Day 6 - At Sea

Day 6 was a day at sea. That meant that Bob and I slept in until just before 8, got up and put on work-out clothes, went up to the Windjammer (deck 16) for breakfast, then down to the track (deck 5) and walked 2 1/2 miles. Then we cooled down with a cup of coffee (don't ask, but yeah, that worked), changed into our suits, grabbed books, and headed up to the pools (deck 15). It was SOOO hot that day that we ended sitting in the shade, still pretty much poolside, and yes, we ended up with peach daquaris (insert little toast to my Mom!). About the time we looked up, it was already 12:30, so off to lunch, then back to the pools for a while....

 Chillin'......then at 4:30 some of the guys decided to join a volleyball tournament.....

 ....somethings going on....

 Andrew serving....

 Jeremy serving....

Bob running to get the ball....

 Matt serving....

 Bob served.....

 John serving.....he has the highest toss, I think I'd get dizzy....

 This night was also the second formal night, so here we are, all cleaned up!

How handsome! There was a really cool bar that was called Rising Tide....it was basically a huge elevator that went from the Promenade (deck 5) up to Central Park (deck 8). We hadn't had a chance to hang out there yet, so this seemed like a good time.....

 ....and we got someone to take our picture...

 Just as we started up, Eric and Betty showed up....so we took pictures of each other! Oh, and as the bar went up, then a fountain turned on at the lower level.

 The view down the Promenade as we went up....

In the dining room, we just snapped a couple of random shots of our table....we had three and rotated most nights. This night we had Jeremy, John, Kendra's parents (Nadine and .....I'm totally blanking, sorry....)

 ....and Betty and Peter. Love the look on Jeremy's face!

By the way, the food was fantastic, but perhaps the best part was that I didn't have to make it or clean up!!!

Day 5 - St. Maarten

Day 5 landed us at St. Maarten. It was an absolutely gorgeous day!! We had an excursion planned and needed to meet them at 10:30.....but since we docked at 7am, Bob and I decided to get up a little early and head on into town beforehand. We discovered that my very cute bright pink flip-flops (thank you, Beth!!) were not good for walking any distance in humidity. By the time we got back to meet our excursion group, I had a blister. Thankfully we were early, so we were able to go back on board and switch them out....and to grab the back-up camera since my battery finally died. 

 Ah yes, there were 2 boats docked. Ours is the one on the left. Yes, it really is HUGE!!!!

 Just for fun!!

The dock's shopping area at St. Maarten. About a half-mile walk lands you in town....
Unfortunately the storm had hit the island the day before and the water was pretty cloudy and also very choppy on the south side -- where we were supposed to go snorkeling. So we were offered a choice -- take the boat ride and just go swimming, or take a refund. We all took the refund. 
Paul and Mindy had bought a book about all the islands, so they thought said if we wanted we could maybe all go together (there were 9 of us) and try to get a taxi out to a different beach or two. At first no one wanted to take us since we wanted to go a ways away from the dock (over to the french side of the island), but once they realized how many of us there were, they got us a van and off we went! It was a bit of a drive through lots of traffic, but our driver was great, and Bob did an amazing job of asking her questions to keep her talking. We FINALLY got to the first beach and walked down to see it:

It was beautiful! But it also was VERY rocky on the shoreline and the waves were breaking on the rocks. Another problem was that there were NO amenities.....no drinks, no food, no bathrooms. So we piled back into the van.....and silently wondered if we'd made a mistake....

And then we got to Baie Rouge! SOOOOOO incredibly beautiful and absolutely perfect!!! It had a little shack of a bar with a grill, the sand was incredibly smooth and the water, oh, the water was gorgeous!!! Here's Mindy heading down to take pictures of everyone else already in the water!

....and Paul heading out to go snorkeling over by the rocks...

Mindy again....but that group in the water IS our group this time!!!

The little 'restaurant'.....it was a little more permanent than a lean-to, with a grill! The food was phenomenal!!! Best chicken skewers EVER!!!!

...and who could possibly forget the drinks? These fabulous people introduces us to the Guavaberry rum that is only made on St. Maarten. I needed mine blended (wow, was it strong straight!) and that's when we noticed the power supply for the blender....yup, that's a car battery, folks!

