So yeah. It's been months since I've felt compelled to write about anything. This winter has been too much even though we did get to take a wonderful vacation. I won't even get into talking about how I drove the 1.5 blocks to the bus stop all winter because IT NEVER GOT ABOVE 10 DEGREES. I honestly have taken very few pictures all winter.
So let me start by talking about that wonderful, FREE vacation that Greg earned from RBC (where he works) that we took back in January. We had a bit of a debacle getting down to Florida as our flight was cancelled and rescheduled for the following day. it was a nightmare retrieving our luggage but since this was an RBC paid-for trip, all we had to do was call the travel company that handled the whole event and the immediately got us booked on another flight in the evening. Only problem was that it flew into Ft. Meyers and we needed to be in Miami. But the arranged for a shuttle to pick us up and drive us across the state. We finally got into Miami around midnight. We stayed at an awesome hotel right on Biscayne Bay. I had plans to check out Miami Beach that evening but obviously that didn't happen. We slept in the next morning, had a wonderful breakfast courtesy of RBC and boarded a bus to take us to Ft. Lauderdale.
I left my big SLR camera at home and only brought my iPhone. It was so nice to have such a teeny, tiny camera to take photos with.
Here is the sunrise over Biscayne Bay in Miami. The warm weather felt sooooo nice!
Here is the ship we were on for the week. The Celebrity Constellation. The ship was privately chartered so everyone on board was an RBC employee….and NO KIDS!!! Most of the people were from Canada. I did not meet a single person outside of Canada (besides our little group of 8 from Minneapolis) the whole week while on the ship. But there were people from other countries aboard…just not very many. I was almost talking like a Canadian by week's end. We opted for an inside stateroom in exchange for a $200 shipboard credit. And much to my surprise, I did not mind the inside room at all. It was small but I never found myself wishing for a room with a window or a balcony. So we made a good choice.
Our first stop was a private island called Cayo Levantado in Samana, Dominican Republic. At every stop, RBC had wonderful events set up for us to attend; however, we decided to do a shore excursion at this particular stop. A small, private island just isn't my cup of tea. I'd rather see the land and locals.
This is Cayo Levantado. The ship tendered not too far from here.
This is a view of the mainland from where the ship was tendered. It was beautiful.
We decided to do a caves and mangroves shore excursion to Los Haitses National Park. As we were crossing the bay, we got to see dolphins jumping in and out of the water. I have it on video but it takes too long to load on here. Anyway, it was really neat!
This is a picture of Bird Island.
We got to explore several different caves. We even went through one where they filmed the Israeli version of Survivor back in 2007.
The caves were full of Petroglyphs.
After the caves, we moved on the the mangroves.
It was pretty neat. Overall, I left the Dominican Republic intrigued and wanting to see more.
Our second stop was Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. RBC had an event planned at Magen's Bay Beach so we boarded the shuttle first thing, and headed out there. As you can see, it was a beautiful day.
The entertainment just for us was this steel drum band. It was so neat. I also have video of this.
In typical RBC style, they took care of us with drinks and pizza!
After the beach, we headed back to Charlotte Amalie and did a little downtown shopping. We walked back to the ship dock and took a tram up to the top of the mountain near the ship dock. It was a bit expensive but it was neat. We had great views.
See the gorgeous views? You can actually see Vieques, Puerto Rico in this picture off to the left.
We each had a slushy cocktail that was really yummy.
After that we had an hour to kill so we stopped for some food at Señor Frogs. Not thrilled with that decision. Just to give you an idea, we ordered chips and salsa as an appetizer. I think it was $6.99. See that tiny cup of chips….yeah. That's what we got. A handful of chips for $6.99. Oh well. Live and learn.
Our third stop was San Juan, Puerto Rico. Again, there was an RBC sponsored event but we chose to do an excursion again.
We went to El Yunque National Rain Forest.
View of the canopy from the Visitor's Center.
We climbed to the top of this...
To get this view. And yes, it did rain shortly after this.
Once we returned back to Old San Juan, we did some shopping. Here is a street view of Old San Juan.
This is a fort in Old San Juan that we sailed past as we were heading back out to sea.
A rare picture of the both of us.
Stop four was Nassau, The Bahamas. Here is a street view showing some of the Bahamian architecture.
We didn't have much planned here so we opted to attend the RBC sponsored event. It was at the British Colonial Hilton and there were Junkanoo Dancers and an open bar. It was awesome! Again, RBC really took care of us.
This is the beach at the British Colonial Hilton and you can see the cruise ships in port. The ship that you see is the Oasis of the Seas. That ship is twice as big as the one we were on (our ship is docked on the other side of it). It was gigantic. To the point where you look at it with your jaw dropped.
The obligatory Nassau Branch of RBC photo.
After the event at the Hilton, we shopped a little and did a short walk over to the Queen's Staircase. Slaves carved this staircase out of rock for the Queen.
Up at the top of the staircase is Ft. Fincastle. Nassau has many old forts. This one happens to be the highest point on the island. It was closed for the day so we couldn't actually go in it but we walked around the grounds.
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This was taken as we were heading back to the ship.
And there you have it! It truly was a wonderful vacation. I just can't believe how well we were treated and taken care of. Thanks RBC for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
