Bermuda Cruise

Bermuda Cruise        Saturday, September 7-Wednesday, September 12, 2019

Warrenton, Virginia              Friday, September 6, 2019

Friday evening around 6:30pm, Larry asked me to pack a bag with a weeks worth of clothes and have it ready to leave at 6:30 am the next day.
 I asked, “What kind of temperatures should I  expect…cold or hot?” He replied, “Nice temps, but include a jacket.”

I inquired, “Do I need a bathing suit?”  He replied, “Possibly.” ….and that was all he would tell me. Larry REALLY knows how to pull off a full fledged surprise!

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Warrenton, Virginia to Newark, New Jersey      Saturday, September 7, 2019

I retired to bed early Friday night and woke up the next morning to find Kathy’s car in the driveway. She had spent the night. I asked, “Why is Kathy here?” He replied, “She’s going with us.”

I asked, “Is Kristy going too?” which he replied, “Maybe.” Ten minutes later Kristy pulled into the driveway.

We loaded up the car, grabbing steaming cups of coffee and headed north up the  highway with Kathy chauffeuring…me still not knowing where we were going. No one would share an ounce of the destination of this surprise trip.

We stopped for  a quick breakfast..... four hours later, we parked the car at the Cape Liberty Cruise Terminal and boarded the Royal Caribbean Anthem of the Seas.....

bound for Bermuda!!!! WHEEEEEE!

From that point on, there was nonstop fun and excitement….so began my 65^th birthday celebration!

Arriving around 11:00am, check in was easy. We did not have any lines or waiting time before
boarding.

We went directly to the top of the ship on the 15^th floor to see the views,

                                             having a yummy lunch in the Windjammer.

After lunch we found our spacious side by side balcony rooms on the 12^th floor.

We explored this four year old ship, finding it full of interesting art and lavish lounges.

After the 3:30 ship safety drill, the anchor was pulled and we floated down the Hudson River passing Lady Liberty and the Manhattan Skyscrapers….

 Coney Island....

                                                  traveling under the Staten Island Bridge.

                                                  Are we color coordinated or what?

                          Dinner was served in the American Icon Restaurant. It was first class.

After sampling a  little adult beverage....

 we all retired early, having risen at the crack of dawn that morning. I was STILL in SHOCK from this UNBELIEVABLE SURPRISE! WHAT A FABULOUS DAY!

                            I wouldn’t have changed a single minute of our day together.

Atlantic Ocean        Sunday, September 8, 2019

On September 8, my birthday, I enjoyed exploring the ship at 5:00am. I was too excited to sleep!

Floating River-Whirlpool

                                                           The bright lights!

the outdoor pool and movie screen

one of the eight king sized jacuzzies

the arm to the North Star

the indoor pool

The Dog House...a hot dog stand on the 15th floor

The solarium...peaceful...16 or older only...front view...the ship heading to Bermuda...PARADISE!

unusual stainless steel tuba

The Anthem had the most interesting modern furnishings.

The Two 70 Degree lounge was a futurisitic media stage.

                        Not much stadium seating....casual roomy areas to relax

...robots made the drinks.... both alcoholic and non alcoholic....it was fasinating to watch.

 Males prefer "Sex on the Beach" drinks while females enjoy Long Island ice tea.....

I was interested in the most popular drinks for 65 year olds....Sex on the Beach...OH MY STARS!

The art about the ship was unusual, quirky. I liked it!

Display of rocks  hanging 

A display of old recipe books with painted delectables…. Entitled "What Makes Life Worth Living" by Ekaterina Panikanova, a Russian in 1975 

These cute little pieces of clothing were made out of maps.

I found the art to be thought provoking. I enjoyed it tremendously.

Antique

Cherry Blossom Lighting...cool!

Glittzy and Glamorous as well

Sorrento's Pizzeria....The 24 hour Pizza Place was decorated with old record albums.

The elevators had animals painted depicting human qualities. I found myself wanting to ride them all to see what was there. 

I got a shocking wack on my rear by a jogging Kathy while I was up on the 15^th floor catching the sun rise.... first and only  birthday spanking for the day!

Kathy did a quick 5k run after I had completed a 2 hour walk about the ship. 

We all met for a yummy breakfast on the outside deck of the back of the ship.

After breakfast we headed for the Sea Plex....

                                                     to try out the bumper cars.

                                          Oh my gosh, THAT WAS SO MUCH FUN!

             Next the girls climbed the rock wall as the ship motored around 20 knots out at sea.

OH MY GOSH!!!!!  I can't beleive they are doing this! They have Larry's wild spirit of adventure!

                 Then we boarded the North Star to be propelled 20 stories above the ship.

WHAT A VIEW!

Finally I got to experience the simulated parachuting in a wind tunnel called Ripcord by I FLY!

 I sweet talked the cute Trinidad crew member into letting me have the experience on my birthday as well as with the whole family on our last day at sea.

