Day 10 – San Juan, Puerto Rico

We are now in the originating port today. I have been up since about 6:00 am. I have enjoyed the vacation but I am ready to be at home. See friends and family. Go do what I want do and not worry about not making it back on a ship and left behind somewhere. We have been up and went down to the dining hall for breakfast. Now we are just sitting in the cabins waiting till 9:00 am before we are booted out of the cabins and have to go up to a holding area before we can disembark. We fly out of San Juan about 4:00 pm this afternoon. We fly into Atlanta and have layover for about 2 hours there. We will not get back into Kansas City until 10:00 pm.

Until later, it is getting close to 9:00 am so I am going to put the computer up after I post this blog.

Well we did not actually disembark until 11:00 am then headed over to the airport by taxi. The ride cost $19.00 then additional $5 for the five suitcases. Got to the airport and went to Delta to check in only to get redirected to get our luggage x-rayed by USDA. Then back to Delta and get checked in using the kiosh. Went through security got the small bottle of banana ketchup confiscated only they did not take the bottle of aloe vera which was three times bigger. I just do not get it! The darn terminal is full of people flying home it was difficult finding a place to sit. Marissa was on her phone with her boyfriend and took off. Carolyn and David went to a pub in the terminal for something to drink. Mari and I found a seat. Mari went for McDonalds for a couple drinks and meals. Turned out she was not even allowed to bring the sodas back across the security screening. I tell this is firkin ridiculous what liquids allowed across the security screening. Of course, think about this one can buy bottled drinks or drinks in cups or other bottled souvenirs at restaurants, stores or vending machines and take them on the plane. I just do not get it. While finishing eating Marissa walked by and seen we ate McDonalds and threw a big hissy fit. This was very embarrassing, if she was courteous and asked us to buy her lunch we would have. Instead, she stormed off pouting and cursing. She went and whined to grandmother who ended up buying her a sandwich. I wish Marissa would grow up and act her age. She insists on being treated as an adult but always acts like a bad mannered child. I just ignore her anymore. The plane arrived and we boarded at 3:30 pm. The plane was suppose to take off at 4:01 pm but was held up due to fuel gauge malfunction for one of the fuel tanks. Fortunately, there was a vacation mechanic on board who ended up fixing the problem. Therefore, the flight ended up being delayed about 45 minutes due to the mechanical problems and the number of other aircrafts before us now.

The flight made great time from San Juan to Atlanta. I ended up watching an in-flight movie. We landed in Atlanta and both the kids were off looking for a place to smoke before our next flight. Marissa came back crying after arguing with her boyfriend. Ah, the life and drama of teenagers. She must have made up by the time we took off from Atlanta to Kansas City. Everyone at this point was getting tired of traveling. Mari started getting anxious shortly after takeoff and would not sit still during the flight, every time I would start to dose off she would move around in her seat or have to get up. After the restless flight, we made it to Kansas City and pretty much decided to stay at the Econolodge instead of driving home with everyone being tired, crabby or grouchy. After a lengthy check in at the hotel, it was goodnight.

Day 9 – Basseterre, St. Kitts

Here we are in Basseterre, St. Kitts the final island before returning to port in San Juan, Puerto Rico and then flying back to Kansas City. I am sad to see the trip end but also so happy, mon. (pun intended) Anyway, I woke up about 4:00 am to see St. Kitts in the distance in the dark with the stars in the sky. I tried taking a picture but when at sea and the ship is bobbing, it is difficult to get a clear picture that the images do not blur. Since it was still dark, I went ahead and went back to bed. About 6:00 am, I awoke again and decided to watch as the ship dock to the pier. Mari even got up early for a change. Since she had to be up and ready to go for the excursion, I talked her into going up to the lido deck for the breakfast buffet. We sat on the starboard side of the ship inside instead of out on the open deck. We talked a little and just looked at the island from this vantage point. Afterwards we returned to the cabin and decided since Mari and David would be taking off for the excursion about 9:15 am that Mari would wake David and see if Carolyn was awake. Well, Carolyn was already up and moving around Mari woke David up. Apparently, David was up late again last night. Not sure what would be going on after midnight since I'm usually in bed before then. I do know that the disco is usually opens late and stays open late and there is show at midnight in the theater. Mari and David take off to the meeting location for the excursion on the dock. I checked to see if Marissa was up.

