TravelStream™ news feed for member loolie on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/loolie en-us Copyright ©2010 TravelPod.com Tue, 02 Jun 2009 12:58:44 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/loolie/2/1243871935/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/loolie/2/1243871935/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/loolie/2/1243871935/tpod.html Tue, 02 Jun 2009 12:58:44 -0400 Caribbean Cruise 2008

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Oranjestad, Aruba

11:40pm
What a day! For a day at sea, I think we filled just about each moment with something fun and memorable for our final day on board the Caribbean Princess. It's hard to believe that the week has passed - it went by way too fast and I don't want to leave! I could easily do with another week on board. It said there were snowstorms back home on CNN today... uh oh!

We woke up and went for breakfast - decided to try out the Belgian waffle station - they transform the pizza area into a waffle station in the morning! So very cute - little circular flowers almost, a cute pattern, and super fresh and tasty, prepared right in front of you! We also got some of the regular breakfast items at the buffet. After all, we've gotta take in as much good food as possible on the last day!

At 10:00am, we went to the "Onboard Outlet Sale" in one of the dining rooms. Plenty of discount clothes, jewelry, watches - nothing really nice, and all of these things have already been on sale and discounted in the shops all week long! Still, I had women pushing and shoving me! Great marketing by Princess though.

Part of the day was spent filling out comment cards, surveys, sorting out accounts, picking out photos, all that administrative kinda stuff. We picked out four photos - the hilarious Pirates one, the "Welcome Aboard" photo (came with a light-up photo frame, ooohh ahhhhh) and two formal photos (one for my grandparents for Christmas). Lovely!

We went for an afternoon swim at the Spa Pool. It wasn't too crowded and the wave pool contraption was on. The ship was also rocking a bit in the ocean which added to the waves - it was awesome!

At 3:15pm, we went to the "Maitre D'Wine Club" fancy wine tasting. We tried a champagne, two white wines and three red wines - one was really fancy at about $300 a bottle! It was awesome learning more about the wines and trying out some new ones! It made us a bit drunk, too, so we stumbled back to the room.

Got to sit out on the balcony for a little while and look out into the blue ocean. Then, boring stuff - packing up most of our things into the luggage.

Then, got ready for the evening and decided to take in a show at the Princess Theatre - the "Farewell Variety Showtime". We sat up in a little side balcony. First, the Caribbean Princess dancers came out and did a short number. Then, comedian Miguel Washington did a stand-up routine which was pretty funny. Lastly, Dario El Gaucho came out to do his routine. He is originally from Argentina and did a comedy/skills show.

He did bolero tricks with these balls that he whipped around his head in all different directions - very impressive. There was a comedic portion to it as well, where he called up people from the audience to participate! They were both pretty good sports - the one guy had to imitate him with a flimsy set of bolero balls and the other guy got a cigarette whipped out of his mouth. A highly innovative and entertaining show!

After the show, we went to dinner at the Dining Room for one last time. The servers were all wearing American Flag vests. For dinner, Poolie had a salad while I had the watermelon/feta/pumpkin seeds (an interesting combination!) For the main course, we both had this dish - rice and eggplant fritters with spicy tomato sauce and mango, almost in a paste form. It was so good! Almost reminiscent of an Indian dish.

At the end of the night, we went to Club Fusion for the Princess Pop Star Finale. The singers were all great! Very entertaining! One of the singers was one of the people who was on our shore excursion in Dominica from north of Toronto. The winner was Ted, a man from California, originally from the Phillipines singing Elvis' "Blue Suede Shoes." He certainly had all of the moves!

The last man who sang was an older man from Florida, who said that he left his wife at home and cruised alone because they had an argument the day before. His story was that he had three bottles of wine and his wife passed out, and then he said that he was going to "have fun with her." Poolie and I gasp, we can't believe he is telling us such a filthy story! He went on to explain that he actually woke her up to tell her about some deer that was outside that was actually a cow, and then he proceeded to call her a cow and she got mad. Then, he pretended to kiss and was super dirty with the hostess girl - what a filthy old man! The other host had the best call on it: "After witnessing that, I need to take a shower!"

Oh! I almost forgot - for lunch today, we had a sushi buffet and it was AMAZING! Lots of choices (kappa maki, ochinko maki, other veggie rolls, spring rolls, fried noodles, veggies) - so it was a fantastic lunch today at the Cafe Caribe buffet!

Well...now to sleep and take the long trip home tomorrow! Had an amazing time, it went by way too quickly! But we are so lucky to be able to take this cruise, loving every moment!

Here is a video from our day at sea: a view of the ocean from our stateroom balcony, part of a live show in the Princess Theatre with Danio El Gaucho from Argentina doing balero tricks, and the last part is the winner of our "Princess Pop Star" - Ted from California singing "Blue Suede Shoes" - he's got some great moves!


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Oranjestad, Aruba

12:25am
Before I start writing about today, there are a few things to write about before I forget. First, the other night, I woke up in the middle of the night and I was very confused. I woke up Poolie: "Poolie, where am I? Am I in the stateroom?" I had somehow turned myself right upside-down in bed and didn't know where I was! My head was where my feet should have been! Once I got myself turned around, thanks to Poolie, I went back to sleep!

Last night, I think I had bad dreams because the captain came on the intercom asking for people with certain blood types to donate blood for the passenger who had the medical emergency. We must have reached Aruba to get to the hospital early enough because that passenger is thankfully now in stable condition. I wonder what happened...

Today, today, today...Aruba! Woke up and looked out the balcony - looks much like Bonaire - a relatively flat island with many brightly colored buildings, but way more commercialized. After a buffet breakfast, we got off the ship to walk around in Aruba. So many shops! These are mostly high end stores...expensive jewelry stores, Louis Vuitton, fancy clothing stores, etc. I only purchased a few postcards here as many other things were too expensive for me! Oh! We also bought some of the Aruba Aloe products - some lotions and lip balm. I tried the face cream and it's great!

