Caribbean Vacation

Chris and I just returned from our latest and greatest Caribbean vacation. We've been there four times in the last six years! We always set out to go someplace else, and we always end up in the Caribbean. We're starting to run out of islands to visit!

As always, I kept an extensive travel journal. I'll share it with you...

Dec 4, 2011 - Seattle to Miami

My mom showed up at the house in the morning, and a half hour later we were out the door and heading for the airport. First stop was to buy a waterproof camera. Underwater disposable cameras are no good, so a couple years ago I bought a waterproof case for our Nikon point-and-shoot (a camera that I have always hated, which is why it got demoted for underwater usage). The night before we left, Chris discovered that the Nikon wasn’t working. So after some quick research, we found and bought an underwater camera, and then we were on our way to the airport.

Real quick: I'm sort of amazed that we even made it onto the plane. Chris jokingly made a couple of inappropriate comments to a TSA agent (it was obvious the agent found the comments funny, but still). Good grief!

The flight wasn’t bad. Within minutes of taking off we had a grand view of Mt Rainier with Mt Adams, Mount St Helens, and Mt Hood in the background. There was snow on the ground in Denver, where we had a layover. I was sad to see that it was overcast because I wanted to see the mountains. When we landed in Ft Lauderdale, we were greeted with wind and rain. We arrived late at night and didn’t think it was worth spending money on a hotel room, so we rented a car and drove all over the Ft Lauderdale and Miami areas. We had the holiday music turned up and admired all the amazing Christmas lights.

We drove out to Miami Beach and watched the sunrise. A couple of cruise ships were headed into port, including ours.

We headed to the rental car drop-off and talked our way onto an Alamo courtesy shuttle (the company we rented from didn’t provide a shuttle). A $20 bill and a smile works every time. (For the record, $20 was a bargain compared to what a cab and tip would have cost.)

We arrived at the pier and got a glimpse of the Imagination. Boarding was quick and painless. We did the usual: went up to the Lido and ate. Our cabin was ready fairly quickly and our bags were delivered in record time. We did the mandatory muster drill and then it was time to sail. As soon as the drill was finished we headed back to our cabin for a much-needed nap. We got up and ate, then headed back to bed for the night. We were wiped.