Marissa is up and dressed. So, I see if she wants to go on to shore to the shops next to the docks. She is willing too but wants to grab a bit to eat on the lido deck. Up on the 9^th floor we find Carolyn reading and watching the people take off on excursions. As Marissa is eating, we spot Mari and David leaving on a boat to the excursion location. I snap a picture while waiting on Marissa to eat.

After Marissa's breakfast, we headed ashore. First thing to buy was aloe vera for sunburn relief. The first store we go into has some. A little expensive but we need the relief since the on board store ran out yesterday. Ah, yes what relief as I put some on outside the store. We did not even get through two stores before Marissa started complaining about her foot start hurting. Therefore, she went back to the ship. I continued on checking out a few more stores along the port shops. Find a lot of high priced trinkets, knick-knacks and clothing with island logos. I even had seen some guys trying to sell pet monkey petting or holding them towards the exit of the pier shops. I made my way through this area and started following the street along the water. I walked through a farmers market along the street. There were all kinds of fresh fruit and vegetables available. I made my way along the bay of Basseterre noticing the trash on the beach and many homes in disrepair, boarded up or dilapidated. I stopped occasionally getting a picture of the ship or some other interesting thing. I made my up to a cliff to view the bay and take a couple pictures. You really get to see the country, land or area if you do not take a taxi ride and take your own path and hike. Anyway, the view was nice out over the bay towards the islands hills or mountains and ship. If you look immediately down at the water's edge of the cliff you see an accumulation of trash and scrap metal from cars, equipment and anything else just tossed aside. I continue around the cliff on a street towards the cemetery. You see numerous houses on the path, again some small ramshackle shacks and others that look like mansions. You get a sense of the poverty but my question is why it is this way? In addition, why is there no sense of pride from the islanders? There is trash littering the grounds, homes in poor condition and yards not maintained.

I make my way to the cemetery and walk through it. I am not surprised about the cemetery either after walking through the streets of the town. I see that there are many graves here. Many of graves have not had the proper care over the years one would expect. Some are graves have damage, dirt is sunken, and defaced tombstones either by vandals or by the harsh weather here on the island. I notice a herd of goats going between the headstones eating grass as a dog herds them together. I head down by the chapel in the center of the cemetery and it is in sad shape. However, it may appear that someone is trying repair the steeple. I notice a couple of people working on fixing a gravesite a ways from the beaten path. I wonder if they are employees of cemetery, or family trying to fix the site and make it respectful. As I continue, I notice I may not be in an area that like and make path towards the bay shores and back to an area better traveled. Maybe I am just paranoid… I have been away from the ship on my exploring adventure for over two hours on my own. I make my way through the farmers market, and the port shops stopping at a couple only to get a postcard or two. I did not realize how hot I was and thirsty and hungry I was until back on board. I head on by the cabin, drop off my cameras, and fill out some postcards to send. Before going to get something to eat, I run down to the customer service desk for a couple of stamps to mail the postcards and get a statement of Mari and my Sail & Sign card. This is a credit card charging stuff back to our room and us. This buys stuff on the cruise ship such as alcoholic drinks, some snacks, photos, excursions and anything else they can charge. Man, people can lose track quickly of how much they spend. It caught up with us, in a weeks' time we charged up over $800.

I went up to the lido deck to see if Carolyn is there and if she was ready for a bit to eat. I find her sitting out under a little shaded area getting some sunrays. As we chat, we see the excursion boat Mari and David were on come back so I decide to wait for Mari and David before getting lunch back at the cabins since Carolyn was not hungry. Back at the cabin, I am watching people return to the ship along the pier when I hear David, "Dad, down here. I'm drunk!" There they are walking back David slightly staggering and Mari laughing at him. I wave to them, again there is David, "Dad, I drank gallons of beer and I'm drunk!" All I do is wave for them to come on and shake my head. After several minutes of waiting, I look down the hall and see them. David comes up to me smelling of alcohol and wanting to give me hugs, good grief! You just have to love the drunk. David makes it into his room but within minutes he banging the door to the balcony wanting to tell me a story about the excursion. I wave at him tell him to tell me a lunch. Mari and I go on up to the lido deck. Mari finds oriental food and I head over to the burger and fry joint ready for some good ole' American cuisine today. Before you know it David shows up with his piece of pizza, so he must not be as drunk as he was acting to find his way up three decks, find his pizza and to find were we were sitting. He tells me they saw some coral, fish and jellyfish. That is when he got out of the water and in to the catamaran and since they had an open bar he drank several beers because, get this, he was scared of little bitty jellyfish. Mari stayed in the water got to see some neat things and took pictures while there. Both David and Mari decided that they needed a nap after lunch so headed back to the cabin. I went back to work on my blog.

