Category: Caribbean

We’re back for part two!

Coming off the high of Labadee mixed with the low of being forced to leave early, Sean and I were a bit nervous going into our last port stop. The weather seemed to be promising, and the port area seemed to have some quality activities nearby. We were wired with anticipation as we disembarked the boat.

Our port was Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. It was the most city-like and populated of our three port destinations, and we had our eye on the cable car that would bring us to the top of a nearby mountain.

As we entered the main port area, though, we were confused to find ourselves in a cordoned-off, cruise line-owned outdoor shopping mall. There were souvenir shops, chocolate shops, bars, a lazy river. The middle of the walkway had a few parrots (one of them liked me), but we couldn’t figure out how to actually get out of this place. At first, it looked like our only option was to book an actual excursion, but those cost money-money, and I wasn’t in the mood.

We finally found a spot where the excursion buses were departing the private area, but we were yelled at for trying to walk around in there and exit through the vehicle gate.

After some searching and general mayhem, we were told we had to walk all the way through the shopping area (clever), before we could find the taxi waiting zone. This, too, seemed to be organized by the cruise lines. The fares were set and definitely over-priced, but Sean took the reins and found us a cab. I was pretty bitter about the pricing, but I’m glad we just went for it in the end. A wise man once told me, “When you go on vacation, plan as best you can, and bring lots of money.” This is now my mantra whenever I have to pay for things I don’t want to pay for on trips.

Life outside the silly shopping mall gates was vastly different. Hustling and bustling, people were driving and scootering to-and-fro among small, colorful buildings and busy streets. Our driver, Anna, explained that she would wait for us at the bottom of the cable car so she could drive us back to the port. Seems like a weird system with a lot of waiting, but I guess that’s how they run the round-trip taxis. She also offered to come up the cable car with us, but Sean said no thanks. She was a little sad about that, haha.

When we arrived at the cable car facility, disaster struck again. We were told the cable car was under “reconstruction” and wouldn’t be running for another hour. We could sit and wait until it was ready.

We were devastated. Sitting for an hour in a tiny sterile terminal was not how we wanted to spend our time on this pretty island. Anna chatted with the employees and secured us a spot on the first car up, and then we sat feeling sorry for ourselves.

Lo and behold, the cars were ready to move again in about twenty minutes, and we were immediately in much better spirits.

The views from the cable car were breathtaking, with lush forests beneath us and the city and ocean beyond.

The views from the top were just as amazing! You know I love me a good birds-eye view!

The rest of the surrounding area was Isabel de Torres National Park, which is basically just a giant botanical garden. Again, you know I love me a good botanical garden! I was basically in heaven, and this day was quickly making up for all the bad weather of the previous days.

There were all kinds of beautiful tropical plants, wandering paths, and one of the longest plant archways I’ve ever walked under! Sean had to duck the whole way because he was too tall, haha.

There was another great viewpoint around the back of the gardens that allowed us to see the other side of the island, away from the ocean. So much lush forest!

This was seriously one of those great days that just leaves me with a big smile on my face. It’s kind of like we were transported to a different place and a different time, and it almost felt like we shouldn’t be there because it was so magical. We hardly ran into any other people once we left the main unloading zone for the cable car, which, again, is one of my favorite things! A private tropical botanical forest garden all to ourselves? Yes, please!

Can you spot the little gecko in this picture? He’s camouflaged pretty well!

Even though I was high on cloud nine, we butted heads a bit because I wanted to dilly dally the heck out of the whole day, and Sean was trying to be “responsible” about getting “back to the ship” “before it leaves us,” or some silly thing.

I had to keep running ahead so I could see extra things and then run back to him. I’m a problem.

When we reluctantly made our way back to the cable car, we were shocked to find some fog had moved in, completely occluding our view.

We made the mistake of claiming the back of the cable car so we could at least see the trees directly underneath us, but after about thirty seconds, it turned out we were just in some low clouds, and we then clearly had the worst view of the lot. Hahaha, oh well. Still very beautiful views of the forest!

Our sweet taxi driver brought us back through the colorful streets to the cruise-ship-outdoor-shopping-mall-place, and we had time to get a couple drinks. I think Sean had a standard lime margarita and I had passionfruit. We also split a shot of some sweet local liqueur called Mamajuana.

After that, it was back on the boat!

Unfortunately, something really weird hit Sean after the drinks, and he ended up feeling super nauseous. It was strange because we were basically sharing both drinks, and I didn’t feel anything. Before we even boarded the boat, though, Sean was worried he was going to puke. He went straight to the room, and I grabbed my kindle and headed up to the pool deck. I felt pretty guilty…. I just hate puking sounds!

