BARBADOS We docked in Bridgetown, the capital city. Because it was Boxing Day, everything was closed up. (except for drinking and gambling establishments)
MORE FUN ON THE BOAT
The cooking of Kim's Bananas Foster.	Fellow cruisers...don't give the window washers more of a view than they bargained for.
Some of the Norwegian Jewel staff singing Christmas Carols.
ST. LUCIA
	We dropped anchor in Castries, on the Western side of the island. The second map is a closer view. You can make out Pigeon Island almost at the top where we visited Fort Rodney and the beach after horse back riding.
First stop...International Pony Club
	If you look closely, you can see the water in the background. That is the bay where we are headed on horse back.
Next stop...Fort Rodney
This is the view of Fort Rodney from our balcony. In the next pictures, you see us atop the fort and Signal Point (which was even higher)!	Looking up at Fort Rodney.
Looking down on Fort Rodney (as viewed from Signal Peak).
Fort Rodney	View from Fort Rodney.
Fort Rodney	Fort Rodney
Atop Signal Peak (a ten minute almost vertical climb).	Signal Peak
Looking up at Signal Peak from the park grounds.
Now at the beach at Pigeon Island National Historical Park The beach was in this park. The girls opted not to come to the fort part of the park.
	Honest, we weren't up all night having fun.
Where we ate lunch at the park.
Castries...walking around town
LAST DAYS AT SEA
CHOCOHOLIC Buffet

TRIP REPORT

Thursday, December 20, 2007 - Getting Out of Dodge
We were very fortunate that we planned to fly out of Providence and not Boston because while we only had a dusting of snow today, Logan had tons of snow and canceled flights galore! We left for Ft. Lauderdale a little late, but didn't have trouble making our connection because Southwest held the flight. We arrived around 10:30pm, collected our luggage and took a taxi down to Miami (a quick 30 minute ride). Our heads finally hit the pillow around 1am.

Friday, December 21, 2007 - Little Havana & Boarding the Cruise
We slept in until around 11am, then got packed up and brought our luggage down to be stored since cruise boarding didn't start until 1pm and we know from experience that you don't want to arrive right at the beginning of boarding and a later arrival avoids the throngs.

We took a ten minute cab ride to the Little Havana section of Miami and enjoyed the BEST cuban food we have ever had. AMAZING!!! We had cubanos, roasted pork, yucca, rice & beans, fried plantains, and fried sweet potato. In case you're ever in Miami, it's called Exquisito Restaurant and is at 1510 SW 8th St. (Calle Ocho), in the heart of Little Havana.

We took a cab back to the hotel, collected our luggage and rode over to board the ship. Our plan worked flawlessly. By 2:30 the crowds were gone and we sailed right through boarding and were in our rooms in a half-hour at the most. It was fantastic and by far the simplest boarding we've ever experienced.

We spent the rest of the day getting to know the ship and we signed Miranda and Kaeli up for the teen program. They relaxed by the pool for a while, worked on meeting boys and then we all met up for the annoying, yet mandatory life jacket safety drill. After that Stuart and I hit the spa (we joined again this cruise) and relaxed in the jacuzzi and on these cool heated ceramic chairs. For dinner the girls wanted to hit the salad bar so Stuart and I enjoyed the steakhouse on our own. After dinner we caught the tail end of the comedian and he was pretty good. Then we strolled around a little bit more (sampled some fares from a late evening buffet) before heading to sleep at 11pm. We have to turn the clocks ahead tonight.

Saturday, December 22, 2007 - At Sea Day with Formal Night
Woke up around 10am this morning, although our bodies say 9am. We just couldn't wait to hit the gym. The gym on this boat is definitely state of the art...even more so than on the Norwegian Star that we sailed on last year. They have more machines and Nautilus too!!! I guess we will have no excuse!

After the gym, we made some dinner reservations and then came back to the room. It was 12:30 in the afternoon and still no word from the girls. We called over to their room and woke them up. Ah...the life of a teenager. Apparently they were up late last night.

For lunch we went to Tsar's, the main dining room restaurant. My gnocchi's were very good, but Stuart did not care for his hamburger. The girls joined us for a bit to discuss what we'd be doing at the various ports and then they headed off to start their day. Better late than never. We went off to the Internet Café to do a little more research on ports and then when the heat from the sun abated a bit, we sat up on deck for a while. Around 5:30pm we headed into the spa and enjoyed the whirlpool and heated chairs until it was time to change for formal night.

