Happy Halloween!! 10-31-16

I had an upset stomach last night and it was quite noisy in the hallways with much shouting and singing into the late night.  I was awake off and on until we arrived in St. Thomas and then slept until 9 AM.  We ate breakfast then went into Havensight (St. Thomas port) and went shopping…well walked around, not really shopped.  We were just here last Thursday.  We did figure out why the ships aren’t docking in Havensight right now.  They have the end of the pier closest to town (which berths two large ships) all torn up…no idea what they are doing but there is only room for one ship at the very end of the dock.  Anyway it is just as hot as last week but without the rain.

We are obviously back on the ship.  I thought I would catch up on this because I won’t be able to post again until I get home.  I will write it daily but I didn’t buy the internet package this time so I’m using Debbie's Hot Spot to post today.

I hope everyone has a fun and safe Halloween.  Thanks to Kay and Carol for following!

Carnival Fascination 10-30-16

 

 

Boarding in Platinum in San Juan is very easy.  We were guided to a separate room and got our cards.  Then we went through security which is when it got weird.  They flagged my bag and said I had liquids in it so they proceeded to take it apart.  Then I said I didn’t have anything in the carry on but had two bottles of water and a soda in my bag.  Well he said I couldn’t take both the waters on so he took one.  Then we rounded the corner to head on the ship and a female officer said not to take a step toward her unless we had our passports open to the picture page!  Finally we get on and Debbie and I are surprised that the ship for one of the older Carnival ships is in surprisingly good shape.  Much smaller than we are used to but nice. 

Being Platinum also affords us priority luggage delivery.  My luggage was outside the cabin door about 20 minutes after we got on.  I put it inside and we went to lido to have some lunch.  When we got back, Debbie's luggage was still not there and she was getting worried since they were already delivering others.  We waited for awhile and still no luggage so we decided to go look for it to see if it was outside the wrong cabin.  I said I would take the port side and she would look on the starboard side.  I told her that for some reason I thought we should go down a deck first.  We did and as soon as I got to the port side Debbie was yelling that she saw it and we followed the luggage cart until she got it then the crew let us use the luggage elevator to take it back up.  We were unpacked quickly and had the luggage put away and she was happy and relaxed again.  It is awful when you know it should be there but it isn't.  Hard to relax until you know where it is and of course the crew said we should just go to cabin and wait...it would come.  Famous last words! 

Dinner is open seating since we sail so late tonight.  We are seated with a whole table of US people which was amazing considering the population of this ship.  Tons of large groups who are all wearing shirts that tell about their group.  Hispanic and Black is the majority and Spanish is the language.  Even in the Ship’s paper, they have specific activities in Spanish!

Dinner was good (even without the tablecloths which Carnival has done away with) and the chocolate melting cake just as good.  The muster drill was at 9 PM and I wasn’t sure I could stay awake long enough.  It took a full hour to do this drill…we didn’t think it was ever going to be over.  We were with a cute couple that dined with us at dinner from Novia Scotia who are both delightful, fun and funny!  If it wasn’t for them, I don’t know I could have made it through the drill.  We were supposed to sail at 10 PM but never left until 11 PM.  Debbie and I were already in bed.

So ended day 1 on the Fascination.

 

Orchids growing in the trees outside the Hampton

This was at the pier in San Juan

Our cabin...no balcony..slumming for me...boohoo

Raining so hard you can't see across the harbor

Clear again

Nite Nite

 

 

Laundry Day 10-29-16

Although we chose to get off the ship late, it was almost 10AM when we got our luggage and headed out of Customs to get a cab to the hotel.  We were lucky to actually get into a room at the Hampton Inn since check in is generally not until 4 PM.

We got into the room and gathered our clothes to be washed and headed to the laundry room.  It took us over four hours to do 3 loads of clothes.  The dryers just took forever and were hot enough to ruin a pair of Debbie’s pants and then when we tried to iron them, the iron spit out some black goop and ruined one of her tops.  Our hotel was otherwise very nice but looking out of the window in our room we were next door to a cock fighting place which seemed to stay full both day and night.  We had dinner at the pool bar which was really good.  We had ribs, salad and grilled potatoes.  We were close to the airport runway so we could see the planes taking off as well.  We had to repack everything which took some time and by then it had been a long day so we slept.

We had breakfast and the people watching there told us that on this cruise we were going to be in the minority.  Just what we saw at breakfast was amazing.  There was a lady in front of us getting coffee who had platinum hair and was wearing an orange cover up.  A few minutes later we saw her through the window in the pool area without the coverup and whoa!  She had on an ecru see through thong bikini…yikes!  Anyway, we showered, dressed and headed to the ship.

St. Thomas 10-28-16

This is a week of firsts.  In all the times I have been to St. Thomas, this is the first time I have docked in Crown Bay.  Apparently Royal Caribbean now has a contract with Crown Bay and will dock there at least for the next year.

Our tour called for us to be in the lounge at 8 AM and they never called our tour until 8:45.  We were to ferry over to St. John and then get on open buses for the tour over there.  Many people sat outside and upstairs on the ferry and we were barely out of port before it started to pour and it rained so hard you couldn’t see anything.  When we pulled into Cruz Bay about 45 minutes later it was sunny and hot.  We had a funny and fun driver on our tour and Debbie and I enjoyed it.  This was my first time to St. John.  It truly is a beautiful island and you can tell there is big money there.  The beaches and water were breathtaking and I’m hoping to show you the photos when we get checked into the hotel tomorrow and can upload.  Even mild mannered Debbie has been enraged by the internet on this ship.  It went from sun to rain and back again and on the way back on the ferry it poured again and rained almost the balance of the day.

Debbie and I went to the sushi restaurant for lunch and really enjoyed it then it was back to the cabin to pack to get off in the morning.  After dinner we went to the show which was another production show…it was so bad we left and we never do that.  The luggage is out now and I am trying to finish the blog so that I can pack up the computer.  I will post the photos and a summary tomorrow.  It was a good cruise with exceptionally smooth seas and we both enjoyed this ship. 

I will end with Captain Kate’s final Confucius saying…”Woman who sets goals high reaches Summit” and she did!

Kenny Chesney's home where he married Rene

Termite Nests

 

 

Gorgeous Trunk Bay