Farewell To The Caribbean

       A sunset over the Atlantic on the return voyage, as seen through the dining room porthole window

  Ron and Karen offer a final toast to a wonderful Caribbean cruise at their final formal dinner on Voyager

The Return Voyage

On our way home with a few comments about the ship.  Royal Caribbean treats you royally.  There is always something to do onboard from professional entertainment in the main theatre, to casino action, to pubbing, water activities, exercise, skating, lectures, shopping, fabulous food, and a very attentive crew.  There is unique art everywhere from original sculptures and oils to vintage artifacts. The ship is immaculately clean.  Needless to say we really enjoyed this cruise, and enjoy the cruising way of life.  We are already planning our next cruise, and may even pre-book it right here onboard. 

Cheers

Ship Pics

Samples of some of the artwork around the ship

An unusual bar call the Chamber

Beautiful Antigua

Antigua is another beautiful Caribbean island, discovered by Columbus who ignored it, and it was left unsettled until the arrival of the English in 1632 with a plan to grow tobacco.  The soon decidedthat sugar was a better way to go and sugar mills popped up all over the island.  Later in 1784 Admiral Nelson arrived and established the British naval base for the illustrious Britsh fleet.
We visited a couple of British forts with wonderful vistas (unless you suffer from vertigo) and spent a pleasant hour in Nelson's Dockyards sampling Antigua's rum punch...it pack a whollop!

Antigua

People on the edge of a cliff overlooking Antigua coastline...not for Ron who stood far back to take this picture.

Admiral Nelson's officers quarters at Nelson Dockyards in English Bay.

Karen enjoys a free rum punch.  Lots of rum and lots of punch

St. KITTS

St Kitts is a kind of lush tropical paradise, a blend of sunlight, sea air, and abundant vegetation.  It has been both a French and British colony dating back to 1623,with sugar cane being the main reason for colonization.  It is now an independent nation but with many British traditions, including driving on the left side of the road, and a Governor General.
We had an excellent tour of the island with two main stops, a former sugar plantation, and a resored British fort, 1000 feet above sea level.  The drive to the fort was a real nail biter, with blind hairpin switch-backs where horn honking is necessary - a real challenge for Ron's vertigo!

NEWS FLASH........Ron went shopping and actually spent money!  He bought a Caribbean batik shirt.....Hey, Karen can't have all the fun.

More Photos

A home on the plantation

The garden on the plantation

St. Kitts Photos

After the nail biting drive to the fort, Ron was not able to climb this flight of stairs that led to the fort entrance.

A tree in the plantation garden overlooks the Caribbean Sea

U.S. Virgin Islands

Our ports of call today were St. Thomas and St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where the number one main attraction is SHOPPING, so, it should be no surprise to those who know her, that Karen was the first peson off the ship when it docked in St. Thomas.  She spent the morning power shopping for jewelry since it is tax and duty free.  Ron stayed on board to relax.  The afternoon was spent on St. John after a pleasant 30 minute launch ride through these beautiful tourquoise coloured waters of the Caribbean.  Today's pictures tell a little more.

All cruise ships are required to stop at a red light when navigating through town

St Thomas Harbour as seen from the ships upper deck

Virgin Photos

Karen and Ron's hats have a cold drink by the beach on St. John

You are encouraged to bargain with the shop owners to get the best deal you can on jewelry.  Karen offered the owner $5.00 for a blue diamond ring.  The owner was shocked, and Karen was hauled of to an island jail charged with attempted robbery.  I told her she should have gone up to at least $25.00

There are jewellers everywhere on St. Thomas, with Diamonds and Tanzanite being hot items.

Dominican Republic Summary

The Dominican Republic is a country of contrast, from beautiful beaches to run down shacks, open gutters and garbage everywhere.  In a 3 hour bus tour we saw it all.  We passed a luxurious hotel where if you left the grounds and walked 50 feet you were in a run down shanty town,with half finished tin roofs.  Everywhere you go you are hounded by Dominicans trying to sell you something. We do not recommend D.R. as a vacation destination unless you want to spend all your time on your hotel compound.

This is a walled Dominican Republic cemetery, with the entire wall covered in murals by local artists.  We tried to get in but were told only dead people are allowed.

In this republic, they let sleeping dogs lie!

Dominican Republic

This Dominican Republic Art Shack shows typical Haitian and Dominican artwork.

A clean relaxing Dominican Republic beach.  Great sand and surf.

Because we did not want to take  our camera in the kayak, we do not have a picture of us on the water but here is a picture in front of the kayak shed. A weired looking couple I must say.

More Pics of Haiti

The beach picture with the surf is on the Atlantic side and the picture showing the ship in the background is on the calmer Caribbean side.

First Stop Haiti

Today we landed at Labadee, in Haiti, a private beach area exclusively for Royal Caribbean ships. The sun was shining and the temperature was in the mid 80s F.  Our first adventure was kayaking in a cove area of the Caribbean Sea.  This was followed by a wonderful barbecue and some beach time. We also took a guided hike to learn more about the history of Haiti.

On Board Explorer Of The Seas

Here are a few pictures from the first couple of days on board, at sea heading for the Caribbean. There is a shot of the swimming pools from the upper deck...a few hundred people sharing the area. One of Karen's favourite places is the promenade shopping complex - dozens of shops with unbelievable bargains. As ususual, there is a picture of Ron (James Bond) on the steps of the casino, and Karen dressed up for dinner.  This is a vary large ship, with so much to do that there is never a dull moment.  The entertainment is amazing, including a full ice capades show on the ships' rink.  Tomorrow we arrive in Haiti at Royal Caribbean's private beach

Pre-Cruise Day In New York

We arrived in New York one day before the cruise and had a great tour of the city.  The pictures show times square - a happening place, a bum view of the statue  of liberty, Central Park, and Karen on Wall Street trying to encourage a bull market for her stocks. We were quite impressed with Central Park - much larger than envisioned, and very popular. Tomorrow we board the Explorer of the Seas for our cruise.

Pre-Cruise Day In New York

Goodbye Winter

As we look around Willowbrook in the winter, we look forward to relaxing in the sun on our Caribbean cruise with Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines.  Enjoying a cool drink on a warm sandy beach somewhere in the Caribbean has to be better than shovelling and blowing snow, although we do appreciate the beauty that a snowfall can contribute to the property.  Here are a couple of pictures to remind us of Willowbrook's winter wonderland.