        What exciting…breathtaking….exhilarating fun! I couldn’t wait to do it again!

After lunch, we girls soaked up the sun and enjoyed the pool and hot tub. Before dressing for dinner, Kristy broke out her “Chateau and Cabin” Brand Wine. Where in the world do they find these things? It was a nice fruity tasting vintage…a keeper.

             Dinner  in the American Icon was fabulous with the crew singing happy birthday!

                       We strolled the outside deck to watch a fantastic sunset after dinner.

     Then we returned to the North Star to have a second ride of the day only this time in the dark.

 It was dark out at sea,  having just the ship lights 20 stories up!(that Trinidad crew member was so nice to give us and the birthday girl two opportunities to enjoy this experience). Afterwards, we all went to the show in the Royal Theater.

…off to bed we went with lots of happy images of our exciting day. We were really pumped about arriving in Bermuda on Monday morning!

Monday, September 9, 2019   Kings Wharf, Bermuda

                          After a fine breakfast on the back of the ship, we headed for the gangway.

                                                 What a gorgeous day! The sail in was fab!

Were we excited or what?

                                     Kings Wharf was full of all kinds of fun things to do.

We had a great breakfast and headed off the ship to pick up two scooters that Kathy had reserved for 24 hours.  Kathy has a motorcycle license so she was the driver…

After some practice in the little testing lot, Kristy jumped on the back.

 Now....we only have to remember to stay on the WRONG side of the road...yes, the Brits brought their left side of the road driving here!

 Larry and I were mighty fine with the scooter…It was a great way to get around on the islands.

 We passed so many colorful homes with the Bermuda white roofing...it was absolutely gorgeous!

We rode through Hamilton, the Capital. It took us a little over an hour to get there, although you could see it across the Bay.  We stopped a couple of times to give our booty a break.

                                                    Did I mention the churches here? 

This had to be a missionary heaven. I have never seen so many churches of all religions. They were next door to each other and across the street. I would guess that we passed close to 100 churches the whole day long.

 Kathy commented as the morning passed, how much easier it was to turn the scooter by leaning...is she Larry's child or what?

 OH MY GOSH….The color of the water was so awesome. It was as pristine as anything that we have ever seen in Hawaii, Bora Bora, Fiji, Tahiti, etc. I tend to think it was even more so. Although I am an island lover, I believe Bermuda is my new favorite.

We rode all day and saw so many private coves with boats docked closely together. This was a boater's haven.

We saw absolutely no poverty. It was so clean. The Bermudans really keep their islands tidy. The water was clean and clear. The beaches were downright awesome…! Pink sands and azul waters were every which way.

     Coral was everywhere...many ship wrecks  existed round the islands due to the thick coral reefs.

                                                     Coral was used everywhere to make walls.

We passed over a series of bridges that linked several islands together getting to St George’s, the original capital and now a UNESCO World Heritage site. 

                                                         Nice scenery was everywhere.

                         

                                We passed through the old capital, St George. Neat as a pin!

           We ate a picnic lunch as well as swam and snorkeled in this area at a private little beach.

                                                  The water was warm and delightful!

Little striped fish nibbled on Larry’s back…they never touched us girls. We saw a huge parrot fish swim by! AMAZING!

We scootered to the most northern point where we visited St Catherine’s Point and the old Fort. 

 We mounted the scooters for a little ride over to the other side of the northern part called St. David’s Island. 

                           
                                            We passed the scenic northern Light House.

Bermuda has no rivers or fresh water lakes, so drinking water is derived from rainwater. All the homes had special roofing tiles to catch the rain.

Here we hiked and did some bird watching at Cooper’s Island Reserve. Kathy was in her element. It is so cool to have her point out so many things that we have no knowledge of. It amazes us how she hears a bird and knows what it is.

                                             Isn't the water color incredible?

            Anyway…it was the hottest part of the day. She was happy spotting several sea birds.

                                    We all spotted the infamous chickens that roamed about!

                                        Kristy and I had our shot at driving the scooters.

We circled around and around this large parking lot blowing our horns while stopping and starting. I laughed myself silly!

The cloud formations in Bermuda are astonishingl! Each day we experienced some truely wonderful sights in the sky.

                            This one is a favorite with my two lovely ladies viewing the setting sun.

                                                                What a fabulous sunset!

We headed back toward the ship stopping at a local beach to have a thirst quencher before returning around 8:00 pm that evening.

                                                                        Twilight!

 We had a delicious dinner on the back of the ship and took in the almost full harvest moon. It was an AMAZING day together! I enjoyed being with all my loved ones so much! Being together was the best birthday present of all!

Tuesday, September 10, 2019    Hamilton, Bermuda

                                                         What a sunrise!

After another filling breakfast, we turned our scooters in and  toured the local art museum. Lots of great talent here.

        Many pictures of these scenic stone circles captured the areas all around Bermuda.

                     Next we took the ferry boat 15 minute ride into Hamilton, the capital.

