Day Eight ~ Labadee!

Ahhhh.....Labadee!  We put in a breakfast delivery for 7am and a wake up call for 6.  Well, we woke at 6:30 and room service called at 6:40.....oops.  Doug waited for the room service guy to come while I ran up to the fitness center to weigh myself.  I weighed myself every morning.  I was totally not tracking points while I was gone, but I had a certain amount I could gain and still be at my goal, which is important since I'll be going to WW leader training on Dec. 9th, and being at goal is preferred ;)  

Anyway, it was a gorgeous, gorgeous sunrise!!

Some of the cruise critic people on their balcony....they were a few doors down from us.

I love watching the sail boats in port.

Hanging on the balcony waiting to watch the ship dock.

Our first sight of Labadee.

Because we were a suite guest, we were able to visit Barefoot Beach on Labadee; it's reserved for suite guests.  We also had the opportunity to rent a beach cabana, so we did, B2.  We were also able to invite guests, and so we did.  Kathy and Mark joined us in our cabana.  We had a fabulous time.  This is the view of the ship from our cabana.....it's hard to take, but we suffered through ;)

Kathy, Mark and me lounging in our cabana.

Caprice was the beach attendant for Barefoot Beach.  Ronald was our cabana attendant, but we didn't get a picture of him.  He was great.  He swept out of cabana while we were swimming or wandering.  He kept us supplied with drinks and ice water and took away our dirty dishes.  He was very awesome.  He brought us floating mats and would have brought us snorkel equipment if we wanted it.

We floated around in this gorgeous cove most of the day.  It was calm and gentle and clear and gorgeous.

There are several beaches on Labadee.  There are a lot of loungers and hammocks and trees. It is truly a gorgeous paradise!  Royal Caribbean has done a great job making this place feel like paradise.

For those that want more than a relaxing beach day, there is a zipline, jet skies, para-sailing and other things.  Isn't this a beautiful place to be adventurous?

I couldn't resist the hammock.

We walked to Dragon's Breath Point, which is a rocky place with breaking waves.  It is gorgeous!  Doug and Mark stood there about 20 minutes to get great pictures, and it paid off, because they got some gorgeous ones!

The view of the ship from the point.  Beautiful!

All the places to go on Labadee.

There were several food and drink stations set up around the island.  This is the one for Barefoot Beach.

Lots of shady spots to relax, too.

Ahhh....first drinks of the day.

Such a pretty shot from our Cabana.

There was a fabulous lunch buffet, one in the Barefoot Beach area and 3 other ones.  All of them had burgers and dogs and bbq chicken and fruit and sweets.  The one for suite guests also had steak, prime rib, grilled chicken breasts, grilled shrimp, baked potatoes, red beans and rice, corn on the cob, cookies.  I don't know what the sides on the other buffets were, but probably similar.  It was delicious!

There is a local Haitian market, so we browsed there and bought a few little things.

Kathy and I relaxed and read for a while on the loungers.

Our cabana from the pier.

Sadly the day had to end and we headed back to the ship about 3, sail away at 4.  We arrived to this yummy plate of sweets waiting for us on our bar.  We took them out to the balcony with the drinks we'd picked up and watched our last sail away.  The next time we docked...it would be in NJ and we'd be heading home :(

We relaxed for a while and then got ready for dinner.  We had pictures taken and then headed to the Champagne Bar to hang out until dinner time.

Dinner was delicious.  I had jalapeno potato soup which was delicious! and asparagus brie tart for the main course and a chocolate trio for dessert.  It had white chocolate mousse, coffee chocolate something or other, and a rice, rich chocolate cake.  They were all delicious, but I only finished the cake.  I wish we had the camera because it was also gorgeous!!  Doug had some kind of beef filled pasta for an appetizer, turkey tenderloin with mashed potatoes and veggies and coconut pineapple cake.  It was also yummy.

After dinner we wander around and then went down to The Chamber for the ballroom dancing thinking maybe we would be able to dance some.  But mostly it was slow stuff, and I was sleepy from dinner and being in the sun all day, so we took our drinks to our room and sat on the balcony.  My favorite part of the night...it's so peaceful and romantic and wonderful.

Tonight's towel animal was the monkey.  Isn't he a cutie?!?  And you can tell we're getting to the end of our trip that had gorgeous weather the whole time.....I'm now tan!  I never tan!  Look fast, because this will be the ONLY time EVER that I am darker than my sisters, and that is only because they weren't there ha ha.  They tan and I do not.

Anyway....we had a truly fabulous, beautiful and relaxing day.  We headed to bed with plans to sleep in and not have room service.  I am glad for 2 more sea days to relax before they kick me off the ship!

Day Seven ~ San Juan

We docked really early in San Juan.  I woke up at 6 after sleeping great and felt so much better than I did when I went to bed.  I went out and sat on the balcony and watched the sun come up and the ship dock.  Doug came out a little while later.

We went to the WJ for breakfast and brought the food back to our balcony.  I just do not like to go through that buffet.  It is set up great, the food is good and has a lot of variety, but the people !  I had oatmeal and fruit and pastries....the standard balcony breakfast :)

The Coast Guard in San Juan is serious!

The dolphins were playing in the harbor.  We watched them while we ate breakfast.  There were 3 of them. It was hard to get their picture.  Kind of like trying to guess where the lightening bug will be next, and it's never where you think.  But we got a few, even if they aren't great.  That was a highlight for me.

