Made it back from our Cruise, boo-hoo

We landed safely and still in wonderful sunny weather. The only trouble we had is that our hotel did not have us registered, oh my ... once again thank you Cynthia for coming to our rescue. You're the best. We not only had a beautiful oceanfront view but a hundred dollar voucher for the mix-up from Expedia - keep this in mind when booking through several hands, according to the hotel manager. Cynthia is truthworthy, it's the third and fourth hand making sure the booking has reached its destination. We had a beautiful day at the beach with all its interesting activities. I'll be back got to go get some more soda pop. I also have pictures to download from this location. Stay tuned.

Cruise continues

A great big THANK YOU to Cynthia for the wonderful canopy platter we received when we first boarded. We had the choice of time we could eat it, so as we had already filled our tummies on the first day, we set the delivery time for Tuesday. Wednesday, we were in St. Thomas and guess what, yes spent the day at Megan’s Bay beach. A beautiful arch of sand dotted with mansions up in the mountains protecting surrounding this cove. After returning to the ship, we enjoyed from our balcony the numerous yatchs, including one pulling in and parking next to our ship which we suspected were mafia. We tried not to be obvious with our telephoto lens trying to get a better look onto the ship. Today, Thursday, March 4th, 2010, we continue our cruise into San Juan, Puerto Rico. We arrived early, about 7am and departed shortly after 3pm. We were simply going to walk around the port before going back on ship to spend a leisurely day, but as we stepped outside the port boundaries, we were bombarded by enthusiastic taxi drivers and tour guides eagerly awaiting to serve our every need. One tour guide approached us, after we ignored every other one and we finally gave in to him, despite how unprepared we were, no water, only ONE camera (to share), and some cash. However, it turned out very well as he toured a group of us for $10 each around the old city and we were able to see quite a bit, such as the parliament building with its bronze statues of famous people such as JFK and Ford. An open market with an array of fresh fruits and vegetables and hot sauce made fresh on the premises. We went to a square near an elementary school where we saw a large group of young students, in their uniform, preparing for their own outing. In that square were another series of bronze statues of women in some kind of action, interesting how every status was bear breasted, not sure why but it sure put a smile and a giggle on the students faces, our as well. These statues were meticulously designed where every curve, wrinkle, eyelash, teeth were clearly visible. We then passed several beaches with breaking surf and palm trees and numerous people sunning. We stopped at the old castle ruins with its cemetery and a few minutes later, a funeral procession proceeded down a sunken road which entered below the cemetery grounds. The tour ended downtown where we were able to take more pictures of the narrow cobblestone roads, colourful buildings and black iron balconies, very much like the French Quarters in New Orleans. It was a very hot humid day and as we made our way back we met up with that group of students we saw previously. They were in line to get seeds to feed the pigeons. It was hilarious watching thousands of pigeons flutter and land on the many screaming children, some with excitement and some in terror in this courtyard which was part of the ruins which overlooked the bay where the ship was parked. We made our way back to the ship where we enjoyed relaxing on deck in the sun with a cool drink and of course tanned some more.

Here are missing pictures from previous blog

Caribbean Cruise March 2nd, 2010

In continuing to log our cruise adventure, the morning prior to boarding our ship, we enjoyed a breakfast buffet by the marina, and if you look closely at the picture here, you can see our cruise ship in the distance awaiting us. Actually it is the Liberty of the Seas of the Royal Caribbean, which we cruised in last year. Our first day aboard, before departing Miami, we enjoyed the final Olympic hockey game between Canada and the US on a large screen TV on the pool deck … so you can say we watched the game intermittently between turning our heads to view the sunset, South Beach at the tip of Miami and oncoming waves into our destiny. Just from that game, we knew we were surrounded not only by Americans but a great percentage of Canadians, displaying their flags, t-shirts, and enthusiasm. Now we are a day at sea, Tuesday, March 2nd, with nothing but blue sky all around, not a stitch of land in sight; however, we’re having fun, getting rosy and well tanned. The Carnival Glory cruise ship has been a very leisurely experience for us so far with sunning, hot tubs, swimming and of course filling our palate and keeping it watered! There has been lots of wind and bumping waves against the ship reminding us that we are at sea, otherwise, we would never know it with all the music, people to watch and continuous activities happening. Our first port, on Monday, was the Carnival Cruise line’s private island in the Bahamas, namely “Half Moon Cay” where we embraced the total beauty of this oasis of pure white, packed- down finely-powdered sand, as if we were playing in flour. Many photos were taken in colour and to my dismay in black and white due to a slip of the finger, where I thought I was still snapping in colour and with the brightness of the day, couldn’t tell how the pictures were turning out, only to find out that my snapshots looked like snowstorms. I’m sure you’ll be able to relate! Yes, a different kind of winter. I think you can tell which ones. So you can take some comfort in knowing that paradise has its flaws but we’ll take in anyway. Tonight, we prepare for our black-tie captain’s meet and greet dinner. Tomorrow, we will be arriving in St. Thomas Virgin Isles, where we will enjoy another day at the beach with a balmy 88 degrees, clear and sunny day, aaaaahhhh. Keep tuning in, more adventures to follow.