Cruise Day 1 and 2: Puerto Rico and St. Thomas

 Sunday morning, before going to the ship, we went to church in San Juan.  There was a church building a little over a mile from our hotel.  Sacrament meeting was much like many sacrament meetings we have been to except it was in Spanish and there was no air conditioning.  There were lots of windows and fans, so it was not too uncomfortable in a short sleeve white shirt and tie, but I felt sorry for the bishopric and missionaries in their suits.  After church we returned to the hotel and checked out and returned our car to the airport and then took a taxi back to the to the cruise terminal, which was less than two miles from our hotel. It was really nice to have the car while in San Juan.  We were able to go places and see things we would not have been able to do without the car.

When we arrived at the ship, we breezed through all of the preliminary paperwork and lines. We then boarded the Serenade of the Seas.  This was the first time we had been on a Radiance class ship.

Once aboard, we went to one of my favorite first day activities: lunch in the Windjammer.  As usual, lunch was very good.  Of course, we had to have desert.  Here are the first of many deserts on the cruise.

We had the traditional first day muster drill, except that it was not a traditional muster drill.  They no longer have the passengers wear their life jackets to muster drill.  There was some discussion of safety issues.  Whatever… It was not the same.  Since we were on deck 10 with all of the high class people, our muster location was the upscale steak restaurant, sitting at the dinner table.  Here is the muster drill.

Our first dinner was great.  Our waiter, Melroy and assistant waiter, Cesar were probably the best we have had.  I will have more about them in later posts.


The next morning, we woke up in St. Thomas.  

  Our shore excursion was snorkeling in Turtle Cove, which is at Buck Island, about 5 miles from St Thomas.  We had a leisurely boat ride to Turtle Cove.  

Once we arrived, we jumped off the boat and started snorkeling.  As might be guessed, Turtle Cove is named after the sea turtles that live there.  We saw several of them.  We also say a sting ray and a lot of really cool looking fish. It was a nice place to snorkel with visibility about 50 feet. 

As we dried off after getting back on the boat, we left Buck Island.  This is my sweetheart in the foreground and Buck Island and Turtle Cove in the background.  The water is such a pretty blue in the Caribbean. 

We had a nice boat ride back to St. Thomas.  

 Once back on the ship, a shower felt good.  After getting all cleaned up, Mom and Becky went shopping and John and I went to play miniature golf.  This is the view of St. Thomas from deck 13 where the golf course is. It is such a pretty place.

 The golf course was fun too.

 After dinner Monday night, we returned to our room and found a towel critter.  I believe it is an elephant, but it could be a cross between a sheep and Jar Jar Binks.