My Life in Pictures

Cabin Sunsets

2011-08-09T13:17:00.000-04:00

Royal Caribbean's Liberty of the Seas

2011-07-18T16:38:00.000-04:00

The last of our 3 cruises from our busy summer of 2009. The last cruise of summer was on board Royal Caribbean's Liberty of the Seas. She is the sister ship of Freedom of the Seas which we sailed on earlier in the summer. She has basically the same statistics of her sister so I won't waste time with that again. If you want to read the stats on the Freedom Class please see my earlier post on Freedom.

This time we went with my wife's dad, Bernie. We did another eastern caribbean cruise out of Miami going to St. Martin/St Marteen, San Juan, and Labadee. We spent a lot of time on board this cruise and good thing since we had a junior suite this cruise so we had a larger stateroom than we normally do. It was amazing we didn't know what to do with all that space. When we boarded they didn't have the beds set up correctly but they got them pushed together later that day.

Time to explore the ship some. Which was easy since we had already been on Freedom and the set up is exactly the same.

We watched sailaway from our balcony. You can see we are following a Carnival ship out of port today. Another ship is following us so its a busy day in port!

My sexy wife all dressed up for our first night in the dining room!

First stop was St. Martin. If you want to read more about St Martin visit my earlier post on Navigator of the Seas. We didn't get off here but I did take lots of pictures from the ship. The ship is so empty when it is in port. No fighting for chairs on deck today.

There is that checker board plaza again!

Next stop was San Juan. No coast guard escort this time but lots of pictures of the town & fort as we head back out.

After dinner watching the parade from one of the upper decks because we didn't get there in time to get a good spot.

Last stop was Labadee. This is my favorite out island of any cruise. You can see it coming up in the distance here.

Village where the workers on the island live.

The new zip line. If it wasn't so expensive I would do this in a heartbeat!

You can barely see the lines but the zip line ends over there by the rocks.

I did the jet ski tour by myself this time. I had a good time but we had a crappy guide and didn't get to go very fast.

This local paddled out to sell some stuff.

People coming down the zip line

Back on board relaxing on the balcony

They also have a really nice area for the suite guests and diamond plus members, unfortunately it doesn't include the Jr Suites :( There are more of the cabanas but you can't see them in this picture.

This is the new dock they are building. No more tendering here!

They have really done a lot of work here adding lots of new things like the zip line and the new coaster they were building that wasn't quite done yet. Can't wait to come back!

All the waiters dancing at dinner that night. They even got my father-in-law up!

I was even able to get some decent pictures from the show. I don't remember the name of it but it was a pretty cool show.

A fun day at sea just checking out all the things going on. This is one of the cantilevered whirlpools that sticks out over the side of the ship.

The solarium pool area.

Boxing ring in the fitness center.

This is the flowrider on the back of the ship. I am going to do this one time when we go. It looks like so much fun!

Dodgeball!!

Rock climbing wall.

Overall this was a great cruise. We did prefer the Freedom over the Liberty just a little bit. To see more pictures from this cruise please visit Partridge Pictures.

Norwegian Sky

2011-07-11T09:48:00.002-04:00

Our 2nd Cruise of 2009 was on Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) on board the Sky for a quick 3 night cruise to the Bahamas with our friends. We had not cruised on NCL before and were a little leery to try it based on the freestyle concept. We aren't big fans of that but it was a good deal so we tried it out. It wasn't a horrible cruise but we just like the traditional cruise dining and not the seat you anytime anywhere concept. We like that we get to know our servers and that they get to know us.
The Sky was originally part of NCL America fleet based in Hawaii and sailed under the name Pride of Aloha. She was built in 1999 and is starting to show her age a little.

We left out of Miami. My friend Louise (Weez) got some good pictures of us leaving port.

Time for some drinks as we leave!

The girls got matching pedicures for the cruise!

All dressed up for dinner one night.

Too much coffee for Trav!

On our 3 night cruise we stopped at Nassau and NCL's private island. We didn't even get off the ship in Nassau. We did venture over to the private island with Weez and went snorkeling. Travis stayed on the ship.

This is pretty much all there is to NCL's private island. It is not nearly as big as Royal Caribbean's two private islands. So crowded here good thing Trav stayed on the ship he would have hated this.

Headed back to the ship.

Our lovely ladies all set for dinner

The highlight of this cruise was the pub crawl we did. Weezy got some good pictures of this with her camera. I wish some other lines would do something similar since they all have so many bars now. This was so much FUN!!!!

Overall we weren't overly impressed with NCL. I wouldn't totally rule it out if the price was good but we just aren't big fans for the freestyle concept. We did have a blast with our friends and hope they had great time to.

Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas

2011-07-05T11:27:00.000-04:00

Back to the cruising! The next one is from one of our 3 cruises during the summer of 2009. We went on Freedom of the Seas with my parents in June. We did an eastern Caribbean cruise this time. As usual a little info on the ship before we really get into it.

Freedom of the Seas is the first of the Freedom Class cruise ships operated by Royal Caribbean Cruise Line. It was the largest ship in the world form 2006 until the Oasis of the Seas was completed in late 2009. It was built in Turku, Finland at Aker Yards. It weighs in at 154,407 tons, is 1,111.9 feet long, is 184 feet wide, and is 209 feet tall. She can carry 3,634 passengers on her 15 decks. She was even in the Guinness Book of World Records. A truly amazing ship!

