Floating GTG-Caribbean Style

[BirdbyBird]

They are busy uploading to PB as of now.......those FB pics were just the teasers

[Bethers]

They are busy uploading to PB as of now.......those FB pics were just the teasers

Yay - looking forward to them.

[cpatinjones]

Yeah! All of you made it back to land. Now, let's hear those stories and see those pics.

[rvgrammy1953]

Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump.......the sound of many fingers tapping table surface across this land...waiting for PB uploads and postings....and stories....

[BirdbyBird]

Sorry folks the pics are going up very slow tonight. It will be tomorrow before the copy writer will get any typing done.....go on to sleep now. Hope that you won't be disappointed...... Expect for the excellent photos of that classy birthday girl and her peeps!

[Nasoosie]

WELCOME HOME, and will look for the pics today, Tina! Thank heavens someone remembered her camera!

[sharon]

WELCOME HOME, and will look for the pics today, Tina! Thank heavens someone remembered her camera!

Quit pickin' on the poor old sick widder woman, Soos! I was lucky to get myself to the airport and on the big boat the way I felt!! I thought I did well getting there with enough clean undies and bathing suits!

[BirdbyBird]

...and she did take some pictures for us! She used my extra camera. I was just going to include her shots with mine and me look really good.... Well except for those shots of me taking pictures of stuff that she took of me... I'm bad.....

[Excel]

How can we access these photos....I'm not real sure how Facebook works...could someone give a hint please?

[Bethers]

Quit pickin' on the poor old sick widder woman, Soos! I was lucky to get myself to the airport and on the big boat the way I felt!! I thought I did well getting there with enough clean undies and bathing suits!

Oh, does that widder woman talk bring back memories. Didn't accept that from Sparkle and not going to let you get away with it either. Ha. Is funny though and always will be. I do think the info on your undies was TMI though

Excel - if you're friends with the people posting them, you can access them, otherwise can't. Lots on there - fun to look at - but must admit I'm looking forward to the ones that get posted here or on a blog- hopefully mainly of our ladies.

[BirdbyBird]

Okay....here goes. I would have started writing earlier but it was difficult to know when to get up without the room service knock on the door with my hot tea and bagel with cream cheese. I'm just saying that Sharon is a wonderful cruise tutor.

I made it through the airports and when arriving in Miami I found the lady next to the baggage pick up holding a clip board and a Carnival Transportation sign. I checked my larger bag right there with the Carnival folks and it magically showed up outside my stateroom later that evening without me shlepping it around on the bus ride over to the port. There were some long lines but everything moved pretty smoothly and my cruise mentor Sharon showed up in the stateroom only about 45 minute after I did. We got to stand/sit out on the balcony and wave good by to the port of Miami.



Sharon had to watch carefully to be sure that the captain really could get out of the port in one piece. Someone got us out in one piece either the Captain or the Pilot from the Port that jumped back on board the Pilot Boat that pulled along side after clearing the Port.



Well after making sure we were officially cleared from port and sailing safely Sharon and I headed off to explore the boat and find the birthday girl Carolyn (BGC) and her Peeps. Not surprised, we found them waiting in line for the free Tequila shots.....





Did I mention that we both enjoyed that balcony.



Sharon and I got to catch out first sunset out at sea.



Later that evening we made our way to the dinning room for our 8:15 seating. BGC (Birthday Girl Carolyn) had arranged for all of us to sit together and eat at the same time. We took two tables and some of the BGC's Peeps played musical tables from night to night to that we all got to meet BGC's son Jonathon and his GF and her nephews and their wives and her other friends. For as large as the ship was and as diverse as our schedules were certain days it was surprising how often you could run into each other throughout the day and if not we always got to check in with each other and catch up/share our adventures of the day at dinner.

Becky and BGC



Wendy



Wendy and Gwen her roommate and friend from Birmingham, AL.



The fabulous and talented Cruise Mentor Sharon and me, Tina!



Another picture of BGC......well this was her cruise. So it was only fitting that she be the center of attention!



Can you tell from her door decorations?



Now back to dinner and just some of the food choices...





Must say that we often got funny looks from the waiter and nearby tables when one of us would say, Wait, wait. Quick, take a picture!"

On Monday we spent the day parked out in front of Half Moon Cay. This was the stop that we were suppose to enjoy the private cabana but lost that reservation due to a qlitch in the Carnival reservation system. Some of us stayed on board all day enjoying the quiet of a mostly empty ship and some of us got off to wander the beach just because we could. The water was looking pretty, pretty.



When not busy on a beach or taking shore excursions we often were very busy taking advantage of ship board activities especially on "At Sea" days and later at night.

There was the Slot Tournament. There was very very stiff competition with several members of BGC's group represented. Here is a picture of the BG herself in the finals. Though the picture does not capture the noise that her "fans" made in her support. During the final championship heat the gentleman sitting next to her kept making faces and seemed to be complaining about being distracted. Really! We were thinking he was just jealous that her didn't have such an enthusiastic cheering section.



And here she is sharing her "Ship in a Stick" with one of her adoring fans. We were all allowed to touch her "Ship" for good luck if we asked real nice like.