Poor guy felt better pretty quickly, and didn’t actually throw up, but he needed to rest it off for a couple hours. I stayed up on the pool deck, got some nice views of the coast as we pulled away from port, and made a good dent in my book.

I was pretty excited about dinner that night – Italian night! I had risotto and some kind of coffee custard plus tiramisu, and Sean had the lasagna.

I think it was that night that we witnessed a “perfect couple” game show, which had a couple who’d been together for 53 years lap dancing on each other. (The man had to put his cane down beforehand, bahahahah.) It was one of those “can’t look away” kind of moments.

Day six was our last day on the ship – another Sea Day. We wanted to maximize the onboard activities, so I finally got around to trying the climbing wall. There was a blindfolded climbing activity the day before where I had to wear a blindfold and listen to Sean’s directions to climb. Very fun, but very tiring! This day, we got to climb with our eyes open, and I managed to make it to the top without tiring out.

I also got up the courage to try the surfing simulator. I had a pretty great time on the boogie board! I was third to last of the entire cruise to get to try – that’s how much of a procrastinator I am!

Afterwards, on the high of a successful boogie boarding session, I decided we should also try the waterslides!

I liked the yellow one better because I kept getting stuck in the blue one, and Sean liked the blue one better, so it worked out for the best! We probably went five or six times, and every single time, when I got to the bottom, he would already be standing on the deck waiting for me. I don’t know how he was going so much faster than me!

On our last night of dinner, we got a sweet photo with Singgih and Anam – such cuties.

There was one last comedy show, and then we managed to win fifty dollars at the on-board casino slots! Woohoo!

We lounged out on the top pool deck late that night, and Sean snuck up the last of our champagne for us to finish off. Not a bad way to end the cruise. It wasn’t quite as wild as my last cruise in high school where my sister and I stayed up playing cards with some other kids until four in the morning, but I’m not so young anymore! Hahaha.

In the morning, we had a hectic time getting breakfast and then being told we were supposed to have checked out of our room at 8am. This information was literally written nowhere in our check-out instructions! Pretty frustrating.

Then when we got off the boat, the ships were so tall at the port that there was no cell service, so we had to walk around for 20 minutes until we could call an Uber. Then the Uber took forever because of traffic in the port, and in the end we spent nearly two hours from departing the boat to actually getting the heck out of there. I was pretty cranky by the end of it.

Our last stop in Florida was the Kennedy Space Center. I had to be talked into this, but I’m glad we did it. The sheer size of the rockets was enough to send my head spinning. There were also several cool videos and some interactive exhibits where you could feel like you were experiencing this or that takeoff from sometime in NASA’s history.

There were model Mars Rovers and several actual space capsules, rockets, etc. Lots of space suits, and we touched a (very smooth) moonrock.

We only had a couple hours to spend here, but we could have easily spent more time if we had a longer day and more energy. Definitely lots to look at!

On our way out, we saw several alligators and a flock of flamingos hanging out in the swampy waters near the road! So that was fun. Unexpected wildlife is always a nice surprise. (Our Uber driver was very confused by the flamingos. “Huh. I’ve never seen that before.” Bahahaha.)

Back at the airport, we got a nice cocktail while we waited for our flight, and then we had a beautiful airborne sunset on our way home.

A fun trip in the end, once the weather turned up and we figured out how to spend our time on the boat! I think we’ll probably be land-travelers for the foreseeable future, but who knows?

Until next time (which is not actually that far in the future),

-Lizzy-wa

Hey y’all! Happy new year! 2023 was a pretty big travel year, and it’s looking like 2024 may have some of the same. To start off though, I’ll recap my last trip of the year.

My new gig has some silly (annoying) vacation policies, and sometimes annoying vacation policies force you to take vacations! None of my PTO rolls over at the new year, so it was basically use it or lose it. Sean wanted to do a “relaxing” vacation, and I’m not very good at those, so we decided to take a cruise. We’ve been talking about trying a cruise for a while, and it seemed like a good mix of relaxation and activity for the both of us.

We set off for the Caribbean from Orlando, and our flight there included a really gorgeous sunset with a view of Mt. Rainier and a lovely moonrise. It was pretty funny to see the rollercoasters and Ferris wheels lit up as we landed, too.

