1/4/09-1/11/09 - Caribbean Vacation - 7 Day Cruise - Crown Princess - & More!

[PretzelSouls]

Please note: The dates on my camera were off for the most part.

Day 1: Sailing Away From Ft. Lauderdale

The Crown Princess was scheduled to let people start boarding at 1:00p.m. We arrived to the Ft. Lauderdale Dock by the complimentary shuttling service provided by the Hampton Inn at 2:30p.m. There was no line at all and we were able to board immediately. First thing we did was get our room keys/ship credit cards and then we all headed over to purchase the drink cards for $39.99. The drink cards entitled us to unlimited soda, coffee, and milk.

There were 4 ships pulling out from the same dock, the one that caught my eye was the new Celebrity Solstice. The Solstice pulled out first so we got to get a good look at it.


The ship was set to leave at 6:00p.m. but before we could leave they had an “in-case-of-emergency” drill. The drill was at 4:30p.m. and all passengers on the ship were to go to their staterooms, collect life jackets and head down to their muster stations.


After the drill was completed and we were allowed to go on our merry ways, we headed to the buffet. We opted for anytime dining so we wouldn’t be weighed down if we had something planned. My dinner consisted of jerk chicken, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob and a tropical fruit tart for dessert. Kyle had pasta with spring vegetables, a roll of bread and 2 brownies for dessert.

Finally and at last, it was 6:00p.m. and we were off into the sunset. With one blow of the horn, the ship was off.

Here’s a picture from our balcony of Florida:


Later in the evening we went down to see the Movies Under The Stars, a Josh Groban concert was playing.

[PretzelSouls]

Day 2: Princess Cays, Bahamas

The Crown Princess pulled into its first port-of-call at 9:00a.m. Princess Cays is owned by Princess.

Here are a couple shots that I got from our balcony, the water is just gorgeous.



This was the only island we had to be tendered into by lifeboats, which was quite an experience.


We went on a Banana Boat ride on this island – it was extremely fun. I will warn you, if you plan to go on a Banana Boat, you need a lot of upper body strength to hold yourself up or else you’ll go flying out of the boat. (Like the girl in front of me did)

[PretzelSouls]

Day 3: A Day At Sea

This was one out of two days we would travel at sea. We were heading to St. Maarten and it would take a full day and a full night.

The day at sea was very fun, we got to check everything out. This was the day when we figured everything out.

We were on the Dolphin Deck (9) It seemed to have never ending hallways!


They bring you fruit in your room, yum! I had the best fruit I’ve ever had on this cruise, especially the cantaloupe and pineapple in the buffet!


The beautiful water:



Our balcony:


Our room:

[WheresMickey]

Nice pictures, can't wait to see more. I will be going on my first cruise in August!

[mikeland]

Really nice photos! I'm glad you enjoyed the cruise.

[PretzelSouls]

Day 4: St. Maarten – The French & Dutch Side

The Crown Princess pulled into St. Maaten around 9:00a.m. We were waiting in line to get off the ship when some lady grabbed me and asked....

”Miss! Have you seen my husband?! He’s about 6’4”, tan skin and fairly muscular! He went to the health quarters with stomach pains, vomiting and a horrible fever!” “I just checked there and he wasn’t there!!!” She was running around like a chicken with it’s head cut off. I hadn’t seen her husband and didn’t really think anything of it.

We got off the ship and started to walk down the pier. There were 4 ships docked, we were behind the Celebrity Solstice.




We had a tour planned which was the See & Sea. Our tour guide was hilarious!


This tour took us on a 40 minute bus tour to the French side of the island.






The years of peace between the French & Dutch side:


Once we were at the French side of the island, they stopped and let us off at a little souvenir swamp meet which was great.

After the 45 minutes of shopping had been up, we boarded the bus and waited for them to take us to the "sea" part of our tour. We waited, and waited,and waited some more for the bus to move....but nothing. The bus driver had dropped the stick too quickly and messed up some disk that apparently was necessary to drive to bus. So, after 1 hour of sitting waiting for a new bus to come, our group boarded two smaller buses that transported us to the ocean.

We boarded a small boat and headed to the coral reef:


After we were in the reef, we walked down the stairs to the looking glass area.



They had a diver go down with sardines and tomato sauce to bring in the "highly spoiled fish" as they introduced them.



Stingray & Turtle



After we headed back to the cruise ship, there was an announcement over the intercom thing, they had informed us that there was a highly contagious virus going around the ship, I believe it was called the Novovirus. The lady that had earlier been searching for he husband had sighed one of the first cases. Right next door to our room was a elderly man who had caught it and was NOT cooperating with the staff when they tried to get him to stay in his room. Ugh. So every time we walked to our cabin, there was staff inside his room cleaning it out with large red bags on it that said "hazardous." Great....

