Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning how to dance in the rain.



Monday, January 5, 2009

Christmas at Sea



We left home early to catch our Southwest flight to Fort Lauderdale and our cruise ship, Royal Caribbean Navigator of the Seas. The flight went smooth, check in was quick and painless, soon we were checking out our balcony cabin, #8310 and enjoying lunch. We unpacked, explored the ship, showered and dressed for dinner in the main dining room. Our table mates were a family and weren't very talkative. The next day we enjoyed a sea day. Our first port was San Juan, we took in El Moro and Old San Juan with new friends, Bill and Kathleen. In Antigua we enjoyed a sail and snorkel tour, which served a great lunch. Sadly our sail and snorkel tour in St. Thomas with Captain Max was canceled due to high winds. We grabbed a taxi and spent the day at beautiful Megan's Beach, were I enjoyed building a sand sculpture. We had lunch at the Shipwreck Bar, enjoying our $12.00 hamburgers. On St. Kitts we booked a tour with Thedford Grey, a great tour guide and enjoyed a great day seeing the island including Brimstone Hill. Bernard's Tours gave us a tour of the island of St. Maarten, both the Dutch side and French side, including a nude beach....not a pretty sight. I rented a jet ski and had fun riding while Dale enjoyed reading on the beach. I also had the chance to film a large Air France jet landing over my head at Maho Beach.


Our last port was CocoCay in the Bahamas, Dale wasn't feeling great and we didn't get off the ship. I spent the day packing and taking care of Dale.
Christmas Day we exchanged gifts and had a leisure day at sea. Santa even showed up to pass out gifts to the kids on the ship. We changed tables and were seated with three other couples...Bill and Kathleen, Lois and Dave, and Michele and Rob. We enjoyed sharing meals together and lots of laughs, plus our service was top notch.
We took in most of the shows which were good and enjoyed watching the ice skating shows. We attended a "Meet and Mingle" for the Cruise Critic people and a party for the Crown and Anchor Members. Sadly we couldn't find any good dance music and didn't get in any dancing.
New Year's Eve Dale was feeling bad with a terrible head cold and I went to dinner alone. I spent the evening with our table mates and welcomed in the new year at the pool party. We also celebrated my birthday onboard.
We docked back in Fort Lauderdale with about 13 other ships, it was crazy. Our flight to Houston turned into a nightmare with a three hour delay in New Orleans sitting on the plane during a violent thunderstorm. We finally landed and arrived home at 3 in the morning. We now need a vacation to recover from our vacation!!!