February 2013 Ultimate Caribbean Cruise

It was a difficult decision for me to go on this cruise, as I had been spending time in Akron helping take care of my brother Bill as he was quite ill and we were awaiting a liver transplant. Bill insisted we go and have fun, so with trepidation and a lot of anxiety, we decided to make the trip. Rusty and I drove to Fort Lauderdale to meet up with our Akron friends for another Caribbean cruise. We departed Nashville January 29th for our latest adventure. We spent a couple of nights in Fort Lauderdale, meeting up with some of our group (Racco's and Pirkl's) for dinner the evening of January 31st. While at dinner I got a call from Debbie (Bill's wife) that he was on standby for a liver, we would know for sure in the morning before we departed on the cruise. Unfortunately for us, the liver went to someone else who needed it. So, we proceeded with our plans to cruise with our friends.

Instead of leaving their car at the hotel as planned (a park and cruise deal), the France's and Gray's decided to drive to the port and leave their car there. So we packed ALL the luggage for 3 couples for an 11 day cruise into the France's car and all of us piled in for the drive to the cruise port (it was just down the road). Once at the cruise port, we met up with Racco's and Pirkl's to begin our adventure. Once on board we all headed to the pool deck to begin our basking in the sun.

Our sea days are usually spent on the pool deck just basking in the sun. The first port of call on February 4th was Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas. We went to Megan's Bay for a beach getaway. We just got some beach chairs and laid on the beach all day with the gang. It was very relaxing.

Me and Kathy Racco

Barbie Gray

The second port of call on February 5th was Basseterre, St. Kitts. Rusty and I decided to do the Essential St. Kitts tour as we had never been to St. Kitts before. This included visiting the Caribelle Batik at Romney Manor - a lush tropical garden on the foothills of the rain forest. Although it rained while we were here, this was spectacular.

From the rain forest we went to the Brimstone Hill Fortress, which is perched 750 feet above the Caribbean and overlooks four neighboring islands. The views from the top of the fortress were amazing.

Rusty at top of fortress

Our next port of call was Bridgetown, Barbados (February 6th) - again Rusty and I had never been here before. On Barbados, the Racco's decided to accompany us on our natural wonders tour of Barbados. We got to see black belly sheep (saw these along the side of the road), Andromeda Gardens and Bathsheba rock formations. Bathsheba was by far my favorite spot on the island.

Rusty, Kathy & Frank

Rusty and I

Motorcycles

The motorcycles in the above photo were unloaded from the belly of the ship. They received a police escort as they toured not only this port of call, but all the ports of call on our cruise. It was impressive watching them all come off the ship and then take off.

Spectacular final resting place

Beautiful old church overlooking Caribbean

 Bathsheba

Bathsheba rock formations

Spectacular views from atop Barbados - the pictures say it all.

February 7th - Roseau, Dominica. This was our first visit to Dominica and we let John Pirkl make some private travel arrangements for the Pirkl's, Racco's and Wood's - we had a wonderful guide, Martin Alexander, for the day. (The France's and Gray's opted to do something on their own.) We combined some of the favorite items from the ship's shore excursions but let our driver make the best decisions for us. There were some breathtaking views on our drive in Dominica. 

We went to Mome Trois Pitons National Park and hiked to the base of the Emerald Pool.

Rusty and I @ Emerald Pool

Kathy & Frank - hike to Emerald Pool

We drove through the Botanical Park and got some wonderful photos.  

Tree that fell on school bus (empty) during a hurricane

We also took a drive to  Trafalgar Falls and hiked to the overlook for a view of these twin falls.

First sight of Trafalgar Falls from a distance:

Rusty & I @ Trafalgar Falls

Racco's @ Trafalgar Falls

Martin also took us to some local farms and we were able to taste the local fruit - it was very delicious.

Banana Tree

 All in all it was a wonderful day with good friends and beautiful scenery. 

Frank, Sue, Kathy, Martin Alexander and me @ top of Botanical Park

February 8th - Philipsburg, St. Maarten. As a group, we spent the day at Orient Beach. It was very refreshing and relaxing.

Orient Beach

The last two days were sea days. Most of the time was spent hanging around the pool just relaxing and enjoying the company of our friends. We had some wonderful dinners together as well as enjoyed the evening entertainment. We always have a good time on our cruises with this group of friends, whom we have known for over 30 years. We look forward to many more adventures with this group.

Canada and New England Cruise October 2012

On October 4, 2012 we boarded the Enchantment of the Seas in Baltimore and met up with John and Cornella Humphrey for our cruise to New England and Canada (Saint Johns and Halifax).

Welcome Aboard

We departed the Baltimore harbor early evening on the 4th. We spent the 5th on-board cruising to our first port of Portland, ME. We just relaxed with our friends and enjoyed our journey.

We arrived in Portland on October 6th at 11:30 am. We opted to do The Best of Portland and Kennebunkport shore excursion. This tour took a motor coach to see the city highlights of Portland and the Portland Head Light. The Head Light was beautiful.

Portland Head Light

Rusty

John & Cornella

From the Head Light we went to the charming seaside town of Kennebunkport (the Bush's were in residence, saw the flag flying as well as Secret Service). We explored this quaint town by foot. Had lobster rolls and blueberry pie - yummy.

Cornella among the pumpkins

Our next port of call on October 7th was Bar Harbor, ME. LOVE Bar Harbor. Here we opted to do the Best of Bar Harbor excursion. This tour included the best of Bar Harbor and Mount Desert Island as well as the natural landscape of Acadia National Park (AWESOME) and Cadillac Mountain as well as a visit to the Lobster Oceanarium, plus we got see one of the old Bar Harbor cottages.

Acadia National Park

Rusty - Cadillac Mountain

Sheryl - Cadillac Mountain

John and Cornella

Old Bar Harbor Cottage

The next stop on our adventure was October 8th in Saint Johns, New Brunswick. John's grandfather was from Moncton, which is north of Saint Johns. It was too far to get there and back in one day so, we chose to do St. Andrews and Bay of Fundy Scenic Railway Combo. We boarded a motor coach for a scenic drive to St. Andrews by-the-Sea. We learned about some of the history, culture and folklore of the area. We walked around St. Andrews but it was bitterly cold.

St. Andrews by-the-Sea

Scenic drive

From St. Andrews we went to the Bay of Fundy and boarded the NB Southern Railway to take a ride over the tide pools - these are very interesting.

Our last port of call was Halifax, Nova Scotia on October 9th. Here we took the Historic Halifax City Tour. Our tour guide wore a kilt (and yikes it was cold). We heard about the days of rum-running as well as privateering. We saw the oldest working brewery as well as heard about the Halifax explosion. As part of the tour we went to the Victoria Public Gardens, a 17-acre park.

We also got to tour the Halifax Citadel - one of Canada's most popular and visited national historic sites.

The Old Town Clock

Citadel barracks

Citadel guard

Citadel cannon

After departing Halifax, we took two days to cruise back to Baltimore. The colors weren't quite as vibrant as we had hoped and it was very cold and wet, but nonetheless we enjoyed our trip. While on-board, we got to enjoy a lot of wonderful entertainment in the evenings, as well as some incredible meals and we also attended a few cocktail parties. As always it was great traveling with our friends John and Cornella.  We look forward to many more adventures with them.

John & Cornella - Sheryl & Rusty

We departed Baltimore on the 12th for the drive back to Nashville. We saw some beautiful scenery along the journey through Maryland, Virginia and Tennessee.