Well, I have to go for now. I am going to the disembarkation seminar at 5:00 pm and it is now 4:45 pm. So, until later…

Back from the lecture and supper. Mari and I learned from the talk that we have to have our luggage packed and sat out in the hall no later than 11:00 pm tonight. Started packing before supper and then finished up afterwards. Carolyn is already packed. Marissa is still packing and is checking with Mari, Carolyn and myself if she can put her stuff in everyone else suitcases because she has so much more than when she came with. Looks like Marissa bought too many new articles of clothing. I ended up going out and looking for David since he still has not packed and was in the shower before we left for supper. Found David down in the Ion Lounge, a smoker's lounge. He is kicked back and relaxing with a smoke. I tried sneaking up on him and try surprise him. Ha, no such luck. I let him know we have to get packed and the suitcases sat in the hall before 11:00 pm tonight. He says an explicit word and heads back to the cabin.

Tomorrow we need to be up at a decent hour in the morning to get breakfast and be out of our room before 9:00 am so they can start preparing for the next crew. I think we are going to be the one of the last groups off the ship and to go through customs tomorrow our number is twenty-two.

I am going to post today's pictures and blog now. So good night and see you all soon.

Day 8 – St. John’s, Antigua

Boy I am so ready to be home. Woke up this morning and found the ship already docked in St. John's. I woke up, started getting dressed to go up for breakfast, and had to wait for Mari and Carolyn. It is amazing to see how, what the harbors look like, and what they do to attract visitors. As you can see in some of my photos, the scenery is not always pleasant. The kids apparently were out late last night or early this morning (this depends on if you look at a glass half-full or half-empty). Carolyn said they got in late. We went up to the buffet style breakfast on the lido deck. Nothing fancy, did try an omelet. Once we were finished eating we returned to the cabins to get ready for beach excursion. When we got back, we found the kids awake and already eaten. Marissa was wearing a cloth triangle sling with her left arm in it. Turned out Marissa hurt her arm or shoulder last night in the disco flailing her arms around and felt something pop or stretch. Therefore, she ended up going to the ships infirmary instead of waking us to see what to do. Now we are stuck with $100 - $200 medical bill until we fill out some paperwork for insurance for reimbursement. The diagnoses turned out to be a muscle strain and included fees for the doctor, infirmary visit, medication and utensils for the shot. David says he tried knocking on our cabin door to walk us but we did not get up. Asked him why he did not call the cabin, or knock on the balcony door or window. He did not have a good answer. The way the cabins are designed one cannot hear anyone knocking at the door unless they are pounding. Therefore, they spent about three hours in the infirmary. The darn thing is that I would have told Marissa to ice her shoulder, and take some ibuprofen. If would have been worse this morning then we could have taken her down to the infirmary for further treatment. Oh well, what is done is done.

Anyway, after everyone had gotten ready we headed down to the meeting spot for the beach excursion on the pier. Wow, this was a popular excursion. There ended up being about 60 – 70 people going to the beach. There was several taxi vans hauling about 12 – 14 people in them. The route taken to the beach only lasted about 7 minutes. It was amazing seeing the houses and streets. We take for granted what we have back in the home in the mid-west. Seems like everyone is living almost on top of each other in the cities and the streets are so narrow. I guess I really would not like to live here on the islands for a long period. Same with the ship, there are workers that have been on the ship about 7 months now and they go home for 2½ months and then return for another tour. It would seem that work would be so routine being employee on the cruise ship. The scenery would be constantly the same and one would lose track of time since things would be repetitive. Anyway I think living on an island would be the same but not as extreme.