We had some refrshing ice coffees at the ferry dock and then walked around the waterfront, 

                                                      passing the Royal Naval Dockyard.


It was approaching the hot part of the day as we looked for the local town train tour. We actually ended up walking the three main streets of Hamilton.

       We enjoyed a refreshing breeze in the Queens Park...at the top of a steep hill...finding one of those scenic coral circles that Bermuda is famous for.

                                          The streets were lined with scooters and motorbikes.

                                                             Oleanders were in full bloom.

                                                           Hibiscus were everywhere.
This colonial town is the business hub with boutiques, special shops, historic buildings, museums, galleries and gardens.

Most houses had hurricane shutters

I enjoyed the local public displays of art.

                                              Can you guess what was on Church Street?

                                                                Catholic Church

We had a little retail therapy while Larry enjoyed talking with a local musician.

     It was fun to spot the locals sporting Bermuda shorts and tall socks as their daily work clothes.

                                                                  What  bright colors!

                                We enjoyed the local pet store...They had the cutest puppies.

The Cabinet Building...for the National  Bermuda Government 

Arriving back at the ferry dock, we found the ferry pulling out 15 minutes early….They had filled two ferries…

and could not put any more folks on so we decided to take a local bus back to the cruise terminal…a  little over an hour drive around the hook of the bay. It was interesting to see the colorful homes and shops along the two lane roads.

                            Once we arrived back at the ship we had a very late 3:00 pm lunch. 

                                          We enjoyed views of the old fort and the surrounding waters...

                                   

                                              then headed for the lounge chairs.

                                         The ship pulled away from the dock around 5:00.

We enjoyed spotting the points of land that we had scootered to and we spotted lots of sea wildlife as we passed the last sightings of Bermuda.

Would we ever come to Bermuda again? FOR SURE! We all agreed that we needed at least another week to further explore this amazing country.

This evening we all went to dinner and a show called Spectra’s Cabaret in the Two70 Degree Lounge. What a light show…. supplimented with projections of pictures and movies. Dancers and singers were all over the place…hanging from swings and dancing in the audience.

The show was full of surprises… sort of  a circus soleil with a very spectacular modern kind of twist.

                                  We enjoy a glimpse of the full harvest moon ending another  wonderful day.

Wednesday, September 11, 2019          Atlantic Ocean

Everyone met for breakfast at 8:30am on the back of the ship with its gorgeous deep blue views of the the Atlantic Ocean.

 Afterwards we headed for the SeaPlex to go Roller Skating. It has been *!%# years since Larry and I had roller skated.

When we lived in Montross we took the girls to the roller ring most weekends. Roller skating was my absolute favorite activity as a child. It was surprising how quickly it all comes back to you.

We all worked up a pretty good sweat and had so many laughs. After roller skating Kathy wanted to climb the rock walk one more time so we headed out to cheer her on.

She and Kristy had climbed the first two walls with ease, but this third one was more of a challenge because it hung out over the decking somewhat! I give them a high five for trying this…I have no desire to even attempt such a feat!

                                 The three of us were satisfied just watching.

We all enjoyed the afternoon soaking up some rays and sitting in the Solarium hot tub. What a relaxing way to end our final day.

                                               After another fine meal in the Asian Garden,

That evening we all went to the Rip Cord by I Fly to enjoy our final challenge of the simulated parachute jump!

                               Kathy was pumped and enjoyed this experience tremendously!

We all went to bed thinking about what a wonderful time our family had enjoyed together…so many first time experiences, lots of laughs, and just the enjoyment of being together. I would certainly want to do this again next year to celebrate another birthday…HINT…HINT!

Thursday, September 12, 2019 Cape Liberty, New Jersey

I got up at the crack of dawn wanting to get one more sunrise picture over New York City….Surprise it was cloudy and overcast.

                                       The Spotlight from New York City was interesting.


I did enjoy cruising under the Staten Island Bridge thinking about the commuters that were bustling into downtown Manhatten. It reminded me of my past morning hustle…I enjoyed my career, but retirement is even more awesome.

                                                           The park at the cruise terminal

                                      Lighthouse and Coast Guard Station at Cape Liberty

The family had one final breakfast while viewing Manhatten in the background with the Statue of Liberty standing tall.

We all took a final swing in the Solarium.

 We were able to disembark and find our car with ease. As we motored down the highway, I reflected on how wonderful it was for us all to be together…all of us at a different place in life. 

Larry and I were heading home to go to Watermelon Park Music Festival with good friends, Kathy was flying off to visit her good friend, Melissa, and some of our family in Kansas, and Kristy was venturing off to Assateague Island to take in the last of summer on the beach with the ponies. Do we have a good life or what?

 There is absolutely no question about how fortunate we are to have each other and be able to enjoy life on this wonderful planet. We count our blessing each and every day!

I can't say thank you enough to Larry and my lovely ladies for such a wonderful birthday! The memories bring happy tears to my eyes as I continue to tackle the golden years!