October 2018 – Days 1 - 4

Monday – October 22, 2018

A perfect time for a trip as our summer had been really, really hectic with the most car events we have ever attended and also produced and 2019 is shaping up to also be a big year.

The 6am flights were really hard, getting up so early, so this time our flight was at 11:42am giving us lots of time in the morning to get ready to go.

The flight was perfect and we arrived in Miami at 6:00pm.  We took the moving walkways over to the Dollar Rental Company and they upgraded us from a compact car to a full size.  We asked to have one with GPS and they tried 3 different cars before finding a Malibu, just like ours that had a gps that worked.

Off we went for the 40 minute drive to the hotel, the Residence Inn Miami Beach Sunny Isle Beach  This was a new Marriott that we saw being build last year and it is in a perfect location, being only 5 minutes away from our favorite beach, Haulover Beach.

They upgraded out room to the 13^th floor looking out on Collins Ave and the Atlantic Ocean across the street.  It is a beautiful hotel.

For dinner, we walked right next door to a Chinese restaurant that the hotel manager had recommended and it was very good. 

We walked around a little, but being tired from the trip, it was time to go to bed.  It was a good travel day and very uneventful – the way a travel day should be.

On Tuesday we awoke to a wonderful day at 75 degrees.  We first drove to a shopping area and bought Kahula and Pepsi to take on the cruise and then we went to a deli for lunch before heading to the beach.

We spent 3 hours on the beach in perfect weather with the temperature getting up to 85 degrees.  The sun was so hot, we started out with #4 lotion and it was a good thing we did as by the time we left the beach, parts of us were just starting to get too much sun.

The area we are in, Sunny Isle Beach is a very expensive area filled with big condo buildings, include two Trump buildings and with lots and lots of little shops and restaurants.

We ate at a Peruvian restaurant called EL Tayta and the food was wonderful.  After that meal we walked a little and then had a crepe -  little too much food for the evening, but it was just fun!!

Then it was back to the hotel for sleep.

On Wednesday we go up and let the room at 11am and went to one of the little restaurants we had found and had a great Cuban lunch of roast pork, rice and beans and plantains.

Then of course we went to the beach.  We spent 3 hours on the beach before going back to the hotel to clean up for the evening.

We had found a South Beach Food Tour on-line and we drove to South Beach to join our tour at 5pm.  There were 4 other people on the tour and it was the best food tour that we have ever been on.  It was also a local South Beach Art Deco Tour and our guide was very knowledgeable.  For the 2 ½ hour walking tour, we ate at 5 different restaurants and has some wonderful food consisting of many different countries.  On of the restraurants we went to was Gloria Estefan's right on Ocean Drive - wow was it beautiful!!

After the tour, we drove back to our hotel and walked around for a bit before going to sleep.

On Thursday, again we woke up to another beautiful day.  As had been the custom for the last couple of day, Ed got up first and went to have breakfast while Barb slept in for a little bit.  Then we got ready and went out at 11am for lunch at a neat little restraurant that specialized in Argentine foor and then headed to Haulover Beach for another afternoon in the sun.  

After the beach, cleaning up and changing, we drove to central Miami to the Wynwood distinct to one of the largest open-air street art collections in the world.  It was a fun night walking the area and we ate at a Peruvian restaurant and the food was wonderful.

Then it was back to the hotel to pack for the morning as we are boarding the Celebrity Equinox for a 10 night Southern Caribbean cruise.

We had perfect sun, a great hotel and wonderful food during our stay in Sunny Isle Beach.

We are meeting friends from Washington DC who we have cruised with before, Barb and Tim Freeman and another couple who are friends of theirs.  Barb and Tim are fun and this will give us a great blackjack table in the casino!!

Our trip will take us to Grand Cayman, Aruba, Curco, Bonaire and Key West with 4 days just at sea so it should be a very fun, relaxing trip.

Photos from the first 4 days.

