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

[byrdbrain55]

Our taxi driver left after dropping us off but returned in about 2 hours to pick us up to head to Mount Gay Distillery.  Mount Gay is one of two commercial rum distilling operations and is the first rum distillery in the world.  We managed to make it in time for the last tour of the day ($15 per person).  It was a very interesting tour and following the tour we got to taste several of their rums.  I am not much of a drinker and I was more than a little tipsy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I ended up buying a couple of bottles.  We drove past Rihanna's house but we didn't see her, lol.  We took care of our taxi driver (it was $20 per person).  We did some shopping before heading back on the ship.

 

 

[byrdbrain55]

After cleaning up, we headed to dinner.

 

 

 

 

Antipasti

 

Chicken Liver Napolean

 

Fried Green Tomatos

 

Featured Vegetarian (?)

 

Roast Turkey

 

Chicken Fried Steak

[byrdbrain55]

Dessert

 

 

Four Flavor Mousse

 

Apple Crumble Cake

 

Coconut Cake

 

Our waiters made Diane a special hat and we all sang Happy Birthday to her.

 

I didn't last very long tonight and we headed to bed shortly.  Good night all!

 

[byrdbrain55]

St Georges, Grenada   January 13, 2018

 

Fun Times

 

 

 

 

[byrdbrain55]

Larry had been to Grenada while in the military but I had never been.  We ate breakfast and then went to the "secret" deck on deck 6 to watch the sail in to the port.  Grenada is well known for having a very pretty harbor.  The houses are brightly colored and Fort George overlooks the harbor.

 

Breakfast burrito and arepas from BlueIguana Cantina

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[byrdbrain55]

My plan for the day was to go Market Square to the "spice market and then onto the beach.  We did end up going to the spice market but we left very quickly because the vendors were very pushy.  People did not take no for an answer and continuously followed and harassed us.  We ended up walking over to the water taxi and took a water taxi to Grand Anse beach, where we met up with most of the rest of our group.  We rented chairs in a back row to capitalize on the shade.  Larry and John ended up splitting several buckets of beer.  The beach was very nice and the water was beautiful.  At this point, the water taxis did not have a dock for people to use since it had been damaged in the hurricanes.  

 

 

 

 

They insisted they could fit a few more people on the water taxi but we chose to wait for the next one.

 

 

 

 

 

The water taxi ride was a bit rough but it was great fun.  There is nothing like wind and salt spray to wake you up.

[byrdbrain55]

Grand Anse beach is so pretty!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[byrdbrain55]

We stayed on the beach as long as we could but eventually made our way back to the ship.  After cleaning up, we headed to dinner.

 

 

 

 

Appetizers

 

Chicken Patties (Port of Call menu) 

 

Fried Shrimp

 

Marinated Chicken Tenders

 

Honey Roasted Ham and shrimp cocktails

 

Escargots Bourguignonne

[byrdbrain55]

Entrees

 

Penne Mariscos

 

Sea Bass Fillet

 

Beef Lasagna

 

Braised Short Ribs

 

Desserts

 

Buttered Popcorn Pot de Creme

 

Berry Pie Ala Mode (Blackberry?)

 

After dinner and dessert, we hit the Love and Marriage show and then it was time for bed.  We did not have many late nights on this trip since we had so many port days back to back.  Good night all!

 

ont

Edited July 31, 2020 by byrdbrain55
Added content

[byrdbrain55]

Fun Day at Sea   January 14, 2018

 

 

 

 

 

 

[byrdbrain55]

Today is what they considered a throwback sea day.  They had different activities throughout the day that used to be done onboard but are no longer done (no, they did not shoot trap off the aft of the ship).

 

We started our day with the Sea Day brunch.

 

Caesar salad with chicken

 

Fried eggs with a side of hashbrowns, bacon and sausage

 

Hey Pork Chop.  Spoiler alert, in 2020 this was no longer on the brunch menu and I was so sad.  😞

 

After brunch, we stopped at Cherry on Top to purchase a frog to be used in the Aquafrog Races.

 

 

 

 

 

[byrdbrain55]

One of the activities I was dying to do on board was the ropes course.  I have done several fundraising rappeling events (for Special Olympics) through an organization called Over the Edge and heights do not bother me at all.  The first two sea days the sky course was not open due to high winds.  They have two courses, easy and hard and Larry and I both chose to do the hard course.  It was a ton of fun and when we finished, we then did the easy course.  As we were finishing the second course, we overheard the Carnival staff explaining to a father and son that the son could not do the course alone without adult supervision.  The little boy was crushed because dad did not want anything to do with the ropes course.  I offered the go a third time so the little boy could do it.  He took the easy course and I paralleled him on the hard course.  He was scared but he did great.  He was smiling so big by the end.  Larry took photos and we sent the photos to his dad once we had wifi access.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately since we took so much time on the Sky Course, we missed the AquaFrog Racing.  Cherry on Top was nice enough to allow us to return the frog.  We spent some time relaxing on the deck before heading back to the cabin to get ready for the evening.  It was formal night and we wanted to spend time at the Captain's Cocktail Party before dinner.

