John and Diane's LAST Round the World Adventure

[thetexasaggiecruiser]

Looking forward to reading along, and I wish you the smoothest travels possible when you get to the birthday segment!

[localady]

So thrilled to see you two off for another Grand adventure! It is always a highlight of my winter to read about your globetrotting.

It's a chilly (for Calif) 42 degrees here and I can almost feel the warmth of St. Thomas !

Thank you so much for once again taking us with you. :D

Edited December 27, 2014 by localady

[cruise kitty]

Thanks so much for sharing your cruise with us again! The World Cruise blogs are really a highlight for me after the holidays are over, looking forward to reading about your adventures this year. :)

[Johnny B]

December 27 - Basseterre, St. Kitts

 

Another day on a lovely tropical island is not a bad way to spend a cruise. We docked at St. Kitts at 8:00, but by the time we finished our morning routine, it was closer to 10:00. The weather was perfect, a little cooler than St. Thomas, but still in the low 80’s. Apparently St. Kitts is usually topped by a bank of clouds, which is why it was sprinkling lightly as we disembarked. We arrived at Port Zante, which is really well located as far as the island goes. There are the requisite jewelry and souvenir shops, but the walking paths lead the cruise tourist right into the middle of town, called “The Circus,” which can be identified by lots of traffic and a tall clock, much like the one in The Seychelles. Right by the dock, one could buy “two beers for $5.00 U.S.,” but as the path continued toward town, it became “three beers for $5.00 U.S.” I guess patience is, after all, a virtue.

 

We walked through town and up the hill, seeing shops and houses and churches, as well as very well-dressed families headed for services at the Seventh Day Adventist church. There’s a beautiful stone Anglican church with a Methodist Chapel on its corner. As we worked our way across town, we came across the large Immaculate Conception Co-Cathedral, a term which I don’t understand. The church was decorated with a lovely nativity scene and no less than half a dozen trees, all artificial, since they don’t grow on any of the Caribbean islands.

 

Finally we decided it was time to see more of the island, so we headed over to the taxi stand and found Elvis (really!) who was happy to take us on a tour of St. Kitts for “a very reasonable price.” He repeatedly told us “I’m not in this for the money; I just want to make you happy.” I’m not sure what price we agreed upon, but as we headed out of town we saw our friends Jeff, Ann and Cathy, so we stopped and asked if they wanted to join us. We agreed on $20 per person, which I’m sure was less than whatever total we had earlier agreed upon.

 

Our tour was an adventure, and while most cars wouldn’t work without a transmission or an engine, this one couldn’t possible work without a horn. Every move that Elvis made was announced with his horn, whether it was approaching another car, passing a car, greeting a friend or going around a bend. After awhile it got pretty funny, and he agreed that the horn was a necessity for driving in St. Kitts. Like many of the islands in the Caribbean, driving is on the “other” side of the road, and we saw that many of the cars and vans had either religious sayings painted on them (i. e., Jesus is coming) or personal sayings like “Big Denny.” It was fun to watch for them. Elvis’ van is brand new, so he doesn’t want to paint anything on it.

 

The scenery was lovely, but the most interesting thing for me was driving around the island, from the Caribbean side to the Atlantic side and then back. The Caribbean side was flat and peaceful and so clear that it was possible to see rocks several feet down. The Atlantic side, however, was wild and powerful, and there were 15-foot waves crashing on the beaches.

 

We stopped at Black Rock, whose name comes from the rocks on the beach at the foot of the cliff which were thrown there long ago by a volcano many miles away. Some of the rocks are shaped like pillars, and some just sit on a black sand beach where huge waves break over them from the Atlantic. There was a small hexagonal building not more than 10 feet in any direction called “The Black Rock Pub,” which must be the smallest pub in the Western Hemisphere.

 

We finally found ourselves back in the middle of town, where we disembarked our van, thanked Elvis for the tour, and made a short stop in a local supermarket for some apple bananas, which we have learned to love in Hawaii. Then it was back to the ship for our once-a-week treat of sharing a burger and fries at The Dive-In, the hot dog/hamburger bar near the midships Lido pool.

 

Since touring is so tiring, a nap was called for, followed by sailaway from this beautiful little island.

