Monday, January 21, 2013

Caribbean Cruise 2013

Jenn and I arrived back home from our Cruise a bit over a week ago. Honestly, I haven't felt like blogging because we've been really busy with other things, and... well... this wasn't our best cruise, and it's been hard to motivate myself to get on the photos. We had a great time on the islands, and it was nice to get away from life's responsibilities. But the cruise ship was a let-down. Celebrity has branded themselves as one of the elite cruise lines, and it simply was not. The food was okay, the service in the 24-hour-ish area was so-so, the entertainment was not overwhelming at all, and I slept a total of 6 hours over the last two nights because of excessive noise on the floor above us (where the cafeteria is) all night long as it sounded like stainless steel tables being scraped across tile flooring. All of this, combined with the nickel-and-diming on the boat, shot Celebrity in our minds, and we'll never cruise them again.

As I said, Jenn and I had a great time on the islands. Grenada was fantastic, and our guide, Desmond, showed us so much of the island, from the waterfalls to all of the nutmeg, mace and spice history, that we really, really had a great time. St. Kitts was very neat, and our guide on the island, Greg, was a 5th generation on the island, so he knew his way around. The U.S. Virgin Islands, St. Croix and St. Thomas, had nice beaches. Dominica had beautiful snorkeling opportunities, and we got to swim in a canyon that was pictured in Pirates 2: Dead Man's Chest. We wrapped up our touring with a trip to the Bacardi factory in San Juan, and that was a good time.

All in all, we learned a lot on this cruise about what we want in vacations and what we don't want, and we learned to check a cruise line off of our list. Royal Caribbean and Princess will remain on the list. Celebrity will not.















The kids did great with Grandma Laura, and there wasn't too much of an adjustment period when we got home for them.

Today, without preschool, Jenn took Lincoln to Bob Evans for breakfast and then to the Cleveland Aquarium. It was a good mom and son day.

We're now officially looking forward to our Outter Banks vacation with the Hopwoods and Grandpa Doug and Grandma Paulette!