St Croix

Today was our last port of call, St. Croix. We had originally planned on kayaking here but I could not book anything online prior to our trip because they wanted me to book through the cruise ship. The problem with that was it was double the price. So we had no excursion planned for today.

That worked out wonderfully. We slept in the morning then went on the island and walked around for a little while. We are both really sunburned on our backs (from snorkeling yesterday) so we did not want to be in the sun too much. Our backs are really painful! The aloe vera with lidocaine helps though.


Once we got back on the ship, we went on deck to read in the shade. That was nice. The ship was pretty empty since most people were on shore. Brian watched a movie in our stateroom and I took a nap. I am going to miss my almost daily naps!

This trip was great and relaxing. Our highlight was riding segways. It was nice to spend time together and with Melissa and Jonathan. We really liked our cruise ship too. We are big fans of large cruise ships because it has so much to offer. Our next cruise planned is Asia and that ship is only 1/3 of the size of this one. That is going to be an adjustment for us.

Tomorrow we are going on a cruise shore excursion to the Bacardi Rum factory. This is more Melissa’s cup of tea but it works out since we do not fly out until almost 4pm and have time to kill. As part of the excursion, Royal Caribbean will handle our luggage for us. At $28 per person, it is reasonable priced and includes transportation to the airport.

Now it is time to work on packing to come home. We are always sad when our trip is almost over. We are going to the ship farewell show tonight too.

St Maarten

Last night was formal night. Brian and I decided not to wear our most formal clothes though. Brian just wore dress pants and a tie and I wore a short dress instead of a long evening gown. The weather has been great but for as fair skin as we are, the sun has not been very nice to us. We are trying really hard not to get sunburned but that has been quite a challenge. I definitely have some sunburned spots. So we decided not to get to dressed up.



We realized at dinner last night that Royal Caribbean has gotten rid of bar tenders in the formal dining room. That means the assistant waiters must get all alcoholic drinks now. That is on top of their normal duties of getting sodas and water, bread, and clearing off the tables. Plus they now have three tables (they have always had two before). I personally think that is too much for them. The waiter now has to do more because they really don’t have an assistant waiter anymore except to get alcoholic drinks.

I decided to let the headwaiter know that we have noticed the change and did not feel that was a good thing in general. He misinterpreted this feedback to mean that our waiters were not doing a good job and they got in trouble. We were very angry at that point. Our waiter Randolph has been great! That was not what we were saying but our headwaiter just did not get it! Oh it was a mess but after talking with our head waiter again for 20 minutes I think he may have gotten our point, maybe. He spent most of the time talking about irrelevant things, so we are not entirely sure.

Then we went to a comedy show on board. I wanted to see a parade onboard but we missed that since we were still trying to get our headwaiter to understand what we were saying. We were not impressed with the comedy show so we left early. We knew we had to get up early too so I guess it worked out.

We were up at 7am this morning for our snorkeling excursion. A taxi driver was at the pier and he took us to the boat marina. We booked Captain Alan’s snorkel adventure online. Overall we were satisfied. It was a little annoying for us because on our reservation it stated no credit cards which meant we had to bring cash. We not usually have much cash on us. However when we got there they were accepting credit cards but we left our credit card on the ship.

We went to two stops to snorkel. The water was murky because of the hurricane so seeing things was difficult. This excursion also made us realized how great The Great Barrier Reef was to snorkel. It was so much bigger, had so much more diversity, and was very picturesque. We completely drained our waterproof camera battery when snorkeling it in Australia. Despite previously using the camera, we returned to the ship with all power bars still illuminated. We took a few pictures, but there just wasn’t that much worthy of photos. It wasn’t that Saint Maarten was bad, but instead that the Great Barrier Reef was just so much better. We were spoiled since that was our last snorkel trip. We talked to some guys who have snorkeled quite a bit in the Caribbean and they thought the stops were generally pretty good. We did see a stingray when we were walking on the beach after snorkeling though.



