Okay, let's recap our vacation before my tan fades completely...

We departed from Bayonne, which was great for two reasons: we did not have to go through the hassle and expense of flying the entire crew to Florida, and the departure provided some spectacular views of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge at dusk...












But the northern departure meant a few cold, somewhat bouncy days at sea. So during our first few days, we entertained ourselves with a variety of activities. I caught up on a lot of reading, as did Sweetie Pie Princess, first with her older brother...




















Then doing it for herself...















(While I'm pleased by her choice in reading material, one can only hope she didn't notice the horrifying error in that week's issue ... WHO'S GAME IS IT? ... I can't even talk about that ... for crap's sake, you're Sports Illustrated, you're supposed to be better than that ... let's move on before I lose focus.)

Meanwhile, their brother ate his way through the cruise, scarfing escargot and caviar like a seasoned foodie...

















We finally made our first stop, in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Our whole crew left the ship to stretch our legs with a walk around town and a little shopping...






























From there, it was on to St. Thomas, where we visited an aquatic zoo. You'd never guess that the face on the left was vomiting on a bus (while sitting on my lap, such adventure!!) two hours earlier (I'm sure it had nothing to do with the caviar and escargot)...















It was then on to the Dominican Republic, which brings us to the crab. Shortly after our arrival on the beach, this litte guy scampered right up to me. And I have to admit, I was excited. Despite many years on many beaches in many places, I have never seen anything like this.















Not surprisingly, he disappeared just as quickly, never to be seen again. But the Dominican Republic provided a lot simple beauty like that. What little we saw of the country was lovely. I would like to return to do some fishing and biking.















We got a close-up view of our cruise ship as we returned...















and enjoyed a stunning rainbow from our balcony as showers sporadically fell all day...















And about two hours later, our ship hit something.

What it hit is still in debate. Could have been a whale, could have been some sort of undetected coral reef. But the net result was the loss of a propeller (essentially an engine), which would seriously curtail the speed at which the boat could travel. The bottom line was we would be skipping our last island and returning to NJ without a stop at Labadee.

That was a bummer, but not enough to ruin the trip. We spent the last days eating, drinking, enjoying the last of the warmth and sunshine before returning to the shores of Jersey, arriving along the lower Manhattan skyline at sunrise...











All in all, a lovely vacation...