Our whole group for the day with our driver!! She took us to a little shop to pick up some of the yummy guavaberry rum.....

Another pretty alley-way......

We stopped along the boardwalk before walking back to the ship, and a man was inviting people to try to play the steel drums. Elise gave it a try!

Then Bob gave it a try.....apparently it's MUCH harder than it looks and is almost nothing like playing the drums.....

Happy couple on the boardwalk....our boat is the HUGE one on the left in the background....

Awww.....we're being cute again....

Hands down, this was the BEST day of the entire vacation!!! And THANK YOU to Paul and Mindy for getting us there!!!!

Day 4 - St. Thomas

Day 4 found us at St. Thomas. It was a bit cloudy, but we ended being VERY glad for the cloud cover (ie. shade).....

 Yes, that is a BIG ship!

...and here's Bob!!

This is what a taxi looks like on St. Thomas! We took on into town and walked around the shopping area for a little while...

 Totally LOVED all the old brick construction and the ginormous and FUNCTIONAL (they DO have hurricanes) shutters on everything!

 We also discovered that they have the coolest little alley-ways. This is one of my favorites, with my favorite person in it!

 Um....yeah, it made us laugh...

 After walking around the shopping district, we hopped a taxi ride over to Magen's Bay. No idea if I'm spelling that right. It just doesn't matter. What does matter is how beautiful it was!!!

 Yes, we laid out and read our books!

 Our lunch-time view....

 ...more lunch-time view....

 ....a golf course on the taxi ride back to the ship...

 

 One of the many, many gorgeous views!

Bob in the taxi!

If you look carefully, you'll see a funnel right over the yellow building...just to the left of the ball on the wire..... Yes, a storm (small) blew in just as we got back to the ship. Waiting in line, the heavens opened and we were drenched. At least it was warm out, so no shivering!!

 A view from Central Park (deck 8) down into the Promenade (deck 5) at night.

 Yup, relaxing with the comfy chair and a book again!

Day 3 - Day at Sea

I somehow have managed to not have any pictures from this day. Hm. I know we relaxed in the sun, read our books, and.....I just don't remember. (this could be good or bad....)

Day 2 - Day at Sea

Our first day was supposed to be at Nassau, but due to tropical storm Maria, our itinerary was reversed. Made no difference to us -- we were just happy to be on vacation!!! This was our first day at sea.....

We wandered around the boat and then found ourselves on the back of deck 16 watching the Flowrider:

 ....and discovered that Jeremy had taken a few turns. He does surf....he says the flowrider is almost nothing like surfing, more like wakeboarding. So here he is about to start off....

 He's a natural! Doing great!

Whoops! There goes Jeremy! Um, yeah....the only way to end your turn was when you fell....

 Later on we wandered down to the Promenade on deck 5. Totally cool area with shops and a couple of nice little places to get food....in between all the other meals! Oh, and our books went everywhere with us....we were determined to relax and read!!!

 THEN we found one of our favorite spots: Central Park (deck 8). It's a really cool garden area open to the elements (surrounded by rooms, so it really just doesn't have a roof) and some awesome comfy chairs.....

Yeah, we liked Central Park!!

Day 1 - Wedding!!

Day 1 was the WEDDING DAY!!!!

 So the first thing that happened was we were directed to a "holding area." Kinda boring, kinda felt like we were some sort of weird species that they didn't know what to do with....but maybe that's just these guys! (and where is Paul....I don't know!)

 Once on board, we were able to go to the wedding location....hands down the MOST comfy chairs we've ever had at a wedding!!

 ....awww....we're so cute again!

 Ok, so now THEY'RE cute!

 And YES!!! They are officially married!!!!

After this we proceeded to explore the boat and promptly forgot about actually USING the camera we were carrying around. Oops.

The night before.....

So I know that you will see all of this in reverse, but I just don't have the capacity to upload all of this backwards! Without further ado -- thus begins our trip!!!

The Night Before

All the wedding guests were invited to a Polynesian Dinner and Show on Friday night. The limo was HUGE, the food was fantastic, and Andrew and Kendra even got to show us how to dance!

 The HUGE tiger-striped limo!!

 ....and inside....

 ....and yes, we fit 20+ people into it....

 Awww....aren't we cute?

 Our party!

 Teaching us how to MOVE!