Ship

We really outdid ourselves, only to have the Birthday Girl REMOVE everything within hours, unlike others who kept their decor up all week.

After last week's opus, I think we'll relax with some pictures of the ms Westerdam.
ME!
You might recall (or not, that's OK) at the last minute I joined my WI brother and his family as they escaped the late January cold aboard a cruise ship to celebrate our mother's milestone birthday (she's since requested I stop sharing which one it is.)
It was a first for us and not altogether satisfying.
This particular boat was not conducive to entertaining my nieces, aged 10 & 12, adequately since it was geared toward a more mature (cough) clientele.
And frankly, I was bored as well.
At some point during the week it occurred to me that I'm not much of a chill-out, sit in the sun kind of a gal- I don't like being hot or sandy, my fair complexion doesn't tolerate tanning and cancer and swimming pools totally gross me out with germs, spit, snot, skin cells, scabs, band-aids, pee and the chemicals used to eradicate their effects.
Fortunately, nieces don't have this problem and were able to enjoy the one small pool kids could use, devoid of diving boards, slides, or water tubes.
In fact, Oldest is a champion swim-team member and Youngest wowed everyone by morphing into a shimmery, purple mermaid!
Of the few on-board activities we participated in, nightly pre-dinner pub trivia where our team (Sparkle Party) dominated was fun, but others tended to nickle and dime you: never too far from sales' pitches and "great deals".
We opted to do our own thing off the boat, not signing up for excursions offered through them.
Even the ports of call were elaborate debarking villages of commerce, duty-free shopping, travelers were herded through before seeing how the local population really lived.
After departing Ft. Lauderdale with a slew of other ginormous vessels, stops on our East Caribbean journey were made at Grand Turk (still sadly impoverished years after Hurricane Ike's ruinous effects), St. Maarten (fascinating in that 1/2 is Dutch, the other French, a teeny beach underneath incoming planes and the worst tour guide ever), Puerto Rico (my favorite likely because it was metropolitan and exotic) and Half Moon Cay (privately owned by HAL which we didn't even get to enjoy as the captain deemed the tenders too dangerous for the sea winds! For old people maybe! Grrrrr.)
Brother and I did have swell bonding sessions every evening at the top deck aft bar deemed Caesar's Roundtable for the keep and regulars.
Here not only did we enjoy the conversation, but also buckets of Stella Artois- the best deal of all.
Again, since there are literally 100s of photos to choose from, I've narrowed it down to mostly selfies because I'm vain like that!
Ahoy, maties!

Enjoying the most expensive Bloody Mary in the free world at SFO while waiting for a FLL flight. I thought this especially apropos in that I was eager to experience the above after having just returned from the below not days before.

Good bye terra firma

WTH are these iconic Frank Gehrys on display? I'd seen them decades ago at his Venice Beach studio.

Reprimanded by the impatient instructor for playing too loud

Grand Turk 

You can't very well complain about this

Saw a fair amount of fish tossing around (Not our boat)

Brother disappeared for like an hour after going for these sold by a local down the beach- turns out they were warm! and he waited for them to become consumable chilling on ice all that time

Puerto Rico

 

Colorful and nifty architecture, but oftentimes falling into disrepair

Windy Fort

I was a sweaty, hot mess

One of the girls took this well composed shot

There were feral cats EVERYWHERE, which actually made this avowed cat lady pretty sad

We went through this ritual every night and every night I acted like I knew what I was talking about

It doesn't matter where in the world you go, you WILL find crazies

I'd have liked to been blown into the surf by jet engine power. Really.

 

At a partially nudie beach where the sand kept blowing into my (mostly) covered wobbly bits

But freakin' beauty blue skies

Happy Birthday JuJu!

A Celebration Song like no other I've ever heard before!

The Birthday Girl gifted ME & SIL a spa treatment (!st time w/ Hot Stones and niiiice!)

Our family plays a lot of Rack-O, but this was my only win

The hotel shuttle to the ship- precarious stacking, but all emerged unscathed

They should have engraved brass name plates onto our stools

My messy father

Favorite! When I went to attend the class on how to fold them, the nitwit hostess failed to present. (She was also our muster drill attendant who flirted with some co-worker while unable to properly don a PFD. Idiot.)

80s dance night? I don't think so- there was only 1 song I recognized. (Ask me about being stalked by the rude Seahawks fans all week. It was here one of the classier ladies cornered me and then flipped me the behind-the-back DOUBLE bird before stomping off!)

Heading home *exhausted*, but that's a sign of a good vacation, right?