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

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