Last night aboard

To day is get off the ship day. An early breakfast and a whole lot of hurry up and wait. It is almost 10:00AM and they re already an hour late getting people off so I think it will be a short day in San Juan for us. Glad we don't have any thing planned.

Last night we took in the final show and the cruise director gave us a list of the top ten questions they have had over the last fifteen years. A couple of them don't mean any thing unless you have taken a cruise, but the rest I can see people asking. So here they are,

1 Why doesn't my microwave doesn't work? (its the safe)
2 Is it fresh water or salt water in the toilet? ( who cares )
3 Does the ship have cable TV? ( there's a little guy at the back of the ship letting th cable in and out)
4 q)Do the pools have fresh or salt water in them
   a)salt water
   r)  Oh that is why there are waves in them then
5 Does the crew sleep on board?
6 I can't get into my cabin there is a Do Not Disturb sign in the lock
7 Does the sea air make clothes shrink?
8  I asked for a sea view . So why do I have a view of a parking lot? ( asked before they left port)
9  What happens if I flush the toilet when I am sitting on it. ( unless you have been there)
10 What religion are the people with the patch behind there ear (maybe they pray to the porcelain god)

Our dinner table mates

Good by Coconuts

St Croix wonderful place

Today was a day in St Croix. We did quite a bit of walking in the tourist area but didn't really buy much. We did find a great place to have coffee and enjoyed the best cup we have had in a long time at a place called "Polly's at the Beach" its mascot is a Staffy.. The rest of the day was spent beach walking to Coconuts and back to the ship.Coconuts is a beach bar where local and travelers alike hang out to enjoy the company, beer, and atmosphere.

St Maarten

Antigua was a place we went on Thursday this week. I would write some good stuff if only I had some to write but rather than do that I will say we were there then we left.

St Maarten down town

Canada 2 our boat

The real Stars and Stripes

St Maarten was a wonderful place, if any one would have said I would sail Canada II I would have said they were crazy, but I would have had to eat my hat. Today was the day we got to crew on Canada II a 12 meter America's cup sail boat against Stars and Stripes. It was a mock race but fun none the less and well Stars and Stripes won since it was the faster boat by quite a bit. These were the actual boats in the America's cup race in the mid 80's not replicas and they are kept in St Maarten for the sole purpose of taking people out to experience the thrill, and what a thrill it is.

St Maarten Sunset

The Caribbean is so clear that from 12 decks up, we could see the bottom of the sea, probably 70 feet under water.  The blue is unbelievable, just like in the posters.  Another spectacular sunset to be enjoyed before heading in for dinner. 

Royal Caribbean is very well organized for handling large numbers of dazed tourists and has not left anyone behind in port yet.  In addition to all the cooks, waiters, cabin staff, there are many other trades on board to handle set up of party venues, keep the plumbing working and fix electrical and elevator woes.  Someone even goes into each elevator (and there are at least 16) and change out carpet to keep us advised of what day it is!  You know, "It's Friday, this must be St Maarten" kind of thing. 

So with one more day on the ship, it's time to call it a day and get ready for Saturday in St Croix.

Last look at the dock St Maarten

ST Lucia

Today was our day on St Lucia. We arrived about 7:00 and were allowed to go ashore about 8:30 after turning the ship around and trust me it wasn't very easy as space was very tight.








We set out for the Soufrier volcano at about 9:30 and had a long drive with a very nice guide, except we only understood about every third word. We think she spoke a  cross of english and french but don't go by us. The roads there were narrow and windy combined with driving on the left it was a spooky experience at times.

We drove through several little towns on our way there and stopped several times to get pictures and use the facilities. One thing we had to remember was that this is a rain forest and guess what,  it does in a rain forest, yup it rains quite hard actually so the views were not the best but still I got several artsy f artsy shots of the Pitons (mountains) between the downpours.

At the volcano it was very interesting and the park guide was very informative. It is a dormant volcano but it does boil water and give off the hydrogen sulfide gasses. There are only limited places you can walk and they keep an eye on people to make sure they don't go in dangerous places.

Once finished at the volcano we headed back and stopped at a botanical garden to see tropicals and to see what spices and fruits are grown there. Some of the spices are ginger, tumeric and nutmeg as well as some cinnamon and coco, most gets shipped out for processing.

We have had dinner with the same group of people and have met a couple from Toronto, from Germany and a very delightful couple from Lavalle PQ. I am embarrassed to say that there english is light years ahead of my french but they seem to understand and I do try to greet them in french.

Today is a sail day or day at sea. Basically lay in the sun and enjoy your self and eat your self silly. The only view we got all day was the horizon and clouds.

I got the internet set up today and I will have to be very careful with my time as it is about $.58 a minute from the time you log in. I think the speed is quite slow also as it cost $3.00 to check email and it seemed like it took forever to connect to the mail server. I think the posts will be short and to the point with few pictures and I will add them when we get back to San Juan if you don't mind.

