We’re headed back to San Juan for another go at it. This time we’re taking my dad and stepmom, and Chris and Julie. No David & Sondra this time, bummer! They decided to take their son to an all-inclusive before he heads to Japan for a study abroad program. Understandable, I guess. This time our stops are Tortola in the British Virgin Islands, St. Martin, Antigua, St. Lucia and Grenada. Yep, five stops in seven days, not much sea time, but lots of island time.
Let’s just say, I come by my lack of patience from my dad. He was so antsy on the plane ride I was beginning to get worried! He hasn’t been on a plane but maybe four or five times in his life and he just didn’t really enjoy that part of the trip at all. I can’t say I blame him, the getting there is sometimes the worst part.Well, we did finally get there and we stayed at the same hotel we did the year before. Let’s just say we won’t be staying there again. Chris & Julie had a water leak in their room and their luggage got wet, fortunately, not the stuff inside and we just don’t even want to know where the “water” came from!
The next morning, we head to Old San Juan again and decide to tour the old fort. Little did we know this was the first of several old forts we would experience this week. It was fun, we went in it and through it and on top of it. We had a good time. It started raining while we were there so we just got our umbrellas out and made the best of it. We’ve always managed to have fairly good weather on our trips and we weren’t going to let a little liquid sunshine spoil our fun. This might be the biggest, most exotic trip my dad ever has, I want him to enjoy every moment.
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We board the ship and get in our rooms very quickly. It’s still sort of raining so we head out and explore the ship. Serenade is quite a bit smaller than Adventure, but it was a nice ship. We met our room attendant right away and he was very helpful and nice. Our bed was extremely hard and he was kind enough to bring me extra blankets and put them under the sheet for more padding. It was starting out to be a great week.
After dinner, we were sitting in the main lobby talking with Chris & Julie, when this band started playing. We were annoyed at first, thinking that we can’t talk anymore and it’ll just be noise. Were we ever surprised! We loved them. They played a variety of classic rock and did a fabulous job of it. They came over and talked to us on their break and we got to know their names and they got to know ours. We ended up following Trish, Rick, Bob and Dave, also known as Zig Zag, all week. We were groupies!
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Since we have five stops, we get to our first stop the next day. We pull into Tortola, BVI and it’s raining again. We didn’t care. We were going to catch the ferry and go to Virgin Gorda and hang out on the beach. We were shocked at how few people got off the ship! Really? We were going to get wet anyway, so we didn’t mind. We board the ferry and head out. There was a lady on the ferry that I swear was going to lose her breakfast-I was very glad she didn’t. We got to Virgin Gorda and we took an open sided truck to The Baths and Devil’s Bay. It was raining so we got out these rain ponchos I have had for 8 years and never used. We had to keep our backpacks dry! I was very glad I had brought them.
We had one of the best days ever! I absolutely cherish these memories made with my dad from this stop. We laughed and laughed and just had a nice laid back relaxing day. We climbed over the boulders and made it to the beach. The waves were a little rough in the water but we got in anyway. While we were hanging out a big wave came in and picked up me and my dad and set us up on the shore. We have never laughed so hard! Like I said, great memories here. I loved this place.
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Life is all about perspective, have you noticed? We were in a little shop in Virgin Gorda buying my Christmas ornament souvenir and there was this window in the shop that looked out to the most beautiful view I’ve ever seen. Julie said to the shopkeeper, “Aren’t you so lucky to see that view everyday?” She just shrugged. Wow! I just pray, Lord, don’t ever let me become so jaded to the beauty you’ve created that is all around me.
We enjoyed this stop so much. We were shocked when we got to dinner that night to find out that so many people stayed on board the buffet became overcrowded and they had to open the main dining room. Seriously, people, you missed a fabulous day!
The next day was St. Martin. We had nothing planned here, so when we got off the ship we took a water taxi to Philipsburg and hired a taxi driver to take us around the island. He took us to a restaurant on the French side in Marigot (the island is half French and half Dutch, in case you didn’t know). It was okay, I wasn’t overly impressed with St. Martin. Our guide then took us to see the nude beach. We didn’t even get out, I don’t need to see that! Then we went to the beach where the planes fly in low, right overhead. There weren’t any planes when we were there and I’m not sure I would want to be there for that either. We ended up at Great Bay beach in Philipsburg by the dock after our tour and hung out there for a bit. It was okay, the water wasn’t very pretty. I was a little disappointed especially since last time all I saw was what was right outside my balcony (See Cruising Crows go on an Adventure of the Seas…) and I was hopeful for more.
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That night we went to the Crown and Anchor Society (this is Royal Caribbean’s loyalty club) event and saw our friends Zig Zag and got to see the Captain. There was a couple there that was on their 108th cruise…wow!
