Day 2

The Pictures are:

. . . Our room is the second floor corner.

. . . Two pictures from our room, 1 from each of the balconies

. . . Downtown

This was the first real day of the trip and we totally relaxed. Barb is close to getting over her bronchitis and Ed is about 75% over his – whatever it was. But there is nothing like the sun and sand to help recover.

Anyway – Ed reserved our chairs by the pool when he went to breakfast and we stayed by the pool until 1pm. Then we cleaned up and set up everything with the casino. It is a nice size one. Then we hopped the public bus and rode about 15 minutes into the town.

Nothing is very far away as the island is only 5 miles wide and 19 miles long. We shopped in the stores for a while and then at 5 headed back on the bus, stopping along the way at a shopping center area down the beach from the hotel where we walked around and ate dinner and walked along the beach till we came to our hotel.

Then it was back to the hotel to relax for a little bit and onto the casino.

The casino doesn’t start to get busy until 9 so we will be up late but we can sleep late.

The casino didn’t give either of us a win tonight, but we didn’t lose much. After a walk on the beach it is now time to say goodnight.

Aruba – Day 0ne

Just a friend by the pool - 18 inches!!

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The beach - day 1

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The bedroom

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The sitting area

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Getting up at 4am is no fun but when you are on the beach in Aruba at 4:30pm the same day it isn’t all that bad.

The weather was perfect and 87 when we landed at 3:05 and we were actually checked in and on the beach at 4:30. The water is really, really warm and sand is easy to walk in.

They upgraded us to a huge room with a double wrap-around balcony. The room is 500 square feet. We will take pictures tomorrow outside to show you the room.

We went to a sports bar next door to split a sandwich and sat in the Michael Jordan booth and had a great chicken blt.

We never gamble the first night so it is early to bed and up and out to the beach in the morning.

We already miss everyone back home!!

Spring trip to Aruba

We are getting ready to go to Aruba.

Our schedule is:
Leave Bloomington on Thursday, February 26 at 6:05 am on Delta flight 5090 for Atlanta
Leave Atlanta on Delta flight 305 at 10:20 am arriving in Aruba at 3:33 pm - a 4 hour flight!!

We are staying at the Aurba Marriott Resort & Stellaris Casino - ph 297-586-9000.

Returning to Bloomington On Wednesday, March 4, leaving Aurba at 4:13 pm on Delta flight 304 for Atlanta.
We leave Atlanta for Bloomington on Delta flight 564 arriving home at 10:32 pm.

The best picture!!

This is one of the best pictures that we have ever had taken on a cruise!!

Day 10

Barb with the monkeys

Well the last day is here. We got up early because we docked at St. Kitts at 7:00 am and are leaving at 4:00 pm heading for San Juan.

We forgot to mention that early on in the cruise, Sara, one of the photographers recognized us from a Carnival cruise that we took a couple of years ago. She shared stories and laughs with us. It is fun getting to know the staff on ship and then running into them again.

We were out into the port and only real town by 9 and looked at a couple of tourist shops before hiring a cab to take us to the north part of town to the Batik factory. This is a company that makes very elaborate designs on island cotton using a wax dye process. Ed bought several shirts and Barb bought a blouse.

At the Batik factory

After the Batik factory we went to the St. Kitts Marriott – wow what a place. It has a casino and maybe will be a destination some year.

We were back on by 3pm and packed for the trip back. Tomorrow we plan to get off the ship fairly early and go to the San Juan Marriott and leave our bags with the bell man and stay on the beach until it is time to go to the airport.

The nice thing is that we were both up in the casinos – that really makes for a nice trip.

This will be the last entry until we get home – thanks for following our joys of traveling.

Barb is packed but not ready to go home!



Our Casino Hosts

 A special thanks to all of you who allow us to do this.

Day 9



Main Street - notice the ships in the background

 Well yesterday we made the mistake of staying in bed too long, just because we were in the casino late. We stayed late last night but got up at 8:00 to get out early in Antigua.

We were really impressed with the island – it is very clean and nice.

This was the first island that Barb found a really wonderful clothing shop and she bought a new dress.

After shopping, we headed for what turned out to be the best beach that we have been to so far. We stayed on the beach right next to the Sandals resort and snuck in and walked around it. It was a typical Sandals and we finally left the beach at 2pm. This sun is so hot that we can only spend 2 – 3 hours in the direct sun on the beach.

The casino - no we didn't gamble there!!

The ship departed at 6 for St. Kitts and we had a fun dinner, a magic show and then the casino.

Ed won the Blackjack with another ship’s trophy and $500!!!! That’s two for two on this cruise. Ed tied another player at the end of the regular play and there was a three hand playoff. On the last hand, the other player made a betting mistake and bet too many chips – and Ed won.

Again it is tomorrow so we will leave you and wake up in St. Kitts for our last full day on the cruise.

Lunch on the beach

The beach

Day 8

The Market

We slept late and finally made it off the ship at 10:00 am. We have been to St. Lucia three times now so we were only interested in shopping for a little while and then going to a beach.

The shopping was you typical island fare except they did have some beautiful dishes that were had made and painted. Barb bought a small square plate.

While shopping, we found a wonderful St. Lucian local fruit and vegetable market that we wandered thru. While there we found a lunch stand and had lunch. We do not know what we ate except we told them no fish. We ate with a couple of casino dealers from another ship that was in port. They told us that this was the best local place to eat in town.

Where we ate lunch

Following lunch, we told a taxi to a beautiful palm-lined beach, Marigot Bay. After a ½ hour taxi ride, we came to the bay but first had to take a short ferry across the bay to the actual beach.

After a couple of hours it was back to the ship for a little rest and we got ready for the second formal night.

The night was fun – we had a really good dinner and the casino sent us another bottle of wine. Since Barb doesn’t drink wine and I only drink a little, our table mates enjoyed most of the bottle.

The show in the lounge was their big production called “Zoom” and it was fantastic.

What did we eat for lunch???

Then on to the casino where we did very well and are calling it a night and it is already tomorrow.







On the beach