It was so hot, bright, and sunny today - the hottest it has been all vacation! We tried to keep in the shade. We decided to stray from the path with all of the shops to walk along the coastline. We walked near a resort hotel along the water and rocks.

Soon, we noticed one iguana...then two, then several! They blend in so well with the rocks! The iguanas must be used to people because they didn't seem to be scared of us at all. In fact, at one point, we stepped out on some rocks to get a closer view of the water and we stepped around the iguanas! There were lots of fish, even near the shore. Schools of fish, smaller fish, and we saw a parrot fish as well. As we walked further along the path, we saw tons of iguanas that we had to step around.

After walking and shopping, we returned back to the boat to cool off in the swimming pool. We went to the Spa Pool at the front of the boat and it was empty to our delight. After a refreshing swim, we got a bit of a tan, and when it got too hot, we went back in the pool. Then, we went for lunch at the buffet and later, back to the room for an unplanned nap. I guess sitting in the sun can make you a bit sleepy!

Tonight was formal night, so we got all dressed up. I wore my light purple sparkly dress that leaves sparkles everywhere I went. Tonight was the Captain's Circle Cocktail Party at Club Fusion, where all of the Captain's Circle members (repeat cruisers with Princess) gathered to meet the captain and have some free drinks. I had a rum punch and Poolie had an Emerald Breeze, which was such a vivid shade of turquoise.

After that, we went to have some photos taken by the ship's photographers (NOT the one from the first night!) and went to dinner. We were a tad disappointed with the lack of vegetarian options tonight (well, good ones...who really wants to eat pumpkin anyway, yuck!) but we had a lettuce and endive salad and fettuccine alfredo. For dessert, I had a passionfruit souffle and Poolie had a cookies and cream parfait with caramel. They were delicious!

It was non-smoking night in the casino, so we went so I could try out the slot machines. It didn't take me long to lose $40, so we were out of there pretty quickly! Oh well! It was about an hour before the highlight of the evening, the champagne waterfall. While we waited, we played a game of Scrabble in the games room and Poolie kicked my butt. He got the word "Zest" on a triple word score and double letter score for the "Z"! Aww!

The Champagne Waterfall...so many glasses, all piled so high! Someone dropped their camera down on us from an upper level and it could have really hurt if it hit us - thankfully, it didn't! The camera was totally broken though. They had the band playing music, everyone was dancing, especially this one waiter on the stairs! He had all the moves! Flailing his arms around, he was the best dancer!

The Maitre d'Hotel came out to stack the final glass on top and pour the champagne. Snowflakes came down from the ceiling, everyone drank champagne and had a big party in the atrium. I went up and "poured" the champagne (got to hold the Maitre d'Hotel's arm, haha). Lots of fun, but especially entertaining to watch for the one waiter dancing!

We came back to our room and Alvin made us the best towel monkey hanging from a coat hanger! So cute! So now we have a whole towel zoo, a little army of towel animals! Time to go to sleep...can hear parents letting their kids run wild at 1:00am in the hallways, ugh!

Here is the video from the Champagne Waterfall - in particular, the awesome dancing waiter! Check it out!


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Kralendijk, Bonaire

8:15pm
We started today knowing very little about Bonaire, but now we know what a spectacular and beautiful island it is, and how we would love to visit again someday! We didn't dock until 12:00pm noon so we had a little bit of time on board before hand. Also, we woke up super early, much earlier than expected - must be getting used to the early mornings!

We went to the shops on board and Poolie bought his white sunglasses and bought a long sleeved navy and white striped shirt as well. He is also a sweetheart and bought me a Swarovski necklace that looks like an apple - it's super cute. We went to play Bingo in the morning - I played, Poolie had no interest really so he brough a book. I was 1 number away from winning a prize but someone else won first. So, I lost today, oh well!

We sat on the balcony as we arrived at Bonaire, docking in the town of Kralendijk. There were many small brightly colored buildings up to a certain point, and the rest of the area is all scrub and cacti, as we learned later on. The island is relatively flat compared to the hilly and mountainous islands that we have already visited. We got off the boat at 12:00pm and met our tour, "Discover Bonaire" (booked through Princess) and boarded the bus.

We had some great seats at the front of the bus. The tour guide was fantastic, a very sweet and knowledgeable woman. She told us what it is like to live on the island, along with some personal stories. Bonaire has close ties with the Netherlands, and the official languages are Papiamento and Dutch (learned at school). The crime rate is very low - everyone in Bonaire takes care of each other like a big family, especially helping the children. Everyone in Bonaire has a job and health care can be subsidized by the government. It sounds like a great place to live!

Bonaire is an island of great beauty. We drove along the ocean and there are many places to dive with hundreds of species of fish and coral reefs to be seen. They also take great pride in preserving their nature and natural wonders, on land and in the sea. The main thing to notice when driving around the island is the abundance of cacti, aloe, and shrubs growing wild. It is an amazing sight to see! People also make fences out of rows of cacti, which is such a great idea. There are many caves in Bonaire, on land and underwater. Some caves can be seen above land and the rock formations are from when the water level used to be higher and these rocks were underwater. Now, the water level is quite a bit lower.

Our first stop was Goto Lake, an old salt pan that became a lake. We saw many flamingos here. When we got out of the bus, Poolie and I walked down the road for a little ways for a spectacular view of the lake, sparkling in the sun. There was a small island in the middle that a man apparently owns, and we could hear a baby goat crying out really loudly - so cute!

Although we only saw a couple, there are many donkeys that roam wild in Bonaire. The donkeys are well cared for and protected by the Donkey Sanctuary.

