January 2014 Cruise

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On January 12, 2014 we departed Bayonne on a 9 night cruise to the Eastern Caribbean Islands.  We visited Old San Juan, Puerto Rico; St. Thomas, Virgin Islands; Samana, Dominican Republic; Labadee, Haiti, and we had a blast along the way.

The image below is our ship docked in San Juan.

 

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This first gallery is a series of photos taken as we left Bayonne, crossed under the Verrazano Bridge, and headed out to sea:

 

Enjoying activities on the ship while we sail towards Puerto Rico.  Yes there was an ice rink on the ship.  Not only could you skate, but there was an amazing ice show.  Brynn was selected to be in the show:

 

Sunset in Old San Juan:

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Enjoying the evening in Old San Juan.  We hiked to Castillo San Felipe Del Morrow to view the sunset.  This is a historic military fort we sailed past on the way in to the harbor.  Then we did some shopping and walking around in Old San Juan.  It was a beautiful night.

 

Shopping and touring around in St. Thomas.  In one of the photos, notice our ship parallel parked between two other vessels.  It was a truly remarkable feat watching the captain and pilots work the ship into that “parking spot.”

 

Next it was off to Samana, Dominican Republic.  We toured a tropical garden, and we enjoyed a nice afternoon on the beach along with some drinks and fruit salad.

 

The crew of the ship was so nice, but the girls especially loved Leigh, our Australian cruise director, and Erky from Turkey, our Activities Director.

 

Amy did a dance lesson with the most amazing performers – featured dancers Eva and Uros from the Royal Caribbean Dancers and Singers who entertained us several nights.

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Not pictured was our amazing day in Labadee Haiti.  We pulled into port on Shabbat and were restricted in what we could do.  We actually found a minyan on the ship and were able to have both Friday night and Shabbat morning services followed by a beautiful afternoon relaxing by the sea.  Labadee is Royal Caribbean’s private resort and it has some amazing activities including several beaches, lots of shopping, an incredible zipline that descends over the sea, jet skiing,  and parasailing.

While it was frustrating not to indulge in some of the amazing activities, we still had a great time and look forward to a return someday.