Sailing, sailing...

This is something that happened just about 2 years ago. I went on the best vacation of my life!! When my marriage fell apart, my friend, Tina came to my rescue and saved my life. She worked at the Curves where I was a member and we chatted often and became friends. Tina was the one who called me often and dragged my sorry butt out of the house from time to time for dinner and movies.

One day, Tina asked me if I was interested in going on a cruise. Then she asked if I could get away for a 10-night cruise! I had only been on one cruise before several years ago, a short 3 night cruise with my ex. So I immediately agreed and decided I'd figure out what to do with my 16 year old kid while I was cruising the Caribbean. I let Tina do the planning since she'd been on 5 or 6 cruises before and she wanted to go to places she'd never been. I, on the other hand, had only been to Key West and Cozumel, so I was open for anywhere! Every week I'd give Tina $20 to put in an envelope, more when I had it to spare. We saved and saved for a year and a half!

Our itinerary was to fly to Ft. Lauderdale and board the Constellation, one of Celebrity Cruise Line's beautiful ships! We were 2 days at sea, then stops each day at St. Maartens, St. Lucia, Barbados, St. Kitts and St. Thomas, followed by 2 days at sea, back to Ft. Lauderdale for a flight home to cold, cold Philadelphia.

The Constellation

One of the best ideas Tina had was to get a cabin with a balcony. Every morning, Raquelle came to our cabin with coffee and we sat on our little balcony and had our coffee and planned our day and laughed and laughed! I hadn't laughed like that in 10 years! We always ate all of our meals on the ship. The food! OMG the food! Anything you wanted for breakfast was there! Lunch was well, lunch. Although, each day there was a different buffet (one day Italian, one day Indian, Mexican, etc.) Dinner was a 5 course meal every single night! I gained 7 pounds on that cruise! We called our trip The Just divorced Cruise. I had just gotten my divorce the month before and Tina was in the process. Tina's sister made this sign for our door and we decorated with champagne bottle and glasses and taped candy all over our door! It was the hit of the cruise because everyone knew where their room was by looking for our door!

We didn't spend a lot of money on the excursions, they cost big bucks sometimes and my funds were limited. We spent our at-sea days by the pool with good books and strawberry daquiris! It didn't take long for the waiters and bartenders to know who we were and what we liked! This one waiter came around one morning (well it was around 11:30 ... and someone else was doing the driving!) and asked us if we were ready for the Captain (Morgan, that is) LOL!! We tipped him well! Captain Morgan was our very good friend on that trip!

our friend, Captain Morgan

Our first stop was St. Maartens, on the Dutch side of the island. There was a beachside bar called The Firehouse that made the strongest strawberry daquiris I've ever tasted! We were majorly buzzed after only one daquiri! We did a little shopping on this island. And I discovered that sending text messages from St. Maartens is EXPENSIVE!!! LOL

St. Maartens

The next day we stopped in St. Lucia. This island was not a favorite of mine, but the landscape was interesting. We did a 3 hour bus tour and discovered this was not one of the more affluent islands, at least not the places they took us. As we started the tour, it was very tropical. Then as we rode to the higher elevations, the terrain changed and we were in a forest, with pine trees rather than palm trees! This waterfall was the best part of the trip! All in all it was nice but more primitive than the others.

St. Lucia

Then it was off to Barbados and the best beach aloe massage I ever had for $10! A local guy did them right on the beach! it was wonderful! The surf at this island was rougher than I thought! It knocked me ass over head and Tina laughed her ass off!

Barbados

Our 4th island stop was my favorite! St. Kitts! All we did was go to the beach and buy booze and cologne but it was so relaxing!!!! And I ran into a girl who went to college with my daughter! She was a dancer on the ship! I think this looks like a Corona ad! I took this shot which is why it's bigger than the others.

St. Kitts

Our last stop was St. Thomas, Tina's favorite because this is where she buys her jewelry. When you go into a shop on St. Thomas, they ply you with alcohol so maybe you'll spend more money. Tina left with a beautiful tanzanite ring and a six-pack of beer! We sat on a bench and drank the beer! LOL!

Tina and me on St. Thomas

A few more days at sea and we were back in Florida and then on to Philly and the real world. I wish I had the money to cruise every year. It was so relaxing and I didn't get sick at all. We saw a double rainbow in the middle of the ocean. We had one day when the water was a bit choppy but we discovered that the indoor pool is a hoot when the sea is choppy! Just like going in a wave pool! One day I'd like to take a cruise to Alaska and do the interior too.