Carnival Victory
7-14 March 2010
Sailing from San Juan, Puerto Rico to St. Thomas, Dominica, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and St. Maarten.
Day 1
3/7/10. Sunday. Traveling to the ship: San Juan, Puerto Rico.
We left the house at 3:45 for an early flight out of Dayton. Flew AirTran to Atlanta (thanks Jason for the ride). We were offered a cheap upgrade to business class which included no charge for baggage. We enjoyed the extra leg room and free drinks. In Atlanta we had a 2 hour layover, grabbed some breakfast and then connected for the flight to San Juan. No business class for the 3 hour flight. Sigh.
We arrived in San Juan about 20 minutes early at 1:40 pm. It had been raining, but at least it wasn’t snow. Got our bags and looked for a porter. I had read a tip online that a porter will take you to the front of the taxi line. This is true. He walked us to a cab ahead of about 50 people who were already waiting. I felt guilty for about 3 minutes. Ok, maybe 2. Best 5 dollar tip I ever gave. The taxi ride was $19 plus a dollar a bag. It is priced by zones so no price issues with the drivers.
We were dropped off at the end of the pier. I turned our bags over to another porter with a 3 dollar tip and the bags showed up in our Cabin 2 hours later. Easy enough. We checked in at the VIP lounge. Thanks to a call from the cheap up-sell fairy we were able to get a Cat 12 Grand Suite (formerly called Penthouse) for a really, really, really inexpensive price. It should have cost 1200 for the upgrade but we got it for only 400 more than what we had originally booked. I am sure we will be back to our regular Cat 8 balcony next cruise. But for this cruise we got to try it out.
It only took about 10 minutes to check in and then with sail and sign cards in hand we were on the ship. This was our second time on the Victory. Our very first cruise had been on this ship. We went to check out the room and we were pleased with the upgrade. Comparing this room (cabin 7306) with a regular balcony room: About double the square footage of both the suite and balcony. A sitting area, bar, vanity, dressing room, extra storage closet, a larger bathroom (full size with a spa tub).
A knock at the door- Ron and Nang had got on board a few minutes before us. They had an interior room across the hall. We toured each others room then we all went up to Lido for some lunch. Ron took Nang back to the room then toured the ship on his own. Patti and I activated our Sail and Sign card with a few drinks at the Atrium bar. This turned out to be one of our favorite spots to hang out. There was a guy playing guitar and singing Country music. The drinks were far from being weak! Canadian Club and Sprite, but mostly Canadian Club!
Back to the room. Patti read all the room info and figured out all the electronic stuff. I like to unpack. I know that sounds sick but to me it kind of makes the vacation official. It is the realization, “Hey, we are here!.”
We all went to dinner in the Atlantic dining room. The 4 of us were assigned to table 155 but for tonight it was open seating. At the end of dinner they started the muster station drill. Note: I had to gobble down the last 2 bites of my crème brulee. I’m going down with the ship before I miss this desert.
Up to the top deck for sail away. It was still lightly drizzling. Back to the room for some sleep. We had been up since 3am. We are on our way!
Day 2
3/8/10 Monday. St. Thomas.
Woke up docked at the pier in St. Thomas. We had a nice view of the bay from our balcony. We had coffee and it drizzled for a few minute. That was the end of any rain for the rest of the trip. I had ran into Ron and Nang on Lido deck when I went for coffee. About 30 minutes later they showed up with breakfast. Room service!! A very nice thing to do. I did offer to tip.
After breakfast we decided to walk to the shops in the port area. Ron ended up with a cowboy-ish hat with shells. His new vacation hat he called it. I bought Jamaican style hat with the fake dreadlocks. I had to have it. A few more shirts- Patti got a nice shirt that said “Screw the cracker- Polly wants a cocktail.” Yeah, mon.