Next, we passed through the Rincon Village, where many proud natives of the island still live, although they live around the rest of the island as well.

On to the Washington Slagbaai National Park. We stopped just at the entrance to the park - it had a whale skeleton put together on display (created by some students on the island), as well as many cacti and old stone/wood buildings to show how the old buildings were constructed.

Inside the information center was a small museum devoted to the nature of the island. From the gift shop, we purchased a small handcrafted art piece made by a local artist of the salt flats, some postcards, and patches of the Bonaire flag.

We continued on to Scru Largu, a peak with a full view of all 4 corners of the island. There were also several little lizards with blue and green markings scurrying around, and I got one to come right up to my hand - it licked my finger! Very friendly little creatures!

We then returned back to the ship. It was a great tour and made us want to come back to the island for more!

After returning to the room for a short while, we got off the boat again to look around the shore. We went to a small craft marketplace where the locals sold their wares. Poolie bought me a unique necklace, handmade by Bonaire artists - a circular delicate clay necklace with a flower in turquoise and white painted on the front. Next, we picked up two wooden Christmas ornaments of an owl and a saucy-looking turtle. We visited a few shops and I picked up a beach bag / purse.

We talked to a nice local man who had a craft table about the wildlife and he informed us that you could see big fish close to the shore - well, he was right! We walked along the shore - beautiful coral beaches - and you could see big parrot fish right at the shore up close! Amazing to see! We walked along and I took pictures above and under the water.

A funny story - we thought we saw a parrot fish underwater so I stopped to take some pictures. After snapping three photos, the water calmed down and I was able to get a closer view - of a Coca-Cola can! So, my parrot fish was actually a pop can - pretty funny :)

We saw this long red fish that we hadn't seen before, schools of smaller fish, and tiny hermit crabs crawling all along the walls at the shore! What a gorgeous island Bonaire is, so full of sea life, we can't wait to return!

We boarded the ship at around 5:00pm and checked the dinner menu - for the Chef's Table dinner night, there were no vegetarian options. We opted to eat pizza and french fries for dinner tonight (with beer and strawberry margaritas) and instead of dressing up, we went for a swim. We swam in the Terrace Pool at the back of the boat while the ship left the port, so we got to say goodbye to Bonaire from the back of the ship.

Now, we are headed for Aruba - the captain announced that we are going full-speed ahead due to a medical emergency on board. We will actually reach Aruba around 1:00am tonight instead of tomorrow morning! The ship is gently swaying back and forth even though the water doesn't look very rough - just the speed we are travelling at is making the ship a little bit rocky. It will be soothing when we go to sleep! Oh! Alvin left us a towel dog today wearing Poolie's sunglasses! Under the sunglasses were two red eyes, made with marker on scotch tape :)

Here is a video from Bonaire:


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St. George's, St. George, Grenada

2:30pm
We had another early morning today - got the wake-up call at 6:45am. The Caribbean Princess arrived in Grenada at 7:00am - we got ready and had our usual buffet breakfast. We disembarked at 8:00am and got "held up" by two sets of pirates for a photo op. The first pirate guy was CRAZY and very energetic! We ended up purchasing this photograph at the end of our trip at the photo centre on board!

We waited for our tour outside on the dock and Poolie got props from a local dude. He was pretty happy about that and said that Kris would be jealous. Nice to see that the locals are so friendly! :)

We boarded a small van and met our tour guide, Louise, who is a super sweet and positive-minded lady. Many of her stories related back to her own personal experiences of the events, such as their war in 1983 and Hurricane Ike in 2004 - she lost the roof of her house! Still, she was very positive when recalling these devastating experiences. The tour was about 4 1/2 hours long and they gave us a very detailed description of the nature and buildings around the island.

Our ship was in port in one of the main towns, St. George's. From there, we drove around the winding roads up the mountains towards the Dougaldston Estate, where the spices are harvested. Along the way, Louise told us all about the areas we drove through, including the fishing town of Gouyave near Dougaldston Estate. Grenada is mostly English speaking, but there are both English and French names for places dating back to when the English and French both wanted control of the island.

At one point, we stopped along a main road near the ocean to admire and study some carvings in the side of the mountain. There are many different carvings of faces right in the side of the mountain! These carvings were from many, many years ago and were produced by the original Carib Indians of the island. It is amazing that this art still exists, and that it can be viewed in plain sight while driving down a main road!

We saw many buildings along the way that had no roofs, collapsed buildings, or ones that were overgrown with plants - devastated by the hurricane. The island is very green with the widest variety of spices grown in such a small area in the whole world.

At Dougaldston Estate, we were shown the various parts of nutmeg (the outer shell, the nutmeg inside, and the mace that lines it - smells great!), how cocoa is processed, the various leaves and their wonderful scents - bay leaves, cinnamon (amazing how the leaves even smell!), and the loofah - which actually comes from a tree! It grows from a tree, and you break the outer layer off for the loofah inside - I had no idea that's how it grows!

Also, lots of bananas growing everywhere, mangos, breadfruit, coconut, papaya, coffee (many were lost in the hurricane) and so many more plants! We saw beautiful poinsettias and other flowers in bloom. It was nice because on many occasions, they stopped along the road to show us many various plants and spices growing naturally.

After our spice tour, we drove to Grand Etang Lake - the national park where we saw a lake that formed in an extinct volcano crater. They had a cute information centre there as well as some vendors. We picked up a few local spices - saffron, curry, chili powder, and cocoa beans for some Grenadian hot chocolate. Poolie also bought me a Grenada dark chocolate bar and some postcards.

From there, a quick drive to Annandale Falls, a beautiful cascading waterfall amongst lush green plants and trees. There were some local men there who dive off the top of the waterfall into the water below. They make their living from the tips that tourists give to see them jump from the top of the waterfall. I know that I wouldn't be able to jump off the edge from that high up, but that must be a fun job for them!

