A GREAT EUROPE TRIP PLANNER

3.08.2015

UNDER THE SEA AND ON THE WATERFRONT IN BARBADOS

After a day at sea, our second port stop will be Barbados. This will be as far south in the Caribbean we will have traveled since our trip to Aruba in 2002. This stop is one of the reasons we booked this cruise...I have always wanted to visit Barbados.

We have booked our shore excursion for Barbados: We're going to descend 150 feet under the clear, turquoise Caribbean Sea aboard the Atlantis Submarine.

Stepping down the ladder into the 48-person submarine...
© www.totallybarbados.com

we dive as deep as 150 feet below the surface to view a shipwreck...
© www.totallybarbados.com

and view beautiful coral reefs, colorful fish and various other marine life...

Since this excursion is only 2½ hours long, this should leave us plenty of time to taxi into the capital town of Bridgetown.

Through the center of Bridgetown runs the Constitution River, The wharf and river walk area at the lower part of the river is known to the locals as The Careenage (where smaller vessels would careen (or tilt) for repairs)... © http://blog.aircanadavacations.com/beyond-beach-top-10-things-barbados/)

With the colorful buildings and restaurants along the promenade and impressive yachts, this area will provide many photos opportunities.
© http://www.easyvoyage.co.uk/barbados

The pedestrian-only Chamberlain Bridge, a swing bridge, spans the river between Independence Square and the National Heroes Square which features a bronze statue of British naval hero Admiral Lord Nelson.
© http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamberlain_Bridge

Across the street from National Heroes Square, the Parliament Building houses the third oldest Parliament in the British Commonwealth after Britain and Bermuda. It was founded in 1639 and the present buildings were completed in 1873...
© www.barbados.org

Originally consecrated in 1665, and then rebuilt in 1789 is St. Michael's Cathedral just a block from the Parliament Building. If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know I love old churches so this will be a must-see.

With the possible underwater sights on the submarine and waterfront sights in Bridgetown, our stop in Barbados is bound to be memorable!

Thank you for visiting,

A Great Europe Trip Planner

3.01.2015

FIRST PORT STOP: CHARLOTTE AMALIE, U.S.V.I.

On our upcoming cruise, Carnival Liberty doesn't depart the San Juan port until 10:00 at night. This is a first for us as we are used to departing port in the late afternoon. We arrive in our first port stop just the next morning at 7:00 a.m., a hop, skip and a jump from San Juan: the U.S. Virgin Islands.

This will be our first trip to the U.S. Virgin Islands. Of course being a part of the United States, U.S. dollars are accepted everywhere, U.S. visitors usually don’t pay roaming charges for cell-phone use, and English is spoken everywhere. Since we are docked in Charlotte Amalie until 5:00 p.m., we would have enough time for a shore excursion plus shopping time back in town.

One possible shore excursion would take us to the island of St. John and the Trunk Bay Beach.

You can see from these photos why Trunk Bay is considered one of the world's most beautiful beaches.

There is a 225-yard long snorkel trail...
© www.seestjohn.com

with signs with arrows to point you in the right direction...
© www.seestjohn.com

and give information about what the sealife you may see...
© www.seestjohn.com

Since the excursion is only 4½ hours, we'll have time for some duty-free shopping. Remember: U.S. residents enjoy a $1,600 duty-free allowance here...twice the allowance of other islands. Not that I'll be spending even close to that amount of money!!

A frequent cruiser will be familiar with those stores that seem to be in every port: Diamonds International, Del Sol, Little Switzerland, etc. However there are some other places I have read about that I think we'll visit instead:

Within walking distance from the dock are the Shops of Yacht Haven Grande. With upscale retailers such as Louis Vuitton, BCBG Maxazria, Gucci, fun-sounding stores such as How ‘Bout Your Pet, 1 Eyed Jack’s, Flip-Flop Shops and Pirates of Red Hook, clothing stores such as Aqua Beachwear and Bella Vera and eateries named Da Lime in Da Coconut and Fat Turtle, this mall sounds like a great place to visit. Of course there are also gorgeous waterfront views with the magnificent megayachts docked in the harbor.
© www.yachthavengrande.com

A 5-minute taxi ride away is downtown Charlotte Amalie, the capital of the U.S. Virgin Islands. Here is where you find the usual cruise port shops like Diamonds International. However my research has discovered a store which sells much better, and more delicious, merchandise: The Belgian Chocolate Factory! This is a must-see store!
© www.thebelgianchocolatefactory.com

Now as much as I love Belgian chocolate, one cannot live (realistically) on sweets alone. I have discovered a couple of other restaurants nearby that are possibilities for a late lunch:

Directly across the plaza from The Belgian Chocolate Factory is Greengos Caribbean Cantina:
© www.foodidude.com

They look like they serve up some delicious tacos...
© www.greengoscantina.com

Directly on the waterfront of Charlotte Amalie is Big Kahuna Rum Shack.
© www.bigkahunausvi.com

Whereas Greengos Caribbean Cantina is a Mexican-style restaurant, Big Kahuna has a variety of burgers, club sandwiches and flatbreads. Check out their menu here.