Dinner - our fist night

Breakfast

The Pool Deck

The view from our  room

Lunch on Tuesday

Lunch on Tuesday

Dinner on Tuesday

Ed;s snack

Moon over Miami

A late night Margarita

Food Tour 1

Food Tour 2

Food tour 3

Gloria Estefan's restaurant

Eating at Gloria Estefan's restaurant

Pastry stop

Amazing bread from the pastry shop

Barb loves the bread

Appetizer - Chevich

Red Snapper

Flan

Some of the street art in the Wynwood section of Miami

February – 2018 – Day 11

It comes up so quickly – and here it is the last day of our cruise.

Ed was up at 7:15am to reserve our deck chairs and to his surprise, so were a lot of other people. 

 Looked like some did not realize that we set the clocks back last night!  Any, we had a perfect location to enjoy the sun for the morning.

Ed went to the gym first for his ½ hour of biking and Barb got ready and we were in the sun by 9am to enjoy the morning.

We came in at 12:30pm and had lunch then went back to the room to clean up and go to the casino.

Ed had been invited to a $500 blackjack tournament and came very, very close to winning, but came in third.

After that we went to the show, which was a group of 5 guys singing British rock and they were way too loud and we didn’t think very good

.

Then we met Brian and Sandi and went to the restaurant Murano, a specialty restaurant as guest of the casino and it was a great meal – maybe the best of the trip.

The comedian who was so good a couple of days ago was having a late-night adult show, so we went to it.  His earlier show was better but this one was still funny

Then it was time to say good bye to Brian and Sandi – they have been wonderful to travel with and we hope we can do it again.

Next was our final trip to the casino where Barb came out even and Ed had a huge win.  This is proably our best casino trip ever!!

We finally left the casino at 1:0015am and came back to the room to finish everything and get a few hours sleep.

Tomorrow we will go to the Fort Lauderdale Marriott that we stayed at a week ago and then take the 5:00pm flight to Atlanta and then the flight to Bloomington arriving about 10:10pm.

Night from the Ocean somewhere close to Fort Lauderdale and see everyone next week. 

It has been a wonderful trip.

Hugs to all

Mom and Ed

The main pool deck at Noon

Relaxing on the upper level with a snack before lunch

Ready for the evening

The Casino Staff, Stephanie, Casino Manager and Angle, Casino Host

February – 2018 – Day 10

How can this not be a wonderful cruise when you wake up whenever you want to, the weather is 78, almost no clouds, a light breeze and someone else makes you breakfast.

Then someone else comes in and cleans your room while you are out on the top deck in the sun, working on your tan.  We are truly blessed and are also blessed to have a wonderful family!!

At 12:30pm, we came in from the sun and went to the back of the ship and sat outside while eating lunch.

Then we came inside and cleaned up as we had a 2:00pm slot tournament and a 3:00pm blackjack tournament, each with a $500 prize fund for only a $20 entry fee for each person in each event.

Neither of us won the slot tournament and Barb played in her second blackjack tournament, actually her second blackjack game ever.  She ended up after two rounds leading but in the end, someone beat her out.  Ed didn’t come close!!

Then we both played a short session and neither won.

We went to the food area and brought back snacks to the room and then got ready for the evening.

Of course, next was our typical nights pattern as we went to a good show, a production number by the casts, then to dinner which was good and finally to the casino.

At the casino, Barb came out even and Ed won a little.

Tomorrow is our last day – sad but we are ready to be home.

Night for now.

Going out for the day

Ready for dinner, etc.

Brian and Sandi

The four of us

February – 2018 – Day 9

We arrived right on time on the island of Sint Maarten or Saint Martin, which is only 37 sq. miles in size and is the smallest land mass in the world to be shared by two different nations.  It is owned by both France and the Netherlands Antilles.  We have landed on the Dutch side and we take the shuttle to the French side.  Not red tape, you just drive from one side to the other.