Patti and I went to the butterfly farm next to the ship. Not really worth the money. Back to the boat . Cheeseburgers for lunch Aft on Lido deck. Pattie impressed one of the college guys on the ship. He offered her his cabin number. To the best of my knowledge she did not use it. Hung out and hot tubbed some, back to the room at 6pm.
We had our first dinner at our assigned table. The food was good, always lots of choices. Patti tried the Chocolate melting cake for desert. I had to sneak a bite. Good, but rich.
Day 3
3/9/10 Tuesday. Dominica
Woke up to blue skies, warm and humid. Had breakfast on the balcony as we sailed along the coast of Dominica to the port. Ron and Nang sat with us as we watched the mad dash for those wanting to get off the ship first. We all reviewed shore excursions and booked a few for later in the week. We used the remote and did it on our room TV. I have never understood why people stand in line at the excursion desk. The tickets were delivered to our room later that night.
We walked off the ship and hit some vendor stands. We did not take any tours but if you want an island tour the taxi drivers will do a custom tour for you at 20 dollars a person for 2 hours. Not bad in my opinion. I tried a local beer which was very good and Patti had an icy locally made fruit soda, also very good.
Back to the ship for lunch at the Mediterranean buffet. Patti and I went to the aft pool- the water felt great. As I write this I am reading on the balcony as Patti takes a nap. There is a guy down on the pier playing steel drums. I am sometimes asked what my favorite thing about cruising are. My answer- doing nothing. Sitting and reading or watching the islands/ocean. The port here in Dominica is typical of the Caribbean- multicolored buildings. One building is painted a combination of fuchsia, orange, lime green and pink, and red. The people here are very polite, not overly pushy. We even had several vendors thank us for visiting their island.
Tonight is formal night. Ron and I wore Tuxs. Patti wore a red dress she had custom made in China. It arrived just days in time for the cruise. Nang wore a Thai style dress. We all looked pretty snappy. We had pics taken then played slots before dinner. At dinner I did explain to Ron that he need not not be shy about asking for 2 lobster tails.
Day 4
3/10/10 Barbados
Breakfast on the balcony then off to the photo department to check on our pictures taken so far. We found a few we really like but we will save our final selections for later in the week.
Our Timini Catamaran Turtle excursion left at noon. We took a 3 minute shuttle ride to the dock. The trip was 4 hours long and lots of fun. They raise the sails after leaving the port and we were under way. For now, we were sipping nonalcoholic punch. We sailed along the coast to a cove frequented by sea turtles. One crew member was in the water with fish to hand feed the turtles. It really brought them in. We put on vests, masks, and snorkels and went in too. There were about 15 turtles in our area. Very close, bumped my foot even. I had an underwater camera and took some pics. They did not come out great but they are ok. It was cool being that close to them.
After the turtle swim the bar was open. Rum punch! As we had the punch we went to another cove to use the beach. This was the location where Tiger Woods got married. The boat Captain said, “This is where Tigers troubles all began.” The rooms there went for $7,000 a night, 2 week minimum. We did not spend the night. They were supposed to beach the boat and let us walk off, but they did not. They stopped in 12 feet of water. Patti does not swim so this meant that she would not be able to get to the beach.
We were going to stay on board but she decided to give it a try with my help and a life vest. Brave lady. As we were getting into the water the crew saw me trying to help her. They had one of the crew use a flotation device to tow her in. She was able to hold on to the handles. (This got them a good tip). We walked up the beach a bit and sat in the sand. Meanwhile the crew had brought some punch off the boat. Ron and Nang were parting in the water with crew and fellow tourists. They gave Patti a tow back to the boat and we were heading back to the Victory.
This was a leisurely trip back- rum punch, a little more rum punch… etc. By the time we got back and close to the ship we were doing a conga line around the catamaran. The party was in full force. A little more rum punch then, sigh, we were back to the deck. It was a fun excursion and I highly recommend it.
A few cheeseburgers for a late lunch then we just chilled for the rest of the day. Chilling and relaxing being 2 of my favorite vacation things to do.
