Cruisin’ - Days 5-7

Things have been up and down since my last post.  As I was boarding the ship about 5 minutes after I walked out of that Internet cafe in St. Maarten a few days ago, one of the security people on the ship dropped my brand new digital camera as she was loading it on to the X-ray machine. 

It’s broken.  It kinda works if all you want to do is take a picture and not zoom or use any of the other features.  I’m going back and forth with the cruise line right now about who’s going to be paying for it.  I’m not happy about it.

But, later that same night Ashley continued her unprecented streak in the casino buy hitting the jackpot on her “I Dream Of Jeannie” machine.  $800.  This brings her total winnings in 3 sessions of gambling to over $1200.  So things are not too shabby on that front. 

Don’t fret for the poor casino though.  I am doing my part to give back to them by shifting from being $100 up to $100 down on the black jack tables each night while downing $7.00 rum and cokes. 

That high was followed by the low of Wednesday’s experience in Antigua.  We were supposed to go on an excursion in the morning that took us to some phat beach, but they cancelled it at the last minute because not enough people signed up.  So we were left scrambling to decide on something else with no time to think it through.  We ended up deciding not to do anything and just explore the island on our own.

Big mistake.  The area around the pier was just beat down.  Antigua is P-O po’.  You couldn’t walk more than 3 steps without running in to someone with their hand out.  It was depressing and annoying all at the same time.  We ended up spending the day back on the ship by the pool so it wasn’t too bad.  We wished that we had been able to see some other parts of the island which we’ve heard are very nice.

The disappointment of Antigua was followed by the wonderful time we had in St. Thomas, USVI yesterday.  It was so nice.  We did this “Ultimate Island Experience” excursion where we got to see all these neat views of the island, then hang out at Magen’s Bay for a few hours, then do some shopping.  It was very cool.  We think we could come back and do St. Thomas for a whole week.

Today is our sea day as we cruise toward Nassau, Bahamas.  Then Sunday we’ll be back in Florida and reality.  :(