Thursday, January 25, 2018

We Be Cruising, Literally

December 3 – 10, 2017

When I last wrote I indicated we would be doing a first. Well that was taking a cruise. In all of our adventures a cruise is one thing we had not done. So the Sand T of SIT went on a seven night cruise leaving from Port Canaveral.
 That's a Big Ship


Leaving Port Canaveral


We were able to go with some friends, Frank and Linda, who have been on more cruises than I have fingers and toes so we felt good about tagging along with the pros.

We had three stops along the way and disembarked at each one. We visited St. Thomas where Steve and I had actually been before. We didn’t stay off the boat long although we managed to go back to a restaurant we had been to back in 2012. It was nice to see they were still around after the hurricanes.
St. Thomas Awaits
 Ahhh
Hanging Out
I Am Pretty
Tickles is Still in Business

Our second stop was San Juan Puerto Rico. Frank and Linda had not been there before so they enjoyed wandering around old town as much as we did. We went to the Fort which is part of the National Park Service. We enjoyed reading about why would they put something like this on the island and it was wanted by European nations. It just happened to be in the perfect location for ship travel. The Spanish built the fortifications on the island. They have done a great job preserving much of the wall that once surrounded the entire island.
 Linda and Frank
 The Cistern
 The View
 Hard Bunks
 Protection from Everything
 Watch Tower
 The City


You can see damage from hurricane Maria but that didn’t dampen the spirits of the locals. We wandered around as long as time permitted and would have enjoyed staying there much longer.
Watching Over
Damage Remains
 
Parks Nearby

Cobblestone
Ready for Christmas
Friends
Color and Class
Along the bay
The Pet of Choice
 Blended Fort
Part of the Wall
So Long San Juan
Leaving the island
 Gives you perspective
Our next stop was Labadee Haiti. The part of the island we spent the day on is owned by Royal Caribbean. They have done a nice job in creating a relaxing and fun place to spend a day at the beach. You can even go zip lining here but unfortunately the road was washed out so we didn’t get a chance to zip over the Atlantic!

 Beach Fun

Just Wandering
 Colorful
 The Island
 Native Dancers Perform
 Peaceful
Sunset as We Leave


It was amazing what the ship does have to offer. For newbies like us it was quite impressive. You think you are in a mall that has a lot of restaurants to pick from, a theatre for shows, casino, and of course several pools. Our time on the ship was spent mostly reading, wandering, and well what else eating!  We did get to a few of their shows which were great including Cats. Needless to say if you choose to be busy 24 hours a day you certainly can.

 Mashed Potatoes Anyone?
 Just one of the kitchens on the ship
 They Really Don't Drive this around
 Ginger Bread Houses Galore
One of the Pools
 
Theatre

Guess Who
 The Promenade
 Christmas

Central Park is Below


Who knows if we will do this again but it was a blast and now we can add a couple more places to our list of where we have been.


As always more to come from SIT!

1 comment:

  1. Wow, neat photos and what a cruise! Did you get my previous message about who I am? I am Debbie Bumstead, Steve's second cousin. Scott sent me here.

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