[windsor26]

Having just finished our first HAL cruise I would love to know what they do to make their chips so great Perhaps you could ask at the Dive In? It may be a secret but I wish I could duplicate it

[wdw1972]

I'm certainly not alone in being thrilled you're cruising again, although I don't really believe this will be your LAST world cruise ;-) But, I can play along if that's what it takes, lol! Have a wonderful time, and your grandaughter is lucky to have such devoted grandparents!

 

Sue/WDW1972

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

Wednesday, December 24 - At Sea between The Bahamas and St. Thomas

Day 2 (Too tired and jet-lagged yesterday to write)

 

Well, we’ve done it again! I’m sure this has been the most bizarre way to get to a world cruise that there ever was. We wanted to see Burma (Myanmar) because it’s just opening to tourism, so we thought, what the heck, we’ll do two of the four segments of the world cruise, sailing from Ft. Lauderdale to Dubai. Then, since we’d never been to Dubai, we’d stay three nights and then fly home. Sounds like a plan - right?

 

Didn’t work that way. First, we watched the prices on the Caribbean 14-day “pre-cruise” go down and down and finally decided we’d do that, staying on for the passage to Dubai. Then John, in his wisdom, decided that, since we’re not (REALLY!) doing any more full world cruises, we really ought to do the whole thing this time. There was a fly in the ointment, however. We had promised our daughter and our only granddaughter that we’d be at her 9th birthday party on April 11, so the discussion between John and Courtney did not go well. Two days later, however, John had a “jacuzzi moment.” Those occur when he’s sitting in the spa and I go out to chat and he says, “I have an idea.” I should have turned around and run, but I stayed and listened.

 

Here’s his brilliant idea: we stay on for the whole cruise but fly home from Alexandria (Cairo) on April 7, spend time with Jessica and go to the party, and then fly back to rejoin the ship in Rome. I swear, it makes me tired and jet-lagged just writing it. But . . . that’s what we’re going to do. I don’t know if we’re fools or good grandparents, but everything is now booked and we have air transportation (mostly on miles), a rental car, and a hotel. Now all we need is a birthday present.

 

One of the best parts of being on this cruise was the arrival. We had not told our friends Jeff, Ann and Cathy we were going to be here, so it was great to surprise them, Jeff at the pool and the sisters in the Crow’s Nest before dinner. They are our “besties” on the ship, and although we have a four-top table for the two of us (all the easier to invite guests), we share their table for formal nights - like tonight. The other wonderful thing about arriving is being greeted like family by officers and crew that we’ve known in the past. Willie, the Bar Supervisor saw us and said, “Welcome Home,” and that’s the way it feels. When I changed my mind about where I was going and turned around on the stairs, a man laughed at me and said, “I got lost a lot on my first cruise too.” I just laughed with him.

 

So . . . here we are on the Amsterdam yet again. It’s our 5th full world cruise, but the Caribbean portion is very different from the WC. First of all, it’s a LOT more crowded.

There is truly “no room at the inn,” with every cabin booked. Even though the ship is supposed to hold about 1300 people, it’s closer to 1400 during holidays when families occupy a stateroom. The WC, however, usually has closer to 1000 passengers, and it just feels so much emptier. There are some other differences that are pretty obvious: the casino and the bars are a lot busier on shorter cruises.

 

One big difference we’ve noticed is in the decorations. Last year, we took the trans-canal cruise from San Francisco before the WC, and the ship just sparkled with Christmas trees. I asked Eddy and Calista, the ship’s florists, how many trees there were and they said there were more than 50. This year I think there’s a maximum of 10. When I asked Eddy about the difference, he said that HAL had changed floral supply companies and they provided less decorative material for this cruise. Eddy and Calista do such a lovely job with the floral decorations, however, that they cannot be faulted. I guess it’s just another cutback from HAL, probably finding a floral supply company that gives them a better deal.

 

Yesterday was our first “port,” HAL’s private island called Half Moon Cay. If you ever wanted to run away to the perfect island, this would be a good choice. It was about 85 degrees, the water was perfectly clear and turquoise, and the sand was more like baby powder than sand. There are horses to ride (for a price), trails to walk, and one of the most creative bars I’ve seen. It’s called Captain Morgan’s, and it’s built in the shape of a huge pirate ship, complete with make-believe cannon-ball holes in the sides. We stuck to Diet Coke, but it was a great place to find a lounge chair and just relax between trips into the water to cool off. Lunch was a barbecue, with hot dogs, hamburgers, barbecued fish, chicken and ribs. We loved everything about the day and came home only a little sunburned.

