My day in St. Kitts was supposed to start with a drill, but due to a medical emergency onboard, it was rescheduled. I filled the unexpected free time with a long phone call with my beau, and then headed to … Continue reading
Resort Living
Author Archives: CaseyT
Seeking the Sunset
Upon arriving in San Juan for another beautiful, albeit cloudy, evening, my friends and I walked to Castillo San Felipe del Morro, a large fort built to defend San Juan’s harbor. It was built by Spain over a span of … Continue reading
Obladee Oblada
Royal Caribbean has their own resort type area in Labadee, Haiti, with beaches, buffets, a zip line, shops, and even a roller coaster. For our first outing in Labadee, I went with a few cast mates to Columbus Cove, one … Continue reading
Fun, Sun, and an SPF Hat
St. Maarten has a special place in my heart for a variety of reasons. First of all, it was the first place I was able to get off the ship after spending 6 days at sea during my last contract when we crossed over from Europe. Secondly, it is one of the places I visited with my boyfriend when I was on vacation.
Beach in St. Maarten
For my first St. Maarten day of this contract, I wanted to keep things simple. Food and beach were all I needed! I got off the ship in a group of 7, prepared to fight the Caribbean sun. I have a new, SPF 50+ sunscreen that is supposed to last 10 hours, as well as my awesome SPF sun hat from my sister. Feeling adequately protected, I led the group to Greenhouse for lunch. The 15 minute walk was long enough to make me sweat, but for once, didn’t make me burn!
Greenhouse
I ate some tasty fish tacos and had a caipirinha. Our service was quite slow, and some of my friends were frustrated with the inconsistent wifi, so we didn’t linger after we finished eating. Luckily, the beach was just a few minutes away! Lounging in front of Honky Tonk were more of our cast mates and friends. We set up camp in the sand, and took turns going into the water.
The gang at the beach
The cool ocean water offered a wonderful respite from the hot sun. I quickly became tired and walked back to the ship with the drummer from the orchestra. Although it wasn’t a long day out, it was enjoyable! With good food and a nice beach, I was more than satisfied!
Flowers near the port
Exploring in the Evening
Colorful Puerto Rican streets
We have an evening port time in San Juan, meaning we don’t arrive until 4pm. The first time we stopped there, we were still in install. We didn’t have a lot of time, so I just got off with a few friends to find wifi, and then met up with our installers and some other cast members and for dinner. We went to Café Berlin, a nice restaurant near the main square in Old San Juan. I had a glass (or two) or sangria and a scallop risotto before returning to the ship.
Sunset in San Juan
Two weeks later, we returned to San Juan, anxious to do some exploring. The port is in Old San Juan, so we were able to walk straight off the ship into some excitement. We wove our way down some small streets with no real destination in mind. We stopped briefly at a Coach outlet so one of the girls could get a gift for her mom, and then continued walking.
Cathedral
Our next stop was outside a cathedral. There was a small park across the street, so we paused to take a few pictures. Looking down a slight hill, we saw that we were close to the water. We walked towards it, hoping to catch a good view of the sunset. We arrived at the old city walls, where we enjoyed the beautiful pinks and blues of the evening sky.
Strolling after sunset
As much as I was enjoying myself, I was starting to get hungry. We had planned to meet a few other cast members at Barrachina, the birthplace of the pina colada, for dinner. Upon arriving there, we learned that there was an hour and a half wait time. We ordered pina coladas to go, and hit the street to find another restaurant. The pina colada was great, but I didn’t savor it much, as I was too focused on finding food!
Creation of the pina colada
We ended up at a pretty little restaurant that we had passed earlier. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the name. I ordered seafood paella, and spent the meal laughing with my friends. We had a great night out!
Mural at the restaurant
San Juan is quickly climbing the ranks on my list of favorite cities. I am looking forward to more evenings there over the next few months!
San Juan
Time to Restore Sanity
Our turnaround port this contract is Fort Lauderdale, Florida. This means that every Sunday for the next 5 months, I will be in Fort Lauderdale. Compared to some of my other turnaround ports, such as Sydney, Australia and San Juan, … Continue reading
Let the Madness Begin
When we joined the ship, we hit the ground running… or should I say, we hit the water swimming! We were expected to open one show a week for 3 weeks, in addition to fulfilling other requirements onboard. The other … Continue reading
So Long, Farewell
As the end of the rehearsal period neared, it seemed as though we had only just begun. Things I needed to do and people I needed to see had to be taken care of quickly! The final weekend I spent … Continue reading
Work Hard, Play Hard
Seeing as I like to maintain a work/play balance, I’ve been spicing up this rehearsal process with some fun outings. Some (at least one) were educational and inspiring, some were extremely unhealthy, and some were simply necessary. Here’s the run-down … Continue reading
Ready to Run
The past few weeks have flown by! I’m down to just 2 weeks of rehearsals before joining the ship. At the end of our third week, the cast did our Office Run. We performed the fairy tale show at the … Continue reading
waltzing on water 