St. Kitts and Antigua

Day 4 we arrived in St. Kitts bright and early and Trey and I got off the boat with no itinerary in mind. We didn't know much about the island and thought we'd just see what the day brought us. It didn't take long to figure out. When we walked through the welcome sign at the port we were greeted by tons of taxi drivers holding up signs for this or that tour. We got a deal with one guy named Talbo and he ended up doubling up as our taxi driver/ tour guide. He even had a head set and was talking to us the whole time and describing the sights. It was great!

Good Morning St. Kitts!

Vervet Monkey- they're so cute!

Stop at Caribelle Batik- where they print on fabric

Caribelle Batik

Black Rock Beach

When the tour was done he dropped us off at Frigate Bay where we enjoyed a lunch with a beautiful view of a very isolated bay and then relaxed for a little bit before we headed back to the port. While we enjoyed the day, there really isn't that much to see or do on the island so we were ready to move onto the next stop in Antigua.

Frigate Bay

That night Trey and I had made reservations to dine at one of the specialty restaurants on the ship, Portofino. We almost cancelled them before we left because the only reservation time they had available was 6 pm and since we wanted to get the most out of our days we thought we might be rushed getting back to the ship in time to get ready. But- we were so glad we didn't. It was our favorite dinner of the entire cruise. Not necessarily because the food was great- which it was!, but because we finally had a table for 2 and they sat us right next to the window where we could see the ship leaving port and setting sail for St. Maarten. It was such a pretty view and we were glad for the early seating because it was still light enough to enjoy the view.

It was kinda funny too because after we'd stuffed ourselves with all kinds of exotic appetizers and meals our server brought us a dessert that said "Happy Anniversary!" haha When we booked the cruise the travel agent had asked me if we were celebrating anything special. I told her not really, but she pressed me to say something because she said they sometimes will do something special for you so I said, ok, our early anniversary! haha. Why not?! ha The dessert was de- licious! I mean, the food on those ships is just sinful. Nobody should eat that much! But, it was a treat for a week.

We left dinner and took a breather in our room to settle our full stomachs then it was up to the top deck for a little put put and back to the club for more dancing!

Day 5 in Antigua was beautiful! Out of all our ports of call we enjoyed Antigua and St. Maarten the best. We would love to go back one day and stay a week... or longer :) We met a tour guide at 8:30 am... very early for vacation, I know (seems to be a theme for cruises) and the guide took us all over the island to see some of the major tourist attractions.

The first stop was Blockhouse and Shirley Heights lookout point.

You could see a breathtaking view of the English Harbor and Nelson's Dockyard down below and it was especially beautiful that day we were there because of the sailing races taking place. I've never seen so many sailboats at one time! It was such a sight to see.

From Shirley Heights we made our way down to Nelson's dockyard, named after Admiral Nelson who established Great Britain's Caribbean base on the island in the 1700s. We really enjoyed walking around the dockyard and marina and learning more about the history of the island- and let's not forget the stop for our free rum punch included on the tour. Those Caribbean islands sure do love the rum. Now I see the ongoing theme of rum in Pirates of the Caribbean. It flows in the islands like water. ha

From the dockyard it was back to the port but we lucked out since we took the early tour because it was only about 11:30 in the morning and they offered to drop us off at a beach for a few hours if we chose to. Trey and I decided to camp out at the popular Dickenson Bay and just enjoyed relaxing by the calm water for a few hours. I was in heaven and didn't want to leave. It was a great day!

Dickenson Bay

And- that night was our second formal night on the ship!

I love any opportunity to get all dressed up and Trey and I had a great time at dinner with our new friends Andrea and Oscar. They were from Guadalajara, Mexico and shared a table with us all week. We really enjoyed getting to know them and I even got to practice my Espanol. Though- their English was much better than my Spanish ;)

Next up... St. Maarten/ St. Martin (it's both Dutch and French depending on what part of the island you're on)

Caribbean Cruisin' & Barbados!

We made it to the ship, Royal Caribbean's Adventure of the Seas, by 3 pm on Easter Sunday and after what seemed like an eternity waiting in line after line to actually walk onto the ship we got to our room around 4:30. It felt great to finally be in our new home away from home and know that we could actually unpack our things and get comfie.