For dinner tonight the girls didn't want to come with us to Chin Chin so they went to the main dining room and Stuart and I enjoyed a delicious asian meal. Aside from some sub par service, the food was excellent. For appetizers we had pot stickers, tempura, asian chicken salad, edamame and then for entrées, Stuart had the Kaibe Gu beef and I had the duck. And to make up for the erratic service, they credited us one cover charge which made up for our aggravation. The show tonight, Band on the Run, was similar to one we had seen on the Star back in February, but was still very good. The singers were superb, definitely a step up from the voices on the Star. And boy did those male dancers all look like they spend every waking minute in the gym!

The Jewel and the Star are very similar ships, but there are definitely differences. First off, the Star had at least one cover charge restaurant open each day for lunch. Not so on the Jewel. Also, the food at Chin Chin was ever so slightly better on the Star than on the Jewel. And, the Internet Café was more accessible, larger, and had both 110V and 220V outlets (sometimes it's the little things that matter). While we have joined the spa on the Jewel, the Star's spa was nicer and had a lap pool in addition to the whirlpools. Now in the Jewel's favor, it has two large pools on deck vs. the one small one on the Star. It also has much better buffet food with a higher quality selection than on the Star. In addition, the bands and general musical entertainment have all been better. And of course I already mentioned the awesome gym and the nightly show singers.

Well, we tried to get in a little dancing in the Spinnaker lounge tonight after the show, but they had already started their evening shenanigans by the time we made it up there. Tonight there was a 70's night theme which consisted of a Donna Summer lip-sync contest, a Village People contest, and a John Travolta dancing contest...not our cup of tea. Now we're back in the room and headed to bed. Tomorrow afternoon we'll head into Samana, Dominican Republic, and see the small town area. It is not supposed to be the most exciting port, but we will definitely check it out.

Sunday, December 23, 2007 - Samana, Dominican Republic
This morning we arrived a little early in Samana and they were handing out and calling ticket numbers for the tenders to shore even before 10am. At first things were moving very quickly and we thought we'd be off in no time, but then things ground to a standstill. We ended up getting into town right around noon. Undeterred by NCL selling out of tours, we hired our own taxi to take us to Playa Rincon, the best beach on the island. The ride was just under an hour (although they said it would be 1/2 hour...we knew better) and we negotiated what we considered a good price for the long trip to the beach and back. It worked out perfectly. The beach was amazing and we had a nice lunch of chicken, whole fish, tostones, rice and fries while looking out across the beach and the water with swimming before and after. Our drivers barely spoke a word of English, but they were great and stopped along the way for some photo opportunities. We got a great feel for the island on our drive. Very lush and beautiful.

Back on the boat, we arrived in time to shower and watch the Patriots vs. the Dolphins. The Patriots won!

Dinner was French tonight at Le Bistro. We shared a Chateaubriand and had soufflé and créme brulée for dessert...and of course several cheese plate selections! After dinner it was too late to go to the magic show, but not too late to trip the lights fantastic in one of the lounges playing 70s music. We danced for a while before calling it a night.

A surprise parent bed-check yielded one boy in the cabin doing magic tricks (I kid you not) which resulted in a warning to head out and find a public space to sit and chat (and do magic tricks).

Monday, December 24, 2007 - Tortola, BVI on Christmas Eve
This morning we arrived in Tortola around 10am, but we were slugs and stayed in bed until almost 11am. Funny how eating like pigs and not exercising normally can make you tired! Around noon we tendered to shore and walked around Road Town...it was very hot today. Because of the British influence, the town reminded us a bit of Bermuda only less developed and less successful...like Bermuda only with Caribbean Island attitude. The mostly black population of 17,000 on this 10 square mile island, mostly live in Road Town. The tourists really stick out!

We went to Scato's Chicken & Chips for lunch. It was a happening place filled with locals. We sure didn't fit in. When I got up to order, three island kids took over my side of the booth and sat down with Stuart. He wasn't quite sure what to make of them. They started talking to him and the little girl (age 4) was dared by her seven year old brother to go under the table and try to rub the white off of him. When that didn't work she popped back up and started asking him about his freckles... "Who put those there?" and "How do they come off?" were her two questions. It was pretty funny. Then the little boy got a little rambunctious and started kicking Stuart's leg. Stuart told him to cut it out, but he didn't listen. Then Stuart grabbed his foot when he started kicking again and scolded him. The boys dad came over and asked his son in his mean father voice, "Didn't you hear the man?" He was annoyed that the little boy was misbehaving and hadn't listened to Stuart when he told him to stop. When I came back to the table with our chicken and chips, I sat down next to the two kids still on my side of the booth. They just pushed on over. I talked to them about school, if they were going to have chicken, how old they were, etc. They moved to their own booth after about five minutes but kept looking over at us and waving.