It was a nice day but the sun was so intense and we did get sunburned even though we applied sunscreen three times on a four hour excursion.


The best part of the excursion was after snorkeling they took us to a private beach island. At the beach, we were supposed to have a mud bath (the part I was looking forward to). They had to stop doing the mud bath last week for some reason so they came up with a sand bath. They gave us lotion to apply to our bodies everywhere then we all sat in a circle and rolled in the sand. Then we let it dry and washed it off 10 minutes later. It was really fun. The sand was hard to get off though. It took some scrubbing in the water.

Our taxi driver was waiting for us once we got back at 1:15pm. We got back on the ship and took showers since we had sand EVERYWHERE! After we were cleaned up, we got back off the ship and walked around Phillipsburg. Again the sun was so intense we decided we should just get back on the ship and try and stay out of the sun before we get really sunburned.


Now we are just going to relax and maybe go to the show tonight. Tomorrow we are in St Croix and we do not have anything planned. I am glad about that. I am really for a relaxing last day of vacation.

Antigua

Last night we saw an ice skating show on the ship. We got there early and sat in the second row. All four of us went. It was very good. I liked it a lot.


We went to breakfast early this morning with Melissa and Jonathan. Then we all got off the ship for our segway excursion. A representative from the company, Juliet, met us at the cruise pier riding a segway. It was easy to spot her because of the segway. Juliet was very nice and arranged everything that the website promised (transportation, refreshments, equipment, etc.). There was another older couple from Chicago that also joined us on the excursion. Juliet got us a cab that took us to the store to watch a safety video and fill out paperwork.


When planning this trip, I saw several good reviews about riding segways in Antigua. Brian and I were excited about this excursion the most because we have never rode segways and wanted to try it. I booked this excursion independent from the cruise line. I try to avoid booking cruise excursions when possible since they tend to be double the price. This was one of the best excursions that we have ever done anywhere. It was very well organized and greatly exceeded our expectations. I highly recommend this company and this excursion.


A taxi took us to the starting point of the segway riding adventure near the beach. Once we got there we were geared up with helmets and elbow pads. Then it was time to start to get familiar with the segways. There was about a half hour time with the guides helping us get on and off the segways, moving forwards/backwards, and turning. They are awesome! It should be no surprised that I want one now. I told Brian. I wonder if I will get one?



At first I was a little nervous about riding it, but it is really easy once you get the hang of it. You have to stand on it and balance in the middle. Then you use the handle bars to balance and help you move. When getting on and off, you need to use your feet and not hands because if you use your hands and pull or push the handle bar, the segway will respond and move as you try to step off.

There were 3 guides and 6 guests for a total of 9 people riding segways. The guides were all very nice and helpful. They allowed us to take several pictures along the way and gladly took pictures for us. They even had their own digital camera and took pictures using it which they are going to email us. It was really impressive. We got to ride the segways for over two hours. We rode around the coast sightseeing and then went up into a fort. That was fun because of the hill to get up into and out of it. We ended our tour at the beach. The beach was beautiful! Again the water was crystal blue and the sand was white. Riding the segway on the beach could not have been better. The company arranged for a taxi to take us back to the ship at 1pm. We had a lot of fun with it.

In the afternoon, Brian and I walked about St John’s Antigua. We walked around, took pictures, and stopped in various stops. We had to buy some aloe vera lotion at a Pharmacy since my legs are pretty sunburned. We got a bottle for $5 (it is $13 on the ship and it was $9 in Puerto Rico). I am trying to have sunscreen on all the time but I am still getting some sun. Today we anticipated clouds with the nearby hurricane, so we only applied sunscreen in the morning and did not bring it with us. It turns out it was sunny all day though and we should have reapplied the sunscreen.

Royal Caribbean has a program called “Walk for Wishes”. It costs $10 per person and the proceeds go towards the “Make a Wish Foundation”. Brian and I walked a mile today for it. It was fun.



