All Good Things Must Come To An End

As I mentioned yesterday, I am still feeling fairly reflective about the whole cruise, so I thought I would wrap up my recaps with a sort of debriefing session. I just want to think back to my favorite parts of the trip, what I learned, my impressions, and what I miss the most. Please indulge me, will you?

My thoughts on cruising in general
This was my first cruise. I was very interested to see how I liked it, because Eric and I always say we're more "go to a place and stay there and really explore it" type people, but I really had no basis for comparison. After cruising, I do think we were right. I definitely enjoyed seeing so many places in such a short amount of time, BUT I feel like I didn't really see any of them, does that make sense? Many times I only saw the port area, or wherever we went for our arranged excursions. I do realize I could have taken it upon myself to research the places we were going beforehand so I knew more about them when I got there, but I didn't. When you're only in a place from 8a.m. till 5p.m., you just can't possibly get a full experience of that place. I wanted to explore more, have dinner on the islands, and see more of each of them. For example, in Curacao they were having a big parade for Carnival the day we were there - but at night, after we were gone. Bummer! I so wished we could stay to experience that.

So, although I had a fabulous time, and it's highly likely that if Heather does more cruise ships in the future I will want to visit her again, I still think as far as Eric and I are concerned, we're not really cruise people. Plus that whole seasickness thing is really for the birds.

My favorite picture I got of the ship, docked in Curacao.

This was a long vacation!
Two weeks is a really long time to be on vacation. It was wonderful, of course - after the first week, I was so glad it wasn't over yet. But, that second week flew by and I spent much of it feeling bummed that the trip was winding down. I always get that way on trips, but when the trip is a week long I only spend a day or two being bummed. With this long of a trip, I spent the whole second week thinking "oh no, it's almost over!" But, at the end of the day, I would say it's always better to be on vacation than not, so I suppose I can deal with it!

Some of my favorites
I've done quite a bit of thinking back to all my "favorites" from the trip: favorite port, favorite beach, favorite excursion, etc. I think I've got them all figured out!

I had two favorite ports, which I did mention in my recaps. My favorite for scenery was St. Vincent - I just loved all the cliffs and the beautiful turquoise water. My favorite for atmosphere was San Juan, and the food didn't hurt either!

Gorgeous St. Vincent

Streets of San Juan

As far as which island I would be most likely to go back to visit, I would say Curacao. Eric really liked the pictures from there, and I enjoyed our time walking around the port. I would love more opportunity to explore the beaches and other parts of the island. Others I can really see us visiting would probably be St. Thomas, and maybe Aruba.

Curacao - how can you not want to visit a place that looks this happy?

My favorite beach was the little beach our boat pulled up to in Barbados. It wasn't much of anything, but I just had such a good feeling while we were there. I know that can be attributed to the whole situation - the snorkel, the rum punch, the beautiful day - rather than the beach itself, but I'm sticking to my answer!

Heather on the beach in Barbados

My favorite excursion is a tough one. I have to say my #1 favorite was the horseback riding, but the sea lion swim and scuba diving are very close runner-ups. I do think we did a great job choosing excursions and I had a great time on all of them!

Horseback riding on the beach has always been a dream of mine.

My favorite meal is obvious - I gushed all over the place about our lunch in Puerto Rico. AMAZING. My runner-ups in this category are our steakhouse dinner, and our first dinner in the dining room.

Our delicious Puerto Rican feast

My favorite show of Heather's was Motor City. I loved the energy, the dancing, the music and the costumes. My second favorite was probably Cinematastic. I just loved Heather's "Titanic" number.

Heather in "Motor City"

My favorite day overall was probably Grand Turk day, with the horseback riding, Margaritaville, beach time, and a fun night out. A very close second is Barbados day, with the snorkeling, beach, the Boatyard, and Island Night.

On the beach in Grand Turk

My favorite part of the trip as a whole was getting to see Heather's life. I got to see where she lives, the shows she performs everyday, meet the people she spends her time with, and visit the places she goes to every two weeks. When I got back home I went back and looked through all her pictures again, now with a new understanding of the context of so many of them. I feel like I got to know her better as an adult with a career and an exciting life, not just "my little sister." I love that now every day I know where she is and what she's doing and I can picture it all. It's very cool.

