So I know my last blog entry really sucked!  It was because I was too darn excited to get my photos up on the net to show everyone where we had been.  So now that I've unpacked and have sorted through my stuff I can explain a little more of the things we had done and seen while away on our trip.

In case some of your weren't aware, Greg and I stepped on a plane for a 12 day vacation to the Caribbean.  On January 24 we flew to Fort Lauderdale Florida where we would be spending the night to board the MSC Opera ship the next day. We had a lovely flight to Florida, but it took most of the day to get there, as we had to transfer flights in Toronto and go through US customs.   This was my first flight south and getting off the plane in Florida was wonderful.  I could feel the heat and humidity as soon as they cracked open the door of the plane.   With that my hair went poof!  Into EXTREEM curls with a great amount of poofyness! I suddenly remembered why I hate humidity.

From the Fort Lauderdale airport we were transported to the hotel.  The hotel experience turned out to be quite a challenge.  I don't think that anyone would expect it to be difficult to get a room that was reserved months ago.  I suppose we just have bad luck, but the third time was charm...yup, it took the hotel 3 times to get us a room that WASN'T occupied!  Imagine sitting in your hotel room and watching strangers have a key and walk in!  Because that's what we did to 2 people!  Talk about a lax in hotel security.  It turned out that that the hotel was in the process of turning into a Hilton the next day and they didn't have any computer systems up and running and their manual log of booked rooms SUCKED! But we did get a lovely room in the end.  

While in Florida I had the chance to hook up with some of my cousins, since they live in the area.  The night we got in Lorraine, Angela and Christopher took Greg and I out for dinner.  Thank you very much!  We were starving by that point as our last meal was a muffin at Winnipeg Airport at 9 a.m. and this was already 8:30 p.m.  We had a lovely little visit with Lorraine and her son Christopher and we had to try to catch-up really quick. it had been several years since I had seen them.  

The next day we had some free time and thank-you sooo much Angela and Phillip for taking us to see the beach!  It was exactly what I had wanted to do while I was in Florida, as this was my very first time ever seeing the ocean.  Kind of a thrill for me! By noon we had to report back to the hotel to be shuttled to the ship for boarding.   

By about 2 pm we had boarded the MSC Opera, and wow, it was a really neat experience being on a ship for the first time ever.  We were shown to our cabin where we quickly freshened up and ran about the ship to explore every corner possible.  I felt like a little kid running loose in a toy store!  I was waiting to hear my mom yell at me "Don't run away like that!" I think that within the first hour Greg and I had opened every door and suck our noses in to see what was there.  Besides, this was going to be home for the next 11 days so we had to see what it offered.   

So basically we were at sea for the first 3 days of the trip.  During this time it was great to sit and relax out around the pool deck, feel the warm air and the sunshine, take a dip in the pool and just unwind.  There were always activities going on around the pool by the entertainment team of the ship.   One big pass time on the ship seems to be eating so of course Greg and I indulged on the breakfast and lunch buffet almost every day and enjoyed a wonderful themed dinner every night.  With this being an Italian ship, the dinner theme was focused on a different region of Italy each night.  For me this was heaven as I love Italian food, I can honestly say that wasn't one thing I put in my mouth that I didn't love!! I had the opportunity to try so many new food and great flavors.  

On with our adventures, our first stop was Puerto Rico.  Here, Greg and I had the opportunity to tour one of the forts used to watch for pirates long long ago!   This was neat as it was very large and on top of a fairly high point which gave us a lovely view of the city of San Juan.  We then jumped back on the tour bus to visit the Bacardi Distillery.  This was neat, we learned some of the history around the company and we got to have a relaxing drink of rum at 10 am!   It was a better eye opener than coffee!  

Our next stop the next morning was Philipsburg St. Maarten.  I've always heard so much about the shopping here.  So that's what Greg and I took in.  We took a panoramic tour of the island with shopping. We visited both the French and Dutch side of the island.  I was kind of surprised to see so many cacti on the island.  It wasn't as lush and tropical as I had pictured.  But the shopping was fun.  We did a flea market on the French side and on the Dutch side we shopped the strip.  This was a street filled with mainly jewelry stores.  I have never seen so many in my life.  This was definitely the place if you were in the market for buying expensive jewels.  We looked at lots.. but didn't buy, it was too rich for our blood. But definitely a very pretty city.  

