Day 7

Barb shopping for a purse


 What fun we had today – of course when you have one of the greatest shopping ports in the world to stop at, what would you expect!

We were off the ship, on the shuttle and into town by 8 in the morning and first stopped at the flea market area to do some purse shopping. And would you believe it, Barb found a purse.

 Then it was down the street into town to visit all the old familiar shops. At about 10 we went to Jen’s Island Café and Deli to say hi. We met Jen about 13 years ago when she had a small place. She was from Chicago and of course we were in the food business so we had fun talking at that time. She now has a large restaurant and appears to be doing quite well. Jen took time to talk with us and catch us on old. Jen is also going to be in Chicago this summer and will be there for a wedding at the same time Bloomington Gold is going on so we might get to see her again this summer.  Jen's Deli is located on the corner of the Grand Hotel, at the very end of the main shopping street in St. Thomas and it is a wonderful place to eat.

Jen inside her Cafe

Then it was off to our favorite jewelry store, Chalet D’Or Jewelers. Ed first bought a ring from them in 1983 and most of Barb’s good jewelry has come from their store. They are a lovely family and established their business in 1968. Of course they found something for Barb and now she has a new diamond, ruby and sapphire ring.

We then went back to Jen’s for lunch and Jen sat with us while we ate and talked. After lunch we hopped a shuttle to take us to Magen’s Bay Beach, supposedly one of the best beaches in the world. It was very pretty, great sand and set in a cove on the north side of the island.

We left early because the sun wasn’t that great and went back to the jewelers to pick up Barb’s new ring. The owner then took us in his own car back to the ship. There are shops in front of the ship on the dock so of course we shopped there but didn’t find anything.

The evening dinner was a special one. Once on each cruise, 12 people can make reservations for the Chef’s Table dining experience. This is a new program they have just started at Carnival and it was the best dining experience we have had ever, anywhere!!

Barb's new ring on the left

It also included a visit to the kitchen while they were serving the dinner for the ship - wow was that place busy. Then they served us an assortment of canapés in the kitchen before we headed to the private dining room for the 12 of us and 6 – 8 chefs who prepared our meal.

We had 7 courses and they were:
Norwegian salmon tartar

Fire roasted tomato and poblano chili bisque soup

Rock shrimps and apple beignets
Chopped Mediterranean salad
Fillet of Chilean sea bass
Aged filet mignon

The harbor as we left

And then a special desert, including chocolate melting cake.

We decided not to play in the casino so we went to the r-rated comedy show, watched some salsa dancing, picked up some of our pictures that were ready and then went up to our room for an early night.

Tomorrow is Antigua – shopping and the beach







The chefs preparing our dinner

Day 6

A typical day at sea.

Barb in the elevator

Ed was up early to reserve lounges on the deck, went for breakfast and then Barb joined him for a few hours of sun. It was really windy and we had a lot of salt water spray up on us and we were 10 stories up from the water.

Then it was time for the first round of the blackjack tournament and Ed qualified at that point and we went to lunch. Coming back from lunch, Ed had been eliminated so he played again in a qualifying round and this time made it to the final round.

The tournament ended with Ed coming in second – and there is no money for second.


Oh well, there will be more tournament. We both played in the casino until they closed it for the port.

El Moro Fort guarding the harbor

Then we went and got a couple of slices of Pizza while we waited for the ship to arrive in San Juan.

The ship arrived a little early and so we were off the ship by 5 and into Old San Juan, the main part of town right next to the cruise ship docks.

We wandered the town and then ate at a local restaurant. The appetizer of plantains was good but the main meal was terrible, plus the service was really slow. But, we had a table outside so we watched the people while we waited.

We ended walking 5.24 miles by the time we were back in our cabin at 10:30! Barb had bought a pedometer for Ed and this was the first trip since losing the last one that we have used it.

Tomorrow we dock at 7am at St. Thomas – the shopping paradise.



The front of our ship

Night for now.

Day 5

Sunday - 

A light lunch

Today was our first sea day and a perfect day for relaxation. The tempteture was in the mid 70’s with a moderate breeze.

Ed was up at 8 and went out and reserved deck chairs and ate breakfast. Barb got up at 9 and both of us sat in the sun until 11:30am.

Then we went inside, changed and went for a great lunch buffet. After lunch we went to the casino and entered the slot tournament. Barb came really close but did not qualify for the finals.

After that we played in the casino, had fun but didn’t come out ahead.

 A short nap rounded out the afternoon and then we went downstairs and watched the first sitting for dinner as they walked down the Promenade deck heading towards the dining room. It is just fun talking about all the people and their style, or lack thereof, of dress.



Barb in the slot tournament



We were back to the room by 7 to change for dinner and tonight is the first formal night.





Dinner was lobster, prime rib and all the special choices that you would want at a formal dinner.