Heather showing off her headshot on the ship

Souvenirs
As I mentioned in all my posts, Eric and I collect a magnet and a postcard from every place we visit. We figured these are good, easy-to-display souvenirs (we plan to put all the postcards in a photo album) that don't cost very much. Well, that theory breaks down on a cruise with nine ports - because, say you just spend $10 in each port on those souvenirs. Well, after nine ports, HELLO you just spent nearly $100 on magnets. So...hmmm. But, I am glad to have a little something from every place I visited!

The current state of our refrigerator - all the magnets I got on the cruise have joined our others, including ones from Budapest, Scotland, the Cayman Islands, and various states.

As I mentioned, my favorite magnet from this trip is the one from San Juan. It is so different from all the others and really reminds me of the atmosphere of San Juan.

Isn't it cute? What a happy little house!

Also, in case you're wondering, here's a little postcard update - as of today, Eric has received seven of the nine postcards I sent him. The only ones that haven't arrived are the ones from Aruba and St. Vincent. The ones from St. Thomas and San Juan (the U.S. ports) arrived first, while I was still on the cruise, but the rest have been trickling in ever since. I'm pretty much giving up hope for the Aruba postcard, considering that was our first port almost a month ago, but I'm still holding out hope for St. Vincent!

The best lesson I learned
I actually feel like I learned a life lesson on my trip, and that was from scuba diving. I went through such a mental struggle before actually diving, and I nearly let my mind and my emotions get the best of me. They almost kept me from doing something I've wanted to do for years. But, thankfully that instructor was patient. She pulled me back to the surface and told me to relax my breathing and focus. And THAT'S the lesson. I left that day feeling like I can do anything I want to do. I may be scared, or anxious, or uneasy, or whatever adjective you want to use, but that doesn't mean I can't do it. I just have to relax my breathing and think about what needs to be done. Then DO IT. I will be fine - it can be done! And I will feel so good about myself afterwards. Relax your breathing and focus. This mantra has already helped me in my daily life since being home.

Here's me, overcoming anxiety and gaining an incredible experience as a result.

I miss Heather.
Although my scuba lesson is very useful in everyday life, my biggest takeaway thought from this cruise is that I miss my sister. And I'm not just talking about missing her now that she's on the ship and I can't just call her whenever I want and she's not in Florida when I go home to visit, although all that does stink. I'm talking about missing her in every day life. It has been 10 years since I lived at home with her permanently, although I did live at home during summers in college. But it's even been six years since the last time I did that.

What that means is that it's been a long time since Heather and I were able to spend this much time together, especially just the two of us. This was such a great, healthy dose of sister time that I haven't had in so many years, and it made me realize how much I do miss having Heather as a part of my daily life. We're great friends and I miss being able to hang out with her, go to dinner with her, have a drink with her, go to the beach with her, go shopping with her, or just hang out at home watching TV with her. I miss her, and it's been hard being back home because of it. Of course I am delighted to be back with Eric, but I still miss my sister.

Sisters

Okay, I'm feeling more "finished" now and am ready to put an end to my talk of the cruise. It was a fabulous trip, one that I will always remember. Heather and I did so many amazing things, saw so many beautiful places, and had such a great time together. Thanks to all of you for listening to me reminisce about it all, and for putting up with these seemingly endless recaps. Now, back to regular life!

And most importantly, thank you to Heather for giving me such an awesome experience to write about for the past two weeks. I am so grateful for everything. Thank you, Heather! Love you and miss you!

Back to Ft. Lauderdale

Day #14: Thursday, February 25
At Sea

Well, our port days were over, and we were on our way back to Ft. Lauderdale. Our last day at sea was pretty quiet and uneventful, especially in comparison to the previous seven days of non-stop island fun.

We slept in that morning until about 11:00, then got up for our last buffet breakfast (waah!). The weather had already turned quite a bit and it was very cold and excessively windy, so we ate inside rather than at our usual spot outside by the back pool. After breakfast we wandered around the ship to take some pictures with Eric- and Molly-on-a-Stick that we had been meaning to take, then spent some time in one of the hot tubs. After the hot tub, we got some ice cream.

Playing shuffleboard with Eric-on-a-Stick. Can you tell by my hair that it was a little windy?

Eric-on-a-Stick at the on-deck putting green. Also, my sweater is even blowing in the wind!

You probably can't read that sign, but it says "CAUTION: Possibility of strong winds." Oh, so true.