After viewing the waterfall, we drove to Fort Frederick for a breathtaking view of the island. The tour was fantastic! "Grenada Explorer" offered through the cruise ship allowed us to learn so much about the island and see its beauty.

When we got back on board the ship, we went to the Cafe Caribe buffet for their Mexican-themed buffet and it was awesome! I still enjoyed a big salad but there were also cheese quesadillas, nacho chips with all of the toppings including a fresh salsa, Mexican rice, and these delicious potatoes. Yum!

Right now, I'm just chilling out on our balcony as we set sail from Grenada - we left early today from the island at 2:00pm, most likely because Bonaire is farther away and there is a greater amount of travel time. It is a great opportunity to listen to the crashing waves, soak up a little sun, and look out into the deep blue ocean. How relaxing! There is a great breeze off the water to balance the warm temperature - just perfect weather!

* * *

11:35pm
Another fun day comes to an end. We had an afternoon snooze for about an hour and got ready for dinner. For dinner in the dining room tonight, Poolie had the eggplant parmigiana, we both had a nice salad, and Poolie had stuffed zucchini with braised white beans while I had the predictable and tasty fettuccine alfredo. Pool said his dinner was outstanding! For dessert, I had the tiramisu and Poolie had the cheesecake. It was Italian night in the dining room so the waiters were all dressed up in the red/white or green/white striped shirts - fun! We didn't have the limoncello this time around but it was an option - Princess makes their own homemade limoncello and offers an unlimited amount with a shot glass that you can purchase. We tried it last time and while it wasn't really my thing, Poolie really enjoyed it!

We went into the shops and found out where the one with the sunglasses and stuff was after asking an employee on board. I found a nice cheap watch and a really nice not-so-cheap handbag - a crochet brown bag by The Sak. It is sooo my style :) Poolie is gonna go back and buy some sunglasses tomorrow.

We went to the Explorer's Lounge for a classical concert performance and there was a violinist, a pianist, and then a duo comprised of a violinist and a pianist. The first violinist played concertos that relied on a backing track, which unfortunately compromised his performance a bit. I also didn't care for the electric pick-up on the violin. The pianist didn't have a very interesting setlist and the performance was rather uninspiring and even a tad sloppy. However, the final pair were great, especially the violinist. They played a great variety of songs - a good selection of Brahms, Schubert, among others. The last piece was especially fantastic - it highlighted their skill, both independently and as a duo. It was all in all a great show and inspired me to brush up a bit on my own piano playing when I get home!

Tonight was the Tropical Deck Party night, which was unfortunately rained out as we passed through a few light rain showers out at sea. The party moved to Club Fusion where we watched a huge group of people do the Chicken Dance. We must have just missed the Macarena, haha :) Then, they started a conga line and as soon as it began to approach us, we promptly fled the scene.

Now, we're back all comfy in our pjs back in the room! Alvin, our room steward left us an awesome swan towel creation made out of two different towels. He's the best!

The following video is from our day in Grenada: you will see a view of the island from our cruise ship balcony, you will see a local group who jump off the edge of the waterfall at Annandale Falls, and you will see another view of Grenada from up at the top of the fort.


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Roseau, Dominica

2:45pm
Here we are in Dominica - my favourite island in the Caribbean. It is the most beautiful place that I have ever visited! Since on the last cruise we went on the Aerial Tram ride through the rainforest, we booked a different tour this time - Ti Tou Gorge and Hot Springs Tour. We got to port at around 9:00am and met our tour guides outside at the dock.

Our driver, Magline was great at navigating through the winding roads up the mountain. We had a very nice and informative tour guide - I don't remember her name but she is one of the Carib Indians who still live on the island (which is awesome). She said that there are about 3000 Carib Indians who still live on the island following their own traditions and customs.

The island of Dominica is such a great beauty - lush greenery everywhere! We learned about some of the native plants, and learned that bamboo there grows at a rate of 1" per day! Coffee is something that is grown and produced in Dominica, as well as bananas (their main export). We were able to see both coffee and banana plants growing naturally.

The first stop was up at the top of one of the mountains - the Ti Tou Gorge. The only way to see the waterfall inside the gorge is to swim inside the caves. This may have been the most amazing thing that I have ever seen in my life! We got into the water (very cold at first, but you get used to it) and swim inside the caves. You can see in the image above - this is the entrance to the caves.

If you look up, you can just see through some openings in the top of the rocks with some trees and plant-life.

You swim along a little further, only for a minute or so, and scale along a rocky wall to see the waterfall. Anyone is able to see this, even if you aren't the best swimmer, because it is mandatory to wear a small life preserver around your waist (provided by the tour guides).

After the amazing journey into the caves to see Ti Tou gorge and the waterfall, we walked back to the vans, which included a short walk across a bridge. We got to see the giant wooden pipe that water is pumped through for the island's electricity. It is over 40 years old!

The next destination was the Hot Sulphur Springs called Screw's Sulphur Spa. This was super relaxing - to soak in one of five natural hot springs that ranged in temperature. We were in the medium temperature one, which was like a relaxing hot tub.

The water was orange, only due to the sulphur content in the water - the water is very clean. You also couldn't smell the sulphur at all.

After the hot soak, you go up to the cooler pool which is supposedly a great combination for the skin - going from the hot pool to the cooler pool. It must work because we kept noticing how great our skin felt - my skin feels super soft and silky!

After soaking in the Hot Springs, they provided some local fresh fruits - coconut, grapefruit, pineapple, watermelon - fresh and tasty! In a little cage on the ground was their pet turtle - he was so sweet and had beautiful markings! Then, we boarded the vans and went back to the boat. This was by far my very favourite adventure ashore!