On the Dutch side are the tourist shops and more commercial areas.  On the French side is one of our favorite beaches, Orient Beach.

It is a beautiful day, with a few clouds and 76 degrees when we arrived and 80 very quickly and a light breeze.  This is as close to perfect as you can get.

This is the first time a Celebrity ship has docked at this port since the hurricane and from the ship, everything looked pretty good; however, after we got off, we realized that a lot of the buildings at the port were totally vacant inside and being remodeled.

We were also the only cruise ship in port when there used to be always 4 ships docked every day.

Right outside the port are the shuttles to all different parts of the island and we got on the one to our beach and arrived in about 15 minutes.  Along the way, it was amazing as to the number of buildings that were simply gone or virtually destroyed.

We found that the devastation from the hurricane to be total when we came to Orient Beach, one of the most famous beaches in the world.  Every building along the waterfront was destroyed and a lot of them just gone.  The regular side of the beach must have had 12 or more restaurants right on the beach and they were simply gone – nothing there but debris.   On the clothing optional side, the famous Orient Beach Motel property which used to consist of probably 40 small beachfront buildings, each containing one or two rooms, were a total loss.  They said that the storm surge was over the tops of the buildings.

We were told that it was the strongest hurricane ever to hit the island with sustained winds or over 200 miles an hour.

They had brought in new beach chairs and had made a new outdoor snack building, but that was all that was there.  We rented a couple of chairs and spent the next 4 hours on the beach along with only about 50 people compared to hundreds who used to us the beach. 

At 1:00pm the taxi driver returned to pick us up and he took us back to the Dutch side to the center of town.  We would estimate that about 1/3 of the businesses downtown were still closed.  Some looking like they might never re-open.

The people, like in San Juan were very up-beat and thankful that the tourists had started to come back and had hopes for the future.

We had missed lunch so when we arrived back at the ship, we immediately went to the food deck and had our missed lunch.

Then we cleaned up in time to walk around and go to the show.

The show tonight was a comedian named Ed Regine and he was the best comedian that we have ever seen.  A very funny routine.

After the show, we met went to dinner Brian and Sandi and of course the conversation centered on the destruction on this beautiful island.  Will the island recover – of course it will, but certainly will change a lot of lives forever.

Then we went to the casino where Ed had his first losing session and Barb lost just a little.

This was our last port and we will spend the next two days at sea as we head back to Fort Lauderdale and home on Sunday.

Night

Ready to go to the beach

Downtown

Destroyed cabins on the beach - the water was at 18' and destroyed everything

Total destruction - missing about 8 restraurants and severl other shops

Waiting out the rain!!

February 2018 – Day 8

St. Thomas – Happy Valentine’s Day!!

After Ed had breakfast, we went to Ash Wednesday service right on the ship and received our ashes on our foreheads and then it was time to go into St. Thomas.

In our opinion St Thomas is he #1 place in the Caribbean to buy jewelry!!  Thank goodness neither of us saw the need to buy anything today.  One of the reasons is that the jeweler that we trusted has retired.  We found out today that his son has opened a wholesale business and that his Mom was there.  When we got to the store, she was not there, and they didn’t know for sure when she would be back.  At least we know where they are when we travel back here someday.

We also went to see a lady named Jen.  We met Jen a lot of years ago when she had a small restaurant and we were in the food business.  She is also from Chicago.  We stopped in to see her - so that was fun.

Then we bought a bottle of Kahlua to bring it back on the ship – of course we put it in Coke bottles as you are not supposed to bring liquor on the ship and take it to your cabin.k and had lunch.  After that we spent 3 hours out in the sun – I think we are getting a tan!!  It sprinkled a couple of times, but not hard enough to move.

We watched the ship back out of its dock and turn and head out into the ocean for St. Martins, such a beautiful sight seeing an island as we sail away.

Then it was time to get dressed for the evening.

We first met Brian and Sandi in the theater for a production show by the cast that was very good.

