Stinger-pr's fascinating honeymoon, Fascination cruise review- Oct. 16-23, 2016

[Stinger-pr]

Day 6: St. Kitts continued...

 

One interesting thing is that the fort is way up there on a pretty tall hill and the only way up is through a winding, narrow road that Pastor Williams navigated with ease. He fit that van through arched gates that did not seem wide enough to fit a Smart car. We were literally inches from hitting or scarping the van but he made it seem so easy every time. Just before we reached the top there’s a gate where you pay the $10US entry fee (also included in the tour price) and where the gate keeper hands you some literature with info on the fort and tries to sell you into renting an audio wand for and automated, self-guided tour for an extra charge (not sure if it was $5 or $10). We reached the grassy parking lot at the foot of the fort’s last hill, a meet time was agreed and we were pointed on our way to freely roam the premises.

The main structure is Fort George citadel, which includes the Eastern and Western Place of Arms, is located at the top of a steep incline which you have to climb to get to the good part. Those with mobility issues; this part of the tour is really not for you. Once at the top of the climb, you catch your breath, only to have it be taken away with the amazing views!

This is the ramp used to reach the citadel and Ft. George. On the background you can see the parking lot, the gift/snack shop and way in the back that round hillis called Monkey Hill.

(Yes, it is that long and that steep. And we weren’t even at the top yet.)

The Citadel is an amazing place with a lot of history and incredible views of the Caribbean Sea and the neighboring islands of St. Eustatius (pictured) and Saba.

The Prince of Wales Bastion:

The neighboring Sint Eustatius in the center and Saba to its left in the background:

[Stinger-pr]

Day 6: St. Kitts continued...

 

Most of the fort structure was made from sandstone and volcanic rocks which is why the walls look so dark in places. The fort itself is extremely well preserved structurally but it’s a work in progress on the inside. I griped about the lack of exhibitions, plaques with info and the general condition of the inside of the fort last time I visited a year ago (2015). While there has been progress, it still seems like when a park opens just before completion but the attractions are not yet ready. There is a short movie you can watch about the history of the fort and a small exhibit in one of the rooms as well as some info on the overall history when you come in the only entrance. But other than that there’s not really that much to see on the inside. The outer grounds look great; the premises are clean, nice and very well maintained. The addition of informative plaques in different places (other than at the entrance) would make a heck of a difference in the experience. Maybe they hold out on putting up more info inside the fort itself in order to move those info wands they rent at the gate.

[Stinger-pr]

Day 5: St. Kitts continued...

 

Like I said before, those that have mobility issues will have a lot of trouble getting to the top but there are still places with easy access to see and explore close to the parking area like the infantry officers quarters, artillery officers quarters as well as views of the coast and the Prince of Wales bastion. You could maybe walk up Monkey Hill, just behind the ruins of the artillery officers’ quarters, and catch another breathtaking view of the coast.

The infantry officers’ quarters:

The artillery officer’s quarters ruins:

The parking lot is actually what’s called the Parade grounds. This is where you’ll find the small gift/snack shop where you can also grab some refreshments. There are also bathrooms just by the shop but don’t expect anything near fancy, more like barely adequate.

By this point our time at Brimstone Hill had come to an end. But the thing is that we were so immersed in our surroundings and into taking our pictures that we hadn’t noticed that nobody from our tour was out and about. We leisurely strolled towards our van, thinking we’d be the first ones there again, only to find out that everybody had been waiting for us inside for a couple of minutes already. Everyone had a good laugh from our faux-pas and while we were also laughing on the outside, on the inside we were so ashamed for having kept everyone waiting. To be honest, we never heard anyone calling for us or heard the van’s horn. We don’t even know if they ever did honk for us.

[Stinger-pr]

I'll pause here for a while but I promise that I will finish out St. Kitts tonight.

[tomsuelaw]

So do you think Brimstone Hill is worth it after seeing the forts in San Juan? San Juan forts are by far the best forts we have ever been to and so I wasn't sure if Brinstone would be worth the hassle of getting there and $ to get in.

 

Thanks again! Keep up the great job, you are doing awesome!

[Stinger-pr]

So do you think Brimstone Hill is worth it after seeing the forts in San Juan? San Juan forts are by far the best forts we have ever been to and so I wasn't sure if Brinstone would be worth the hassle of getting there and $ to get in.

 

Thanks again! Keep up the great job, you are doing awesome!

