Our fist even vacation to the sunny south happened just a year ago. As I mentioned then, it was only at that point that I could actually travel as my health was horrible before my transplant. As soon as we arrived home last year, we knew we were hooked on cruising, and immediately booked again for this year. Crazy ... not really ... just very smart planning (so I keep telling myself) :)
We decided that we wanted to do something different than the Florida cruises and also wanted to see a few more places of our beautiful world ... so what better way than a 7 day Southern Caribbean cruise out of San Juan, Puerto Rico!
After waiting 371 days (from the time of booking), we were very much looking forward to this new adventure.
San Juan, Puerto Rico
March 21-24, 2012
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| Beautiful Casita del Coqui |
We decided to fly into San Juan a few days earlier to begin our vacation. We found a beautiful home in the Santurce area and were quite surprise when we arrived. This quaint home was situated in the heart of the Arts & Culture District. Most all stores, restaurants, transportation, etc. did not speak English, and it was quite interesting and refreshing to be submerged in the Puerto Rician culture!
Our host, Richard was extremely helpful to the 4 Newfie's he had visiting and provided us with a wonderful place to stay ...
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| Our beautiful 3rd floor balcony, with lots of vegetation and critters |
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| Another view of our balcony |
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| View of San Juan from our balcony. Beautiful old world feel. |
As we arrived later in the evening, we really didn't get a good look around the house or area until the next morning. We were beyond impressed and absolutely loved the area!
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| Enjoying the relaxing water fountain and warm Caribbean air |
Our next adventure in San Juan was to explore a little, find some great places to eat and get ourselves to the local beach! Our host graciously took us on a short walking tour of the local area, showed us where the local transportation was and some of the fantastic sights of the Arts & Culture District.
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| Us enjoying a tour of the nearby streets with our very own guide, thanks Richard! Some very beautiful stained glass! |
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Just on our street corner we were told about a little cafe which served only brunch. We couldn't really understand how a cafe could survive by just serving brunch. We later found out that they also had jazz nights on Friday's and a family brunch on Sunday's. Both were huge attractions to the cafe to the point that many people waited in line just to experience a little piece of this fabulous place.
Of course, us being curious, decided to try out the cafe our very first morning in San Juan ... and what a treat!! We totally understand why people would wait in line ... I could easily live on their food FOREVER! We started with the fantastic coffee (actually it was espresso), and let me tell you, I will never enjoy another cup of coffee as much as this!! Then on to the main meal!!
I was so preoccupied in eating that I didn't even take a picture ... so sad :(. But to help understand, I ordered their famous french toast. WELL, WELL, WELL ... after 3 huge home made slices of the best bread I have ever eaten, smothered in fresh fruit and whipped cream, I had to literally roll out of the cafe! We enjoyed it so much that we ended our stay with this fabulous meal again :)
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| Abracadabra Cafe! Yum-o! |
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| Local coffee ... I'll never enjoy another cup since leaving San Juan. It was unbelievable! |
Most of our time in San Juan was sprinkled with rain. Although very, very warm, walking in the rain day in and day out wasn't the most fun. But not to worry, we did do some shopping, sight-seeing, and relaxing. Finally, the day before we were leaving for our cruise, we decided to wander off to the beach. I found that most of our stay in San Juan involved us "wandering" around ... soooo much fun :)!
About a 15 minute walk and we found what we were looking for ... the beach! Beautiful white sand, warm water, and a warm breeze made the day perfect! Although a little cloudy on times, by the time were were cluing up to head home, we had a few sprinkles of rain ... and then it POURED! Luckily there were lots of trees on the beach where we all could take shelter ... and to top it all off, we had a local selling beer! Yes, of course we partook in the refreshments ... aaaahhhh!
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| Beach! Yay, we made it! |
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| Hubby enjoying the warm, but rough ocean ... and of course we all had a splash around. |
After finding the local supermarket (in the rain) and enjoying a home cooked meal during our last night, we relaxed and geared up for the next journey of our vacation ... our cruise!
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| Bye, bye Casita del Coqui :( |
Carnival Victory
March 25 - April 1, 2012
With us being familiar with cruising, we knew that we wanted to head to the ship as early as possible to embrace the luxury of Carnival! We arrived at the ship around 11:30 am and had the entire day to look around, grab some food, and enjoy the boat ... all before leaving the port! Our cruise was not scheduled to leave until 10:00 pm from San Juan.