The hurricane has not affected as all. Today was another beautiful sunny day. The captain mentioned the hurricane for the first time today. They just said we might encounter some swells from the remnants of a hurricane that has moved off. It is funny because there is a station on the ship TV that shows radar among other things. It barely even shows the islands and focuses on the Western Caribbean to avoid showing the spiraling hurricane to the east. Tomorrow is snorkeling. Let’s hope I don’t get too sunburned.

St. Lucia

Last night at dinner our Canadian table mates did not show up. I think it is because Melissa scared them away already. It was nice to talk with Melissa and Jonathan since we had not seen them all day. We both talked about our day. They did not like their dive because of the way it was setup. There were very strong currents because of the nearby hurricane, so it would have been better done as a drive dive. Instead they had to swim against the current the whole time. They ended up leaving early after the first dive and skipping the afternoon dive because it was so bad. Other people were also complaining.



After dinner, we all went online to check the status of Hurricane Bill. Since it is out of our control on what happens, we are having fun with it. We are joking that all of the normal safety drills that the crew are doing is actually in preparedness for the hurricane. Still the ship has not said anything about it. Tomorrow we are still on track for Antigua as far as we know. They made an announcement as we left Saint Lucia and nothing was mentioned about the weather or the category 4 hurricane that is nearby.


This morning we got a phone call from Melissa at 7:20am. (We had agreed to meet for breakfast at 8:30am). She stated since Jonathan got her up early she needed to get us up and it was time for breakfast. You have to love Melissa! So we went to breakfast then got off the ship and looked around at some shops near the dock.


We met our Shore Trips representative at the dock around 9:15am for ziplining. This was the first time I had used the company Shore Trips and it worked out well. We left the port around 9:45am and it took about an hour to get to the rainforest for ziplining. Ziplining was really a popular activity. We had to wait for a while before we got our gear and to get on the first zipline. We were okay with that, but Melissa was not so patient.



Melissa and Jonathan had never ziplined before. We have done it three times before in Hawaii, Alaska, and Belize. The funny thing was I was the most nervous about it. It is a good thing we have video of me skydiving since no one would believe it since I still get scared to zipline!


On the first zipline I started to rotate, so I put both hands on my harness to hold on. This is exactly what you are not supposed to do because then you can’t steer or slow down anymore. So I went full speed ahead to the end. They had to stop me and I crashed into the person at the next platform. That will probably leave a bruise. I did that again later in the day. Jonathan got video of it.


St. Lucia was really hot and humid. I think it was the most humid place we have visited so far on this trip. It was a pretty island with lots of lush greenery. The zipline was in the rainforest (they get about 180 inches of rain per year). We drove through rain while driving to the ziplines and back. It only sprinkled a little while ziplining though with no real rain on us. So far so good, with the weather.



We are really hoping tomorrow is nice too. We have a segway tour planned. None of us have ever done that and we really hope we can do that tomorrow weather permitting.

Hurricane Update: Hurricane Bill has now been upgraded to a category 4 hurricane. Based on today's weather, you would not know any better. Tomorrow still looks promising. The south west side of the hurricane does not stretch out as far and has kept us dry. If we can survive tomorrow, the hurricane may start moving far enough North not be impact us.



Thanks everyone for posting your comments. We have enjoyed reading them.

Hurricane Update – We are in for trouble

Tonight we learned that computer animations are not necessarily good indicators of the weather. We have been watching CNN to see the hurricane progress. The good news is that it will most certainly miss us according to all projections. The bad news is that the projections only consider the eye of the hurricane. It is a little bigger than that.

After our last blog post, we were watching TV and saw satellite images of hurricane Bill. Oh my! I think we are going to get wet. The storm extends from San Juan all the way south down to Barbados. Check it out:



As Jonathan said, “We should have taken a picture before we left port because we might be one of the last people to ever see it.”

