Eastern Caribbean Cruise - 2015

Who's tired of this never-ending deep freeze? I know I am. A couple of weeks ago we made our escape and took a cruise to the Caribbean. Seven days of nothing but warm sun, far too much food, and endless relaxation.

We left from Fort Lauderdale and sailed to Grand Turk (Turks and Caicos), San Juan (Puerto Rico), and Charlotte Amalie (St. Thomas, USVI). There was also a stop at Half Moon Cay, a private island in the Bahamas owned by the cruise line.

The night before we left, we headed to the grocery store for snacks and drove past Duffy's Sports Grill. You may know about our backyard fold-down bar - and Tom's running joke with his friends about Duffy's Bar & Grill.

So of course we had to stop there for dinner. The place is huge!

When we told the waitress about the joke, she gave us menus, coasters, and MVP cards to take back with us. If only our Duffy`s served fried plantains!

The next morning we headed to the port. The ship we were on was the Eurodam - on the Holland America Line. Holland America has the reputation for being, umm - quieter - than other cruise lines. We had mulled over different lines, and finally decided that quiet was what we were looking for - plus it had an itinerary that we liked. These were three islands that we would probably never have the chance to visit otherwise - they're all very expensive to fly to from Canada.

The sail-away from Fort Lauderdale was subdued as it was overcast and windy that day. Still, one of my favourite things is seeing the huge, huge houses that back onto the waterway. Can you imagine enjoying those views every day?

We had a balcony cabin - nearly the same one we had last time. There was more than enough space for us to spread out - and I appreciated being able to step outside whenever I wanted to.

Of course the highlight of any cruise is the towel animal that is waiting for you when you get back from dinner. And our room steward didn't let us down. The floppy-eared puppy was my personal favourite - no surprise there.

One of the towels in the bathroom was always falling off the hook and landing in a pile on the floor. More often than not, you would open the door to find this guy waiting for you. Tom liked to call him the sleeping pope.

Our first full day was an at-sea day that I spent sprawled in the sun while Tom found a spot in the shade to read a book. I also made him get up every morning to go to the gym, though he was never up early enough to see the sunrise.

That first night we ate dinner with three retired ladies from England, Scotland, and Wales who had met each other on a past cruise and now cruise together each year. We found a shared interest in trivia and teamed up with them every day to test our knowledge - even winning when the theme in the piano bar was 70's music (mostly thanks to Tom). We had so much fun with them; it was sad to say goodbye at the end of the trip.

Our first port of call was Grand Turk in the Turks and Caicos islands.

In (on?) Grand Turk we went snorkeling and...I forgot my underwater camera back in the cabin. I could just kick myself. While we were snorkeling, one of the guides gave me a water bottle half-filled with fish food, and suddenly I was every fish's best friend. I would squeeze the bottle so that some food came out, and the fish would be right up in there gobbling it up. They'd even come up and nudge the bottle, demanding more. And I have no pictures of it. Not a one.

We also went to Gibbs Cay, which is known as Stingray City. The tour guide found a stingray for us to get up close with - each of us getting to support it in the water, and then kissing it. Supposedly it's good luck to kiss a stingray. We did win $10 at the casino slots that night, so maybe it works!

Back from snorkeling, we went to Margaritaville for lunch. Fancy Jimmy Buffet-themed sandwiches and free wifi on the beach.

After lunch we took a walk down the beach towards the south end of the island and the conch graveyard. Thousands of conch shells have washed up on shore and stay there to bleach in the sun. There was this crazy black rock on the beach with a maze-like pattern on it. I saw another one underwater a few days later while snorkeling around a reef - brain coral, maybe?

This port is interesting because the ship docks so close to the shore - it's as if you could walk right through the water and touch it. And the water itself is just incredible - so many different shades of blue.

The next day was an afternoon and evening stop in San Juan, Puerto Rico. San Juan isn't really known for its beaches, but more for its history. The old city is notable for its two forts - El Morro and San Cristobal - and its narrow cobblestone streets. This was our introduction to San Juan as we rounded the island heading to port:

We spent the afternoon wandering through both forts, then down into the city for some gelato.

At dinnertime we returned to the ship for a shower and a change of clothes, then back into Old San Juan for dinner. We were looking for something authentically Puerto Rican and stumbled upon Triana Tapas and Flamenco Restaurant. The food was fantastic - Tom had mofongo and I had scallops and plantain. But the music was a bit loud for our taste. You had to yell just to talk to each other or to the waiter.

We still had plenty of time after dinner, so we walked around a bit more and then back to the ship, getting to see what it looks like lit up at night.

The following day was a port day again. This time Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, in the US Virgin Islands. We had plans to snorkel in Trunk Bay on the island of St. John, so we were up early and ended up being the first ones off the ship. We took a taxi across St. Thomas and caught a ferry for the short ride to St. John.

Trunk Bay was rated one of the world's most beautiful beaches by National Geographic and it's well-deserved. The water is just gorgeous, the bay is fairly small, and the beach isn't crowded at all. There is an underwater trail for snorkeling with signs telling you about the coral below. This time I did remember my disposable underwater camera, but the pictures aren't back from the developer yet, so you'll just have to wait! I've decided that we need to buy a digital underwater camera - waiting two weeks for pictures is just crazy.

After exhausting ourselves snorkeling, we hung out on the beach for a few hours and then headed back to the ferry dock for some lunch before the ferry arrived. We ended up in a taxi van for the trip back into Charlotte Amalie and were a little stressed about how long it took because everyone was being dropped off at different places. We wanted to do a little looking around at the buildings and historic sites before our 4:30pm all-aboard.

We were dropped off at "99 Steps" - a staircase street that joins the main street to the residential area. The streets are steeply sloped, so these little staircases are a great way to make your way down the hill.

We walked from there to Fort Christian - the oldest standing structure in the USVI, and currently a museum. We are huge fans of the Amazing Race and when I saw the fort this past season I knew I wanted to go there. Unfortunately it was being renovated, so all we got were pictures of it covered with scaffolding.

After trudging back into the town center, we found a cute pub in an alleyway and stopped for a couple of drinks. This is where I discovered lime-flavoured rum and put it on my to-buy list for when we got back to Fort Lauderdale.

The rest of the cruise was pretty relaxing. We had another at-sea day and then a day at Half Moon Cay on an island in the Bahamas that the cruise line owns. We didn't have any plans there except to sit in the sun and read books.

So how about the food? As most people know, there is an over-abundance of food available on a cruise. We ate far more than we needed to, but tried to keep it as healthy as possible. Their salad bars were incredible and I'm trying to replicate some of those salads now that I'm back at home.

Twice we ate at a specialty restaurant on board called the Tamarind, and I swear, it was the best food I've ever eaten in my life. It's an Asian restaurant with choices from just about any region you could think of. One night I had potstickers and Thai shrimp, while another night I had various spring rolls and Vietnamese-style lamb. Tom had Malaysian and Thai satay and wasabi-crusted tenderloin the first night, and sushi and curry chicken the second.

But I have to tell you about the desserts. Oh, the desserts! Picture this - tempura battered coconut ice cream. Seriously, can you believe it? And banana bread pudding with caramel sauce. It was like little banana bread fritters. We rolled out of there each time, almost ashamed at how much we'd eaten, but it was all so good!

We had a really great time, though we think we might stick to some land-based vacations for a while. There are just too many places we want to see!