We decided at the last minute while booking to go ahead and upgrade to a balcony stateroom and we were so glad we did. It was so nice to wake up in the mornings and just pull back the curtain to a beautiful view of whatever island we were visiting that day. I could wake up to views like that any day. It is just breathtaking at times.

After we dropped off our things we had planned to go exploring the ship but decided it was time for Trey to check with the doctor on board to look at his leg. I had been telling him he needed a tetanus shot since I was positive he hadn't had one since he was a kid and you need one every 10 years. I knew he had scraped his leg bad on a metal step but you know Trey. It just wasn't going to happen. However, by the time we got on the ship he was really worried about the color of the skin around his cut and it was starting to look infected. Turns out- it was. And what do you know, Dr. made him get a tetanus shot!

The doctor also gave him some medicine to take for the infection and the next day was our one day on the cruise where we were at sea. We laid out by the pool all day and Trey got fried on his back. I just couldn't understand how though. I had put so much sunscreen on him. He's not usually that sensitive to the sun and then it hit me- the medicine! We decided he should stop taking it since we'd be in the sun the rest of the week but sadly the damage was done on Trey's back. He had to get sunscreen with SPF 30 and lather it on the rest of the trip. :( Needless to say, this trip was just not starting out good for Trey. He handled it like a champ though.

After exploring a little after breakfast we picked the most perfect spot to lay out on the deck because the ship's calypso band came out and started playing and we had a good view of the band and all the people dancing to the music. They were so good and it was so relaxing to lay out while listening to tunes like Bob Marley songs and our new favorite- She's Royal by Tarrus Riley. We heard that song so many times throughout the week on different islands and loved it. It's the perfect song for the islands.

We had so much fun exploring the ship on our at sea day and couldn't believe how much there was to do on board. It was truly overwhelming and a little bizarre at times. It definitely took us a few days to get used to the cruise mentality. It's just a whole different breed of people and things to do than the land trips we were used to. Not bad- just different.

That night was the first formal night on the ship and I love any excuse to get all dressed up. I had finally convinced Trey to bring his suit before we left Atlanta and I'm glad he did. People get really dressed up! It was nice to get a couple of good pictures and we had fun after dinner dancing the night away in one of the cruise's bars to Latin music and its nightclub. I love dancing so I had been really looking forward to our nights out on the ship. Trey was a trooper too and danced with me every night (except for one I think)... though some nights took a little more coaxing than others.

On day 3 we woke up in Bridgetown, Barbados- our first port of call! I had been looking forward to Barbados for months and was so excited for the Catamaran sail we had booked. Too bad the weather was overcast and rainy throughout the day but it didn't stop us from having an amazing time on the boat and snorkeling with the sea turtles.

It was the best excursion we did all week, I think in part because the crew on board were so much fun. They made sure all of us were having a good time by never letting us run out of rum punch and kept the reggae and calypso music jamming in the background all day. It was kinda funny how every time the boat would stop and they'd make an announcement about how long we would have in the water, etc. the captain would always end with "and the bar remains open." ha We took advantage, as most people did. It was a fun day despite the torrential downpour that was waiting for us on the way back to port. I would love to go back to Barbados one day though. I could tell it definitely had more to offer.

Snorkeling with Sea Turtles

Trey and I with the Captain

That night Trey and I hit up the casino on board to try out our luck. We had played the 1 cent slots in Puerto Rico at the hotel there and had fun for almost an hour on about 5 dollars a person so we thought we could do that same on board. Turns out, we didn't have any luck. We had blown through about 30 in 5 minutes and then lost the thrill for playing. We called it a night (after a brief stop for a few dances in the nightclub of course ;) and went to bed to rest up for our next port of call the next day, St. Kitts!

Casino Time

Next post... St. Kitts!

Yo soy boricua! Pa'que tu lo sepas!

And we're back! What a trip that was! We had such an amazing time in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean islands. I can't believe how fast the week flew by and it was a sad day flying home Sunday. When you're on island time it's easy to forget all your worries and stresses from home and it was a much needed trip for both of us. We took a million pictures- of course- so I'll start with Puerto Rico and go day by day.

