Spring break
For spring break this year, we booked a 7-day cruise to the Eastern Caribbean on Princess cruise line. On Saturday March 12, Laura drove us to the Denver airport where we boarded a flight to Atlanta, Georgia. Once in Atlanta, we got off that plane and got onto another plane, which took us to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. We then took a shuttle van to Cambria Suites. Because we didn't have a rental car, we walked to a nearby Cuban restaurant. Dad was nice enough to walk Amy and Josh across the street to buy Subway sandwiches while we waited for the Cuban food to arive at our table. The Cuban food ended up being a disappointment. After dinner, we walked back to our hotel and went down to the outdoor pool and hot tub, where we talked to some other people who were also going to be boarding the Ruby Princess the next day.
On Sunday morning, we walked about 15 minutes to a Burger King, then showered and packed. We took a shuttle to the airport, where we then got on another bus that took us to the boat. We boarded the ship pretty quickly and went to our room, a mini-suite with a balcony.
Here's our ship:
After eating a lunch buffet, we explored the ship. We saw 2 large pools and several hot tubs, a pizzeria, and an ice cream bar. Instead of doing a fixed seating for dinner every night, we had signed up for "Anytime Dining," which means that we were allowed to eat anytime we wanted to in the Michelangelo Dining Room. At dinner, we paid for Dad, Josh, and Amy to be able to get unlimited "mocktails" (strawberry daiquiris and pina coladas) and sodas during the week. Later that night, we went to a show featuring the Ruby Princess singers and dancers and a comedian named Phil Tag. After the show, we went to bed.
The next day, we ate at a breakfast buffet, which was very delicious. They have lots of fresh fruit as well as many other options. We then got off the ship onto Princess's private island in the Bahamas, Princess Cays. However, the beaches there weren't spectacular. We ate a barbecue lunch there and then later in the afternoon, returned to the boat.
Here is the four of us at Princess Cays:
When we were back on the ship, we went to the pool and snacked on pizza. Then we returned to our cabin, where Mom and Dad took a nap. We ate dinner at Michelangelo's again. For dinner, they serve appetizers, soups/salad, main course, and dessert, all of which is really fancy but tastes superb. After dinner, we went to another show by Phil Tag, the comedian, whose show was hilarious. Then we returned to our room for a short time before a show by the magician David Cats, who was very talented.
The next day was a "Day at Sea," meaning that we didn't dock at an island but instead traveled to our next destination. We relaxed in our room during the morning, then ate a formal lunch at the Da Vinci dining room. Our waiter, Hector, was really nice and was very fast at serving us. After lunch, we swam. The water in the pool was sloshing back and forth because of the movement of the boat, so it was really fun. While we dried off on beach chairs, we got some warm oatmeal cookies and milk.
Here's Dad, Josh and Amy at the swimming pool:
Dinner was a formal night, so we all dressed up but Josh felt sick, so he stayed in our room. Unfortunately, many people went to dinner at the same time, so there was about a half hour wait until we were finally sent up to Da Vinci dining room. Mom, Dad, and Amy went to a show called "Once Upon A Dream," featuring the singers and dancers. After the show we went to bed.
On Wednesday, March 16 we got off the boat onto the island of St. Maarten. We walked to Budget car rental, where a guy drove us in a van over to another place where we got a white Toyota with no hubcaps. When we asked him about the lack of hubcaps, he said it is a service to the customer. Apparently, people would steal the hubcaps if they were on, so they just remove them instead. Dad did a great job driving despite the thin roads and aggressive drivers. While there, we went to 5 stunning beaches: Dawn, Orient Bay, Maho, Cupecoy, and Grand Case. They all had white sand and gorgeous turquoise water. Some had rocks, but we swam at all 5 and had a great time.
At Maho Bay, the beach was located very close to an airport, so they had this warning sign there. We thought it was kind of funny.
In the afternoon, we went to a creperie on the French side of the island. The crepes were very good. We started to drive back to Budget because it was getting closer to the time to board the ship again. On the way back, the traffic was very packed and we started to get nervous we would miss the boat, but we made it in plenty of time. Later that night, we all discovered that we had gotten sunburned and we were really exhausted and hungry. We went to dinner, where we were served another fantastic dinner. Then we went to another show by the magician David Cats and a juggler named Matt Henry.
The next day (Thursday) we ate a formal breakfast. After eating, we got off the ship again, this time on St. Thomas. We started walking to try to find our car rental place and we ran into a man leading a group of scuba divers who offered us a ride to Budget. He dropped us off but it still took us several minutes to find it. Once we finally got our car, we went to a couple of beaches. They weren't incredible like the ones from St. Maarten and it was a more cloudy day. On this island, people drive on the lefthand side of the road, so it was quite an experience. The next beach we went to was called Coki. We were followed by a guy who kept trying to sell us beach chairs, snorkel gear, and drinks. We didn't stay at the beach for long and as we were leaving the same man tried to get Dad's attention. Josh, who didn't know that Dad was ignoring him, said "Dad, he's trying to talk to you." Then the man said, "Sir, are you ignoring me?" It was so funny. We then drove to another beach called Magen's Bay, which was very pretty but didn't have any waves. There were birds diving headfirst into the water, so eventually we realized that there must have been fish. We then noticed lots of clear-colored fish, so Amy got out immediately. After we left there, we went to Sapphire Beach, but by then it had begun to rain and the sun was behind the clouds, so we went back to Budget car rental. Mom and I shopped at some stores nearby, then returned to the ship.
