Since Kevin and Courtney wanted to - and successfully did - get married on a cruise ship, we were invited along to join them and experience a cruise for the first time. I was initially reluctant to try out this new form of vacationing, but decided it would be best if I had a good attitude about the whole thing. Even boarding the ship I was hesitant about how enjoyable it would be. By the end of the cruise however, I was converted. The staff, the food, the destination ports, the companions we traveled with - all made for a very enjoyable and memorable trip. Even Tammy was civil most of the time!
Would I go on another cruise? Just give me time to pack a bag!!
Since I had just days before injured my knee while playing hockey (Grade 2 MCL sprain/tear), this was going to be excellent therapy. Plus, it was still cold in Ontario. It couldn't have come at a better time!
The Cruise
We sailed out of Ft. Lauderdale on the Carnival Freedom ship. We immediately went to a small jazz club lounge for the wedding ceremony and then all over the ship for pictures. We were very minor celebrities around the ship during the trip. The group of us - 22 in all - would bump into each other throughout the days and nights and catch up on all of the activities we'd been up to.
The weather for the 8 days was very good. A couple of early morning sprinkles of rain was all the 'wet' that we had. Clear or clear-and-cloudy was what we experienced every day. The temperatures were between the mid-70's to mid-80's... perfect compared to the dumping of snow that was going on in our home province!
The cruise stopped in St. Maarten, St. Kitts, San Juan (Puerto Rico) and Grand Turk. I could have spent a lot more time in Puerto Rico, but other than that it was nice to see the different islands.
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| Our ship - Carnival Freedom |
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| On the top deck |
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| The longest hallway... |
St. Maarten, N.A.
We wandered around the small shopping district downtown for the morning then headed back to the boat to get some beach attire. We took a taxi van to the famous Airport Beach, but opted for the quieter Mullett's Bay beach. We had a crazy taxi ride back to the pier after the beach as one couple in the van was late returning to their ship and traffic was heavy. We skirted security and drove right down the pier to deliver them to their ship's gangway. We had received a quick tour of the back streets and alleys of Phillipsburg as she was taking every shortcut she knew! I could go back there.
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| The welcome sign |
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| A view on the pedestrian shopping strip |
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| Making rum-filled coconut drinks on the beach. I didn't try one - don't like coconut. |
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| Runway on one side of the road; beach directly on the other side. |
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| The beach at Mullett's Bay |
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| The little mountains overlooking the marina just outside Phillipsburg |
St. Kitts
After wandering through an artisan's alley I was drawn to the sound of pounding drums and singing. I ran quickly hobbled down a small lane into the main street of downtown. There was a parade of school kids singing and chanting. It was apparently a celebration for the various schools' sports teams from the region. It was pretty neat to see.
We had booked an excursion to go zip-lining in a small rain forest. It was a great experience. Sailing over and through the trees, with a view of the ocean at the bottom of the valley. Excellent!
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| The entrance to St Kitts from the pier |
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| Jealous of the St Kitts Electric Company's vehicle |
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| A beat up old Land Rover for sale |
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| The hills behind the town of Basseterre |
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| local traffic |
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| The Orange School on parade |
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| Gates to the cricket grounds |
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| Brown Pelicans |
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| Getting geared up for the zipline |
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| Set to go... |
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| Tammy taking a unique approach to the zipline. At least she wasn't pestering me! |
San Juan, Puerto Rico
We walked through the old town to the two forts in San Juan. It was scenic and educational. The forts have slowly been restored to the current conditions. We covered such a small area of San Juan - and the entire island of Puerto Rico - that it would have been nice to spend longer there to explore some of the rain forests, parks and beaches. The quaint narrow streets and colourful buildings had a great feel to them.
There is such a long history in this region (Caribbean); early European explorers, slave traders, wars and development. There is so much we didn't get to see that I think a trip back here would be warranted.
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| Old San Juan in the early morning light |
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| Cannonball! |
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Looking from one fort to the other. It wouldn't be the worst place
to be stationed. |
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| The only tall buildings we saw on the cruise |
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| Cute gardens and brightly painted houses |
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| A larger group of us heading from one fort to the other |
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| The girls with Don Collins - coffee roaster and coffee grinder of some reputation on the island. |
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Blue bricks were originally ballast in the galleons that sailed over.
They didn't need them on the trip back to Spain since the boats were loaded with gold.
They paved the streets with them instead. |
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| The Grill of Glorious Bacon at Guy's Burger Joint on the ship. Yes, that's all bacon! |
Grand Turk
This was a pretty small and flat island. We spent some time lounging in chairs on the beach until we had to get ready for our scheduled snorkeling trip. We sailed on a large catamaran out to an anchoring spot and jumped into the water. The water off the beach was brilliant turquoise blue, changing to deep blue in the deep. It was clear to the ocean floor some 20' below. There were so many fish! Different species, colours and sizes. I could have spent the afternoon floating and flippering (is that a word?) around watching all of the fish. That might have been the highlight for me. I desperately wished for a waterproof camera. That would have been perfect. I really wish I could share pictures of what that was like.
We were swimming on the edge of a continental shelf. The depth dropped off like a cliff, literally. It went from 20' of depth to somewhere around 7000' in an instant. There was no bottom to the ocean, it seemed. That's a lot of feet of water to drown in!
After snorkeling, we anchored off of the beautiful and secluded Governor's Beach and splashed around for a bit before having an impromptu dance to reggae music on the deck of the catamaran while heading back to the dock.
The Everglades
Since there was time to kill between leaving the ship and having to be at the airport to head home, we took a trip to the Florida Everglades, just south of Miami. We loaded onto a big air boat and toured around a small corner of this unique area. We saw some birds and a real live alligator! There were loads of fish swimming around in the water, too. I think a fishing trip to this area would be a bucket list item.
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| Twin 500 cu. in. Cadillac V-8 engines. No mufflers |
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| Vultures circling our air-boat. Why? |
The Reception
We drove down to Windsor the Friday after we got back to celebrate Kevin and Courtney's marriage with all the other friends and family who were unable to attend the ceremony down in Florida. Our boys learned a little bit about dancing that night. They aren't good, but they aren't shy!
Oh, one more thing...
We discovered a unique phenomenon among some people on and off the cruise ship. (oh, you knew they weren't locals!) Once traveling, they lost all sense of fashion. Mixing stripes, plaids, tropical patterns of various styles, strange geometric shapes - didn't matter! Anything goes.
We called it "Cruise Ship Camo", as it almost blended in with the over-the-top decor of the ship. It became a game to get a picture of the offending person. Even better if you could get one of our group members in the picture with them! I'm missing a couple of pictures from other people, but this is a good sampling.
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