 

We’ve begun a wonderful adventure and hope you’ll share it with us. Stay tuned for 126 days of “John and Diane’s Last Round the World Adventure.”

 

 

Sorry to hear that the holiday decorations this year have been decreased. We were on the Holiday tour last year and so enjoyed the numerous trees and decorations the entire time. Very sad to know HAL is cutting back on this.

[shrimp56]

Sorry to hear that the holiday decorations this year have been decreased. We were on the Holiday tour last year and so enjoyed the numerous trees and decorations the entire time. Very sad to know HAL is cutting back on this.

Got off Veendam a week ago and noticed fewer decorations. Last year Zuiderdam had too many decorations. The balance has to be someplace in between I think.

[windsor26]

We got off the Oosterdam on 19th and at that timne they had just put up the gingerbread houses and there was one tree

We are so used to Princess who start to put decorations on every cabin door in November which starts the Christmas enthusiasm,

[Johnny B]

December 28 - Castries, St. Lucia

 

It’s another beautiful day in the Caribbean. We docked at Castries while watching Cunard’s Queen Mary II sit out in the water, having to use tenders to bring their guests ashore. It’s always nice seeing the “big guys” be too big to dock and their high-paying guests come in by tender. I guess that’s petty of me, but oh, well. I shouldn’t complain too much, since because we’re smaller and can fit under Sydney bridge, we were shuttled to White Bay for docking on the last cruise, which is waaaay out of the city center. We’ve heard that we’ll get Circular Quay (next to The Rocks and the Sydney Opera House) this year, but we’ll have to wait and see about that.

 

St. Lucia is a beautiful island. We were here in April on last year’s WC and took a taxi tour of the place, including the Pitons and Sulfur Springs, the world’s only drive-in volcano, so we decided against another tour. We did walk into town, however, but because this year we’re here on Sunday, we found most places closed when we walked the half-mile or so to town. The only exceptions were the open markets, where we looked but stopped ourselves from buying by asking, “Do we really need anything?”

 

When we arrived back at the port, we wandered past the high-end stores selling the usual: diamonds, watches, beautiful jewelry and so on. Then we found a place after our hearts called Rum Therapy, where we bought a rum cake and a cute little St. Lucia bag of saltwater taffy, the first for our kids and the second for our granddaughter. If you’ve read our previous blogs, you know that we try to send a “care package” home at the end of each segment, and this will do it for the 14-day pre-cruise.

 

We discovered that Rum Therapy had an annex - a cute little bar with free wi-fi, the holy grail of cruise passengers. We enjoyed a local beer (Piton) and a hard cider, but felt a bit strange drinking before lunch. Oh well, it got us free wi-fi, so it must have been OK.

 

Since all-aboard was at 2:30, we headed back well before that to have lunch and a bit of a nap. The early sailaway was so that we could sail to another part of the island to collect a group of passengers who were there as part of a shore excursion. It was really lovely sitting on deck watching the lush hills go by. Several of us who were sitting together decided that mornings in the Caribbean should be for sightseeing, but afternoons should be just sailing past beautiful, verdant scenery.

 

I decided that an afternoon session in the gym was necessary, but I got back to the cabin in time to sit on the verandah long enough to stop sweating, then take a shower and get to the Sunday service before it began - it wasn’t a sure thing, since I left the cabin at 5:58 for a 6:00 service.

 

Now I have to change from church clothes to cocktail party clothes (I know, there’s something wrong about that) since we’re going to another party for passengers who are combining this cruise with the world cruise. They do treat us well!

 

Tomorrow is St. George’s, Grenada (remember the invasion in the 80’s?). We’ve never been here, so we’re still trying to decide if it will be a sightseeing day or a beach day - or possible some of each. We’ll have to wait and see.

[RMLincoln]

Granada is a great place to purchase spices for that care package if it's going to anyone who enjoys cooking! A few stalls can be found if you pass through the terminal and turn right, just about 100' IIRC. The packaging of the spices is small, so, easy to pack or send. Enjoy, m--

[cruz chic]

Love St. Lucia. Sailing by the pitons is a favorite memory of mine. Enjoyed reading about on this cold and snowy day.

[Harley57]

Thanks for taking us along. Looking forward to your reports on the WC. Have fun

[lizf]

Appreciate your taking us along on this World Cruise. Thanks for your efforts. We no longer cruise, but we sure do envy those of you who can. Liz

[Johnny B]

December 29 - St. George’s, Grenada

 

Another day, another beautiful island. It truly was wonderful to wake up and see lush mountains, beautiful beaches, and bright, colorful houses climbing up the hills here.

