caribbean experience

[st thomas sunset]

We've been back home in the real world now for a week, since our Cruise and Caribbean vacation. It was so good to get out of town and spend sometime seeing such beautiful places. Now, I'm home preparing for snow again tomorrow and my tan is slowly fading with every passing day.

We went to San Juan, Puerto Rico; St. Thomas, U.S.V.I.; and Grand Turk in the Turks and Caicos Islands, British West Indies. We were also supposed to stop in the Bahamas at "Half Moon Cay," the cruise line's "private island;" but we had a change of route due to a sick passenger that we returned to Miami the day after we departed (I still don't understand why a speedboat or helicopter couldn't come for the person!).

After that though, I'm not sure that I'm one of those "cruise-people." Don't get me wrong, it was great to have everything and anything one needs while on vacation at all times, great to have somebody making the bed and putting chocolates on the bed as an unrequested turndown service; but its a bit creepy too. And, we had decent service (mostly - the room attendant was great, but our head waitress had an attitude), and there's far too many people on the ship (almost 2900) that it's hard to have personalized service. Somethings could have been better and I think the freedom of choice and ability to act less like a "tourist" is important to me. I think we (Guy and I) are a little more adventurous than the average cruiser, and the organized shore excursions have mixed reviews. We only took one, and it wasn't rated as 'adventurous' so we can't talk too much about those.

At least the ship had an international-feel. Most of the crew were from oversees (many from the Philippines, but we met a photographer from Peru, a bartender from Indonesia, a cashier from South Africa, and a massage therapist who was Turkish but from Romania). Thinking about what the cruise-tourists are like from the crew perspective was interesting, and speaking to the photographer from Peru, we had an idea of what cruise-life for the crew was like. Some cruise people are there just there for a good-time and to get drunk or wasted at every opportunity, or otherwise to act stupid, or waste their money in the casino. Others, are content with just staying on the ship with the all-you-can eat and mostly-gluttonous lifestyle for the week, which we also partook of, especially the 24-hour pizza and ice cream bar, and the nightly 'chocolate-melting-cake.'.

Still, the worst part was was the time restraints we had to plan our activities and try to have enough time to enjoy them. As an example (give or take some time depending upon the schedule), we were able to get off the ship at around 9:30a, but then we had to be back on by 5:00p. After that time, the ship would continue cruising, with or without us onboard. That may seem like a long time, but it really isn't enough time to do much - especially on Puerto Rico which has over 3500 square miles just waiting to be explored. Grand Turk, on the other hand was 6.9 square miles, and a lot more manageable between 11a - 5p. Then, St. Thomas, lies in between those both at 32 square miles. And, at St. Thomas we went to three different areas on three sides of the Island. That was the most exploring we were able to do, and it also cost us about $70 in transportation fees to do so (which I didn't expect).

With all of that said, it doesn't mean I wouldn't consider a cruise again, I'm thinking a Cruisetour to Alaska that is part-cruise, part-train, and part-bus would be awesome for 2 weeks or so. But, I much prefer traveling and staying on land with the ability to plan my own schedule.

As you can tell, there was a lot to like and dislike. Part of what made the cruise a great experience (subjectively, of course) was that a lot of our friends and family went. My cousin's wife organized the trip and we had over 50 people in our travel group. The planning of course, was eased by the lifestyle a cruise offers. We could gather together when we wanted, or do our own separate activities as we wanted - both on the ship and at each port.

[family pic - Dani, Guy, Diana, Dede, Royce, Joe]

The highlights were snorkeling and swimming at the beaches - snorkeling at Coki Beach in St. Thomas; swimming at Megen's Bay in St. Thomas and lounging under the Cabana at Grand Turk. We also saw the best sunset ever in St. Thomas as we were departing from the port. In Puerto Rico, we took a tour-guided trip through the El Yunque Rainforest (the U.S.'s only rainforest). And, we brought back four cheap bottles of alcohol (one whiskey, three rum), duty free to recreate the rummy-yummy drinks with umbrellas at home. For my first trip to the Caribbean, I think those highlights were really worthwhile.

Here's a few pictures; if you'd like to see more, I posted them all here.

[leaving Miami, party on the Lido deck]

[st thomas palm tree]

[after a day at grand turk]

More pics here. Enjoy!