Days 9 & 10 - At sea

Wow, I can't believe this cruise is coming to an end....

Yesterday was a beautiful day, sunshine and warmth...we slept until noon....then got up and showered and headed to the dining room for lunch. After lunch we made our way up to the Solarium deck and snagged a couple of lounger chairs...and there we sat and soaked up ever last ray of sunshine and drop of warmth...it was about 25C with a brisk wind...so we even skipped dinner so we could enjoy what was likely the last of the warm weather.

Today, we awoke to an announcement from our dear Captain Henrik (he's a handsome swede and only 36 yrs old!!!!) announcing that they had closed the pools as a precautionary measure . It seems that his plans to pass between two weather patterns didn't exactly work and instead we were treated to gale force winds! The solarium was however still open...so we got up and headed up there and unlike the past week the deck was pretty empty so we had no problem snagging chairs....but there may have been a reason it was pretty empty....the winds were ferocious so after an hour I gave up and we headed to the Windjammer for a late lunch...and given it was such a strenuous day...I suggested heading back to our room for a nap...I woke Peter up in time for dinner...formal night...lobster and prime rib....yum!

Sadly, tomorrow will be our last day...then back to Port Liberty by 8 AM Friday...then we'll drive home and pick up Sam! ....I do hope he's been a good boy....I have to say I really don't want to go home...to winter....to work...sigh...I think I'll just sit here and enjoy my Bailey's on the rocks....

Good night from somewhere in the north Atlantic....

Megan & Peter

St.Kitts ... A little piece of paradise....

Today was our last port of call, Basseterre, St. Kitts. It was the first time we'd been there and let me say it was beautiful! Absolutely amazing and is now up there with Dominica, as a favorite island in the Carribean. The island was so clean and friendly, much nicer than other islands we visited on this trip. St. Kitts is apparently reminiscent of the South Pacific or Polynesia.

St. Kitts or it's full name St. Christopher and her sister island, Nevis, we're discovered in 1493 by Christopher Columbus and was named after the patron saint of travelers. It is the only nation who's nickname is also recognized as an official name and the two can be used interchangeably.

St. Kitts, was fought over for years by the English, French and the Spanish, however the Spanish quickly lost interest and eventually the English won and it became a colony of Britain. In the 1980s they obtained there independence from Britain. Okay, enough with the history lesson...

St. Kitts is a beautiful island with buildings and homes found in all the colors of the rainbow. It's mountainous, full of rain forests. The water is a a gorgeous shade of turquoise. And the sky a light blue broken up by the contrast of the green mountains and the light green and yellow of the former sugar cane plantations. (St. Kitts stopped growing sugar cane 6 years ago). The highest peak is a dormant volcano which last erupted in the 1600s. I wanted to go on the hike of the volcano, but Peter refused to push me up the volcano and mutter something about leaving me there...he's a party pooper...

Today we got up, had breakfast and was down on the dock by 8:45. We had booked a tour to a former plantation and the beach. The tour finally got underway at about 10 AM. We loaded into a bus and a couple of vans....incidentally St. kitts and Antigua drive on the right hand side of the road. Unfortunately, I don't have much to say about the plantation, it was inaccessible and I didn't see much of it, but Peter walked around the grounds and the house and saw verret monkeys, koi fish, parrots, cockatiels and turtles, u fortunately they were all in cages. They had mangos and bananas growing on the grounds and plenty of flowers.

After the plantation we boarded the buses and drove towards Frigate Bay Beach. It started to rain on the drive to the beach and people we disappointed, but it only lasted about ten minutes and the sun came out and dried up all the rain. The beach was not white sand, instead it was black sand with seashells intermixed. Unfortunately, this time of year is the rainy season in the Carribean and as a result the Carribean Sea has been very rough and has been bringing in lots of rocks and shells and therefore it was a bit painful to walk through with bare feet. Our guide explained that dependent on the time of year the beach changes.