Day 5
3/11/10 St. Lucia
Another beautiful day. We had room service set for 7:30 am. We had booked a tour through the internet for an island tour of St. Lucia. I had read about Cosol Tours on the Cruise Critic web site. It was 65 dollars a person for a 7 hour tour. Far cheaper, and with more to see than anything offered through the ship. The boat docked at 8am and we did have to fight the lines this morning getting off the ship. No big deal, it is expected for early tours. Our tour was leaving at 8:30 am. We met Cosol at the pier and our group of about 50 divided up into 6 tour vans. Ours had a total of 9, a family of 5 plus Ron, Nang, Patti and me.
One of the vans carried a few coolers with an assortment of drinks. Yes, beer and rum punch too. Note: the local beer ‘Piton’ was quite good. We left the port in the town of Casteraries and headed out. We stopped at a banana plantation for a talk on how bananas are grown. For you trivia experts- bananas do not grow on trees they are actually considered plants. The bananas we were given to eat were much sweeter than any I have had in the States. Bananas are the island's only commercial crop and a ship load leaves for England every week.
After that, on to a breakfast stop. About 6 tables were set up with local foods. Ron and Nang missed most of it because of long lines at the bathrooms. The only item that I did not care for was the fish puff. Still drinking the local beer ‘Piton’. We came to a scenic overlook of the Piton mountains. Note: The beer was named after the mountains, the mountains were not named after the beer (although…).
On to a drive-in Volcano. It was an active caldera with sulfur fumes. It is advertised as the world’s only drive in volcano. Well, Yellowstone is a caldera and we drove into it years ago. But anyway…
Back to the beach and we took water taxis (boats) to a beach between the Pitons. The beach was small with an expensive resort behind it. We were told this is where Oprah comes for vacations. We waved towards the hotel. She did not wave back. Ron and I snorkeled for about 30 minutes than Patti and I walked out into the water. We were supposed to be there an hour but it was 90 minutes before we got back.
The vans loaded up on the beach and then it was a stop at a waterfall. Patti liked it a lot and wished we had more time there. She walked out into the waterfall and I got a few pics of her. After our 10 minute stop there, the driver stopped at a restaurant for some local cheese. A few minutes later he stopped at a local village and picked up some hot bread- fresh out of the oven. So we had fresh bread and cheese for lunch.
We saw the bay where the Eddy Murphy ‘Dr. Doolittle” movie was filmed. Back to the boat and we were done. This was an all day excursion getting us back to the boat about 30 minutes before sail away.
Tonight was the 2nd formal night. They had baked Alaska for desert which we have not had on a cruise since out first cruise (also on the Victory 8 years ago.)
Day 6
3/12/10 St. Kitts
We had booked a scenic railway tour through the ship. It did not leave till 10 am so we went to the Pacific dining room for a sit down breakfast. Service and food were very slow. It took almost 40 minutes to get our food. We ate what we could in 5 minutes and then left for our tour. We were flying to get off that boat. We managed to go the length of the ship and down the pier to the van in about 10 minutes. We did make it on time.
We had about 12 in our van as we did a 45 minute scenic and narrated drive up the coast. We were meeting the train at the end and taking it back. Patti and I sat top side for most of the trip and Ron and Nang were down below. When it started to rain Patti and I went below and Ron was on top. He always was backwards!!
The St Kitts Scenic Railway is a narrow gauge train with an engine, support car, and 4 passenger cars. We were in the last car. The top area was covered by an awning. As we clackity clacked our way along it was nice to sit back and take in the view. We went through several villages. The tracks boarded a few schools. As the train went by the kids would all run to the windows and wave. We saw many remnants of old sugar mills. The stone chimneys and windmill bases were still there- mostly.
The Atlantic side of the island had lots of waves and breakers as well as a few black sand volcanic beaches. The train ride was an unusual way to see the island and we enjoyed it. The frozen drinks were not bad either.
Back to the ship for lunch . We spent the rest of the day back on the boat.
