November 12-19, 2006 :: Caribbean Cruise Part II

Another adventure on the high seas...
On Sun, November 12, my dad, step-mom, sister, and grand mother took to the high seas on another Princess cruise.  This time we were sailing through the eastern Caribbean to see the islands of St. Maarten, St. Thomas, and Princess Cays (in the Bahamas). 

11/13 & 11/4 :: Two days at sea
The first two days of the cruise were spent sailing to St. Maarten.  It was simply our little (4300 occupant) ship (the Caribbean Princess) and the open ocean.  I spent most of this time decompressing.  It had been a long year since the last time I was on board a cruise ship and over the course of these two days I let it all seep out.  Part of what helped me accomplish this goal was going to get a hot rock massage at the spa, going to see a couple movies (both at the local theatre as well as at the outdoors theatre), and spending time soaking in a hot tub.  Collins (my sister) and I also had our run of the ship at nights going to shows, games, karaoke, and to the club.  I also met some GLBT folks at a meeting they held on Mon and Tues afternoon. 

11/15 :: St. Maarten
Early Wed morning we pulled into port at St. Maarten.  This island is broken into two parts.  The southern part is owned by the Dutch.  The northern part is owned by the French.  We were situated at Phillipsburg, the capital of the Dutch side. 

Dad, Sharon, and I had signed up for a segway tour of the boardwalk that morning.  We departed at the first chance and headed into town.  Riding the segways was a lot of fun (even if I was the first person to crash mine into a bench on the beach).  We went all the way to the end of the boardwalk and onto the beach for a while.  Then we turned back around and went to the other side all the way down to the 12 Meter Yacht Club.  Almost two hours later we traded our segways back in for normal legs and took to shopping along the streets of the city. 

Dad signed up to sail on a sailboat that was entered in the Americas Cup.  He said that he started off as a grinder, but ended up piloting the ship for almost the entire time they were on it.  He had a great time! 

Meanwhile, Sharon and I walked, shopped, had lunch, and saw a time share at one of the 5-star resorts.  We were very close to buying it when we decided it would be a good idea to talk to Dad about it first.  Temptation is a beach resort on a beautiful island in the middle of the Caribbean...

Later that night, our family split up to have dinner at a couple fancy restaurants on board (which we had gift certificates to) and then reunited at the Movies Under The Stars arena on the upper deck to watch "Cars".  Dad fell asleep soon into the film, but otherwise it was a lot of fun.  The deck attendants even come around with popcorn for everyone, something that Coll was very excited about.   Her and I went down to the club after, but more or less made it an early night.

11/16 :: St. Thomas
  woke up to a view of a beautiful cove dotted with many sailboats on Thurs morning.  We arrived at St. Thomas not long before that.  Collins and I were supposed to go on a nautical tour which included a stop at the coral museum, but it was canceled the day before because not enough other people had signed up for it.  Instead I went on shore with Dad and Sharon to do a bit of shopping in a bizarre that Sharon wanted to go to.  It was very interesting to see the differences between the laid back, easy going St. Maarten and the rush rush rush, go go go life style of St. Thomas.  You could tell that St. Thomas was a US virgin island :-). 

Later in the afternoon Collins and I went to afternoon tea together.  We went together last year as well and had a great time.  I love the little sandwiches and pastries that they have.  Unfortunately I didn't have one of the mini bottles of Bailey's Irish Cream that Joel gave me for my tea the day before.  You wouldn't think so but it really tastes good with tea :-).  Either that or I'm starting to descend towards being an alcoholic...but hey, I was on vacation! 

11/17 :: Back to the open ocean
Fri was another day at sea on our way to Princess Cays Island in the Bahamas.  I didn't do a whole lot other than go on deck for a while to take in the sun.  I watched most of "The Greatest Game Ever Played" and saw the belly-flop competition at one of the pools.  That was entertaining.  I couldn't go to sleep that night, though, and ended up spending some time walking around the boat and chatting with the stars.  From the middle of the ocean you can see all kinds of stars!  I was in heaven at night.  Our second formal night was also on Fri.  It's always fun getting dressed up and looking fabulous ;-)

11/18 :: Last day on the ship
Sat was a great day.  I met up with the other GLBT passengers at a bar on Princess Cays Island.  We had a drink (compliments of the ship) and chatted.  It was nice weather...until it started raining.  We didn't mind too much, though, because we were under an awning. 

Later, our buddy Ash, who was one of the Assistant Cruise Directors, arranged a dinner for our group in one of the dining rooms.  We had two big tables and a lot of food to celebrate our last night together.  It was great!  Following that, I ran up to meet Collins for a couple of the last shows including the karaoke competition finals (which unfortunately I wasn't in). 

11/19 :: Disembarkation and the return home
The next day was disembarkation and our return trips home.  I was kind of excited, though, because I was going to Albany for Thanksgiving with the family.  I was also excited to see my friends and our pets.  David, my little brother, was scheduled to arrive on Wed of that coming week whereas Frank, my older brother, was already there.  I love when my brothers and I are together, no matter where we are. 

With another vacation down, I was ready for the end of year holidays.  I was already looking forward, though, to a couple trips in 2007 including one to Chicago in Jan (which other than being freezing cold should be a blast!). 

More to come...cheers!

M@