Time to get to our cabin so we can be on the balcony during sail away. Here is my parents room. Ours is exactly the same right next door.

We left out of Port Canaveral.

People come out to watch the ships leave port.

Now it is time to do some exploring before dinner. Here is out table for dinner. Such a great spot right on the rail looking down over the 1st floor of the dining room.

This is the Royal Promenade that runs down the middle of the ship. If you didn't know this was on a ship you would never know you were at sea.

Here is the kids splash zone. Abby will love this area when she is big enough to go with us!

First Stop was at CocoCay. So clam first thing in the morning!

After tendering over to the island it was time to walk around and get some pictures before our turn on the jet skis!

Now it's our time to ride. It was nice and flat today so we got to go really fast!

After we got off the jet ski it was time to relax for a bit. Mom & dad found some nice chairs up under a tree so we had some shade.

Amazing sunset that night!

Next stop was St. Thomas. Most of these pictures are from the ship pulling in. We got off but just did some shopping in the port area so not many picture opportunities there.

I want to buy me a house like this when we win that 200 million in the powerball!!

We had dinner in Chops Grille this night. Such an awesome place to eat. This is our must to alternative dining now! My gorgeous wife all dressed up for dinner.

After dinner we came back to serenity!

This little guy was sitting on the bed wearing my sunglasses.

After St. Thomas we he St. Martin. Again we didn't get off here. More time to explore the ship. I wandered around while were in port just snapping some shots of the port and the ship.

All dressed up for dinner!

Another beautiful night at sea!

Another crazy towel animal wearing my shades!

A lazy day at sea. But lots of stuff going on.

There is so much to do on this ship. They even have a Wii bowling tournament. Here is the lounge it was held in.

Dad & I had so much fun doing to Wii Bowling!

I won!!

They also do parades down the main promenade!

The last of the great sunsets before getting off.

To see the rest of my pictures from this cruise please visit Partridge Pictures.

New York New York!

2011-07-01T10:06:00.000-04:00

After DC we stopped in New York before heading on to our cruise. We stayed right in the heart of town about 2 blocks away from Times Square at the Hilton Garden Inn. Here is the view from our room.

We got in later in the afternoon so we didn't have tons of time. We did walk over to Times Square since we were close.

Went into M&M's World.

30 Rock

We ate in a nice little pub the first night but I don't remember the name of it.

The next day we did the double-decker bus tour and went all over the city (south of times square).

We went by ground zero to see all the construction going on.

We didn't have nearly enough time here to see everything we wanted to see. We wanted to see a show and central park, perhaps another time.
To see more pictures from New York please visit Partridge Pictures.

Washington DC

2011-06-20T14:52:00.003-04:00

We stopped in DC on the way to our cruise in 2008. This was the first time my wife or myself had been here and we were looking forward to getting to see some sites. We weren't in DC for long, so we had to do a lot in a short period of time. We really didn't have enough time to do all the things we wanted to see.

We stayed at a great bed & breakfast called Swann House. It is located near Dupont Circle in a nice little area of the city, and it was close to the metro station so you can get anywhere in the city fairly quickly. We stayed in the Parisienne Suite which was very nice.

Our first outing was to see the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. It is the largest Roman Catholic church in North America and 8th largest religious structure in the world. The Basilica is the nation’s preeminent Marian shrine, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary under her title of the Immaculate Conception. It is oftentimes referred to as America’s Catholic Church.

Byzantine-Romanesque in style, its massive, one-of-a-kind superstructure is home to over 70 chapels and oratories that relate to the peoples, cultures and traditions that are the fabric of the Catholic faith and the mosaic of our great nation. The Basilica also houses the largest collection of contemporary ecclesiastical art on earth.

Open 365 days a year, the Basilica is host to nearly one million visitors annually, attracting pilgrims and tourists alike from across the country and around the world.

The Basilica offers six Masses and five hours of Confessions daily, as well as Guided Tours, a Catholic Gift Shop, a Catholic Book Store, and a Cafeteria to accommodate its visitors.

That night we met my cousin and her husband for dinner at a nice little Italian place not far from Dupont Circle and after dinner we hit this great little ice cream shop that had its own custom flavors of ice cream. Delicious!

One of the highlights of our time in DC was our night walk down to the National Mall & Memorials Park to see all the monuments. We asked the guys that run the B&B if it was close enough to walk and they said sure it isn't far. Boy were they wrong! It was quite a trek. Once we got there we did enjoy it but we were very tired when we got back. First stop on our walking trip was past the White House. I had a hard time getting a shot here at night because you aren't allowed to use a tripod to steady the camera so I had to hand hold this shot to get it.

Next up on our walk is the Washington Monument. I lost one of the feet off my tripod at this stop. It fell off in the grass and without a flashlight there was no hope in finding the black foot in the grass. No matter I still got some great shots without the foot on the tripod. The Monument is shaped like an Egyptian obelisk. The monument is made of marble, granite, and bluestone gneiss. It is both the world's tallest stone structure and the world's tallest obelisk, standing 555 feet 5 1⁄8 inches offering views in excess of thirty miles. It was finished on December 6, 1884.

