July 1, 2011 – Day 1

The bedroom area

The view from our room

 Boston – Both of us have read about the city but neither of us have been there so it was this years Fourth of July trip.

We left Illinois under a heat advisory and we arrived in Boston to 70 degree, wonderful weather.

We checked into the Renaissance by Marriott and it is a beautiful hotel. It is the first time we have stayed at a Renaissance, and won’t be the last. Very upscale and we have a room that is 365 sq ft with a great view of downtown and the harbor.



Lunch

For lunch we went to a local restaurant/wholesale fish market call Yankee Lobster and ate ourselves silly. We had a lobster roll, fries, cold slaw and 21 cold boiled shrimp.

After lunch, we walked along the dock area by our hotel seeing what was there – a lot of docks, fishing boats restraurants and water!



Then we took the subway to Boston Commons. We visited a very old church and then walked about 20 minutes through that area to Trinity Church were we met our guide from the Boston Society of Architects for a 5:30pm tour of the sites and homes of Beacon Hill – a very exclusive area of almost all expensive row houses. It was a 90 minute tour and a lot of fun. In the entire area of Beacon Hill, the street lights are the old fashioned gas light.


Beacon Hill house

After the tour, we took a cab back to the hotel and went to a local restaurant on the dock of the major fish market called “No Name Restaurant” which opened there in 1917.

Then back to the hotel were Barb has crashed already. Se is out like a light and really needs her sleep as she has been working virtually day and night since Bloomington Gold getting the house ready after the kitchen remodeling.

I am tired also, so good night from Boston

Day 10

Our only day at sea without visiting any island was today and it was very hectic, but enjoyable. 

Going out for our last evening



First we laid out in the sun for 2 ½ hours and may have come close to burning – we’ll see how we feel when we wake up.

The massive celebration buffet was today from 10am – 1pm so we went there at noon for a huge lunch. This had to be one of the biggest and best brunches we have every experienced.

Then it was onto the Black Jack tournament where Ed came in third and won his entry fees back plus a little more.

Then we both played in the slot tournament but neither of us won. We then picked up the last of our pictures that the staff had taken and headed up to the room and packed.



Dinner with our new friends

Then it was a wonderful but sad farewell dinner, the show and then to the casino to play a little and say goodbye to some really good friends that we had made.

This casino staff is, no question, the best of any casino staff we have every sailed with. We left the casino and some old and new friends at 12:30am and finished packing for tomorrow.  Our Host Andrea is amazing and this was the second time we have sailed with her.  Oana, the Casino Manager led a great staff and we had a wonderful time.

Our dinner partners, Bob and Victoria (on the left) and Robert and Charlotte were really great fun.  We laughted, drank wine, ate good food and shared stories every night.  We could not asked for a better table.  Hopefully we will meet again and it not, we have memories that will last a lifetime.

Saturday we will leave the ship at about 9am and go to the Marriott for the day and our plane departs San Juan at 5:30pm and arrives in Bloomington at 11:00pm.



Oana, the Casino Manager and our Host Andrea

It was a great spring trip and thanks to everyone at home and at work for our being able to go on this trip.





Day 9

Part of the falls

And then there was Tobago, the last island to visit on our cruise. Trinidad and Tobago are linked together as a Federation and we were in Tobago, which is the smaller of the two islands.  It is the most fought-over settlement in the Caribbean and there are some interesting forts on the island.

Tobago also has a traditional rain forest and the island is very volcanic in nature with very steep mountains but the beaches are wonderful fine white sand.

We walked off the ship early and found a delightful young man with his own car to take us around the island and to several places we wanted to see.



In the plantation house

We started out by visiting Fort George, an 18th century fortification – a huge fort guarding the original main harbor.

On the way to the rain forest, we stopped a man’s home who had beautiful gardens, lots of wildlife and a wonderful restored house.

Then it was a one hour drive through the country-side to see Argyle Falls – a 600’ series of falls coming down the mountain. We had to walk about ½ hour through the rain forest to get to the falls, but it was well worth it.

After the tour of the falls, we stopped at the only remaining plantation house on the island and had a tour by the caretaker of the grounds. It is also a bed and breakfast and had amazing accommodations. We also had a very enlighting discussion from the caretaker about slaves and slave owners.

Pigeon Point Beach

Then it was onto Pigeon Point Beach, a private beach resort with all kinds of services and we spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach until our guide drove us back to the ship.

At 5pm we left port and headed north to Puerto Rico.

Tonight is our second formal night and everyone looked great in their formal wear.

The show and casino were also great and it is 2:30 am and time to pick our pictures, post it and go to bed.

Ready for formal night

Tomorrow is our last day and a sea day.

Night for now.

Day 8

Well we are getting farther and farther south and today arrived at Grenada. Grenada is known as the spice island and they primarily produce vast quantities of cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg and other spices. Grenada is also volcanic in origin and has lush green mountains and spectacular white sand beaches.

At the falls

It is only 21 miles long and 12 miles at it widest and has a population of only 100,000 with virtually no crime.

We started the day off the ship at the shops that were built for the cruise ships right at the end of the pier. Then when we went into the city, we hired a private guide to take us on a tour of the country.

We stopped at a very old fort and then went up into the rain forest to view a very beautiful waterfall. Along the way, our guide stopped and explained different types of plants to us – it was quite an education.

The people on the island live a very long life due to the fact that they eat mostly locally grown fruit and vegetables and fish that have been caught from the seas around the island.



The ship over shadows the town



The tour ended at a beautiful beach with great white sand; however for the next two hours, the sun hardly was out; but, we had fun. That is two days in a row when we went to the beach the sun was behind clouds – no good for tanning!!