So our last post which claimed we would be “unaffected” seems highly unlikely. Tomorrow should be okay we are thinking, but after that it could get interesting. The ship has not officially said anything at all about the hurricane so far. The National Hurricane Center upgraded it to a level 3 hurricane tonight… and it’s just another night of karaoke on the ship (at least so far!).

We are hoping we can fit ziplining (Wednesday) and the segway tour (Thursday) in, but we are not sure (especially about the segway tour). We will keep you posted.

We are going to the starboard side of the ship to look out into the darkness at a mighty hurricane.

Barbados

Last night was formal night. Melissa wanted us to get a picture with us spelling out OHIO. With Brian’s tripod we can do it easily. We no longer need people to take pictures for us. We can do it ourselves. Melissa, Jonathan, and I were all standing there trying to figure out who is what letter. Well I got confused and was thinking we read right to left instead of left to right. Boy did I get made fun of! Then Brian got in the picture and he was supposed to be an “I” but he made an “O” so we spelled OHOO! Now it was Brian’s turn to get made fun of. We finally got a good picture once we figured it out.


The other couple at our dinner table came last night. They are on their honeymoon. They live in Montreal, Canada. Brian and I tried to warn them that dinner will be entertaining every night because of Melissa. On the first night there was many funny moments. For example, we were explaining how Brian and Melissa are complete opposites and Jonathan said yeah Brian is smart and Melissa is... and he looked at her and then she slapped him. Again it was pretty funny.



This morning we woke up at 9:00am and went to breakfast. We were going to the beach today. There was a beach facility called the boatyard that had lounge chairs with umbrellas plus water toys like a rockwall, a water trampoline, and a rope swing. We walked there which it was little over a mile. Once we arrived (before 11:00am) they claimed they were out of umbrellas already. We later realized they must have lied to us since many more umbrellas showed up later in the day (about 50% more). I was not happy since I am so faired skin and would like some sun protection, but we applied sunscreen every hour instead. We ended up a little burned, but not too bad (at least not yet… sometimes a sunburn can take some time to start to show). We ended up getting an umbrella late in the day when someone left around 2pm, so we read on the beach a little under the umbrella.


We both climbed up on the water rockwall and jumped on the trampoline. Brian did the rope jump. I was not feeling that adventurous today. It was a great day and it was fun to have those toys to play with. It encouraged us to swim out much deeper than we normally would. The beach was the most beautiful I have ever been to. The sand was white without shells or seaweed to bother your feet and the water was crystal blue clear.



It was a wonderful day. We walked back to the ship even though there was a free shuttle back to the ship. We wanted the exercise and explore the city a little bit.

Weather update: We have had perfect weather so far. We believe that Hurricane Bill is heading north towards Bermuda which means we would not be affected. Wait and see what happens!



Melissa and Jonathan went scuba diving today. We have not seen them yet. Let’s hope they made it back on the ship. We are going to get ready for a pre-dinner show then off to dinner.

Day at Sea

Last night we went to dinner and we were seated in a table for six although the other couple did not show up. We are seated in a table in a special section that is elevated a little bit and has its own chandelier. It is quite nice. After dinner we went to a comedy show. The comedian was really funny. After that Brian and I went for hot chocolate and a cookie and ate it on our balcony.


Once we got up this morning we went for breakfast. Melissa called and wanted us all to play dodgeball this afternoon on a tournament. Dodgeball, really? But we agreed. That was our only definite plans of the day. Brian and I walked the outside track after breakfast. It was windy but a nice sunny day. We heard from people that last night we went through topical storm Ana and it was rough and stormy but we slept through it. It rained really hard, was windy, and there was lots of lightening. We were oblivious, but did notice the ship moving quite a bit. Today it has been beautiful.


We played basketball together but it was too windy to have any meaningful type of play. Then we went and signed up for internet and posted yesterday’s blog post while checking email. It was then time to exercise. The weight room is nice but it was a little crowded. They had a chin up bar for me so I was excited. Brian ran outside on the track which he finds fun because he gets to dodge people (perhaps good preparation for dodge ball this afternoon). I walked on the treadmill at the highest incline.