A short walk from the Washington Monument is the WWII Memorial. I think this was one of my favorites. It consists of 56 granite pillars, each one 17 ft tall arranged in a semicircle around a plaza with a pair of 43 foot tall arches on opposite sides of the plaza. Each pillar is inscribed with the name of the 48 US states of 1945, as well as the District of Columbia, the Alaska Territory and Territory of Hawaii, the Commonwealth of the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The northern arch is inscribed with "Atlantic"; the southern one, "Pacific."
The Freedom Wall is on the west side of the memorial, with a view of the Reflecting Pool and Lincoln Memorial behind it. The wall has 4,048 gold stars, each representing 100 Americans who died in the war. In front of the wall lies the message "Here we mark the price of freedom".

After the WWII memorial we continued our tour down past the reflecting pool toward the Korean War Veterans Memorial. This one is particularly moving at night I think with the statues all lit up. The memorial is in the form of a triangle intersecting a circle. The walls are of highly polished "Academy Black" granite with more than 2,500 photographic, archival images representing the land, sea and air troops who supported those who fought in the war are sandblasted onto the wall.

Within the walled triangle are 19 stainless steel statues designed by Frank Gaylord, each larger than life-size, between 7 feet 3 inches and 7 feet 6 inches tall; each weighs nearly 1,000 pounds. The figures represent a squad on patrol, drawn from each branch of the armed forces; fourteen of the figures are from the U.S. Army, three are from the Marine Corps, one is a Navy Corpsman, and one is an Air Force Forward Air Observer. They are dressed in full combat gear, dispersed among strips of granite and juniper bushes which represent the rugged terrain of Korea. When reflected on the wall, there appears to be 38 soldiers, representing the 38th parallel.

Located next to the Korean Memorial is the Lincoln Memorial. The building is in the form of a Greek Doric temple and contains a large seated sculpture of Abraham Lincoln and inscriptions of two well-known speeches by Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address and his Second Inaugural Address.

The last stop on our walk is just down from the Lincoln Memorial. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The Memorial Wall, designed by Maya Lin, is made up of two gabbro walls 246 feet 9 inches long. The walls are sunk into the ground, with the earth behind them. At the highest tip (the apex where they meet), they are 10.1 feet high, and they taper to a height of eight inches at their extremities. Stone for the wall came from Bangalore, Karnataka, India, and was deliberately chosen because of its reflective quality. When a visitor looks upon the wall, his or her reflection can be seen simultaneously with the engraved names, which is meant to symbolically bring the past and present together. Inscribed on the walls are the names of servicemen who were either confirmed to be KIA (Killed in Action) or remained classified as MIA (Missing in Action) when the walls were constructed in 1982. The wall listed 58,191 names when it was completed in 1993; as of June 2010, there are 58,267 names, including 8 women. Approximately 1,200 of these are listed as missing (MIAs, POWs, and others), denoted with a cross; the confirmed dead are marked with a diamond. If the missing return alive, the cross is circumscribed by a circle (although this has never occurred as of March 2009); if their death is confirmed, a diamond is superimposed over the cross.

The next day would take us out to visit Arlington National Cemetery. The cemetery is situated directly across the Potomac River from the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. It was formerly the estate of the family of Confederate general Robert E. Lee's wife Mary Anna (Custis) Lee, a great grand-daughter of Martha Washington. In an area of 624 acres, veterans and military casualties from each of the nation's wars are interred in the cemetery, ranging from the American Civil War through to the military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq. Pre-Civil War dead were reinterred after 1900.

The Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery is also known as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It stands on top of a hill overlooking Washington, D.C. One of the more popular sites at the Cemetery, the tomb is made from Yule marble quarried in Colorado. It consists of seven pieces, with a total weight of 79 short tons.

It was initially named the "Tomb of the Unknown Soldier." Other unknown servicemen were later entombed there, and it became known as the "Tomb of the Unknowns", though it has never been officially named. The soldiers entombed there are:
Unknown Soldier of World War I, interred November 11, 1921. President Warren G. Harding presided.
Unknown Soldier of World War II, interred May 30, 1958. President Dwight D. Eisenhower presided.
Unknown Soldier of the Korean War, also interred May 30, 1958. President Dwight Eisenhower presided again, Vice President Richard Nixon acted as next of kin.
Unknown Soldier of the Vietnam War, interred May 28, 1984. President Ronald Reagan presided. The remains of the Vietnam Unknown were disinterred, under the authority of President Bill Clinton, on May 14, 1998, and were identified as those of Air Force 1st Lt. Michael J. Blassie, whose family had him reinterred near their home in St. Louis, Missouri. It has been determined that the crypt at the Tomb of the Unknowns that contained the remains of the Vietnam Unknown will remain empty.

The Tomb of the Unknowns has been perpetually guarded since July 2, 1937, by the U.S. Army. The 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment ("The Old Guard") began guarding the Tomb April 6, 1948. There is a meticulous ritual the guard follows when watching over the graves:
The soldier walks 21 steps across the Tomb. This alludes to the 21-gun salute, which is the highest honor given to any military or foreign dignitary in America. His weapon is always on the shoulder opposite the Tomb (i.e., on the side of the gallery watching the ritual).
On the 21st step, the soldier turns and faces the Tomb for 21 seconds.
The soldier then turns to face the other way across the Tomb and changes his weapon to the outside shoulder.
After 21 seconds, the first step is repeated.
This is repeated until the soldier is relieved of duty at the Changing of the Guard.
The mat is usually replaced twice per year: before Memorial Day and before Veterans Day. This is required due to the wear on the rubber mat by the special shoes worn by Tomb Guards. The guards have metal plates built into the soles and inner parts of their shoes to allow for a more rugged sole and to give the signature click of the heel during maneuvers. The guards are issued sunglasses that are formed to their faces due to the bright reflection from the marble surrounding the Tomb and the Memorial Amphitheater.