We are really looking forward to our first visit to the U.S. Virgin Islands. After a day at sea, our second port stop is Barbados, an island I have always wanted to visit. I'll talk about our possible plans for our visit in Barbados in my next post.

Thank you for visiting,

A Great Europe Trip Planner

2.16.2015

PLANNING FOR OUR UPCOMING CRUISE...

We are counting down the days to our upcoming cruise.

When we started planning this cruise, we donated our old black luggage to the Goodwill and purchased a complete new set. We decided to go with something other than our usual black and purchased five pieces from the Travelpro Platinum Magna series in Siena, including two 26" Expandable Suiters (left) and the 50" Rolling Garment Bag (right). We also purchased two 22" Carry-on pieces. If you are interested in this luggage, my suggestion is to shop on the Luggagepros website. Their prices are hard to beat.
© www.travelpro.com

For this upcoming cruise, we are flying to San Juan, Puerto two days prior to departure. As you know from my previous post, I loved walking through Old San Juan, but my husband got only as far as Señor Frog's. Those two days will give him a chance to see the colorful buildings and beautiful architecture that I fell in love with.

We will be staying at La Terrazza de San Juan, described as "...a small, luxury boutique hotel in the heart of historic old San Juan." It is the #2-ranked hotel in San Juan on Tripadvisor...
© Tripadvisor.com

Its location on Calle del Sol is convenient to some of the sites we are interested in seeing, such as the basketball court that the star basketball player Carmelo Anthony had refurbished in 2010 (my husband is a huge basketball fan!)...

and the Castillo San Cristóbal which stands guard at the eastern, or land, entrance to the walled city of Old San Juan.

We'll be able to walk through the fortification, which was built in 1634, and see the cannons...

enter the sentry boxes...

and see spectacular views of the Atlantic Ocean coastline like I photographed during my visit to Castillo San Felipe del Morro...

We are cruising on Carnival Liberty...© carnival-news.com

We're excited that we will be visiting three islands that we have never been to: the U.S. Virgin Islands, Barbados and St. Lucia. We also also excited that we will visiting St. Maarten again. In a recent post, I wrote how we loved St. Maarten...it was our favorite stop on our last cruise. We will also be visiting St. Kitts again.

In my next post, I'll preview the excursions we have planned during the cruise.

Thank you for visiting,

A Great Europe Trip Planner

Except where noted, all photos in this post were taken by me during our Caribbean cruise in May, 2014

2.07.2015

A PRIVATE PARADISE: VISITING LABADEE

Our final port stop was Labadee. A small peninsula nestled at the base of the lush hills on the northern coast of Haiti, Labadee is a private resort leased by Royal Caribbean.

In 2009, Royal Caribbean spent over $55 million improving the facilities including upgrading the ship dock in order to accommodate their large Freedom-class and Oasis-class ships, like our Independence of the Seas.

The beach is the main attraction on Labadee. A crescent-shaped area of sugary sand, located on the calm cove waters, is shaded by numerous palm trees. Complimentary lounge chairs are available.

NOTE: There is a water slide, roller coaster and floating water apparatus for kids to use, but the rental fees are priced too high in my opinion.

However, we did rent the floating mats and took turns enjoying the refreshing Caribbean waters and our tropical refreshments.

Local merchants are allowed to sell their colorful wares...it was interesting haggling prices with them!

We did purchase one of the small colorful artworks.

Instead of taking the tender back to the ship, we decided to walk back to the ship which allowed us to see more of Labadee. How strange to see these conifer-like trees in the midst of tropical palm trees...

We were able to see the spectacular Atlantic Ocean side...

and the amazing Dragon's Breath Flight Line...a 500-foot long zipline ride directly over the water!

Colorful Haitian dancers welcomed back to the ship.

As we sailed away from Labadee, we knew we still had one last full sea day on the ship before sailing back to Fort Lauderdale.

Thank you for visiting,

A Great Europe Trip Planner

All photos in this post were taken by my husband and me during our Caribbean cruise in May, 2014