Cloudy and a chance of rain…. And it did! And I was glad!

H and D came over this morning to prepare to go ashore for the beach at Labadee, Haiti. Yes I said Haiti. Labadee is a peninsula leg on the north-northwest side of the island that Royal Carribean (parent company of Celebrity Cruises) actually purchased a 100 year lease on a few years ago. They have made improvements on it and it is for only the cruiseline guests. Local artisians come in and sell their wares. You cannot believe how weird it felt to know we were coming here when on the other side of the island there was such destruction. RC had a decision to make right after the earthquake and after speaking with the Haitian government, it was decided they would still come to the ‘port’. The ships would bring water supplies and other aide each time they docked. Still feels weird, mainly because we know there was such destruction here. The sun did not break through the clouds while we were on the beach and we had some showers early in the afternoon. Somehow it just seemed right.
Oh yeah, As we were leaving for the beach, the boat staff gave Halley a ride in the most skookum wheelchair…. Huge, fat wheels for pushing it in the sand…. Pretty spiff….

Christy - The Espresso Martini's....

Nummy!

Oh no! They drive on the wrong side of the road....

Well, I’m gonna be a bit more chatty today. We are currently on our way to the next destination and we will arrive tomorrow morning. It’s only 2pm in the afternoon now. I’m sitting on our ‘veranda’ as I write, looking at the water, the beautiful Virgin Islands, both the British and the US Islands. We spent today in Tortola, BVI. Definitely like it a whole more than St Maarten. I was trying to explain it to Jerry and we both agreed, it was just a feeling we had while we were there.

I had problems sleeping last night, so I moved out onto the chaise lounge on the deck. Temp was about 85, nice breeze, lots of stars (and no Jerry snoring….) I was surprised, but I had to put my robe over me to warm up a little and then I snoozed. (Oh, I just looked out across the water, there’s an island with a rock beach…. The waves are crashing on it like a choreographed dance!) Back to my dissertation here, we had to be on shore by 7:15 in the morning for our tour of Tortola. The wake up call got Jerry going at 6:30 and he couldn’t find me….heehee…. I’m sure there was only a second of a panic for him, but obviously he found me. Took a quick shower, got the kids, off we went…. Oh wait, Dan doesn’t have his SeaPass (our officical ID to get us off and on the boat)…. Back we go to their room, empty out Halley’s purse, cuz she often carries it… finally, found it, and then back to the gangway to disembark and head for the tour.

Three hours of gorgeous scenery, cars driving on the wrong side of the road as far as I was concerned, some gorgeous, gorgeous beaches, anchorages, and little hidyhole places with beautiful bright pale colors (I was expecting that sort of thing in St Maarten, since it was Dutch). We drove by the infamous “Bomba Shack”… got out and checked it out…. Very, very eclectic to say the least…. Well known all over this area…. I picture it a place Jillian would want to hang out if she were travelling so she could say she experienced it. Course, her dad and I would prolly prefer she skip it…. lol

Cane Garden Bay Beach was a favorite, and Pussers Landing had the neatest stores and nice, nice marina. It reminded Jerry and I of his sailing days….. NEWSFLASH: Halley and Dan bought no Chotskes here. I saw a T-Shirt in one of the stores that kinda summed it all…. “Same sh.t, different island, that’s all.” Truly, they have the same stuff at each store that you can buy I think on ANY island in the Carribean!

So, that brings me back to sitting on the deck, writing…. A very good memory to put in my “hard drive!”

Where the Dutch and the French co-exist...

We were in St Maarten and St Martin. The island that ½ of belongs to Holland, the other half to France. Very interesting history…. And very hot day! We spent out morning getting ready so we could leave at 1:00 for a tour of the island. Naw, we just spent sort of a leisurely morning and lunch: reading and looking at the massive boats around us on the pier. This is the part of cruising I do not find enjoyable…. These six ships in port off loading a gazillion ants (that would be us tourist) and we inundate the poor cities. Tourism is their number one and ONLY business, but still, it just feels weird to me. I figure with the five normal size ships and the humongous “Oasis of the Seas” and their 6200 passengers, there were about 15000 tourists! Then, all the ants gather back at the pier to go home.

It was a much better day with Halley and Dan today. Halley was in heaven, that is Chotzke heaven. She and Dan thrive in those little rip off stores. That was pretty much the problem yesterday…. We didn’t go to any and she was ticked.

Spent some time on the upper deck after dinner…. They have an actual working, glass hot shop. We have a lot of that stuff in Tacoma but on a boat? Pretty cool... well, pretty hot I guess.  Gorgeous works of art.... but you can't beat God's work!

San Juan Puerto Rico...

Alright… I just want to make you jealous…. We had brekky on our balcony… looking at the water… A wonderful memory we created!

After that, the day got weird for a while. We knocked and then called at Halley and Dan at 11am…. No answer… we knew they had preordered their breakfast to be delivered in their room at 7am, so we figured they were out and about…. BUT, no, they ate their breakfast, the went back to sleep. She slept through her manicure appointment, woke up, rescheduled, and slept through that one! Grrrrrrrr… we had no idea. At 12:30 pm, I called again, trying to locate them and set up lunch only to wake them up this time with the phone….. double, Grrrrrrr Okay… nuff on that.