This is a first visit for us, and we are very impressed with what we’ve seen. The island seems to have somewhat less poverty than some of the others, and the feeling we had from downtown St. George’s was of a cute little European seaside town, complete with cafes and too much traffic. Lucky for us, we’re on the starboard side of the ship, since we share the dock with a P & O liner, and those on the port side had only a view of that ship’s balconies. We look over the beautiful water and beaches. Lucky us!

 

Our first destination was up, up, up the mountain to the fort. I really don’t mind steps, but when someone decides that each step must be 12-14 inches in height, then I have problems! We hiked, and rested and finally got to the fort, paid our $2.00 entry fee, and then entered what turned out to be a very old fort which was literally falling apart. It was worth the cost, because we could walk the walls and see what it had been like, but it would be great to see it restored.

 

On the way down the hill (thank goodness), we saw what, from a distance, looked like a pretty old church. When we got to it, however, we found that it was as much a ruin as the fort, with only the front and back walls intact, along with the clock tower. The information outside the ruin tells how to schedule tours of the clock tower and asks for donations to rebuild the “Scottish Kirk.”

 

St. George’s sits on a double bay, shaped somewhat like a “Y”, and we walked around one part of the bay, enjoying the little shops, cafes and restaurants. By the time we arrived at the other side of the bay, we decided it was time to go to the beach, so we hopped in a cab and headed to Grand Anse beach. There were beach chairs, colorful umbrellas, and baking people lined up for about a half mile in each direction. We wandered down the beach and suddenly found two lovely lounge chairs in about row three from the beach itself. We unrolled our ship’s beach towels, settled down, and then a local fellow came to set up a broken umbrella over our lounges and told us that, while it’s usually $25.00 for a day’s use of the lounges and umbrellas, the broken umbrella caused a $5.00 discount. It was a perfect location and he did eventually find us a nice umbrella in working condition, but never asked for the extra 5.00.

 

As we usually do in such situations, we took turns going into the water, since we leave things like phones and IPads in the beach bag. The water was very nice and warm, but not as clear as many places in the Caribbean and there were hundreds of feathery little pieces of seaweed that wanted to claim my ankles. I stayed in long enough to get wet and cool off, and then I was back to the lounge. We spent probably half an hour talking to a British couple from the P & O ship, and then it was time for all four of us to take the water ferry back to the ship, with splashing water coming up over the bow and cooling us off again.

 

It was a late lunch for us, once we arrived back “home,” and then time to read a little, write a little, and maybe even nap a little. A second trip to the gym might be helpful, too, since we’re going to another cocktail party this evening, this one given by Bill and Joan, good friends who used to be the bridge instructors on the world cruises. We used to share a table at dinner during two world cruises, but hadn’t seen them in about forever, so it’s been nice to catch up on this cruise. Cute town in the morning, beach in the afternoon, and wine in the evening with friends - what could be better?

 

P. S. Margaret and Keith, we miss you too, and would love to see you on another cruise some time.

[Hope to Cruise]

So glad to hear that Bill and Joan are sailing. We were on the Grand Voyage is 2010 and played bridge in their excellent games. Joan became very ill on that voyage and they had to leave the ship in Sidney. My husband took over directing the games.

 

Wonderful news that Joan is doing well. Hello to them both from Art and Vicki.

[alsas]

So glad Joan and bill are back sailing give them our best

 

 

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[MMDown Under]

Delighted to see you are doing another world cruise and look forward to following along. I can almost smell the tropics as you cruise through the Caribbean islands.

 

Hope you enjoyed your apple bananas.

 

As I hadn't heard of apple bananas, I googled them and they look like our sugar bananas, which are not sold commercially, but are available in the northern tropics here. I love sugar bananas and Lady Finger Bananas, larger than sugar, but smaller than Cavendish bananas, which are sold commercially here.

[Johnny B]

December 30 - Bridgetown, Barbados

 

I do so love Barbados. It has beautiful scenery, sparkling turquoise water surrounding it, and friend inhabitants, but what I like the most is The Boathouse, a restaurant/bar/beach resort about a mile and a half from the ship. We woke up early, so we headed out earlier than planned, and walked to The Boathouse, arriving at about 10:00.

