Travel Tuesday

Okay, here we go.

Our cruise was soooo much fun. Honestly, anywhere we go is fun just because we're together. We don't have those opportunities often enough.

We all flew in to Ft. Lauderdale last Saturday. Joyce arrived a little later than the rest of us. We ended up meeting her at the ship.

We started with---what do you think? Lunch and drinks, because, well, why not?

Before I start, let me say something about the pictures. I really would like there to be ONE designated picture taker in the group so we could all share them. I don't get my way on this. Instead, there are hundreds to wade through and many that I never see. It's so frustrating for me. I hate the disjointed, lack of organization of that. Plus I think it's rude to hand someone who's offered to take a group shot---5 cameras! Due to lack of internet access, I couldn't even get most of them. Plus a couple of the sisters still use old fashioned cameras. I'll never see those photos. Truly, for sharing purposes, our iPhones are the best! Airdrop makes it a breeze. I had planned to use this feature when we got to the airport, but that was a fiasco and another story! The iPhones take great quality photos too! In fact, I've gotten rid of all of my cameras now. See for yourself. The pictures are in about the best order I could get them.

We were on Holland American---to me it was a big ship. But it only had 1750 passengers---much smaller than some of the others.

The gallery bar was our favorite meeting place. They had some really nice art hanging all around. The only problem is there was some really loud shuffleboard type game in here. Jeanne is taking this picture. From left: me, Sharon, Joyce, Janet, Jennifer and Janice.

 Jeanne and me.

We met Ricco Chico---the matre di on our first night. He was very friendly (as most of the staff are) and made a point to stop by several times. His name stands for "rich boy." He's from Indonesia and said that when a baby is born, the name is given based on either what the parents want for them or something in their current situation---like a full moon, or sunny day.

 Our first stop was Key West. This is the southernmost part of the US---just 90 miles from Cuba.

On our tour, we went through an area where these iguanas were all over. All OVER, I tell you! Every shape, size and color. Everywhere! Huge!

 There are wild roosters and chickens everywhere. I asked a bartender who collects the eggs (don't say it---I know roosters don't lay eggs!). He said that no one did. I never saw any, nor did I see any chicken s**t! Very surprising to me since the wild turkeys we have go through our yard are very messy on the patio!

 It was appropriate that we encountered these wild roosters on this particular day. It was the one year anniversary of our brother's death. His nickname at work was "rooster." We had a toast and I gave each of the girls a deck of cards (we're big poker and game players). I got the idea about the cards from Mindy. She gave Butch a deck for Christmas with her and his picture on them.

 I used this picture---the last one with all 7 of us. On our last family gathering, Janet "made" us take it. There was some grumbling (not from me), but in hindsight, we're so glad to have it. I don't think any of us considered the importance of it.

 I was the oldest and Ronnie was next in line. This is our last picture together. We were all sad for a minute, but then happy that we could share this moment together on the ship.

 The next day was a "sea" day. Some of us took the kitchen tour. I'm always amazed at the amount of food they go through in a week.

 Beautiful water everywhere.

 Our ship---taken from one of the islands.

 When we were on Grand Turk, we took a couple tours. There are wild donkeys roaming around. They were brought over by Great Britain to haul the salt from the mining that was going on there. When that came to an end, the donkeys were left to fend for themselves. They are protected by the government and just roam freely. Local people will put out food from them.

 Janice posing with a couple. They are not skittish or aggressive.

 Janice and Jennifer were on a tour that stopped at a---I don't know what it was called---some sort of preserve. These are baby conks.

 They grow up to be these beautiful pink conk shells.

 Here's an actual conk in its shell.

 This is a sea cucumber---it's some sort of animal or amphibian that lives in the ocean. I saw them in the ocean on one of my tours.

 While Jennifer and Janice were on the island tram tour, the rest of us took he Segway tour. That's my favorite way to tour anywhere.

 Another donkey just walking down the street. Apparently he knows to stay on the sand sidewalk!

 In the Dominican Republic, we took this hokey tour where we were to see a chocolate factory, a coffee factory and a cigar factory. Well, they weren't really factories, but stores! They passed out samples. I left the cigar place pretty quickly as it was a cigar bar and all smokey. Our final stop was at a local family and lunch. It was pretty gross, but we were starving by then.

 Our last stop was the private island owned by Holland American. They bought it for $6 million. Seems pretty cheap for a whole island.

 Cocktails before one of our fancy dinners. I'll be doing a separate post about the food and beverages.

 In the plaza of Half Moon Cay. We all went in different directions. Janice, Joyce, Jeanne and Sharon when horseback riding in the ocean. As it turned out, they didn't actually get to swim with the horses since they didn't know how to make the horses cooperate. Janet and Jennifer went on an island tram tour which they said was a joke. I had the best tour of all! It was called and eco tour---basically it was a flora and fauna tour. This is my favorite type of tour and I take them whenever I have the opportunity--mostly by myself. We were on a little boat and saw every possible colorful fish and coral. I tried to take a few pictures, but you can't really get the idea from them. It was sooo good---just as good as snorkeling without getting wet or getting that nasty salt water in your mouth!

 The plaza here was very nice and colorful with beautiful landscaping.

 One afternoon, Jennifer and I decided to go to the Crow's Nest bar. This was also the library. There were tables set up with jigsaw puzzles. I just wanted to read and enjoy the view. Well, this was my view.

 This is the view if you aren't short! The story of my life!

I'm not sure if this works, but here is the video of Janice "making it rain" after her big win at the casino!

 Check out all of those Ben Franklins!

Our room when it was made up. We had to be really organized to make the most of the lack of space. We joked that we played PacMan all week! We literally had to keep backing up and out of the way for another person to pass to get anywhere---bathroom or closet. I have been on many, many cruises---10 to be exact. This was a really small cabin---and it was a suite! We did have a nice balcony that our cabin steward opened up to the rest of the girls. We ended up not using it because it was so windy.

On cruises, one of the things the cabin stewards do is a fancy towel fold every night. They leave them  on the bed with chocolates, room service menu and the schedule of the next day's activities. One night, this little monkey was hanging. The ship offered a towel folding class. We didn't take it. Now, had it been napkin folding, I would have done that!!!

We girls had the best time. The food was delicious and the beverage package is a MUST. You have to pay for every drink---including bottled water and sodas. The only thing you can get for free is tap water---which is filtered, but I only drink bottled water anywhere except at my own house. You can also get coffee and tea in the food areas. The iced tea was disgusting. Remember, I'm a purist about my tea. I can tell immediately if they used a pot that coffee was in prior. In the nice dining room, the tea was pretty good. But in the fancy restaurant, the tea was some sort of fruit tea. Not my cup of tea---pun intended.

Butch had a fabulous time with his brother in Peru. We went through our photos on our tv last night---another great thing about using your phone to take pictures. When I set his photos up, he had 274. I was like---"whoa! This is going to take forever!" Plus, he likes to tell me the history of everything. He kept jumping up to point out things. Luckily for him, I only had 135 pictures. And, I can't remember one bit of history I learned (well, I should say "heard" since I didn't actually learn it). I didn't have to get up to point out anything! It only took about an hour and a half this time. We had such a good time sharing our experiences.

Tomorrow, I'll be sharing what I bought. Then food and drink on Thursday.