vacation roundup
March 29, 2005
Well now that i have recoverd and have some free time, i would write about the week.
Saturday we got up at 4am to catch a 6:40am flight to NYC, that pretty much went smooth and we got to NYC on time. We had a bit of a layover so that gave us enough time to get breakfast and hang out for a bit near the gate. So it comes time to board the flight to go down to Fort Lauderdale. We board the plane and getting ready to take off, the captain comes on and says that we have to wait an hour before we can leave due to the fact flight traffic was a mess going in on and of Florida. Which wasnt too bad because it would still give us about 2 hours before we gotta get on the ship when we get down there. So we wait it out in the gate waiting to take off and the captain comes back on about a half hour later and said that we got delayed an hour (o shit) so now this gives up roughly an hour to get off the plane, get our shit from the baggage claim and haul ass to the port. Luckly we didnt get delayed again and were cleared to go. The flight itself was uneventfull and we got in around 3:30pm and we are scheduled to leave the port at 4:30pm. By the time we got our shit, got to the port (btw a huge thanks to Celebrity Cruises for getting us to the port), and got on the boat it was 4:05pm. Whewww just made it, when then proceeded to get torn up.
San Juan, Peurto Rico
We arrived at San Juan on Monday around 4:30pm however due to complications with the US Coast Guard we didnt dock till 7:30pm. They ended up cancelling all the shore excursions because we were 3 hours late. Amanda and i didnt really get to see much of San Juan, it was dark and nothing was really open. Plus we didnt know what parts were safe or not to wander around in. We pretty much stuck with everyone from the ship. We maybe spend about an hour or two on the island and head back to the ship to drink some more. I wasnt to impressed with what i seen, but then again we didnt get in to real late. So i would more then likely give it one more chance, just need to visit there where its daylight out. The only upside to this was the Captain did 2 hours of open bar for the whole mess.
Saint Thomas
Saint Thomas was the next stop on our cruise. For our shore excursion we went to Magen’s Bay which has a really nice beach there. From the travel brochue it was rated as one of the top ten beaches. Which i would have to agree, it was an awesome beach but there was a metric shit load of people there. After hanging out there for a few hours we went back into town and walked about and checked out the shops. One think i will note is that i have never seen so many jewelry shops in a small amout of area before. There was a ton of them and alot of duty free liquor stores 
. Pretty much this is was my second favorite place of the trip.
Saint Martin/Sint Maarten
3rd stop on our trip was Saint Martin. Which hands down was Amanda and I’s favorite place on the trip. The Island is divided up into 2 parts. The Dutch side and the French side. We pulled onto the Dutch and landed in Phillipsburg, which was really really nice. It had a ton of shops and it was just beautiful. We made a trip to the French side of the Island and went to Marigot. Marigot was pretty nice but didnt have as many shops as Phillipsburg, but it had more places to eat and was more laid back. It also had a section called “little Eurpoe” that was pretty nice looking. I could have wished we spent more time there, at some point i would love to just go back there and hang out for a couple of days.
Nassau Bahamas
Last stop on our curise was Nassau and god it sucked. we pulled in 45 minutes late and didnt do our shore excursion because they were saying that they might not get us back to the ship on time. So we said fuck it and didnt go (but got our money back). Plus it was good friday and all the shops were closed for holiday, there wasnt shit to do. So we walked about a bit to try and find something open. We ended up taking a 20 minute horse drawn buggy tour of the place and then hit what they called the straw market which was a giant tent with vendors. Again i would like to check it out when its not a holiday.
Overall it was a great trip, i got to finish up System of the World by Neil Stephenson, got some sun,gave my liver a hell of a workout and just relaxed. It was nice not having to worry about work or school and just have fun for a change. I can’t wait before we go on another one. Hopefully we can do it again soon.
