Eastern Caribbean Cruise

A couple of months ago I sent a text to my friend, Sonia, asking if she wanted to escape the cold Missouri winter and take a cruise. Within seconds she responded with a definitive YES. So I began searching the Norwegian Cruise Line website looking for a fun cruise. I wanted to take a 10 day southern Caribbean cruise but Harrah's would only pay for a 7 day cruise - poor me, right? So I selected a 7 day eastern Caribbean cruise to St Maarten, St Thomas and Nassau.

We boarded our ship - the Getaway - in Miami. This is my 4th cruise and I've never used the spa services. So I decided to pamper myself with a hot stone massage and access during the whole cruise to the salt bath, steam room, hot sauna and massage pool. I even got up early the next morning and took a yoga class.

This is the yoga teacher, Dalma, who is from Hungary. I've got all the yoga equipment at home but I've never taken a yoga class. Yoga has a lot of stretching, a slow pace and very awkward positions. Needless to say after that first and only class I felt as though someone had beat me up. I must have used muscles I didn't even know I had. Makes me realize just how much I need to exercise.

Our first stop was Phillipsburg, St Maarten. The weather was beautiful and we spent the day shopping the streets of St Maarten.

The next day we docked in St Thomas. We took the Coral World and Butterfly Garden tour. Coral World Ocean Park has an undersea observatory, Caribbean reef tank, lorikeet garden and this shark tank where they train juvenile sharks. While roaming through the park wild iguanas sneak up on you. Luckily our group was only 8 people and we were all ready to leave early.

The butterfly garden was right across the dock from the ship. The brochure for the excursion boasts the garden is "teeming" with butterflies. In actuality we saw about 20.

During "at sea" days there are many things to do aboard ship. I enjoyed the trivia games. This was an 80's movie trivia game. They showed a picture from a movie and you had to guess the name of the movie. I missed 3 out of 20. Not even close to several who had them all correct. I think the prize was either a t-shirt or koozie.

The ship has several places to eat and you can always find something open any time during the day or night. The buffet was always good and offered a great variety of food. We usually ate at the main dining room for dinner but we found this little café that served the best hamburgers.

When we returned to our room at night, the room steward had a little towel art sculpture waiting for us. I think this is an elephant but not for sure.

Our last stop was Nassau, Bahamas. We had originally planned to visit the zoo but when we got off the ship it was raining so we changed our plans and spent the day at the spa.

We stayed in Florida an additional week because who wants to spend the winter in Missouri. Melissa sent me this picture and I immediately sent her one back. But all too soon it was time to return home.

While we were waiting for our flight home there was an Antonov aircraft on the runway. The Antonov is a Russian aircraft designed to transport the Buran space shuttle. It is now used to transport oversized commercial equipment that you wouldn't think could ever fit on an airplane. It's the largest aircraft ever built. The man standing by the aircraft is standing right below the nose of the plane. Exactly what it was doing at a small airport in Melbourne, Florida, I hate to even think.

I learned a very important lesson about flying. DO NOT FLY if you have a cold. It's been 5 days since I landed and my ears still haven't popped. I've been to Urgent Care for antibiotics for a sinus infection and heading to my regular doctor tomorrow hoping for some relief.