I just returned from my wonderful relaxing cruise. Sad that I found out that V/P is changing to Carnival since I have enjoyed both my of Princess cruises. This trip was courtesy of the voucher I picked up at V/P last November. My voucher was for ocean view but I paid $200 per person to upgrade to Balcony. It was very well worth it. Even though it wasn't as big as the mini suite I had on my last cruise, it was still great to have the balcony.
It was hard to get a good picture couldn't find a good angle but here is my best attempt
Liquor made it with no issue
We left out of FT Lauderdale around 7:30pm Saturday. Weather was overcast. Did a quick walkthrough in the casino. Not a big selection but a few games I like Gold Pays, 88 Fortunes. Unfortunately no pics of slots or wins for me on this trip. I probably lost around $280 for total of the cruise. Limited gambling for us as we have Vegas coming up soon.
Day 2 was day at sea, the weather was still overcast and yucky. The boat was really rocking. This is probably first time I ever felt sea sick during a cruise. We went to see comedy show and disco show both were entertaining.
Day 3 was another day at sea but thank God the weather improved and the ocean was much smoother. Again just basically relaxed and watched a couple shows.
Day 4 we arrived in Antigua (yay finally on land). View from my balcony
We ended up taking and island tour with some other people, visited national park and then they dropped us off at the beach
Some of the beautiful views
Not sure if you can see the house because it blends in but far right in the first pic is Eric Claptons house
Not Eric Claptons house :-)
Random old cannon pic
More beautiful views
We stopped at the dockyard and then finally made it to the beach. I think there are 365 beaches in Antigua, we went to Valley Church beach on the Southern Side of the Island. Next time I will skip the tour and just find a beach. Since this was our first time to Antigua though that is why we did it. Cost was $30 per person plus $8 for the national Park and dockyard. Interesting part for me is that we did not pay the driver until after he picked us back up from the beach. I guess that's a good way to make sure you have a ride back to the ship.
Day 5 we arrived in St. Kitts. This was my first time here too but we opted to skip the tour and go straight to the beach. We picked Frigate Bay because it was only 5 miles from the cruise port$10 each roundtrip. The sand was Hot as hell but nice to just hang at the beach again. Took these as we were leaving
Day 6 - St Thomas. I came here on my last cruise and fell in love with Magen's Bay beach so of course went straight there. It's about 20-25 mins from cruise port. $8 each way plus $5 for the beach. No cost for the beaches on the other islands. Another wonderful day at the beach.
Day 7 - Grand Turks. Another new port for me but no tours. Beach was walking distance from the boat. Water was colder here than all other ports but kind of good because we were good and sun burned by then
Day 8 was another full day at sea. My last ocean pic from my balcony
Got back early Sunday morning and straight to the Airport
I didn't take any food pics we pretty much ate at the buffet or grabbed burgers/ hot dogs by the pool. I think we only ate at one speciality restaurant. Paid $8 per day for the non alcoholic drink package. Ordered plenty of cokes, juices, virgin daiquiris and piņa coladas and took back to the room to add our own liquor
We had a wonderful relaxing trip only bad weather on first day and the rest was amazing. Then I had to come back to the real world over 600 emails at work plus Thunderstorms and tornado warnings. Sunburn starting to peel. Yes I brought sunblock with me but I kept jumping in the water as soon as I applied it instead of waiting 15 minutes like the instructions say. And boo - no one cleaning my room and cooking for me everyday at home - dang it! Worse part, no ocean view from my house.
Good news is I have Vegas in 2 weeks so I will be ok :-) No ocean view in Vegas but at least someone else to cook and clean for a couple days. Oh yeah - and they have more slot machines
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Originally Posted by dvandentop
