Week 48 - A Thanksgiving Cruise

What to say about a week of relaxation interspersed with adventures in ports?

I'll start with the ship time. We found a spot on deck 3 (Promenade) where we plunked ourselves in deck chairs and knitted the days away, leaving only to eat. And eat. And eat! We mostly ate at the informal buffet (you'd point and staff would dish the food) but did get breakfast a few times and dinner twice in the fancy main dining room. We also partook of afternoon tea several times. We did do walk the promenade deck a couple of times (4 laps was a mile) to break up the knitting. In the evenings, we watched movies in our cabin. Yesterday (the Beatles themed movie) and lots of period dramas. There was knitting and snacking during the movies, of course.

We got to San Juan at dinner time on Monday so ate early and then were off the ship. We walked around and checked out the Christmas lights, planning our next day as we went. We found a smoothie stand so enjoyed pina colada smoothies before hitting Marshall's for a straw hat for me. Our last stop was Walgreen's to replenish our M&M's. 

We hadn't booked an excursion so hit the tourist office first thing Tuesday and then set out on our own. We went to the closest fort and then walked to the other one. It was SO hot and humid. We stopped along the way to sit in the shade and drink water. We opted not to go inside the 2nd fort, despite our ticket from the first fort being good there too, because it was just too hot and the walk up to it was long. We checked out the cathedral then went back to our smoothie stand to cool down before heading outside the wall to walk along the water. Surprisingly there was some shade on that walk but we were still exhausted and depleted after so much time in the sun so we headed back to the ship for a swim. It felt wonderful! After sitting by the pool knitting (and I had the one and only drink I had on the ship - a blended strawberry daiquiri) it was time for a shower and dinner. It was a lovely day.

Wednesday was St. Thomas and we'd booked an excursion to Magens Bay beach via a mountaintop where we could take pics. We had 2 hours on the beach so did some walking, quite a bit of swimming and I sat in the shade happily knitting. After nipping back to the ship to change, we headed back out and did some shopping. The grocery store was a bust - no different than at home - but Anne bought some Crocs and we got another smoothie before going back just before sailing time. 

Thursday was another ship day for Thanksgiving. After another relaxing day, someone mentioned that the main dining room, where were were planning to eat dinner despite having to dress up (sea days are gala dress nights), didn't have mashed potatoes. That being Anne's favorite food, we decided to eat at the buffet. Along with said mashed potatoes, they did serve turkey and stuffing but it wasn't how I wanted it so there will be a homemade turkey dinner in the near future chez moi.

Friday was our last day and we were going to a private island for more beach time. Having already gotten plenty of sun, I found a chaise in the shade while Anne sat in the sun. We went a bit early for the huge BBQ they put on and it's a good thing we did because it started spitting rain as we got back to the beach. This is what it looks like when sand sticks to raindrops on your skin. By the time we got to the tender to go back to the ship, it was pouring. So it was a short beach day but we still had fun and it was nice to take a warm shower and get into dry clothes. It was our last night on the ship. How did that happen? We packed, put our suitcases outside for pick up and went to bed.

We had gotten the latest time available to get off the ship but even so, we were off just after 9:00 and ubered to the airport. Since our flight wasn't due to leave until 6:10 pm, we decided it was worth every penny to pay and extra $150 each to take a morning flight, which was even direct with no plane change in DC. Perfect! We were boarding group C so sat apart for the first leg but sat together with an empty middle seat for the 2nd. We stopped at HyVee to buy milk and an at home Covid test for me and I was in my house before I would have even left Florida. Totally worth the money!

I unpacked Sunday, did laundry and generally caught up. With that done, I went right into Christmas mode and started making lists. The cruise was fun but it felt great to be home too and I had a busy week ahead. Time to get holiday ready with Christmas in less than a month. Ho ho ho!