In the hot tub with Eric-on-a-Stick

Our plan had been to lay out in the sun, but it was just too cold and windy. So, we went back to Heather's cabin to come up with a new plan. We ended up just lounging around a bit, but the boat was really rocking so I started to get pretty seasick, and we ended up just laying around all afternoon as a result. Heather took great care of me - she gave me Dramamine, a green apple (which I guess is supposed to help?), and her seasick bracelets. She also went up to get lunch from us from the grill and brought it back to the cabin. Eventually I was able to eat it slowly but surely, and after some time I started to feel a bit better.

We had planned to go to the 6:45p.m. finale show by vocal impressionist Tony Cherry and comedian Carl Strong, but by the time I felt better it was too late. So, we just got ready and went up to the Vista Lounge to check out the Wii@Sea - they had a large screen set up on the stage and people were playing Wii bowling! We didn't participate, but I did take a picture for Eric.

With Eric-on-a-Stick at Wii@Sea

After that we picked up the portraits we had ordered from the photo department, then went back to the cabin to grab a glass of wine. We then went to the dining room for our last dinner.

Dinner was fabulous. We both started with shrimp cocktail, then for appetizers, I had poached seafood with lime-cilantro vinaigrette and avocado, and Heather had watermelon and feta cheese topped with toasted pumpkin seeds. We both also had a grilled vegetable salad.

Our appetizers: shrimp cocktail, grilled vegetable salad, Heather's watermelon and feta, and my poached seafood mix

For the main course I had clam linguine in cream sauce and Heather had some to-die-for mussels in some sort of white sauce.

My clam linguine

Heather and her amazing mussels

We finished it all off with THREE (yes, three!) desserts to share: New York Cheesecake, Sweet Mud Pie and Baked Alaska. During dinner, the waitstaff did a parade of Baked Alaska, and marched through the dining room each carrying one. It was very unexpected and entertaining, and inspired our dessert choice! All in all, it was a lovely dinner and a nice way to end the trip.

Parade of Baked Alaska

Heather with all of our desserts!

Us at dinner (I'm still sporting the oh-so-stylish seasick bracelets, as you may notice. Better safe than sorry!)

After dinner we stopped to pick up some popcorn from the Movies Under the Stars area (because we totally hadn't just eaten tons of food), then went back to Heather's room to watch the movie, "Love Happens." It was just too cold to actually watch it under the stars, and they show it simultaneously on the cabin televisions so we thought that was the way to go. We drank some wine and watched part of it, then Leisel and Ryan came down to the cabin to say good-bye to me, so we talked to them for a bit. When they left we finished the movie, drank some more wine, and I packed. I packed up all my clothes and all my souvenirs and was a very sad person. Then, it was time for bed. The cruise was over!

My souvenir magnets, hanging on Heather's wall (her walls are magnetic!) - I was sad to take them down and pack them up!
In case you're curious, they're in port order - top row: Aruba, Curacao, Trinidad, Barbados, St. Vincent; bottom row - St. Kitts, St. Thomas, San Juan (my favorite), and Grand Turk

Day #15: Friday, February 26
Back in Ft. Lauderdale

On the last morning we had our alarm set for 8:30, but we woke up off and on fairly early due to noise from them unloading passenger luggage near Heather's cabin. As we got ready to disembark, Heather learned that Rick was coming to surprise her for the day and I learned that my flight back to NYC had been cancelled because of a snowstorm. Awesome. We had planned to leave the ship at 10:00, but we got a call at about 9:30 that told us to basically get off the ship NOW, so we left in a bit of a rush.

We went through customs with no trouble, and my mom soon arrived to pick us up. In light of my flight cancellation, I was even more glad she had decided to drive down for the day, because my plan was to get my Ft. Lauderdale flight rebooked out of Tampa instead, so I could just go back with her rather than having to stay the night by myself in Ft. Lauderdale.

Mom first took us to CVS to drop off our underwater cameras (we were dying to see our scuba/snorkel/horseback riding pictures!), then we went to Denny's for breakfast and Rick met us there. We spent some time there then picked up our pictures, then all piled into Rick's car to go to Target for some shopping.

During all this I spent over an hour and 20 minutes on hold with JetBlue, trying to take care of my flight. I did eventually get myself rebooked on a flight out of Tampa the next morning. Whew.

After Target we went to the beach for a bit and ate cupcakes my mom had brought, then it was time to say our good-byes. Rick took Heather back to the ship so she could start the whole cruise all over again (lucky!).

The actual last beach of my trip - Ft. Lauderdale!