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| Port of San Juan, PR |
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| Hubby enjoying a walk around the Victory |
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| Checking out our new home for the next 7 days! So beautiful! |
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| Port of San Juan, PR as we leave for the next leg of our vacation |
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| Comedy Club and Karaoke Lounge |
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| Red & Black Club ... can't see where they came up with that name :) |
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| Irish Piano Bar |
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| Cigar Bar |
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| Dance Lounge/Club |
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| Main Theater |
Although a little smaller than the Carnival Dream (which we went on last year), everything was still just as amazing and beautiful! If you've never been on a cruise, picture an extremely fancy hotel, with lots of glitz and glamor, sparkle and lights ... and you've got a cruise! I'm usually walking around in awe for the first day ... just taking it all in!
The itinerary for the Carnival Victory was an extremely busy one ... visiting 5 ports in 7 days! This was part of the reason we chose to book the Victory ... to see lots of new and exciting places. Onward to Barbados, St. Thomas, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and St. Marteen!
St. Thomas
March 26, 2012
St. Thomas still has to be my most favorite place on earth :)! Beautiful scenery! We decided to do an excursion from Carnival ... and to be exact, the same excursion we did last time ... Castaway Barefoot Sail and Snorkel!
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| Port of St. Thomas |
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| There she is! Carnival Victory! |
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| Hubby snorkeling ... you would never say that he's not comfortable swimming :) |
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| Some fishies |
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| Enjoying some snorkeling at St. Thomas |
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| ... and of course, the Bushwhackers ... yum! |
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| This is my favorite shot of St. Thomas and the Victory |
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| The gang at Paradise Point |
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| Towel animal tonight :) |
Sea Day
March 27, 2012
As our cruise was quite busy, we took advantage of relaxing on our one and only sea day ... Serenity Deck!!
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| Enjoying a relaxing day in the hammock on Serenity Deck ... with the yummy drink of the day |
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| Towel animal for tonight :) |
Barbados
March 28, 2012
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| ... and of course, to top the night off ... Freddy Funship! |
St. Lucia
March 29, 2012
On to St. Lucia! I had always wanted to visit St. Lucia as the pictures all looked so beautiful and peaceful. Although the day started our a little cloudy (now mind you, it was about 6:00 am), it quickly cleared and turned out to be a beautiful day.
... we were taken to one of the local beaches ... Rodney Beach. The beach was absolutely beautiful, apart from the panhandling! Now, I've been asked and tormented about buying things from locals before, but this took the cake! Everyone from 12 to 70 years were trying to sell something! It was not just the selling piece, but the constant nagging and rudeness that really bothered us. We did manage to find some local beer and have a taste :)
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| Local St. Lucia beer |
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| ... and of course towel animal swan for the evening |
St. Kitts
March 30, 2012
St. Kitts was another place on my list to visit, and this one did not disappoint! The weather was absolutely beautiful, so we decided to hire a local tour company to show us the real sights and sounds of St. Kitts!
St. Marteen
March 31, 2012
We had visited St. Marteen during out last cruise, but it's always fun seeing such a beautiful island again! We decided not to do much of anything today ... just relax and take in the hot weather. It started off again a little cloudy ... but quickly turned into a HOT day!
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| Port of St. Marteen |
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| Beautiful beach of St. Marteen |
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| ... again |
We decided to come back to the ship a little early today, and enjoy the serenity deck one last time. Luckily I found a huge bed and flaked out for a few hours ... sun bathing and just relaxing. Beautiful end to a fabulous cruise!
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| View of St. Marteen from the Serenity Deck |
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| Our final towel animal |
San Juan, PR
April 1/2, 2012
Without seeing a picture of this hotel, we were a little concerned that we may be staying a not-so-nice place ... however when we arrived, we were totally shocked! The Courtyard by Marriott, Isla Verde, PR was well beyond our expectations!
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| Beautiful Puerto Rician sky |
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| The beach, right at our feet |
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| Swim up bar ... mmmmm! |
After relaxing for a little bit, all the fun started :)! 3:00 pm was the start of happy hour ... and boy were we happy!
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| Hubby riding Shamu .... lol |
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| Attempting to surf ... with help! |
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| Having a leisurely float in the pool |
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| The boys |
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| The girls |
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| So long San Juan ... till we meet again xoxo |
All in all we had one heck of a time! New and wonderful cultures, beautiful weather, fabulous islands and scenery, and a suburb cruise to boot!
... so much fun ... that we're planning the next as we speak :)!
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