Day 13 - Final Sea Day

Today was our final sea day and the last official day of our holiday. Our activities were mostly a repeat of yesterday – laying on the deck or our balcony reading and soaking in the sun before we head back to the freezer that is Minnesota. It was a beautiful day at sea – sunny and 82 degrees Fahrenheit with a slight wind (10 kn). The sea is also very calm today for the first time – we’ve had waves of up to 10 feet most of the trip.

We watched the sun set on the balcony and then headed up for a light dinner from the buffet. We’re still full from our huge dinner last night! We finished off the night with a drink at the bar, and are now back in the cabin. We’re all packed up and will put our bags out soon. We chose to do “Luggage Express” this time, which means that, after we put them out tonight, we won’t see our bags again until we get to the airport in Minneapolis. We have an 11:30 am flight out of Miami so we hope that not having to worry about our bags in the morning will speed things up!

So, another trip has come and gone. We had a great time and have seen some new and beautiful places. Only 90 days until we cruise again in February! There are still cabins available if anyone wants to join us!

P.S. Dad – I think that Dolly must be close to 40, if not a bit older. I think I was in jr. high when you got her, and she wasn’t a baby then. That would mean you’ve had her for about 30 years – do you remember how old she was when you got her? If so, add 30 to that. Love, Karin

Day 12 - Sea Day

Second-to-last sea day today and we enjoyed it very much! I was up early and went to the gym for a run. When I got back we showered and went up for a light breakfast before heading out to the deck to lie out and read/relax. It was particularly hot out this morning so we were back in the cabin by 11 am. At 2:30 we headed off to a meet and greet that was planned by the folks Andrew corresponds with on the Cruise Critic website. Cruise Critic is fairly well known in the cruise industry and the cruise lines like it when people on their ships have positive experiences and post about them. They also know that folks will post about their negative experiences, too. The cruise director from this ship, and his assistant cruise director, both came to the meet and greet to answer questions and take feedback from the group. After that discussion we chatted with some of the folks Andrew knows from the boards. Andrew is well-known on the Carnival boards and folks at the meet and greet were happy to see “Gar” (short for his screen name on the boards – Gargoyle).

We spent the rest of the afternoon reading out on the balcony and then headed off to our 6:30 reservation at the steakhouse. The meal was amazing, as usual, and way too much food, as usual. Now we’re back in the cabin for the evening trying to digest enough to be able to go to bed. Tomorrow is our last day on the ship before we head home – keep your fingers crossed that we can sleep in for once!

Day 11 - Aruba

Aruba is beautiful! What a perfect last stop for this trip. We arrived in port just before 8 am (where we were greeted by a rainbow) and were off to pick up our rental car. I’m happy to report that we found Aruba much easier to navigate than Curacao and, we were able to drive directly to all our destinations.

Our first stop was the Aruba Donkey Sanctuary. They are a non-profit organization that is run by volunteers and supported by donations. They have 59 donkeys living there currently and it looks like it’s a pretty easy life for them. Dad – maybe Dolly would like to relocate! Andrew was in heaven at the sanctuary feeding and petting all the donkeys. There was even one named Andrew!

After the donkeys we headed to the west end of the island to Palm Beach to pick up some rental fins for snorkeling. We then drove north to try out a couple of areas that were recommended for snorkeling. As you can see from the pictures, the water is beautiful and clear and the beaches are beautiful white sand. Despite that, however, there is not much to look at in terms of snorkeling. We tried three different locations and found them all to be much less interesting than some of the other places we’ve been. There are some wrecks that you can dive but, since we planned to dive in Grand Turk, we didn’t schedule a dive here so were unable to go. We did enjoy the water and the beach, however, and had a good time being knocked around by the waves.

Finally, our day was over so we took back the car and re-boarded the ship. We had a great dinner (me: short ribs; Andrew: seafood penne) and are now back in the cabin. We’re tired after such a tough day. We both agree that Aruba would be a spot we would come back to. We would like to dive the wrecks , and Andrew would like to spend more time with the donkeys!

Day 10 - Curacao

Today was another port day – Curacao, but we did not dock until 1 pm so had a leisurely morning to enjoy. We were up early, as usual, and I hit the gym while Andrew hung out on the balcony. The rest of the morning we spent on the balcony reading, and Andrew even had time for a late-morning nap! After lunch, we packed up our snorkel gear and disembarked in Curacao. Curacao is a beautiful port – the buildings are all painted pinks, greens, blues and yellows. It’s very Dutch Colonial. It also played an unfortunate role in the slave trade industry. Enslaved Africans were brought here after capture and spent up to two years learning skills that would increase their value in the US market. Sad.

I would like to show you all the beautiful pictures that I took, but the only one I have is of Andrew snorkeling (which I’ll talk about later). Here’s a tip for anyone planning to rent a car and drive around Curacao on their own – for all intents and purposes they don’t have any street signs so it impossible to tell where the heck you are at any given time. Also, the map they gave us was more of an “artists interpretation” – not to scale, only showing about 10% of the streets, and not of any use, really. We keep a running list when we travel of things we need to do or bring on the next trip. We’ve added to the list “get maps of any cities we’re renting a car in”. I have to say that I did enjoy the driving part, although we had no idea where we were going most of the time. The drivers in Curacao move quickly and are prone to lane jockeying – two of my favorite driving behaviors! Andrew was less thrilled than I as we zipped around the city at random with the camera securely in the trunk of the car with our snorkel gear.

