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Queen Mary Cruise to Caribbean 08

Southern Caribbean on the Queen Mary: December 9^th to 19^th 2008.

Dave and I were so excited about visiting several islands that we have not seen yet and enjoying the largest liner on the ocean. He earned the perfect cruise from the Cunard Academy and our flights were paid for by my travel bank. I am not a writer by any means and can not spell worth a darn but wanted to share our wonderful experience with my friends and family.

We arrived at the airport in Fort Lauderdale early and caught a cab to the ship. As we approached the pier there she was in all her glory, the beautiful Queen Mary II. I felt like royalty getting out of our taxi at the port. We were one of the first in line and got on the ship at noon. There was so much to see, the ship is huge, but we did figure by the time our 10 days were up we would know our way around. We went to our cabin and dropped bags our off and walked a little ways down our hallway to the terrace pool deck. We hung out there for the sail away. We took lots of photos with my new camera I got for Christmas.

Ship life: The ship is extremely prestigious and polished. We had an inside cabin for the 1^st time but it actually was not bad. One thing is, not knowing what time of day it was, we slept in several times. We found the King’s Pub for a great sandwich or shepherd’s pie. At night we had Karaoke, I managed to do a few tunes but could not get Dave up there for anything. He does not believe me when I tell him he does a great Johnny Cash. Dinner was very fancy, we ate in the dining room four times. Dave did wear his tux and looked very handsome to. We did have a travel agent’s meeting and met a couple of other agents. We each had a questionnaire we had to fill out by the end of the cruise. This really helped us get to know the ship. They have several things that set them apart from other cruise ships. They have a kennel, a museum with photos of famous people who have sailed on Cunard, and a planetarium. We did get internet in our cabin which made it nice to keep in touch with home. We visited the casino a couple of times, seen a planetarium presentation, listened to a couple of lectures, had a fantastic dinner at the Todd English restaurant, learned about Champaign, went to expo style wine tasting, met the Captain and Officers at the Officer’s Gala, and went to a movie on board. We had a couple of days a sea and all was great.

The islands: Our first stop was Curacao, It was clean and they had a great waterfront, with shopping and restaurants. The bridge across the water was for walkers only and moved out of the way for the ships to come through. We hired a driver Russell to take us around the island and saw hundreds of new houses being built. Many Americans are retiring in Curacao. Russell dropped us off at the water front and we had a snack at a waterfront restaurant and people watched.

Our second stop was Grenada. Grenada was a pleasant surprise. We hired a driver Louis to take us to the waterfall, rainforest, and highlights of the island. We stopped at a spice shop in the mountains and learned a lot about nutmeg and other local spices. The waterfall was beautiful, they had guys you could donate to, and they jumped off the cliff into the water. Our driver worked on a cruise ship for several years and ended up being the perfect guide. The damage was obvious from a Hurricane Emily

they had in 2005. The nutmeg tre

e

s were almost 80 percent lost. We visited the old Spanish fort and met Alice who had great information about the island and we could see for miles from there. The prison was just below

the fort and we were told about the rebels that killed the prime minister are still there, working in the fields. The rebels were funded by a few Russians living on the island. Cuban milita

ry had move onto the island and were going to dissolve their republic and make it Com

munist. A local politician called the United States and President Reagan sent the US Marine.

We decided to keep our driver on for a tour of the St. George's University, this was a nice part of the island. The campus is great the students have two private beaches and great dorms near the classrooms. On our way back to the ship we

stopped by the public beach and put our feet in

the Caribbean water. This is so far our favorite island.

Our next two stops we had been th

ere before; but, I especially was looking forward to St Lucia. At Barbados we went back to the Marina and had appetizer and a glass of wine on the deck of the same restaurant we went to last time. We hired a driver Nick from there to take us to a nearby beach. There was hardly anyone there so we set at the beach bar had a nice visit with the waitress and watched the sailboats go by and a couple of birds make a nest in the rafters. We had made arrangements with our driver

to come back and take us to the ship. N

o worries, just happy.

St Lucia, we did go to a resort beach and hung out. Some of the ships staff that we knew where there enjoying the resort’s beach and pool. We had a great lunch and a wonderful bottle of wine

with the ships crew.

St. Kitts, was a great island for shopping we walked around the port shops and bought a few souvenirs. We probably could have seen some beautiful sites we were getting a little tired after the other four stops in a row.

St Thomas, it was rainy and we hung out

at a pier sidewalk cafe and people watch. This was one of the days we slept in and got off of the ship late. The Caribbean can not be matched by its flavor and beauty.

This was a summary of our wonderful ex

perience on the Queen Mary, we would have loved to have had everyone with us. It was an experience of a lifetime. Please enjoy our stor

y and photos.

Next stop: The South Pacific, Fiji, Australia, and New Zealand.