Cruising

As a getting preggers gift from my Dad and Veniece, we got a cruise. Awesome right?!? and I know ya'll are slightly jealous.

This cruise was the mother of all cruises....well that i know of.. It was my second ever. My 1st was for our honeymoon. It was a quick four night cruise down to Capo San Lucas, Mexico on Carnival.

This cruise was a 9 night cruise on Celebrity. They sure did make you feel like one too. It was awesome we ported from San Juan, Puerto Rico and sailed to 7 different islands around the Caribbean. It was beautiful and well needed. More needed for Dan then Me. He's been working so hard on his masters and it's been super stressful for him and it was nice to have a long long and awesome vacation in between the semesters.

Dan and I flew out to Houston on Dec. the 31th to spend the New Years with the family and on the 1st at 11:59pm we flew down to San Juan. We got in at about 5:30 San Juans time. I did not sleep to well on the plane, nor did anyone else for that matter. When we landed we were all exhausted. We got a taxi and he took us near our port because apparently there was a luggage storing place around there. We couldn't start to board the ship until 12:00 so we had a few hours to kill. After the taxi, who was kinda of a rude man, dropped us off and we still had know idea where the luggage hold was, we decided that we were hungry and there was a Embassy Suites right there. We figured they would have some type of breakfast thing going on at 7:00 in the morning. When we showed up to the bell hop, he told us that he would hold all our bags for a small fee of 15 bucks. Awesome!!! We finally had a place to put our luggage and a place to eat and it was a small 5 minute walk to our ship terminal. After our small/expensive breakfast, thank Daddy, we were told that there was a free trolley that went around old town San Juan. We decided to take that and just get off at one of the forts that lines the coastline. After waiting for like 30 minutes, Veniece got out her handy dandy iphone and searched how far everything was. It was super close, the fort was, so off we went, on foot, following Veniece iphone. (ps. I really want one) When we got there and finally decided to walk up the slight incline to the visitors center being super tired, hot and sticky, we discovered a free movie about the forts around San Juan. It was not so awesome, but the movie theater was dark, and it had AC. We decided to park our butts and watch the movie. 1st in Spanish for 15 then in English for another 15 minutes. Then we just stayed for about a good hour and half sleeping in there. It was fantastic. After that we took the trolley, it was finally operating, and rode around and saw rest of old town San Juan. Do not judge if you only had about 2 hours of sleep you would be doing the same stuff.

There was a trolley drop off right at the Embassy Suites. We got off, tried to find a restaurant that we were told we had to eat at, but couldn't find. Then we picked up our bags and walked the 5 minutes to the ships terminal and boarded the ship.

The 1st thing we did when we got onto the ship was, go to our rooms and slept the afternoon way. We then all got up and started walking the ship to see it. We discovered the food area by that time, it was afternoon tea and treat time. There were dozens of different desserts and treats in the area and an ice cream bar. We got some ice cream and continued our ship tour. We sailed on the Celebrity Millennium. It was beautiful.

Our stateroom was also awesome. My dad splurged and we got a room with a balcony. We definitely had a great set up.

Sun Jan 3rd

The next day we were ported at St. Croix in the Virgin Islands. St. Croix was quaint and very very beautiful town. Since it was Sunday and there wasn't much to do with the excursion, we just decided to walk around the town and see all the church that they had. They were beautiful and all so very close to one another. Because it was Sunday they were all in church and singing such beautiful music. It was nice to walk around the Island and here it on Sunday. Very appropriate for being on vacation.

Mon Jan 4th

We ported at Philipsburg, St. Maarten, the dutch owned side of the Island. Again a very beautiful tourist trap place. That day we booked an excursion called the Americans Cup. Where we got in teams of 12 and raced each other in sail boats. If you go on a cruise and they offer this as an activity, DO IT!!! You will not regret it. Dan, with the help of Dad, picked a great excursion. Being preggers and all I couldn't really participate. I was the time keeper and the bar tender. Woooooo

Tueday Jan 5th

Our port was Basseterre, St. Kitts. We rode a train around the island for about two hours and then the last hour we finished our tour around the island in a van. St. Kitts is a super poor country. The poorest that we visited. They used to harvest sugar cane but now they do not and we rode the tracks that the sugar cane was transported on. Even tho the country was incredible poor, our tour guide for both the train and the van were very very proud of their small country and you can not make fun of that. Every time we past one of the schools, all the school children would come running to the fence and wave. It was the cutest thing ever. As cool as the people were and how proud they are of what they have accomplished, the train was super boring. It would have been a lot better if we were on it for 30 minutes instead of along 2 hours of squeaks, bumps and not really understanding the person over the intercom.

Wed. Jan 6th

The port was Roseau, Dominica. This island was the most beautiful of all the Islands that we went to. Remember we went to 7 different Islands. This day Dad and Veniece went scuba diving, they heard it was the best place to dive on all the island that were going to be visiting, while Dan and I took a van up to two beautiful waterfalls. It was not a very strenuous excursion and that is why we choose to do it. Amanda, our tour guide, was beautiful and by far the nicest person that we had contact with in all the Islands. Even tho on every excursion they were nice, she was the best. :)

Thursday Jan. 7th

We ported at St. George, Grenada. That day we just decided to take a quick water taxi over to the closet beach and chill.

Friday Jan 8th

Scarborough, Tobago was our port. Again we didn't book anything with the cruise and decided to head out by our self and see what we could do. We got a taxi and Evan, our driver took us to a local cafe/eating spot on our way to the beach. Again we just walked around and we finally got a drink called Mabi. On every Island we were looking for it. It's a Caribbean drink we were told we had to have. It was good. It tasted like flat root beer.

Saturday Jan 9th

We were off to Bridgetown, Barbados. Since it was our last port, we decided to book an excursion. We booked a "swim with the turtles" excursion. We snorkeled with them. It was so fun. I have never seen a sea turtle that close before. They swam so close to us. I kick one, on accident, when it swam underneath me. It was the biggest one too. I felt awful. We then were put back on the boat and taken to a ship wreak and snorkeled that for a bit.

Sunday Jan 10th

This day was our day at sea. We really didn't do much, but sleep and go to the pool. That night we decided to book the restaurant were you had to pay an extra 35 bucks to eat at. I have never had service like that. It was a five star quality!! That dinner, if it was not on the cruise, would have easily cost about a good 150 a head. It was fantastic.

Monday Jan 11th

Our cruise is over. What a sad day. Since our flight was not till later in the day. We booked a excursion with the ship to see the rain forest on Puerto Rico. They took our luggage and held if for us till we got to the airport. It was beautiful. Before we were taken to the airport we stopped at a local eating place again. It was really really good. I am surprised that my little stomach handled it.

All in all the cruise was awesome and we loved every minute. The entertainment each night was fantastic and well worth staying and seeing. The workers were on top of everything. It was a magnificent ship to sail on. I suggest, if you are looking to book a cruise, do it with Celebrity. It will blow your mind and you will have no choice but to enjoy every minute of it. :)

Sorry for the long post

Peace