Day 7
3/13/10 St Maarten
The last day- so sad. Patti and I had been to St. Maarten before so we made this a ship day. We spent the morning visiting with Ron and Nang. Later Ron and Nang went ashore and did some shopping. Patti and I hung out on the pool deck. Reading, using the pool and a dink special of the day. That was activity enough. We went back to the room. Patti took a nap and I met Ron to try out the waterslide. We went down about 3 times and Nang took some pics.
Patti and I stood on the balcony for our final sail away as we left St. Kitts. We then went to check out our pictures and made our final decisions. The last dinner in the dinning room was nice. Our waiters sang to us changing to words… “Your bags are packed your ready to go…”
Sadly, the bags were packed and in the hall by 11 pm for the porters.
Day 8
3/14/10 San Juan and home
The worse part of any cruise is the ‘leaving’ part. Since we had a VIP suite we could have been the first ones off the ship but there was no reason since we had a 4pm flight. We did not see Ron and Nang because they had an early debarkation. Patti and I went to the buffet for breakfast and then hung out till 11 am.
Got a taxi to the Airport and worked our way through the USDA and check in lines. Many people complain about this but it should be expected at any vacation airport on a travel day. It was no worse than Cancun or Montego Bay.
Had lunch at a fast food taco place then went to the gate. We still had 2 ½ hours to go. We finally boarded and were on our way to Atlanta. After landing we called the kids to see how the families were doing. We landed in Dayton about 11:45 PM. Josh and Ashley met us at the Airport for the ride home. THANKS!
Good times, a fun trip. We experienced none, as in zero of the complaints that were a theme in Cruise Critic reviews for a while. No long lines at the buffets, no rude fellow cruisers, no abundance of kids running down the halls- in fact we rarely saw kids. No fights for elevators. This cruise was just as good as all past cruises we have sailed on.
Photos: My photobucket account has pics of the cabin, ship, and excursions.
http://s303.photobucket.com/albums/nn149/snakedoctor57/
7-14 March 2010
Sailing from San Juan, Puerto Rico to St. Thomas, Dominica, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and St. Maarten.
Day 1
3/7/10. Sunday. Traveling to the ship: San Juan, Puerto Rico.
We left the house at 3:45 for an early flight out of Dayton. Flew AirTran to Atlanta (thanks Jason for the ride). We were offered a cheap upgrade to business class which included no charge for baggage. We enjoyed the extra leg room and free drinks. In Atlanta we had a 2 hour layover, grabbed some breakfast and then connected for the flight to San Juan. No business class for the 3 hour flight. Sigh.
We arrived in San Juan about 20 minutes early at 1:40 pm. It had been raining, but at least it wasn’t snow. Got our bags and looked for a porter. I had read a tip online that a porter will take you to the front of the taxi line. This is true. He walked us to a cab ahead of about 50 people who were already waiting. I felt guilty for about 3 minutes. Ok, maybe 2. Best 5 dollar tip I ever gave. The taxi ride was $19 plus a dollar a bag. It is priced by zones so no price issues with the drivers.
We were dropped off at the end of the pier. I turned our bags over to another porter with a 3 dollar tip and the bags showed up in our Cabin 2 hours later. Easy enough. We checked in at the VIP lounge. Thanks to a call from the cheap up-sell fairy we were able to get a Cat 12 Grand Suite (formerly called Penthouse) for a really, really, really inexpensive price. It should have cost 1200 for the upgrade but we got it for only 400 more than what we had originally booked. I am sure we will be back to our regular Cat 8 balcony next cruise. But for this cruise we got to try it out.
It only took about 10 minutes to check in and then with sail and sign cards in hand we were on the ship. This was our second time on the Victory. Our very first cruise had been on this ship. We went to check out the room and we were pleased with the upgrade. Comparing this room (cabin 7306) with a regular balcony room: About double the square footage of both the suite and balcony. A sitting area, bar, vanity, dressing room, extra storage closet, a larger bathroom (full size with a spa tub).