We went on a tour of the Bacardi Rum Distillery…. Found out it’s the largest one in the world. We each got two free drinks… course, it wasn’t the fancy rum with the flavors, but still, they were free. Interesting history on the company: I never realized it started in Cuba… and was nationalized by that government in the 50’s. Fortunately, they had their recipes, MONEY, etc, hidden in Bermuda, otherwise the company could have disappeared.

Afterwards we were dropped off in Old San Juan. Another crisis with Halley and Dan, but I don’t even want to go into it…. However, see the blue cobblestones. The streets are cobblestones and were made with the Spanish Galleons came over and the bricks were the ships ballast. They loaded up on gold, silver, spices, etc after they offloaded the bricks, when the folks here then used for their streets, recycling in it’s early states.

Tomorrow St Maarten…. No breakfast on the ‘veranda’ as we had a note that they will be cleaning it tomorrow morning and don’t want us out there….

At Sea all day....

 

Rolly seas most of today (the 15th)…. Weird, cuz they didn’t look like it… just creates a slight sway, nothing bad at all …MC and Jillian, keep wondering how you two would do with it.

Decided to get some business done, so Jerry spent some time on the internet and phone with his clients. We have to pay attention to time on the internet as it’s a satellite connection and we pay per minute… we had two coupons for reduced charges so it’s not too bad.

Our doorbell around 4:00 (yes I said doorbell) rang and it was tea and sandwiches and pastries for afternoon tea. Omgosh! We just had lunch. Halley and Dan had dropped by, so we all had some tea… tried to snack and then realized dinner was at 6. Tomorrow we will be cancelling the delivery of afternoon tea.

Oh yeah, we watched “Twilight”…. I had not seen it…. I liked it… Usually that kind of stuff I’m not into. Cyn… I’m a convert!

Our evening dinner was a “formal” night. Hey… we looked pretty good! Got to witness a beautiful sunset as we gazed out on the water.  Decided to enjoy the musical extravaganza in the theater: “Ghosts of Broadway” Dancing and Singing…. Great tunes. Our Captain also introduced the staff…. He should have a a job as a comedian, everyone was cracking up, has an excellant sense of timing. Jer and I have found a singer/pianist we love, Will Foraker. We spent some time listening to him in the ‘Grand Foyer” then off to our room…. A good day!  (Also included some beautiful glass work, they have a glass hot shop on board... we intend to check it out)

Sorry this is out of order.... read previous post first...

The atrium,
the upper deck, the dining room.... and YES, a lawn on the top deck.... way too funny

Can you believe this room?

Well… we have boarded, settled in and are enjoying exploring this ship. It is quite beautiful, that is for sure. Our check-in process went pretty quick which is a good thing. My patience tends to run thin during those times.


It is now 2 in the afternoon on Monday and Halley and Dan have already had a couples’ massage and Dan a haircut. Meantime, Jer and I walked a mile on the deck and then went and listened to some info about shore excursions…..glad we did. I had totally booked one (I did that from home) that made NO sense….. 5 hours of shopping and walking in Marigot…. Halley never would have made it. We corrected that and now have a tour of the island by open truck type thingee instead

Food on board is pretty good. As we left Ft Lauderdale, we had a nice seat at a table on the aft deck and enjoyed a couple drinks.  I hope to post some pics.... Then, out to the ocean, and we’ve been there ever since. We’re suppose to pull into San Juan, Puerto Rico tomorrow around 2. We’ve got a Bacardi Rum tour planned and Halley and Dan are psyched.


A new Halley-ism…. Dan’s beard doesn’t grow that much during the day… it just turns darker…. No convincing her otherwise…

Seattle to Minneapolis to Ft Lauderdale.....

 We have arrived....left 12 degree weather in Minneapolis and landed here in sunny Ft Lauderdale. It is chilly by Ft Lauderdale standards, but still way warmer than where we have been.  While we were at the airport, we heard that many airports were closed in the southern part of the country: snowed in... Atlanta had 50 planes waiting to be de-iced.... glad we were safe and sound at our destination!
Tomorrow we will leave ... but tonight, we are at the Hyatt.  The view from our room is beautiful.  We've been drooling over the boats in the marina....  tiny little things.... well, not really.  Also, to our south, we can see some of the ships.   There is one, the Oasis of the Seas,.... it's way beyond huge. The picture I show is not a depth of focus thing.  That sucker is just that huge!   It's like putting a 747 next to a 727.... We heard it holds 6200 customers.... way too big for me.
So, off we go to lullaby land looking forward to our cruise tomorrow.  Oh, our adventures with Halley and Dan have already started..... not ready to share that stuff yet!

Just printed boarding passes....

So, we are off with Halley and Dan.... to the Carribean...  We'll stop by Minneapolis, where the temp is below freezing, and then next day, we're off to Ft Lauderdale.  Halley and Dan have asked for a cruise to this area for the last two years.... so, bam, here we go!  We'll keep the blog updated... we're on the Celebrity Solstice... Much bigger that the 38Ft Hans Christian Sailboat Jerry use to live on!