Caribbean Cruise
November 26th 2022- December 2, 2022
We had flown into Florida and had enjoyed time with our family after staying at our new place, and although that was a great time, we had really gone down to go to Port Canaveral to hop on our cruise to the Caribbean.
We have our first drink, before we are able to book the shows and dinners for the week. You used to be able to do all this before your cruise, but now you have to do it once you board. There are computers all over the place, where you can book for what show you want and when. There are also locations where you can go and book your meals. This has been an inconvenience that I do not appreciate.
Nothing a drink wont cure. 
Some of the views in the bay.
This morning, we made our way to the adults only deck and grabbed some seats before breakfast. We noticed that there was not a soul in the hot tub, so we took advantage of having the pools to ourselves and spent some time enjoying the water. It's never to hot, so can it really be called a hot tub?
After dinner we headed to one of my favorite shows of the trip. We went to Syd Norman's for a night of 80's music.
Day 3: Amber Cove
We woke up in Amber Cove Dominican Republic. We had breakfast and got our gear for the day before leaving the ship to enjoy the area.
We entered into an area of shops and eateries.
We had decided that we should try to get to the beach for the day, but after some searching, there was no easy access to the beach area. We could see it, but there were fences preventing us from getting there. So we continued to walk around.
There was a little path that took us through waterfalls and flowers.
Mark and I have been known to walk into things, without knowing anything. We did that here too. When we walked down the hill we found seats in this area right next to the pool. We sat there and enjoyed the pools for most of the day before we were told that we were suppose to pay for the seats we were in. We had no idea. We were about to leave at that point anyways, so we simply just left.
DAY 4: St. Thomas Virgin Islands.
We had a long walk down the dock, but this gave us a chance to get some good pictures of the ship. We really did not know what to expect here, I hadn't done much exploration on the area before we left, so we just took things in stride.
We walked around and took in all that the area had to offer.
We learned that this is the Amber that we see in Jurassic Park.
We continued to walk and ended up on the top of a mountain. There was an area where you could zipline and a water slide. We both passed on this, and walked down. We ended up in a pool area.
It was fun while we had it.
It had been a great fun filled day enjoying the sun and the pools. We found that the pool areas were free, it was the seats that cost $. Oh well. We took in a little shopping and then headed back to the ship. We enjoyed dinner and had some more fun in the casino that evening. Mark won a jackpot. Nice way to end an evening.
Up early, but no rush. We had not yet ported in St. Thomas. We caught a drill in the pool. It was fun to watch these guys battle weights and airbags in a drill to save lives.
Finally, we were docked and ready to leave the ship.
We had visions of getting to the beach today, so the first thing to do was find a taxi to take us to a beach area. Magens Bay was listed as the best beach to go to. We met a couple who assured us that we would love it. Once we got the taxi, we all piled in. It amazes me how they get all these people in one little van. It's never comfortable, but it gets us to where we are going. The ride was not only uncomfortable, but the roads were so steep and skinny. I was worried the hole ride to the beach, going down those steep hills the vans brakes squealed all the way down. It was terrifying. Mark of course thought I was over reacting. Once we got to the beach, each person had to pay an admission price. Someone had not paid, and this became an issue at the gate. Turned out that the nice couple we had met, were the ones holding out. I just don't understand people like that. Were you going to make someone else pay for you?
After breakfast, we headed to the atrium for some trivia. Still not winnners.
Anyways, all settled, we were now at the beach. It was not as large as I expected. In fact it was a little bay area, so very little waves, and the water was calm. We found a small space to call our own and hit the water. I have to say, this beach became one of my favorite of all times. The water was perfect temperature. it was visually see through all the way to the bottom, it never got to deep, and there were only calm ripples to replicate waves. I spend my entire time in the water. I longed for some floaties, because this beach would have been perfect for floaties. You wouldn't go anywhere, you could just chill.
There was an iguana that was hanging out right by our little beach spot. He was just hanging out.
Very pretty.
We had a late dinner at the Manhattan Club before hitting up the 70's dance party.
We had spent the entire day at the beach and were starting to get a bit beached out, so we headed back to the taxi area and made our way back to the ship. I was next to the window on the return ride, so I caught some pictures of the views.