Thank you for your words and for still reading. My personal opinion is the Brimstone Hill is worth seeing as part of a tour but not by itself. It is a $10 entry fee (which our tour price included) compared to $5 for both forts in San Juan. Brimstone is a much smaller fort than any of the two in San Juan, but it still has its charm. Also, there are no real taxis in St. Kitts. Most operate tours that last from 2-3 hours to a whole day. I don't think no one will take passengers just to see the fort and back unless they pay a premium. So, unless you really, really have to go or if you're a history buff, it's not worth the hassle to go see the fort by itself. More than likely you'll see everything in 30-45 mins. If it is one of your stops in an island tour, it's worth the ride.

[easyboy]

Nice photos of St. Kitts.

It's really a nice place and we are eager to be back in March.

[Stinger-pr]

Day 6: St. Kitts continued...

 

Where was I?? Oh yeah...

 

So, after our mistimed arrival at the van, we started to make our way back to the main road, almost backtracking all the way to Basseterre, making our way to the day’s final stop at the beach.

On our way we passed some huge and very expensive houses perched on the hills right and left. We also passed by the St. Kitts Marriott (hmm…I’m gonna have to check on my discount for this property to see if a weekend escape is viable). We also came to the famous Timothy Hill…and kept right on going. We were told that we’d stop on our way back in order to find it less crowded. Ok, that works… Last year we were taken to Carambola Beach club located at Friars Bay beach. But when we reached the turn off to Carambola, we kept going and a bit further down the road we turned when we arrived at this sign:

YES!!! I had read so much about Shipwreck, the snorkeling there and its black sands that I had planned to walk from Carambola to this place on the beach anyway so, they saved me the trouble of doing so. Immediately I two things drew my attention:

#1) This is a beach bar in all its rustic essence…and it was great!!!

That small shack on the right of the picture in the back is one of the bathroom/change rooms in the property.

There were so many people at the tables that I thought it would be rude to start taking pictures of them eating so just the bar will have to do for this review.

Is this bar Eco-friendly (bio-degradable/recyclable) or what?

[Stinger-pr]

Day 6: St. Kitts continued...

 

#2) On the roadside sign it said that we could see wild monkeys (which we never did) but then found this sign below. While we never saw any monkeys (and nobody from our group did either) there were a lot of Mongoose in those rocks. And when I say a lot I mean like they were everywhere. But we never did get close to them anyway so…

The place was full of people but almost all were there to eat and drink so that meant we bagged a great spot on the beach on the loungers, some of which were very close to the water. Each two loungers had a shared “Tiki” umbrella and all this was included in the price of the tour. This was very nice since when I was at Carambola on the other end of the beach, the loungers were not included and the umbrellas were also an extra fee. There were two “tiers” of loungers at Shipwreck; those close to the water and some a bit higher, on the same level as the bar and parking.

As you can see, everybody had their stuff on the loungers and not on the sand. Every now and then the water would creep up to the loungers before receding again.

Just under those trees, behind the loungers in the sand is where the other loungers were located.

[Stinger-pr]

Day 6: St. Kitts continued...

 

Then there’s the views and that black sand!!!

That’s Nevis between the mountains in the background:

The sand was a continuously changing mixture of dark tan and black sand that shimmered beautifully when reflecting the sun’s rays. It was like a changing painting since the streaks would change with every wave.

This picture below is of the opposite side of the beach and Carambola Beach club. It’s farther than it seems here. My camera just has a good zoom…lol. BTW, the black sand is only found on the side of the beach where Shipwreck and another less frequented beach bar called Discovery (I think…) are. There is just regular coarse sand on the Carambola side.

[Stinger-pr]

Day 6: St. Kitts continued...

 

After settling in, we were ready to hit the water. Now this part of the beach has basically two different sides. Right in front of the bar and loungers area is the area suitable for snorkeling. A bit to the left and in front of where the kayaks you saw a couple of pictures back are, is the swimming area where it’s sandier. Obviously, we stayed in the snorkeling area. First off, when you get in, you are basically walking over flat rocks. Use caution when walking over these. While they are not sharp rocks, nor too slippery, we saw smaller urchins in between crevices and small holes. You can go a good 20 feet in the water while walking over these rocks at some points. We always wore our water shoes anyway so we had no problem, but we were still careful.

One of the fist things we saw were these:

Does anyone know what those “pods” are? We have no idea and we saw a bunch of them.

In this picture there are three fish in various stages of the Blue Headed Wrasses:.