We met Melissa at the pool and it was time for dodgeball. The four of us were on a team and one extra guy joined us (he was actually good at it). Our team was called Team Adventure. The staff named us since we could not come up with a team name. We played for an hour different teams and we won the bronze metal. The boys played hard and Melissa and I collected the balls for the men and tried not to get hit. It was fun. I have not played dodgeball since elementary school. Even though we all thought Melissa was crazy for having us play, we all had a great time. At one point I was the only person in there for our team and I caught a ball to bring someone else in. I was so excited! I yelled, “Come help me!”



After dodgeball we all went to the buffet for lunch. Then we took some pictures. We were going to climb the rock wall but the line was too long, so maybe another day. Melissa and Jonathan played ping-pong. Then we came back to the room. Brian worked on the computer and I took a nap. Eventually Brian took a nap too. It is formal night on the ship. Melissa and Jonathan want us to get a picture of us spelling out OHIO in formal attire. That should be a cute picture. It is time to get ready for dinner.

Sail Away

Once we got up this morning (Sunday in Puerto Rico) we went to breakfast at our hotel. It was a nice selection for a free continental breakfast. Then we went for a walk on the beach. Although we were half way there when everyone made me go back to the room to put on sunscreen. We also had to check on the cancellation policies for our shore excursions in case the hurricane affects us. Finally we made it to the beach and had a nice walk together.

We checked out the hotel at noon and took a taxi to the cruise pier. We are docked across the waterway from Old San Juan. It was not a convenient location. Once we dropped off our bags, we had to take a taxi into Old San Juan because the walk was too far (even for our standards). The taxi driver tried to screw us and charge us more than the window said. We refused and paid them the printed price and left. Good thing we had exact change. We walked around a bit and Melissa and Jonathan stopped for lunch. We are weird and did want to buy lunch so we continued to walk throughout the city. After lunch, we walked to the famous fort in Puerto Rico – El Morro.



El Morro was quite a walk away. It was hot and humid today but I am really happy with that. As long as there is no rain, I am happy. We went into El Morro and the admission price was waived today. I’m unsure why. After walking around there for about an hour we walked back into Old Town. We stopped at a few gift shops. It is kind of nice that Melissa could buy her own shot glasses. (Every time we go somewhere we have to bring her home shot glasses).

Then we took a taxi back to the ship to board. We got on about 4:00pm and there was still a line to get on. I was surprised by that but that was okay. We went to the buffet for a quick lunch/snack. We all ate salads that were yummy.


The mandatory muster drill was at 6:00pm. They no longer make you were your life jackets. That is an extra bonus. While we were standing at our station, Melissa was taking pictures up Jonathan’s nose (yes I typed this right). Then Jonathan started taking pictures up Melissa’s nose. It was something to see. A couple hundred people standing in single file lines side by side, all packed together, and bored as they wait. Quite a few took interest in Melissa’s antics as you can imagine. Unfortunately we did not bring our camera. It was quite the site to see: first them doing it, and then all the people behind them watching in amazement / horror.

Now we are going up on deck to watch us sail away. Then we are eating dinner at 9:00pm tonight because of the muster drill. There is a comedy show and parade on board too tonight. It is going to busy night! A day of relaxation at sea is planned for tomorrow.

Tropical Storm Threatens San Juan

I am up early today (6:30am). Even though I was really tired I could not sleep in. My body is use to getting up early so sleeping in rarely happens. However since I had to turn on the computer to do something I woke up Brian. I am trying to tell him to go back to sleep but that is not working. So I went back to bed so I would stop disturbing him. At least on the ship I can go out on the balcony.

Last night, Brian and I had to go to Wallgreens since we forgot to pack Brian’s razor. What normally happens is I place all of our bathroom stuff on the counter to use in the morning then pack it, well Brian put it back in the drawer in the morning so I did not pack it. Oh well, Brian now has a new razor for $10 from Walgreens.

