Hello everyone! My name is Carol, and I have to tell you all about CRUISES! My husband Bob and I take a cruise whenever we get the chance. We started cruising in 1997, when we tried to retire from our restaurant business. There’s really no need for us to keep working, but it’s hard to walk away completely from a business that you built yourself and let other people run it for you. So, we settled for “semi-retired,” which means we keep our hands in running our restaurants but still have time to take cruises two or three times a year!

Our first cruise was a short little thing, just five days in the eastern Caribbean. We thought we’d enjoy it, but we didn’t realize how MUCH we’d enjoy it! There we were, in our early 50s, and we hadn’t taken a vacation in almost 20 years. Not since the kids were small. Funny how time slips away. It seems like they were just toddlers yesterday, but they all are married and have their own kids now. Whew! Where does the time go? Bob got so burned (he has learned that using sunblock truly is a manly thing to do!) and I gained five pounds. I swear it happened overnight! Good thing I brought a few muumuus with me! Since then, we’ve learned to be better cruisers. Bob wears sunblock, and a hat to protect his dear little bald spot. And to keep the weigh off, I try to swim a little in the pool, walk around each level of the ship every day, and avoid snacks. That’s easier said than done since the food is always so wonderful! And that means quite a bit coming from us, since Bob and I are professionals when it comes to food.

I loved the islands, but the sunrises and sunsets at sea were so amazing! I got up at 5 am some days so I wouldn’t miss a minute of the sunrise. We’d never been so relaxed in our lives as when we were on the ship, so we vowed we would take cruises as often as we could. That’s a vow that’s been easy to keep!

We enjoy the Virgin Islands the most. They are so beautiful with their sparkling beaches and blue, clear water. Not to mention the great SHOPPING, my favorite thing, maybe second only to EATING! Of all the islands, I think we enjoy St. Thomas the most, since we seem to go back there more than to any of the others. Charlotte Amalie has the most AMAZING stores. There is this one area called Main Street (had to look up the local name – it is Dronningens Gade). There are three main roads that run in the same direction, plus all these alleys in between. And everywhere you look – shops! There are so many unique stores through this section! I love jewelry, and this is definitely the place to buy it! The deals are amazing.

The other place Bob practically has to drag me out of in Charlotte Amalie is called Vendors’ Plaza. This is more like a huge fair where people set up little booths and sell just about anything you can think of. But if you go there, be careful! You can get great deals, but don’t think that everything is automatically a great deal. Also, don’t go shopping in your swimming gear! We went shopping with another couple the first time, and they wore their swimsuits. Well, you never saw such a chilly reception from merchants! Even if you’re wearing a robe, they don’t like it. This goes for just about every shopping area around the islands, unless you are actually ON the beach. Dress up in normal clothes! That’s not much of a problem for me, since I don’t like too many people to see me in a bathing suit anyhow! And don’t forget to haggle. Most of the merchants expect you to try to drive down the price. Sometimes they seem disappointed if you DON’T try to haggle. I think they enjoy it. I watched some other people do this before I tried it myself. Now, Bob tells other people I could out-haggle a camel trader! I don’t think I am all that good, but I’ve learned a lot about how to get a good price on something I want.

I mentioned our little brood earlier – well, we’re finally going to get ALL of them into cruising, too! We’re all going on a cruise with our kids, their spouses, and the grandkids, too! It will be like a family reunion since two of our kids moved out of state (one clear across the country!) and we don’t get to see them nearly enough. We picked a Disney cruise, since we wanted to make sure the grandkids had plenty to do. There are four of them now. The eldest is 15, and he’s not sure if a Disney cruise is “cool,” and he actually was trying to convince his parents to let him stay home instead of going on the cruise with the rest of us… Whew! I may be in my 60s now, but heck I remember what I got up to at 15. The boy is coming on the cruise!

So, we are making arrangements for eight adults and four children. The cruise is four months away – I’ll post again as the date gets closer! I can’t wait!