Besides the father of the little boy telling him to listen to Stuart, another nice thing happened at the chicken place which reminded us of the good old days when people had manners and kids listened to all adults (you remember...back in the days when if you got in trouble with your neighbor, you'd be in even bigger trouble when you got home). Well, when I was trying to place my order, a couple of girls kept saying "excuse me" to the woman helping me at the counter. They wanted to buy just a soda but the wait was about 15 minutes. She ignored them at first, but then told them to stop interrupting her because they were being rude and she had a customer and she shouldn't have to tell me to wait while she helped them. And they had just better hold on while she finished serving me. I was flabbergasted that someone would say that to a customer and then I felt like cheering her on because that just doesn't happen in the US anymore. Everyone walks on egg shells and kids especially have too much leeway in the way they treat adults.

After lunch we walked and saw more of the town, visited the marina and then headed back to the ship around 2pm. We had some ice cream upstairs while looking out at the amazing view of all the different islands. The British Virgin Island chain consists of more than 50 islands and rock formations.

For dinner we took the girls to Chin Chin's. They were so bored with having to sit with us that we finally released them even before it was time for dessert. They had some serious hot tubbing to do and plans that certainly didn't include us. After dinner we went to the country show. Not our cup of tea, but great singing once again. Once the show was over, we went to Azura for dessert. Stuart had chocolate ice cream and I had the cheese plate which was mediocre at best.

At 11pm we moseyed down to the reception Atrium where a crew choir put on a small Christmas Carol Concert. About 15 members of the restaurant and bar staff sang while one of the dancers played the piano (and he was fantastic). The choir was so cute singing Christmas carols that they weren't familiar with. They had to read the music for all of the songs we know by heart. So many people were there cheering them on, both passengers and their friends on staff. It was great. Afterwards we stopped by the disco, but after about fifteen minutes we decided that the music wasn't very inspiring so we called it an evening.

Tuesday, December 25, 2007 - St. John's, Antigua on Christmas Day
Merry Christmas! Today we docked (finally, no tendering) in the town of St. John's on Antigua, not to be confused with the US Virgin Island of St. John. Antigua has a silent "u" in its pronunciation, has a population of 80,000, is English-speaking, and won independent statehood from Britain in the 1980s. This island is a known as a big vacation spot for the rich & famous.

We needn't have been concerned about being able to get a taxi on Christmas Day because we were shouted down by tens of crazed cab drivers even before we reached the end of the pier. We managed to fend them off while we walked around town a bit. Because of Christmas, pretty much all the stores were closed, but we didn't need open stores to get a feel for the island. After about twenty minutes of wandering, we hired a cab to take us to Dickenson Bay, about ten minutes out of town. We spent two hours there before having Fitzroy (our cabbie) come back and pick us up. The beach was a stunning shade of blue with clear, white sand. While it wasn't mobbed, it certainly was the happening place. Sandals has their hotel there so there was lots of action. We just opted to relax, but there were all sorts of water sport rentals, etc. for anyone who wanted to have an extra fun time.

We got back to the boat around 2:30pm and had some lunch before spending the afternoon lounging around at the spa.

There are several historical spots on Antigua, but not open to the public on either Christmas or Boxing Day. Stuart will have to come back another time to visit Nelson's Dockyard and dig up cannon. The one nice thing is that since we were docked in the harbor, we had an amazing view of Fort James right from our cabin.

We never made dinner reservations so when we got hungry, we went up to the Garden Café for the buffet (our first time for dinner). It was an OK dinner, but we decided that we liked the lunch buffet up there a little better than dinner. Afterwards we went to Tsar's Palace so Stuart could have chocolate ice cream and I had some tea. We caught the magic and comedy show at 9:30pm and then went up to the Spinnaker Lounge for dancing, but the music stunk so we left.

Wednesday, December 26, 2007 - Barbados, Boxing Day
Barbados is a medium sized island (21 miles long and 14 miles wide) with gorgeous beaches. It's population is a staggering 260,000. Barbados gained it's independence from Britain in the 1960s, so the British influence is still quite evident. It's actually one of the few Caribbean islands which was NOT discovered by Columbus! We arrived around 9am. Barbados has the berths to fit quite a few cruise ships at one time. There are at least five other large ships docked here with us.