On the ground not covered by the mat, a wear pattern in the tile can be seen that corresponds to the precise steps taken during the changing of the guard. On the mat itself, footprints worn in by hours and hours of standing guard are also visible. During the day in summer months from April 1 to September 30, the guard is changed every half hour. During the winter months, from October 1 to March 31, the guard is changed every hour. After the cemetery closes to the public (7 p.m. to 8 a.m. April through September, and 5 p.m. to 8 a.m. October through March), the guard is changed every two hours until the cemetery reopens. The ceremony can be witnessed by the public whenever Arlington National Cemetery is open.
The guard change is very symbolic, but also conducted in accordance with Army regulations. The relief commander or assistant relief commander, along with the oncoming guard, are both required for a guard change to take place. The guard being relieved will say to the oncoming guard, "Post and orders remain as directed." The oncoming guard's response is always, "Orders acknowledged."
Other frequently visited sites in the cemetery include the grave of President John F. Kennedy, who is buried with his wife and two of their children. His remains were placed there on March 14, 1967. His grave is marked with an eternal flame.

The remains of his brother, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, are buried nearby. His grave is marked with a simple cross and foot stone.

Our last stop in D.C. before heading on the New York City was the Washington National Cathedral, officially named the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, is a cathedral of the Episcopal Church. Of neogothic design, it is the sixth largest cathedral in the world, the second largest in the United States, and the fourth tallest structure in Washington, D.C. The cathedral is the seat of both the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church and the Bishop of the Diocese of Washington.
The pulpit was carved out of stones from Canterbury Cathedral; Glastonbury Abbey provided stone for the bishop's cathedra, his formal seat.

The west rose window was dedicated in 1977 in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II and President Jimmy Carter.

There are many other works of art including over two hundred stained glass windows, the most familiar of which may be the Space Window, honoring man's landing on the Moon, which includes a fragment of lunar rock at its center.

Most of the decorative elements have Christian symbolism, in reference to the church's Episcopalian roots, but the cathedral is filled with memorials to persons or events of national significance: statues of Washington and Lincoln, state seals embedded in the mosaic floor of the narthex, state flags that hang along the nave, stained glass commemorating events like the Lewis and Clark expedition and the raising of the American flag at Iwo Jima.
Also located in the church is The Pentagon Cross. The cross was made from fragments of the face of the Pentagon attacked on 9/11/2001. The cross was presented by the Chief of Chaplians of the U.S. Army in recognition that we are united in memory, freedom, and faith; and in hope and love for God, our nation, and all mankind.

We were here the day before the funeral of Tim Russert, moderator of NBC's Meet the Press, and the media was already getting set up for it.

Due to our limited time here we didn't have time to see all the memorials so I would love to return to see the rest of them. We also didn't have time to do any of the museums or tour the Capitol building. I would love to come back here and spend more time.
To see all the pictures from D.C. please visit Partridge Pictures.

Royal Caribbean's Explorer of the Seas

2011-06-14T11:58:00.000-04:00

The next cruise on our trip down memory lane is our June 2008 trip. This trip consisted of a road trip, which I will cover under different blog entries, and a 9 night cruise on Royal Caribbean's Explorer of the Seas. The cruise left out of Cape Liberty Cruise Port in Bayonne, NJ. As usual lets get a little info on the Explorer before we get into the actual cruise.

Explorer of the Seas is a sister to the Navigator of the Seas which I already covered in an earlier entry. It is part of the Voyager-class of cruise ships. She is 137,308 GRT, is 1,020 ft long, 125 ft wide, and can carry 3,100 passengers. Explorer does have one thing that her sister ships do not. She has a built-in atmospheric and oceanographic laboratory operated by the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science.
This was the first time we had left out of cape liberty. We had a send off from the fire department. It was neat getting to sail past the Statue of Liberty. It was way off in the distance, but still cool. Also, this was the first time we got to sail out of a port that has a bridge across it. It looks so close as you go under it. AMAZING!

We went to the parade they hold on the promenade. Some of the ships have Dreamworks characters in the parades now. Get there early or you won't get a good spot. We ended up on a deck above over looking the promenade and had a decent view.

Our first stop was Bermuda. As we pulled in it was looking like a pretty gross day and we thought our tour might be a waste but it ended up being a nice day. Since this was our first time here we were glad the weather turned out nice in the end.

We ended up doing a pretty neat little tour. It was a Segway tour. My wife didn't think it was that great, she said it was too much work. I enjoyed it though. We toured the fort and some of the older parts of the port area.

We had a sea day between ports. The pool was crowded this day as it is on most days at sea. We hit some pretty crazy seas on the way from Bermuda to St. Thomas. We were rocking so hard the water in the pool was splashing out! No one at the pool now!

Back to St. Thomas again. Here is a nice view of the ship from across the bay as we head to town.

We took a taxi into town to do a little shopping! Then headed back to the ship to enjoy the solarium without the crowds. We were pretty much all by ourselves.

Next stop San Juan. I don't think we even got off here this time. I did get some nice shots of the city and fort as we sailed out.

