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.

Barbados

Friday, March 19th

Today, we arrived in Barbados! This island was discovered by a Portuguese explorer in 1536 and he named the island Barbados, meaning “the bearded ones” for the shaggy exposed roots of the native ficus trees. The English did not arrive until the 17th century & they settled just north of modern Bridgetown.

Bridgetown is now the capital with a population of 279,000 and is English speaking. The island size is 14 by 21 miles (166 square miles). In 1966, Barbados became an independent nation.

When we got off the ship in the morning, we checked out the shops in the terminal and then we took a long walk to the downtown area walking along the Caribbean Sea walkway and into town. There were the usual tourist stores, nothing very exciting. We did not take any tour on this island, which would have probably been more interesting. We came back to the ship for some lunch and enjoyed our balcony and did some reading before going to dinner.

Port of Spain, Trinidad

Thursday, March 18th

Today we arrived in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. Trinidad is one of the two islands. Trinidad is one of the most industrial nations in the West Indies. We spent the first part of the day walking to the downtown area; no different from any large city anywhere else. You did need to stay in the well-traveled areas however. It was a very warm day in the mid 90’s with humidity about the same.

We then returned to the port for our tour with Michelle, a native of Trinidad. We started in the downtown area and then to the Queen’s Park Savannah, which is a 200-acre lawn with fields and grand stands, which used to be a sugar plantation. Unfortunately, the island has had little rain and most of the lawn areas are brown. We also went by the Red House, a 1906 neo-Renaissance structure, where the Parliament meets. As we continued we saw several 19th century mansions; these structures are in need of restoration and some are in the process of being done. We continued driving thru the city and stopped for a view of the harbor. Our last stop on the tour was at the Angostura Distillery. This is the only place where the Angostura bitters is produced following a 200-year-old recipe. They also distill rum and vodka. They allowed tastings after the tour. We headed back to the ship for a rest before dinner. The ship departed Trinidad for Barbados, our next stop.

We had a nice dinner and visit with fellow tablemates and then went to the comedy/juggler show with Adam Kario. He was very entertaining and quite talented.

Sea Day

Wave Pool

Wednesday, March 17th

Today was a quiet day at sea. Went to the port talk in the morning and Chris won a bottle of nail polish from Del Sol that changes colors in the sun. Chris also won the drawing for a 5 carat blue sapphire in San Juan.

Then we had lunch in the Horizon Court. After lunch we went to the pool area for the rest of the afternoon.

This was our second formal night and the cocktail party with the ship Captain Anthony Herriott. We then went to dinner. After dinner we went to the magic and comedy show with Scott Alexander.

Aruba and Curacao

Tuesday, March 16th

We arrived in Curacao this morning. The day was warm with a high of around 98 and 91% humidity. We were off on our tour, which took us around the downtown area and business area. Our first stop was the Curacao Museum, which had the engine from the first KLM that flew to Curacao in the 1930’s. The museum is an old residence and has period furniture from the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. The tour continued to the Hato Caves, with a view of some flamingos in the local lake on the way. At the caves we climbed up many stairs to get to the entrance and then into the caves. Very interesting, however, not cool inside like in the states. Our next stop was at Choboloblo where the original Curacao liqueur is distilled with a brief stop for tastings of three of the liqueurs. Our tour guide, WaWa, was great. She was quite knowledgeable and provided lots of humor throughout our time together. Then onto to downtown for a walk across the pontoon bridge, Queen Emma, which crosses the canal and has been in operation since the late 1800’s. When ships need to transit the canal a ferry is in service to carry people across. We checked out the local shops and made a stop, for Rick, at the local police station. Met the chief and several other officers. The Chief, RS Simmons, was gracious and obtained one of their police patches for me from another officer. We then boarded the ferry and headed back to the ship to relax and cool off before dinner and another show with a singer, Sonia Selbie, originally from England and now resides in Nashville.