 

When we were here last April, it must have been after “the season,” because we paid $20 each to get in, which served as a credit at the bar and restaurant. With no planning, we used up all but about fifty cents of it. This year, however, we’re right in the middle of high season, so we paid $15 each, which entitled us to use of the facilities, one drink, and a shuttle ride back to the ship.

 

An interesting part of the establishment is Happy Hour. Here’s it’s from 11:00 until 12:00 noon. You’d think that free drinks would be weak, but you’d think wrong. They pour a mean rum punch, and the fish and chips for lunch was pretty good too.

 

The beach at The Boathouse is beautiful, with clear water at a pleasant temperature. Since there were three ships in, the beach was pretty crowded, but we had a great time - and I had a wonderful nap under the umbrella.

 

Last evening seven of us had a great dinner in The Pinnacle, choosing everything from filet mignon to halibut as main courses. The only problem is that there’s just too darn much food! We were stuffed, but at least had over an hour to let it settle while we watched the Amsterdam Singers and Dancers perform another amazing show. The highlight of this one, for me, was a medley of songs from “Mamma Mia.”

 

Tomorrow is Guadalupe (pronounced Guada-loop, I’ve learned). This is another new port for us, so we’re excited, and since it’s a French colony, we’re looking for some good French food for lunch. Oh no, not food again!

[Johnny B]

Wednesday, December 31 - Happy New Year!

Point-a-Pitre, Guadaloupe (sorry for yesterday’s misspelling)

 

Another great port, this one with French accents and great pastries. We docked at 9:00 this morning, and were off the ship less than 30 minutes later. We found this to be a lovely town, full of friendly people (no matter what some of our friends may say), great markets and enough shoes for sale to choke several horses. I told John that if I had a dollar for every pair of shoes in those dozens of stores, I’d be able to have the penthouse for the world cruise every year for several years. It isn’t a great beach town, but it is a town where real people live, and it was interesting to see them go about their

daily business.

 

We first walked through the spice market, and although the choice was not as extensive as on Grenada, there was a huge choice. I loved seeing whole buckets full of cinnamon bark and a full measure of saffron for 5 or 10 euros - such a deal!

 

Then we headed over to the produce market, where bananas of every kind were available, including some huge plantains. The fish market was next, and it was interesting to see some fish that were new to us as well as people scaling and cleaning their product.

 

After that, we found Delifrance, a French chain of cafes that sell some excellent pastries as well as darned good cappuccino. John chose a pain au chocolat, I had a chausson au pomme (pastry filled with pureed apple), and the beverages to wash them down. It was just like being back in Paris.

 

After visiting the St. Peter and Paul Cathedral and wandering the shopping streets (but not buying anything), the heat got to us and we headed back to the blissfully air-conditioned ship, where lunch was ready and waiting for us. (We couldn't find a restaurant on shore that "spoke" to us) Later we wandered around town some more, used the free wifi in the cruise terminal, and then came back here for some rest and reading - as well as paying end-of-the-month bills.

 

Tonight is formal, as befits the celebration of the New Year, and the entertainment begins in the Queen’s Lounge at 11:00. We made it last year, and I think we’ll do so this year as well. So, again, Happy New Year to all, and I’ll be back in 2015.

[Johnny B]

Thursday, January 1, 2015

Sint Maarten/St. Martin

 

Happy New Year (again)! We spent last evening (and into the wee hours of the morning) having a wonderful time with our friends and formal table mates. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it, but we have found a very happy medium for dining by having a four-top table for the two of us upstairs so that we can invite two others to dine with us from time to time. In addition, we have good friends Aart and Ellen at the next table and Barbara and Marty Schacter just behind us. On formal nights, we like to be more sociable, so we sit downstairs with our good friends Jeff, Cathy and Ann (“the sisters”), and Leslie and Handler, two very funny Texans.

 

So . . . after dinner downstairs with friends, we were a bit early for the New Year’s Eve ball in the Queen’s Lounge, so we went to the Sports Bar to watch a little football. Then, at 10:45, we wandered into the Queen’s Lounge a bit early while there were actually seats available. Cathy came and joined us as the ball opened promptly at 11:00. The HAL Cats began playing, the Amsterdam singers joined them, and dancing began in the middle of the room, with the occasional bottle of Champagne given out.