We were glad that we docked again today. Tendering to shore is a real pain in the neck. Because it was Boxing Day, the city was all closed up so we walked around and took some pictures. The only places that were open were for gambling or drinking! Miranda and Kaeli were really good sports about coming with us and checking out the town. It wasn't their idea of a good time.

Once back on the ship we were all super hot. The girls couldn't wait to go for a swim. We were disappointed that we weren't able to book a snorkeling tour on this island, but they were all sold out. We should have tried to book something separately once on shore, but we sort of dropped the ball on this today. We'll do a better jo b tomorrow.

Just a quick note to fellow cruisers...beware of sitting on your balcony in skivvies or less. I happened to be relaxing on our balcony this afternoon...fully clothed thankfully...when along came the washing rig manned with two guys who were hosing down the ship. It rolled right along in front of our balcony. I wonder how often they see more than they bargained for? There's probably a waiting list of crew wanting to sign up for exterior ship cleaning detail.

We all ate dinner together in Azura and then played Bingo before the improv. comedy show. The younger crowd really seemed to enjoy the show, but Stuart and I only liked bits and pieces. Afterwards we listened to José de Pepe and then went to see how the Caribbean party on deck was going. When we arrived, the bartenders were doing juggling tricks so we watched that for a while, but then decided to call it a night. We have an early morning tomorrow.

Thursday, December 27, 2007 - Castries, St. Lucia
Another port where we tender instead of docking so I had to be up super early to get the best tender tickets possible. With a whole shipload of passengers waiting to get off, they have to organize it in some way and so they issue numbered tickets and call 200 numbers at a time for disembarkation and a ride to shore.

St. Lucia is also British Island. They became an independent nation in 1979, but it is such an incredibly poor island, we wonder whether having their independence has served them well. We knew we wanted to do something fun for our last port, we just didn't know what would be available on shore, so we kept an open mind.

We got off the boat just a little after 8am and boy were the seas rocky! Our tender was tossed around on what seemed to be a very long ride to the pier. Once on land, we headed immediately to the tour desk and asked about horse riding. Sure enough, they had room if we went over right away. Within thirty minutes we were being fitted for riding helmets and were off for an hour long ride. We wove down a trail that went past some homes and ended up at the Cas-en-bas beach. This was Miranda's first choice of excursions and we all had a great time. We felt like we were in the movies riding horses along a white sand beach. (Our horses were: Miranda - City Boy, Stuart - Black Jack, Kim - Calm, Kaeli - ?? (I can't remember this one...I'll have to ask Kaeli).

From there we were delivered free of charge to Pigeon Island, a peninsula with a white sand beach which originally was an island. On Pigeon Island the girls enjoyed the beach while Stuart and I hiked all around Fort Rodney, including an impressive, almost vertical climb to signal point.

At lunch time (we got started so early we managed to accomplish all this and it was only just lunch time now) we went to a beach side restaurant. Miranda and Kaeli each had sandwiches and Stuart and I had Indian with a local flair...curried lamb with rice, hummus & pita, and vegetable roti. It was all very good, although typically slow and painful service. Afterwards we enjoyed more swimming before getting a cab back to Castries for a bit of a walk around town.

It was in town that we were twice referred to by our color in an odd manner. This was only done in the friendliest of ways mind you...everyone on the island is extremely outgoing and hospitable. The first time was when some passerby greeted us with a friendly,"Hi white people!" Then a little while later while Stuart and I were waiting for the girls to buy a soda, a beggar came by and said, "Hey white man, can I have ten cents for some friend chicken?"

And did I mention that some passerby wanted to buy Kaeli. Anyone who has read our Africa trip report from a couple of Christmases ago will recall how someone tried to buy Miranda in Cap Skirring. I guess it's some sort of holiday tradition that young ladies we travel with get propositioned.

Back on the boat we enjoyed Cagney's Steakhouse for dinner. Stuart had rib-eye and I had veal. It was all excellent once again.

After dinner we played "short-attention-span" theater. First we checked out part of a show in the Stardust Theater. Then we ran upstairs to the Spinnaker Lounge for a swing dancing lesson. Then back down to the Stardust for the impersonation show. The impersonators were actually very funny, but their show was in desperate need of an update. None of the under 50 crowd could recognize who they were making fun of.

