Journey to the SUNSHINE 1/7/18 to 1/20/18

[byrdbrain55]

3 hours ago, Joe817 said:

Beautiful pick of a tropical paradise! Thank you. 

We went to so many pretty places on this cruise.  I took thousands of photos.

[Joe817]

1 minute ago, byrdbrain55 said:

We went to so many pretty places on this cruise.  I took thousands of photos.

I can't wait to see many more of them! 

[cruisequeen4ever]

A cruise blog!! 🥳

[byrdbrain55]

9 minutes ago, cruisequeen4ever said:

A cruise blog!! 🥳

I'm just getting started so feel free to follow along.

[DanvilleCruiser]

Thank you for posting this review.  It’s great to read all about the fun times.

[byrdbrain55]

1 hour ago, DanvilleCruiser said:

Thank you for posting this review.  It’s great to read all about the fun times.

I appreciate you following along!

[byrdbrain55]

After lunch, we headed into downtown Charlotte Amalie for some shopping.  You can get some great photos of the ships in port in Havensight from downtown.

 

 

 

 

We were in port with the Regal Princess.

 

 

After buying a few things and wandering around down the main street downtown, we headed back to the ship to get ready for dinner.

[byrdbrain55]

We normally met in the Oceans Plaza or Red Frog Pub for drinks before heading into dinner.  The desk to get a table was situated along the hallway there and then once the table was ready, we could head down the aft stairwell to get to the dining room.  It was very convenient and there was normally music playing in the lounge.

 

 

 

 

Hmm, what kind of food will satisfy my toddler tastebuds?  I am not an adventurous eater as you can see by the ridiculous amounts of bacon mac and cheese I ate on this cruise.  There were nights I would only get an appetizer or two and dessert and then grab pizza later in the evening.  Thank God for 24 hour pizza 🙂

 

Hazelnut Crusted Camembert

 

Flatbread

 

Roasted Strip Loin

 

Chicken Chow Mein

 

Potato Gnocchi

 

I'm pretty sure I ate the Camembert (you can't go wrong with fried cheese) and the flatbread,  I may have gotten a Caesar Salad with Chicken as well.  However, I learned that my body does not like traditional Caesar dressing made with anchovies since it revolted every time I had Caesar salad on the cruise.  It only took me 2-3 salads before I figured that fun fact out.  I have a shellfish allergy and don't handle seafood well so I should have clued in a little faster than I did.  Larry almost always had Shrimp Cocktail but I didn't photograph it every night.  He is a much more adventurous eater than I am.

 

 

 

[byrdbrain55]

Dessert

 

 

Banana Cream Pie Parfait

 

Pie Ala Mode ~ Lemon Meringue

 

After dinner, we went to the Mega Deck Party.  Lee is a ball of energy and kept the party hopping.

 

 

After partying the night away, it was time for bed.  Tomorrow we will be in Antigua.

 

Good night all!

 

[byrdbrain55]

Antigua   January 11, 2018

 

Fun Times

 

 

 

 

[byrdbrain55]

They say Antigua has a beach for every day of the year so of course, we hit the beach today, right?  Nope, I didn't want to do another beach day so off to sight see we went.  We had breakfast on the Lido and then headed out to figure out our travel for the day.  I knew where I wanted to go we just needed to find a guide to get us there.  There were tons of people in the port offering tours but I wanted to make sure we got a good one so we asked one of the police officers who was the best and he hooked us up.  Look for the drivers in the orange shirts because they are official taxi drivers.  Our tour guide charged $20 per person for our island tour with stops at Nelson's Dockyard and Shirley Heights.  There was a fee for Nelson's Dockyard of $8 per person.

 

 

 

 

It was about 30-45 minutes to drive from the port to Nelson's Dockyard.  Once we had paid for our tickets, we joined a tour to learn more about the dockyard.  Nelson's Dockyard was a naval base starting in the 1740's and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  It is now used for different yachting and sailing events.  

 

 

 

Apparently rowing a boat across the Atlantic Ocean is a fun endeavor for some people and here is one of the boats that was used in that feat.

 

 

The Dockyard did not dry dock the ships, instead they would tie ropes to the masts and use these giant wheels (capstans) to roll the ship to its side to complete repairs and scrape the sea life off the keel and repaint.  Then they would turn the ship around and do the other side.  The British Navy used the Dockyards for over 100 years in order to preserve the sugar trade routes.

 

 

After the tour, we were able to walk around the grounds ourselves.  Many of the buildings have been repurposed into shops and restaurants.

 

[byrdbrain55]

More pictures from around Nelson's Dockyard

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[byrdbrain55]

After leaving Nelson's Dockyard we headed Shirley Heights.  We stopped at several viewpoints before getting to Shirley Heights, which overlooks English Harbor and Nelson's Dockyard.