Stop number three was St. Georges, Granada.  This was a very different stop compared to the first two.  We didn't do too much of an island tour because we were doing a water event.  But we did run into town to see what it was all about.  Here is where the locals surrounded us to buy their spices, get taxi's for tours, and do about anything to get our business.  Since we didn't have time for that we purchased our cheap booze and headed for our Rum Runner tour.  We took a boat out on the water, stopped to feed some mighty hungry glutton type fish from the boat, drink all the rum we wanted and head out to the beach for some fun, sun and swimming.  We had a lovely time and this was actually my very first opportunity to swim in the ocean, which I love greatly!  We had the entertainment of a steel drum band and limbo line on board the boat.   

Stop number 4, Bridgetown, Barbados!  Oh what I do to be back there again!  This was our catamaran tour!  We set sail in the morning and didn't return to late in the afternoon.  We again had all the rum one could drink... and let me tell you we know of one lady who really took in all the rum she could drink, right Diane??  This excursion was the highlight of my trip.  The adventure on this tour was snorkeling with the sea turtles and the tropical fish!  I loved it!  The water was so blue, so warm and the turtles were so neat.  I could have been out there all day.  I would do that again in a heartbeat!  Most of the day was spent in the water with fish, turtles and good company of the tour members.   

Stop number 5 was Port Castries, St. Lucia.  This was my second favorite place of the Caribbean.  We took a 5-hour tour of the island.  What a lush and tropical island.  There was so much fruit and natural beauty that it took my breath away.  I'm a huge plant lover and there was nothing more spectacular than seeing all of the unique botanicals surrounding me.  I was a bit of a shutterbug on this island because I saw so many beautiful flowers, trees and other plants. This would be a beautiful vacation spot in the future.  

Stop number six was Road Town, Tortola.  Sound familiar?? It's because it's home to Pirates of the Caribbean!  This again was a very unique island... and actually lots of smaller island surrounding it.  Everywhere you turned it was so scenic, all the hills and islands who could resist taking photos.  We also visited a beautiful beach, Lambert Resort.  The waters were clear and blue with rolling waves and sand soo deep one could hardly walk in it!  The palm trees were perfect creating postcard like photos.  This would definitely be a place to vacation and feel like the rich and famous!  

Our last stop was Samana, Dominican Republic and the island of Cayo Levantado.  Unfortunately this was not one of the better stops of our vacation, for the simple reason we didn't have a great tour guide.  But the peninsula of Samana was beautiful.  Again very lush and this countryside has more palm trees on it than I had ever seen on all of the islands that we had visited combined.  And Cayo Levantado was a small island that all of the ships members were boated to.  It essentially is just a beach, a very large and beautiful beach with crystal blue waters and very white sands.  Almost like a paradise island to soak up the sun.

We're back! 

11 days in the Caribbean enjoying the fun, food, water and sunshine!  Too bad we had to come back to the -30 degrees here in Winnipeg.

Greg and I had an awesome time on our cruise.  During our time at sea we made it to 7 islands, Puerto Rico, St. Marteen, Grenada, Barbados, St. Lucia, Tortola and Dominican Republic.  Each island was so different and beautiful in their own way, my two favorites being the waters of Barbados and the countryside of St. Lucia.  I could have wished for a permanent vacation in one of those two spots.  And we were lucky to have had wonderful hot sunny weather in all the places we went to.  We've even managed to come back with a tan line. 

The cruise ship was also beautiful.  We had wonderful service onboard as well.  Our cabin stewardess and our waiter were wonderful, we couldn't have asked for anyone better.  The cabin stewardess made our bed every morning and turned down the sheets every night for us.  It was almost like being tucked in bed.  And our waiter, Gede, never made a poor meal choice for us, the food was scrumptious especially if you like Italian food.  This being that our ship was an Italian cruise line called MSC. 

Check out the new photos in my album of the trip.