The next day we got off the boat to an aggressive mob of taxi drivers and tour guides, and finally found Sean, the guide we had booked ahead of time, and went to tour the Fort Blockhouse for spectacular views. We saw Eric Clapton’s house from here! We went to Shirley Heights for more spectacular views, Sean was a wealth of information and knowledgeable on all the history of the island and current politics (they named a mountain after Obama, yeah, seriously!) We went to Nelson’s Dockyard and got a tour with Melissa, pretty pillars and interesting history of the plantations. We stopped on the side of the road and had “finger-roos” (tiny bananas) these were so good, very sweet. We also had the best pineapple and tried sugar cane-not a fan, too much work! We went to Turner Beach where the staff was very rude, so we skipped lunch rather than buy from them. It was very hot here and the water at the beach was rough with no visibility for snorkeling. We had a good time, no thanks to the locals, but we tend to have fun wherever we go, even if we have to make our own party!
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From Antigua, we could see the island of Montserrat. There is an active volcano there and it was steaming. That’s pretty neat!
Our next stop was St. Lucia. Our poor guide, Spencer, was surprised that we asked for ID after our Antigua experience…he said he’d never had that happen, I felt a little bad, but we just wanted to make sure we had the guide we had paid. We met a family from Virginia that was also on our tour, they were a little obnoxious, but fine for a day. We stopped at a banana plantation on the side of road, interesting lecture, but not so spectacular tour. I felt like we were just trespassing on someone’s banana farm. Then we headed to the beach via twisty, turny, up and down and around and around and around the mountains to get to the Jalousie plantation. This was the smallest public beach in the world! Very beautiful but crowded and rocky and NO facilities. We ended up changing clothes behind a building, that wasn’t very pleasant. Spencer fed us lunch of wonderful Creole chicken, rice, lentils, potato salad, banana salad, mac & cheese, cabbage salad and breadfruit and plantains…way too much food! We left after a quite brief snorkel where I saw the cutest little yellow and purple fish! My dad, however, found an eel. I laughed so hard, I think he walked on water trying to get away! After the beach we went to the Souffries. These are collapsed volcanos that smell strongly of sulfur. It was an interesting tour, but the smell was overwhelming. After that we headed to the waterfall and botanical gardens, these were gorgeous. I saw a huge hummingbird! I love hummingbirds. I have feeders out all summer at home.
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Last stop, Grenada. Okay, to start with when they say “factory tour” that’s not exactly what they mean. We went to what was supposed to be a rum factory. It was basically a shop where they had tasting set up and, of course, a store to buy stuff. We didn’t see any equipment or processing of any kind. I felt a little scammed. Then we went to the spice “factory,” maybe they use that word differently than we do? A very nice lady gave us info on the spices and the view from her shop was great. I saw a high school band practicing outside on the field! I could hear them playing, that was pretty cool, I was a band kid in school. Then we went to the waterfall and the old fort. After two or three of these old forts they start to run together, but the views are always breathtaking and so we trudge through another fort and marvel at the view up top. Our guide, “Alice in wonderland” (as she called herself) was very sweet. The volcano lake, Etang, was pretty, but talk about a tourist trap. Last stop on the tour, Grand Anse Beach absolutely gorgeous! Loved this beach, wish we’d have spent all day here, I was glad the tour was shorter at this port…but beach had no food or drinks?? Oh, well, we went back to the ship and ate a late lunch after quick showers and headed back out for last minute shopping. I thought the people of Grenada were the most friendly, even though everyone was looking for tips, they put on a happy face to get them unlike Antigua.
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On board that night it was our last formal night…lobster night, our favorite! As with the rest of the cruise, we were not disappointed in the food. We went to the show, a little lame and then to see our band play…before the band was Quest. We’ve never gone to that and now I know why! Talk about letting your hair down and releasing your inhibitions…let’s just say, it’s adult’s only for a reason!
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Our last day, a sea day. It was far too hot to stay at the pool for more than a couple hours. The chairs were ALL full, hard to find one even at 9:00. And there were so many people actually in the pool you couldn’t even see the water! We had a leisurely lunch at the Seaview Café, which was really nice and quiet and different. They had sandwiches and salads made to order, like a Panerra Bread, not like the buffet. Then we went to our rooms and showered and changed. We found a quiet spot and read a while and then went to book our next cruise. The last night is always bittersweet, this was such an excellent cruise, we’ve never had better food, service or been able to do just about anything without waiting in line or feeling crowded. LOVED, LOVED, LOVED this ship!! We found out after dinner, that this ship has won best in the Royal Caribbean fleet for service and food. I can definitely agree with that. It was a noticeable difference.