CRUISIN' WITH ALL MY SWEETIES

After two years and rebooking this cruise twice, the four of us FINALLY departed the Miami Cruise Terminal on the Carnival Horizon on Saturday, June 11, 2022. This was Charley's first cruise and the first time in 30 years that I've cruised with my son.

Here we are ready for the first "elegant night" standing on the stairs before dinner.

Following a long day of travel and a night at a so-so hotel we headed to the pier for our eight night cruise with connecting cabins. The Horizon is huge! Too huge for my tastes, especially when the 3900 person capacity was expanded to at least 4200 guests. Some accounts said it was close to 4800 cruisers but even 4200 was way too crowded.

Downtown Miami from our ship as we got ready to set sail for the Caribbean.

The Horizon had several attractions including Dr.Seuss' Water Works with lots of opportunity to get wet including two large water slides. This is the SkyRide in which riders peddle their way around the ship. Charley, Darrin and Louie partook in the attractions while Gaga gladly guarded our belongings.

The Dive In Movie theater by the pool was one of Charley's favorites. I think they watched three movies up on deck.

Gaga and Charley relaxing just before setting sail. A few of the Monster High ghouls made the trip for their first cruises, too.

Charley and Louie hanging out.

This was Charley's favorite place to relax and watch the ocean. Daddy joined her this time. As the week wore on there were towel animals, ghouls and stuffed snugglies sharing the space. Our cabin steward got in on the act sometimes arranging things in Charley's window seat.

Our first stop was Aruba. It was our fourth visit to the island so we hopped on a city bus and headed for the California Lighthouse at the north end of the island while Darrin and Charley did a snorkeling excursion on a pirate ship.

California Lighthouse on Aruba. It was named after a ship called the California that wrecked off of the northern tip of the island. We had seen it before but never visited it. Lou climbed the 117 steps but after seeing how narrow, hot and humid it was inside, I decided nope. That's the beauty of being 70-something - I can do whatever I want or don't want to do.

Although there are beautiful beaches along Aruba's coast, much of the interior is flat and covered in cactus and desert. It is quite different than most of the Caribbean islands.

Darrin and Charley's pirate schooner that took them to three snorkeling sights where they saw lots of colorful fish and a shipwreck.

Their excursion included lunch and an open bar as they sailed the high seas.

One of the beach resorts along the coast. A private taxi to the lighthouse cost $52 plus tip roundtrip while the public bus cost $5 per person roundtrip with no tip. We usually look for the local bus option when traveling. The only drawback was about a mile walk, uphill and hot and humid from where the bus let us out.

I snapped this photo from the moving bus thinking it might have been Darrin and Charley's boat. It was! Turns out they sailed almost to the lighthouse on their trip.

One of downtown Oranjestad's colorful buildings.

Next up was Curacao. This was a new destination for all of us. It's a scenic island that we all just wandered around for a couple hours before heading back to the ship. The wall to wall people around the pool the first two days had settled down allowing us to enjoy the Lido deck.

 

The ABC islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao are all quite colorful with their Dutch influence and pastel colored buildings.

Darrin and Charley at Fort Rif in Curacao. It used to protect the city but is now a shopping center with lots of stores and restaurants.

The Queen Juliana Bridge is the highest bridge in the Caribbean.

Some of the beautiful residences and businesses in Willemstad.

The Queen Emma Bridge is a pedestrian pontoon bridge that takes people across the water. The bridge swings sideways to allow boats to pass by. It was my favorite since her nickname is "The Swinging Old Lady". My kinda girl!

This iguana was probably about four feet long from head to tail.

Charley loved the locks that people attach to the heart shaped trellises as a symbol of their everlasting love then throw the key in the water. Lou and I figured if they get divorced they come back with a hacksaw to cut it off.

Some pretty flowers with colorful buildings in the background.

We found the Iguana Cafe to sit and sip a drink along the water. We tried local beers and Charley enjoyed a strawberry, banana, and mango smoothie. 

The Carnival Horizon.

We visited two ports in the Dominican Republic, a new country for us. Darrin had been to Punta Cana four years ago when their trip was cut short by a broken leg/hip that resulted in quite the adventure getting him home for immediate surgery. We had been rerouted twice on previous cruises heading for the Dominican Republic over the years. This time we had an uneventful two days on the island.

 

La Romana is billed as the gateway to nearby resort areas but the small city wasn't too impressive. We took a last minute excursion on a "chu chu train" (basically a parking lot shuttle) for a 45 minute ride around the downtown area. 

The Dominican Republic is famous for producing lots of major league baseball players, especially shortstops. We passed by this field at 9:30 AM with lots of MLB wannabes honing their skills to make it to the big leagues.

A small fruit truck vendor in La Romana selling his wares.

The towel animals were out in force the next morning. Every deck chair on the Lido had a cute towel animal on it for photo ops. I think Carnival is one of the few cruise lines that still decorates the cabins with a different towel animal everyday for the kids - of all ages.

Swans are always a popular creation. This pair had leis and other decorations.

I loved all the puppies in the dog house while the mama lounged on the edge of the pool.

Our second Dominican Republic port was the resort area of Amber Cove. A highlight for all of us was our excursion to Monkeyland. You know how they say something was as fun as a barrel of monkeys? Well, I can see why after spending an hour with these little creatures.

 

These over water bungalows looked like a fun, relaxing place to soak up the sun and ambiance of the Caribbean.

The view from our ship as it docked in Amber Cove.

We barely sat down at Monkeyland and one of the squirrel monkeys jumped on Charley's head! 

The handlers had us all sit on benches in a circle and kept making the rounds with snacks for the monkeys. They were on your shoulders or heads, eating out of your hands and grabbing anything they could. We were advised to hang onto our phones and not wear dangly earrings. Fortunately, we didn't get peed or pooped on.

They certainly loved jumping all over us but you had to be quick to get and good photos.

Charley and Darrin with lots of little friends.

Darrin and I enjoying some monkey head wear.

It was hard not to smile like a kid when the monkeys were bouncing all around.

We made good use of the beverage packages and onboard credit that kept adding up with each cancellation and rebooking for two years. The last day my account ended up with over $200 left in credit that was a "use it or lose it" thing. I was sure it was wrong but we checked twice with guest services and they confirmed it was correct. So, we went on a spending spree to use it all up before leaving the ship the next morning!

 

Charley's favorite store onboard - Cherry on the Top. We made several trips to buy candy and other goodies. They even had a five pound gummy bear for $50 but we passed on that. The last day she bought a mermaid and a stuffed unicorn with some of our credit. I also bought lots of cruising T-shirts with my extra credit.

Normally, Lou and I buy one or two formal photos but with money to burn we ended up buying five of the professional photos. With all the photos, toys and candy we spent all but about $9 of my credit. And I know we got our money's worth on the really cheap drink package.

Charley looked so grown up in her fancy dresses. She and Darrin made a beautiful pair.

Darrin suggested taking a photo of just him and me. We haven't had one of just the two of us since before Charley was born.

I love this photo of two of my three favorite people in the world!