[Stinger-pr]

Day 6: St. Kitts continued...

 

Hey!!!! I found me a Porcupine Fish. And this sucker was much bigger than I expected. He kept swimming and hiding under this rock:

A school of French Grunts

Some nice fan coral:

[Stinger-pr]

Day 6: St. Kitts continued...

 

Does anyone have any idea what in the world is that thing??

After just over an hour on the water, we decided to make our way back to shore since we were getting hungry (or like Kim AKA Mitsugirly says; “hangry”). On our way back we went a bit over into the sandy area but a bit far from shore and saw a bunch of these balls. I don’t know if it’s the same thing but in PR we had a program to re-populate the Condado Lagoon with marine life and they put in a few underwater “sculptures” to give the newcomers shelter and a place to grab on to.

And then I saw this:

An empty conch shell… Score!!!!

[Stinger-pr]

Day 6: St. Kitts continued

 

I know that maybe I shouldn’t have (and I’m sorry if anyone’s offended because I did) but I grabbed this sucker and after making sure nothing was living inside it, I took it home along with this:

My first Sand Dollar!

They will be the new centerpiece for a beach-themed decorative bowl I’m making at home. Awesome!!

After collecting our bounty we finally made it to our loungers. After drying off, I made my way to the bar to get us something to eat. Keep in mind this is a beach BAR. Booze… you get it right away but food takes longer and everything is made to order so depending on how many people are getting a bite and how much food they ordered, your wait time may vary. I ordered a wings and fries (chips) special (usually $13 for both) which consisted of 8 wings and fries for two, a beer and a soda and I think it was less than $15 for everything. That officially made it the cheapest food of any of the islands that we visited.

Food menus:

$10 for a cheeseburger with lettuce, onion, tomato and fries? You can’t get a up-sized double quarter pounder from McD in some places in the US.

They have these baskets with everything from salt and pepper to a darn hot, hot sauce:

Around 2:50pm we started to get back to the van and 15 minutes later we were back on the road, on our way to the ship. We spent a total of just over two hours at Shipwreck and, while that might not sound like a lot, it was quite enough time for us and, according to some of the others that were on the tour with us, it was enough for them as well. All in all, they were an amazing two hours there. If I ever come get to use my discount at the Marriott and stay a couple of days in St. Kitts, this will be my go-to beach.

One last picture before we left

BTW, remember that little weekend escape I talked about at the St. Kitts Marriott earlier? WITH my discount (which is considerable for that property) a 3 day,/two night trip to St. Kitts would cost me around $1,500 for the two of us!!! Airfare from SJU is just killer!! No wonder we (as in people from PR) don’t usually do land vacations on these islands; they’re just not much bang for the buck for us. For that amount of money, we’ll just save up a few hundred more and take another cruise…lol.

[Stinger-pr]

Day 6: St. Kitts continued...

 

As we were making our way back to the ship, we still had one more stop to make and that was at the famous Timothy Hill look-out point. There’s nothing fancy about this spot, really. It’s a dirt parking lot with a couple of vendors, a guy with a monkey (they will ask you for money if you take a picture of or with the monkey) and a guy with a donkey wearing dreadlocks (I won’t spoil you how that looks). What’s really great about the place is the amazing views. To one side you have the famous view a narrow piece of land that has the Atlantic Ocean to one side and the Caribbean Sea on the other.

This is what Timothy Hill is really about:

On the opposite side of the parking lot there’s also a nice view of part of the Sugar Bay resort (left) and the St. Kitts Marriot (center). But if you look closely at the upper left corner of the photo, there’s a huge gap or hole in the mountain that caught my attention.

When I asked Pastor Williams about it he told me that this is the quarry where they mine the huge boulders used as wave breakers all over the island, but mostly they are used at the main cruise piers. Cool!! Another thing I noticed was that the beach in the Marriott resort area was much cleaner than last year. I didn’t find any pictures to compare but if any of you went on this cruise between 2014 and late 2015 you got to see Sargasso everywhere you went. There was a considerable accumulation in the resort area on the summer of 2015 when I had the previous trip. So much, that a dark brown strip was clearly seen along the beach from the lookout point. This time it looked almost completely clean from our perspective.

So, around 3:20pm we started to make our final descent from the hill and towards the inevitable conclusion of our day in St. Kitts.

Just as we were closing in on the pier, we could see the Fascination in the distance.