For a weather update, per MSN, “Ana triggered a topical storm watch for Puerto Rico and watches remained in effect from the US and British Virgin Islands, Antigua, Barbuda, St Kitts, Nevis, Anguilla, St Maarten, Saba and St Eustatuis. That means tropical storm conditions are possible within the next 36 hours”. We don’t know anything at this time about the weather other than that. In Puerto Rico this morning it is sunny and warm. Hopefully the storm will not affect us somehow. It looks like Bill is more likely to cause issues later in the week as we look to return home next weekend. It is still too early to tell though.

National Hurricane Center - A good place to get an update on Bill if you are interested.

We are going to breakfast with Melissa and Jonathan then go walk the beach.

Disclaimer: This post is pending review by Melissa. She must approve all posted photos, statements, claims, weather forecasts, transcripts, and future plans. Anything not deemed appropriate by Melissa will be highlighted in bold and redundantly posted on her Facebook page per Brian's new rule.

Day 1 in Puerto Rico

Last night Melissa and Jonathan came over around 8:30pm. I helped them pack their garment bag. It is really amazing how much stuff I can fit into a garment bag (two pairs of Brian’s shoes, 2 pairs of dress shoes for me, Brian’s tux, Brian’s dress pants and shirts, and 7 dresses for me). I did about the same for Melissa. That is how I keep the other suitcase weight under 50lb. (It was 47lb at the airport this morning).

We basically packed last night and tried to get some sleep although Melissa and Brian were up past midnight. However 3:45am came very fast. That is what time we were up for the airport. I told everyone that we needed to leave by 4:40am so we were at the airport around 5am. Well that did not happen. When I set the time, I do not give any leeway. (For example, when I set an alarm in the morning, I set it for the time I need to get up not a time where I can hit the snooze button several times).

Melissa was running about ten minutes late and Brian was another five minutes later than that. Then we were driving down our street and Melissa saw a skunk and Brian went in reverse so Melissa could see it better (she states she has never saw a wild skunk before???). I just wanted to get to the airport! I was a little stressed about it but it worked out. When we got to the Park N Fly place there was a van waiting for us. At the airport, there was no line at the Delta bag drop. We waited in security for about 15 minutes but we got to the gate with a little less than an hour before take off.

The flight to Atlanta was a little more than an hour. I decided to read the book “The Time Traveler’s Wife”. It is rather good so far. At the Atlanta airport, we landed in terminal D and our next flight was in terminal A. There is a train that takes you between terminals but I made everyone walk. Melissa was loving me at this point! I keep telling her it is good exercise but I don’t think she likes it very much.

We only had 45 minutes until our flight took off once we arrived to terminal A. Melissa and Jonathan decided to grab lunch somewhere. They were boarding everyone before they got back. Again that stressed me out a little bit so I went looking for them. They made it in time to board the plane.

Our plane to Puerto Rico was awesome. It was probably the best plane we have ever been on in terms of entertainment. It was a large plane (8 people across total 2-4-2). Each person had there own TV that had movies on demand (like 12-15 of them), TV shows, and games. It was really great. I watched “He is Just Not that into You”. It was okay. Brian watched ‘Push” because it took place in Hong Kong and he is getting excited for our next vacation (Asia). We also read some and the 3+ hour flight seemed to go by really quick. After nearly 30 hours travel time for Australia, this seems like nothing.

Once in San Juan Puerto Rico we got our luggage. It came really fast. Then we got a taxi to our hotel: Hampton Inn. It is a nice hotel and we have free internet which makes us happy. We were all hungry so we walked around and found a Mexican restaurant for lunch/dinner. It was really good. I had a Puerto Rican Burrito which was a fried banana with chicken, rice and beans. Yummy! Brian had fajitas which were also good. After lunch, we all walked to the beach about ¼ mile away. It was a beautiful beach.

