November 2019 Cruise - Norwegian Sun

I find that I don't take as many still shots lately since I do YouTube. But, I wanted to share some of the few stills we have of our November cruise on the Norwegian Sun. We left from Cape Canaveral (sometimes stated as Orlando but Orland is inland) and were scheduled for three stops in the Bahamas - Nassau, Freeport, and NCL's private island Great Stirrup Cay. Sadly, storms came and Freeport was off the list. That's OK because this was a very relaxing cruise - we did lots of sleeping and reading.

This was our first time on Norwegian since our very first cruise in 1993 so really it was like a new cruise line for us. The industry has changed so much between 1993 and 2019! I'll add a couple stills and then link my YouTube video below:

https://youtu.be/0pGuf3ddZKw

Cuba Videos

#1  https://youtu.be/UZnfyErRC3Y

#2  https://youtu.be/4M0AcDhTofM

Central America - Holland America Cruise

It may appear all we do is cruise, lol. But seriously, living in central florida has its advantages. There are cruise ports in Jakcsonville, Orlando area, Tampa, Ft. Lauderdale, and Miami. All within a 4 hour drive from our house - actually Tampa cruise port is a 20 minute Uber ride! Cruising is also economical travel. So, here's our latest but not the last ;-)

Anniversary Cruise - Regal Princess Western Caribbean

Once again we celebrated our anniversary with a Caribbean cruise! Why not? We live in Central Florida so it's accessible, easy, and can be quite the value. This is our third time on the Regal and it's really a beautiful ship.

Western Caribbean Cruise

Through our Costco membership we got a great deal on a Carnival cruise. We visited Grand Cayman and Cozumel Mexico. We took an awesome excursion to Sting Ray City in Grand Cayman - a must do in my book.

Last Mother's Day (2016)

Looking back I can now see why I devoted little time to this blog in 2016 - I was busy traveling!. I hope to make up for it by sharing some travel videos from 2016. I'll start with a mother's day cruise that my mama and I took last April (yup, I know that mother's day is in May but so is hubby's birthday so we separated them).

Last of Carribean Cruise

This is a photo of the sea walk that jets out over the ship and has a glass bottom for viewing the ocean below.

On our last day we finally made it to tea in the dining room. They came around with trays of scones (wiuth shipped cream & jam), pastries, cookies, and small sandwiches.

You can tell the cruise is coming to an end when luggage starts to appear in the hallway. You have to give your luggage up the night before. Travel tip - bring a bag you can pack your last night's clothes, jammies, & toiletries in because you have to give up your bags.

The last night there was a mardi Gras party in the atrium. There was an opera singer with a beautiful voice too.

My selfie showing sun burn from sitting in the Jacuzzi. It was overcast so I didn't feel it burning. And, after that, I spent an hour on the balcony in the sun watching the US Coast evacuate a passenger off our ship using a basket that comes down from the H60 helicopter. It was amazing.

This is a light fixture.

We had a great time. We went to a comedy show, a broadway-like musical dance number, we watched movies under the stars twice, napped, read, listed to music, ate, watched the "street" performers in the piazza. It was a very enjoyable vacation. Cruises are the easiest vacations in my book.

More Carribean Cruise

Our third, and last, stop was St. Maarten in the Virgin Islands. The island is half Dutch, half French.

There were 5 cruise ships at the port while we were there.

Always the bird watcher. King bird.

The homes, especially in the older part of town, were very colorful.

More cemeteries!

The photo doesn't represent the colors of the Caribbean very well because it was raining off and on.

I was shocked to see desert like foliage. We also saw these huge orange iguanas but I didn't get a photo.

This is the point where the island changes from Dutch to French. o travel issues - it's all the Eurozone.

Seems almost everywhere we go there is a fort. Ft. St Louis on the French side.

The waterfront, French side, taken from the Marina - you can see the fort up on the hill.

There was a straw market set up down by the waterfront but they were packing up when we got there. Weather perhaps? I saw this central area with a gazebo, arena seating and a painted compass.

Photo of the bay from the marina area.

The last two days were spent at sea and included our anniversary (Jan 15th). We woke up to find our door decorated.

My hubby got me roses and a card and the cruise folks gave us a card as well.

I ordered a special balcony breakfast for us. It included a hot meal of bacon, quiche (best I have ever had), baked tomato, and veggie strips.

It also included coffee, juice, and champagne as well as a plate of smoked salmon, capers, cream cheese, and bagels.

And finally, the pastry plate. It we could have ordered it for one, which you can't, it would have been enough for both of us.

Our view as we ate our special breakfast. We had another day of spa services as well.

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!