I'm Back, Bay-Beee!

Well I am back at work after a really great vacation.

Hubby and I had a wonderful time on our cruise. Here are some highlights:

Flights down to San Juan were pretty good. Had a stop-over in Charlotte, found a bar right across from our gate that we could smoke in. We met this guy who was traveling to San Juan for work purposes and we chatted with him for a bit to kill some time.
On the flight to San Juan, I proceeded to get pretty drunk off Rum and Diet Cokes. I love how they give you two (2) little booze bottles instead of just one! By the time we landed, I was pretty toasted. And we watched Bewitched in flight. It was an OK movie, it provided a good distraction. We caught a cab to the Port and was on board in about 20 minutes.
Things got 'friendly' and then we just hung out in our cabin until the ship set sail.
We had a full day at sea on our way to Aruba. On that day we hung out at the Pool Bar and drank.
In Aruba, we took a bus tour of the island. Saw Tom cruises house, although at this point, it could have been anybody's house. We saw the collapsed Coral Bridge, and then took a boat ride and sat in the submerged hull to tour a sunken boat called the Antilles. After our tour, we walked around Aruba near the Port. Ate at Carlo's and Charlies, We drank the customary Drinks by the Yard, I was trashed. Hubby had shots of Sangria, I think, poured down his throat and had his head shaken about by a server. Oh and we also got charged the native currency in US dollar amounts, So instead of 13 dollars for fajita's, we were charged 26. Assholes! While in the bathroom, I noticed someone had written in huge letters, Where in the world is Natalie Holloman? I had no idea that was the last place she was seen alive.... Whoooo eery! Aruba was OK, some parts of the island were nice, but most of it was shit. As we were sailing out of port, We saw why we only saw 3 quarters of the island, the other part of the island was nothing but oil refineries, who wants to see that crap???

Curacao was exactly the same, Looked the same as Aruba, only with more refineries blazing right behind the port. I wasn't terribly impressed. However, you could tell they were trying to make improvements and I think the port area could look really nice in the future.

Next we had another day at sea, we hung out in the pool, I layed out for a bit, drank at the pool bar and then had a nap before dinner.

On to St Maartin...a small island cut down the middle, one half French, the other half Dutch. Oh my god I have never been so harassed by locals in my life! I could handle it, just 'no thanks' and a wave of my hand and I kept on walking. I don't think Hubby was used to that and was getting really annoyed by the locals. I mean every 20 feet it was 'Hey beautiful, get your hair braided' or 'come down this way, 60% off jewelry' shit we even got hit up for a stupid timeshare right off the boat taxi! I was ready to just walk away, but they were cornering Hubby pretty good. Finally I said, 'NO, we have a tour at Noon, we can't help you!' Hubby even was hit up for his hair to be braided, Ummmm he has no hair, these people are just so starved for money, they don't even pay attention, they just spew their usual garbage lines and don't look at people when they speak.
We hit up the jewelry shops and I came across these earrings I fell in love with, and most of the 60 thousand jewelry shops had these earrings or a similar variation of them, so I talked them up to whatever 'deal' these stores were going to give me and I went with the best offer. I think I chose well. One store that the cruise line endorsed was trying to give me the second worse offer that I was quoted! Hubby got a watch and I ended up with 3 pairs of earrings total. I did end up finally using the 20 Euro I had tucked in my wallet for years, so that was a good thing.
Hubby had a tour planned with ATV's. Shortly before he headed for his tour, it started to rain and get kinda gross out, but these tours were rain or shine, so on he went. I took a shower and read a bit in our cabin. Then I started to notice the weather getting worse, Nothing related to the Hurricane Wilma, just bad weather. The rain was going sideways! I couldn't even step out onto the balcony it was coming right in. I was a little worried. After watching that for a bit, I fell asleep reading. Right as I woke up, Hubby came in the room, soaking wet and covered in mud/sand. His tour was not as he had expected or what was advertised and he was not very happy about that. But he did ride a ATV, and he even got a free jet ski ride.
We headed out of port and we were pretty glad about it too.

The next day we were in St Thomas. I had been talking up St Thomas for a while. I loved it when I was there in 2001. This time it was kinda 'eh'... It looks really nice from the ship. In town there is a shopping bazaar in a plaza right in town it's nothing but a sea of tents. Back in 2001 there was this lady who would sing her goods. 'Three for 10 Dol-lahs, for girlfriend over heeah' I saw her again, or I am pretty sure it was her, she looked like Erika Badu, but she didn't sing. I was a tad upset. I did see this one Rhasta guy I remembered from 2001. He had a donkey all dressed up and his fur was colored with vibrant colors, the donkey's name... OPRAH! He was charging 5 bucks to take a picture of Oprah the Donkey...
We walked around St Thomas, all the stores were jewelry with a few souviners mixed in, the Hard Rock Cafe had just closed down a month or two ago, so we couldn't even go in there to sit and eat. They closed the little shop with the frozen drinks in the back. They are trying to improve St Thomas, by cleaning up the main store fronts facing the water, but its the side road, just a block in, thats just crazy. Everyone was trying to get the ship passengers to take these tours. The traffic was ridiculous too. But no beggars, mangy dogs, or timeshare gimicks, like St Maartin.

We were ready to head home by this time. The ship was really nice overall. We enjoyed the Champage bar and their champagne cocktails. Some of the passengers were really annoying, passengers of a certain locality that we sailed out of. RUDE RUDE and even more RUDE. One guy when we were the pool bar one day, flat out asked, what can he get for free. WTF!! We called him the 'what can I get for free guy' each time we saw him. We took in a comedian, he was OK kind of funny. We ate at Johnny Rockets one night, that was just OK, the burgers were cooked only 1 way, well done, gross.
I think next time, no more tours, unless its a sightseeing tour that takes you around the island or wherever. I dont mind those, they stop in places of interest and you can buy whatever crap they are selling and then your off again in 10 minutes time.

Thats all for now, Glad to be home, Super Glad to see baby guy again. He grew in the week we were gone.

bye for now
Mom