Before calling it a night, we listened to José de Pepé for a little and of course had a snack. The so called potato skins from the 24/7 café on board were the sorriest excuse for potato skins either of us had ever seen...thick french fries covered with cheese and bacon. We laughed out loud when the waitress set them on the table...and I had to take a picture!

And the exciting news of the night is that we managed to get a photo of Elena, the cruise drunk. There's at least one crazy, drunk on every cruise...the person who stands out in a crowd and you keep seeing him or her over and over again and they are ALWAYS drinking. It's the person that all the other passengers also recognize and have a story about. She was smashed again tonight and dancing up a storm in her latest shiny getup...of which there are many...each outfit more outrageous than the last. While we make it out to be funny, it's actually really sad and a little scary to see someone who needs to drink like that day in and day out.

Friday, December 28, 2007 - At Sea
It was nice to sleep in today after yesterday's early rising. We got up around 9:30am and had breakfast before heading to the cruise director's photo session...pictures from his own collection of the ship being built, the bridge, and other sections of the ship that you don't get to see such as the crew areas.

Afterwards we headed back to the cabin and watched Puerto Rico go by from our balcony. They have a navigational channel on the tv so you can get an idea of where you are in the world. The sea is extremely rough (7-12 feet) and we are really ROCKING! We're not actually sea sick, but sort of on the verge. In seas like this I find that if we just keep a little something in our stomachs, it fights off sea sickness fairly effectively. And thankfully finding food on the boat isn't an issue!!!

For lunch we had the buffet and then I went to a towel folding demonstration. Afterwards, Stuart, Miranda and I learned some steps to "ceroc" or modern jive. Miranda ditched us after about twenty minutes. We were a bit unsure at first, but Stuart and I managed to get the hang of it. Of course tomorrow we'll remember none of it.

During the late afternoon, we lollygagged about the spa and then actually exercised! And as a reminder that our cruise is soon coming to an end, we had to pick up disembarkation luggage tags in the lobby at 5pm. Sniff.

At dinnertime, we decided that we really enjoyed Cagney's so we went there again! Afterwards, we went to the acrobat show, Cirque Bijoux. It was excellent! Miranda and her cruise friend Josh joined us. And did I mention that the Chocoholic Buffet was at 10:30pm??? We might have eaten a couple of items. Actually, most of it was stuff we didn't care for, but I did enjoy a chocolate dipped banana and a chocolate dipped apple before heading off to bed.

Saturday, December 29, 2007 - At Sea and Last Full Day
Last night we got to turn our clocks back one hour. A nice treat after losing it at the beginning of the cruise. It was nice to have one last day of total relaxation before returning to reality.

Stuart slept in while I had breakfast and then of course I had to pop over to Bingo at 11:15 this morning...not to play, but to find out if we had won a free cruise for two. The other night when we brought the girls to play bingo, our cards came with two raffle tickets. "Must be present to win." I had to at least go and make sure our ticket wasn't called. It wasn't.

During the afternoon we just hung around, chilling out before an early dinner at Chin Chin. I spent a little time at the spa. There were quite a few people there getting in their last moments of relaxation before the end of the vacation. At 8pm, the Patriots were playing their last game of the season and we wanted to catch that in Maltings Bar before calling it a night. They won!!! What a game...a real nail biter and they finished their season undefeated.

Before bed we had to pack and put our luggage out in the hall...another sad reminder that the vacation is coming to a close. Once getting that tedious chore done (it had to be out there by midnight), we walked the decks for a final time. The teenagers were out in force getting in their last moments together. It was a gorgeous night and it will be so disappointing to return to the cold, winter weather.

Sunday, December 30, 2007 - The Party is Over
I heard the ship docking around 5am this morning although we weren't technically due into port until around 7am. We "supposedly" had to be off the boat by 9:30am at the latest, but there were some delays with debarkation so we got to hang out on board for a while longer soaking up some warm weather on deck. The girls are completely exhausted after staying up with friends pretty much the entire night. We tried to stretch the morning on the boat out as long as possible since our flight home didn't leave until 4pm. It's almost as time consuming to get 2,000 passengers off of a boat as it is to get them on. The ship's luggage handlers must dread port days! So at around noon we finally found ourselves hopping into a cab and heading to Little Havana for lunch at the same place where we ate lunch a week ago Friday. We invited the cabbie in, but he had already eaten.

We arrived at the airport at 1:30 for our 4pm flight (which ended up being delayed almost and hour) and headed home to a forecast of 4-8" of snow. Isn't shoveling snow how everyone should end their Caribbean vacation?