Once we were back on the ship, we had a snack in the lounge area, as we had missed lunch, but we were still very hungry. I found my very 1st Cruising Duck. (Apparently this is a thing, were people hide ducks on the ship for people to find.) Then we went back to the room to relax, clean up and prepare for the evening festivities. We had a booking for our first show. Shadow and Black Light. I am surly not going to be able to provide a good definition of what this show really was, but I will try. Basically it is shadows and light to create people, animals, shapes etc and there are little skits with music etc that play along with the scene. It is like shadow play to the max. It was impressive for sure.
Saying Good Bye to the Virgin Islands.
My favorite part was dancing the YMCA.
DAY 5: Tortolla
First we had breakfast in the buffet. These ladies would go around offering coffee and danish. They would sing a little song and insist that the danish were ZERO calorie. I asked for a picture.
We really didn't have a plan for our time in Tortola. We had been to the area before, and we had not planned an excursion, plus it was insanely HOT. We decided to at least get off the ship and walk around the area.
We had exhausted most of the areas within a walking distance, got a few drinks and decided to head back to the ship.
Once back on the ship we had some cocktails and enjoyed the pools.
We spent the rest of the day enjoying the sun and the water. We pretty much had the pools to ourselves. I swam for a long time, while Mark enjoyed the sun. We even hit up the hot tub a few times. We had a snack like late lunch at O'Shannehans before we headed back to our room, took a nap, and were soon ready for the evening.
Later we hit up the casino again. I won some money.
Then we headed to the comedy show. Our Comedian for the evening was Flip Schultz. He was FUNNY.
DAY 6: At Sea
We walked around and took in the area sights. We soon found that there really is not much of interest in the port or within walking distance. We did find a nice place to get internet, so we enjoyed that little luxury.
We were greeted by this guy when we returned. It was so freaken hot I felt terrible for the guy inside.
He did an improv session where he would take a movie and a music genre and make up a song, that didn't really fit. It was just so funny. Initially I thought it was going to be an evening of fart jokes, but soon I was laughing hard.
We had a late dinner at Cagney's Steak house, one of the specialty dining.
It was very good.
We had dessert back in the room....
We had an entire day at sea so Mark and I decided that we would do our pub crawl. We got this idea a few cruises ago, where we would try to get 1 drink from each of the many bars/pubs on the ship over a days period. We never get to far, but its a fun attempt, and I usually end up feeling pretty buzzy.
First up was cocktails at the Atrium bar, were we did some trivia.
There is always art on the ships, and usually I just glance at them as I am walking by, but these had Disney Characters in them, so I had to get pictures. Please enjoy....
I honestly can not imagine putting these prints on my own wall, but there is that someone out there somewhere. I had a cocktail at the casino bar.....
and then an Irish coffee at O'Sheehans, where we watched as they made and decorated cakes.
Then we had some cocktails at the pool deck.
I went to check out the BINGO.....I refused to actually pay to play, 1st because I am not a big BINGO fan and 2nd It is expensive on a ship. I needed a cocktail, but the theater bar was mobbed.
We had dinner reservations for a show and a meal. The meal was not great, but the Nashville Tenors were amazing. (Oh yeah, and I had a beer here)
We ended the night with some time in Spice H2O where they were having an Ocean Music festival.
I think I had my last cocktail here....we were again unsuccessful at hitting up every bar on the ship. There are 20 bars in total on this ship, I think I got in a total of 6 for the day.
DAY 7: We were suppose to go to great Stirrup Cay.
I had a truly with my lunch from the Buffet bar.
These guys were totally a cappella, and they were incredible. I nearly cried when the guy sang Walking in Memphis it was so touching.
Our dinner was so not good, we hit up the buffet for a little extra snack before the next show of the evening. Malevo. Ladies...eye candy YUM. This was an intensive dance show there there was a lot of jumping and feet stomping. It was a great show. I enjoyed it a ton.
We were informed this morning that we would not be going to Great Stirrup Cay, Norwegians private Island because the water was to choppy. Of course this was disappointing. We found out as we were heading to the deck to board our tender. So, instead we got some seats at the adult pool and returned to the atrium for some trivia and a MUD Slide.
We spent the day enjoying the sun and the pools. We did lunch in the buffet, hung out at the casino, and watched one of the same movies that loops in the state room. We cleaned up for dinner at Savor.
It was a fun cruise....until our next one TTFN.
and then we headed to our last show. The Choir of Man. They offered beer for a tap on stage as part of the performance. It was a pretty good show. The music was 80's which I love. I was asked by the actor my dating status, and he was sad that I claimed "married" the whole show had a ton of audience participation. It was a fun show.
For our last entertainment on the ship we enjoyed the Goodbye party.
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