There were a few attempts at Karaoki. Here is BGC trying out for the Legends show singing Madonna's "Like a Virgin" It was a very singular performance. She did win the competition due to the her enthusiastic Peeps in the crowd and an Emcee that didn't think BGC would carry through with her attempt. Little did that Emcee understand......



Carolyn declined her position the next day after considering that she actually was expected to memorize the song and the rules had lots of well "RULES" that she felt might take all the true personality out her performance. At the next gtg, I highly recommend giving BGC a few drinks and asking for a replay of the evenings performance.

On another subject, you know all those PR pictures of cruise ships. I don't think they use pictures of how crowded the small pools and decks can get on the "At Sea" days.



On Wednesday many of us took a snorkeling/sailing excursion on a catamaran while in St Thomas. The catamaran sailed us over to St John's for the beach snorkel area. But first we had to take a bus drive through narrow twisting roads to the small dock area to get on the sail boat. On the dock we had to walk past this guard.....



And then it was all about fun, snorkeling and sailing.















This is a picture of the house that the Park Ranger lives in. Not bad.



Sooner than we would have wanted we were on our way sailing back to the dock and then heading back to the big ship.





Here is a picture of the Cruise Mentor Sharon resting on a bench (if you look closely) after we got back to the port area.



Not a bad view from our balcony again....



The day we docked at San Juan was the day many of us took a tour of the rain forest up in the mountains and a tour of old San Juan.









And as Sharon and I would refer to them....here are some "Liz pictures" just don't ask us to identify them.... (Can you tell I am getting tired.... )







This one is Impatient ...that grow wild here in the rain forest.





Who is that tourist woman?









Hi there little guy!



Rainforest version of poison ivy. Or so we were told.



Back in San Juan, Sharon and I took a self guided tour around the old fort.



Here is a picture from the top of the fort looking towards the ship.



A view of the old fort in San Juan from the ship.



But back in the fort.....





Here is that tourist woman again.





This is what I get for lending a camera to that Sharon woman...



Neat tower on the fort.



And interesting air plants growing on the side of the fort walls.



On the walk back to the boat we passed some town residents.



Narrow San Juan streets......Sharon and I were getting hot and tired and didn't wander too far around town. You could easily spend several days seeing the sight around San Juan.



Some birds of San Juan. For money you could get a picture with them....



Dinners in the evening were often interrupted by the entertainment by the wait staff. ....with participation of some guests....







As Sharon may have mentioned earlier there was a lot of opportunities for dancing. Watching the Latin Dancing was the best! This one was the late night deck party.



Always good to "net" off the pool for safety after pool hours are over.



And you can watch the dancers in person or get an over view up on the big deck screen!





The last excursion day was Grand Turk.







And the swim up bar....



And the "Flow Rider" next to the bar....



Grand Turk was also where I got to scuba. I passed all the preliminary tests...as in demonstrating that I could follow important directions under water and actually climb the ladder with the tank on my back to get back into the boat. I don't think they thought the "old lady" was going to pass but I did and off we went to the deep water. Of the 8 in our beginners scuba group (7 men and 1 woman ) 7 of us actually made it down to the ocean floor (about 25 feet) One of the men apparently was not able to get his ears to equalize and had to head back up after only making it about half way down. Now I will confess that though I had bought a water proof camera (thanks to seeing Nice Vickie's camera last Oct in AR) I decided at the last minute not to try to take it down with me. I considered concentrating on breathing, keeping water out of my mask, checking my air reserve, and keeping my legs straight while kicking (....especially wiht the discovery that my 61 yr old thighs really don't have the muscles they used to... ) not touching anything 'cause it could either hurt me or I could hurt it..... Well, you get the idea....I was not so confident in my ability to get to the floor with my ears pressure equalized and swim and breath at the same time that I wanted to add anything to the multitasking. You will just have to take my word for it. It was very spectacular down there. Lots of pretty fish swimming around ignoring us. We also got to swim down a little deeper right to the edge of the reef and the drop off to the big deep!

Back on board ship less taxing sports were available. There were games to play or just observe.



Just one of the animals that showed up in our stateroom one evening. Coming back after dinner we would find a different critter each night.



On Friday most of us went to the fancy steakhouse restaurant as a special birthday party treat sort of thing..... The desserts were the most'est





Then there was choc, choc and more choc....



Just one of the buffets on board ship that we used for lunch. There really was something to eat 24 hours, if you knew where to go to find which restaurants or buffet lines were open.



Wait, wait. It can't be over already. Good Morning Miami!



All I can say is fun, fun, fun.....and we had a real good time! Could you tell!



Till the next cruise.....

[Bethers]

Oh, Tina, thank you so much for the tour and trip. I've been to a couple of those places and on several cruises, so really felt like I was there with you. Great pics. Thanks again.

[Readytogo]

Was a lot of fun, was a little disappointed we didn't get to do more things together. Already thinking of another cruise. Norwegien has a ship called Epic where they have studio cabins where one person doesnt have to pay double, also the studio cabins have their own lounge where you can meet other people going alone. Might try it next winter! Wendy

[rvgrammy1953]

Oh, thank you, thank you, Tina for posting the photos and stories here...although I looked at them on FB, it's so much better with the story with them.... So glad you all have a grand time....and yep, my 58yr. thighs would have protested, too...

[sharon]

Ummmmm.....I didn't see anything mentioned about your new "hobby".....