At the beach with Heather and Mom

Mom and I started our journey back to her house in Weeki Wachee. We stopped for dinner at Applebee's when we started to hit bad traffic around 6:00, then made the rest of the drive without any problems. We made it to her house around 10:00, where we had some wine and I showed her all the pictures and videos from the trip. That took until 1:00 a.m.! Then it was bedtime, since we were leaving at 7:15 the next morning for the airport.

And, you know the rest! My flight the next day went smoothly, and Eric was waiting for me at the airport when I got in. Home sweet home.

Up next: All the recaps are finished, but I feel the need for a little debriefing session, a little reflection, a little more thinking back, and a little bit more of a finishing touch. So, stay tuned for that - then I'll finally stop rambling about the cruise. Thanks for sticking with me!

Grand Turk

Day #13: Wednesday, February 24
Grand Turk

As I mentioned yesterday, we had a later arrival time in Grand Turk than we had in any other port, so even though we had an incredible excursion planned, we were able to sleep in a bit. We didn't dock in Grand Turk until noon, so we relaxed around the cabin for a bit in the morning then got lunch at the pizza place on the ship before heading out onto the island.

My first porthole view of Grand Turk: oh, another ship docked beside us. That's disappointing.

Welcome to Grand Turk!

Our official gangway photo

When we got into port, the first thing we did was my souvenir shopping. I found a magnet right away, but I had a terrible time finding postcards. Only two places had them at all, and the selection was awful. But, I made do and found a place to buy stamps, then it was time to meet up with our tour: HORSEBACK RIDING ON THE BEACH!

Yeah, buddy!

I was so, so excited about this tour. This was definitely the excursion I was most looking forward to. I loved all the other tours we did, too, of course. We did some amazing things. But horseback riding on the beach has been on my list since before people even MADE lists. I have wanted to do this for years and years. Every time Eric and I went to the Caymans, I would say "we have to look into doing this" but it just never worked out. So, when I saw this tour listed on the brochure for Grand Turk, I told Heather WE ARE ABSOLUTELY DOING THIS ONE. I would have gone by myself if I had to.

But, I didn't have to go by myself at all! I was so relieved when I learned Heather did not have rehearsal on Grand Turk day, and her friend Leisel even decided to join us.When it was time to meet up with the tour, Leisel was already waiting for us at the check-in spot. We signed some waivers, then got on a bus to travel across the island to the Chukka horse stables.

On the way the bus driver gave us some information about the island. Apparently Grand Turk used to be a salt-mining island, although that does not seem to be the case anymore. The island is only seven miles long and one mile wide, with a population of less than 4,000 people. Compare that to my island - the island of Manhattan - which is just about twice that size (about 13.5 miles long and 2.5 miles wide), but with an estimated population (as of 2008) of 1.6 million. Wow...now there's a difference. Another difference between the island of Manhattan and the island of Grand Turk (besides the weather) is that in Grand Turk, there are no stoplights. Not one. Our driver informed us the only "stoplights" are the wild horses, cows, goats, mules and donkeys that may wander into the road. Yeah, that's different than New York! And indeed, as we drove along, we saw many wild horses and a few wild cows.

The island was pretty devastated by Hurricane Ike a few years ago, and much of it looked somewhat rundown or abandoned. It made me think of the Caymans - after they got hit by Ivan, much of the island looked similar. I wish I could remember exactly what our driver told us about how many people of Grand Turk lost everything, but my Googling yields estimates that anywhere between 80-95% of all homes were destroyed. How awful.

On a lighter note, one feature of the island that I thought was cool was they had areas of freshwater in the middle (our driver said it was rainwater), and there was a concrete bridge crossing it. But, the bridge was just barely above water level and there were no rails or anything on the sides. So, it just looked like the cars were driving on the water. It was kind of crazy!

After about 20-30 minutes, we arrived at the stables. They gave us helmets and some instructions, then put us on our horses. My horse was named One Drop.

Oh boy! It's go time!

Me, Leisel and Heather, ready to ride!

I love horseback riding.

The view from my horse. Not too shabby.

Once everyone was on their horses, they had us ride around in an enclosed area to get the feel for it, then we all rode in a single-file line along a trail along the beach. Sometimes we went up and downhill and had to lean accordingly. The guides took our cameras to take pictures of us as we rode, and they continued to tell us about the island as well. It was so gorgeous - the beach we rode on was totally private, with no other souls in sight. Just us, our horses, and the beautiful scenery.

Hi, Heather!