The ship is enormous!

I was not prepared for the aggressiveness of the taxi drivers.  Worse than any port we'd been in.  They are standing in a group at the end of the pier and hound you as soon as you walk by.  They don't give up either.  We had one follow us for 2 blocks talking.  They don't really take no thank you for an answer.  That is my only complaint about San Juan, and it was quite off putting I will say.

It was HOT here.  It was 7:30 am local time and 95 and humid.  It was also very pretty and quaint.  We walked for a few blocks and found a local store to buy some trinket type things.  We sat on a bench and called home.  This is when I realized I was drunk the morning before because Jordan only wanted to talk to me if I was sober, and he had lots to say about talking to me the day before LOL.

Our main goal at this port was only to get off the ship long enough to buy local rum for Jordan's 21st birthday.  We sat on a bench and waited for the Don Q store to open.  They never did, which doesn't make sense.  If the ship is in port, wouldn't you want to be open?

We watched the horse and buggy rides.  We talked about going on one, but it was hot.

I LOVE this shot of the Brazilian navy ship that Doug took while sitting by the side of the road.

We gave up on Don Q and went to CVS to buy Jordan's local rum lol.  And just like at home, it is Christmas in San Juan before Thanksgiving.  It was also nice and cool with the a/c!

We came back to the ship, and were again accosted by taxi drivers.  Most people were just coming off the ship, but we were done and heading back on to sit by the pool.  It was nice that there was no line to stand in to board or to check our alcohol purchases.  Actually they weren't even set up to receive them, and we were happy that they made it to our room on the last night.

We went to the pool deck...nice breeze there.  Dwayne stopped for a photo op, asked where we were going to be sitting and then had our drinks there before we made it there.  Absolutely great service on this ship!

We decided to have lunch at Johnny Rockets while we were in port at San Juan and actually stuck to the plan!  It is a $4.95 cover charge per person and includes everything except milkshakes.  The milkshake that day was chocolate peanut butter...which would have been my favorite!  But I was getting pretty sugared out and passed on the milkshake.

They made fabulous onion rings and fries, and we enjoyed those.  I had a bacon cheeseburger and Doug had a double.  They were fantastic!  I only ate half.

Dessert was also included in the cover charge, and it looked great, some kind of apple something with vanilla ice cream or an oreo brownie ice cream something, but again, blah....no more dessert.  I can't believe I got to the point that dessert and sweet drinks was blah lol.  We did enjoy the singing and dancing by the servers.

I also decided to be all the way done with sweet drinks and switched to frozen lemonade.  Now that stuff is awesome, and I intend to figure out how to make it.  I also really, really enjoyed the frozen mojito.  Doug has switched to a mango lava flow, which is mango and pina colada....yummy.  He only tried new things after tasting something I had.  I was quite adventurous and tried a lot of things.  I enjoyed the hot coffee drink a lot at dinner one night, and then the chocolate coffee nightcap something or other in the Champagne Bar the last night.  Oh, and the chocolate shots at dinner in the really cute glasses you could keep.

Anyway.....our drinks on the pool deck.

The view from our pool chairs.

It was very, very hot, so we decided to cool off in the pool.  I only ventured in as far as the 6" deck around the pool and sat in the water.  It was cold.  It's a salt water pool and not heated.  Doug was brave and jumped in.  We hung out there for a while talking to some ladies that were dipping their toes in.

We tried to move into the shade, but it was SO windy!  And the part of the pool deck where we found shade was very windy and everything was blowing around.  So we decided to go to our cabin and nap.  And nap we did from about 11:30 am to 2:30 or 3.  We missed sail away.  Oh well, I needed the sleep.  I knew by port day 3 I'd be worn out, and that is part of the reason we didn't plan to do much in San Juan.

I think we napped and then did Johnny Rockets...it all runs together after a while lol.

Doug slept longer than I did, so I soaked in the tub with a glass of wine. Then we got ready for dinner and had our pictures taken...shocking, huh?

Dinner was really good.  Doug had fried mushrooms for an appetizer, the sirloin with mashed potatoes and veggies, and a pear tart with butter almond ice cream for dessert.

I had a fruit and watercress salad, which was very good.  Ricotta stuffed cannelloni with a beef and mushroom sauce, and white chocolate cheesecake for dessert.

Pear tart

White Chocolate Cheesecake

Tonight was the Quest, which is an adult scavenger hunt.  We've heard a lot about The Quest and didn't want to miss it.  It was HILARIOUS!  I say don't miss it.  We chose to be spectators and not participants.  I will say it was much tamer than I was expecting based on things I've read, but I think that depends on the participants. 

Dwayne & Berry

The Cruise Director, Luke Aerowsmith

The crowd goes wild singing Who Let the Dogs Out!

After The Quest there was supposed to be a disco party in the Solarium (the adult pool area).  But while we were enjoying the game, it stormed and rained and the party was moved to The Chamber, and it was packed!  We ordered drinks and headed up to our balcony.....the best way to end and start the day.

The Solarium

I don't think we ever took pictures in the Chamber. It is dark and dungeony down there.  Not the best decor, but it was a fun place to hang out at night.

The Quest is held in Studio B, which is the ice rink.  There were 2 ice shows offered, and I really hoped to see at least one of them, but it wasn't ever a convenient time for us.  Next time hopefully.

And off to bed.  Tomorrow is Labadee, and I'm so looking forward to relaxing in our Cabana on Barefoot Beach!