We made it to the location, a small beach side resort nothing fancy but it was quant place alongside the sea. Everyone filed out of the taxi like it was a clown troupe car. The troupes made their ways through the bar/restaurant area to the white sandy beach. The sun was not high yet so many people grabbed a beach chair and started sunning. While I did grab a chair I immediately went for a shady spot under an umbrella. Everyone else in the group (Carolyn, Mari, David and Marissa) setup camp in the sun and started either sunning or headed down to the water. While watching the droves of people employees or residents of the area started pedaling their goods. One person weaving palm leaf baskets or hats for $15 but they need your exact size for a hat. Then someone else selling natural Aloe Vera from a plant leaf they had picked for $10 or $15, another person pedaling trinket necklaces and bracelets that they supposedly had handcrafted. Or, bare back horse ride on sand shores or in the water. Someone else wants you to rent a skidoo or jet ski for 30-minutes. If none these things interested you, one could have had a body or body part message for $15 for 15-minutes. I got tired of telling these people no. While I was sitting under this stationary umbrella at the top of the beach near the building, an employee wanting to charge me $6 dollars for sitting under a fixed shade area harassed me. I told him I would move and ended up moving down by the family. Carolyn ended up renting an umbrella and sharing it with me. I watched the people and took a few pictures at the beach. I watched the kids. Marissa was not wearing her sling on her arm. I was amazed how she was using her left arm when she was adamant about the agonizing pain she was in at the boat. Now she did not have a care and no one would notice how she used it. Oh well. I did snap a few pictures for the guys back at the station of the scenery at the beach. About 1:45 pm, it was time to go back to the ship. I laugh (inside) at Marissa; she put on the sling before leaving the beach after she used her arm so much for swimming, carrying and holding things. As we returned to the ship, I snapped a few more pictures of the streets, markets and people on the island.

Headed back to the room and cleaned up. Damn, even sitting under the umbrella I got a little sun on my legs because I can feel that my shins are sun burnt and was really trying to avoid getting any sunburn. David and Mari upper backs do not look very good. It almost looks blistered, red with skin peeling, yuck, not very attractive. Marissa's forehead is burnt from her hair being pulled back on her scalp from here braided hair. I did bring some 50 spf sun block but they either did not want any or waited till they had already been in the sun a lot before having any put on. Since it was after 2:00 pm, we decided to go grab a light lunch up on the lido deck. Now I am back updating the blog and posting some of today's pictures. Mari is snoring and napping. I will update the blog again this evening before retiring, so later.

Carolyn, Mari, Marissa and I had supper in the dining hall; David went and had pizza up lido deck. Tonight's supper was nothing to fancy tonight. Afterwards we went to the show in the theater. Tonight's performance was a magician. He was okay and had to improvise because the light and sound people had computer issues and could not get the lighting to work properly.

Well, tomorrow we will arrive at Basseterre, St. Kitts by 7:00 am in the morning. Right now, we can see the lights from the island in the distance. According to the route is the ship is going to circle around the island from to get to the next port instead of going directly to the next location. Mari and David are supposed to go on a snorkel excursion since the similar excursion they were going to go yesterday was cancelled. They need to be up early since they meet at 9:15 am for the excursion. The rest of us are going to stay behind and may do some shopping. Also check out more photos to the left here since I got a few more as we left the port.

See you all soon.

Day 7 – Castries, St. Lucia

Hello all from Carnival Victory in Castries, St. Lucia! This is day 7 of vacation fun but only 5^th day of the cruise. I was up at 6:30am again and no one else in the family was up this early. Therefore, I grabbed my camera and headed up to the lido deck for a cup of coffee and to take some pictures as the ship entered the port. From the boat, the port looks scenic with houses on the hillside. It was neat to watch the ship make a 180 degree turn in the bay and then dock. So today, we get off the ship on the starboard side. After the ship finished docking, I went ahead ate breakfast enjoying the peace and quiet. Afterwards, I went back to the cabin and found Mari still asleep with the blankets pulled over her head. Hence, I went out on the balcony to check out the scenery on the port side. Mari shortly woke up and came out to see if I wanted to go for breakfast. I told her that I had already eaten, so she went by herself. After she returned, we decided to go ashore to check out the little shops next to the ship.

As soon as we walked into the central terminal to the shops locals wanting to know if we wanted to go a taxi tour around the island propositioned us. When we first got on the ship, we went to the seminar about the excursions. They pretty much told us if we decide to do an excursion through the ship that they would work with the excursion tour guides to make sure we got back to the ship and if we were late, the ship would not set sail until we were back. If we made plans on our own and did planned our own excursion to save a buck or two then we were on our own to get back to the ship at this port or try to find our way to the next port to get on the ship.