Sunday Jan 12 2012

Yesterday was our start the cruise day. We couldn't board until 2:00 so we  did some more Old San Juan stuff then lay by the pool for a couple of hours. About 3:00 we started to make our way to the ship and discovered that the taxi's have picked up on what the airlines started a couple of years ago,, yup you guessed it, they are now charging extra for each bag you have, and like the airlines you don't have a choice.

At the ship  check in was a breeze and it only took about 20 min the worst was the line to drop off the bags. They really have it down to a science and have it all done so that even goof balls like me don't have to worry and can't screw up. The ship is very large and well thought out with lots of space for our demographic. 

 A welcome aboard comedy show, our own self guided our of the ship and the first day is about over.  What a nice gym is provided.  At least three pools and six hot tubs, a climbing wall and track are all available for  use as well. We said goodby to San Juan and started our journey about 8:30 at night. Leaving San Juan harbour gave us quite the view og the town and el Morrow, unfortunately because it was so dark none of my pictures turned out well enough to use.

Saturday

Bacardi fruit bat trade mark

Welcome Center

Laura and I had been looking forward to visiting the Arecibo Observatory to day but it wasn't to be. The internet gremlins foiled the attempt and made it too bad for us as it was the only day we could go. The good thing is now we have  reason to return to this wonderful country and city.

Instead we went to the Bacardi distillery and had a tour of the historic recreations of the original distillery in Santiago Cuba then a tour of the gift store and  couple of mixed drinks at the bar. I entertained getting a bottle of there private reserve  with its own serial number and certificate of authenticity but at almost $90 I gave it a pass. All was interesting but all you saw was the recreation and the gift shop.
 

We later went for a walk in to the old town and poked around  some local shops, but we really didn't really see any thing of interest. The rest of the afternoon was at the pool enjoying the sun and hot tub.

About 6:00 we asked the concierge for a good local place to eat. His suggestion was the Punta de Vista just a block down the street.in front of dock 4.  what a good choice!!  Not only was the food great, little single serving mofungo's with shrimp and an argentinian skirt steak wrap, but we were at happy hour so the Heinekin's were only $1 each.  Located at a T intersection, the presence of a stop sign, prominently displayed with a street light above it, meant nothing.  Apparently, as we were told by the restaurant's owner, Mike, everyone has the right of way.  Coming up to the T, no one except tourists and the faint of heart would stop, many times two lanes would merge off the stem of the T onto the straight thru street turning left with little or no use of turn signals.  Typically anyone making a u-turn back up the  stem of the T would stop at the sign , turn on their left turn signal and u-turn.  All of this on an "Old" San Juan street where only a smart car can actually turn, all others requiring some reversing, often in concert with the vehicles tailgating into the u-turn.  We learned  the u-turn was necessary as the police station was located at the last intersection and left turns there were prohibited!  Even on the main straight through of the T, u-turns were frequent.  As we were sitting across the road from the cruise ship dock, there were any number of cruisers who would walk diagonally across the intersection without any fear, and luckily no accidents.  It was like watching an improv of ballet being performed in buses, taxi's vans, and all types of cars.  No doubt the phrase "everyone has the right of way", will become part of our memory. 

After a long day and a half of travel we finally made it to Jan Juan. Nothing really earth shattering happened on our way and San Juan is as nice as we remember from the last time. The hotel is right downtown old town and the cruise ships literally dock at the front door of the hotel, and yesterday there were four in port, with thousands of fun seekers.

Last night for dinner we had a PR dish that we have heard of and were  kind of intrigued by, called Mofongo. It consists of deep fried plantains and garlic lots and lots of garlic beat together with spices and a protein like the shrimp we had. At first I thought oh OK it is tasty but nothing to write home about, but it really grows on ya and by the time we had finished eating, it was terrific. A single Mofongo and an appetizer and we were more than full with lots left over. San Juan historic sites, Castillo San Cristobal sits on the hill overlooking the harbor and we could see our hotel and the cruise ship dock to one side and the atlantic looking towards Europe, 4000 miles away to the north.  The spanish began fort building here in the 1590's.  The last additions to Fort San Cristobel were in the 1940's as the americans watched for ships of the German Navy.  Internal tunnels, dungeons, chapel, hospital, troop quarters, fields, wells and moats.  A fort is really a little town, and with walls in excess of 10 feet thick, built to withstand attacks and be self sufficient for a considerable time.El Morro is in the distance with its lighthouse

  Enough of education though, the local beer "medella" (ma-day-a) is calling and we are relaxing in the sun at last.
 

Almost done arranging

I have spent the last couple of weeks setting up tours and other activities in PR and on the cruise, it has been interesting as I have found several websites that don't work well sometimes or at all. Mostly I have got all the activities organized. A couple I had to call the cruise line to sort out. For some reason I couldn't get our dining time set up, it would go off into deep space never to return. I also couldn't book some on board activities and ended up doing that on the phone as well, I do have to say that I probably should have done some things sooner for some stuff was totally booked.

"Note to self  'Start booking sooner'"

So hear we are with 3 more sleeps till we leave Yipeee.