Melissa and Jonathan went back to the hotel to relax. We wanted to enjoy the day more so we changed into our swimsuits and went back to the beach. Brian and I walked the entire beach which was at least 3-4 miles. It was a beautiful evening. Then we went for ice cream! Our vacations would not be the same if we did not get ice cream.


It has been a great day. We are tired (especially Brian since he stayed up last night) so we are going to get some sleep tonight, sleep-in in the morning, and then go to the cruise port and check out the old downtown area before we sail away.

Vacation about to start

We leave for the Southern Caribbean tomorrow! Last night Melissa and I went for a pedicure and to the mall for a few things. It was nice evening out. Then I came home and did housework and started packing. It is amazing how far I have come with packing. I use to pack my entire house for any trip but now I try to pack light but still have everything I would want. If all goes well, we will each check one bag and have our carry ons. Of course my little computer will be going with us so I can blog (hopefully everyday).

I am really trying to make this a relaxing trip. I have decided that in Puerto Rico and St Croix we are just going to see what we feel like doing and do that (no definite plans were made). In San Juan, we will probably try to see the castle - El Morro. It is neat place to visit and a nice walk to get there. Exercise before a cruise is always a good thing! It is going to be hot and humid there though. In St Croix, we were suppose to go kayaking but no one from the companies are calling be back so I think we will just see what happens once we get off the ship. The other ports of call I have shore excursions booked already for all of us.

Today I need to finish packing and run many errands. Melissa and Jonathan are coming over later night to spend the night since we need to leave so early in the morning. Next update could be from San Juan, Puerto Rico!

The Southern Caribbean Countdown

We leave this week for a 7-day Southern Caribbean cruise. I have most everything planned out (like always). For this trip, I don’t need to plan every single thing out since the plan is to relax a bit too. Melissa and Jonathan are going with us and I am looking forward to that. We love traveling and it is always fun to travel with family and friends. This blog could become very entertaining since Melissa is always entertaining!

Melissa and Jonathan are coming up Friday night since we leave early Saturday morning (4:30am). Melissa is not a morning person so this should be interesting. Hopefully the excitement will over power the crabbiness. We were supposed to fly out at noon but Delta changed our flights so now we are leaving at 7:00am. The good news is we will be in San Juan sooner enjoying our vacation.

I am excited about our cruise ship. We will be on Royal Caribbean’s Adventures of the Sea. It is the same class of ships as our honeymoon cruise and that was a great ship! Our ship has an ice skating rink, rock climbing wall, Johnny Rockets restaurant (which has the best milkshakes), a mini golf coarse and a basketball court for Brian and Jonathan. Plus we have a balcony on the 9th floor!

I am working on packing this week. Traveling internationally has taught me how to pack light. Let’s hope I can do it again. The goal is one suitcase and the garment bag with our formal clothes in it. I will post an update on that later in the week.

Melissa and I are going for pedicures later this week. We need our toes to be beautiful for the beach. :)

Southern Caribbean

Our summer vacation is coming soon. This trip will be a nice and relaxing vacation for us. Usually when we travel, we do as much as possible with little time to relax. This trip I am planning to make it more relaxing. I like this cruise though because we only have one sea day so we will still be a little busy. We will be a port most of the time visiting many new places.

This will be our 5th Caribbean cruise. We have done Eastern and Western both twice. We like the Eastern Caribbean better however I have heard the Southern Caribbean is the best. Soon we will fine out.

I have this trip basically planned out. I still have a few more details to figure out but nothing major. This seems weird to me since I don't have a large travel binder for this trip (just a notebook with written notes in my colorful pen). I guess that is what happens when we are not leaving the country for 3 weeks.

I am also excited because my new garment bag arrived today. (On our Australian cruise, our garment bag got ruined since both handles got completely broken off. It was a miracle that bag made it home and I new we needed a new one for this cruise).

