Our flight to San Juan, Puerto Rico was uneventful, and we were
even able to sleep for a few hours of it after I had a short allergy
attack of the variety I've been having since being pregnant this time -
sick to my stomach and extreme itchiness on hands and feet. Luckily it
went away after ten minutes. We arrived at about 7am and had a cab
driver take us to our ship. He said he'd drop us at a nearby hotel since
we wouldn't be able to board yet (boarding time was 1:30pm). So we had
breakfast at Denny's and passed out on some benches on the hotel
grounds. After that, Helaman said it was just .5 miles to the ship, so
we set off. Unfortunately, it was a LOT farther than a half mile in the
blazing sun and we ended up having to get a cab anyway. Though the
cruise documents said to not arrive before 1:30, we have discovered no
one reads nor heeds instructions like that. So we showed up at 11am and
were able to get on, though the room was not ready. We then went to the
ship library which had some very comfortable couches and again took
another nap. Once the room was ready, we took much needed showers, went
to a round of trivia and then to dinner. We were assigned to a lively
table with another couple our age, and a family with three daughters. It
was so nice to not have to prepare and clean up meals all week. A
welcome variety and comedy show was that night. We wondered if the
comedian stayed the whole week after doing his 30 minute show or if he
got off somewhere.
Sunday morning we arrived in St. Maarten. The perfectly blue and aqua waters were straight from a postcard, and the most beautiful I've seen. We had intended to find the local LDS branch, but were not allowed off the boat until it was almost over. We took a tour around the island and stopped at a beach that planes fly right over as they land. There was a lot of air traffic for such a small island - a landing about every 5 minutes.
Monday we arrived in St. Kitts. We took a taxi down to the beach and met up with some natives to go stand up paddle boarding. It was not the best day for it, as it was really windy with some decent waves. Even the guide was falling off! That night we enjoyed an ice skating show onboard.
Tuesday we came to Antigua. We had a little speedboat take us around the island. We were with another family from Tyler, Texas and a bunch of Italians wearing what I suppose is normal Italian swimwear, meaning tight white briefs for the men! Funny. We stopped to snorkel and see starfish, then at an uninhabited island where the guides cooked up some lobster for us for lunch. The water was perfectly cool, clear and refreshing, and it was fun to tour the island by boat. That night, we went to the classic "Love and Marriage" cruise game show which was entertaining and fun.
Wednesday we got to St. Lucia, which is very lush and tropical looking compared to the other islands we had been to. We rented a car and drove down the coast (on the left side of the road - yikes). We toured a really nice resort called Jade Mountain which looked amazing with its open air rooms all overlooking the lush scenery and Piton Mountains. That night we sat on the pool deck where they were showing the movie "Insurgent."
Thursday was Barbados, where the whole island is surrounded by beautiful beaches, perfect green/agua waters and mansions. We took a catamaran trip around it and stopped to snorkel around turtles and a shipwreck. They served a nice lunch on the boat. Sitting on top of the catamaran was fun when we could get a spot in the shade! That night was a onboard scavenger hunt.
Friday we had a gloriously laid back day on the ship. We slept in, did some trivia, went from one buffet to the next, read books, caught a movie, H participated in a ping pong tourney, and we went to the farewell show with a clown and a different comedian. Since we had been in the sun all week, we stayed inside and let our skin recover. We had a balcony room this time so we got our ocean and sun fill just by sitting on our little deck.
Saturday we got our last breakfast buffet and headed out into San Juan. Since our flight was not until late afternoon, we took a tour of the area, walked around a bit, had lunch and then headed to the airport.
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