Mari and I made our rounds to all 47 stories here at the port. The first thing you notice is many jewelry stores. Apparently, since these companies do a lot of turnover of product that they sell them at a reduced rate. I am not convinced that they are very reputable and personally would rather deal with local jewelry shops back home. Found a couple stores that had some souvenirs I liked for family back home but decided to wait until later when I came out with the rest of the family and check out the rest of the stores across the bay. Mari and I headed back to the cabin. When enter the cabin we find that a note on the floor canceling the excursion for the snorkel and party cruise they were going to take this afternoon due to operational difficulties by the tour operator. No sooner than we enter the cabin, Marissa is at the balcony door knocking. On the balcony, we find the rest of the family awake and getting ready to go up to the lido deck for breakfast. Marissa begins whinnying and complaining about the tour cancelled. Mari told her we would look at alternatives on the sheet and see what was available. Mari and I went with them to have a cup of coffee while they ate breakfast. No sooner than we were sitting down, Marissa again started pissing and moaning. So I headed back to the cabin. It seems like she is not happy unless everyone is miserable too.

When they got back cabin we decided to go ashore and check out the shops. Mari opted to stay aboard this time and go up to the lido deck to sun bathe. Carolyn, Marissa, David and I walked through the shopping area. As we did, it started sprinkling off and on and the humidity was getting sticky. After checking the stores out a second time and not finding anything new, we decided to take the water taxi across the harbor to check out a few more shops. As we crossed, we seen Mari on the balcony and seen a galleon. The ship was supposedly used in making the pirates of the Caribbean. It looked smaller than I would have assumed for a movie like that. Anyway, the shops across the bay were not very impressive either. While in the small shopping center/mall the rain suddenly down poured. As suddenly, it poured rain it suddenly quit. Therefore, David and I opted to walk back to the ship instead of taking the water taxi while Carolyn and Marissa went back to the ship via water taxi. We walked through a couple of flea market areas but found nothing. The most annoying thing I found was the locals pestering us wanting to take us for one or two hour island tour as we walked through the market areas. Once we got through the market area, we walked along to the boat. There were a couple of rough looking areas but we made it. As we were entering the port parking lot/market area, we were followed by vagrant want money. I do not know how many times we told him no he kept pestering us but he finally got it. The once again we had a taxi driver try to give us a tour of the fire departments in the area because I had a fire department tee shirt on. Told him that we had just gotten back from a tour and told him no thank you. We went back to a store where I had seen a couple of souvenirs. I picked up a nature-designed photo album and some banana ketchup for dad since he likes bananas so much. Ha, hope he likes it. Afterwards David and I sat down and tried some of the local beer, Patin. Again, I thought it was not very good and let him finish mine. We headed back up to the cabin after waiting for the long line to thin out before we could board again. Once aboard we stopped back by the cabin to drop off the souvenirs and cameras.

We assumed that everyone else had already eaten so David and I went to lunch back up on the lido deck. David quickly got his pizza again and it took me a while find a line that was not very long so I could get a cheeseburger and fries. It was nice eating some old fashion American cuisine. Afterwards I headed back to the cabin to find Mari, Marissa and Carolyn sitting out on the balcony watching a ship being towed by a tugboat and turned around to exit port. Marissa said something that she was glad our ship was backed into our location. I told her it was not backed but it had done a 180-degree turn right in the middle of the port and then pushed itself right up to the dock since I was awake and seen it this morning. Go figure she wanted to disagree with me and tell me that was not possible and that I was wrong. I had to just get up from the chair and walk away. I cannot believe that she can be this way. It is so frustrating. Oh well.

We set sail to our next port here at 5pm so I think I will post this and either go work out or go on up to the lido deck to see what going on there.

Oh yea, if my brother Jason reads this today, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

I got the workout in using the elliptical for about 30 minutes. The only thing was I definitely could feel the ship roll while on the machine so I felt like I was holding on to dear life (exaggerating). I quickly returned to the cabin, cleaned up, and changed into my semi-formal wear. We all went down to the dining hall for supper. The meal really was not fancy tonight, I had a pasta dish, Mari had a chicken dish, David, Marissa had a fish dish, and Carolyn had shrimp dish. David and Marissa took off from supper for the lido deck for a smoke and check on cruise activities. The appetizer was something to desire, we tried fried oyster. Right now, it is making my stomach a little queasy. After supper, I returned to the room to try drinking some water to settle the stomach. Mari and Carolyn went down to the ships store to check out souvenirs and the cruise ships photos. Mari returned to the cabin with another photo of her and me disembarking the ship today. Mari, Carolyn and I went down to the cruise ships theater for a Vegas style show called Livin' In America put on by the Victory dancers. The show lasted about fifty minutes, was very good, and received a standing ovation.

We returned to the cabins and going to bed early tonight since we have a beach escape excursion tomorrow at 10am and last 4 hours. Tomorrow's port of call is St. John's, Antigua.

