Caribbean
Carnival Vista Day 2: Nassau, Bahamas
I really thought that I had been to Nassau before. But it didn’t seem familiar at all. Must have been Freeport. Before disembarking in Nassau we had breakfast on the ship. We tried to have breakfast in the buffet, as we always do. But on the Vista the lines were staggeringly long – over 100 … Continue reading
Yet another cruise (Carnival Vista)
This is a short one – just 6 days, Nov 26 to Dec 2 on the Carnival Vista. I really didn’t need another cruise on the heels of the 30-night TP1 but Marlene’s best friend, Dottie, is unable to accompany her on this one due to health issues. So I am filling in. It is … Continue reading
PCL2 Day 7: At sea
This was my first cruise with back-to-back days at sea since the transatlantic crossing (TC1). I enjoy days at sea, so there is no problem with having two of them in a row. It just means that I am going to eat more than usual (a fine beef bourguignon for lunch and mahi mahi for … Continue reading
PCL2 Day 6: At sea
This day at sea was very relaxing. I spent some time on the balcony, reading, but the main features were the 3 (count ’em – 3) trivia contests, the formal dinner, the Thursday Night Football game on the big screen under the stars and a late night at the casino. I also got some very … Continue reading
PCL2 Day 5: St Maarten
We docked near Phillipsburg but we never made it into the city so I will just say that we visited St Maarten. We had no excursions planned for St Maarten (or anywhere else) so we weren’t affected by the cancellation of all cruise excursions to the French side of the island. We later learned that … Continue reading
PCL2 Day 4: St Thomas, US Virgin Islands
I had a real breakfast, then Carl and I went down to participate in the morning trivia contest and noticed that Christmas decorations had been put up while we slept. These people never sleep. We did badly at trivia so we went ashore. The port area in St Thomas is like any other port in … Continue reading
PCL2 Day 3: At sea
Not much happens during a day at sea. In this case the “not much” consisted of eating, having a very poor pina colada by the pool, losing the rest of my winnings in the casino, doing very poorly at trivia (though, in my defense, I arrived late and teamed up with a couple who had … Continue reading
PCL2 Day 2: Princess Cays, Bahamas
Princess, like most other major cruise lines, has its own Bahamian island. This makes a lot of economic sense as there are no docking fees and all souvenir shops are run directly or indirectly by the cruise line. They have a captive audience for a day, while providing the illusion that you have visited the … Continue reading
MSC1 Day 14: Ocean Cay, Bahamas
This was our second bite of MSC’s private Ocean Cay island in the Bahamas. The weather this time was considerably better than the cool, cloudy, damp day we got last week. There were still lots of clouds, but with enough sunny breaks that we could spend a few minutes on the beach (one of the … Continue reading
MSC1 Day 13: At sea
A day at sea is, almost by definition, a slow day. A relaxing day. A day to sleep, eat, read, gamble and do sudoku puzzles. And that is what we did. The casino, as has been the case all week, was not kind, making us cough up another $100, mostly due to my inability to … Continue reading