Kemp Kuties: 1 Princess, 2 Saints, and a Turk

Saturday, January 10, 2009

1 Princess, 2 Saints, and a Turk

Tomorrow, Sunday, at 2pm, we'll arrive at Port Everglades to check-in for our cruise to the Eastern Caribbean. Ahhhhh! I am so, so, so excited! We have been discussing this since May; planning it since August; and reviewing, Googling, and researching our itinerary since October. Finally the day has come that we get to disembark (I love saying that word) and cruise!

Our ship is the "Crown Princess" of the Princess Cruise Line. We're visiting 1 Princess, 2 Saints, and a Turk along our 7-day vay-cay. Ahhhh! I can't believe this day has finally come!

Sunday: Sail
Monday: Princess Cays, Bahamas - Private island of the Princess Cruise Line
Tuesday: at sea
Wednesday: Saint Martin (French territory)/Sint Maarten (Dutch territory)
Thursday: St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Island (with plans to ferry to St. John!)
Friday: Grand Turk, British Virgin Island
Saturday: at sea
Sunday: arrive back to Port Everglades, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

Lovey, Me, Mom, Grandma, Lovey's 2 brothers & their wives (Jack & Carol, & Pat & Kim) are all sailing with us. Lovey booked Mom & Grandma's flights with ours so we could fly & sit next to each other to and from Ft. Lauderdale. We arrived today at 3:45 pm (we left SLC at 6:05 am!), Jack & Carol arrived tonight at 9:30 pm, and Pat & Kim fly in tomorrow. Lovey rented us a van, a Nissan Quest, and we've already seen lots of Ft. Lauderdale.

Waiting for our 6am flight to depart

(I had just under 2 hours of sleep - so tired, but so excited!)

We easily found our hotel rooms at La Quinta Inn and I laughed at my Mom & Grandma's childish joy when they saw a squirrel in the nearby tree. If Tony saw this squirrel he would say it was a "bad squirrel" (because it is still alive - we had tons of squirrels that infested our attic in Charleston).

The "bad squirrel" looking me squarely in the eye...a challenge?

Mom & Grandma in their hotel room

My cousin, George, and his family live nearby and were able to met us for supper at Applebee's. George took Mom & Grandma to see his home, while Lovey and I drove to the Ft. Lauderdale Beach and walked along the waves under the fullest moon of 2009 (30% larger than any other full moon this year. I read that tonight the Earth's orbit and the Moon's orbit are the closest that they'll ever be this year, which makes the moon look enormous). Ahhhh, romantic.