We were dropped off near the shops on the north-east end of the shopping area, completely opposite to where we were picked up in the morning. I guess they needed to create traffic through the shops on the way to the ship. When we exited the van we handed Pastor Williams the quoted fee for the tour and a nice tip since, overall, we thought he did a great job (with a few exceptions, but great none the less). For $55US per person I thought it was a bargain, considering it was a whole day tour and it included the cost of entry for Caribelle Batik, Brimstone Hill Fort and chairs and umbrella at Shipwreck beach bar.

Although we were dropped off far from the ship, it turned out great since we immediately found a store with a free OPEN Wi-Fi signal. We made a few short calls to our kids using Whatsapp and started to make our way back to the ship. We had to take a second look at our watches since when we arrived at the central shopping area the place was almost desserted. For a moment there I thought we had arrived late to the ship! But we still had some time but watched it closely since we wanted to make a few purchases before leaving and we were somewhat short on time.

[Stinger-pr]

Day 6: St Kitts continued...

 

So, after having been here twice before I know that when it comes to shirts, hats, trinkets and souvenirs, a lot of the shops sell mostly the same thing at mostly the same prices. Since we had an idea of what we were looking for (mainly t-shirts and hats) we made our way to Tropical World. This store and the one to the right (not seen in the photo) have what I’ve come to think, the best bang for the buck items, especially shirt and caps combos. We grabbed a few things from here for our families and back to the ship we went.

Have your ships’ card ready and handy because this is one of the few ports you will need it to get past the checkpoint before continuing to the ship.

We made it just in the nick of time since we were some of the last passengers to board. But we were not hurried and we were well aware of this. We actually arrived with a few minutes to spare but we took a moment or two to take one last look back at the island before getting aboard since we were starving and went straight to get ready for dinner since tonight was the second elegant night.

[Stinger-pr]

Day 6: St. kitts continued...

 

At exactly 5pm the ship started to put some distance between her and the pier while we were getting dressed for dinner. Although when we arrived at the dining room there was no line, there were already a lot of people seated inside. One thing I want to point out is this names below:

I wanted to make a point of recognizing this crew because they saved the dining experience for us. They were very attentive, friendly and seemed to be on top of things at all times. We were in our seats, menu in hand by 6:25pm and were promptly brought our bread basket and had our glasses filled with water.

We were given a few minutes to look over the menu and Oleksander came by to take our appetizer order. He saw we hadn’t touched our bread and asked if it was alright. Tonight’s bread was something like whole grain (not a problem) filled with raisings (problem… we don’t like raisins) so we decided, lie a previous night, not to touch it. He asked if we were interested in any other kind of bread and (thinking I’d get a “oh, we are not serving that tonight”) I asked for just white bread. And he said “sure!!” DW wasn’t feeling any of the apps on the menu so she said she would skip the apps. Oleksander made a point of trying to get something to her liking offering things that weren’t even on the menu. She ended up going for a fruit cocktail (yeah, it’s kindda like dessert, I know…) and I went for the stuffed mushrooms. Amazingly, about 15 minutes after ordering our apps, they arrived at the table.

Sorry for the horrendous picture:

The stuffed mushrooms were delicious and DW was more than happy with her fruit. Shortly after we were finished, our plates were taken away and we ordered the entrees. We both went for the Dual of Filet Mignon and Short Rib. Since we thought we were in for a long wait as usual, we waved to one of the servers that goes around with the nightly shot special. And what do ya’ know!! Tonight they had a Fireball (cinnamon wiskey) and Bayleys shot. Awesome!! This is something we do back home all the time so we bought two and got me my first Carnival shot glasess!

[Stinger-pr]

Day 6: St Kitts continued...

 

Much to our amazement, our main dishes arrived about 15 minutes after we ordered them. Wow, where have you guys been this entire cruise????

Both plates were hot, juicy and oh, so tasty! We were in ecstasy. Fast service and good food? Why didn’t we get this crew three days ago?

As we were eating, the dance show started and I smiled at the fact that there were some people that actually stood up from their tables and dance with themselves and with the waiters. Oleksander even had party glasses just for the occasion.

That’s him in the background

I don’t know if I mentioned this before but it was the first time that I had seen the dining room lighting become part of the show as well since some of the lights actually changed colors and turned off and on to the beat of the music. Between that, the music, the people dancing and the servers actually looking like they were having fun (at least in our section), made for a very entertaining pause in our diner service. I know some people frown and dislike this activity (*cough**square!!**cough*) we actually get a laugh out of it. But seeing this type of interactions with guests and the staff having fun instead of being like: “so yeah, boss said I had to dance like a stupid idiot (wink, any WWE fans out there??) and put on this silly costume” made for a cool moment.

