Keeping up with the Ewings

St Maarten

2nd to last stop... Saint Maarten.. we decided to seriously focus on shopping and walking around town. It is a beautiful island... very clean.

A beautiful tree with the coolest flowers on it in the middle of town

Next port.. Antigua.. mainly a beach town from what we could tell... So, we all jumped into a taxi and went to a nearby beach that they said was lovely.. it was lovely alright. topless women and all.. Keith, Emily and Kyle were the first ones to brave the water... Nicci and Mike made it in... Beth sat it out nursing some serious sunburned shoulders. The water was cold, but not really clear.. there was quite the under current and we got bounced around a bit when we got closer to shore. We did find some shells... had a fun afternoon... the rain came and we all took cover and then headed back to port. Did some shopping and called it a day.

Playing in the water!

Saint Lucia

Next stop.. St Lucia.. and this was our favorite! So beautiful! Nothing like we have ever seen before. We did not book an excursion through the ship and thought we would explore the island on our own... we are so glad we did. We came off into port and saw a group that was trying to sell tours of the island via speed boat. This was awesome because to drive from the port to the end of the island where the volcano and waterfalls were would take 2 hours. The motor boat took 30 minutes and we could see so many cool things.. like coves, bat caves etc.

What an adventure. We went into a few coves to check out the scenery, saw the bat cave and then docked to take a taxi to the active volcano.. very cool, but smelled so bad!!!!!!!!!! like rotton eggs! Then we headed to a waterfall area we could walk up to... the water was FREEZING... and then to a private beach where we could hang out and swim or chill at the beach side bar... you can probably guess where we ended up.. we had some yummy food and drinks and were even able to check email via the crackberry! :-) AWESOME DAY!

one of the many coves we took the motor boat into.

a local who makes his own hats and baskets... thought this was such a cool hat!

we are now at the end of the island and about to get off and go see the waterfalls and volcano.

Here we are at the active, smelly volcano!

A waterfall! Such COLD water but very pretty!

Here we are about to get back on our motorboat with the little village behind Mike.

And here is another view of the little cove we docked in...

Here we are back in port.. that is our ship in the background... This was the most amazing day!

Fun times in the evening....

So, we mainly had dinner in the main dining room.. our waiters were awesome.. I especially had a very fond feeling for our assistant waiter Jason from St Vincent.. He was awesome. Our bar man was quite the charecter.. not nearly as busy with our table as he was with the 2 tables next to us filled with family and friends for a reunion. They were hilarious. Most nights we went to the theater for the shows.. I can now understand Simon's quote on American Idol when he calls performances "cruise ship performances", but they were ok. One night Mike got our group into a Family Feud game.. they lost, but it was pretty funny. And then there were the nights filled with shuffleboard tournaments.. Mike and I were the consistent losers but at least we provided some laughs.

Formal night...

Our fun bartender... he loved to put on shows!

Our dining room the night that all of our waiters came out and performed for us.

The gang brainstorming onstage during Family Feud.. they lost!

Barbados

Brought with it the dreaded zip line adventure.. yes, my "friends" :-) talked me into this "fun" adventure with them.... Some people have to go potty when they are nervous... I tear up... well, I "cried" about 4 times during this fun time... but I did it.. and I will NEVER do it again.

Here we are walking to the forest to get our equipment.. God Help Me!

Equipment on.... nervous breakdown starting!

The first of 7 (yes I said 7.. and they got longer) ziplines... Yes, that is a wire I am "flying across" about 150 feet in the air.. above very dense brush and from what they tell me a few monkeys.. great!

Here comes my brave husband!

6 down and only one more to go.. I am almost there!

My guide.. cannot remember his name.. shoot! But, he and Mike got me through this adventure without losing my cookies! :-)

Thank God.. it is over... now time for a nice rum based beverage!

on to the boat!

So, we met up later that afternoon with the gang and boarded the ship, or should I say the city on the ocean... it was unreal! This ship was unbelievable. We spent the first few hours just exploring... theaters, restaurants, cafes, shops, bars, a miniature golf course, rock climbing wall, golf simulator, basketball court, 3 pools, a spa, a gym, an outdoor track, a helicopter pad, Johnny Rockets, inline skating rink, ice skating rink...so many things to do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We were so excited to explore it all and had a great day #1 at sea doing all these fun things. Our room was tiny, but actually pretty nice... as soon as we finished exploring our first stop was yes the buffet! The guys were excited! It was a pretty good buffet but became fantastic half way through the cruise when Keith and Mike discovered the sushi buffet that went out in the late evening... Literally every evening after our main dinner in the dining room they headed upstairs and ate probably hundreds of dollars in sushi! YUCK! :-)

All Aboard!

Playing miniature golf on our first day at sea...

Mike up on the Sport deck.. up here was the mini golf course, rock climbing wall, basketball court, golf simulator, inline skating course... tons of fun!

Here we are with 2 of the 3 pools in back of us... Such a beautiful ship!

What a trip!

So, we are home from our very first cruise with the Tilghman's and Woffinden's. What a trip! Too many fun times to share on a blog but thought we would give you an overview. First, thanks to Keith, Nicci, Kyle and Beth for including us on such an awesome vacation! Thanks Keith for graduating law school! Lots of hard work for you equaled tons of fun for us! Congratulations!

We started our trip out flying to San Juan, Puerto Rico. Mike and I ventured out the morning of the cruise to try and see some of the city while we had some time. We found a great park outside of Fort Del Morro. It was beautiful... right on the Carribean and it seems that was the place to go for the locals to fly their kites. We made our way into town down beautiful cobblestone streets and found Cathedral San Juan Bautista where they were holding mass and then a rosary service... all in Spanish but pretty. We were glad we got a chance to walk around and see a new place... some pictures are below.