Sunday, December 9, 2012

Our first cruise-December 1-8, 2012

 
We had a super time on our first cruise, met some wonderful people and had some (too much) great food.  But I will say up front, that my favorite mode of sight seeing and accommodations is still our motorhome.  We arrived early and this picture of the boat does not do it justice, it is the biggest and newest of the Norwegian cruise lines. It can accommodate almost 5500 guests, plus the 1600 crew members. It has many different ethnic restaurants, bars, a full casino, several swimming pools and I could go on and on. It was a lovely ship and I probably would have enjoyed it more if I had not had sea nausea so often.
 
 Our room was small, but perfect for us, we were on the  port side and the view leaving Miami was impressive, from the tall buildings to the magnificent Miami beach. The deck was a life savor for me on several different levels. It was really nice to have fresh air and smell the sea air.
 
  

 On our first day we went exploring and I did not realize that the area with the sign above did not mean "no children" it meant nude sunbathing. "Not for us". We left in a quick hurry, never to return.
 
 
 Waiting to  cruise!!!


  
The view looking backward from our balcony, we were in awe of the beautiful colors of the ocean and of the sky, and when the moon was shining on the waters it was so beautiful.
 This is how I felt on Sunday---yikes who would have thought that I would get sea nausea, the first 30 years of my life were spent on and off the water in all sizes of boats and all in kinds of water conditions. I bought the pressure bracelets and wore them 24/7. I  felt some better after I put them on. Not a fashion statement!!
The ship had some Christmas 
decorations, not overly done, but very
tastefully done. We are on deck 7 in the
picture to the right, and the casino is in the
far distance. That was the only place on
the ship that cigarette smoking was allowed
in the inside. YUK!! the smell





 
 


Prior to our excursion into St Maartin's the pool was quiet so we figured it was a great time to have our picture taken and show the pools and the water slides. On the wall behind the water slides was a rock climbing wall. I was glad that was not on my bucket list.. looked scary and too much for us to even attempt. It was a busy place for the under 40 age group.
 
 
 On our excursion into St Maartin we went on the See and Sea trip, we boarded a bus and went to the highest point, took some beautiful pictures and then went to the other side of the island and viewed some beautiful bays. For the Sea adventure we were loaded on a boat (really ruff and rolling water), which had a glass bottom. As you can imagine-I lasted less than 5 minutes in the bottom of the boat before I had to come up and get some fresh air!! not my finest hour!!

 
Our tour guide stated that this was the shortest walking bridge in the world.(?)
 
 As you can see the wind was really blowing on our SEA excursion!



View of St Maartin from a hilltop.




 


Still tied up to the dock.

 
Ron was able to stay in the bottom and take these pictures.

On the way into St Thomas we saw these very old impressive forts.

 

  We are about to walk into St Thomas to go view the famous Mangan Bay and  tour of Blackbirds castle.

The bay where our ship is moored.


Our ship from the top of the castle.


 
We had a great time on St Thomas-the tour was oriented to the shopper, to get back to go the ship and finish the tour, we had to go through 5-6 tourist shops. That part was not fun, but the rest was.




The view from the garden buffet-private hot tub on the bow.
 
We are not bathing beauties, but this is the proof that we spent time at the pool!!

 
One night our cabin helper made us a swan out of towels. 
 






On our stop at Nassua we took a tour that included the Junkanoo museum-what a fun place!! we tried on costumes and learned the history of Nassau and the Junkanoo  festivals.


 Made of all natural sponge-




Making music with bells and whistles.

These head dresses/costumes are super heavy, and to think a woman danced for 18 hours in them, to celebrate their holiday.

 There was always 3-4 cruise ships in each port.


 



Our tour guide stated that a doctor's visit cost $10 and to spend the night at the hospital was $30.

The following 3 pieces of art were in the hallway when we got out of the elevator!! Just beautiful!



 
This young lady was always at the entrance of the buffet with hand sanitizer.




 
 




1 comment:

  1. Awesome! Loved the photos! Back to "home sweet home" your motorhome! I'm loving keeping up with your travels. Makes me wonder why I've never made a "bucket list".

    ReplyDelete