We went back on the ship and had lunch in the Dining Room - a Greek salad and Potato Gnocchi in a cheese sauce.

After our lunch, we went back on shore to the local craft market. We were looking for these pornographic mugs that we saw the last time we were here that Poolie wishes he would have bought - trust me, they were hilarious and super dirty! Unfortunately, they were no longer selling them. In fact, last time when we found them in amongst all of the generic tropical-themed mugs, the lady who was selling them seemed quite surprised that she even had them and was laughing just as much as we were! So, they might have gotten rid of them in the meantime (it was two years since we lasted visited Dominica). I did end up purchasing some locally made Dominican coffee beans and some Dominica guava jam.

Back on board and to our room! I went and got myself a coffee and a hot chocolate for Poolie, as well as some tasty treats from the buffet to enjoy sitting out on the balcony. More to write later!

P.S. I cannot rave enough about the Aquapacs - I'll write about them later on this blog - basically, we have one for keys/cards and one for our camera - a waterproof bag for our digital camera! We brought it with us inside the cave and to the hot springs without having to worry about getting our camera wet, and it worked fabulously! Otherwise, we wouldn't have been able to bring our digital camera along with us today!

***

10:15pm
I'm sitting outside on our balcony as I write this - we're at sea en route to Grenada. The moon is big and bright with a golden hue, slightly shadowy on top.

Let's pick up where I left off...

I took a little walking tour of the ship by myself in the afternoon to take photos We got ready for dinner and went to the Coral Dining Room. The terrible photographer from the night before apparently caught sight of us and started to come over, but we escaped unscathed (Poolie saw her, I did not). For dinner, we both had a salad, Poolie had french onion soup, and we both had "tube pasta" (penne) with cilantro, garlic, and other veggies. Yum, as always! For dessert, I had coffee and a chocolate fudge cookie with vanilla bean ice cream and chocolate hot fudge; Poolie had a pineapple creme brulee. It also had coconut, even though Poolie has a fake "allergy" to coconut just because he doesn't like it, but he couldn't taste it and it also didn't kill him.

After dinner, we saw people rolling around on the floor for the crazy casual photography portraits on the white background, and it looked like there was a fat man with no shirt on who was quite fat with a woman sitting on his back. The rolls of fat were actually just wrinkles in a skin-coloured shirt and this made us burst into fits of laughter. We got into an elevator with even crazier laughing drunk French people.while Poolie stayed in our room to read a book and watch the new horrible Indiana Jones movie (knowing full well how awful it is, just to make fun of it.)

We went down to the Games room with drinks in hand (a banana daiquiri for me, a Raspberry Fizz for Poolie) and decided to play some Jenga. We thought it would be pretty fun to play Jenga whilst being a little tipsy from the alcohol, and the movements of a boat at sea...needless to say, I lost twice, but it was so much fun.

Afterwards, we enjoyed an evening stroll around the upper decks of the ship. Even right now, there is still a very warm breeze and the stars are all out tonight. You could see one island way off in the distance, as well as a couple of ships, but the rest is blackness. You can see the dark waves right around the boat, especially at the back of the boat.

Back in our room, Alvin made us a super cute elephant out of towels! He said that towel animals are his specialty. He also makes little shells out of hand towels and hangs them inside pockets made from larger towels. Alvin is a really sweet room steward! I would say that keeping things very tidy is his specialty, and the towel animals are a great added bonus!

We have to get to sleep early tonight since our Grenada tour is at 8:30am! Excited! Never visited Grenada before so it will be another great adventure!

The following video is from our day in Dominica: you will see a view of the island from one of the upper decks of the ship, a view of the island from up high on a mountain in Dominica, a view of Dominica from our stateroom balcony, and a view of the island as we leave in the evening. Such a beautiful place!


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St. Thomas, Virgin Islands US

Where to start! What a wonderful and busy day we had in port at St. Thomas and back on board in the evening! I'm sure I will forget a few things but I'll try my best.

We woke up very early today - a little too ambitious at 6:50am for the wake-up call, so I think we actually slept in until about 7:30am. We went for our early morning breakfast at the Horizon Court buffet - a great start to the day, as always!

We decided to do our shopping earlier in the day - originally, we
wanted to go to Havensight, but we were unable to go there due to some sort of traffic troubles. So, we took an open-air taxi (at $4/pp) from our boat, docked at Crown Bay, to downtown Charlotte Amalie.

We went into a whole bunch of shops and purchased some alcohol (Cruzan Rums in Pineapple and Guava flavors), some Christmas presents for friends, some awesome 80's-looking white striped sunglasses, some Caribbean coffees (Mocha Jumba Java and Calypso Vanilla coffee grounds), some postcards, and a Christmas ornament with a santa that says "Ho Ho Ho Mon!". Tacky, but fun!

While we were in downtown Charlotte Amalie, Poolie pointed out the town's library - Poolie loves libraries and has worked at the library for some time now, so we had to stop and take a picture of him in front of the library! Such a cute, bright and colorful building!

After our shopping trip, we made a quick stop back at the boat to change into our bathing suits so we could go to the beach! We walked over to the Crown Bay Marina - a quick, five-minute walk from the ship, and caught the ferry to Water Island - a little red water taxi.

The ferry we caught left at 12:00pm and we took the 2:15pm ferry back to St. Thomas. It was about a 10 minute ferry ride over to Water Island. When we got to the island, there was a cute little open building that had post office boxes and books, like a little library for the residents. We started to walk up the hill when a nice lady on a golf cart drove up and asked if we wanted a ride. That was so sweet of her to offer! We took her up on the offer and arrived at the beach that much quicker!

After a short ride on the golf cart, we arrived at Honeymoon Beach. It is a beautiful, quiet little beach with some palm trees for shade, some picnic tables, and Heidi's Honeymoon Shack for burgers/BBQ.