Anyways, we paid $5 for a beach umbrella and grabbed a couple of lounge chairs right on the edge of the beach, with front row seats of the sea. We settled in for about an hour and half at the beach. I decided that I wanted to go in....so I kicked off my sandals and convinced Peter to help me down to the water. The beach was a bit of a steep incline but I was determined...so I headed down to the beach towards the waterline...the sand was sizzling....got to the water and started to go in...about thigh high I was clinging to Peter for dear life as the waves are hammering us and I can't keep my balance...and the four foot drop wasn't helping...this was a dumb idea....was all I could think...Peter was suggesting at this point he could let me go and I could be whisked off to sea....nice guy eh? Then two men on the beach noticed we may be having difficulty and came in to provide assistance....it took three men to get me out of there as the waves were so powerful....sigh.....so I resigned myself to sitting and watching the water under the umbrella...

I sent Peter on a mission to collect seashells for me and he started walking down the beach....he came back about 15 minutes later with a handful of small shells and a few pieces of coral and a piece of sea glass.....hmmm I wish I had a bottle to fill with sand and shells...then I remembered I had a bottle of coke from the plantation....so I dumped the now warm coke and filled it up with the black sand....hey I'm a former Girl Guide and I'm nothing if not resourceful...."Be Prepared".... Then I started filling the pockets of Peter's cameras bag with shells....yup he may want to kill me when he figures that out...

After the beach we loaded back on the bus and headed back to port...the port was recently built to include quite a nice shopping plaza and so we wandered around and picked up a few souvenirs...the first since San Juan...We have to come back here again! This was absolutely paradise...

We are leaving St. Kitts and begin the long trip home....1532 nautical miles at 18 knots per hour to Cape Liberty...we arrive back on Friday and to be honest I wish it wasn't ending...I could get used to this....I haven't even checked my work emails once! (Hey, that's big for me!) but we still have a full three days at see and tomorrow is supposed to be about 25C...sigh...sounds almost perfect!

I am sitting right now on deck 4 soaking up the sunshine as our ship sails away from St. Kitts...yes I'm covered in a rash...but it is so warm and heavenly... my skin has actually picked up some colour and is freckling nicely (LOL!)...And I think I may have avoided a sunburn (yay!)....

Good Night from St. Kitts!

Megan & Peter

 

Pictures of St. Maarten & Antigua

Here are a few pictures from yesterday in St. Maarten.

 

Fort Louis in Marigot, St. Martin

 

Then we went to a butterfly farm...

 

 

Here are a few shots from today in Antigua....

 

 

St. Maarten/St. Martin

Today we visited two nations on one island, St. Maarten and St. Martin. This land mass of only 37 square miles is divided between St. Maarten, the Dutch side, the capital being Phillipsburg and St. Martin, the French side, the capital being Marigot. Although the two countries share a land mass they are distinct and separate. St. Martin has the larger landmass and a smaller population...combined 85 000 people live on this island.

They use separate currencies and unit of measure. In St. Maarten, gasoline costs 5.50 USD per gallon. In St. Martin, gasoline costs 1.20 Euro per liter. The French side, St. Martin uses Euros, it has outlawed gambling, fast food and if you commit a crime they do not have a jail to send you to, rather they simply deport you to Guadeloupe. Basically if things are one way on the French side they are the opposite on the Dutch side. In St. Maarten, they use US dollars, you will also find every US fast food joint, a plethora of casinos, however no nude beaches...those are illegal in St. Maarten, but legal in St. Martin...there are a number of strip joints in St. Maarten, but they are illegal in St. Martin...you get the point....just a point of note, we may have had the worst tour guide in St. Maarten/St. Martin...if you're here and you get a guy named "Wilson" I'd reconsider....

Neither country cultivates or makes anything. Everything, including produce and consumer goods is imported. The sole industry for both countries is tourism. The sugar plantations stopped running in 1948 and tourism took over. Incidentally, milk costs 8 euro a gallon and is therefore more expensive than beer and liquor...2 cans of coke and 2 mini bags of chips cost us $8 USD in Marigot.

This morning started a bit rough...last night before going to bed we set the alarm on Peter's iPhone, as we had to be up and on the dock for 9:15 for a tour that would take us to a butterfly farm and to Marigot. Unfortunately, Peter failed to remember that he had not changed the time on his iPhone when it changed in San Juan.....this meant instead of getting up at 7:30 and showering and having a leisurely breakfast, I was drying my hair when the captain announced we had docked and could begin disembarking....at this point I grabbed my watched and realized it was 9 AM!! We had to quickly get dressed, slather on sunblock and grab our tickets and go without breakfast! We did however manage to make it outside and join our tour.

