New Years 2012 – Day 8



A clock and water spigot in the main square



We awoke at 10:00am – I think that we needed the sleep. We were at the island of St. Kitts, a very little, but beautiful island.

Today we wanted to do some shopping and then work on our tan.

So, first we were off the ship into the shops that were built right along side the port. After that we went into the original town to go to a shop that we have found some great bargains before. Unfortunately, the shop didn’t yield any bargains for us this time.

We walked back to the ship and were eating lunch in Aqua Spa at 1:00pm.



A local fruit and vegetable market

Then it was time for a couple of hours of sun on the ship’s deck. We have been to the beaches here before and while they are beautiful, there was no sense in spending the money to take a cab when the ship would do just fine today.

Again, the tempteture was in the lower 80’s and simply gorgeous and those are the best words that we can describe the weather and the countries we have been to.

After resting, we watched the ship sail and then walked around. As we left port with another ship in front of us, we passed by the island of Montserrat which has an active volcano!

A cold wash cloth always there when we board

The show was before dinner tonight and was a very entertaining singing impressionist named Karen Grainger and she was quite good.

Dinner was again excellent. This restaurants food and service is the very best we have ever had on any cruise. The problem is that we enjoy eating in the main dining room and meeting a lot of people. But, all in all it is a great experience and we are eating and gambling with a fun couple.

After dinner, of course we all went to the casino and thankfully again we both did well.

A Princess ship with the volcano on Montserrat

Tomorrow is the first of our last two days at sea and then we will be home.

Night for now.

New Years 2012 – Day 7

St. Martens – one of our favorite islands.  It is ½ Dutch and ½ French. 

Heading out to the beach

We woke up to a hard rain storm, but by the time the ship was cleared for arrival, the rain had stopped.

We arrived on the Dutch side where most of the shopping is and spent a little time walking the streets and just looking.

Then we took a taxi to the French side for our favorite beach, Orient Beach.  We stayed there until 2:30pm and then took a taxi back to the ship.  We also talked to a couple from Pontiac, IL who we had met at the beach last year – what a small world.  The nice thing about this beach is that the sand is wonderful, the water is warm and also everyone on the beach is a couple staying there so it is a very adult beach.

We may have gotten a little too much sun – we will see how we are tomorrow.

We showered and rested (beaches are hard work!) and then went to dinner which once again was excellent.

Downtown

Then it was on to the casino where we did really well and called it a night at midnight.

We didn’t do a lot today, but it was a fun day, very relaxing.

Tomorrow is our last island, St. Kitts and we will do some shopping.

The start of Orient Beach - no camers allowed

Leaving Port with two other ships docked

    

New Years 2012 – Day 6

Barb and her scrafs!

Again we slept late after a late night in the casino. 

We worked on our tan from 10:00am until 12:30 when, while the sun was absolutely perfect, a big rain storm off to the side decided to dump on us.  We were close to the elevator so we didn’t get as soaked as the rest of the people and wow did people ever run for cover.

It was time anyway to get cleaned up and have lunch before arriving in San Juan. 



Ed's lunch in the Aqua Spa



We ate lunch this time in the Aqua Spa where the food is healthier.  It was nice for a change but probable not what we would eat every day.

We are on the side that passes by the famous El Moro fort so we sat on our deck watching the arrival at 2:30pm.

We didn’t have anything planned except to walk around, go into some shops of course and eat.

We ate at two different restaurants that are owned by the same family.  Our plan was to order a Mallorca sandwich which consist of Cuban bread, ham and cheese which is then toasted on a flat grill.  When the sandwich is ready, they take it off the grill and pour powered sugar all over it. 



El Moro Fort guarding the harbor

We must have mispronounced the name in the first restaurant because they brought us a flakey warm roll with powered sugar on it.  So we had desert first and we then left and when a block away to the other restaurant and made sure they understood what we wanted.  So, the pictures shows dessert first and then the real Mallorca sandwich next.

Then we bought a couple of purses for Barb, which she said she really, really needed, bought a Christmas ornament and then bought some Kahula to take on board.

Dinner tonight was at our usual time 8:30pm and it was again wonderful.  The quality of food, presentation and service is many times better than the main dinning room.

Then we headed for the casino as it opened just after we sailed from San Juan.  Both of us did just fine so it was another good night in the casino.

The Mallorca sandwich

Tomorrow St. Martens and the beach.

New Years 2012 – Day 5

Well after a really late night last night, we almost missed the morning. But, we were able to make it out on the deck by 11:00am. What a great way to start the New Year!!

Barb collecting her winnings from our Host

It is amazing how easy it is to sleep on a ship. The drapes keep out 99% of the light and you don’t hear anything where are cabin is located. We missed a big rain storm that we passed through about 9am.

We stayed on the deck in absolute perfect 78 degree weather until 1:00pm, ate lunch from the grill on the deck and then came back to the cabin to change.