We got a Coast Guard escort out of the port which was pretty neat. Look at the waves they were hitting, Crazy!!!

As usual we had great servers in the dining room. Here are all the servers during one of their "performances".

Overall this was a wonderful cruise. We loved getting the extra time on the ship with the 9 day itinerary and the staff and entertainment were excellent as always. We had a great room steward and we got some different towel animals this cruise. This guy was watching TV when we came in from dinner.

He also knew we were celebrating our 5 year wedding anniversary on this cruise so he had a romantic surprise waiting for us. My wife thought I had ordered this but silly me gave the credit to our room steward rather than taking credit for it. What was I thinking?! Either way, it was a nice end to a great trip!

To see the rest of the pictures from this trip please visit Partridge Pictures.

Carnival Victory

2011-05-25T09:55:00.210-04:00

The next cruise up is our spring break cruise from 2008 that we took with our friends Louise & Travis. We chose Carnival Cruise Line for this cruise mainly on price for our friends since this was their first cruise and they couldn't afford the prices for Royal Caribbean, which we were pushing hard for. We chose to do a western Caribbean cruise on the Victory out of Miami going to Cozumel, Grand Cayman, & Ocho Rios Jamaica.

A little info on the ship before we get to the cruise itself. The Victory is a Triumph-class ship built buy Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri in 2000. She weighs in at 101,509 GRT, is 893 ft long, 116 ft wide, and has 13 decks. She is identical to her sister ship the Triumph and closely related to an earlier class of ships, the Destiny-class. She has 13 decks and 1,379 cabins with a passenger capacity of 2,758 people.
This was our friends first cruise so we took care of getting everything booked. Since we had the bigger car we drove down to the port. Look at all that luggage!! The porters will have fun unloading all that!

We both had a balcony cabin for this cruise. Not a bad size, about normal for this type of stateroom. What was nice was our friends were in the cabin next door so they opened up the door between the two balconies so we had one really long balcony that we shared. Very nice! We spent lots of time out here during the week, relaxing, reading, & sleeping!!

After finding our cabins, we did a quick tour of the ship to get our bearings and to check out the pool area. Also a quick stop at the ice cream machine! Then it was time to get ready for dinner. Aren't we a good looking bunch!

Our first stop on this trip was Cozumel. Since our friends hadn't been before we walked around the shopping area and just wandered through the shops. Since we walked pretty much the whole street I got some really neat pictures here this time.

We weren't off the ship long and we were back on to enjoy the pool area without the masses. Also time for a little snack.

Next stop was Grand Cayman. We did a shore excursion here. It wasn't the best excursion we have ever done but a neat concept. You were on these little 2 person boats that had a glass bottom built in so you could see what was underneath you. It wasn't as cool as we thought it would be and ended up being kind of boring. We definitely wouldn't do this again. After the tour we just headed back to the ship since we aren't big shoppers but if you are this is the port for you. You can find pretty much anything you are looking for. After we were ready to head back it was time to get on the tender for the ride back to the ship for another evening aboard ship.

Our last stop was Ocho Rios, Jamaica. We did a great tour here this time. Since our friends had never been, we decided we should climb Dunn's River Falls. My wife and I had done this before on our honeymoon. This trip however was different from the one we did. We did a plantation tour the 1st time. This time we did a catamaran sail. We boarded the catamaran at the dock and sailed over to the beach in front of Dunn's River Falls where we got off and began our climb. I had almost forgotten how chilly the water coming down the falls is but that memory came back very quick. You climb up the falls in a daisy chain holding hands with the person in front of and behind you. This comes in handy in a couple of the stops that can be quite slick. It is a pretty easy climb for the most part but it can be crowded and slow going at times. After the climb it was back aboard the catamaran for a leisurely sail back to the ship. The trip back was filled with music and dancing and drinking! We had a great time.

Once again we were very lucky to have some flat seas on our trip. It amazes me at how calm the seas can be sometimes and other times so rough. We also met some cool people on this trip. Here are Travis & Bill having a drink. Bill was a cool guy and we ended up running into him several times and he bought a couple rounds of drinks for us.

Since we aren't huge Carnival fans to begin with we went into this with low expectations of the food and service in the dining room. The food was good but I don't remember our servers being the best. Of course that can happen on any cruise line but they just weren't as good as servers we have had on other lines. We did have a great bar guy that we all loved in the dining room, Yoki! He was the bomb. He introduced us to the "kiss on the lips" and he made our trips into the dining room each night so much fun! We wanted to bring him home with us at the end of the cruise.
Overall we had a good time but we just aren't big fans of Carnival and they would be one of our last choices to pick for a cruise.

To see more pictures of the ship and other pictures from this cruise please visit Partridge Pictures.

Caribbean Princess

2011-05-23T22:44:00.005-04:00

Hopefully you aren't getting tired of all the cruise posts. I do have other pictures to share but we love cruising so much it is hard not to share them first. As we keep going through my cruise history the next is another cruise from 2007. We tried out Princess Cruises for the first time and went aboard the Caribbean Princess for a trip to the western Caribbean. We departed out of Port Everglades in Ft. Lauderdale and went to Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Ocho Rios, & Princess Cays.

