Spring (Pat)!!

[askomsky]

WOW!!! What a way to start off the trip!! Sounds like it was a lot of work. Can't wait to hear about the good stuff! lol

[spring]

WOW!!! What a way to start off the trip!! Sounds like it was a lot of work. Can't wait to hear about the good stuff! lol

Yeah, but I always like to say that a bad day on vacation is better than a good day at work!

Sunday, March 2nd on the Carnival Destiny.

I have been on many cruises, but not on Carnival in around 11 or 12 years. I remember Carnival ships as being glitzy, almost gaudy. The Destiny is around 13 years old, but refurbished around a 1 year ago. I found the decor to be quite attractive, not at all gaudy. Our stateroom was larger than those of other ships we've been on, complete with a leather couch! The bed was quite comfortable, probably as comfortable as any 4 star hotel's bed. The room and the entire ship was immaculate. The balcony was small, but about the same size as any other we've had.

Walking around the ship, I was surprised that there were around 3500 guests onboard. I rarely had lines to wait in, even at the buffet. The Destiny is a bit wider than most ships, so it has more space to disperse the people to.

After unpacking all our luggage and checking out the ship, it was time for dinner. We had early seating as NaNa is used to eating early. Since this trip was all about her 80th birthday, we aimed to please!

Our waiter, Ernesto, was on his first cruise since his vacation home. He had been with Carnival Cruiseline for 14 years! I think the Destiny was all new to him, but he didn't miss a beat. He was one of the funniest waiters we've had in a long time! Our back waiter was a young lady named Herlina. As the cruise progressed, we found out she was a talented dancer.

Anyway, back at dinner, our first night's dinner was good, ending with my favorite dessert, creme brulee! It was an awesome start to what I hoped would be a great cruise. After dinner, we went to see a show in the Palladium Lounge, a very large auditorium with stadium seating in the balcony. There were only a few lousy seats to be had. Luckily, we had great ones. The first night's act was a singer who was originally in "The Platters." He put on a great show! He had us all singing with him. Shortly after the show, the ship sailed. We chose to watch San Juan glide away from our balcony, rather than join the throngs of people on the top deck. As we were standing there, I saw a shooting star. I figured it was a good omen of a great cruise to come!

Next installment: St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands

[ligrumpygirl]

OHHH The Destiny! I love that boat! I have been on it twice!

St. Thomas...my favorite island...can't wait to hear!

[spring]

Monday, March 3rd:

We woke up to a bright, warm sunny day. We all went to the breakfast buffet, then went back to my balcony to watch our arrival into St. Thomas. Celebrity's Constellation was already in port, and Royal Caribbean's Explorer of the Sea docked right after us at Havensight Terminal. Since Puerto Rico is a US territory, we didn't have the elongated US customs and clearance to go through. We got off the ship within 15 minutes of it docking and headed to the line of taxis right off the pier. I wanted NaNa to have a tour of the island. Just as we got to the taxis, it started to rain. One of the taxi drivers pointed to an open sided taxi (it can easily fit 15 people or more) to get into for the island tour. We sat there for about 1/2 hour as the driver negotiated with other people. The rain let up prior to us leaving, and it turned out to be a gorgeous day.

As we got started, we soon found out that fellow passengers in the taxi wanted to just go into town or the beach. The taxi driver let off 4 people in Charlotte Amalie, then headed out to Magen's Bay beach to let off 2 others. At this point, just NaNa and I were left in the taxi. The driver came around and said it wouldn't be fair to take us on a tour in "this weather" (now beautiful!), so he'd drop us back off at the ship. We both knew he didn't have enough passengers to do the tour, but my Mom did get to see quite a big of the island just dropping people off. NaNa insisted on giving him a tip, but luckily, the driver didn't ask for payment, nor did I offer.

