Turning 40 in the Caribbean

This year I turned the big 4-0. We decided awhile ago that we would take a trip for both of our birthdays as they are close to 6 months apart.  So, for my 40th we took a Royal Caribbean cruise to the Caribbean for 7 nights. We took a red eye and flew to San Juan, Puerto Rico and boarded the ship - it was NOT a short flight.

Our cruise plan for the week:

- San Juan, Puert Rico
- St. Croix, U.S.V.I.
- Philipsburgh, St. Maarten
- Roseau, Dominica
- Bridgetown, Barbados
- St. George's, Grenada
- Cruising
- San Juan, Puert Rico

I won't bore you with all the details as you really had to be there to experience it firsthand. We did enjoy an excursion in each port, except St. Croix. We opted to hire a cab driver and to just explore the island. He charged us $25 a person and drove us to see a beer drinking pig, the rain forest, the beach where Christopher Columbus first landed, where Captain Morgan rum is made (we opted to just hit up the gift shop as it's an hour long tour), had lunch at a local stop and then returned back to the port where we arrived. St.Croix was nice but not the best of the island - it's an island the US should put more money into as it could be a lovely destination but it felt more like a run down New Orleans ward.

St. Maarten was our favorite. We opted for a day out on the Golden Eagle catamaran where we snorkeled and drank rum punch for many hours - the crew was amazing.  It was Keith's first time snorkeling and it seems to have open up a love for him as he couldn't wait to go again. We checked out the French and the Dutch side of the island.  After arriving back to land we grabbed some burgers and beer and Keith found a local cigar shop and enjoyed a few hours of relaxing before having to board the ship.

Dominica was next on the agenda - we booked a river tubing adventure, which was a TON of fun. More rum punch was involved, along with hours of fun floating down a river with other tourists and our guides. We did stop at the Emerald Falls on the way up, which were beautiful! We would do it again!


In Barbados we did a 4x4 island safari and Harrison's cave expedition - seeing the island by 4x4 was fun but the cave wasn't as exciting as we had hoped. We had to ride in a tram so you aren't really getting to explore the cave as we had hoped. The highlight for me was holding a monkey... Barbados was beautiful - we would go back here to explore!

Grenada was the island we visited on the day I actually turn 40 - we opted to take another catamaran ride where we snorkeled an underwater sculpture park and then traveled to a small island where we ate local lobster and drank champagne while relaxing and chatting with other tourists. 

On our last day at sea we had a tour of the ships kitchens and had a delicious brunch from the 4 on-board restaurants. We went to an art auction, played bingo where we won another 7-9 day Caribbean cruise and then had a lovely dinner in the dining room with the staff we came to love.

That's the quick run down of our cruise - we can't wait till our next one in July to the Mediterranean and then again in Dec to the Caribbean. We do love cruising!!