Carribean Cruise Jan 2016

Jerry and I went on a cruise to celebrate our wedding anniversary. We drove to Ft. Lauderdale and boarded the Regal Princess - yes, it is the same ship we took on our October cruise to Canada and new England. It took the entire week to figure out the ship so I didn't want to waste that knowledge! We've already booked our anniversary cruise for next January and, yes, it is on the Regal Princess again ;-)

 Our mini suite came with a champagne welcome

 Leaving Ft. Lauderdale. The folks on the beach, houses, and high rises were waiving and holding up signs. I thought a big ship would be annoying to it's neighbors but they seemed happy to send us off.

 A picture of the tenders and lifeboats from our balcony

I ordered chocolate covered strawberries to go with out champagne and for a private sail away instead of going to the Lido for the party.

 Our first stop was Princess Cays - a private beach leased by the cruise line on the island of Eleutrea in the Bahamas.

 The Regal Princess

 We hung out on the beach waiting for our excursion time

We went on a glass bottom boat ride

A picture of the coral reef that we were viewing from the boat

 The next was at sea so we spent some of it at the spa and getting ready for the first formal night.

 Jerry as we entered St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. Travel tip - raveling there is easy because English is spoken and the currency is the US dollar.

 The US bought the island from the Dutch

 OK, so they bury one person in the ground and then other family members on top. A genealogist's dream!

My best attempt at a street shot

 Iguanas were living in the rocks and not that easy to spot

 We went up to Mountain Top where the view was awesome. It is also the birthplace of the banana daiquiri, which we did not try. I wished we had time to stop at the botanical gardens we passed.

So, that's part one of our vaca!