Ft. Lauderdale & Home

Rick, Chris, Rick, Linda, Shawn





Friday, March 26th

We arrived at Port Everglades in Ft. Lauderdale at 7:00 a.m. and we were off the ship and cleared customs by 8:45. Our cousins, Linda & Rick picked us up and we spent a nice day with them until our evening flight home. We even got to see their son Shawn who came down from Ohio, who Chris has not seen in probably about 20 years. This was a very nice bonus. We are so fortunate to have wonderful family who were so gracious to us with our stay there & their fantastic hospitality and transportation services! We really had a wonderful trip on the cruise and the opportunity to see our wonderful friends again before the cruise and spending time with family. We are now home safe and sound!!

Our Last Day at Sea

Chris on deck
Our tablemates

Thursday, March 25th

Our last day onboard ship was at sea heading back to Ft. Lauderdale. We spent most of the day walking around the ship checking on our pictures and some of the last minute shopping deals and some time on deck enjoying the last of the sun. Then, it was time to do the dreaded packing to come home. We did have a very nice last evening with our tablemates and it was hard to say goodbye to our new friends with whom we all shared contact information and we all hope to see each other again!!

Grand Turk

View of Grand Turk Beach

Welcome to

Sting Rays

Wednesday, March 23rd

The ship docked at our last port of call, Grand Turk. The capital is Cockburn Town, which was away from the cruise center. The island is 7 miles long and 1.5 miles wide with a population of 3,700. We left the ship and walked around the area near the pier. Many shops and beaches are nearby with the “Big” attraction being Jimmy Buffet’s Margaretville, which sure was quite popular. We then met our tour for a boat ride out to the reefs for snorkeling. It was a beautiful ride out to the area where we would snorkel. The water is so clear and many shades of blue! This was the first time that Rick ever went snorkeling, so it was an experience for him, but he got the “hang of it” after awhile and did enjoy it. Chris loved it and went completely around the reef area. We saw many beautiful colored fish, a couple of lobsters, lots of colorful plant life and a barracuda shark!

Then, we continued onto another location for the next part of our tour and went “swimming” with the stingrays! There were lots of them and they just came up to you and swam right around you where you could easily touch them. They “love” to have their bellies rubbed! Chris even gave one of them a kiss and had a “stingray massage”. This was quite an experience and the whole trip was fun! It was a good day to enjoy our last port of the trip.

After coming back, which was just before time to leave Grand Turk, we rested a bit before getting ready for dinner. We were tired tonight after a full day in the sun, so we skipped the night’s entertainment and came back to our room early.

Tomorrow is a sea day as we head back for Ft. Lauderdale, so we will enjoy the restful day and do the dreaded packing.

San Juan

Fort Cristobal

Tuesday, March 23rd

The ship arrived in San Juan, Puerto Rico this morning. San Juan is the capital and has a population of 1.6 million. The island is approximately 3,400 square miles. We started our tour in old San Juan and drove around the city. The driver pointed our many historical buildings and gave some history. We then crossed into modern San Juan and continued to the Bacardi Distillery. The tour was interesting and gave insite to the company history and why the “Bat” is the symbol on their labels. In the early warehouse, the wife saw fruit bats in the rafters and Bacardi was looking for a symbol for his rum and decided to use that. Bacardi started a distillery in San Juan in 1936 and moved to the current location in 1958. Bacardi is still family owned today and is one of the largest distillers in the world. After our tour was completed we went to the Hospitality Pavilion for a complimentary cocktail. We then returned to Old San Juan and took a tour of San Cristobal Fortress. The US Park System now manages this historical landmark. The fortress is built on San Cristobal hill and is the largest Spanish fortification in the New World. Started as early as 1539, the Spanish spent over 250 years fortifying this location. This fort was still in use by the US Military in World War II and was turned over to the park system in 1960. The fort had great vistas of the area and city below. After visiting the fort we continued in Old San Juan to walk around the city and sightsee. A brief stop was made at the San Juan Bautista Cathedral, where Ponce de Leon is buried. We stopped at a spice place, recommended by our tablemate, Glenn. We found some great spices and hot sauce to bring home. Almost forgot, Chris picked up her 5-carat sapphire that she had won from one of the port and shopping talks and found a pearl necklace to buy. There were a few other pearls bought as well. Old San Juan is a beautiful city with a lot of history.

We then headed back to the ship to cool off, another 90’s day. Then we were off to the farewell cocktail party before dinner. This was our third and final formal evening. Had a great meal and visit at the table with picture takings of the group and our waiters. We then went and watched Star Trek, “Movies Under The Stars”, the large outdoor screen by the Neptune Pool. It was a wonderful night.

St Thomas

Harbor View

St Thomas Police

Monday, March 22nd

Arrived in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. The US purchased the Virgin Islands from the Dutch the 1950’s. Many countries have flown their flag over these islands. The capital is Charlotte Amalie, which was our port. The island is 32 square miles with a population of 56,000. St. Thomas is mainly known for its shopping. There are many tax and duty free stores. If you are looking for anything from liquor to jewelry to high end products, this is the place! Most of the day was spent looking at the stores and seeing the downtown area. Chris was looking for a pearl necklace, however did not see what she wanted. Rick ended up buying a camera lens. We stopped for a bite to eat and sample the local ale. We continued back towards the ship and made a stop at the US Virgin Islands PD and met Charlotte Fleming. She was most gracious and traded patches with Rick. Charlotte has a collection of approximately 200 patches from all over the world, none from San Bruno until now! We came back to the ship to again cool off as the temperature was again in the 90’s.

We had another good meal with our tablemates with Glenn and Donna celebrating their anniversary. The evening entertainment was at the pool with “Rocking Under The Stars”, some good music and singing by various crewmembers.

St Kitts

Cockleshell Beach

Sunday, March 21st

We arrived in Basseterre, St Kitts this morning. The island is 65 square miles in size with a population of about 40,000. Today was another warm day so we went to Cockleshell Beach with Glenn and Donna from our dinner table. While on our way to the beach the taxi driver gave us a little tour and information about the island. The water was great (so nice and warm) and it was a quiet beach. Not as crowed as some. We spent three hours there. As we getting ready to leave it started to rain and rained until we got back to town. Went we got back we walked around the port area and had a beer at the internet café. All in all, a very relaxing day of sun and sea.

We returned to the ship to relax, cool off and get ready for dinner. After dinner we went to the production show, “Do You Wanna Dance". It was an entertaining show. The next port of call will be St Thomas.

St. Vincent

View from Fort

Saturday, March 20th

We arrived in St. Vincent and the capital is Kingstown, our port. The island is 18 miles wide and 11 miles long and located in the Windward Islands. St. Vincent is a volcanic island with a volcano that dominates the northern third of the island.

We started our tour with Ashalyn and drove around the downtown area. There were many people out shopping in the Kingstown market. Various fruits and vegetables were available from vendors. Since this was Saturday it was very busy and heavy traffic. The roads are narrow and not in very good condition. We continued thru the city to the Botanical Gardens, which is a 20-acre estate, which is the oldest in the Caribbean, started in 1765. There are breadfruit trees that are descendent from the ones brought to the island by Captain Bligh in 1793. We continued onto Fort Charlotte, 600 feet above sea level, which was a former British Garrison completed in 1806 and named in honor of Queen Charlotte. Then to a local museum with artifacts from the pre-Columbian era, some as early as 160 A.D. and finished up with a drink at the Grenadines House, a hotel over looking Kingstown.

We came back to the ship to have lunch in the dining room for the first time and sat with two other couples, one from St. Louis and the other from Ontario, Canada. It is nice to meet other people and share conversation.