Then we went to Blu to eat dinner and spend two hours just talking with them.  Brian and Sandi are one of the nicest couples that we have ever spent time with on a ship.  They are well travelled, our age and a lot of fun to be around and we enjoy them very much.

After dinner, it was time to go to the casino where Ed won nicely and so did Barb.  A good night in the casino.

As we sail away from St. Thomas, we are heading for out last island before turning and heading back to Ft. Lauderdale.

Night for now.

Ready to go out for the day

Switching out the Coke for Kahula 

Lunch on the back deck

Our 5:00 snack

February 2018 – Day 7

After a great day yesterday and a good nights sleep we again woke up to great sunny weather – except it was too windy to go out on the upper decks.  Also, we lost an hour as we had to set the clocks ahead 1 hour last night.

So, we got up late, cleaned up and went to the casino to play in a slot tournament and neither of us won.  This was a tournament where all the invited guests for the blackjack tournament could play in a 1-minute slot tournament and the winner of all, received $100.  It was free, so we played

.

After the tournament, we went to each lunch and sat in a covered outside area in the back of the ship to stay outside but out of the wind.

During the rest of the afternoon we did find a place by the pool that was out of the wind, so we stayed there from 1pm – 3pm.

We arrived at the port of San Juan at about 5:30pm which was 2 hours later than scheduled because of the high winds so not much time for doing anything as we had to be back on the ship to meet Brian and Sandi for dinner at 8pm.  But, that was ok as we had just been here last month.  We walked around for a little while and did find the perfect Christmas ornament – surprise!!

Then it was back to the ship to relax before dinner.

We met Brian and Sandi at 8:30am for dinner in Blue which as usual was a nice dinner.

After dinner, we went to the show which was a couple who sang lots of great songs.  He was formerly a rock singer and she a country singer and they did lots of songs of all types.

Then it was onto the casino as it opened at 11:15pm after we had left San Juan.

At the casino, Ed won a little and Barb ended even

.

It’s early, only 1:30am but it is time to say good night as we have just left San Juan and heading to St. Thomas for all day tomorrow.

Hugs

Going out for the day

The Celebrity Silhouette docked at San Juan

Ready for the evening

February – 2018 – Day 6

Another perfect day, 78 degrees, a few clouds and we were up late.  Ed went to exercise and when he was done, we both went up on the deck to lay out in the sun for a few hours before we went to lunch

.

After lunch, we went to the casino to play in the blackjack tournament.

Both of us play and it was the first time ever Barb has ever played blackjack and to play in a large money tournament made her very apprehensive and while she played well, she didn’t make it to the finals.

Ed did make it into the finals and they finals were schedule at 10:00pm

.

We walked around for a while and then went up to the food deck and brought some snacks back to our room and sat on the balcony relaxing before getting ready for the evening.

We met Brian and Sandi at the show which was a musical production number and while it was probably good, the sound system was up a little too much.

We had a quick dinner so that we could get to the tournament for the finals

.

The finals was a typical blackjack tournament format.  There were 7 players and we played 7 hands.  The prize money was $15,000 for 1^st, $5,000 for 2^nd, $2,500 for 3^rd, $1,500 for 4^th, $1,000 for 5^th and then 6^th and 7^th received a $100 each.

Ed was in perfect position going into the final round and he was dealt a 17.  If the dealer would have busted and if Ed would have had a 19 or 20, he would have would 2^nd place.  As it was, he won 4^th place and $1,500.  A disappointment that he wasn’t higher but thankful for $1,500, particularly since this was a free entry tournament.

 

After that excitement, we played a session and Barb lost just a little had Ed had a nice win again

Tomorrow we arrive in San Juan at 3:00pm so we will have part the day to relax on deck.

Night for now and hugs to everyone. 

Lots of snacks to choose from

 

Going out for the evening

4th place with Stephine - the Casino Manager and Angle our Casino Host