A knock at the door- Ron and Nang had got on board a few minutes before us. They had an interior room across the hall. We toured each others room then we all went up to Lido for some lunch. Ron took Nang back to the room then toured the ship on his own. Patti and I activated our Sail and Sign card with a few drinks at the Atrium bar. This turned out to be one of our favorite spots to hang out. There was a guy playing guitar and singing Country music. The drinks were far from being weak! Canadian Club and Sprite, but mostly Canadian Club!
Back to the room. Patti read all the room info and figured out all the electronic stuff. I like to unpack. I know that sounds sick but to me it kind of makes the vacation official. It is the realization, “Hey, we are here!.”
We all went to dinner in the Atlantic dining room. The 4 of us were assigned to table 155 but for tonight it was open seating. At the end of dinner they started the muster station drill. Note: I had to gobble down the last 2 bites of my crème brulee. I’m going down with the ship before I miss this desert.
Up to the top deck for sail away. It was still lightly drizzling. Back to the room for some sleep. We had been up since 3am. We are on our way!
Day 2
3/8/10 Monday. St. Thomas.
Woke up docked at the pier in St. Thomas. We had a nice view of the bay from our balcony. We had coffee and it drizzled for a few minute. That was the end of any rain for the rest of the trip. I had ran into Ron and Nang on Lido deck when I went for coffee. About 30 minutes later they showed up with breakfast. Room service!! A very nice thing to do. I did offer to tip.
After breakfast we decided to walk to the shops in the port area. Ron ended up with a cowboy-ish hat with shells. His new vacation hat he called it. I bought Jamaican style hat with the fake dreadlocks. I had to have it. A few more shirts- Patti got a nice shirt that said “Screw the cracker- Polly wants a cocktail.” Yeah, mon.
Patti and I went to the butterfly farm next to the ship. Not really worth the money. Back to the boat . Cheeseburgers for lunch Aft on Lido deck. Pattie impressed one of the college guys on the ship. He offered her his cabin number. To the best of my knowledge she did not use it. Hung out and hot tubbed some, back to the room at 6pm.
We had our first dinner at our assigned table. The food was good, always lots of choices. Patti tried the Chocolate melting cake for desert. I had to sneak a bite. Good, but rich.
Day 3
3/9/10 Tuesday. Dominica
Woke up to blue skies, warm and humid. Had breakfast on the balcony as we sailed along the coast of Dominica to the port. Ron and Nang sat with us as we watched the mad dash for those wanting to get off the ship first. We all reviewed shore excursions and booked a few for later in the week. We used the remote and did it on our room TV. I have never understood why people stand in line at the excursion desk. The tickets were delivered to our room later that night.
We walked off the ship and hit some vendor stands. We did not take any tours but if you want an island tour the taxi drivers will do a custom tour for you at 20 dollars a person for 2 hours. Not bad in my opinion. I tried a local beer which was very good and Patti had an icy locally made fruit soda, also very good.
Back to the ship for lunch at the Mediterranean buffet. Patti and I went to the aft pool- the water felt great. As I write this I am reading on the balcony as Patti takes a nap. There is a guy down on the pier playing steel drums. I am sometimes asked what my favorite thing about cruising are. My answer- doing nothing. Sitting and reading or watching the islands/ocean. The port here in Dominica is typical of the Caribbean- multicolored buildings. One building is painted a combination of fuchsia, orange, lime green and pink, and red. The people here are very polite, not overly pushy. We even had several vendors thank us for visiting their island.
Tonight is formal night. Ron and I wore Tuxs. Patti wore a red dress she had custom made in China. It arrived just days in time for the cruise. Nang wore a Thai style dress. We all looked pretty snappy. We had pics taken then played slots before dinner. At dinner I did explain to Ron that he need not not be shy about asking for 2 lobster tails.
