SOUTHERN CARIBBEAN

A couple of weeks ago Judy found a super deal on a seven day cruise for approximately $150.00 plus port charges etc per person for the whole seven days. (Ask Judy for the exact details.) Not only was it a super deal on its own but it was in an extra deep, extra wide cabin that was meant for sleeping a family of six. That included an alcove near the door with bunk beds; no dropdown berths.

Our cabin, #7500 was in the middle of the ship side to side wise and had two large portholes looking forward over the prow of the ship. We could see what was ahead of us.

The cruise was on Royal Caribbean's Adventure of the Seas. In July of 2007 we cruised on this ship, also from San Juan to the Southern Caribbean though we saw only one of the same islands as on that one, St Maarten.

Getting to the ship we flew Friday to Atlanta getting in after dark and staying overnight at a Hyatt near the airport. It wasn't one of their big nice hotels but one of your average type hotels you see alongside the freeway.

The next day, Saturday we flew to SJU (San Juan, Puerto Rico) and took a cab to the Sheraton Convention Center which was not far from the cruise harbor.

The next day, Sunday we took another taxi to the boat, waited in a long slow line to drop off our luggage then waited in another long line that wasn't moving at all. Finally they opened the doors for us to check in and then get on the boat.

It was windy in San Juan and the next two days. Monday was an "at sea" day so we spent much of the day in the Solarium on cushioned beach chairs. The whole cruise I spent a lot of time jogging in the cool salt water pool then rinsing off in the hot tub then lying on my beach chair next to Judy. After a short while I started my routine over again.

When we got to Barbados on Tuesday it was still quite windy and we ended up staying on the ship doing a lot of the same.

The next day, Wednesday we were in St. Lucia where we took a mini bus tour of one section of the island. St. Lucia receives a lot of rain and was quite lush.

The next day, Thursday we were in Antigua where we did the same thing. Antigua is dryer than St. Lucia but quite nice and interesting. The last stop before the end of our minibus tour on Antigua we spent some time walking around the Lord Nelson's Dockyards, the only still working dockyards from that time period. (If memory serves me correctly.)

The next day, Friday was St. Maarten which we had done before so we stayed on the ship.

The next day, Saturday was St. Croix walked in and wandered through the shops near ship.

Coming home was adventure. It wasn't until the last flight of the night that we could get a seat out of San Juan. It got us into New York's JFK at around eleven at night. We stayed in the airport until our flight to Salt Lake at 6:50 the next morning.

I slept all day yesterday while poor Judy went right from the airport to work.

Jim took us to the airport and picked us up again when we returned as well as going back and getting Judy when she got off work.

Last night the three of us met Corey and his family at La Costa Restaurant in American Fork for Mexican; our valentines dinner.