This is a beautiful view of St. Thomas that we saw while driving:
That night, Mom and Dad ate dinner at a fancy Italian restaurant called Sabatini's, so Josh and I got pizza, ice cream, french fries, and soda. We also watched some of the NCAA game of BYU vs. Wofford. At 10:30, we went to another show featuring comedian Daryl Joyce, who wasn't as funny as Phil Tag.
After spending a couple of hours there, we explored some souvenir shops. Then Josh and I got on the ship while Mom and Dad took a cab ride around the island. When they got back, we all went to dinner, then went to Deck 15, where they had a huge screen that was playing Salt. They also set out blankets and popcorn, which was really fun.
On Sunday morning, we walked about 15 minutes to a Burger King, then showered and packed. We took a shuttle to the airport, where we then got on another bus that took us to the boat. We boarded the ship pretty quickly and went to our room, a mini-suite with a balcony.
Here's our ship:
The next day, we ate at a breakfast buffet, which was very delicious. They have lots of fresh fruit as well as many other options. We then got off the ship onto Princess's private island in the Bahamas, Princess Cays. However, the beaches there weren't spectacular. We ate a barbecue lunch there and then later in the afternoon, returned to the boat.
Here is the four of us at Princess Cays:
The next day was a "Day at Sea," meaning that we didn't dock at an island but instead traveled to our next destination. We relaxed in our room during the morning, then ate a formal lunch at the Da Vinci dining room. Our waiter, Hector, was really nice and was very fast at serving us. After lunch, we swam. The water in the pool was sloshing back and forth because of the movement of the boat, so it was really fun. While we dried off on beach chairs, we got some warm oatmeal cookies and milk.
Here's Dad, Josh and Amy at the swimming pool:
On Wednesday, March 16 we got off the boat onto the island of St. Maarten. We walked to Budget car rental, where a guy drove us in a van over to another place where we got a white Toyota with no hubcaps. When we asked him about the lack of hubcaps, he said it is a service to the customer. Apparently, people would steal the hubcaps if they were on, so they just remove them instead. Dad did a great job driving despite the thin roads and aggressive drivers. While there, we went to 5 stunning beaches: Dawn, Orient Bay, Maho, Cupecoy, and Grand Case. They all had white sand and gorgeous turquoise water. Some had rocks, but we swam at all 5 and had a great time.
The next day (Thursday) we ate a formal breakfast. After eating, we got off the ship again, this time on St. Thomas. We started walking to try to find our car rental place and we ran into a man leading a group of scuba divers who offered us a ride to Budget. He dropped us off but it still took us several minutes to find it. Once we finally got our car, we went to a couple of beaches. They weren't incredible like the ones from St. Maarten and it was a more cloudy day. On this island, people drive on the lefthand side of the road, so it was quite an experience. The next beach we went to was called Coki. We were followed by a guy who kept trying to sell us beach chairs, snorkel gear, and drinks. We didn't stay at the beach for long and as we were leaving the same man tried to get Dad's attention. Josh, who didn't know that Dad was ignoring him, said "Dad, he's trying to talk to you." Then the man said, "Sir, are you ignoring me?" It was so funny. We then drove to another beach called Magen's Bay, which was very pretty but didn't have any waves. There were birds diving headfirst into the water, so eventually we realized that there must have been fish. We then noticed lots of clear-colored fish, so Amy got out immediately. After we left there, we went to Sapphire Beach, but by then it had begun to rain and the sun was behind the clouds, so we went back to Budget car rental. Mom and I shopped at some stores nearby, then returned to the ship.
On Friday, we relaxed during the morning, then ate another formal lunch. I ordered cream puffs for dessert and they came in the shape of swans, which was really cool.
At about 1:00, we got off the boat onto Grand Turk. Directly to the left of where we got off was a fantastic beach, called Governor's Beach. We went straight there and swam and suntanned.
Saturday was another "Day at Sea," so we slept in and ate at the buffet. In the afternoon, we went swimming, then got hamburgers and pizza for lunch at Trident Grill and the pizzeria. At 5:30 pm, we went to a family magic show by David Cats in the Explorer's Lounge. Afterwards, Josh bought his DVD and got it signed as well. Then we went to dinner, where we had to wait about half an hour. We had great waiters, Urbano and Jay, who had served us once earlier in the cruise. For dessert, the waiters brought out baked Alaska along with our other choices. After dinner, we returned to our room where we watched another BYU game. At 9:00 we went to the Princess Theatre for the final show by the singers and dancers. They sang some songs from Mamma Mia and Hairspray, which we really enjoyed. After the show, we packed and went to bed.
On Sunday morning, we woke up at 6:30 to finish packing and eat breakfast. Then we got our suitcases and waited in the Explorer's Lounge until we were dismissed to disembark the Ruby Princess.
Here's a picture I took of our room:
We took a shuttle bus to the Fort Lauderdale airport and boarded a flight to Memphis, Tennessee. From there, we boarded another flight to Denver. Laura picked us up there and we drove home. We were all really sad to leave the cruise but we had an amazing time.
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