Day 4
3/10/10 Barbados
Breakfast on the balcony then off to the photo department to check on our pictures taken so far. We found a few we really like but we will save our final selections for later in the week.
Our Timini Catamaran Turtle excursion left at noon. We took a 3 minute shuttle ride to the dock. The trip was 4 hours long and lots of fun. They raise the sails after leaving the port and we were under way. For now, we were sipping nonalcoholic punch. We sailed along the coast to a cove frequented by sea turtles. One crew member was in the water with fish to hand feed the turtles. It really brought them in. We put on vests, masks, and snorkels and went in too. There were about 15 turtles in our area. Very close, bumped my foot even. I had an underwater camera and took some pics. They did not come out great but they are ok. It was cool being that close to them.
After the turtle swim the bar was open. Rum punch! As we had the punch we went to another cove to use the beach. This was the location where Tiger Woods got married. The boat Captain said, “This is where Tigers troubles all began.” The rooms there went for $7,000 a night, 2 week minimum. We did not spend the night. They were supposed to beach the boat and let us walk off, but they did not. They stopped in 12 feet of water. Patti does not swim so this meant that she would not be able to get to the beach.
We were going to stay on board but she decided to give it a try with my help and a life vest. Brave lady. As we were getting into the water the crew saw me trying to help her. They had one of the crew use a flotation device to tow her in. She was able to hold on to the handles. (This got them a good tip). We walked up the beach a bit and sat in the sand. Meanwhile the crew had brought some punch off the boat. Ron and Nang were parting in the water with crew and fellow tourists. They gave Patti a tow back to the boat and we were heading back to the Victory.
This was a leisurely trip back- rum punch, a little more rum punch… etc. By the time we got back and close to the ship we were doing a conga line around the catamaran. The party was in full force. A little more rum punch then, sigh, we were back to the deck. It was a fun excursion and I highly recommend it.
A few cheeseburgers for a late lunch then we just chilled for the rest of the day. Chilling and relaxing being 2 of my favorite vacation things to do.
Day 5
3/11/10 St. Lucia
Another beautiful day. We had room service set for 7:30 am. We had booked a tour through the internet for an island tour of St. Lucia. I had read about Cosol Tours on the Cruise Critic web site. It was 65 dollars a person for a 7 hour tour. Far cheaper, and with more to see than anything offered through the ship. The boat docked at 8am and we did have to fight the lines this morning getting off the ship. No big deal, it is expected for early tours. Our tour was leaving at 8:30 am. We met Cosol at the pier and our group of about 50 divided up into 6 tour vans. Ours had a total of 9, a family of 5 plus Ron, Nang, Patti and me.
One of the vans carried a few coolers with an assortment of drinks. Yes, beer and rum punch too. Note: the local beer ‘Piton’ was quite good. We left the port in the town of Casteraries and headed out. We stopped at a banana plantation for a talk on how bananas are grown. For you trivia experts- bananas do not grow on trees they are actually considered plants. The bananas we were given to eat were much sweeter than any I have had in the States. Bananas are the island's only commercial crop and a ship load leaves for England every week.
After that, on to a breakfast stop. About 6 tables were set up with local foods. Ron and Nang missed most of it because of long lines at the bathrooms. The only item that I did not care for was the fish puff. Still drinking the local beer ‘Piton’. We came to a scenic overlook of the Piton mountains. Note: The beer was named after the mountains, the mountains were not named after the beer (although…).
On to a drive-in Volcano. It was an active caldera with sulfur fumes. It is advertised as the world’s only drive in volcano. Well, Yellowstone is a caldera and we drove into it years ago. But anyway…
Back to the beach and we took water taxis (boats) to a beach between the Pitons. The beach was small with an expensive resort behind it. We were told this is where Oprah comes for vacations. We waved towards the hotel. She did not wave back. Ron and I snorkeled for about 30 minutes than Patti and I walked out into the water. We were supposed to be there an hour but it was 90 minutes before we got back.