We were jet lagged and poorly planned for our one full day in Orlando, so we meandered the Universal City Walk, which is basically just an outdoor mall. I just couldn’t stomach the $160 price tag to actually get into the park! I admired from the gates, we ate lots of chocolate, and then we saw Godzilla Minus One (we recommend!) because we got our parking reimbursed if we saw a matinee movie. Pretty silly rule.

 

We finished our night with some mini margaritas that were way too sweet and some chicken in a pineapple that was just the right amount of sweet but ended up being way too much food. We packed up leftovers and ended up using them as our go-to emergency food on the cruise, hahaha.

The next morning, we packed up and headed to the cruise terminal. We were handed some welcome items by hospitality as we entered our room, but we were shocked to discover they were not standard issue! My mom had ordered chocolate-covered strawberries and a bottle of champagne for us! I didn’t even know you could do that, but she worked for Holland America Line for 14 years, so she knows the ins and outs of the trade! Thanks, Mama!

Our first night on the boat was super rocky. The weather forecast wasn’t awesome, and I was worried we wouldn’t even make it to some of our ports. People were puking in all the public restrooms, and the poor hospitality team was constantly running around with their carpet clean-up kits. Eesh. I witnessed an awkward conversation between a man in my hallway and a hospitality crew member that went something like this:

Man: “Hi, I’m so sorry. I just wanted to tell you that I threw up down that little hallway over there.”

Crew member: “Someone threw up?”

Man: “Yes, I threw up. Just down that hallway over there.”

Crew member: “Oh, you saw someone throw up?”

Man: “No. It was me. I threw up.”

It was equal parts sad and hilarious, hahahahaha.

I didn’t have any nausea issues on my last cruise twelve years ago, but I also didn’t used to get carsick while reading, so I took a Dramamine first thing every day and that seemed to do the trick! Thank goodness. A few times we braved the outdoors for some fun in the wind.

Our first night of dinner was honestly kind of scary because of how much the boat was rocking. We were on the third deck, and at one point, water came up and sloshed on the whole surface of the windows on the port side. Everybody laughed, but I was like, “Is that okay???”

Surprisingly, we were able to port on Day 2 in Nassau, Bahama’s capital. We skipped through the trinket markets and made our way to the colorful buildings in the town.

I was CRACKING UP at this “umbrella street.” You know those cute streets where they string up a bunch of colorful umbrellas and it’s meant to be very picturesque? Well, turns out tropical winds don’t mix well with umbrellas. They were literally hanging in tatters!

Too funny. The puppy thought so, too.

We continued wandering for a while until we found a rum distillery and decided to crash a tour. Not sure if we were allowed to be there or not, but we got free pina colada samples! The tour was also pretty mind-bending for me, because it was here that I learned Nassau was founded nearly 200 years earlier than Seattle.

After our tour, we explored the National Gallery of the Bahamas. I wasn’t super excited about visiting a museum in the Caribbean, but the weather was still pretty crappy, and Sean was the instigator. I’m glad he pushed for it in the end, because it was really beautiful!

We were some of the only ones there, and reading the art descriptions taught us more about the Bahamas and Nassau. I was fascinated to see many pictures of sponge farming and harvesting!

There were also lots and lots of paintings that looked like they were made by a child but had in fact been painted by a 91 year old American man. He wrote “USA Boy” on most of his works, haha. Quite strange.

I was also a big fan of this mythical crustacean woman out front.

There was a darling “art park” surrounding the museum that we explored next. Nearly every tree had a conch shell placed at its trunk – a very fun sight!

We then spent a fair bit of time struggling to find both food and shelter as the rain picked up and our stomachs grumbled.

We made our way to the beach, and just as we sat down at a small beach bar, the rains and winds began whipping again. It was a really on-or-off situation with the weather.

We had some chicken wings, crab cakes, and conch fritters (didn’t know conch was something you could eat!) and some cocktails while the rain whipped under our cover and drenched everything. The bartenders had to sweep the water off the bar using the menus.

We were pretty beat by this point, and the weather wasn’t looking to improve, so we made our way back to the boat a little bit early. (Peep the rainbow!)

Sean made fun of me because I wanted to “touch the water,” but then it attacked me, so I was being uber cautious, haha.

We saw a couple other pretty buildings, and I was bummed to find that the National Library was closed, but I do appreciate the colorful paint!

Dinner on the boat was “Caribbean night,” and there was a fun dance party at 8 o’clock where everybody spun their napkins over their heads and the crew started a conga line. I was also obsessed with the plantain that came with my pork chop.

We spent some time on the deck after dinner and got another beautiful view of the moon.