A little info on the Caribbean Princess before we get into the cruise itself. She is part of the Grand Class of cruise ships with a capacity of over 3,600 passengers, the largest carrying capacity in the Princess fleet. Caribbean Princess is slightly larger than the other ships in this class due to an added deck of cabins. She was launched in 2004 and weighs in at approx 112,800 gross tons (GRT). She is 951 feet long & 118 feet wide.
We had a pretty nice balcony cabin on this trip. We were in what they call a mini-suite. So we actually had a pretty decent size room, a whopping 324 sq ft (which includes the balcony). We actually had a real tub & shower in the bathroom as well. Usually its just a stand up shower that is pretty tight. The lower balcony cabins stick out farther than the ones above, which isn't great for privacy. From ours we could look all the way up to the top of the ship.

Most ships have a buffet area to eat. The set up of the area on this ship was not the best. It didn't flow well with people being able to enter the food area from multiple spots it caused quite a back up at times. I don't remember much about the food in the buffet area so it must have been your normal cruise buffet fare. We also did another galley tour on this trip. They had some cool things out they had prepared for presentation later in the day. It still amazes me of what they can create out of food.

We had some pretty good entertainment on this cruise. They had a hypnotist who had a pretty good show one night in the main theater. He had people doing funny things up on stage. It was pretty convincing but I'm still skeptical that they were all actually under his control.

They also had one of the better lounge/piano guys we had heard. His name was Bert Stratton and he put on a great little show for the crowd. I don't remember much about the production shows but I do remember going. So they must have been just so-so. The one complaint we had was their late night shows, like adult comedy, were held in a lounge rather than the main theater. This made for a very crowded venue which took away from some of the show. You also had to get there really early to find a seat.

Our first stop was the lines private island, Princess Cays. I believe their island is right next to Royal Caribbean's Coco Cay. We did go in here and we did a kayak excursion. I thought this would be fun but it was hard work out there. Was exhausted when we got done!

Next stop was Ocho Rios, Jamaica. We did one of the most fun excursions here. We did an ATV tour that was awesome. We got to go fast and get dirty on the ride. So much fun! The tour starts at a ranch and you ride up the mountain and come back down. You do make a couple stops on the ride up. The first stop is in a nice clearing where you can look back down. The other stop is at a little house with a small pond which is the turn around point.My wife enjoyed this tour much more than she originally thought she would. She was going so fast on one turn she almost flipped her ATV over but she was having a blast driving it through the water & mud! By the end of this ride we were both covered in mud. So worth it!!

At the last stop we had the opportunity to do some swimming if we wanted to before heading back to the ranch to return the ATV's and wait for our return trip to the ship. We didn't go but lots of the others on our tour did jump off a cliff into the lagoon for a swim. We had a great guide on this tour she took several photos for us with my camera and even posed with my wife at the end. This was by far one of the best shore excursions we have ever done and would recommend it to anyone looking for something fun to do in Ocho Rios.

The next stop was Grand Cayman. This is one of the ports where you have to tender in. It was a nasty day here and we didn't have anything planned so we didn't go in. Despite the bad weather it was a busy day in port and we followed 2 other ships out at the end of the day. We also didn't get off in Cozumel either since we have been here so many times it is one of those places that unless you are on a tour or want to do some shopping, that once you've seen it, you don't need to get off again. We did have great seas on this cruise. See how clam the seas are here. If you couldn't see the ships wake it would look like we were sitting still.

One thing that did really stand out were the ships photographers. Some of the best we have ever had on any ship. There was one really good girl who stood out from the rest and we went to her several times over the course of the cruise. Normally its just the standard, stand here, put your arm this way, smile. They took time to different poses which was really great and we got some really good photos from them on this cruise. When it was time to pick out the ones to buy we had a hard time and had them spread out all over the table and everyone commented on how good our pictures were. I think we spent more on pictures this cruise than we did drinks!! Here are a couple of the ones they took.
Overall this was a nice cruise and a break from our standard Royal Caribbean Cruise. However, we noticed that as a late twenty-something couple, we were among the younger people on this ship. Most were in the their middle ages and not very many children or families. This wasn't a big deal for us as we are easy going but might have been a problem for others. In fact, we had some of the coolest table mates on this cruise. We were with an older couple from England which was pretty cool. They had interesting stories and always commented on our dinner attire which made my wife happy as she works hard to make us look good! Nothing is standing out in my memory about the food so it must not have been great but not horrible either as I would've remembered that.
As usual to see the rest of the pictures from this cruise please visit Partridge Pictures.

Royal Caribbean's Sovereign of the Seas

2011-05-18T09:38:00.004-04:00

Up next on our journey through my cruising history is our trip on Royal Caribbean's Sovereign of the Seas from 2007. We did this cruise for spring break that year and just did a 4 night Bahamas cruise since we already had another cruise planned for the summer.

Here is some info on Sovereign before we get to the rest of the cruise. She is 73,192 gross tons, 880 feet long, and 106 feet wide. When she was launched in January of 1988 she was the largest ship in the world. In November of 2008 she was transferred out of Royal Caribbean's fleet to Pullmantur Cruises, which is part of the RCI family.

Once again we were in just an outside cabin but this was due to the fact that many of the older ships don't have that many balcony cabins except for the suites which are out of our price range. Also the cabins on the older ships just seem so small compared to the newer ships. Not that this was bad but after being on some of the newer ships you just notice these things.

This was a 4 night cruise to the Bahamas so our stops included Nassau and Coco Cay (Royal Caribbean's private island). We have been to Nassau many times and very rarely get off. Since a lot of people get off to go into port you get most of the ship to yourself. This time we got off to do a little shopping but were back on pretty quick so we could enjoy some time on board without the crowds.

