Jan 6

 

This is our final day at sea before we arrive in Miami tomorrow morning.  It's packing day for most and we had already folded many of our clothes in preparation.  For some reason, there were 3 lectures during the day, 2 from Terry Breen and one from Cheryl Sprague.  One of Terry's talks was on the discovery and history of coffee and we found it quite interesting.  She finished with a tasting of  3 coffees she had bought on this segment.  One was from Brazil, one from Barbados and one from Trinidad so we could sense the differences caused by climate, altitude and soil.  Pool deck lunch was a seafood extravaganza with quite a variety.  There was a chocoholic tea time followed by redemption of all our "reward cards" earned from trivia, games etc.  We had invited Lindsey Alley to join us for dinner and we had a great time sharing life stories and became friends.  There was no show since everyone would be finishing their packing to set suitcases in the hallways by 11:00pm, but ours were ready so Pat made $200.00 profit at blackjack.  The clocks were turned back 1 hour to EST and we went to sleep.

Jan 7

 

The ship sailed into Miami beginning around 5:00am and we were tied up at the dock at 6:00am.  We went to the Compass Rose for our final breakfast where Pat had eggs Benedict and I had baby lamb chops.  Departures were scheduled to begin at 7:45, but a jackknifed semi caught fire on the causeway to the port blocking all traffic for some time.  The stevedores who  were to unload the suitcases for 700 guests and 60 crew were stuck on the mainland and didn't start unloading until around 9:00.  Regent had a car to take us to the Fort Lauderdale airport and we were in the second group to disembark.  We got our luggage and went through Customs without any questions and our car was ready.  We think the driver had another pick up on her schedule because she kept the pedal to the floor the whole way in the rain.  It was scary but we made it.  We chose FLL to pick up our rental car because it's easier to get out of then MIA and cars at MIA were at a premium price due to the Alabama - Notre Dame game this evening.  The rain let up by the time we got out of the metro area and the 3 1/2 hour drive went well.  We got home and the house was in good shape.  We had 3 months' of mail stacked up on our dining table and 90% of it was trashed without opening.  It was a long trip since we left Oct 16, but we could easily have continued on if we didn't have doctor and dentist appointments scheduled.  Next big trip starts in 8 weeks.

THE END

Jan 5

This is the first of 2 days at sea on our way to Miami.  This 72 day cruise has gone by fast.  We attended a couple of lectures in the morning and began folding clothes for packing.  There was a Caribbean BBQ on the pool deck which included roast suckling pig.  At 2;30 we went to a wine & food pairing which we used shipboard credit to pay for.  There was one champagne, one white wine, 3 red wines and one white desert wine, all from the premium wine list (ie wines you pay extra for) and a specially chosen bit of food to go with each.  Daniella, the Cellar Master & Head Sommelier, explained the wines and their producers and it was an informative and interesting 1 1/2 hour presentation for only 13 people.

Before dinner was the traditional Krew Kapers where crew members from most departments, including Housekeeping, Deck, Restaurant, Bar, Engine Room etc put on a variety show.  There were 2 interesting Philippine and 1 Balinese traditional dances.  They are enthusiastic and put on a great show.  At dinner we were hosted by Andros, the Head Purser and had an enjoyable small table for 6.  The evening entertainment was, again, Lindsey Alley who was a Disney Mouseketeer along with Brittany Spears, Christine Agulara & Justin Timberlake.  She said the others went on to fame, money and abuse problems while she went to college.  She puts on a great show of comedy & song.

Jan 4

We docked at the Old Town in San Juan, Puerto Rico at 8:00am.  It was a clear, calm and sunny morning as we sailed into port so we had a good view of the fort and Old Town as we entered.  Since this is our first USA port, officers from ICE (Immigration & Customs Enforcement) came on board and we were called by deck & side (ie Deck 7 Starboard) to go to the theater, collect our passports and present ourselves to the Immigration officers.  For US citizens they just looked at the passport picture, at our face and said OK.  We clear customs when we debark in Miami on the 7th.  The process took less than 2 hours for 650 passengers, but the crew had a busy day.  They also had to face immigration and then there was a Coast Guard health & safety inspection so they were stuck on board until late afternoon.  Puerto Rico was discovered by Columbus in 1493 and settled by Ponce de Leon in 1508.  It was one of 3 main ports for Spanish vessels to form up convoys for hauling gold back to Spain and in 1521 construction began on the 2 forts guarding the entrance to the harbor and the wall around the city.  It was attacked by British, French & Dutch but never conquered.  The island was originally named San Juan and the city Puerto Rico, but the names were reversed.  When Spain ceded its territories in the Americas to the US at the end of the Spanish American War, Puerto Rico became a US territory.
We didn't have an excursion until 12:30 so we walked around Old San Juan for an hour before lunch.  We began our excursion by driving around the harbor and visited the modern art museum which houses works by Puerto Rican artists.  We next visited the largest of the forts, San Cristobal.  We were then given a drive by tour around Old San Juan, past the Church San Jose (built 1532 and the 2nd oldest in the Western hemisphere), past San Juan Cathedral where Ponce De Leon is buried and past several historic buildings,  Many of the buildings are from the 1500s & 1600s and are kept in excellent condition with fresh paint.  The streets are narrow since they were built for horse traffic and there is a plan to eventually make Old San Juan a pedestrian only area.  We were let off for some shopping time and, since we've been here a few times and know our way around, we opted to leave the tour and wander on our own for an hour or more.  We had dinner with our friends Cheryl & Wolf, skipped the Beatles Night dance party in the theater (bad venue) and Pat increased her blackjack earnings.