Day 3 was a Sea Day, and honestly, we struggled to stay occupied! I kept scratching my head, trying to remember why my last cruise was so fun, but then I realized two things:

1. I hadn’t traveled at all before my last cruise, so it was comparatively exciting and action-packed.
2. Most of my time on the last cruise was just spent hanging out with my sister, doing trivia, and playing ping-pong.

Once Sean and I realized we were not a dynamic trivia duo, we gave up on that boat activity. It was also another rainy day, so it wasn’t super easy to spend time sunbathing or hanging out in the pool. In the early evening, we took a walk around the pool deck and were treated to a rainbow and a beautiful sunset, so that was a nice break from the darkness!

It was Formal Night at dinner, so we got all dressed up, and I made sure to request the same waiters we had on Night 2 – Singgih and Anam. They were just so sweet, and Singgih kept calling us “sweet family,” and he called Sean “King Seen.” It was adorable. We also got placed at a window table next to this scary Vivaldi portrait, so that was a plus.

That night, we saw an ice skating show (a lot of fun!) and the main performer, Bobby Brooks Wilson. He’s singer Jackie Wilson’s son, and he got his start performing with Bruno Mars’ family in Hawaii when Bruno was tiny. What a wild story! He did a bunch of covers and personas, and we had a lot of laughs to some good music.

There was an art gallery set up on the third deck of the boat with rotating pieces throughout the week, and I was obsessed with this artist Godard – I thought all of his stuff was hilarious and whimsical. I mean, look at these lemons!!!

Day 4 was another “beach day,” at Labadee, Haiti, a private beach town owed by Royal Caribbean. Pretty silly. We had a loud man at breakfast tell us it wasn’t worth our time, and rain was POURING against the windows, but I didn’t want to stay on the boat for another day! Sean was a trooper for me.

As we deboarded, we were nearly blown off the dock, and we were soaked through in about thirty seconds. I was honestly having a great time.

Lol….

We walked along the beaches while Sean complained like an old man and I frolicked like a calf let outside for the first time all winter.

There was a splash park that a couple kids were running through, and a dad jokingly yelled, “Don’t do that! You’ll get all wet!” Ha. Ha.

The rain eventually let up, and we were able to enjoy some music and dance performances.

We finally found a beach where the water was calm, and the weather really was mostly fine by this time. When I walked in, I was shocked at how warm the water was! We decided we’d camp out here, and we laughed at the fact that we had four more hours to spend here. Sean went off in search of beach towels, and I lay down on a lounge chair while I watched people swim and snorkel.

Imagine my utter shock and surprise not ten minutes later when the lifeguard blew his whistle and told everybody to come out of the water. When someone finally asked why, he said we had to get back on the boat! It was leaving early due to weather worries!!! Ugh! I finally get a fun day and it’s smashed to bits just like that! I reeeeallly struggled with the idea of getting in to swim if even for ten seconds, but I hate being reprimanded, and I didn’t want to get yelled at by the lifeguard.

It honestly felt like a weird joke, but everybody really was getting out of the water and making their way to the dock. I was super at a loss of what to do because Sean still hadn’t returned from his towel expedition, and we didn’t have service to contact each other. I waited another ten minutes before deciding I just had to head to the boat and hope to see him. I was so relieved when I found him, two towels stuffed inside his jacket, completely oblivious as to the turn of events. My sweet, sweet doofus.

Back on the boat, I was pretty upset that we sat at the port for another two hours before taking off. I could have swam!!!!! I was honestly pretty pissed, lol. We just sat sadly at some windows on the pool deck and watched as the local employees moved all the floating docks closer to shore and ran around on their jet skis.

Once I (mostly) got over my pouting, we tried a little bit of indoor archery, and then Sean decided he wanted to try the surfing simulator. He had to boogie board for about twenty seconds, and then they let him go straight to standing. After his turn, he was handed a coveted blue bracelet that deemed him a certified standing surfer, and a stranger waiting in line high-fived him and said, ‘You’re the man!” It was adorable.

Entertainment for the night was a comedy juggler – quite fun and cute – and at dinner, I got the courage to try the escargot appetizer. I psyched myself up by telling my brain it was just a “land muscle,” which is basically true, and then it was fine. It was cooked and served in a ridiculous amount of butter, though. This is what the dish looked like after I’d already finished the snails:

I managed to get a good look at the dining room on our way out and appreciate the Titanic-like atmosphere. So pretty and grand!

I was going to try to squeeze this whole cruise into one post, but I’m just incapable of brevity, so let’s call it here. More to come soon!

Best regards and Happy New Year!

Lizzy-way