After dinner, we went to the big production show in the show lounge. It was good and featured the music and dance of New Orleans.

Then it was onto the casino and played until very late. A fun day for our first full day on the ship.

First formal night

Tomorrow is another sea day and we arrive at San Juan, Puerto Rico at 5 for the evening.

The show

Day 4 - The first day of the cruise

Loaded and ready to go to the ship

One again we slept late on this first day of this new year. We were packed and checked out of the hotel at 10:00am and on our way to the ship. We drove the car to the ship and dropped off the luggage. Barb stayed with our carry on luggage and Ed took the car to the rental car check-in.

The lines at the regular check-in were huge this early, but thanks to our Carnival Platinum card, we were able to check in fairly fast.

We were in our cabin by noon and then it was off to explore the ship. We were on this ship in its inaugural cruise in the Balkans several years ago, so the ship was familiar but there were a few changes that we noticed.

Our room

We ate lunch and then sat out in the sun and then our luggage had arrived so we unpacked everything. Then we watched the ship sail out of Port Lauderdale and it was off to the jacuzzi.

After the jacuzzi, we walked around the ship until time to change for dinner.

Before dinner, we went to the casino, introduced ourselves to the manager and our casino host and also set up our line of credit.

Then it was off to dinner.

Our table mates were a surprise – it is amazing how wrong you can sometimes be with a first impression. We had a fun time at dinner and will enjoy our new friends very much.

After dinner we went to the main show, then to the R-rated comedy midnight show.

Ft. Lauderdale Beach

That was enough fun for one day so we went back to the room to bed. It is amazing how tired you can get relaxing!! It has been a great start to our trip.

Tomorrow we are at sea so it will be a very relaxing day.

Day 3

Houses in Ft. Lauderdale

Well we woke up late to a beautiful Florida sky.


After driving around a little looking at huge mansions on the way to Miami Beach, we stopped at Haulover Beach for the afternoon. What a wonderful beach at the north end of Miami Beach. Sorry, we don’t have any pictures as you are not allowed to take pictures for obvious reasons.

A drink before dinner on South Beach 

You will have to Google it to see the beach. The sun was hot and it was a great beach.

Then it was on to South Beach where we got lucky and found a parking spot on the street. We walked the closed off street until we found a restaurant that looked good. We were able to get a table right on the edge so we could watch the people and it was great people-watching time.

After drinks and dinner we walked the rest of the South Beach area and when we were tired we went back to the car for the hour drive back to Ft. Lauderdale.

We had a fun day and evening.

Tomorrow the boat.

For some reasons the pictures will not load so I will try later.

Day 2

A back street in Palm Beach

Well we woke up at 8:15 – must have needed our sleep. It was partly cloudy so instead of going to the beach, we decided to travel north to Palm Beach and see all of the huge mansions along the way. It is true that the rich are different and the really rich are really, really different and who lives in all of these massive estates. Words cannot describe the wealth that we saw on the way and in Palm Beach. Bentleys were common place and Mercedes were everywhere!!

We stopped and walked along Worth Avenue in Palm Beach, said to be one of the ritziest shopping areas ever and it and the people looked it.

The Breakers Hotel

After Palm Beach it was on to America’s largest indoor flea market in Pompano Beach. It formally was a huge shopping center and now all of the walls are gone inside and it is one massive set of 500 stalls selling everything. They say 4 million people visit annually.

By then it was back to the hotel to change for the night. We drove into downtown Ft. Lauderdale to the famous street Los Olas Boulevard. This street is about 8 blocks long filled with great shops and really good restaurants. Once again, we ate outside and had a great meal.





Dinner on Los Olas

Tomorrow we head down the coast to Miami Beach, swimming, sun and then South Beach for New Year’s Eve – it should be fun.

Night

New Year's - 2011

The Mustang is loaded

Day 1

The day started in the dark and it was very cold on the outskirts of Merna when we left at 5:30 am. After flying to Atlanta we made it to Ft. Lauderdale just a little past noon. We had to wait a little bit for our rental convertible, but soon we were loaded and on way to the hotel and into our room by 2:30pm.

The Marriott is right in the center of Ft. Lauderdale beach and there are a lot of people here and the weather was 68 degrees when we arrived – wonderful.



The view from our room

Our room is very large with a mini-kitchen and a large balcony on the 15th floor overlooking the beach and the ocean – what a sight!
We had lunch outside at a little stand in front of the hotel and rested for a little while before heading out for the evening.

We ate at a sidewalk restaurant overlooking the beach and the night was beautiful.

Then a walk down the street to see the rest of the restaurants and shops and then back to the hotel for an early evening – it has been a long day and as we look out our balcony, it is 64 degrees!!


Our room is on the 15th floor-center


Tomorrow is the beach.