Salt Life - Cruising the Islands

[STUMP HUNTER]

Karen and myself took our first cruise and our first vacation in 8 years from Last Friday & returned home Thursday.
A great trip all the way around with no troubles at all beside some heavy rain on the drive down to Florida last Friday.
Could not believe the size of the ship and I am not sure at the miles we walked aboard the ship. We had a great crew that was there for your every need but we didn't have any needs that wasn't already covered.

We sailed for a day and a half and two nights to the Dominican Republic for the first stop Monday. Very beautiful and so was the people with being very opened and friendly. The green of the mountains was very vivid after being on the water and seeing blue for so long. We docked at 8:30 am and deported at 4:30 pm which gave enough time to see all the sites we wanted to see plus of course doing all the shops...

We sailed again all night and docked at the Grand Turks the next morning with the same times to site see. We wasn't impressed with the Island nor the people there as they seemed very rude even in the shops so the wife and myself was back on the ship in less than an hour drinking a cold one and laid back in the sun.

After leaving the Turks Tuesday it was a none stop trip back to the port at Cocoa Beach and we arrived there at 7:00 am Thursday. I must say we had a great time and never had any problems boarding the ship through customs or coming back through.

Now for the ship, there is no way you will go hungry! Food all the time and for the 3200 guest no one had to wait long in lines or to be seated in the many dining rooms on board. We seen three shows on board the ship which were great and also seen a few groups singing on different floors. You could bet a bar was always close by LOL and many nightclubs to pick from if that was on your list of things to do, they are going to get some of your money one way or another.

As for our-self's we would do another cruise as it is very laid back or as wide open as you would like but I think I would like a three or four day cruise better than five days but that's just me. Driving the 1100 or so miles on the interstates was the hardest part but the ride wasn't all that bad either with both of us taking turns driving.

A few pics from the trip, the first five are of the Dominican Republic and then Grand Turks. The last picture was took while leaving post, when you see a maned gun at the front of the boat you start to understand the world has really changed and they make sure no one gets onto the ship that shouldn't.

(I posted some more pics on facebook you may get a kick out of seeing