[xalesa]

This is really interesting. Love your photos. My husband and I are considering a cruise for our 10th anniversary in 2010.

[Mnemorath]

The first port call I ever had in the Navy was St Martin. Or St Maarteen as we pulled in on the Dutch side. Nice place, lost $200 in one of the casino's. Orient Beach was certainly a wake-up as well.

Looks like you had fun, looking forward to the rest of your TR.

[PretzelSouls]

Day 5: St. Thomas

The ship docked in St. Thomas at 7:00a.m. (errr, that's WAY to early.) We were one of the first loads off the ship to get in as much shopping as possible. St. Thomas is beautiful, very beautiful.

We had a bus tour to take us to Blackbeard's Castle. When we signed up for the tour, it said nothing about this so called "castle" but we'll go with it.

Inside the openish buss:


On the bus going up the hill....



First thing first, shopping! On the tour, they take you to a pirate gift shop that has a bunch of junk and a BEAUTIFUL view of St. Thomas:


Blackbeard:


Blackbeard's "Castle":



The View From The Top of The Castle:



After we were done touring the castle, we went through some of the houses they had on site...they were like little museums...nothing to take pictures of. We walked down the 101 stairs to the bottom and it dropped us off right down town with all the jewelry shopping!


I had looked at Diamond's International in St. Maarten and found some gorgeous 3/4ct. diamond earrings and another pair of 1/2ct. diamond earrings but they were way to expensive. They had a Diamond's International in St. Thomas and a special someone surprised me with both pairs later once we got back to the ship!

There was a beautiful sunset that night, these pictures were taken off the balcony:



Next up...Grand Turks & Caicos!

[PretzelSouls]

Day 6: Grand Turks & Caicos

This was a nice and relaxing day, the ship didn't pull into Grand Turks until 1:00p.m. so we had the perfect opportunity to redeem the gift that had been given to us: Champagne Breakfast. Well, the person who just turned 21 redeemed it.

They delivered the breakfast at 10:00a.m.
It had smoked raw salmon, a great cheddar and bacon quiche, bacon, shredded beats, a herb&butter bagel, lavender infused cream cheese, fruit, pastries, onion slice, coffee, orange juice and a half bottle of champagne. Oh, and a couple hollowed tomato stuffed with cheddar cheese.







We walked around and did some souviner shopping on the ship. Finally, we pulled into Grand Turks & Caicos. I have never seen sun that bright, it was painfully bright!


How to tell the weather:


Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville!



The Crown Princess:


Grand Turks & Caicos is a dangerous place to walk without shoes, multiple people were hobbling around because of the pointed shells and small rocks hidden in the sand. Despite the painful walking conditions, the beach it great - a nice snorkeling spot. For those who aren't into snokeling, Margaritaville has a huge 4' pool for people to soak in and it's maybe 100 feet from the beach and FREE!




The ship sailed away at 7:00p.m. and we had just enjoyed the last port of our cruise vacation.

[PretzelSouls]

Day 7: At Sea

The last day we were at sea and on our way back to Ft. Lauderdale.
To celebrate our last day of rest, we enjoyed the music down in the lobby.


And went to the Lotus Spa and had peppermint massages, and the 3 combo which had a scalp massage, neck & shoulder massage and a facial.

Before we knew it, we were docked in ft. Lauderdale and time to come back to CA.


Vacation is fun for a few days, but nothing compares to life at home. I definitely missed my furry-love-bug


I'm very glad to be back...and thank you to everyone who helped me have a worry-free flight! All your ideas worked!

THE END.

[xalesa]

Great ending to a great trip report. Makes me want to go right now on a cruise!! Glad you had a fantastic time.

[PretzelSouls]

Originally Posted by xalesa

This is really interesting. Love your photos. My husband and I are considering a cruise for our 10th anniversary in 2010.

Thanks! I highly recommend a 7 day Alaska cruise for your 10th anniversary - something about Alaska is just enchanting.

Originally Posted by Mnemorath

The first port call I ever had in the Navy was St Martin. Or St Maarteen as we pulled in on the Dutch side. Nice place, lost $200 in one of the casino's. Orient Beach was certainly a wake-up as well.

Looks like you had fun, looking forward to the rest of your TR.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by xalesa

Great ending to a great trip report. Makes me want to go right now on a cruise!! Glad you had a fantastic time.

Thank you!