We swam for a while and it was so peaceful and relaxing - hardly anyone else was on the beach with us. It rained a little bit here and there, which balanced out the bright, hot sun. The rain looked super cool bouncing off the water while we swam.

We enjoyed a bit of time in the sun before we walked to take the ferry back. The walk back showed us the natural beauty of Water Island - there were many cacti growing wild. Water Island has very few residents (around 160 people is what I recall reading) and it looks like an
amazing place to live! A natural beauty, a quiet island that seems to be free from the commercialization of St. Thomas - but St. Thomas is just a quick ferry ride away for all of the necessities of life (schools, stores, etc.)

Upon returning to the shop, we went straight for the Pizza place and the Grill for some food! We had some slices of Margarita Pizza - always such a tasty treat! Poolie went to the grill and brought back some fries and a veggie burger. The veggie burger was just okay - it was a little on the mushy side.

Then, we went for afternoon tea in the Coral Dining Room. We had a hilarious waiter who served the scones in the most fun way ever - spinning and
swirling the spoons around - I got extra scones that I didn't even need just because I wanted to see what he would do! Lots of tasty treats and for some reason, the tea tastes extra yummy at afternoon tea! I don't know why, but it always tastes better!

After tea, I discovered that my cruise card was gone! After a bit of freaking out, we went to the front desk and I got a new one quickly and easily. Don't know what ever happened to the missing cruise card - never ended up finding it! The next bit is a blur because we came back to the room and had a nap for a couple of hours! All of that time in the sun makes you sleepy!

After that, we got our formal clothes on for the evening - while I got ready, Poolie watched some stupid movie on TV - "Jumper" - wow, it was terrible. I wore my short black dress and Poolie had a nice suit on.

We went to have our photos taken and waited for 45 minutes to have our formal picture taken! Ugh! Finally we had them done (it took our photographer nearly 45 minutes to take photos of *one* family...it was a little bit ridiculous!), and we went to the Coral Dining Room for
dinner.

We got a lovely bottle of white wine, "Nobilo" from New Zealand, sauvignon blanc. We had a salad for dinner to start; I had the fettuccine alfredo and Poolie had vegetable fritters with braised lentils and paprika cream sauce - he really enjoyed it! The alfredo was great, as always, a favorite! For dessert, I had a chocolate hazelnut souffle, and Poolie had a caramelized pear tart.

After dinner, we checked out a couple of the on board boutiques and enjoyed our balcony - the moonlight shining out over the ocean while our ship is at sea, so soothing and beautiful!

Our room steward, Alvin, left a towel animal for us on the bed - a shrimp, or some sort of sea creature with chocolates for eyes! So cute! We were thrilled to find the towel animal in our room! It is so sweet of Alvin to go to the trouble of making some towel origami for us to keep in our room.

Just relaxing out on our balcony right now, enjoying the warm tropical breeze off the ocean. Can't wait for our adventures to continue tomorrow in Dominica!
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San Juan, Puerto Rico

What a relaxing and exciting day! I am sitting here out on our balcony on the Caribbean Princess as we dock in San Juan overlooking the Pan-American Pier, with the cool evening breeze coming off the water. Back to the morning...

We had a buffet breakfast back at the Caribe Hilton and took a taxi back to the pier. Our cab drive was
awesome - he jumped a curb and drove over a few places that he shouldn't have in order to get us to the ship quicker. We got to the embarkation site at the port a bit after 12:00pm and there were hardly any other people there with no line-ups. Checking in was a breeze and we were happily in our stateroom by 12:30pm.

Our room is on the Riviera Deck 14, room 704. The room has a great big king-sized bed with all of the basic room things (a big closet, as always!) and a fabulous balcony! They freshly varnished the balcony railing before we arrived - it is still a little bit wet (signs are posted). The balcony is fully covered and is very private with walls on either side. Right down the hallway is the Terrace Pool (for adults
only), and the one floor directly above us is the Horizon Court / Cafe Caribe buffets. Our room is also in a great location right across from the elevators - very convenient!

We spent the first part of the afternoon exploring the ship - the Caribbean Princess is the largest ship we've ever been on, yet it still feels like a smaller ship with many different rooms and lounges. We also went for lunch today at the Horizon Court buffet. Not very crowded at all, and we had a big tasty salad and a few other things. I somehow managed to get ranch salad dressing on my sunglasses and in my hair...classy! :)

After exploring, we went to the Spa Pool (near the Lotus Spa) that had a swim-against-the-current machine that you could turn on or off. There were hardly any people around - we were the only ones in the pool for most of the time. I had fun "picking up" Poolie in the water and
swimming around with him in my arms to embarrass him! We swam around together and sat in the sun for a little while, and then went back to our room to unpack. We met our room steward, Alvin, who is very nice and friendly. He helped us figure out the dry-cleaning since some of Poolie's formal clothes got quite wrinkled in our luggage - Alvin took some of his clothes to be pressed, which was very helpful! At this point, we also decided to get changed before going out to dinner and a show because the Muster Drill was at 7:30pm.

The show was in the Explorer's Lounge and it was called "Puerto Rico Folkloric Showtime" starring Juan Carlos and his Traditional Latin Show. It was such a good show - one night only, while we were in Puerto Rico. Juan Carlos played the Spanish guitar and did all sorts of traditional songs - many people in the audience sang and clapped along. He spoke Spanish, English, and even some French! He had some dancers as well. A fun part of the show was when his dancers wore belts with maracas around their hips/bums and shook 'em - and two guys from the audience were volunteers who had to wear the maraca belts around their bums, too. The one guy really shook it! :) A great show - Juan Carlos played the guitar really well and it was nice to have some authentic Puerto Rican talent on board!