We then shopped around Havensight pier prior to catching another taxi into town. Charlotte Amalie was quite crowded with so many cruise ships in. After walking around for a while, we found a post office to mail off a couple of postcards. NaNa then proceeded to hit every tacky souvenir shop in town! Whenever I travel with her, she can never pass by a souvenir shop. (On one trip with her in Amsterdam, we were walking to a museum across town. Unbeknowst to her, our route took us right through the redlight district. It was 10:30 in the morning, so it was safe at that time. As we were walking, she spotted a "souvenir" shop and badgered me to go in it. I could clearly see that it was a head shop, but couldn't tell her or she'd be upset with being in the redlight district. It took a lot of convincing to bypass that shop. Only after we came home, and after she was bragging to my siblings that we never went near the redlight district, did I tell her. She was horrified!)

Anyway, after NaNa hit practically every souvenir shop in town and I ran into Del Sol to get some color-changing products for my granddaughters, we caught another taxi back to the pier. We went back to the ship for a quick lunch, then headed back out to the shops at the pier. NaNa wanted a thin gold chain to wear. We went to several stores. Each time they gave her a price, she started to pull out her money. I pulled her out of the stores and explained that you had to haggle the prices. Then I found a store I knew the reputation of, which also happened to be not crowded, and negotiated for a gold chain she fell in love with. NaNa was quite pleased with her purchase, but still had some more souvenir stores she had missed. Her list of people she needed to buy for kept growing as she found more souvenir stores.

We went back to the ship and decided to take a nap before getting cleaned up for dinner. It's amazing how the heat will sap the energy out of you when you're not used to it!

Dinner was again fun with Ernesto and Herlina. I am not what you would call a gourmand, but I was not impressed with the food on the ship at all. It was probably the biggest drawback I saw. I was so unimpressed with the food that I actually lost a pound on this cruise! That's a first for me. I usually gain about 3 pounds each cruise, and have never lost weight before. Other than walking around a lot, I didn't exercise, either. However, dinner was fun anyway, ending with a big Conga Line around the dining room, including 80 year old NaNa!

After dinner we hit the casino. Of course NaNa won a little (she is soooooo lucky), and I lost the little I put in the slot machines. Then it was off to the show.....a comedian, who was an absolute riot! My sides ached from laughing so hard! After the show, we were off again, checking out the different things going on simultaneously. I'll say one thing for Carnival....they have almost non-stop entertainment. You can do as much or as little as you want.

Next Installment: Dominica

[missymouse]

Hi, gang! Today we are beautiful St. Kitts. It's actually a first for me. It's warm, but has a lovely breeze. The houses are very colorful and I'm impressed by the cleanliness of the town. Yes, I miss logging on everyday to visit with all my SR friends. However, I'm toasting you every night. Will be back in a couple days. I guess I'll have a lot of catching up to do. Talk to all of you soon.

We went to St. Kitts for our honeymoon. Did you see the sleeping policemen when you were there? Can't wait to hear more of your impressions of the island and what you may have seen.

[spring]

We went to St. Kitts for our honeymoon. Did you see the sleeping policemen when you were there? Can't wait to hear more of your impressions of the island and what you may have seen.

No, we didn't see any sleeping policemen.......but what a beautiful place!

[missymouse]

When we were there we kept seeing road signs that said "Sleeping Policeman ahead". We couldn't figure it out. Finally we took a tour of the island and our guide informed us that a "sleeping policeman" was what they call speed bumps here in the U.S. Somewhere I have a picture of the sign.

[spring]

Tuesday, March 4th: Dominica

We sailed all night from St. Thomas and pulled into Dominica around 10AM. Dominica is very mountainous, from volcanoes, I think, and boasts 365 rivers. The last time we were in Dominica, we went river tubing and had an awesome time. This time, with NaNa in tow, we thought we'd get a limited taxi tour. She's not interested in rainforests, and that's where the main attractions are: Trafalgar Falls and the Emerald Pool. We moseyed into the small town full of street vendors and taxi drivers holding island maps. No matter which taxi driver we talked to, we couldn't get anything except their "stock" tour without paying exorbitant prices. We all just decided to walk around and poke our noses into the vendor's carts. This all lasted around an hour as their were two more cruise ships in and the area was small. I hate crowds. We did manage to purchase a couple of postcards and found a Post Office to mail them. NaNa wasn't too impressed with the town, so we got back on the ship, had lunch, checked out some programs on the ship, then took a quick nap. After dinner, we went to the show to see the Carnival Destiny's singers and dancers. They were great! We poked around in the casino and on deck for a while after, then turned in early for our big day in our next port.