We started out driving from Philipsburg to Marigot, along the way Wilson, our guide, showed us all the high points...gas stations, funeral homes and a crematorium for good measure. Now the traffic in Marigot was terrible, many times I closed my eyes as the bus was dangerously close to opposing or perpendicular traffic this was apparently due to the Heineken Regatta which is occurring tonight. anyways, he dropped us in a tourist trap in Marigot, no little bistros or shops which the brochure had advertised, instead an outdoor market, where venders were hawking souvenirs for the tourists. Given, we missed breakfast we were starving and so looking around we settled on the chips and coke....

Anyways, after a short time there we were loaded back in the bus to go to a butterfly farm. There were hundreds of them with all sorts of colors and patterns. After the butterfly farm we were taken back to Philipsburg, the driver/tour guide offered to let you off to shop in downtown Philipsburg( two streets, either Front Street or Back Street) but warned you were on your own to get back to the ship...we passed on shopping and headed back to the ship for a bite to eat. We then sought out a quiet shady spot on deck 4 to read and watch the water. Currently, we are sailing from port, watching the sun set on the Caribbean Sea!

Going to head to the dining room for dinner.... I'll try to post a few pictures later tonight!

Tomorrow we sail to St. John, Antigua...not sure what we'll do as we have not signed up for any excursions...stay tuned!

Good Night!

Megan & Peter

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Today was San Juan, Puerto Rico...I'll be honest I really don't like San Juan...and this trip didn't really change anything...although no junkie bleeding out on the sidewalk this time...but plenty of homeless passed out in doorways and street corners.

Ok, San Juan is an interesting place, the buildings are brightly painted in shades of pink, blue, yellow and aqua. The streets are very narrow cobblestone and the cobble stone is a beautiful deep blue. The old area is literally all up hill....the restaurants have intoxicating spicy fragrances wafting out of them and everything is written in Spanish.

It know my discription leaves one wondering why then do I dislike it? Well it's just it has the potential to be so beautiful, but it's rather run down and not exactly safe at night. For some reason, Royal Carribean always seems to port at 2pm and stay here until 10:30 pm. You are warned to be careful here at night...so me being me? It means I really have no desire to be here after dark and was back aboard the ship before sundown.

Now this does not mean we didn't do any thing...We walked up and down Old San Juan this afternoon hunting out the Starbucks we went to last time...no not for caffeine, but free wifi...LOL! ....when we finally found...it took over an hour, what did I do? I checked fb and called my sister....The MagicJack app is great! Trish wanted to know if I had picked up a San Juan souvenir for her at the Coach Outlet...to be fair she has had a rough couple of weeks....a favorite handbag she bough on our last trip to Watertown , NY broke, as did a spare she had, so she really does need one! LOL! Anyways, I hadn't but was on my way there next....so I said goodbye and I checked on Google maps where the outlet was in relation to the Starbucks and we walked about 0.8 of a mile to the outlet...I won't bore you with the details of handbags I looked at but I did pick up two (2) handbags, one for Trish and one for me....yup the perfect San Juan souvenir!....LOL!

Tomorrow we are in St. Maarten...this is a favorite island of ours. Last time we sailed 12 meter yachts...this time we are visiting a butterfly farm and going to Marigot....

Good Night from San Juan!

Megan & Peter

One example of the streets in Old San Juan...barely enough room for a car to traverse...see the colors of the buildings?

Hard to capture the color but it's dark blue with flecks of white...reminiscent of the waves at sea

 

I forget the name but the translation is chapel of Christ, built in the 14th or 15 th century...Peter insisted on taking the picture with me in it....

Here another vantage point for the chapel

 

San Juan Port Authority

 

And here are the best San Juan Souvenirs! (love you Trish! xoxoxxo!)

Labadee, Haiti

Hello from Haiti!

Today was the first of five (5) ports of call. It was a glorious day, simply beautiful. The sky was blue, the waters were a brilliant turquoise, the sun was huge and bright (more on that later) there wasn't a cloud in the sky and there was a gentle breezy blowing.