Day 6 – Bridgetown, Barbados

I woke up this morning about 6:30am and the ship is already at port. I glanced outside the window and notice the view was something to desire. It appears that this port is a shipping port. All to watch is they move large containers around and load them on to semi's. I quickly got changed into my workout clothes and headed to the fitness spa to work out. At this time of morning most of the cardio equipment was open which nice. I was able to use the elliptical for 35 minutes and then walk on the treadmill for 20 minutes. Headed back down to the room to get washed up and go have breakfast. Of course, Mari was still in bed. Yes, I know this is a vacation but I am finding I do much better on some kind of routine. I had to wait on Mari and then she woke her mom up so we went down to the dining room on the third floor.

At breakfast we were seated with two other couples, one couple from Arizona and the other from somewhere from the states. The view was out the aft of the ship, which was not too bad; it was in the direction of the sea. With no excursions planned today, we decided it would be a lazy relaxing day on the ship and the stores next to ship on shore. We got back to the cabin and I sat down on the couch and then kind a kicked back on it and relaxed with television on. I started snoozing. At some point Mari came in and told me that her and kids were going to go down to the shops on shore to check things out. I gave her some sort of acknowledgement and she asked if I wanted to go. At this point, I was comfortable and said no.

I got up about 11am from my catnap and decided to go ashore to check things out. Grabbed my camera and went on down. Two days ago, the cruise ship announced that we would be staying until midnight here at Bridgetown due to technical difficulties. Everyone just thought it was a computer type issues. Surprised to them it turned out that they had a brand new prop sitting on the side of the dock near the port bow. There are workers monitoring some divers working over the side of the dock on the ship. I got a couple pictures of the new prop and what they one they pulled up. I made my way over to the shops. I ran into Mari and the kids. Mari ended up buying to shirts for Carolyn and I. Marissa ended up getting her hair braided. Knowing Marissa the braids she has in wont last very long because she used to hate having her hair braided or brushed as a child. Mari and Marissa headed back to the ship and David hung out with me as I checked out the stores. The stores were nothing impressive. David mentioned he got a bottled beer and drank it already and he was feeling the effects from it already since it had higher alcohol content than the beers back home. Yes, he is under 21; no, I do not buy his beer. I have no idea what the legal age is here, but on the ship, it is 21. Anyway, I found a couple postcards and sent them to my parents and my nephew. I did buy a pre-paid phone card and tried calling my parents house but they will not answer the phone if it is a number they do not recognized. Therefore, I called my house and talked to Ryan, my brother. It took him a few seconds to locate the telephone because I he did not answer right away and I told him to answer the phone while the answering machine recorded my message. Things are going well their except one of the dogs board and tried to watch a movie or play a CD because he found a case chewed up. I bet it was Patches, when she gets board and no one watch is her she will find things to chew on. She did the same thing earlier this year when I went to the store and left her out of her crate she chewed up Redbox DVD case and all. Since I only used about 4 minutes of the phone card I let David have the rest and he called his girlfriend. I did not know how long he would be so I headed back to the ship but he ended up catching up with me.

Had lunch on the lido deck and watched the boats out outside of port. Went back to the cabin and took another siesta. I went and got some coffee and checked my email at the internet café. Mari, Marissa and Carolyn are up on the lido deck sunning. I am not into the sunning and afraid of being sun burned which I want to avoid. David is trying to find something to do. Most of the ships activities do not start until late afternoon.

I am going to post this blog for now and update it later.

Well, I am back. I went down to the dining hall for supper with Mari, Marissa and Carolyn. David was out running around; he just is not into the sit down dinner with a waiter. At supper, I tried the French Onion soup for the appetizer and pork loin with jerked spices with fresh green beans and fried eggplant. This was very good. Afterwards we decided to go to the evening show. Marissa decided to go up to the lido deck to check out what was happening there. The show consisted with comedian/juggling artist Victor Zuniga and comedian Michael Macy. They were both very funny and included people from the audience.

The ship is supposed to set sail at mid-night tonight but when I just looked out from our balcony, I see they are still working on replacing the prop. Tomorrow's port of call is Castries, St. Lucia. Mari and David are going to do an excursion. The excursion they are doing is Snorkel and Party Cruise. The excursion is two and half-hours. They are taken to an unspoiled coral reef and then afterwards on the way back they dance, party, and drink rum punch. The rest of us will check out the local stores and shops on shore tomorrow.

