Carribean Cruise – Day 8 - February 27, 2011

                                                              Thanks Haru!

(Saved this for a couple days to leave it for him...probably my favorite one)

By the time we got up this morning, we were already docked in Fort Lauderdale as if we never left!  Enjoyed one more breakfast in the Lido before disembarking the ship.  We arrived at the airport in plenty of time for our 1:30pm flight.  Good thing, too, because it’s a zoo here!  Way too many people and not nearly enough room for everyone.

Our flight was on-time, and relatively smooth with the exception of our landing in Boston.  Apparently we were coming in too close to the plane in front of us so we had to circle around and try again…our second missed landing in four months.  Only good thing…Jet Blue pilots tell you what’s going on right away making it a little better.  Back on the ground, MK and TK were there to pick us up.  Glad to be home after a relaxing week at sea with family.  Happy 70^th Mr. John!  So glad we could celebrate in style with you!  

Carribean Cruise – Day 7 - February 26, 2011

Ordered breakfast in the room today so we could eat on the balcony as we came into port.  We’ve definitely got the hang of breakfast now so we know exactly what to order and what to grab from the buffet upstairs. 

Today’s destination was Half Moon Cay, Holland America’s private island in the Bahamas.  The cruise line sends out their own ferries to tender in all the passengers to the island.  It was a little funny to think that we were going to a made-up island with no culture of its own.  However, it was a very relaxing day.  After taking the tender into what must be a man-made marina, we walked down the beach and claimed some chairs under the trees.  The water was a little colder here than in Grand Turk, but still a beautiful turquoise blue with soft sand that made it easy to get in and out.  Joe, Dave, Marisa, Luke & Cathy stayed in for quite a while John and I watched all of our stuff…or napped!  Took a short walk down the beach, but couldn’t stay out too long because the sun was definitely strong.  Holland America serves a BBQ lunch on the island so we took a short break to check out the buffet at the Food Pavillion.  Spent the last hour or so back on the beach in the water and on the hammocks we found nearby.  Hated to leave such nice weather, but last tender back to the ship was at 2:30pm.

Carribean Cruise – Day 6 - February 25, 2011

Today was our second day at sea.  Started the day at the gym in an attempt to at least work off some of the calories we would eat today.  We finally decided to wear our red T-shirts for John’s 70^th birthday.  He finally caught on when he saw four of us wearing them at breakfast!  We got a few family pictures of everyone in their shirts and lots of compliments.  After breakfast, we couldn’t resist an afternoon nap on the third floor deck chairs!  Unfortunately it started to rain a little so we couldn’t stay long. 

This afternoon, Joe and I participated in the 5K On Deck of the Cure Walk to support the Susan G. Komen Foundation.  Lots of people set out for 9 laps around the Promenade despite some rain.  Everyone got white t-shirts and pink bracelets to wear during the walk with juice and fruit at the finish line.  There were some serious walkers on board…I think we may have even got lapped!...

Carribean Cruise – Day 5 - February 24, 2011

Good thing we set our alarm for 6:30am this morning because we were already approaching St. Maarten when we got up!  Once again today we had the good fortune of watching the drive in from our port side balcony.  We figured out the breakfast system perfectly today by ordering omelets and juice from room service so we wouldn’t have to make several trips downstairs with the food and drinks.  Went up to the Lido quickly for pancakes, French toast and meat to bring back.  Then we could sit back and relax as we pulled in to St. Maarten.  Joe was especially fascinated by the dock procedure when we arrived.  We were one of six boats docked at the island today so we had to spin around and back into our spot. 

By 8am, we were tied up and ready to get off the ship.  Joe and I decided to try our luck and rent a car on the spot off the ship while the rest of the family took the water taxi to Phillipsburg.  I never expected renting a car to be an experience! Every company was trying to flag down customers and claim their cars to be most reliable.  After getting quotes of $90-$99 from Budget and Hertz, we settled on a $47 rental from Coastal (a local car company  Dave came along to check on us and asked if the car had A/C since it was so much cheaper. He got the response “Its 2011 Mon…every car has A/C”  ).  At first I was hesitant because their price was so much lower than the other companies. However, I think we made the right choice.  The staff were helpful and our small Hyundai was just right for a quick tour of the island....

Carribean Cruise – Day 4 - February 23, 2011

Our ship wasn’t due to arrive in San Juan until the afternoon so we started the day at the gym.  Got in a good workout to earn another breakfast buffet in the Lido.  As usual, we ate way too much!  About an hour and half before arriving in San Juan, Ian the travel director gave us a narrated tour of the harbor as we approached.  We decided to listen to it on our TV and look for points of interest out our balcony.  Like yesterday, we approached San Juan on the port side so we had a perfect view of Isla Verde, Contado, El Moro and Old San Juan on the ride in. 

Joe and I never thought we’d be returning to Puerto Rico a second time in four months! Today our ship arrived at 1pm giving us 7 hours onshore.  We decided to rent a minivan for the whole family to show them around.  Marisa and Dave were most interested in seeing the rainforest so we planned to drive out to El Yunque for a short hike.  One kink in the plans:  when we arrived at Hertz to get our rental car we were told it wasn’t ready, and that it probably wouldn’t be ready for 1.5-2 hours because the company overbooked.  We’ve rented a lot of cars around the world, but this has never happened.  Fortunately, the guy at Hertz said he would call another company to come pick us up and bring us to their office in Condado.  Sure enough, Charlie’s Car Rental came to the rescue and whisked us out of San Juan traffic in 15 minutes!...

Carribean Cruise – Day 4 - February 22, 2011

Our ship pulled into Grand Turk early this morning.  We lucked out and had the perfect view from our balcony.  Had breakfast delivered right to our room so we could eat it on the balcony overlooked the island.

By 7:45am, we were off the ship and in search of Grand Turk Diving Ship to pick up our rental bikes.  Took a few minutes to find it, but once we did, Chris at the shop couldn’t have been any nicer.  She had our bikes waiting for us along with water for the ride.  Although these bikes were nothing like ours at home, we still had a good time cruising around on our Huffy road bikes complete with baskets on the front and old school breaks that you push backwards to stop....