In 2015, we spent Christmas on a cruise ship in the Caribbean and had a wonderful time. We thought we would do a repeat, only earlier to help us get in the holiday spirit but still spend the holiday with our family. We booked what would be a great trip on our favorite CruiseLine, Princess. We drove to Fort Lauderdale and stayed overnight to be sure we would be there in plenty of time for the departure.
As usual for Princess, as we departed the port, there was a “sail away” party on the top deck and the Captain used the ship’s horn to play the first couple of bars of the theme song from the TV show, Love Boat. Later in the cruise we realized he did that every time we left a port. Kinda Cool!
The first stop was Princess Cays, Bahamas, which is an island owned and operated by Princess with lots of gift shops and beach. Since most people got off the ship, we decided to stay on board and basically have the ship all to ourselves. ALONE AT LAST!
We were disappointed because the ship was not decorated for Christmas yet and we were looking forward to getting in the spirit of things early in December.
The second stop was the Dominican Republic where we took a sightseeing adventure, and traveled through San Marcos Village and up the rugged trails of Puerto Plata’s highest mountain, at 2,600 feet (792.5 meters), Isabel de Torres. The spectacular views of the giant statue of Christ the Redeemer-one of the province’s most popular landmarks and a smaller-scale version of the iconic monument that overlooks Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.
Afterwards, we continued on to visit the botanical gardens, a showpiece for native plants and blooms.
We headed back down the mountain to explore the historical core of Puerta Plata, taking in the Plaza Independencia, a central park with Victorian-style designs, pretty gardens and flowerbeds.
Of course, we did our part to add to the economy. Puerta Plata is where we bought a beautiful ring that has a larimar on one side and amber stone on the other. Very unique.
Next was San Juan, Puerto Rico with a walking tour through Old San Juan. This seven-to-ten block area had over 400 restored 16th and 17th century Spanish colonial buildings. We stopped to prepare and eat a lunch of mofungo, a traditional Puerto Rican dish made with yucca. We walked to Quincentennial Square, which overlooks the Atlantic from atop the highest point in the city. Some of Old San Juan’s finest landmarks are its churches. Our walk included a stop to admire the great architecture of San José Church, San Juan Bautista Cathedral, and Cristo’s Chapel.
From here we traveled to St Kitts, one of our favorite Carribean islands. Since we have been there so many times, we just did our own thing with no planned excursion.
When we left St Kitts, it was dusk, and our sister ship was leaving at the same time creating this beautiful image of the ship all lit up at night.
Our last port was St Maarten and a visit to the Dutch side and a boutique rum factory with an unbelievable number of flavors to choose from at such a small factory. We learned they ship their products to the US, and they are sold at Total Wine shops.
On one of the sea days, we watched a food demonstration where these culinary geniuses created these masterpieces.
On the last sea day, they finally broke out some of the Christmas decorations. Well, you know what they say, “Man makes plans and God laughs”.
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