As soon as the dancing stopped, Oleksander came to take away our empty plates and offer us the dessert menu.

DW went for the Grand Marnier Souffle (didn’t really like it) and I went against my good judgement and ordered an Amaretto cake instead of the Carnival melting cake. I came to hate this decision since the Amaretto cake tasted almost nothing like Amareto, just chocolate.

Grand Marnier Souflee

And just as we were finished with our desserts, Oleksander and the crew appeared at the table with a small, heart shaped chocolate cake with “Happy Honeymoon” written on the plate while singing “Happy Honeymoon” in the most awkward and off-key rendition of the “Happy Birthday” song (changing birthday for honeymoon!) you could imagine.

We were laughing like crazy from nervousness (mainly DW) but also because when they started to sing they looked at each other with a puzzled look on their faces going like “we’re going to sing what using what song?” I was hilarious, unexpected but a great touch that went a long way for us. If any of you guys ever ready this…Thank You!!

So, after an entertaining dance number and an extended dessert we were ready to leave after having being there for almost two hours. If you take our extended dessert, diner service took about 90 minutes. Maybe on par with other nights, but at least we had a nice flow of food in front of us with minimal wait time and an excellent crew. Which made the wait oh, so much more bearable and relaxing. I had to make a point of talking at least to Oleksander and let him know how much we appreciated his service that night. He was very gracious and humble and said that if we wanted, we could ask to be seated in his section the next night and he’d be happy to have us. He was a real class act.

[Stinger-pr]

Day 6: St. Kitts continued...

 

After dinner we went back to the room for a few minutes and went back to out and posed for more (yes….more!) pictures with Carnival photographers before going to the 10:15pm showing of the Motor City musical show in the theater. Before the show they had a warm-up part with some of the passengers participating. As usual these parts were hilarious.

The tall dude with the dreadlocks in the center participated in a few of the shows we went to and he was a blast!

The show was a musical trip down memory lane with the costumes they used and the songs they sang, starting with the 60’s and reaching the early 80’s. The stage decorations were mostly no frills but the singing was very, very good. They’ve had the best singers of the three ships I’ve been in already.

Once the show was coming to an end, they asked everyone to join them in singing “Dancing in the Streets” while walking out into the atrium. There, Cruise Director Marcelo “Marshmallow” kept everyone dancing, singing and having a great time.

It all ended on a high note (literally), a bang, confetti and streamers and a big applause.

After it all ended, all the dancers and singers stuck around to take pictures with anyone who so desired, especially with the kids that were present. They were in no hurry to leave nor did Marcelo and his assistants. It was a nice meet and mingle for a few minutes. All in all, today we had a great day from start to finish but by the time the dancing was over we were exhausted and my back was starting to send signals for me to stop and rest (I had a mountain bike accident along with my daughter in Jan. 2015 where we both slipped on a patch of moss while riding on a boardwalk. She was able to use her hand to protect herself but I landed almost flat on my back and while I’m mostly recuperated, I still suffer from back spasms every now and then.

 

So anyway, got back to the room to find our bed turned down as usual, our resident towel animal for the night, and finally some peace and quiet.

 

Next up: A day cut short at St. Maarten

 

[crusinpsychRN]

I can't see photos. What am I doing wrong?

[Pyrate13]

Glad to see you're back continue this great review!!!:D:D Still loving it. Best one I've read on CC.

[BigRed93]

A western Caribbean cruise is on the table for us but that willhave to wait a while since our next planed cruise is on summer 2018 with our three combined kids. But by the time I reach the western Caribbean trip I plan to be SCUBA certified. I'm loving snorkeling so much, I'm planing to take it a step further.

 

Funny you say that - it was snorkeling at the base of the Pitons there on a cruise almost 8-9 years ago with Spencer that caused us to come home and get SCUBA certified. We've since gone back to dive it, and will be doing so again next month.

 

Also, just wanted to say that it is was the first week for the American Table being rolled out, I feel for you. We were on Glory the very first time that American Table was rolled out on any ship and dinner was a miserable experience. The way it is structured it adds another column to the food order (for sides I believe) and the kitchen and the wait staff couldn't seem to get it together. They have tweaked the menu a bunch since that first week roll out, putting back some favorites, but between the time it took and the complaints from people who had set menu items they couldn't live without, it was a nightmare. I thought the food was nice for a change. The hours for dinner service, not so much.