 

It was very cool to see where the cannons were set up on the hillsides to protect the harbor.  There were also brick bunkers used to house the cannon balls and other munitions.  The views were incredible!

 

 

 

 

 

 

This cliffside house belongs to Eric Clapton.

 

 

 

[byrdbrain55]

Shirley Heights

 

I have the picture above blown up on canvas in my office at work.

 

 

 

 

 

I found a friend!

 

When we left the port area this morning, Larry had casually mentioned that it would be cool to get a picture of all 4 ships in port.  Our taxi driver took us to the hospital on the way back to port so we could get photos of the ships.   We were in port with Celebrity Eclipse, Costa Pacifica and MSC Fantasia. The hospital rooms have balconies overlooking the harbor.  

 

 

 

[byrdbrain55]

After returning to port, we took good care of our driver since he took good care of us.  We did a little shopping in the port and then headed back onboard for some lunch.  Larry and I did some laundry ($3 per load to wash and $3 to dry) and we took a nap.

 

Just in case you get lost in port...

 

 

Random funny signs I saw today...

 

I love the visual!

 

Pretty flowers and plants everywhere!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[byrdbrain55]

Holy crap guys, I actually took photos of my lunch.  Proof that I have toddler taste buds.  Chicken strips, fruit and green salad with massive amounts of ranch dressing.  I firmly believe that everything tastes better dipped in Ranch dressing.

 

 

Dinner

 

 

 

 

Lobster Bisque

 

Spicy Alligator Fritters

 

Flatbread

 

Iced Bing Cherry Soup

 

Baked Phyllo Pouches

 

Seafood Newburg

 

Beef Wellington

 

Indian Vegetarian

 

I had the Iced Bing Cherry Soup and more Mac and Cheese.  If you have never tried the chilled fruit soups, I highly recommend them.  Personally, I think they should serve them in a glass with a straw but what do I know about fine dining.  LOL.

[byrdbrain55]

Dessert

 

 

Bitter and Blanc

 

Orange Rosemary Cake

 

Double Roasted Pineapple

 

I love trivia and I managed to convince everyone to come play the RedFrog Pub Quiz.  They did things a little differently and at the end took the top four teams and asked for 3 people from each team to come up.  We were given straws and had to move 15 Skittles from one table to another without dropping them.  We ended up winning and had the dubious honor of winning a prize for being good at sucking.  We won a Yard of Beer of our choice.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Red Frog Pub was one of our favorite places to hang out, especially on port days because they did half price happy hours.  It was amazing!

[byrdbrain55]

For the most part on the cruise, everyone did their own thing, their own excursions, etc and we would meet up for dinner every night and talk about our days.  At dinner tonight, we were talking about our plans for Barbados and everyone decided to follow me the next day since I had planned to go to the beach and then to a rum distillery.  

 

After our drinks and fun in the Red Frog Bar, it was time for bed.

 

Good night all!

 

[mdin]

Fun read and great pics. Thanks for posting. 

[SenatorsFan]

Thanks for posting this review! I realize I miss chilled soups. 😄

Your itinerary looked amazing and I look forward to seeing what you did in each port.

Heather

[byrdbrain55]

11 hours ago, mdin said:

Fun read and great pics. Thanks for posting. 

Thanks for following along!

[byrdbrain55]

1 hour ago, SenatorsFan said:

Thanks for posting this review! I realize I miss chilled soups. 😄

Your itinerary looked amazing and I look forward to seeing what you did in each port.

Heather

Our itinerary was amazing!  I love the chilled fruit soups. They are so good!

[byrdbrain55]

Georgetown, Barbados   January 12, 2018

 

Today was Diane's birthday!

 

Fun Times

 

 

 

 

[byrdbrain55]

We had breakfast in the morning and then met our group just inside the cruise center.  Once everyone had gathered, I led the way to find a taxi for our group.  It was like trying to herd cats trying to keep everyone together but we eventually made it out to get a taxi bus.  I told our driver that we wanted to go to the Boatyard and he told us that it was already full.  Thankfully, I had plan B in my back pocket and we headed to Harbor Lights.  For $20 per person, you get a beach chair, umbrella and a turtle snorkeling tour.  We barely had enough time to find a chair before we headed out to snorkel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[byrdbrain55]

The boat had an easy entry to get back on board once we were in the water.  They took us to two different snorkeling sites, a shipwreck and then an area where the turtle are known to be.  The snorkeling was less than ideal and there were a lot of people churning up the water.  However, any day in the water is a good day.  They supplied snorkeling vests and equipment to those who needed them.  At the second site, once we were stopped, I slid down the slide into the water.

 

 

 

 

After finishing snorkeling, we had some time to enjoy the beautiful beach.  I could have stayed here forever.  

 

Rebecca and Cheryl