Next Installment: Barbados and the singing taxi driver

[lanny76]

Thanks for this installment about your trip - it was interesting. Too bad the tours were so pricey. Can't wait to see the next installment!

[spring]

Wednesday, March 5th - Barbados at last!

I have to start this by saying that Barbados is one of my favorite caribbean islands. This was my 3rd visit, so I was knew the "ropes" so to speak.

I knew that we'd have to take a tour because Barbados is so beautiful. I was last there in November and we had a horrible tour with a horrible taxi driver. I was determined not to let that happen again.

Our ship docked early in the morning. Some off-brand cruise ship was already there, but we got the "choice" dock with the shortest walk to the terminal. Within a couple of hours, three more cruise ships joined us in port, including the Queen Mary 2.

We took off for the taxi area and the first one we came upon literally badgered me. I was disgusted and decided to move as far away from him as possible. Way near the end of taxis we were greeted by a soft driver who was in awe that we brought NaNa with us to the island. He offered us the same deal as the other driver, but he was well spoken and not at all intimidating. We got into his small minivan and drove away. First we were taken along the West Coast of Barbados, the Caribbean side. He pointed out different hotels and beaches, including one area where you could actually swim side by side with sea turtles in the wild. As we drove we learned a lot about the taxi driver. Apparently, he lives 6 months a year on the island taking care of his mother, then the other 6 months in Tennessee with his wife (a nurse). When in Tennessee, he is a drummer in a band. He proceeded to serenade us periodically throughout the drive. Then he headed inland to the top of a mountain with a view of the coast - gorgeous! NaNa was impressed there was a gift shop there, so you know where she went! Behind the gift shop were a pair of green monkeys entertaining a small crowd.
They were a lot of fun to watch. We then piled into the van and drove to the East Coast (the Atlantic Ocean side) to view incredible beaches. There were signs posted in many places about no swimming due to bad riptides. You could see the power in the surf! There were also many beautiful parks where the locals take a picnic lunch. As we were driving by one of these parks, a green monkey ran right across the road about 15 feet in front of the van. The driver told us you really have to watch out for the monkeys when you eat outdoors because they will steal your food.

Our tour ended after 2 1/2 hours, probably the ideal amount of time to sightsee for all of us. Anything longer than that, we start to get antsy.

After the tour, we went into the terminal building where there are stores and many vendor stalls. I picked up two more postcards and mailed them right there at the postoffice. Very convenient! With all the ships in port, the terminal building was crowded. We couldn't walk any faster than all the people in front of us. All of a sudden, NaNa got banged from behind by an aggressive man pushing a lady in a wheelchair. She was hit hard enough in the heels to get a bruise later on. Instead of an apology, the lady in the wheelchair said, "You just keep getting in our way." Oh by the way, they were on the Queen Mary 2 (big money). I told both of them they were rude and headed NaNa well away from them on the other side of a stall. A couple of minutes later, along comes this rude couple again and I swear they were heading right for NaNa. I stopped and said, "Don't even try it again." I could be brave because DH was a few feet behind them and closely watching what they were doing. I got a scowl, but they veered off on another course and left us alone.

We got back on the ship for lunch (can't miss a meal!) then headed back out to the terminal to shop for some souvenirs. The ship pulled out of port at around 5PM, so we waved bye bye to Barbados and the wonderful day spent there.

There was a dance by the table stewards at dinner, and my DH joined them in the dance. NaNa couldn't stop laughing, nor could anyone else at the surrounding tables.

We decided to get a portrait done of NaNa, so we set out looking for just the right photographer. NaNa hates to have her picture taking. If they take it from a distance, her legs are too fat. If it's taken close-up, her wrinkles show. SHEEEESH! Needless to say, she refused to buy any of her pictures, nor were we allowed to purchase any of her.

Then it was back to the casino. NaNa was feeling lucky again and had a couple of her favorite machines to try. I lost my $20 once again, and even NaNa had no luck. The show was a juggler, and we decided to skip it and check out the action in other parts of the ship. It was the end of a good day!

Next Installment: Antigua