SMDC Caribbean 7-nights Cruise in Feb 2016

Peggy and JC found a Holland America Westerdam caribbean 7-nights cruise in Feb 2016.  They invited some of SMDC couples to join them.  The itinerary was as the following:

Feb 11-12, 2016 : Pre-trip to Ft Lauderdale
Feb 13, 2016 : Embark Holland America'a Westerdam in Ft Lauderdale
Feb 14, 2016 : At Sea
Feb 15, 2016 : Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos (changed to At Sea due to bad weather)
Feb 16, 2016 : San Juan, Puerto Rico
Feb 17, 2016 : St Thomas, U.S.V.I.
Feb 18, 2016 : At Sea
Feb 19, 2016 : Half Moon Cay, Bahamas
Feb 20, 2016 : Disembark Westerdam in Ft Lauderdale

Feb 11 - 13, 2016 - Pre-trip to 7-night Holland America Caribbean Cruise

Sha, Ou and Jin's families left Houston on Feb 11, flew to Ft Lauderdale to have a pre-cruise photo trip in Ft Lauderdale.  Ou and Jin's families visited a couple of state parks between Miami and Ft Lauderdale last year, therefore, they were familiar with state parks in this area.  The primary purpose of this visit was to take photos of different birds in these state parks.  Judging from their photos, they had a great time there.

Feb 13, 2016 - Embark Westerdam

Fei and Tony flew from Houston to Ft Lauderdale in early morning.  They arrived around Noon and was about the same time as Sha, Ou and Jin's families started to embark Holland America’s Westerdam.  As usual, right after we settled into our cabins, we went to Lido restaurant on deck 9 to have buffet lunch.   Immediately we noticed that it was not truly a buffet style setting.  For some dishes, we had to order from serving staffs and then they would make it or get it for us.  

Since we are all experienced cruise goers, we went through the safety drill and checked out the Westerdam’s deck plan in the afternoon as we used to do for other cruises. 

We booked for early traditional fixed-seating at dining room, we had our dinner in Vista Dinner Room at 5:30PM. After dinner, we went to enjoy the Marquee show featuring Westerdam singers and dancers.  Then we went to enjoy the B. B. King Blues Club All Star Band at Queen’s Lounge.  Most of the music they played were blues. We managed to do a little bit of dancing.

May 14, 2016 - At Sea

It was at sea day, we took our time and got up pretty late in the morning.  We took a long breakfast and just sit-and-chat.  Life is good when there is no pressure to do anything for the whole morning and just chatting with good friends.  We did went to workout in the gym in the afternoon.  

Since this was a formal night, we all went back to our cabins to get ready for the night.  We did some photo taking along with dancing at the Ocean Bar just before our formal dinner.  

After dinner, we went to see the All for Love show performed by Westerdam singers and dancers at Vista Lounge.  

Then we did more dancing between Queen’s Lounge and Northern Lights. B.B. King Blues Club All Star Band played in Queen’s Lounge and a DJ played 50s and 60s music in Northern Lights.  We all had our shares of exercise.

May 15, 2016 - Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos (At Sea due to bad weather and wave near the port)

The itinerary called for Grand Turk at 8AM.  However, the bad weather and high waves caused a danger situation for our ship to dock.  The Captain had to make a tough decision to skip Grand Turk at the last minute and continued the course to San Juan, Puerto Rico.  This weather condition made us to have another At Sea day. 

We did the same routines as yesterday, workout and then relaxing in the afternoon.  Did some dance at Ocean Bar prior to dinner. 

Feb 16, 2016 - San Juan, Puerto Rico

Since we skipped Grand Turk, we got to San Juan in the morning instead of at Noon.  San Juan is the capital and the largest city in Puerto Rico.  From the cruise ship port, we can walk to the Old San Juan which is the historic colonial section of the city of San Juan.  And the Old San Juan is an US National Historic Site and has 3 UNESCO World Heritage Sites.  It has narrow streets paved with slate-blue cobblestones and colonial mansions, ancient churches, museums and galleries; and it is enclosed by thick fortress walls.  We found a walking tour itinerary covering 13 attractions.  Therefore, we decided to follow the walking tour to visit this famous US National Historic Site.  The attractions include Paseo de la Princesa (walkway along the souther side of Old San Juan just below the city wall), the San Juan Gate, La Rotative Plaza, The Fortress - Governor residence (UNESCO Site), Cristo Chapel, San Juan Cathedral, Pablo Casals Museum, San Jose Church, Casa Blanca, Morro Castle (Castillo San Felipe del Morro, UNESCO Site), San Juan Museum, Fort San Cristobal (UNESCO Site), and Columbus Plaza.

Our senior US National Park Pass works at Morro Castle and Fort San Cristobal and will provide free passes up to 4 people.  Therefore, some of us spent a great deal of time in these two UNESCO sites.  There is a scheduled free tour for The Fortress - Governor Residence, however, the schedule did not allow us to wait for the tour. 

Feb 17, 2016 - St. Thomas, U.S.V.I.

We had a day in St. Thomas, USVI.  Some of us went to the Water Island (the 4th largest Island in U.S.V.I.).  Peggy and JC went on a Holland America’s tour to visit Magens Bay Beach in the north side of Puerto Rico.

There is a short ferry that we took from St Thomas to Water Island. We tried to rent a golf cart for driving around in Water Island, however, the only golf cart rental place had all their carts pre-booked.  With a short walk we got to the Honeymoon Beach which is the best beach in Puerto Rico.  

All of us got into the water to enjoy the crystal blue ocean and white sand.  Ben and Jerry have been learning the free style swimming, they got a chance to try it out in this beautiful beach.  

Jerry even rented a Stand-Up Paddle Board for everyone to enjoy.  It was amazing that Jerry could paddle on it right after he rent the board on first try.  We all took turn to enjoy this new sport with a lot of fun.