Millennium - San Juan, Puerto Rico

This time I finally made it off the ship and into San Juan. Our group did a tour of old and new San Juan. The first stop on the tour was the capitol building, from which one can view the statue of San Juan Bautista (St. John the Baptist). The statue is a rather strange one, with a more contemporary form than one would expect in such a place. The capitol building is located in Old San Juan, as is Fort San Cristobal, which dominates the landscape near the end of the island. We spent quite a bit of time exploring the fort, which is very interesting if you like that sort of thing. It's also a great place to get some aerobic exercise, as there is a pretty steep hill leading up to the highest area of the fort. The views from the fort are spectacular.

I found the 3 flags interesting. Of course we all recognize the flag of the United States. The middle one of the trio is the flag of Puerto Rico. The third flag is the flag of the Spanish army. The flags were flying at half mast to commemorate the passing of former President Gerald Ford.

The tour of New San Juan was rather perfunctory. We drove through & got some descriptions of what we were seeing, but did not make any stops. The only photo I was able to get was of the park with the contemporary sculptures. There was one thing I wished I could have photographed, but I was on the wrong side of the moving bus to get it. It was a large tree with whorls of large, shiny dark green philodendron-like leaves at the ends of the branches, and a large bud of some sort at the end, which was reminiscent of a candle flame. The naturalist in me is always frustrated when there is no way to identify interesting plants, animals or birds.

The end of the tour let us off in shopping area, but we just walked back to the ship. I think we had a pretty good guide, but I had a very difficult time understanding what he was saying. Part of the problem was the level of noise from the bus engine. The rest is that either he had an extremely heavy accent, or he was speaking a combination of English & Spanish. If it was the latter, it could be because he was rather stressed. When we emerged from the Capitol building we ended up on someone else's bus because our guide's had broken down. Fortunately for him, the repair was simple, a new air filter for the diesel engine.

The portions of the city we saw seemed pretty nice, but other than wanting an opportunity to photograph & identify that one tree, I don't have any reason to want to return there. Once through the fort was plenty.

The adventure continues in just over two weeks when we leave for an extended stay in Thailand, followed by a cruise from Osaka, Japan to Vancouver, British Columbia. We should have lots of opportunities for great photographs.

Millennium - Dominican Republic

Unfortunately I cannot say much about Casa de Campo, Dominican Republic. I was not feeling very well, but got off the ship with the intent of taking the shuttle bus to both the old town and marina. But by the time there was a shuttle to take us, I was feeling so bad that I couldn't get on. It took a while to gather up the energy to walk back to the ship. I did get three pictures while off the ship. The one of the plants I took just because I thought they were pretty. My friend did do the shuttle ride & told me afterwards that I had not missed anything.

The last picture, of the sunset, was taken through the fabric screen over the dining room window. We could see through it just fine, but the camera lense was unable to ignore it. We had the great fortune to have a table in a corner, right next to a window, so we frequently had pleasant views at the beginning of dinner. This sunset was really spectacular, but in a quiet sort of way. It was as beautiful in its own way as the one when we were leaving St. Thomas.

Next up: I finally got to see San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Millenium - St. Thomas

This was my third visit to St. Thomas, and this time I actually did an official shore excursion. While my friends went parasailing, I chose to do a tour of the island. We traveled in an open tram-type bus, and the weather for doing that was perfect: a sunny day, with very comfortable temperatures. We spent a lot of time on narrow, switchback roads, which added a little excitement, although not as much as when we ended up in a traffic jam at the lookout point on the way back to the ship. I was impressed with how polite the drivers are compared to drivers in the US, until the traffic jam. Then all of a sudden everybody lost patience. However, fortunately the issue was soon resolved. I could not understand a lot of what the driver was saying, because of his fairly heavy accent, so I mostly paid attention to the lush & beautiful scenery. The views looking out over the ocean with all the nearby islands visible is one that will be beautiful to me no matter how many times I see it. The tour was also nice because the two couples I shared the bus seat with were very nice. One of them is responsible for the picture of me at the overlook.

One of the things that fascinates me, when I'm in areas like the Caribbean, is seeing many of our houseplants growing in the wild. We saw Mother-in-law's-tongue, split-leaf philodendron, golden pothos, fishtail palms, and some of the bushes with the striped/brightly colored leaves, the name of which I can never remember.

The tour took us over a good portion of the island, and stopped at the mountain top for half an hour of shopping and/or drinking banana daquiries. Or doing none of the above, if you are me. While I did look at the shops, & saw plenty of nice merchandise, there was nothing offered that was of interest to me. On the way down we stopped at a lookout, which was another shopping opportunity, of the straw market type. The only thing of interest there beyond the gorgeous view, was the man with the dressed up white donkey, whose purpose was being a photo op. The donkey was very cute, but the poor thing had the scroungiest tail I've ever seen on any animal.

At the end of the tour we drove through the town of Charlotte Amalie, and I finally saw places I recognized from my first visit to the island, which I had not found on my most recent visit.