We got up at an un-godly hour of 5:45 AM (completely, my own accord, I know!) I got it in my head I wanted to see the sunrise this morning...showered and headed to the wind jammer cafe for a quick breakfast...incidentally despite the early start we still missed the sunrise by about 10-15 minutes...oh well I tried, but I probably won't be doing that again! After all I'm on holidays! LOL!

The ship was still about 2 hours off Haiti, so we went down to the 4th deck (a quiet deck most people never visit) and snagged a chair for Peter and watched Haiti rise up out of the fog. She is absolutely spectacular! We watched little fishing boats out for an early morning catch. Now truth be told, we actually saw very little of Haiti, or as Trish has put it...we saw "fake Haiti", Peter called it "Presque Haiti". Given that it does not represent Haiti at all and you cannot venture off the resort. But as the Ship approached Haiti, the coast line was beautiful.

Labadee is Royal Caribbean's own private day resort. They have been there for a number of years and have been creating their own oasis. In Labadee,there are three beaches, connected by cement pathways...very accessible. We made our way to the third beach and the farthest from where we docked called Columbus Cove. Columbus Cove was a cute little beach on white sand in a little bay (or cove...LOL) and had beautiful calm turquoise water. The beach was scattered with palm and magnolia trees. We snagged a couple lounge chairs under a beautiful magnolia tree (woohoo shade!), listened to the calypso music and alternated between reading and people watching...we spend the day moving around the trunk of the magnolia tree chasing the shade and when there was none to be had by 2pm we headed back to the ship. One draw back to Labadee was that there are no umbrellas.

Now there was a marketplace where you could buy souvenirs from hawkers, who were very aggressive and bargained for everything. Unfortunately, I forgot my hat at home so I needed to find one today and I did find one...the starting price was $50 and I negotiated him down to $20, apparently Peter heard other women talking about the same hat and they paid $35 each so I guess I drove a hard bargain. Little did he know who he was dealing with! He started at $50 and I started with $20... He negotiated with himself, from $50 to $45 to $40 to $35 and when I was walking away he agreed to $20.(heehee! I know, I'm a professional!...the poor guy didn't have a hope in hell!)

Overall I am relatively sunburn free...a few random spots...looks weird but not bad at all should be gone in a day or so...unfortunately, we were really hoping the pesky allergy to the sun was medication related but it appears that it is not the case. Now either because of my attempts to stay out of the sun worked or because it is at least less severe than before I am currently only reacting on my right foot...yes I did leave it uncovered as a guinea pig to see what would happen (yes Mom, I did have lots of sunblock on...SPF 110...seriously! Love you! xoxoxo!)

For anyone waiting with baited breath as to how one performs on a trapeze on an ice rink while at sea....I wish I could tell you but we never made it..,you see yesterday afternoon whilst ( Yes, BAD I through whilst in just for you!) sitting in the Solarium (the adult only, non-smoking, partially covered deal with it's own hot tubs and pool) reading and listening to the iPod, we should of gone down to deck number 3 to the ice rink... But the sun was shining and the breeze had died down, we were in the shade with just intermittent pockets of sun so was just perfect...so we stayed right where we were and decided we really had no desire to go inside.

I'll leave you tonight with a couple of pictures of the ship and of Haiti...Navigator of the Seas, her sister ship was in port with her today...

Good Night!

Megan & Peter

 

 

 

Sailing the North Atlantic

Hello from some whether off the coast of Miami!

Currently it's 22C, breezy and the waves are between 1.5 and 4 ft. The ocean is a dark blue, but getting lighter with flecks of dark turquoise. This must mean we agree heading in the right direction!

The past two days have been sea days. Yesterday it was quite cool and windy, though we spent some time in the morning in the Solarium, listening to our iPods and reading. We signed up for a meet and mingle event through CruiseCritic a website for cruising, our meet and mingle event was scheduled your yesterday morning, so we got up at an un-godly hour for a holiday and had a lovely breakfast in the dining room and went to one of the lounges for the event. This was apparently one of the biggest groups registered, about 110 ppl. Royal Caribbean staff drew ballots and gave away a number of prizes, 2 free in room movie rentals, $50 worth of Internet, hats & bags etc. The event was an opportunity to meet other cruisers and it also included a gift exchange. The gift was to be something representing either your home country, state or city...we brought maple syrup that Peter's boss made last year. Due to the larg size our group, the Capitain came by and introduced himself and took a group photo. Apparently this never happens!

