Caribbean Cruise

June 28, 2003-July 5, 2003

Celebrity Cruises - Century

It was a long awaited vacation that everyone needed.  James and I had never been on a cruise, but our travel companions - Yvette, Gus, David & Anna had been.  We were on a cruise of the West Indies and were completely PSYCHED out.  It would be a vacation of a lifetime and we figured that we had better take it while we had the money, time and energy!!

We left Ft. Lauderdale, Florida on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. and were at sea all day on Sunday.  This was our first formal night on the ship.  We ate in the Grand Restaurant (a wonderful 5 course meal) then went dancing in the Hemisphere Lounge.  Yvette and Gus told us to be ready to spend the money on the professional pictures, and we did!!  Guess what everybody is getting for Christmas???

It was a good restful day...we sat by the pool, played some Bingo and just took a nap!!  Wonderful!!

Here is a picture of our room.  (We decided on an inside room because I get so seasick.  But my Aunt suggested "Bonine" and it worked like a charm...didn't get sick once!!)  Our room was actually fairly spacious and so great and dark at night.  I slept like a baby.  You'll notice what takes center stage in this picture....Pinky Pillow!!

One of the first things you do on ship is the "Lifeboat Drill"  and let me tell you that it is a pain in your ass!!

A toast to a week of no work, phones, computers or stress!!

On Monday we pulled into San Juan, Puerto Rico.  We mainly stayed in Old San Juan, walking along the blue cobblestone streets and going to a beautiful altar along the way.  You can see that Gus and Yvette were very naughty at such a holy place!!

We then walked on through the streets and came upon El Convento.  Which of course means first a place of prostitution, then a convent and now a hotel.  Go figure!!

We then went to El Morro-a 16th century fort.  It was too late to get in to see the inside, but the views were wonderful.  And again there was more hugging and kissing!!  Had enough of that yet??

Here is Anna (Gus's sister) and David (Gus and Yvette's son) on the lawn of El Morro.  AND James at the fountain after he had gotten POOPED on by a Pelican, and let me tell you....they have big poop!!

At midnight it was time to take off for St. Thomas!!  But before that guess who HAD to do Karaoke??  Of course Anna and Gus...didn't believe us did you??

We decided when we got to St. Thomas to go to Meagans Bay.  A very calm and serene beach.  These first pictures are looking down on the Bay from the mountains.  It was absolutely breathtaking!!

You can see our ship way over on the left side of the next picture.  There is also our open air taxi that we took from the ship to the beach.  The speed limit on these mountains is 10 and we were going at least 45  YEEEE HAAAWWW!!  It was quite interesting, and we still have our lives thanks to our wonderful driver, Robert!!

You can see in the next pictures how calm the water is in the Bay.   It faced the Caribbean Sea.

Hey David.....get a little too much sun???  Yes, poor David got a really bad sunburn the first couple of days.  He was REALLY careful after that!

At 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday, we took off for St. Martin.  We decided to go to the French side, upon several suggestions.  The island was very mountainous and DRY.  There were cacti everywhere.  I totally didn't expect that. 

The beaches were completely different at St. Martin.  The sand was like talcum powder and there were waves, which actually got pretty high. 

Here are a few pictures of us at the beach.  We decided to go to Orient Beach, which just so happened to be the nude beach.   Why is it when you go to the nude beach, the only people who are nude are old or out of shape??  (Click here to see some of those pictures)  It was a question that we asked ourselves over and over again.  We got these beach chairs for $15.00 for two chairs and an umbrella.  What a deal!!

As you can see, Yvette and I stayed wellllll under our umbrellas, while Gus was baking to a golden purple.  We wondered if he had a turkey timer on his leg or somewhere that would pop out when he was done!!

We left St. Martin around 3:00 and were headed to the Bahamas.  We had one full day at sea, so that meant another formal night!!  We all got dressed up and had a great lobster dinner in the Grand Restaurant.  The picture to the left is the "whinos" with their sommelier and the picture to the right is our waiter Erde (from Turkey) and our assistant waiter Owen (from the Phillipines), they are taking part in the "Baked Alaska Parade".  You wouldn't believe the service these guys give!!  Thanks for a great job!!

Next will be a couple of pictures from the ship.  The one to the right is the Grand Buffet that is served on Thursday night.  You cannot even imagine it!

We arrived in the Bahamas on Friday around 3:00.  There wasn't much time to do anything so we went straight to the Atlantis Hotel.  We strolled around there and checked out the aquarium.  The first picture is the lighthouse pulling into the bay.  The second picture is the Atlantis Hotel.

DAVID.....what are you thinking??!!  Right into a fountain.  We just can't take him anywhere!!!

We all know how Yvette needs her Diet Pepsi...well you can imagine here what she needed!!  And who can blame her, it was hot and nap time.  I wondered if my bosses would mind that I now needed a nap everyday around 3:00??!!  I could definitely get used to that!!  The last picture is me in front of one of the amazing hand blown glass chandeliers.  There were several in the hotel that Yvette and I guesstimated were worth millions of dollars!

Then it was back to the ship to go back to Ft. Lauderdale.  We had such a wonderful time and were so pampered and coddled.  We wish that we could take another one ASAP.  This picture of Yvette sums up how we felt about leaving the boat!!

However, there are other things on the agenda right now, and it will just have to wait....  But we look forward to another trip with our GREAT travel companions.  We left Louisville as great friends and returned family.  We want to thank everyone for their prayers and attention.  We love you all!!

And as we wave to you all in a royal way....we ride off into the sunset!!

Love,

Heather and James