7 Day Eastern Carribbean Cuise (Nov 17 - 24 '07)

Nov 16 (Friday) -  Flew into West Palm Beach at 10 pm. Picked a Rental Car and drove to JW Marriot on Okeechobee Blvd.

Nov 17 (Saturday – Sail day) - Had a good breakfast at the hotel, checked out and drove around Palm Beach (beach, Breakers hotel, Worth blvd, etc) Left for Miami (about an hour and  15 minute drive) around 12:15 pm to catch our cruise (Carnival Triumph). Dropped the car off at the airport and embarked on the Carnival Triump ship at about 3:15pm. We went straight to have lunch on the Lido deck (level 9). We had  a life jacket walkthrough before we set sail. That evening we hung out on the deck listening to the live band and eating till we were almost sick.

Nov 18 (Sunday - Half Moon Cay (Bahamas) )Woke up about 4:30am because I went to bed early the night before and made my way to the gym at 6:00am and worked out for about and hour and a half. By the time I came back to the room, Carol and Kofi were already awake and so we got ready and went to eat breakfast. By the time we were done, we had arrived at Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas . We spent the day at the beach ( I have never seen whiter and sand this smooth ever! Not to mention the gren colored ocean. AMAZING!) After a couple of hours frolicking in the water, we took a bus (we could have walked if we wanted to) a short way to the area where there was a huge spread of food (grilled) and had a good lunch and then left for the ship at about 1pm because we wanted to get Kofi some rest and for him to take his afternoon nap. I came back and watched some NFL football, and then headed for the gym again while Carol and Kofi were sleeping. After a good workout, I came back, took a shower, dressed up and headed to dinner. After dinner, we headed to a cabaret show and pretty much walked around checking out other parts of the ship.

Nov 19 (Monday – All day at sea) - After breakfast, I came back to the cabin to take a nap while Carol and Kofi went to see watch an ice-carving show, and a hairiest chest contest. For lunch, we sat on the Lido deck and watched as they had a live band playing reggae and calypso and a dancing competition. I surfed the net on my laptop and watched part of a DVD I had. I went and worked out at the gym again and when I came back, we got ready for the formal Captains dinner. We had to iron our clothes and dress up. For dinner, I had two servings of lobster while Carol had one serving. That night, Kofi ate really well for once (most times we have to coax him to eat anything). After dinner we went and watched some guy from Philadelphia (supposd to be releasing a C but I can’t for the life of me remember his name) singing in the Rome lounge. He was pretty good.

Nov 20 (Tuesday - St.Thomas) - Landed in St Thomas about 9:00am. We had to stand in line for about 30 minutes to go through immigration. We walked to Havensight mall (about a 2-3 minute walk). We continued on (about another 2 minute walk) to the cable cars that took us up to Paradise Point. What an awesome panoramic view!!! Kofi wanted to take a picture with parrots a lady was using to make money. What a scam!! $10.00 for ONE digital picture with no frame!! I did it only because the kid wanted it. We then walked further up the wooden steps to get a better view of the whole island. Afer we came back down we took a taxi to the downtown shopping areas. It started to rain after about 45 minutes of checking out the jewelry stores so we took a taxi (bus) back to the ship. After Carol and Kofi went to sleep, I went back out to look for some souvenirs at the Havensight mall and also to buy some walkie-talkies from the Radio Shack across the street. When I got back we took a shower and got ready for dinner. While we waited for our dinner time which was at 5:45 pm in the formal dining room, we tried some of the free Sushi on the 5th level by the cabaret singer. It was really good.. For dinner, I had steak and Carol had a jumbo shrimp meal. I had a Baked Alaska for dessert After the meal, we went to watch a magic show and then went to look at the pictures that Carnivals cameramen had taken of us all throughout the cruise. We were so full that we called it a night after that.

Nov 21 (Wednesday - Puerto Rico) -Landed in Puerto Rico at 7:00am. Carol woke me up, we quickly got ready and had a quick breakfast. Since we didn't have to go through immigration, and also because a lot of people weren't up yet, we didn't have a problem getting off the ship. We didn't want to pay for any excursions being sold on board.Good thing we didn't. We were met at the gate by a guy (Felix) who offered to give us a

tour to the Old fort (El Moro), Old San Juan, the Capitol, the beaches and the shopping areas for $20. After waiting for about 30 minutes so he could fill up the bus, we set off for the Capitol. He was pretty informative and quite funny. We tried some smashed plantains and chicken from Mojitos restaurant. I wasn't too crazy about it. We even discovered a free tram ride that took you through the city. We wanted to take a

ferry to the other side to visit the Bacardi factory but the ferrys were out of commission and we were too nervous about finding our way there by bus an back in time so we scratched that idea. I wish we could have seen more of Puerto Rico though. Maybe next time we will.

Nov 22 (Thursday - Grand Turk ) – Went to the formal dining room for breakfast and had eggs Benedict and pineapple juice which was good. We walked off the ship, took pictures and took a taxi to the downtown area which wasn't much of anything. We bought a few souvenirs (which we should have bought on the ship because it was cheaper there) and after walking about a little bit and talking with the island pasto’rs wife who was having her lunch we took a taxi back to the port. It was fun to hang out by the port because Carnival has built an entertainment area with shops, a swimming pool anwith a live band by the ocean with a Margaritaville style theme. We boarded the ship about 4:00pm and I went and worked out at the gym.

Nov 23 (Friday - All day at sea) - Had another good breakfast and headed to the gift shop to buy some souvenirs and pay for the rest of our formal pictures. We went back to the room to pack the bags which we left outside our doors before midnight for them to be taken and loaded for out departure the next day. We spent some time on the deck listening to the live band while Kofi and Carol went to play putt-putt golf. I later on went to discover the other parts of the ship that I had not seen yet (the running track on deck 10, the pool area on deck 8 in the back, the sports bar on deck 5, etc. We later got ready for our last dinner and as usual, there was a song and dance halfway between our meal by the waiters which they did some form of every night. That was always fun. After dinner we went to the Rome Lounge to watch a game show but then I retired early because I was beat. Kofi and Carol were not too far behind.

Nov 24 (Saturday) - Got into Miami petty early (7:00am) We didn't get off the boat until about 9:15am after eating breakfast and waiting our turn to disembark and go through Customs. Caught a shuttle to Alamo at the Miami airport and rented a car. Drove to South Beach to look around and then headed to West Palm Beach . We first checked into the Mariott Residence Inn but weren't happy with the place. I guess we were spoiled by the luxury of the JW Marriott hotel on Okechobee so we checked back into it. We headed to get something to eat on Okeechobee Blvd and headed to City Place close to downtown. What a beautiful and lovely area with a live band and all kinds of high-end shops and eateries. I even bumped into a former co-worker of mine at Verizon in Arlington , VA who had moved down to West Palm Beach a couple of years ago. After spending some time there, we drove to Palm Beach briefly and headed back to the hotel about 8:30pm to settle in for the trip back home early the next morning.

Nov 25 (Sunday) – Flew to Chicago en route to DC in the morning.