USA Bound

An early morning start and we headed to the Montreal train station bound for the USA. Our first stop being New York, but more importantly our cruise for the next 10 days. After around 3-4 hours on the train we arrived at the border of the USA where we were greeted by Border Security for Passport checks etc. We were going to be fine of course however the guards still managed to make us feel a little nervous although we had nothing to be nervous about. Mind you the Border Security guys are pretty intimidating which of course is their job. After paying our fee into the country and being cleared we were now officially in the United States of America. The train journey took around 10 hours rushing through the country side of New York State before finally arriving at Penn Station Manhattan. We managed to navigate the crazy subway system to get to our hotel in New Jersey.

Waking up hoping to see a clear day for sailing we were a little disappointed to see a blanket of smog or fog or whatever it seemed to be blocking our view of New York. We made our way to Cape Liberty via taxi and driving into the port there was our glorious vessel for the next 10 days, The Explorer of the Seas. Wow was all I could say, at the start, to marvel at such a huge ship. Like aviation I often wonder how such big aircraft fly in the sky, this huge vessel made me wonder how does one construct this to make it float, whilst at the same time thinking who cares, I am going on a huge cruise ship and how much fun it was going to be.

We dropped off our bags and headed onto the ship. We stepped aboard and made our way to our cabin before exploring the ship. Plenty of things to do on the ship as we strolled around including basketball, soccer and volleyball court, Casino, Ice skating rink, Bars galore, Theatre, Movie screen, Arcade, Putt Putt golf, relaxing by the pool, a gym and spa, restaurants and plenty of Jacuzzi's. We set out from New Jersey Port and hopeful of seeing a glimpse of New York City but to no avail due to the humidity and the fog/smog that loomed around the city. Our first stop was to be Bermuda, but first we had a day and half on the water.

Maddie and the town Cryer

Main Street of Hamilton

Us and Our Ship

Deck 5

We spent the next day on the water and we explored the boat some more before just taking the time to relax after being on the road for around 3 weeks and then arriving in Bermuda the following day.
The boat docked around 8am and after breakfast we headed off the boat and onto a ferry from Bermuda Dockyard across to Hamilton (The capital of Bermuda). A small and colourful city we strolled around before heading back across to the dockyard and back onto the boat. In the case of Bermuda and the other islands we were about to arrive at it would have been nice to have more than just the one day to explore these areas. It just didn't feel like enough time to see the culture of some of these places. We headed back out to sea for a full day on the water before arriving in Philipsburg, St. Maarten.

Here we jumped onto a bus for an excursion which included kayaking and snorkelling. We were dropped off at Pelican Beach and headed out into the water on a two man kayak, making our way around a rock wall and onto Flamingo beach for 1 hour of snorkelling. A small reef with small pieces of ship wrecks lying on the bottom was there to explore as well as some fish life. Of note we saw our first dragon fish and even got to swim with a sea turtle, that was cool. The weather once again did not bless us and it rained whilst snorkelling and was overcast most of the day so the colours of the coral, water and fish were not on full display. We headed back to Pelican Beach for a finishing beverage before heading back on board and next stop, San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Sunset of St Maarten

Sea Turtle 

Puerto Rico, or officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is the 51st state of the USA, however if living in Puerto Rico you are unable to vote as an American citizen unless you move to the mainland USA. We arrived early and no shops were yet to open so we walked around the inner city and made our way to Castillo San Felipe del Morro the 16th century citadel. Similar to that of the Citadel in Quebec city this particular Citadel had both structures from the spanish era of the 16th Century and that of the 20th Century from WW2. Once again only another short stay gave us enough time to stroll around the city of San Juan taking in some of the spanish culture before boarding the boat and heading to Haiti.

Bang Bang

Crazy Cat Lady

Citadel

Citadel from the ship

San Juan

Archway of trees along a walkway

Streets of San Juan

Coast of San Juan

After spending the night on the water we arrived in Labadee, Haiti. We thought we were going to see another city, on another island and we were a little disappointed when we arrived at a private beach owned by Royal Carribean. It was nice to sit on the beach all day but we did want to see Haiti and it's culture but we were also advised that it would not be a great idea to venture into the main city. After spending the day on the beach and soaking up some much needed sun we headed back to the ship for the return journey to New York.

The cruise enabled us time to recharge our batteries a little and in between stops we had the pleasure of meeting some lovely people from around the globe. In particular Peter and Maree from Johannesburg, and Steve and Jen from Long Island. We spent most of our mornings enjoying breakfast with Peter and Maree and the last few nights dinner with Steve and Jen.

A night out 

Towel Dog

Our wonderful and talented room attendant, Joseph from Haiti. Every day he would fold a towel animal for us. It made coming back to our room that little more exciting. He certainly knows how to make extra tips. He was a vey lovely guy and it was a pleasure to meet him.
 

Towel Elephant

Towel Monkey

Sunset on Deck 5

Sunset

The days on the ship were spent relaxing by the pool and sitting on the deck whilst enjoying some of the onboard activities. We played Putt Putt a few times, shot some hoops on the basketball court, had cocktails on the 14th floor bar, played arcade games, went to an ice skating show, game shows of a night time, shuffle board on the deck and even learned how to play craps in the casino. Probably not the smartest idea in the world to learn another gambling game but rolling the dice was fun, except when you lose.

So that was our cruise adventure. A nice experience and glad we had time to relax before hitting the road for 4 months.

Hope everyone is keeping well

Peace Out
Andy and Maddie