Caribbean Cruise

We went on a cruise. Not just any cruise, but a free cruise courtesy of Ellen DeGeneres and Celebrity Cruises. None of us had been to the Caribbean before, and it was quite the treat. Darren, Sarah, Jordan, his brother Max, Anna, and myself all embarked on this greatest of adventures.

Pictures we see from the Caribbean all have lush green landscapes and incredibly blue oceans with white sandy beaches. Well, that's exactly what we saw. The Caribbean quite breathtaking.

Our cruise was seven nights on board Celebrity's Summit cruise ship which measures 965ft long and weighs 91,000 tons. We started in San Juan, Puerto Rico then traveled to St. Maarten, Dominica, Grenada, Bonaire, and Aruba.

San Juan, Puerto Rico

We flew into San Juan and our ship departed from the beautiful coastline of this exotic island. Our time on the island was minimal, but we loved what we saw.

Coastline of San Juan

Night skyline of San Juan

Philipsburg, St. Maarten

In Philipsburg we split up and enjoyed the island in our own ways. St. Maarten's primary industry is tourism, so there was no shortage of things to buy or people to give our money to. Anna and I ventured through the streets of Philipsburg and spent a few too many hours in the sun on the beach (it was too beautiful to leave) and went back to the ship with a new found sunburn.

Great Bay in St. Maarten

Anna enjoying the beach in St. Maarten

Wonderful sunset while leaving St. Maarten

Roseau, Dominica

Dominica is an island of soaring mountainous landscapes. Disembarking from the ship we were greeted by a small force of people all wanting to "help" us spend our money. On Dominica Jordan, Max, Darren, and Sara hiked over 16 miles to visit a 300ft waterfall while Anna and I remained near the ship and relaxed and recovered from the previous day's sun damage, taking naps and reading on lounge chairs on the deck of the ship. My main venture onto the island was to visit a local pharmacy and purchase some aloe vera gel for my wife.

Landscape of Dominica

Blue waters of Dominica

St. George's, Grenada

Grenada was one of our favorite stops. There were many aspects of Grenada that reminded us of another place our hearts long for - Burma. Jordan, Max, Anna, and I found a taxi and our driver (whose nickname was Pastor) gave us a tour of the island. We learned about Grenada's primary export, spices, and how they are made from their raw forms, visited a waterfall and crater lake located in the remote jungle, visited Fort George which was built in 1705, and swam at the beach.

Jordan, Max, and Darren walking down the port in Grenada

Anna with a monkey on her shoulder

View from mountain overlooking St. George's, Grenada

Kralendijk, Bonaire

Bonaire was definitely our favorite time during the cruise. Bonaire is generally known as the best snorkeling and scuba diving in the Caribbean, so we thought we'd try out snorkeling. It was an amazing time. Darren, Sarah, Max, Jordan, Jon and Krissy (new friends from the ship), Anna, and I all decided to go snorkeling together. We booked our snorkel adventure with a small group who brought us to their favorite spot by sailboat. We saw many species of fish and several sea turtles, and we had the rare pleasure of being joined by some dolphins playing in front of the sailboat on the way back to the dock.

Shoreline of Bonaire
Shoreline of Boniaire

Our ship on the shoreline of Bonaire

Darren enjoying the sailboat

Sea Turtle seen while snorkeling.

Oranjestad, Aruba

Aruba was our final stop and the windiest of all the islands. Aruba is clean and well kept with many souvenir shops, jewelry shops, and places to buy Cuban cigars. We all went our separate ways again on Aruba. Anna and I went souvenir shopping and wandered the streets of Oranjestad.

Landscape of Aruba

Our ship and Aruba Landscape

We all really enjoyed the cruise and the time together. There were nightly five-course dinners with different dress codes from formal to casual. The dinners were one of our favorite things aboard the cruise and we were able to enjoy fabulous delicacies from New York steaks to lobster tail. During dinner we met our new friends John and Krissy and spent time with them from snorkeling to playing poker.

After returning home we were thrust back into reality by finding water puddled in our basement due to a plumbing problem. After making the necessary phone calls, a couple hours of ShopVac operation, and moving boxes out of the danger of water damage, we were able to catch our breath and prepare to be thrown back into normality on Monday morning.

Tags » Family

3 March 2008
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