San Juan & Fajardo, Puerto Rico:

After a slight mishap on our way to the airport (Trey unfortunately sliced his leg open slipping on the step getting into the parking shuttle to the airport- we had to bandage it the entire trip and make sure to keep the wound clean... poor guy), we flew into San Juan late on Thursday night and took and eventful 45 minute ride to a town called Fajardo. Eventful- because Trey got to experience driving in a place where all the signs were in Spanish, drivers have no concept of following rules of the road, and it was pitch black dark by the time we got there. And let's just say Puerto Rico doesn't have the best roads or road signage- and Trey's fear of going through the wrong lane on a toll or going the wrong speed made me laugh so hard I could hardly translate for him. Thank God I speak Spanish though. It really was put to good use on this trip throughout the whole week.

Anyway, Fajardo lies on the eastern side of the island and we decided to stay there instead of in San Juan to experience the Waldorf Astoria's El Conquistador Hotel. We figured everything touristy that there is to see in San Juan would be closed that weekend anyway since Puerto Rico is a very Catholic country and it was the holiest weekend of the year. Also Fajardo is very close to the world famous El Yunque Rain Forest and we knew we wanted to make a visit there. So, Fajardo it was and it was a great choice!

The resort was everything we thought it would be and more. The hotel is massive. It truly is the biggest on the island and certainly the nicest thing in the city of Fajardo- which is just an uneventful somewhat run down part of Puerto Rico. We couldn't believe the shanty like conditions you had to drive though to get to the beautiful resort and didn't even realize how great it was until we woke up in the morning and really got a feel for the view.

El Conquistador Resort

El Conquistador sits on top of a cliff overlooking the ocean. The resort is so big it has 2 resorts in one and so many places and buildings where you can stay. It kinda felt like Disney World on the ocean. We had to take a lift from our section of the hotel down to the marina where a boat was waiting to take us to the resort's private island. Within minutes though we were on the water feeling the sea breeze hit us as we headed toward the island where crystal blue water and powdery sand awaited us. We were finally in paradise and we were in heaven! Little did we know the destinations would only get better once we got on our cruise a few days later.

The Funicular Lift

Finally relaxing by the beach! Ahhhhh

On Saturday we woke up early and headed to El Yunque National Park. Since Puerto Rico is a territory of the U.S. it was declared a National Park Monument by Roosevelt I think ? It is so well preserved and just as beautiful as I remember it from when I visited Puerto Rico in college with my family. One difference was when I came with my family we took a tour of the massive park by car. Well- if you know Trey then you know a car tour just won't do. No NO No... we did drive through most of the park stopping occasionally for photo ops at various points but we both agreed it would be fun to do a hike at one of the stops. Man was it a hike! I mean... 30 minutes my a** (according to the Fodor's travel book we had with us). Thank God I've been doing p90x! But the view of the waterfall at the end and the feeling of accomplishment felt good. We were ready to leave El Yunque by the end of that hike and head back to El Conquistador for a nice relaxing afternoon on the beach.

El Yunque

View from the boat leaving the beach...


They had parrots in the lobby!

On Easter Sunday our time in Puerto Rico was sadly almost over. We woke up early and found a Catholic Church in a nearby town called Luquillo. It was quite an experience to see how other cultures experience a holy holiday like Easter. There were basically tons of people standing outside of this quaint yet outdated church with no air conditioning that clearly couldn't accommodate many people. The church had doors that opened on all sides and they kept them open throughout the mass so the overflow could peek in. It was really neat and the wood carvings on the altar and around the church were very impressive.

Happy Easter!! It was a bright sunny morning- as most Easter mornings are.

Wood carvings in la Iglesia de San Jose Luquillo, Puerto Rico

Our next and last stop on the Puerto Rico tour from mass was a trip into the city. We headed back to San Juan and right into the heart of Old San Juan to take a walking tour through the town before we headed to the pier for our cruise. Boy was it hot! It was neat to see though and I always think of my mom when I see the streets of Old San Juan because she used to say it reminded her of her home and the streets in Camaguey, Cuba where she grew up. We had a great time walking around and on the Christopher Columbus fort we spotted our cruise ship. We got so excited and decided to pack up and head to the port!

Old San Juan

Next post... Royal Caribbean and First Port of Call BARBADOS!!!!!