Post this tonight and off to bed.

Day 5 – Roseau, Dominica

This morning has not been very eventful. I left the curtain to the balcony partially opened last night so the light would wake me up this morning. We were still at sea. I got up and went to the gym. I could not believe that most of the cardio equipment was in use. I ended up using the bicycle and some easy weights on the machines. As I worked out, I noticed in the distance the outline of the island in the haze. At first, I thought I was imagining it but I knew the ship was scheduled to be at port about 8:30am today. Then headed back to the room to get cleaned up and changed for breakfast.

I went to breakfast on the Lido Deck with Carolyn, Mari and David. Nothing fancy, just a small buffet style breakfast. As we ate breakfast, we made it to port and watched as the pilot boats shored the ship. The ship was docked about 8:30am. You can see the streets, shops, and taxi's getting ready for the mass of people to disembark and make their ways into the town to go on their excursions and to do some haggling with the shop keepers in the make shift tents along the street of the pier. After breakfast, Mari and I headed back to the room to get caught up on some laundry before going a shore. Yes, Carnival does supply laundry rooms to do laundry or you can pay fee and have your laundry done. Well, I am a practical person and figured it would be cheaper to do it ourselves. We collected enough for two loads between all five of us. I ended up using the laundry facilities on a floor above our floor because the sixth floor facilities were in use. It cost two dollars for the washer and dollar for the soap and another two dollars for the drier, so it cost five dollars per load.

I guess David had scheduled an excursion for the both of use through Mari and Carolyn a couple of days ago. We are going to go ATV safari through some jungle area. This is a Carnival approved tourist excursion so it should be safe, I hope. Well it is about noon. I guess I better go back to the room and see what is going on. I believe our excursion leaves about 2pm and we get back about 5pm.

I got back to the room and David wanted to grab a quick bit to eat before heading out for the meeting location for the excursion. We went to the 24-hour pizzeria and grabbed a slice of pizza. As we were leaving, we decided to play a not so quick game of yard chess. For those wondering what yard chess is it consist large chessboard and chess pieces about two feet tall. As we played, a couple of people stopped by to observe or give pointers but nothing that ended the game quickly. We ended up calling the game a draw when all that was left was each other's kings. We headed back to cabin to grab a couple of things and went down to shore. Carolyn, Marissa and Mari stayed aboard and decided to go lay under the warm Caribbean sun.

Wow, that was a fun excursion. If you are ever in Roseau, Dominica then I would suggest doing the ATV Safari. If you sign up for the excursion through Carnival, they will provide a taxi to the location. David and myself were the only two on this excursion this afternoon since the morning session was already booked full. The taxi drove use up into the mountains of Dominica (this is the island of Dominica and not the Dominica Republic). The drive was very scenic 30-minute drive. Once we arrived at the location, we met one of the owners/operators of the safari ride. She was originally from Canada and settled here once she met her husband here. The last time she was back to Canada was in 1997. We were fitted for helmets and they provide rain pants and rubber boots. I would recommend renting the rubber boats at the minimum because the trail can and was very muddy. The excursion shows you how to use an ATV before taking through the trails. This was good, because I have never driven an ATV. Therefore, after about six minutes of driving the ATV around a small track and getting used to the acceleration, shifting and breaking it was time to take my newly learned skills to the backcountry. I was very hesitant initially but once accustomed to the ATV I would open the throttle up and have a blast. The trail was difficult at best. It rain earlier and had stopped within the last half hour. This left the trail very muddy. Since this is a rain forest and Dominica gets so much rain there were several areas that had ruts where the machines could get hung up. The tour guide mentioned in the orientation that we would be using first and second gear the most and he would let us know when to switch. As we went through the trail there were several areas were one would fell as if the machine would be tipping over and he told us not to stick your feet out or one could get seriously hurt. The ATV never did tip but I did stick my foot out at the beginning but caught myself doing so and quickly pulled it back in. Another time I did happen to get the ATV stuck trying to go up a steep rutted incline. Instead of opening the throttle up and making the situation worse I just let off the throttle, roll backwards a little (rocking it back and forth), then throttle slowly, and got up the embankment on my own. We did get an opportunity to take a break at the top of the mountain next to the top of the highest peak on Dominica.

During our break, we were provided a light snack and beverage. The snack was banana chips (thin sliced and salted just like potato chips) as well as coconut bread. The beverage was not alcoholic but fruit juices, passion fruit and grape fruit. Everything was very good. David even shared a couple of cigarettes with tour guide. From here the course was a smoother but still very enjoyable. We made it back just in time for our taxi to take us back to the ship.