We arrive in San Juan, Puerto Rico a day before the start of the cruise. I have not figured out what we are going to do for sure yet. Melissa, Brian, and I have already been there before so it doesn't matter to us what we do. I will figure that out soon.

Our first port of call is Barbados. Melissa and Jonathan are going to scuba dive (we are not certified and at this point probably will never be). We are going to "The Boatyard" instead. Check out there website: http://www.theboatyard.com
In St. Lucia, we are all going zip lining. In Antigua, we are going on a Segway tour. In St Maarten, Melissa and Jonathan are scuba diving again and we are snorkeling. Then in St Croix, we are all going kayaking.

I am happy with the variety of activities I have planned for us. I am not even scared about zip lining. I guess that is what happens after you skydive. I plan to update the blog throughout this trip too.

We have decided our next big trip (if we do one) will be Asia this winter. More about that in the weeks to come. Right now I am focusing on the Caribbean.

Where to go next?

Brian and I are deciding on where, if anywhere, should we travel next. We have some shorter trips scheduled in the next few months but we both kind of want to go on one more long trip. With Brian in school, we are looking at going somewhere in December/January. We have come up with three options.

We could do an Asian cruise. The original plan was for us to do Asia then Australia but we got nervous that after the flight to Asia, we would never agree to go to Australia. Since Australia was more important to us, we went there first. (It was a good choice since a major problem with Asia is the flight to get there and back). It is a LONG flight! It would be more that 26 hours of travel time. With the cruise, we would go to Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, China (Hong Kong and Shanghai), and Japan (Okinawa). A bad part with this cruise is we don’t go to Beijing which means we would not see the Great Wall of China. We feel if we are going that far away, we must do that. So we are looking at options to fit that into this trip. It will be freezing in Beijing this time of the year!

Another option is an Eastern Mediterranean Cruise with the highlight of overnight in Cairo, Egypt to see the pyramids. We would leave out of Barcelona and go to Rome, Turkey, Greece, Alexandria (Cairo) and Malta. Although it seems interesting, the weather would be cool and there are some issues with safety. We have already been to Barcelona and Rome so right now this trip is our least favorite.

Then there is a Panama Canal cruise. This is something we just came upon. It is an option because it would be warm and it would be neat to go through the Panama Canal. If we did this trip, we could also go on more shorter trips throughout the year (we would not use up all of our vacation time). We have not looked into very much yet but it seems like maybe we should save this trip for later but we don’t know.

Our thoughts about these trips change daily. They really do! Last week we were thinking no way for Asia and right now it is our favorite. I am sure things will change some more as we start making our final decision. If you have any thoughts of any of these, we would be interested in hearing them.

We are going on a road trip to Myrtle Beach for the 4th of July holiday. We tend to fly everywhere so this road trip should be interesting. It will be nice to get away for a weekend and go to the beach!

Next Trip Planned

I am back to planning another trip. Our next vacation is a Southern Caribbean cruise in August. Our ship is Adventure Of The Seas on Royal Caribbean. We will be going with Melissa (Brian's sister) and Jonathan. I am looking forward to it especially since it is April and it is snowing right now!

We will be flying to Puerto Rico to start our cruise. The plan is to spend one night in Puerto Rico before our cruise starts. Our ports of call include: Bridgetown, Barbados; Castries, St. Lucia; St. John's, Antigua; Philipsburg, St. Maarten; St. Croix. We have not been to any of those islands except Puerto Rico which we stopped at during our honeymoon cruise.

While looking at things to do on this trip, I realized we may be zip lining a lot. Then of course some snorkeling and enjoying the beaches. Melissa and Jonathan are certified to scuba but we are not, so we will stick to the snorkeling.

I will continue to update the blog as things come together as always. This trip will not be as intense to plan as some of the others but still fun. We are unsure if we will be going back to Europe or possibly Asia or Africa next year. We will have to wait and see what happens. (We would love to go back to Australia too but it probably will not happen).