[byrdbrain55]

After getting all gussied up, we headed to the Liquid Lounge for the Captain's Cocktail Party.  The drinks were flowing and they had waiters wandering around with small bites.  

 

Cruise Director Lee Mason and Captain Lorenzo Calogero

 

Captain and senior staff

 

Following the Reception, we headed to dinner.

 

 

Chilled Strawberry Soup

 

Alaskan Smoked Salmon

 

 

Spaghetti Carbonara

 

Quarter Deck Chicken Burger

 

Tournedos of Beef Tenderloin

 

Broiled Lobster Tail and Grilled Jumbo Shrimp

 

 

[byrdbrain55]

Dessert

 

 

New York Cheesecake

 

Pineapple Sherbet

 

Baked Alaska (?)

 

 

[byrdbrain55]

They held the Midnight Gala Buffet tonight in the Lido Marketplace.  The buffet opened for service at 11:30 pm but we were allowed to take photos an hour earlier.  I did not have anything from the buffet so I don't know if it tastes as good as it looks.  My favorite part is the carved fruits and vegetables.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[byrdbrain55]

Not just fruits and veggies, butter and cheese too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After oohing and aahing over the beautiful display, we headed to bed.

 

Good night all!

 

 

[panamatiger]

5 hours ago, byrdbrain55 said:

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for doing this and your Glory review. Nice photo of you both

 

With all the food photo's just thought I'd "remind" everyone

this little guy from a previous page you shared in St. Thomas does taste like chicken

*grin*

 

 

Edited August 2, 2020 by panamatiger

[SenatorsFan]

That was so nice of you to go on the ropes course with the little boy. I'm sure you made his day. 😃

[byrdbrain55]

14 hours ago, panamatiger said:

Thanks for doing this and your Glory review. Nice photo of you both

 

With all the food photo's just thought I'd "remind" everyone

this little guy from a previous page you shared in St. Thomas does taste like chicken

*grin*

 

 

 

I'll take your word for it, lol!

[byrdbrain55]

10 hours ago, SenatorsFan said:

That was so nice of you to go on the ropes course with the little boy. I'm sure you made his day. 😃

I hope he had fun.  He had a big smile on his face at the end.  We never saw him again the rest of the cruise.  I actually had more fun the third time through, probably because I was helping him and not really paying attention to each task.

[byrdbrain55]

It was so nice to have the sea day in the middle of all of the port days.  We needed a day to just relax and reset.  Four port days back to back was a lot especially since we are up and running as soon as we get to port.  With that being said, it is on to St. Maarten.  St. Maarten was hit extremely hard by the hurricanes and we were the first ship to make port after the hurricane.  There was a lot of damage still and the locals we talked to said that it could take up to 2 years for them to get their homes repaired since they were concentrating on businesses first.

 

 

[byrdbrain55]

St. Maarten   January 15, 2018

 

 

 

 

[byrdbrain55]

My original plan for St. Maarten was to rent Spyder motorcycles and tour the island on our own.  After the hurricanes and the damage, we changed our minds about venturing out on our own.  Brian told me about the "Yoda Guy" Star Wars museum and since Larry is a Star Wars fan it sounded perfect.  I kept it a secret from him and wouldn't tell him my plans for St. Maarten.  

 

We got up, had breakfast and then headed over to grab a water taxi into town.  It was a short ride and the water taxi guys were very funny.  We walked down to the Yoda Guy museum and Larry was so excited to go in and take a look.

 

 

 

 

A quick PSA...I understand that everyone is on vacation and would like to get photos at the ports.  My only request is for you to realize that you are not the only person/family who would like photos at said photo opportunity.  Please do not make this into your own personal photo shoot.  Be kind and considerate of others and allow them to get photos as well.

 

I may or may not have words with a young lady who couldn't seem to get it through her head that she was not the center of everyone's world and the rest of us really didn't want photos of her.  Sorry, rant over!

 

 

 

 

 

[byrdbrain55]

Photos of Philipsburg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[byrdbrain55]

The Yoda Guy Movie Exhibit is super cool and definitely not something I expected to find in the Caribbean.  The owner, Nick Maley was one of a few people who helped design and create Yoda and many other special effects and creatures for the Star Wars films and many other sci-fi films.  He has been allowed to display them in his museum.  They ask for a donation of $10-20 (I can't remember and it's not in my notes) to go through the museum.  Larry is a huge Star Wars and sci fi film nut so he loved it.  I didn't expect to like it but found it very interesting as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I took tons more pictures but I don't want to give it all away, lol.  One of the coolest parts of the museum was meeting Nick Maley himself.  While we were walking around, Larry spotted him in his office and told me that he thought he the Yoda Guy.  I had read online that it was a possibility to meet him but I hadn't said anything to Larry just in case it didn't happen for some reason.  Nick was very nice and spent quite a bit of time talking to us.  We purchased an artistic rendering map of the Caribbean and Nick personalized it for us with our names, the dates of the cruise and showing the route our cruise took.  It is one of our favorite souvenirs we have every gotten.