On the way back to the ship I started asking the driver questions about the island. The island used to be part of the British Empire but the split off to form their own country. The main language they speak is English but you will hear Spanish, French, and dialect of French. Their main income used to be agriculture but when they became independent they now really on tourism. The island natural forests and he recommends spending more than a day to check out all the excursions. I started asking about the fire department and he drive by the main station for the island. It had four apparatus in their bays. They appeared to be European designed. You defiantly would understand once you have been through the streets of the islands. If other countries can get by with smaller apparatus one would think bigger is not always better. If these countries can fight fires just as effectively as we do back in the states one would wonder.

We made it back to the ship covered head-to-toe with mud about 5pm. This allowed plenty of time to get cleaned up for the formal dinner. Thou, David ended up not going because he wore his black dickies that he was going to wear to the dinner instead for the ATV adventure. I think he had it planned that way. Well, Carolyn, Mari, Marissa and I went to the formal dinner. Mari and Marissa had stuffed mushrooms and Carolyn and I had a salad. For the main course, we all had the same item, lobster tail and shrimp. Mmmm, so good! The netbook is about out of juice so I am going to head back to the cabin.

Made of it back, everyone must be doing some of the evening activities because both cabins are so quite. Our next port of call is Bridgetown, Barbados. As far as I know there is no excursions planned for tomorrow. I may get off board and do some touristy site seeing in the port town. Looking over the excursion list/prices there is so many to do and see, just too bad that they add up and make it impossible to do an excursion at every port of call. I may go to bed or I may go to the show that is happening Caribbean Theater.

Day 4

This morning we arrived in St. Thomas about 7am. I did not get up until 8am. We got up, cleaned up, dressed and headed down to aft portion of the ship on the level three for breakfast. From breakfast we went onto shore near were the boat had docked for a shopping excursion. Marissa and Mari both found some souvenir clothing. We headed back to the ship to drop of their stuff they bought and to get change to get ready to go on the beach excursion. David and I made our way around the ship before heading back to the room to meet up with the rest before going on excursion.

The excursion we did this after was the Megan's Bay Beach Getaway. We headed down to the gangway on deck zero and took a scenic drive to the location in an open-air safari van to Drake's Seat. Drake's Seat is a breathtaking vantage point, which offered a commanding view of Magen's Bay and surrounding islands from which Sir Francis Drake himself once viewed his fleet. There was a tourist trap were Marissa had gotten to hold a goat. I do not think she realized that she needed to tip the man with the goat because he approached me asking for donations to support himself and Modonna, the goat. I gave the person a couple of dollars. We then reloaded onto the taxi to go to the beach.

Magen's Bay beach acclaimed to be one of the ten most beautiful beaches in the world by the National Geographic Society. The beach portion of the excursion would be approximately two hours. As soon as I got off the bus and made my way over to the beach, I located a picnic table under a tree. Mari, Marissa, David and Carolyn got into the water quickly. I snapped a few pictures and shortly got into the water for about 45 minutes. The water was clear and warm. David I spent some time digging up some washed in/buried corral remains. David and I both found nice specimens. We headed back to the taxi and then back to the boat. Went through the security check without any issues and headed back to our cabin about 4:00pm. Mari, Carolyn and I returned to our cabins to get cleaned up.

After we got cleaned up, Mari and I went down to the Promenade Deck (5) to the Coral Sea Café for a drink. The ship would set sail around 5pm so we sat and waited. This location also had a sushi bar so of course we had to wait for the bar to open at 5pm. I am not too fond of sushi. From here, we went to the Lido Deck (9) to watch as the boat left the island and onto our next stop Roseau, Dominica. I got a few pictures of the islands and the birds before heading down to our cabin to get everyone else and then onto supper in the Lower Pacific dining hall in the aft of the ship. No one was in the cabins so we headed on down and found Carolyn, David and Marissa already waiting with an others to be let into the dining hall.

At supper, I talked David into trying some of the different cuisines that would not normally be available to try while on the ship. David was actually surprised at how good the food was. I believe he tried an appetizer of Duck with Madrian orange sauce. Then for his main course, he tried the seafood melody. I tried a spinach and mushroom appetizer and lamb dish for the main course, which I thought, was excellent.

I am going to upload this blog and a few pictures then go enjoy the rest of the evening. So until tomorrow have a good night.