Heading out to the beach

Heather on her horse

Gorgeous! (You can see my horse's ears, and that's Heather in front of me and Leisel in front of her)

After the beach ride, we went back to the stables so the guides could re-saddle our horses for the next phase of our ride: the water ride! When we arrived back at the stables, we quickly learned that Leisel's horse must be the mother to the pony we saw roaming around, because as soon as we got there, that pony came running right up to Leisel's horse to nurse! Leisel was pretty surprised, to say the least.

"That's not something you see every day!" - Heather

Me, Heather and Leisel on our horses (and the pony)

They split our tour group into two groups for the water ride. We were in the second group, so we watched the first group go before us and it looked so great - we could hardly wait to do it for ourselves!

The first group in the water!

When the first group got back we put our life preserver belts on and got back on the horses. They had taken off the regular saddles and replaced them with little more than a lightly-cushioned pad, so it felt almost like riding bareback. You could feel the horse's spine as you rode, and there were no stirrups so you just had to grip the horse with your legs to stay put.

We rode down to the beach and into the water. As soon as we got into the water, the horses just started running. It was so incredible. They just ran and the water splashed around us and it was unbelievable. I just can't even find the words to accurately portray how amazing it was, and even the pictures don't do it justice. This definitely also goes on my list of "Coolest Things I Have Ever Done."

We're in the water! Again, you can see my horse's ears in the foreground, and that's Heather on the left and Leisel on the right.

Blurry, but there's Leisel in the front, then me behind her!

The guide sort of cut Heather off in this picture, but I love it. This picture most accurately demonstrates how we all felt as we rode.

A dream come true!

That water ride was so incredible, I didn't want it to end. But, it did, and that ended the whole tour. We got back on the bus and they took us back to port. What an experience, though!

By that time we had all worked up a bit of an appetite, so we stopped at Margaritaville for a late lunch. I had cracked conch and fries, finally - I had been wanting conch through the whole cruise! We also had margaritas, of course, because what else would you do at Margaritaville? We had such a wonderful, relaxing time, just sitting in the sun, eating delicious food and sipping margaritas. Again I ask you, why do I not live there and do that everyday?

Me, Heather and Leisel in front of Margaritaville

Delicious conch

Life is good today!

As we finished up lunch I filled out Eric's last postcard of the trip and went to mail it, then we all went to the beach for about a half hour before we had to get back on the ship. Grand Turk is so nice because the beach is literally RIGHT THERE when you get off the ship - no taxis, no shuttles, no boats - just get off the ship and turn left and BEACH. The sun was getting low in the sky and the ship was right in front of us, reminding me that soon we had to get back on there and end the trip. NO. I just did not want to leave! But, Heather had to be back on board by 5:30, so it had to happen. Farewell, beach.

Sitting on the beach, with the Grand Princess in front of me

Enjoying Grand Turk

Loving my beach time with my sister

As Heather got ready for her last show of the cruise, I did my usual routine for the last time: went up to Deck 15 to take pictures of the port.

Grand Turk from the ship

Boy, I will miss this.

Heather's last show (another showing of "Do You Wanna Dance") was at 7:45, and Heather's friend Ryan was actually able to sit and watch that show with me. Finally! I watched 14 out of 15 shows alone, so it was nice to have company.

After the show we went back to the cabin to get ready for a night out. We got all dressed up then went for wine and cheese night in the Wardie with many people from the cast. We drank delicious wine and ate delicious cheese until around 10:30, when we all went to the Vista Lounge to see comedian Carl Strong, who was very funny.

All dressed up - dresses with pockets are the way to go.

Enjoying our night out

After the comedy show we went up to Skywalkers for a night at the club with Leisel, Ryan, Andrew, Peter and Nikki. We sat in a nice corner and had a great time. I finally got to try the famous Jammy Donut shot everyone had been telling me about. Delicious! We talked and danced and enjoyed the night out.

Doing Heather's classic "Poker Face" move

Leisel and Heather

Heather says "Jammy Donuts are serious business."

Jammy Donuts with some great Grand Princess people: Leisel, Heather, me, Nikki, Peter, Andrew and Ryan

Around 3:00 a.m. the club closed, so we made our way back downstairs. When we got back to the cabin, we got ready for bed and totally crashed. What a fabulous day!

Up next: the trip winds down with our last day at sea, and return to Ft. Lauderdale. How sad!

Don't forget to check out the rest of the Grand Turk pictures on the photo share site!