Tomorrow is a sea day and the ship is having something special for St Patrick’s Day. We will also be attending a cocktail party with the new Captain, who arrived yesterday. Then we will have our second formal dinner night.

Monday, March 15th

We arrived in Aruba! It was to come back to the one place on this cruise that we have been to before. We elected not to take any tours, so just walked around the downtown area looking at some of the shops and exploring part of the local area away from the main tourist places. Of course, Aruba was very hot (82-84 degrees with humidity at 92) as it is so close to equator. We, especially Chris, are not used to this kind of heat. Sure felt good to get back to the ship and cool off in the pool and relax reading. We found some local beverages to bring back and enjoy on our deck for the sail away! At dinner, we all shared stories of our day. After dinner, the show we went to was a pianist, Ryan Ahern from Las Vegas who grew up idolizing Liberace. He was very good and we really enjoyed his performance.

On ship and at Sea

Neptune's Reef Pool





Saturday & Sunday, March 13th & 14th

We spent time exploring the ship and went to a few on board activities, went to the pool, read and mostly relaxed during the day. We had our first dinner with our table group Saturday night. The couples are Dave & Carol from Sarastota, FL., Glenn & Donna from Chicago area and Mike & Janice from northern Kentucky. All of them are friendly and we are getting to know each other. Saturday night was our first formal night (two more to go). Each night we have gone to one of the many shows that are offered; a welcome aboard show to introduce the dance and singer cast members, Stardust (a lot of oldies) and Tom Briscoe, a comedian.






Friday, March 12th




After a send off breakfast, Rick and Linda drove us in the pouring rain to Port Everglades to board our cruise ship (GRAND PRINCESS) for the next 14 days!
After going through all the security and the boarding process, we explored the ship prior to our mandatory safety drill and waiting for our luggage to arrive. Upon returning to our stateroom after the drill, we found that someone put a lock on our luggage that certainly was not ours!! Oh, what fun. We had a get and engineer to cut off the lock. We unpacked and finally got settled in. Obviously,
this delayed us, so we did not go to the main dining room for dinner. However, we had to suffer and settle for lobster, shrimp and prime rib! Poor us……….
The next two days we will be relaxing and enjoying the ship on our way to Aruba!


Safety Drill Our State Room

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Today was a special day for us as we had made plans to visit with two couples we had met on previous cruises. We had a wonderful visit with Harry & Jeannine Morris, whom we had met on our Panama cruise in 2003, at their home in Pompano Beach. We enjoyed a delicious lunch at Sea Watch Restaurant. That evening we continued to Boca Raton to visit with Anthony & Joann Salomone, who we had met on our Mediterranean cruise in 2007. We enjoyed cocktails at their home with a friend of theirs from New Jersey. We all then went to La Veranda restaurant for dinner in Pompano Beach where Anthony’s son Chris joined us! We had so much with these truly great friends and it was so nice to see them all again!!

Anthony and Joann Harry and Jeannine

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Coral Castle

We arrived in Ft. Lauderdale about 7:30 a.m. and were picked up by Chris’ cousins, Linda & Rick. After going to their home for a nice breakfast and getting settled, we went to Coral Castle near Homestead. This is a historical landmark that was built in the 1930’s by a man for his sweetheart, however she left him the night before their wedding. This man built it all by himself in secret and no one has knowledge of how he moved the huge blocks of coral to create his masterpiece.

Then, we drove around the area and over to Homestead Raceway. The security was most gracious and even let us in to see the track and to take pictures!!! Now, Rick wants to come here to see a Nascar race.

We returned to Rick and Linda’s home where that evening we enjoyed a wonderful dinner and visit with Rick’s brother, Charlie and his wife, Terry whom
Chris hadn’t seen in about 40 years. It was a beautiful night and we had dinner on the patio, which was a treat for all.

Caribbean Cruise

This is our Caribbean Cruise which will start on March 12, 2010. We leave on March 9, 2010 for Ft. Lauderdale to visit friends and family before boarding the Grand Princess on the 12th.