Then, the typical Muster Drill at 7:30pm in Club Fusion. After that, we threw our life jackets back in the room and went to the Dining Room for dinner, at the Palm Dining Room.

I have to say, it is the first time we have ever had bad service in a dining room on Princess - easily corrected mistakes, mind you, but I think we will try the Coral Dining Room tomorrow. We ordered the Vegetable Spring Rolls with Peanut Sauce, a Watercress/Radish/Iceberg Lettuce salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing, and a shell pasta with broccoli florets in tomato sauce. The salad was great - the dressing was very nice. The spring rolls were very yummy too, although Poolie didn't get his until I had to ask about it - at the same time when I had to ask our waiter for new main courses because our pasta had chicken in it. He wasn't paying attention when I ordered it off the vegetarian menu (Poolie and I are both vegetarians). When he brought Poolie's spring rolls out, they didn't have the dipping sauce. Thankfully, the waiter's assistant was a bit more on the ball than he was, and was able to pick up the slack. The pasta ended up being very nice and light, and the tomato sauce was delicious.

For dessert, Poolie got the apple streudel and I got a Banana and Nut Parfait with Caramel. It was super yummy - almost a frozen banana ice cream in two slices, topped with nuts and little chocolate shavings, surrounded by caramel. It was a unique dessert and had great flavors!

After dinner, we decided to go back to the room and just chill out on our balcony. We'd like to get a good night's sleep before going to St. Thomas tomorrow!

Here is a video compiled from our first day on the cruise in San Juan. The first part is a ride up the mid-ship atrium elevator. The second part is three clips from the Puerto Rico Folkloric Showtime starring Juan Carlos.


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San Juan, Puerto Rico

We had a truly wonderful day today in San Juan! The day just flew by
and leaves me feeling that I'd love to spend more time in Puerto Rico, so we will have to come back someday.

After the plane landed at the San Juan Airport - well, first, I should mention that while on the plane, Poolie saw an iguana run across the runway - how cool! We collected our luggage and proceeded to the transportation area. The taxis here are all running on a fixed rate depending on which "zone" you are traveling to, which is nice because you know the fare price up front and there is no need for haggling with the driver. We had a quick drive through town when our cab driver pointed out our hotel in the distance, the Caribe Hilton.

The hotel looked amazing at first sight as it is located right on the ocean. Our impression of the hotel just got better and better. Check-in was a breeze! I emailed ahead of time to inquire about an earlier check-in time (the hotel check-in time is 4:00pm, but since our flight was arriving earlier on, I asked if we could check-in at 1:00pm instead) and we were accommodated without any problems. The main lobby of the hotel is beautiful - an open concept, outdoor lobby/main area. There are a few shops as well as a Starbucks right on site, which is of great importance to us coffee lovers :)

There are stations out front in the lobby with fruit water - water with cantaloupes, grapefruit, etc. in containers of water, and you can dispense only the water with the fruit flavor in it - very refreshing, a nice treat! There are two parrots and a white bird in a large cage in the hotel lobby that are very happy and chatty - the one bird speaks Spanish - when I first said "Hello" to him, there was no response. Then, I said "Hola!" to the bird and he quickly responded back with "Hola!". So cute! You will be able to watch this in the video posted below.

Our room, #539 in the Main Building is spacious and has an awesome balcony! Our room overlooks the ocean where you can hear the crashing waves. There is also the San Geronomio Fort at the back of the property, but unfortunately, we were unable to explore it. Originally, we were planning to explore Old San Juan, but we didn't expect the Caribe Hilton to have so many places to explore right on the property! So, we mainly just stuck around the resort - plus, we were pretty tired after our flight and not sleeping much the night before.

After spending a bit of time in the room, we ventured out to the grounds. There is a tropical bird and fish area where many different birds live, including peacocks and swans. You are instructed not to feed or interact with the animals as they are living in a natural
habitat. There is a beautiful pond with koi and goldfish, and the area is filled with lush greenery and palm trees.

We walked around the pool areas that are right beside the ocean. We walked down to a pier out on the water and could see coral reef in the shallow parts. Although we didn't end up swimming, there were plenty of fun activities for hotel guests, including a floating rock climbing wall and a trampoline, as well as relaxing places with hammocks between palm trees.

We decided to go to a nearby Subway for a quick lunch, and then walked outside of the resort for a little while. We walked over to a place where a fort used to be - it is pretty cool to see the remnants of the old forts. We walked around the ocean and along some paths past a large track and field stadium.

We had a nap for a couple of hours after our walk since we were feeling pretty exhausted from not sleeping well the night before and not being able to sleep well on the flight.

I should also mention that the weather was beautiful outside today! It was warm, but not too hot - bright and
sunny at first, and in late afternoon, some clouds rolled in with a gusty wind. It didn't rain, and the windy conditions made the waves crash even more - huge waves!

Later in the evening, the wind died down and the sky was clear, the weather still warm and perfect. For dinner, we went to a restaurant inside the hotel - an Italian restaurant called Rotisserie Il Giardino. It is a fine dining establishment with very tasty Italian dishes. We were very happy that the menu included several vegetarian options to choose from. Poolie and I both got a house salad and a pasta - rigatoni with olive oil, garlic, and broccoli. The pasta was delicious - big pieces of garlic, flavorful broccoli and fresh parmesan cheese. The food arrived super quickly and the restaurant provided great service!

After dinner, we picked up a few treats and beverages at the Starbucks - Poolie got a gooey caramel brownie that had layers of caramel upon brownies on top of other brownies! I got a red velvet cupcake and a vanilla latte. Now, we're just chillin' in bed (super comfy bed with
tons of pillows, I might add!) and watching TV - we get tons of channels!

Today was the perfect day to unwind after our flight in a gorgeous destination at the perfect hotel! So excited to embark on our cruise adventure tomorrow!

