And the adventure begins! \240Early flights to San Juan, Puerto Rico, where our journey will begin tomorrow. Arrived in time to get to our hotel and the Distrito T-Mobile Park area.

Music and lights!

Bulls

We wanted to try Mufongo so we went down to a restaurant called Safon. It did not disappoint. We had it with grilled chicken and mushrooms.

Local beer and sangria

Yummmm - Mufango is smashed plantains.

Fun sign!

Being goofy with the local art

Headed back to our hotel - Aloft for a drink \240beer for Diane and spritz for Tee. \240And then zzzzz time - long day.

Nice patio on the street next to the park.

One of many squares

Love the color buildings.

The blue cobblestone streets.

After breakfast, we wandered over to check out the old forts, which are a UNESCO Heritage site. Kind of cool to wander around seeing cannons and going up and down a lot of stairs.

Pictures in the battalion openings.

Island vibes

View from afar

And a cemetery of course.

Had to rest our feet so stopped for a local beer.

Cutie.

This is the local beer that we drank in Puerto Rico

And time to board our ship - checkin was super easy and our bags at our door allowed us to quickly settle in. Time to explore our ship and grab a pizza and some ice cream.

Red velvet cone and rocky road for Tee and vanilla cone with chocolate and strawberry for Diane

And of course, the Sailway party. Up on the deck above the pool, we toasted with the ship hostess- cheers!🥂

Look like sailors, don’t we?

Ended the evening at the Dock with a little nibble and relaxing in the fresh air

The bus- the bus. Heading on our way to Margot on the French side. Unfortunately, as it was Sunday, most things were closed. A little bit of a disappointment.

The border crossing into the French side.

Diane posing with the lady in \240Margot.

Like this palm tree in the middle of the bay.

And headed to Majo Beach. This beach is known for being close to the airport runway so the planes come in right over your head. Kind of cool to watch, but the beach is very small and very crowded. So us being us we went and sat at a restaurant.

Great view from the restaurant deck

Diane captured this picture - pretty much exactly what we saw. Look at those landing gears.!

We got off the bus in downtown Phillipsburg. Things were closed, so we wandered around and stopped in the Amsterdam cheese shop and then found a cute little bar to sit out and have a local beer.

Great picture Tee.. I really like this one.

View on the way back to the port.

Clogs - ha!

Nice view on our way back to port.

One more stop at Sharkeys. We had this beer which is from Trinidad and also a shot called lick my p….

And so we must depart.

Back on board, we took a little nappy poo and then went to dinner at Gumbae- the \240Korean barbecue on our ship. \240

Pictures of our food, of course. It was an interesting concept, and we played a drinking game at the beginning. This was our appetizer.

Their version of rice \240

The shrimp and octopus were good. Squid not so much.

And off to enjoy our balcony. I love love the hammock.

In front of the restaurant.

Breakfast of \240champions on a sea day starts with champagne.

This was one of the appetizers. It was very yummy, but the fruit was frozen, so it was very cold.

Avocado toast of course - gotta have my avocados.

Baked eggs and mushrooms.

Waffles with sweet cream and a cherry compote.

Churros and machi. I like machi.

Next a stop into the hot tub for the first time this trip. Felt great!

Next up nap and then a comedian show. Sharon Mahoney. She mostly did crowd work so it wasn’t the best show I have seen.

Time to relax in the chair at the Dock restaurant. Found this to be our favorite hang out place so far. Nice view off the back of the boat with soothing jazz music playing.

And what do you know - time to eat again. This time at the Italian eatery, Extra Virgin.

Charcuterie board and meatballs for starters. Meatballs were quite good.

Main entrees were eggplant Parmesan which included olives and a sirloin steak. Full at this point but had to have dessert.

Chocolate olive cake. Not to sweet…

And one more show. The Miss Behave show which was an interactive game show. Fun to sing and scream out answers.

Day 4 and a grand tour of the island of Saint Lucia commences! As we pulled into port there was a quick shower that resulted in a great rainbow. 🌈

View from the boat as we are docking.

As we start on our bus tour, this is the view of our ship.

Home away from home.

Our tour guide for our seven hour bus tour. \240The island of course has one road pretty much to go around. Some parts were good, but some were very rocky and bouncy. We stopped at some nice view points along the way.

Dang, not open

This is our first spotting of the Pitons, \240Their national UNESCO sight.. From here they look side-by-side, but as we experienced along the way they look different depending on your viewpoint. They are actually 2.5 miles apart.

This is the bowl made from a calabash plant that we purchased at a roadside stop.

This island boasts the only drive-through volcano in the Caribbean. Not sure this was what I expected, but it is basically a caldera that you can drive through because it’s 12 mi.². This is the sulfur springs.

Of course had to have the national beer of the island

Had an included lunch which was stewed chicken, cooked bananas, and rice with lentils.

We stopped at an old sugar plantation. They no longer produce sugar on this island. Their main crop is bananas. We did try fresh coconut water.

And our final stop before heading back to the boat was at this waterfall. Small compared to some we have seen and very, very cold.

Back on board, it was Scarlet night which is VV red themed night. Didn’t make it to much but got to see lots of red dressed sailors.

Not one but three desserts.

At the Social House having a strawberry lemon drop shot

Killing time watching KaraKature singing.

Tentacles across the ship along with 12 cast members that are there to pump up the sailors

Had to have one and it did sparkle. ✨

People in red :-)

Best signs are in the cruise ports.

Walking outside the cruise port. Walked for about a mile.

Nice architecture

And marinas of course.

We hired a driver for an hour for $50 to take us on a tour of the island. Wasn’t the choice I was expecting, but we did get to see several neighborhoods. He dropped us off at Champers for my birthday lunch.

Our driver

They put my name on our menu :).

Started with coconut shrimp - probably one of the best I have ever had.

I had blackened barracuda. It was yummy…

Diane had the flying fish - a Barbados tradition.

This was so yummy. Rum, honey and cinnamon.

View from our table. It was right on the water - a little loud but nice.

We brought our suits so we walked next door to Rockly Beach, changed and chilled.

Our set-up.

No crowds or cruisers.

Made our we back to the cruise port for their local beer - \240Banks and Carib which is served on most islands.

And nap time.

Photo stop on the boat.

Yes - I really do like the hammock.

Good morning ☀️!! \240First great sunrise from our balcony.

The harbor

Got off the ship for a bit - not much to do but drink a beer and walk around the small village. My least favorite stop.

Lorraine is their local beer.

Nice smile.

Strike a pose.

And a church of course.

And a sea view.

Back on board, we hung out at the Dock again, chatting with a few people, and then went to dinner at the Wake.

Tried bone marrow for the first time, not a fan.

Filet mignon, which was quite good and a \240surprise roasted garlic

Our sides - both good

Their version of lemon cheesecake so cute and so good

Saw the show Lola’s Library - it was quite entertaining:-).

Sign at the cruise terminal.

At the top of Timothy Hill. Great view!

Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Caribbean Sea on the other.

We booked a beach day - quiet and semi-private. Beer included so we had a few - nice way to wind down our vacation.

Repeat picture :-).

Look - no crowds.

Finishing up before heading back to the ship.

Had a nap of course and then a quick drink, pizza and ice cream followed by a ride in the hammock again.