Then we were picked up and taken back to the pier where we went into town and shopped at the local market for a little bit.

The show was before dinner this time and the musician was a piano player by the name of Antonio Salci and wow was he good. He was backed by a 7 piece orca straw and they put on quite a show.

Making Barb a new bowl

Then it was onto dinner for another great dinner and we spent most of the night talking about how each of us had met and we really laughed a lot. Then it was the casino and finally to bed. We don’t get a lot of sleep on the cruise but it sure is fun.  We are not doing as well as we would like in the casino, but it is a free cruise so that is not too bad, hopefully the next couple of days will bring good news from the casino.

Tomorrow will be Tobago, our last stop before heading back to San Juan.

Day 7



Barb in the first sulphur pool

 We docked at Roseau, population 14,500, the capital city of Dominica. What a delightful little island. The island is extreme in their protection of their environment. There are no major hotel chains on the island and very few hotels of any kind and plan to keep it that way.

We docked right at the base of the city and the tempteture was again in the 80’s. Dominica is very mountainous and they average 360 inches of rain in the mountains and 65 inches or rain along the coast so needless to say, it is a very lush island.



Lunch on the beach

We took a cab to one of the most famous spots on the island and it is called Screw’s Sulphur Spa and what a place to visit. Screw is the name of the man who owns it and it is a series of natural mineral pools in the middle of rainforest vegetation. It is not only very relaxing and therapeutic, but also very beautiful. The pools are fed by a Sulphur Spring and also by the run off on the mountains.

For $10 each, you have one hour to soak in their very, very hot sulphur spring pools. There are several of them all connected together and mountain water is mixed in to lower the tempeture in some of the pools.

The black sand beach

Then there also is a very cold pool for you to soak in at the end and this is totally fed by the mountain streams.

Our driver then took us to beautiful beach, which was about 30 minutes up the coast. They have very few beaches in Dominica and the neat thing is that they are black sand, because of the volcanoes!

We had a wonderful meal on the beach and it was, no question, the finest meal that we have every had on any beach. The presentation of the skewered meat and the bread fruit was what you would expect at a fine restaurant, not a beach restaurant. And, the cost was only $8, including two sodas.

Then it was back to the town to watch their annual Carnival parade which was crazy. They start drinking at the beginning of the parade and the party goes into the night. Too bad we had to leave. Dinner was excellent once again and good fun with our newest friends.



Carnival



The show was a celebration of award winning music from Hollywood and Broadway musicals and they did a great job.

Then to the casino where the results weren’t as good as we would have liked but we had fun.

Tomorrow Grenada

Day 6



The living room of the plantation

We docked at 8am at St. Kitts, a beautiful island of 50,000 very friendly people. St. Kitts is a volcanic island with lots of small dormant volcanoes.


We took a taxi plantation home and grounds of a local couple. He was from Britain and she was a Crib Indian from St. Kitts and it is her family home that we visited.

After that visit, we took the taxi to the south part of the island to the St. Kitts Marriott Resort and spent the afternoon on their beach. Lunch was at their restaurant and we ordered a grilled sandwich that consisted of sweet bread, sliced pork, a white cheese and pineapple, a really great sandwich.


The beach at the Marriott

We then took a taxi to the center of the city away from the tourist area and found a great store where Barb bought a purse and some clothes and Ed bought some Batik shirts that are made on the island. Did we need them – no, but we are on vacation!!


We then went back to the ship and relaxed until it was time to go out. The show this time was before dinner and the act was a comedian who was funny but just ok.

After the show, we joined our new tablemates for dinner. We have a great table as all three couples bring something different to the table. Amazingly, we ran into both couples on the island while we were wandering around the city.

A local drink stand

Then it was onto the casino to close out the evening and start the next day. We have been averaging 5 hours of sleep each night – vacations are fun!!

Tomorrow Dominica



A fun new outfit

Day 5


Well we are on our way and overnight arrived at St. Croix, the largest island of the United States Virgin Islands. While St. Thomas is the jewelry center and the center of the hustle and bustle of the Virgin Islands, St. Croix is the largest island but the most laid back.


Our Ship

The people of the island are very, very friendly and they take a lot of pride in their island. There is a lot of Danish influence and also a lot of Americans who are now permanent residence on the island.

The town is very small and we shopped for a couple of hours when we first got off the boat.

Then we rented a street-legal 4 passenger golf cart and took it on a tour around the city. Then we went both north and south from the center of the city along the ocean. It was a lot of fun and Barb was Ed’s lookout as he had to drive on the left side of the road, yet the cars controls are on the same side of the car as in the US!!!



The solar "car" we rented

Then we went back to the ship and had lunch, changed into our swimsuits and back off the ship to catch a shuttle to the #1 beach, Rainbow Beach. It is located a few miles north of the cruise dock. We stayed there a couple of hours and it was a beautiful beach. Again, the sun is soooo hot that we still could not put straight oil on. Maybe tomorrow.
Then it was back to the ship to relax a little and then get ready for our first formal night.

We went down early to watch the people walk in for the first seating for dinner and then got dressed ourselves.

Formal nights are always fun – people seem to be on their best behavior when they are dressed up. When we got to our table the other two couples were not there so we went to the dining room manager and he moved a couple that we had met at the dance floor from New York to our table as they were seated along. Then he moved another couple from England to our table and we had a full table and a fun evening. 

Barb and our casino host



The show was all about Broadway musicals and it was really good. The cast is one of the best we have seen.



Then it was to the casino to play for a little bit and on to bed.

Tomorrow St. Kits.