My friends reported that the parasailing was a lot of fun. They went up tandem, and all said it was very easy and very pleasant. That includes the one who is as uncomfortable on ski lifts as I am. I do believe that it's easy & enjoyable; however, I think I will still pass, unless an extremely special opportunity arises.

While we were at breakfast, we got to watch a British frigate come into port, pushed up to the dock by tug boats. We couldn't see a lot of details, like faces, but it was clear that the crew was all dressed very neatly in Bermuda shorts.

It was nice to finally see more of the island and get a feel for what it is like. We were also sent from the island with a gorgeous sunset as our parting gift. Much better than any of the parting gifts on Wheel of Fortune.

Eastern Caribbean on the Millennium

This was a great cruise, but being only a week, it was definitely too short. This time we brought two of our girlfriends along, & it was fun to watch them discover the joys of life aboard a cruise ship. Since this was their first cruise, they got a cabin with a verandah, which we got to enjoy also. On Friday morning we ordered a room service breakfast, which was very opulent. We enjoyed it on the verandah.

The Millennium is a beautiful ship, with some interesting features. The one I think I liked best was the large portholes in the floor of the casual dining room on Deck 10, which allow for watching the water go by if you look down. That's something definitely not recommended for those who are prone to seasickness. Although there were a few times when the movement of the ship was quite noticeable, the size of the ship minimized the effects of the motion. The other nice feature was the central atrium, where one can lean over the rail to hear the band playing below.

The midnight tropical fruit buffet was beautiful, with lots of watermelon carvings, and other imaginative fruit creations. This one was much nicer than the one on the Zenith, maybe because there was much more space for setting it up.

The grand gala midnight buffet was stunningly beautiful. It was by far the most beautiful one I've ever seen. There were many ice sculptures. My favorites were the fish and the huge vases that were filled with flowers. The bread table was amazing. The pretzels tasted great, also. It was almost as if there was a hint of cinnamon in them. As usual, though, the best tasting food was on the dessert table. The Indian headdress done in melon, the chocolate ship, and the egg penguins were all unusual and very well done. The only thing this buffet was missing was the large oval "pictures" they featured on the Zenith, which were scenes made up from carved fruits and vegetables set into a bed of gelatin.

I can't say enough good about the wait staff on the Millennium. We have for the most part experienced excellent waiters. But the team of Sandu and Kittisak excelled over the best of the others. The scale of comparison here is between excellent and exceptional. Sandu had a lot of fun with our table, as we did with him. The best part is that he went far out of his way to help us play a practical joke on one of our new traveling companions. The success of the project is demonstrated by the photo with the huge doughnut. There is a story behind presenting her with a doughnut, which I will not relate. Suffice it to say, we took her by surprise and all had a great time with it. The doughnuts (there were two of them) were specially made for us by the pastry chef, and were the best tasting doughnuts I've ever eaten. To go with the candles on the one doughnut, all the waiters gathered around our table and we sang "happy doughnut to you" to our friend. Fortunately she appreciates a good joke and is still our friend. The memory of the whole episode still makes me smile. Sandu also looked out for us at every meal he worked; he found yogurt for my lunch on the day I felt sick, and sent waiters to get what we wanted when the "late night gourmet bites" were being served (as the supervisor it was appropriate for him to do that). We also had the pleasure of being the first to know that he had gotten engaged to a very beautiful young lady in the middle of our cruise. We wish him and his bride-to-be a lifetime of happiness. We also hope to encounter them on other cruises. He let us know that if we will be on his ship, we can request to be seated at one of his tables. That's worth remembering when you have such a special waiter.

Our room steward, Francis, was also exceptional. He was always available, always had a big smile for us, and even though it wasn't one of the amenities that came with our cabin, at our request he kept us supplied with a bowl of fresh fruit throughout the cruise.

This time I made good on my goal to try shore excursions, and did a tour of both San Juan, & the island of St. Thomas. Unfortunately, when we were at Casa de Campo, Dominican Republic, I was again not feeling well, so while I have a couple of pictures, I really have not seen the island. From what I understand, I did not miss much, but it is disappointing to have illness interfere with sightseeing opportunities. I was able to get a lot of good pictures on the tours, & those I will share in later postings.

When we boarded the Millennium we were not sure how we were going to like being on such a huge ship. Our prior experience had been on smaller ships like the Zenith & the Maasdam. However, apart from the walking distances between shipboard locations, the atmosphere was very similar. We met quite a few nice people, and did encounter them multiple times. The other thing that was really phenomenal on the Millennium was the show lounge entertainment. The quality of the Celebrity Singers & Dancers troupe, along with the other entertainment was the best we've seen. There was a comedian who was actually both funny and clean. The juggler was okay, but did nothing of particular interest. I'm afraid that when it comes to jugglers, if I've seen one, I've seen them all; juggling is juggling. I also tried the dance classes offered by one member of the dance troupe. That was quite fun except for the fact that he operated on the assumption that everyone is as coordinated as he is. It was still an adventure, a place to make new friends, and I know more now than I did when I started.

All in all, it was a great time, and it brought home to me that I like being on a cruise ship far better than I like being on land. It keeps getting harder to leave the ship to go home. More later.