The vans loaded up on the beach and then it was a stop at a waterfall. Patti liked it a lot and wished we had more time there. She walked out into the waterfall and I got a few pics of her. After our 10 minute stop there, the driver stopped at a restaurant for some local cheese. A few minutes later he stopped at a local village and picked up some hot bread- fresh out of the oven. So we had fresh bread and cheese for lunch.
We saw the bay where the Eddy Murphy ‘Dr. Doolittle” movie was filmed. Back to the boat and we were done. This was an all day excursion getting us back to the boat about 30 minutes before sail away.
Tonight was the 2nd formal night. They had baked Alaska for desert which we have not had on a cruise since out first cruise (also on the Victory 8 years ago.)
Day 6
3/12/10 St. Kitts
We had booked a scenic railway tour through the ship. It did not leave till 10 am so we went to the Pacific dining room for a sit down breakfast. Service and food were very slow. It took almost 40 minutes to get our food. We ate what we could in 5 minutes and then left for our tour. We were flying to get off that boat. We managed to go the length of the ship and down the pier to the van in about 10 minutes. We did make it on time.
We had about 12 in our van as we did a 45 minute scenic and narrated drive up the coast. We were meeting the train at the end and taking it back. Patti and I sat top side for most of the trip and Ron and Nang were down below. When it started to rain Patti and I went below and Ron was on top. He always was backwards!!
The St Kitts Scenic Railway is a narrow gauge train with an engine, support car, and 4 passenger cars. We were in the last car. The top area was covered by an awning. As we clackity clacked our way along it was nice to sit back and take in the view. We went through several villages. The tracks boarded a few schools. As the train went by the kids would all run to the windows and wave. We saw many remnants of old sugar mills. The stone chimneys and windmill bases were still there- mostly.
The Atlantic side of the island had lots of waves and breakers as well as a few black sand volcanic beaches. The train ride was an unusual way to see the island and we enjoyed it. The frozen drinks were not bad either.
Back to the ship for lunch . We spent the rest of the day back on the boat.
Day 7
3/13/10 St Maarten
The last day- so sad. Patti and I had been to St. Maarten before so we made this a ship day. We spent the morning visiting with Ron and Nang. Later Ron and Nang went ashore and did some shopping. Patti and I hung out on the pool deck. Reading, using the pool and a dink special of the day. That was activity enough. We went back to the room. Patti took a nap and I met Ron to try out the waterslide. We went down about 3 times and Nang took some pics.
Patti and I stood on the balcony for our final sail away as we left St. Kitts. We then went to check out our pictures and made our final decisions. The last dinner in the dinning room was nice. Our waiters sang to us changing to words… “Your bags are packed your ready to go…”
Sadly, the bags were packed and in the hall by 11 pm for the porters.
Day 8
3/14/10 San Juan and home
The worse part of any cruise is the ‘leaving’ part. Since we had a VIP suite we could have been the first ones off the ship but there was no reason since we had a 4pm flight. We did not see Ron and Nang because they had an early debarkation. Patti and I went to the buffet for breakfast and then hung out till 11 am.
Got a taxi to the Airport and worked our way through the USDA and check in lines. Many people complain about this but it should be expected at any vacation airport on a travel day. It was no worse than Cancun or Montego Bay.
Had lunch at a fast food taco place then went to the gate. We still had 2 ½ hours to go. We finally boarded and were on our way to Atlanta. After landing we called the kids to see how the families were doing. We landed in Dayton about 11:45 PM. Josh and Ashley met us at the Airport for the ride home. THANKS!
Good times, a fun trip. We experienced none, as in zero of the complaints that were a theme in Cruise Critic reviews for a while. No long lines at the buffets, no rude fellow cruisers, no abundance of kids running down the halls- in fact we rarely saw kids. No fights for elevators. This cruise was just as good as all past cruises we have sailed on.
Photos: My photobucket account has pics of the cabin, ship, and excursions.
http://s303.photobucket.com/albums/nn149/snakedoctor57/