Coco Cay is one of RCI's private islands. The other is Labadee. Coco Cay is a pretty nice little stop. You do have to tender in but they have some great beaches and plenty of activities to keep you going. They have chairs on the beach and some hammocks for relaxing. They also serve a BBQ lunch on the island so you don't have to go back to the ship if you don't want to. Don't forget to get your coco loco, Coco Cay's signature drink, while you are here!

The food on the shorter cruises also just doesn't seem to match what you get on the 7 night cruises. Still good just not as good. Plus you are on a cruise so does it really matter since you didn't have to make it? We did have an excellent service team in the dining room as usual. They always strive to make your dining experience the best it can be.

To see the rest of the pictures from this cruise please visit Partridge Pictures.

Disney Magic

2011-05-10T18:52:00.004-04:00

The next cruise up is our cruise on the Disney Magic from 2006. This was by far one of the best cruises we have ever done. It was pretty expensive but well worth it in our opinion. This was another eastern Caribbean itinerary going to St. Maarten, St. Thomas, & Castaway Cay (Disney's private island). So lets set sail with Captain Mickey on the Magic.

A little info on the Magic before we continue. The Magic was launched in 1999 along with her sister the Wonder built by Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri. She is approx. 83,000 tons, 964 feet long & 106 feet wide. She has 877 cabins and can carry around 2400 passengers plus a crew of about 950.

We sailed out of Port Canaveral and this was one of the best embarkations we have experienced. Disney must pump happy gas into their terminal because everyone was just so happy. Not like our normal experience at Miami, which is the worst for some reason.

Disney has one of the best sail away parties we've been to, lots of people as you can see from the pictures.

Also of note this was the first ship we had been on that had the large outdoor movie screens. A lot of ships now have this feature. I remember we watched part of the NBA finals out there under the stars on those big screens.

Everyone was having a good time as we sailed away from port.
The Disney ships do have some unique features that aren't found on other lines. The rotational dining was one thing that was different form other lines. In most cases on other ships you eat in the main dining room each night at the same table with the same servers. Disney has added a twist to this. They have 3 main dining rooms located in different areas of the ship. Each has a different theme but your service team travels with you. The three main dining rooms are Lumiere's, Animato'rs Palate, and Parrot Cay. They have many other dining options like Palo but these are the 3 main dining rooms.
This is Lumiere's. For those of you not into all things Disney this dining room gets its inspiration from Disney's Beauty & the Beast movie.

Animator's Palate was by far one of the coolest dining rooms ever. It starts out in all black & white and as each course is served the dining room comes to life with color. My pictures don't do it justice.

Starting off in all black & white. Even the servers outfits start off this way.

Here is the first added color. As the meal progresses more color is added.

A visit from Sorcerer Mickey. Notice that there is more color on the walls now and the servers are now in colored vests.

This was also some of the best food we have had on a cruise. My mother-in-law just raved about the beef and she isn't really a beef eater.
Not sure what this was but she said it was delicious and look at that presentation.

This is Parrot Cay. It was very tropical. I don't have many pictures from in here and the lighting is kind of bad but you can kind of make out the tropical elements in the room.

Here is our room. It was just an outside cabin instead of our usual balcony cabin. Disney was more expensive so we had to step down to this. Not bad but we missed having our balcony.

All ready for bed. I didn't take pictures of the towel animals each night like I usually do but you can see one there on the bed.

Another stop at the island of Sint Maarten-Saint Martin. This time around we did an island tour that visited both sides of this unique island. It was kind of a nasty day to be in port and it rained a little while we were on our excursion but I did manage to get a few pictures. There is that checker board plaza again.

You can see our ship and a Royal Caribbean ship at port next to each other. Can you see how nasty the weather is? Not a pretty day in port.

One of the many resorts on the island. I don't remember which one this is.

Nice little area with no buildings. The weather cleared a little so I could get a decent picture. The picture to the right is a little farther around the island. This is around the same area we left for the Rhino Riders tour on our last cruise.

This is the marker the designates where the boundary of the French & Dutch sides of the island is.
Next stop is St. Thomas.
I don't think we got off in St Thomas except to do a little shopping at the Havensight mall area. We may have taken a taxi to downtown but my memory is a little foggy on the details here and I obviously didn't take any pictures.

My father-in-law did go out on a sailing excursion in a tall ship.

There he is coming back from the excursion.

Disney has its own private island in the Bahamas called Castaway Cay. This was the first out island that had its own dock built for the ship to pull into. Other out islands are always tender ports. Royal Caribbean now has one but Disney was the first. What a great job Disney did with their island. It was very well thought out and had places for families, the kids, and an adults only area.

The ship docked at Castaway Cay. I thought this was a pretty cool shot through the tall grass. You can see the wave runners just through the grass. We had a fun excursion on those earlier in the day.

This is the road that leads to the adult only area of the island. You can take their tram or rent bikes and ride to the other side.

Serenity Bay is the adults only area on the island.

They even have massage cabanas right on the beach. Unfortunately we didn't get to take advantage of those.

Back to the other side of the island and you find Mount Rustmore. Very cute!

We did the wave runners here and my wife's dad even came along for the ride.