Oddly enough the largest group on board this sailing are the Canadians! The are apparently approximately 3300 passengers about the vessel and 1200 are Canadian. What does this mean? Well it means maple syrup was not a thrilling gift for a Canadian....it means that at our table for 6 at dinner, the other two couples are from Vancouver (actually Mission) and Kitchener respectfully.

The majority of the passengers are French speaking, and oddly enough remind us of Peter's mother everywhere we go! (Not in a good way...) last night at the first formal night Peter and I were in stitches over all the ladies who were dressed very much as he would expect his mother to dress...oh well...

This cruise has a much older demographic than the last time we sailed this cruising. We would hazard a guess that the average age is about 75. Unlike the last sailing, which had 800 kids, this one only has 200.

This afternoon we are heading to one of the ice skating shows. Apparently they brought in a trapeze artist from Paris, France. Not sure how she does the trapeze on skates, but I guess we I'll see!

Tomorrow we are in Labadee, Haiti....Come on warm Carribean weather! It's expected to be about 30C in Haiti!

Megan & Peter

Ahoy from aboard the Explorer of the Seas!

Well today was a quiet day. We stayed at the hotel and took a car (a private cab) to the cruise port around 1:30. We boarded the ship and after a small snag regarding our dinner seating (all fixed), we went to claim a seat in the Solarium to check out the NYC skyline.

So far we've found significant number of folks from Quebec. There are at least three tour groups from Quebec. Many New Yorkers and New Jersey-ites and a number of Brits and other Europeans.

With our Muster drill complete, the ship will be setting sail in about 30 minutes (5pm)

Have a great evening...

Megan & Peter

 

 

New York - Romans, Egyptian Pharaohs, the Byzantine Empire and Medieval Knights

It was another glorious day in NYC. The sun was shining and the temperature was warmer than yesterday, however brisk. Today we repeated the subway trip we took yesterday, from Newark to Penn Station and we once again took the C-line subway to 81st Street. We crossed in front of the American Natural History Museum and walked across Central Park to the Upper East Side.

Where did we go?

The Metropolitan Museum of Art!!!!!!!

We started out in the Roman Empire...

Roman Pottery

She was one of my favorite Roman Sculptures...her expression really captured me.

This was also one of my favorites, the detail was incredible

I love the expression of this little Roman boy

From the Roman Empire, we moved onto the Egyptian Pharaohs. I loved this exhibit. I have never been so close and even able to touch the Egyptian Statutes. Simply enchanting!

I look so small compared to the Egyptian sculpture. So close I could even touch it!

This Egyptian "fresco" of pigeons or doves was beautiful

Wow!

The sarcophaguses were impressive, however the lighting in the room and the cases were not photo friendly. So this was the only picture we were able to get.

From the Egyptian Pharaohs we moved on to the Byzantine Empire.

The art was incredible!

This Byzantine painting of the Archangel Gabriel was exquisite and one of my favorites

After the Byzantine Empire we moved on to the Medieval Times where we saw beautiful stained glass and knights armour and swords.

The statue of St. Catherine of Siena was entrancing, one of my favorites of the day. I absolutely loved it although I can't explain why.

After spending all day at the museum, there were still exhibits we didn't see, the American Wing, the European Masters and paintings and the African art. Unfortunately, although we wanted to see the Asian exhibits they were not wheelchair accessible. We could easily spend another day to see the museum and even then we would need more time.

After the museum, we walked back to the Upper West Side and headed to 70th and Columbus for dinner at a hole in the wall restaurant called Big Nick's. It seats probably 20 people, with a huge menu of pizza, heroes and submarine sandwiches and burgers. We ordered an appetizer platter to share and Peter had a huge bacon cheese burger with fries and I had a fabulous veal parmigiana hero.The veal was so tender and flavorful. All this and 2 bottles of Coke for $35.

We left the restaurant and walked down Columbus, past Trump Tower to the Columbus Circle Subway Station. We hopped on the C-line back downtown to Penn Station and once again took the PATH back to Jersey. We got back to the hotel and watched a bit of tv and posted this post.

Up next.....Cruising!!! Tomorrow we board the Explorer of the Seas for 11 nights.

G'night!

Megan and Peter