 

And you mentioned the digital photos, which is now on Vista and is awesome. You can pull up on your phone or tablet with the app and see it all, delete and you want and purchase either an actual print, or just the digital file. So much nicer that searching the walls for photos.

 

You've posted great pictures! Thanks for doing the review!

[hrmkr]

Hi, yes!! I will be finally be able to finish this before Wednesday since I'm going to have a few days off to do so. Thank you for still following. I'll be posting on St. Kitts today, BTW.

 

Where will you be staying? Or are you just going straight from SJU to the ship?

 

We are flying in late the night before and staying at the SJ Suites. After the cruise, we are staying an extra day (cheaper flight home) and staying at the Sheraton Old San Juan.

 

I have been looking at the Puerto Rico port of call page trying to find a good restaurant to eat Sunday night. I saw Marmalade but didn't want anything upscale. Was considering Cafe Puerto Rico for Mofongo. Where would you recommend? Also, for breakfast, Cafe Mallorca or La Bombonera?

[pghsteelerfan]

So glad to see you're back and glad you finally got some relief from work...hope that continues. Like Sparks mentioned, I'd be more than happy to go down and help out if needed!!! :D

 

I LOVE your sunrise pictures with Redonda!!! Those are spectacular! Were you able to see Montserrat that morning? We were able to see both Redonda and Montserrat when we did the same itinerary on Liberty in 2015 and I was thrilled. I knew about the volcano on Montserrat erupting back in 1995 and that there have been a few eruptions since. We're also big fans of Jimmy Buffett and every time I hear his song "Volcano" (one of the ones he always performs in concert). I later found out that he actually wrote the song "Volcano" and his whole album while in Montserrat...before that first eruption. So I was thrilled to get a glimpse of Montserrat the morning we sailed into St. Kitts. We also had gorgeous views of Nevis that morning as well with one of my favorite sunrise pictures of the trip.

 

Now Shipwreck...our favorite!!! I'm so glad you you enjoyed it as much as we did. I know many don't care for it, but "to each his own", right? :D Like you, I also found an empty conch shell AND a sand dollar too, and brought both home. Your conch looks like mine did, all cruddy, but it sure cleaned up nice. It's actually orange...just beautiful! And the sand dollar actually made it home and without breaking. When they are white like that, they are already dead. That's just the bleached out shell. When they are alive, they are covered in what looks like greenish/brown "fuzz". Great souvenirs...authentic AND free. :D

 

Again, I am really, really, really enjoying your review and loving every minute of it. You know I love the pictures you get. So glad you're doing it again next year too!!! :)

[tomsuelaw]

So glad to see you're back and glad you finally got some relief from work...hope that continues. Like Sparks mentioned, I'd be more than happy to go down and help out if needed!!! :D

 

I LOVE your sunrise pictures with Redonda!!! Those are spectacular! Were you able to see Montserrat that morning? We were able to see both Redonda and Montserrat when we did the same itinerary on Liberty in 2015 and I was thrilled. I knew about the volcano on Montserrat erupting back in 1995 and that there have been a few eruptions since. We're also big fans of Jimmy Buffett and every time I hear his song "Volcano" (one of the ones he always performs in concert). I later found out that he actually wrote the song "Volcano" and his whole album while in Montserrat...before that first eruption. So I was thrilled to get a glimpse of Montserrat the morning we sailed into St. Kitts. We also had gorgeous views of Nevis that morning as well with one of my favorite sunrise pictures of the trip.

 

Now Shipwreck...our favorite!!! I'm so glad you you enjoyed it as much as we did. I know many don't care for it, but "to each his own", right? :D Like you, I also found an empty conch shell AND a sand dollar too, and brought both home. Your conch looks like mine did, all cruddy, but it sure cleaned up nice. It's actually orange...just beautiful! And the sand dollar actually made it home and without breaking. When they are white like that, they are already dead. That's just the bleached out shell. When they are alive, they are covered in what looks like greenish/brown "fuzz". Great souvenirs...authentic AND free. :D

 

Again, I am really, really, really enjoying your review and loving every minute of it. You know I love the pictures you get. So glad you're doing it again next year too!!! :)

 

 

Pghsteelersfan, when are you and DH doing this cruise again? I loved your reviews the last 2 times!