Jan 3

It was a sunny and windy morning as we continued sailing towards, St Barts.  The waves were a bit rough making our morning deck walk difficult so we cut it short.  At 11:00am there was a party in the Horizon Lounge for Titanium, Platinum & Gold members and this one was better than most.  The Nature's Rhythm played tropical tunes and the pastry chef was creating crepes in the main room.  On the back deck outside the Executive Chef was cooking foie gras and the Sous Chef was cooking tequila shrimp.  Wine, punch and drinks were served and it was an enjoyable party and an early lunch as we sailed to our anchorage among the mega yachts at Gustavia, St Barts. 

We anchored at noon and there was a rush to the tenders to go ashore for tours and independent exploring.  We have visited Gustavia several times in the past 4 years and didn't feel like window shopping at the overpriced shops or walking along the docked yachts (been there done that too many times) so we made it a sea day.  We walked the upper deck and took some photos of the anchored yachts and then had a late dinner in the Prime 7 Steakhouse.  The show was a new entertainer, Lindsey Alley who presented a fun medley of comedy and song.

Jan 2

We squeezed into the dock at Georgetown, Barbados at 8:00am.  There were two mega ships and one small expedition ship at the dock also so the port terminal & town were crowded.  Since we had visited here several times in the past, we opted for a "discover Barbados" tour which went around the center of the island and to the east & west coasts away from the cities.  We had an excellent guide who gave us interesting history of Barbados and pointed out interesting sites.  It was mostly a ride & see tour with 3 planned stops.  The first was at a parish church originally built in the 1600s and rebuilt once after a fire and again after a monstrous hurricane.  The second stop was supposed to be at an Atlantic beach with some unique "mushroom" rock formations in the water.  It was raining so we just opened the bus windows to get some photos. the final stop was at a lookout point and a drink.  We had a ticket for a rum punch, a beer or a soft drink.  We tried the rum punch which wasn't very good.  We returned to the port and I went to a small bar / cafe just outside the terminal and had a local beer and a basket of very tasty flying fish fingers.  Flying fish is common in the markets & restaurants in Barbados and they are small but with a lot of flavor.  We returned to the ship and Pat had chicken wings at the pool grill and we watched the sail away from Barbados.  There was a Caribbean tea time, but the pastries didn't seem very Caribbean except for the rum cake.  There was a pre-dinner show in the Horizon Lounge with 2 of our headliner acts performing for about 45 minutes.  There was no show after dinner so Pat, again, increased her blackjack winnings and then went to Liar's Club (described in a prior posting.)

Jan 1, 2013

We had a full day at sea on our way to the Caribbean.  It was windy, making deck walking difficult, but otherwise pleasant weather.  There were the usual selections of enrichment lectures and deck sports to occupy us.  At lunch there was a NEW YEAR 2013 BBQ on the pool deck with some interesting selections to choose from, however 10 of us, including the Staff Captain from Bulgaria and his daughter, Zara, who is traveling with him this segment., Staff Engineer from Italy and F&B Mgr from Serbia had another steak tartare lunch.  This time it was prepared by our Canadian Executive Chef who decorated it with some caviar, creme freshe and roasted capers.  During the "Gala Teatime" our team continued its win streak at trivia.  We had dinner, watched the entertainers and Pat increased her blackjack winnings.

Dec 31, New Year's Eve

We sailed away from Devil's Island at 6:00pm and everyone got dressed for the evening.  We joined Cheryl & Wolf for dinner where a special New Year's menu was served.  Following dinner the ship's cast presented "Just Swing" a tribute to the music & dance of the Swing Band Era.  Following that we went to the Horizon Lounge to listen to Nature's Rhythm for a while, but it was very crowded so we went to the casino where Pat made a modest profit.  Just before Midnight we returned to the theater where the Captain was on stage to ring in the new year with the ship's bell and the Assistant Cruise Director, Chris, walked on in diapers as the New year's Baby.