwind. Next, it was time to start packing for the flight home so we went back to our stateroom and started to get all of our things back in our two suitcases, hoping that they will not be over-weight at the airport.

We spent our last dinner with our wonderful tablemates.  Baked Alaska was served or dessert.
At 7:30, Donna attended the show in the Cabaret Lounge and John stayed in our cabin to watch the NFC championship game between the the Seattle Seahawks and the San Francisco team.  Donna returned in time for the second half and the thrilling finale as Seattle won in the last play.  GO HAWKS!

Travel Blog -Friday, January 17, 2014

St. Martin, yet again!

It seems as if every cruise to the Eastern Caribbean stops at St. Martin.  We cannot count haw much time we have spent there.  The harbor was jam packed, with six large cruise ships in Philipsburg’s harbor. Philipsburg is the capital of the Dutch side of the island.

We had put in to serve as an excursion escort and found ourselves together on the same bus.  We had taken this tour last year, but the quality of our tour guide, a charming woman from Dominica made it quite pleasant.

Marigot, the capital of the French side

Our stop in Marigot, the French capital, was much busier than on previous cruises.  We did get a short rainstorm as we walked around.  Many of our fellow passengers donned raincoats or opened umbrellas, but, since we are from Washington we weren’t about ready to let a bit of warm rain bother us.

We completed our tour in Philipsburg and set out to our favorite bar to read our email on their wi-fi connection.  Donna disposed of 75 emails and we returned to the ship after walking the length of Front Street, the city’s main drag.

Following dinner, we were entertained by a great comedian, went dancing and turned in by 11:00.

Travel Blog -Thursday, January 16, 2014

St Lucia; a Day at the Beach

This was our fourth visit to St. Lucia. Our daughter, Kari, had recently been to St. Lucia and recommended Rodney Bay for a beach day.  The bay is located about 20 minutes north of our ship and we negotiated a taxi fare to get there. 

The beach umbrellas at scenic Rodney Bay, St. Lucia

Rodney Bay is a very upscale area, surrounded by many condos and hotels.  It is more reminiscent of Maui than any place we have visited so far on our cruise.  We arrived about 9:30 and rented an umbrella and deck chairs with a beautiful view of the magnificent bay.  Dozens of watercraft were anchored offshore, a few only a bit smaller than cruise ships!  We tried swimming in the portion of the beach in front of us, but Donna found the uncertain footing in the sand a bit too challenging.  We soon noticed a roped-off area about 50 yards down the beach and gave it a try.  I was much better and we enjoyed swimming and floating the gentle, warm waves.

The time passed quickly as we read, chatted, and swam and by 1:00 we were dressed and ready to catch our taxi back to the ship.

We again served our hour at the desk in the evening.

We really enjoy our dinner tablemates and have many laughs during that time.

On to St. Martin tomorrow!

Travel Blog -Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Tobago Revisited

Donna mans the artillery at Fort St George, Tobago

We served as tour escorts on our bus tour of this beautiful and friendly island today.  Our stops included forts, an old sugar processing plant and a few other scenic views.  This is a case of the tour guide making the tour.  Donna’s guide was excellent and John’s hardly spoke a word.

We took a stroll through Scarborough, but really couldn’t find anything of interest to buy, with the exception of some laundry detergent. 

As on every other day, we served our shift at the Port Lecturers’ table and answered questions about the next islands.  

Travel Blog -Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Coasting the Guianas

Today was a sea day, which meant that it was a work day for us.  This was to be our last destination lecture, a presentation on our ports of call in the Caribbean; Tobago, St. Lucia and St. Martin.  We were familiar with each of these, since we had visited them on our southbound voyage.

Our program was very well attended and we received many positive comments from the passengers.  This program would be rebroadcast for the next four days on the ship’s northbound voyage.

This voyage has had wonderful weather, with very little rain.  Since we are now out of the Amazon, we can again eat on deck and go outside after dark without the fear of flying and crawling critters that made nighttime activities so challenging in the Amazon Basin.