November 18: After a tantalizing but very brief look at Grand Turk last week, I was even more excited about donning scuba gear for a look at the world-famous coral reef. The Carnival Liberty approaches the Grand Turk dock just in front of us, at 10:18 am. It’s a...

When I began writing this, it was 05:30 am on the 21st, and I had just watched Holland America’s new ship Nieuw Amsterdam sail into the channel leading to Port Everglades. I went back to bed, though – it’s now 07:10 and I’m watching the sun come up over...

November 17: Our day at Half Moon Cay last week was excellent, though marred by there being 2 ships, overcrowding all the facilities. We were looking forward to seeing it with fewer people. This is a typical stairway on the Carnival Destiny We still find the interior of the...

November 16: We had no firm plans for Nassau, but thought that we’d go over to Atlantis and have a look to start. Information that we found online about day-pass options at Atlantis was contradictory so we weren’t sure how that would turn out. Another beauiful Caribbean sunrise as...

November 15: Today we began the next stage of our adventure, boarding the Carnival Destiny in Miami. I chose this cruise for business reasons. There are a lot of different opinions about Carnival, and since they’re often very cheap, I need to know what a cruise with Carnival is...

November 14: Cathy and I went our separate ways today – her to go shopping at Sawgrass, me to go very, very fast in a race car at Homestead-Miami Speedway. What a nice view to enjoy our morning coffee in front of 🙂 We got off to a very...

November 13: Today was disembarkation day at Port Everglades, Fort Lauderdale, and on to the next stage of our adventure. I spent a while this morning getting a few more photos of the Noordam. The hallway outside our cabin – our door is the 2nd on the left, close...

November 12: Today was entirely a beach day – 6 hours on a private island in the Bahamas, with lots of options for activities for those who choose to not just laze around. This is Explorations Cafe, the library and computer area on Deck 3 on the Noordam. This...

November 11: We were supposed to be at sea all day today, but had to make a short stop at Grand Turk to air-evacuate a sick passenger. The Lido pool area on the Noordam is lovely but on nice days (which in the Caribbean means most days) it gets...

November 10: Our port visit today was the city of Charlotte Amalie on the island of St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands. We had planned to take a catamaran to the island of St. John for another beach and snorkeling day, but Mother Nature changed those plans. This...