2:00pm was the slot tournament and we didn’t want to miss it and it was a good thing because both of us qualified for the finals and Barb won it. Cash, a first-place trophy and a shirt were her winnings

One of the pools

Then we walked around and shopped at the gift shop for our usual souvenirs and took some pictures of the ship.

Tonight is our first formal night so we sat downstairs and watched people as they went to the first shift for dinner. Then it was time for us to get ready and meet Jeff and Vera for dinner in the Blu restaurant.

After a great dinner, we all went directly to the casino because we were talking so long at dinner we missed the show in the lounge!

Then it was to the casino where all four of us did really well. Barb played slots and is now ahead for the trip, yes it is only the second day, but we are both ahead.

Our first formal night

Ed, Jeff and Vera played together at a table for two hours and all came out well ahead for the night and the cruise.

It is 1:30am and time for bed. Tomorrow in the afternoon we arrive in San Juan for our first island stop.

Night from the sea.

New Years 2012 – Day 4

Packed and ready to go to the ship

Our time on Miami Beach is over and it is time for our first day on the ship.

We left the hotel at 9:30am and made the drive down to the airport to turn in the rental car and take their shuttle to the ship. Everything went very smoothly and we were on board the ship at 11:00am.

We dropped everything off in the cabin as they were still getting it ready and went up on deck to eat.

Then we went back to the cabin, changed into our swimming suits and sat out on the deck for a couple of hours. It was 79degrees and simply beautiful out.

Ships leaving the harbor ahead of us

After that, our cabin was ready and our bags had been delivered so we unpacked and got ready to go to the welcome aboard cocktail party given by the management of the casino,

The neat thing was that a lot of the casino staff from the Manager and Host on down we had met on previous cruses so it was nice talking to them and nice that they knew us.

We went to the opening show, which wasn’t great.

Then we walked about and finally headed for dinner in the restaurant. We are in the Aqua Class of staterooms so there is a separate restaurant called Blu that is just for the 132 guests in these cabins. It is very elegant and the service and food was outstanding.

A private island as we depart

We are eating with Vera and Jeff from Long Island who we met on the last cruise.

After dinner we went to the casino and played blackjack until we realized that it was after 2 and the time moves ahead one hour tonight.

New Years Eve was neat in that they closed the casino for a brief time while everyone celebrated.

Time for bed – night

Happy New Year – 2012 is going to be a great year.

New Years – 2012 – Day 3

We slept quite late, what a wonderful way to start our last full day on Miami Beach.

The entrance to Haulover Beach

Our first stop for the day was the beautiful Haulover Beach – one of our favorite beaches.

The weather was a perfect 78 degrees, no clouds and a light breeze. We stayed on the beach until 2:30pm and then headed back to the hotel to clean up and change for the evening.

We headed down to the Miami waterfront to Bayside Village, which is an entertainment, food and shopping area right on the waterfront. After staying there for a couple of hours we headed out to the far west side of Miami where there was supposed to be a weekly Cuban food festival. After driving for about ½ hour, we found out that they were not holding it this weekend, probably because of the holiday.


So we headed back towards the hotel, first stopping at a wonderful Cuban place for dinner. Basically we were the only English speaking people in the place. One person spoke some English and she was able to give us an idea of the food selection.

We made it back to the hotel by 10 and packed for the trip to the ship tomorrow.

Night for now – tomorrow the Celebrity Eclipse and 7 days sailing.

Bayside Villlage



Where we had dinner



New Years – 2012 – Day 2

Ready to go out for the day

We slept late today as we are both still feeling the effects of a cold. Then it was off with the top down in the car to do some shopping. We did not go to the beach because it was a little cloudy and we thought it would be better for us.

The day was basically shopping, lunch and some more shopping, driving around looking at sights and we had fun.

Then it was back to the room to clean up and get ready for dinner.

On our way to dinner, we spent a couple of hours driving down the streets of the really, really wealthy who have homes on Miami Beach – amazing homes.

Part of the main courses at dinner

Tonight we met our friends from our last cruise, Jeff and Vera who will also be on this cruise. We met them at their hotel on the beach for drinks and then piled everyone into our car to go to the restaurant.

At the restaurant, wee also met their friends and business partner from New York Hal and Lynore who now live in Boca Raton. We went to a famous restaurant on south beach, Joe’s Stone Crabs. This is not the chain Joes Crab shack; this is a Miami institution having been open for 91 years. It serves 2,000 diners on a busy night and tonight was one of those nights. It is huge and seats 500 people.

They do not take reservations and when we got there at 8pm, the wait was two hours; however, Hal knew someone and we were able to get right in. We had stone crabs, crab cakes, artichoke hearts, key lime pie and a few other items that we all shared. When we left at 10:30pm, there was still a big line to be seated.

After dropping Joe and Vera off at their hotel, we headed up the beach to our hotel and crashed for the evening.

Tomorrow the beach.