We did finally manage to find The Dive Bus, where we had reserved fins for snorkeling. The owners were a lovely couple and their dog which we fell in love with immediately, of course! They gave us very clear directions to the beach (“Walk across the street; it’s right there. Enter the water from the beach.”). We did have to risk life and limb to cross the aforementioned street (see the bit above about Curacao drivers), but we managed to make it on a dead run.

The snorkeling was fine, but not the best we’ve seen. Although there were lots of fish to look at (Andrew even saw some squid), the water was fairly cloudy. I only stayed in about 20 minutes – I’m not a good snorkeler, I get motion sick bobbing around on the top of the water (which is the reason I love to scuba) so I got out and sat on the beach to “spot” for Andrew. He stayed in another hour, at least. He could bob around out in the ocean forever! While I was on the beach I saw what looked like a “patch” of rain coming in toward shore (it was raining off and on all day). I quickly realized that it was not rain but small fish jumping out of the water. Shortly behind was a school of large tuna, each jumping several feet out of the water, trying to catch the small fish. It was really amazing to watch !

We managed to find our way back to the port just as it was getting dark. Unfortunately, we didn’t get a chance to drive around and see the rest of the city because we were nervous about getting completely lost in the dark with no map and no clue! So, we didn’t get to do any shopping, or take any photos of this cute little port with its doll-like houses. You’ll just have to close your eyes and imagine.

Day 9 - Dominican Republic

A lizard at Altos de Chavon. He was only about 2 inches long.

Us at the past guest party last night.

Today we finally docked! We arrived in La Romana, Dominican Republic at 9 am, and were able to get off the ship shortly after that. We took a shuttle to Altos de Chavon, which is a replica of a 16^th century Caribbean city. As you’ll see from the photos, it was very pretty and full of tourist shops and restaurants. We looked around a bit, took some photos and then grabbed the shuttle to the main square of La Romana where vendors had set up booths to sell crafts and other items. Most of the wares were paintings and jewelry, neither of which really caught our attention. La Romana is primarily an industrial/factory city and it was a $60 cab ride to any of the beautiful Dominican beaches, so we headed back to the ship around noon. We spent most of the afternoon up on deck reading. We had a few runs on the waterslide – not quite as fancy as the one on our last ship, but still fun. I also got in the pool for a few minutes to cool off. After we were extra crispy from the sun, Andrew went to the cabin to hang out on the balcony and I went to the gym.

Now we’re just back from dinner. Tonight Andrew had flank steak and I had lamb chops. Both were delicious! Tomorrow we dock in Curacao, but not until after lunch so we have the morning to relax. We’ve yet to make it to any of the evening entertainment. We were planning to go to see the “Rock Star Juggler” last night, but I fell asleep so we didn’t get there. I should suggest to Carnival that scheduling evening activities that start at 9 pm is really out of the question! Something closer to 7:30, finished by 9 pm would be much more up my alley! J

Day 8 - Grand Turk?

As I type this out on our balcony, I can see Grand Turk as a small sliver of land on the horizon. Unfortunately, it’s behind us. It’s also nearly 45 minutes after the time we were supposed to dock. It seems as if the seas are too rough, due to very high winds, for the pilot to get out to the ship. For those of you who aren’t cruisers, at each port a “pilot” from that port is required to board the ship and guide the boat in to the dock. They come along-side the ship on a small motorized boat and climb up a ladder to the bridge to assume control of the ship. The same activity happens in reverse when we leave the port. I’m not exactly sure why the guy who drives the boat the rest of the time can’t do this, but maybe it’s better not to know too much!

We called guest services a few minutes ago and they said that they are “waiting and hoping for the best”. We are not sure what that means, since we continue to speed away from Grand Turk at 17 kn.

Update – there was just an announcement from the captain saying that we will not be able to dock in Grand Turk due to the weather. It is very windy; one of the deck chairs is blowing across our balcony. Fortuitously, we decided to cancel our dive in Grand Turk yesterday morning due to Andrew’s ear issues. If we had not done that, we would not have made the required 24-hour notice guideline and would have had to pay the full amount for the dive. As it turned out, we only had to pay a 10% cancellation fee, which saved us about $275! Typically, things don’t work out like that for us (remember the incident in the customs line in Miami?), so we’re feeling lucky and will enjoy our extra sea day. We’ll just have to come back to Grand Turk another time!

Day 7 - Sea Day

Today was a whole lot of nothing! We were both up early (in fact, Andrew was up most of the night because he took a Sudafed hoping to fix his ear issues). I went to the gym for a couple of hours while Andrew hung out in the cabin. After breakfast, we laid out on the balcony. Unfortunately, we had to be bundled up as it is very windy (gust to 40 mph) and overcast. It was obviously not too chilly as I fell asleep for a good hour! After lunch, we spent an hour reading in one of the lounge areas that has nice, comfy chairs before Andrew headed off for a nap to try and catch up on his missed hours last night. I spent the rest of the afternoon moving around the ship reading. The ship is all decorated for Christmas, so it's fun to wander around and see all the decorations!

Dinner tonight was a formal evening, so lobster was served. It is always better than I expect it to be! Now we’re back in the room as the show does not appeal to us. We’ll just read or maybe get a movie on the TV. Tomorrow morning we dock in Grand Turk at 8 am. We were scheduled to do a dive on the wall but had to cancel this morning as Andrew still cannot get his ear to clear, and it would be impossible for him to equalize on a dive. We’re both a bit disappointed but it isn’t worth the risk of him bursting an ear drum. Instead, we’ll either rent a golf cart and roam around the island, or find a snorkel boat that will take us out to the wall. It would be nice to see it, even if it’s from the surface, instead of 80 feet below.