St. John 2002

We visited St. John from St. Thomas in 2002.

Isn't it beautiful?

Antigua

Today we were in Antigua. We have been here the last three years and

did not get off the ship today. This afternoon we went to see The Last

Exotic Marigold Hotel in the Princess theater.  It was very good. Just the

cast (Judi Dench, Maggie Smith…) makes it worth seeing. Tonight we 

are going to Showtime. Vocalist Jamila, who performed a couple

of nights ago will be giving a second show before she leaves ship

 in Trinidad.  Her previous show was very good. I am very glad

 that we have been having 7:00 PM shows. The attendance was 

good, so I hope they will continue with early times.

Great show tonight.

We have been hoping to catch up with Sami, our cruise director to verify

she was our cruise director from our 2002 trip on Olympia Voyager. 

We finally did tonight and yes she is and we had a nice but short reunion

 (right before show). She said she is still in touch with some of th

 people  from that trip so we hope to have a chance to chat with her 

and hear about  some of the people we remember from that cruise.

St. Thomas

Tuesday we were in St. Thomas. We’ve been here many times. We went

ashore and picked up a couple of items at Kmart and purchased some

champagne.

I’ve decided to give myself a couple of days a week off from my morning

walk, Tuesdays and Saturdays. I will still do my short after meal walks.

Since we went ashore twice today and had to find the stores, I walked

almost as much as normal. Saturday we will be at sea so that will be a

real walking holiday.

When we were here in 2002 we took a tour of St. John’s. It is a beautiful

Island and I have posted a few pictures.

Lots of Enrighment

Today we had 3 presentations. The first was Astronomer Peter Esca

Peterson, second was our maritime historian, and third was enrichment

lecturer Evon Anderson who spoke about Bermuda Triangle.  All are

good but the maritime historian is exceptional. Apparently people

spread the word about how good yesterday’s presentation was because

the Princess Theater was packed like it was a production show. Todays

presentation was even better than yesterday’s.

Tomorrow begins 4 consecutive days in port. We do not have any shore

Excursions planned any time soon.

We have been advised that because of Carnival, things may be hectic in

Salvador and Rio.

First Day Activities

Our guest lecturer today was John Maxtone-Graham, born 1930.

He is a maritime historian who has written many books. The lecture

was excellent. I’m looking forward to hearing more. This is an ideal

audience for him. There are many people aboard who have sailed

much more than us, having taken one or more world cruises.

I left early to get to line dancing. (Again two things I want to do

and they either or at the same time or overlap). We had a huge crowd.

I don’t know how many will make it to the end of the cruise.

Tonight was the Captain’s cocktail party with the champagne waterfall.

What a waste of champagne.

Day 1 at Sea

The devotional in Upper Room this morning was about

moving away from what is familiar (eg mountains) and

adjusting to no mountains.

There is a beautiful moon and since I am usually up

walking long before sunrise I was able to enjoy its beauty.

The moon reminds me that no matter where in the

world I am, God is there

We had a nondenominational worship service this morning

and I was delighted to find a semi retired Methodist

Minister would be conducting services on this trip.

It’s still hard to believe we are actually on the ship. It’s

almost like this trip slipped up on us. January was so busy.

Now that we have unpacked the too much we brought,

it’s time to relax. But here it is almost noon Sunday and

I still haven’t had a chance to read on my nook. This

afternoon we have an enrichment lecture immediately

followed by line dancing.  Things should get better now

that we are settled in, but there will still be busy days.

Embarkation Day

We had a 10:00 AM bus to Port Everglades but did

not arrive until after 11:00 since we were the 6^th and

last ship for drop off. After about 30 to 45 minutes

waiting in line to get through security, we had about

another half hour waiting to board. We were on before

1:00 which is good.

After lunch in the dining room-had to have the grand

marnier soufflé, we were in and out of our cabin hoping

to find our luggage. Slowly it showed up. The boat drill

scheduled for 3:15 was moved to 4:30 because of late

plane arrivals. When we arrived back in our cabin all

but one piece of luggage was there and it arrived during

dinner Because of the late arrivals and trying to load

as much as possible for this long trip, we were a couple

of hours late leaving.

Sailaway

     Not bad for two old codgers. Itinerary on front of Foster's shirt

                           
                                                 Back of shirt

Almost ready to go

We head to Fort Lauderdale tomorrow and are more

or less packed. Hopefully nothing has been forgotten.

Checklists help a lot

I have been uploading pictures from our 2002 trip which

I will post later

One week from today we board the Grand Princess

for our next adventure. I will probably have had

one of my favorite desserts which has been served
on sailing day on our last few cruises-

grand marnier soufflé.

As many of you know, we cruised around South

America in 2002. Even though that was only 11

years ago, we did not have a digital camera and

computer access on the ship was limited and

expensive and if blogs existed I was unaware of it.

However, I did keep a journal the old fashioned way.

Since we are visiting some of the same places,

we will  not be taking as many shore excursions

as before.  But since we have been there and

have I have recorded our experience, I will be

posting some adventures from  our previous trip.

I will make note of the date so you will know

which are then vs now.

 I was having a terrible time trying to download

pictures. I found out a neighbor was an expert

and he not only fixed the problem but fixed our

computers. I finally have a grandchild.

Our Itinerary:

1/26   Fort Lauderdale             2/27    Santiago
1/27   At Sea                            2/28    La Serena
1/28   At Sea                            3/1      At Sea
1/29   St Thomas                     3/2     At Sea
1/30   Antigua                          3/3      Lima
1/31   Barbados                       3/4      Lima
2/1     Trinidad                         3/5      At Sea
2/2     At Sea                            3/6      Manta
2/3     At Sea                            3/7      At Sea
2/4     At Sea                            3/8      Puntarenas
2/5     At Sea                          3/9     San Juan del Sur
2/6     At Sea                            3/10    At Sea
2/7     At Sea                            3/11    At Sea
2/8     Salvador                        3/12    At Sea
2/9     At Sea                          3/13    Cabo san Lucas
2/10   Rio de Janeiro               3/14    At Sea
2/11   Rio de Janeiro               3/15    At Sea
2/12   At Sea                            3/16    San Francisco
2/13   At Sea                            3/17    At Sea
2/14   Buenos Aires                3/18    At Sea
2/15   Montevideo                   3/19   At Sea
2/16  At Sea                            3/20    At Sea
2/17   Puerto Madryn             3/21     Hilo
2/18   At Sea                           3/22    Honolulu
2/19   Falkland Islands           3/23    Kauai
2/20   Cape Horn (Cruise)      3/24    Maui
2/21   Ushuaia                         3/25    At Sea
2/22   Punta Arenas                3/26    At Sea
2/23   Amalia Glacier (Cruise)3/27    At Sea
2/24   At Sea                           3/28    At Sea
2/25   Puerto Montt                3/29    Ensenada
2/26   At Sea                           3/30   At Sea
                                                3/31   San Francisco

Map

Below is a map of our upcoming trip.