We also snorkeled around their little man made reef area. Not many fish, probably because of all the people, but plenty of neat things on he bottom to look at. We never did find the Mickey that was out there.

We also got to do a galley tour while on board. It still amazes me at how much food is prepared at one time to serve at dinner. Here is one of the head chef's who lead the tour.

One of the many creations the ships cooks come up with during the week. It amazes me that they can come up with such creative things to make out of food.

They also had a rep from Pixar on this cruise and he gave us a sneak peek at Cars which was just getting ready to come out in a couple of months.

I don't remember who the presenter was but he gave a very informative presentation on what it takes to make a computer animated movie.
He had slides of the original story board art for each cars design and the basic story.

He also had some of the work from the very beginning of computer animation on Cars.
If you thought getting to see the characters was just for the kids you were wrong. We got our picture taken with Sorcerer Mickey!

Overall this was one of the best cruises we have been on. We would definitely go back, with or without kids.

To see more pictures from this trip please visit Partridge Pictures

Royal Caribbean's Navigator of the Seas

2011-05-06T09:41:00.003-04:00

I am going to start my pictures off with some cruise pictures from our 2005 trip on board Royal Caribbean's Navigator of the Seas to the eastern Caribbean. As you will see in upcoming entries we have been on quite a few cruises. We love to cruise and I love to take pics so its a great way to get some cool pictures. I would have started with earlier cruises but this is the first one I have that I had a lot of pictures from. The earlier cruises were probably before I got my digital camera so I probably haven't had a chance to scan them all into the computer yet.

A little info on Navigator. She is the 4th of the 5 Voyager-class of ships. She was once one of the largest in the fleet and still ranks among the largest passenger ships in the world. Constructed at Aker Finnyards (now STX Europe AS) in Turku, Finland, the ship measures 138,279 gross tons and can carry 3,114 passengers, plus crew. *

Of further note is that Navigator is the first of the second generation of Voyager-class vessels. She is noted different from her sisters by the set up of the Windjammer which extends further aft, and also includes "Jade", an Asian fusion buffet. She is also more obviously different in that she has glass balconies which all the 1st generation sisters lack. She is truly identical only to the Mariner of the Seas, which shares her same design changes.*

It has been a while so my memory is a little foggy but on this eastern cruise we most likely went to St. Thomas, St. Maarten, & San Juan Puerto Rico. Which is pretty much the standard for an eastern Caribbean cruise. I don't remember the exact order we went in and I don't have pictures from each port. First up is St. Thomas. This is a great spot for shoppers. I have gotten several things from here including my camera and a couple of lenses.

You dock pretty much in the heart of St Thomas in Charlotte Amalie. The port is a short taxi ride from town. You can see the ship docked and on the right side is where downtown is.

We did an island tour this trip which took us up the mountain where I was able to get the above shot from. We also stopped at an old mansion that had been destroyed in a hurricane (I don't remember which one) and had been redone. It had some great gardens with very vibrant tropical color plants.

From here we went on around the islands mountain top area where you can get a birds eye view of Magens Bay voted one of the best beaches in the world a few times. We have yet to visit, maybe in the future.

From St Thomas we had a short sail over to St. Maarten. This is an interesting island as it is shared by two countries. The island of Sint Maarten-Saint Martin is the smallest land mass in the world to be shared by two different nations. Only 37 square miles are owned by France and the Netherlands Antilles. The French territory covers about two thirds of the island and is technically a part of Europe and the European Community. The Dutch side is a member island of the Netherlands Antilles and part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, but not considered European territory. There is no real border, just modest monuments and signs.

We docked on the Dutch side of the island in Philipsburg. We did a cool tour on this trip the Rhino Riders boat and snorkel trip. It was pretty amazing. We zoomed thru the ocean at almost 55 mph hours. I got lucky and the tour leader thought I was cool so we got to race. I found this awesome but my poor wife, holding on for dear life, might not have thought so. The island is pretty small and the port is very nice. I love the checkerboard plaza that leads you back to the ships and of course there a few shops located here for that last minute purchase.

You have a couple of options on how to get around in town. You can jump on the water taxi which leaves from the port and goes over the downtown Philipsburg and drops you off pretty much right on the beach or take a short walk.

I think I took this from the water taxi as it was pulling in. The water is so clear and you can see all the rocks on the bottom.

I love the colors of the water in the Caribbean. I thought this was a cool picture of a fishing boat anchored in the bay.

I know I haven't covered the ship very much in this but for some reason I didn't have many pictures of the inside. One thing we love about cruising are the cute little towel animals you get in your room at night. You never know what animal might pop up.

Another thing we enjoy about cruising is all the food. I don't have any pictures of the food from this cruise but I did find this little gem. Our waiter balanced a coffee cup on top of our water glasses using knives. Pretty neat little trick! There are so many good things to eat and so many places on board, especially on the larger ships that you will not have a hard time finding something you like.

Being the geek I truly am at the show one night we sat right behind the sound board so I had to take a picture of it! The entertainment is another great thing about cruising. They have a pretty good variety from full on broadway style productions to comedians to magicians and jugglers. Should be something to suite just about anyone. The Voyager-class also has the ice rink on board which adds yet another venue for entertainment. They put on a world class skating show on a very tiny rink.

At the end of the week we are always sad to get off and so tired we try to rest while waiting for our number to be called so we can get off and head home. :(

To see more pictures from this trip please visit Partridge Pictures

*Information from wikipedia