 

There are always half a dozen balls during the world cruise, but with 1400 people on board for this cruise, it was really, really crowded. We joined in the dancing anyway and had a great time. People were all very happy to be bumping into each other in their celebrations. A minute before 12:00 the countdown began, and cheers and horns sounded as midnight arrived. We stayed and danced awhile longer, but were pretty much tucked in and ready to sleep by about 12:45.

 

Today was a beautiful day (as they all have been so far) as we sailed into Sint Maarten, the Dutch side of a truly scenic island. According to our boat taxi driver, this island is the smallest one in the world which contains two nations, one Dutch and the other French. The Dutch side seems all about shopping, and the French side seems to lean toward good food and nude (or semi-nude) beaches. Last year when we were here, we taxied over to the French side (no comment here), but this year we just wandered around Philipsburg, watching people spend a great deal of money. Finally we settled into a beach-side restaurant with two very valuable commodities: great hamburgers and free wifi.

 

After wandering a little more (to try to work off a little of that burger we shared), we headed back to the ship for a lovely chat with our daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter as well as a very welcome nap.

 

This evening will be very low key, with dinner at our own table and then a show headlined by a woman named Donna Groom, who was the lead singer with the 60’s group “The Skyliners.” We’ll also try to fit in as much as possible of the Rose Bowl, as we yell “Go Ducks.”

 

I hope your New Year’s Day was a good one and that 2015 will be better than ever.

[alsas]

What a wonderful warm fuzzy New Year. See you both soon

 

 

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[cruz chic]

Happy new year and thanks for the updates.

[Johnny B]

January 2, 2015 - San Juan, Puerto Rico

 

We’ve wanted to travel to San Juan for a long time, primarily because of its history and the beauty of its Old Town. Finally we made it, and we were not disappointed. We docked at 8:00 this morning, and by 9:30 we were ready to walk our little feet off discovering as much of the city as possible.

 

Our ultimate goal was El Morro, the oldest Spanish fort in the New World and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was begun in the 1500’s and is in remarkably good condition for a 500-year-old structure. I thought that the long walk to the fort between huge areas of grass was just for the beauty of the approach, but when while in the fort we found out that the grassy areas were used to protect the fort from attack by land. Atop the sixth level of the fort were dozens of cannons which were used to protect it from attack by sea. In its long history, the fort was only conquered once, by the English, but several weeks later, with most of their soldiers dead or dying from disease, they gave it up and the Spanish regained it. Then, of course, in 1898 the Spanish-American War gave us Puerto Rico, which now flies the American flag.

 

From the fort we continued into old San Juan, walking along streets paved with beautiful blue bricks which were used as ballast in the old ships. The buildings are Spanish colonial and most of them are in wonderful condition, covered with pastel stucco and sporting wrought-iron balconies. There are museums, convents, and churches, including the Cathedral of San Juan Bautista which contains the tomb of Juan Ponce de Leon.

 

When it was past noon and our stomachs were telling us it was time to eat, we happened across two friendly police officers, one of whom sent us to his favorite “down-home” restaurant, Cafe Manolin, a fairly small place with about six tables and a couple of dozen bar stools. Since the wait for a table was longer than our patience, we opted for the bar stools and had a great conversation with our waiter, who recommended a local specialty called mofongo, in which cooked chicken is wrapped in mashed plantain bananas and deep fried. According to John, it was delicious. I ordered chicken empanadas, but unlike that dish in California, this one was simply breaded and cooked chicken breast. Both of our main dishes were accompanied by wonderful rice which was combined with beans, chopped pork, and broth. Yummm. It was even better because we were almost the only English speakers in the cafe, and when we left, the line was to the door, always a sign of a good restaurant.

 

We found the post office to mail some post cards and a “care package” to the kids, and after a stop at Senor Frog for overpriced margaritas and “free” wifi, we ambled on back to the ship, which was just across the street. Sailaway through the “Gibraltar of the West Indies,” alongside the fort, meant a great deal more to us after all we’d learned today.

[cccole]

It was just fabulous to see that you are going to be on the entire WC and taking us along. I love your daily reports and especially your sense of enthusiasm and enjoyment of new ports as well as those you have visited before. You never have the "been there, done that" or "entitlement" attitude of some that post from the WC. And sometimes the fact that everything isn't perfect seems to add to your adventure. I am able to relive adventures from places we have been and make a note of places that would be great to visit. Your great reports with Jeff's pictures are something I will be looking forward to for the next few months. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!!!!!!! Cherie