Here is a video from the hotel, the Caribe Hilton in San Juan - the view from our room, a talking parrot, and the tropical sanctuary!


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Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Finally, our vacation begins! It feels like we have been planning this trip for a long time and the day has finally arrived. After a short nap from around midnight to 2:00am, we woke up and drove to Pearson Airport in Toronto. Our time waiting at the baggage drop-off and U.S. customs went by quickly and easily (although the man in front of us in line got fully searched!) Now, we are on our direct flight, AC-1276 to San Juan, Puerto Rico.

I have a great window seat near the wing, and Poolie is sitting next to me (he always lets me have the window seat!) Since our flight left around 7:00am, we could still see the moon - a big, bright full moon - the moon out the window to the right, and the sun rising on my left. Now, I can see layers upon layers of white, fluffy clouds that look like drifts of snow. Thankfully, there is no snow where we're headed - I am so happy to escape the snowy weather that we've been having back home!




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North Bergen, New Jersey, United States

Hooray, we're finally here! After reaching our hotel, having a shower and settling in, we are ready for a nice and relaxing evening. Poolie and I woke up at 5:30am this morning, bright and early! We left the house around 6:30am and made stops at Tim Horton's (Loolie's coffee) and McDonald's (Poolie's hash browns).

After a short drive, we reached the Peace Bridge to cross the border. Let's just say that the border guard was a bit...intense. He asked tons of questions with long pauses in between my answers and his next question while giving me some piercing death stares. I had to give him my car keys so he could look in our trunk, but he ultimately decided that we weren't terrorists, just tourists. We were allowed to pass through.

The first stretch of our drive took us through some serene New York state countryside. At one point, we saw the most adorable little donkey with some cows, so we had to stop and say hello! This is a pattern with us (or maybe it's just me; I don't know if Poolie would stop to take photos of cute animals unless I was in the car) - we always seem to find some sort of cute creatures while on road trips! We continued along our way, passing through small villages and farm land.

After that, we reached Pennsylvania, which is a beautiful state. There are so many trees all around the highway, as well as mountainous regions. The roads travel through rocky areas that have been blasted away. This made for a very pleasant and beautiful drive - we were able to look out the windows to pass the time, while also just acting like our weird and crazy selves (this also made the time just fly by!).

Our first destination was Scranton, PA to visit the city where The Office (TV show) takes place. Of course it isn't shot there, it is shot at a studio in California, but there are many landmarks from Scranton that appear in the show. We travelled to The Mall at Steamtown first in search of the "Welcome to Scranton" sign that is now located inside the mall. We went to the second floor food court and sure enough, in the back corner was the Scranton sign from The Office's show opening! It was up on a little set on some astro turf allowing for photo opportunities. A lady was nice enough to offer to take our photo so we could both be in the picture. She asked if we were fans of the show, so people must show up fairly often enough to visit this iconic sign. I was pretty excited!

We went for a little drive around town and saw several other noteable places of interest from the show - the "real" office building where Paper Magic is located (the real company that The Office was modeled after), Farley's (a restaurant that is mentioned on the show), Southside Bowl and Poor Richard's Pub (an Office hangout), and Alfredo's Pizza (where the "good" pizza in Scranton is from in an episode).

After our escapades around town, we drove to the Waffle House for lunch. I was so excited to learn that there was a Waffle House along the way to NYC! That might sound silly, but I remember going to them on family trips to Florida when I was a kid, so I needed to go back for nostalgic purposes. The last time I'd been to a Waffle House was probably 15 years ago since they don't have them in Canada (but they should!)

The Waffle House was better than just reliving an old memory; the food was fantastic! We both got a waffle (obviously) and we also got these hash browns fried with onions and melted cheese...so good! Mmmm...I'd like to go back there again!

Back on the road and out of Scranton, we drove the rest of the way through PA and NJ. New Jersey's landscape is quite gorgeous as well! So many trees, hilly regions, so much beautiful scenery - I would have never expected it!

We finally reached our destination (the Comfort Suites in North Bergen, NJ) around 5-5:30ish, except we had some major problems finding our hotel! The streets are so confusing and not labelled very well. Also, the street signs that are there do not explain where you are going very well either. We were told by our Google Map directions to take Hwy 1 & 9 to Tonnele Ave. There ended up being a Hwy 1 & 9 South and North so we didn't know which way to go. Of course, we went the wrong way (South). Turning around proved to be quite the challenge. Also, NJ drivers are crazy. Take the absolute worst taxi cab drivers from Toronto and multiply that by 10, and that is every driver in NJ during rush hour traffic. We went the wrong way two more times due to poor signage and eventually figured out that Highway 1 & 9 is Tonnele Ave!

Once we had all of that figured out, we reached the Comfort Suites in North Bergen. I don't know how we will figure out how to get home, but we won't be driving for the next three days so I won't think about that right now!


Checked in at the hotel, we're in room 408 near the elevator. The room is huge! It has a nice big window, a large flat screen TV, tons of pillows, a big king-sized bed, a couch, a desk area, closet, microwave, fridge, coffee maker, and a large bathroom. You have to pay $1.50/day to use the in-room safe, but it's better than having no safe at all.

The shower pressure isn't that great, but I don't generally have high expectations of hotel washrooms, just as long as it's clean (which it is!).

We just ordered pizza from "Amore" in North Bergen, NJ and we're waiting for it to be delivered. Going to watch The Office tonight - should be fun after spending a couple of hours in Scranton!

* * *

The pizza from Amore came and it is SO GOOD! Good crust, amazing garlic flavour on the garlic pizza (the whole room smells of garlic!) and great cheese. They even brought us paper plates and styrofoam cups knowing that we're in a hotel and might not have those things...how thoughtful!
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