In December 1996, we went on a 7 night Royal Caribbean cruise to (where else?) the Caribbean, courtesy of Riddler - Herky won this cruise!! The entire trip was fantastic.. although we're more the backpacking type than cruisers, this was a really fun experience (made even better by the fact that we didn't have to pay for it. :) The folks at Riddler were really nice and gave us plane tickets that we could extend before and after the cruise, so we were able to vacation in Puerto Rico as well as go on this cruise.
Here's a small photo album of our cruise - we've written some brief descriptions/musings in addition to the photos we took. This mini-journal is intended for family and friends to enjoy as well as providing some casual information to others who may want to see what a cruise is all about (it's certainly not about relaxing - WAY too much to do, see, and eat!).
Our ship (which I kept mistakenly calling a mere boat!) was the Royal Caribbean's Monarch of the Seas, which travelled to the following places:
| Day | Destination | Highlights |
|---|---|---|
| 1: Sunday | Depart from San Juan, PR | Overwhelmed by the boat; first look at our cabin |
| 2: Monday | St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands | our first snorkelling of the trip; duty free alcohol drives us wild |
| 3: Tuesday | Martinique | A walk into Fort-de-France |
| 4: Wednesday | Barbados | Gun Hill Station; taxi tour of the island; aborted snorkelling attempts |
| 5: Thursday | Antigua | gorgeous day at a deserted beach |
| 6: Friday | St. Maartens | snorkelling in the rain |
| 7: Saturday | At Sea | rack up those ShipShape dollars! Activities galore on the big boat... |
| 8: Sunday | Back in San Juan, PR | the passenger shuffle (at triple speed) |
Follow any of the day links above to see what went on that day. Or start at the beginning..
© 1997