Thursday, January 7, ’10 (St. Thomas, U.S Virgin Islands)

I slept really good last night. So much that we woke up an hour and a half later then we should’ve. So we arrived in St. Thomas this morning at 7am. WE didn’t get off until about 10:30 or so. We take a taxi to Skyride to Paradise Point. While sightseeing, we noticed people drive on the left side of the road. There were some annoying Portuguese or Dutch people on the ride. They got off to go do some Downtown Shopping. Once we got to our stop, we road on a “gondola” up the steep mountain. You can see A LOT from up there! Mom, Amanda, and I took a so called “nature trail.” Wasn’t really a trail, because it didn’t lead us very far. After that, we went down stairs to the Gift Shop. I bought a cross necklace in one of the shops. There were some HILARIOUS Lorikeets (birds) that would take each other’s toy- plastic caps, lids, etc. Then after we finished up there, we went downstairs to their restaurant they had and another Gift Shop. I bought a shirt that proof that we went to St. Thomas. So as we’re riding back down on the gondola, I notice my phone had GREAT service for the first time since leaving Ft. Lauderdale.
After Paradise Point, we took another taxi to Coral World at Cocki Beach. We had a really nice and polite taxi driver named Raymond. On the way, we took soooo many really steep and sharp turns. So Coral World is basically like a Sea World to us except NOT as big, and NO attractions and Water Park. All Coral World has is Marine animals really. We got there just in time to see them feeding the stingrays. Then we went to go see the Sea Turtles, They’re so cute! While Amanda, mom, and dad were having lunch, I went on to go see the tortoises, and they have another area that has a few more stingrays. In the same area, they have a Marine World building that has small marine life in aquariums in there. Then I go back to where Dad is sitting and ask “where’s Mom and Amanda?” Dad says “They’re lookin for you!” So I find them goin thru Marine World. Just mins after I get there, they do a Sea Lion Presentation, and 2 young girls bring out a sea lion named Omar. After hearing that presentation, it made me wanna work with Marine animals more than I wanted to in the past, because I miss learning about them. Last time was when Joe (Alabama) and I went to Behind the Scenes Camp at Sea World San Antonio back in ‘05/’06. Then, Raymond picked us up at the front at 2:30pm and took us back to where we get back on board our ship. But he took us to an observation place for a couple mins so we could take a few more pictures before we left the island.
Once back on board, they go back to the rooms, and rest for a while, and I went up to the Lido Deck, and end up fallin asleep for a good hour or so. I get woken up by Matchbox 20 videos playin on the big screen at 5pm. So I watched those until 6:30pm. Then the movie Up came on right after that. I watched that for a good hour. Bout 7:40 I go back to the room to get ready for dinner. Dinner starts at 8:15, but I left the room at 8:25-No big deal. Thinking I THOUGHT I knew where EVERYTHING is on Miss Emerald Princess… Turns out I DON’T! I got lost tryin to find the restaurant we have been eating at for the past 3 NIGHTS!!! Here comes the embarrassing part! First, I know it’s a formal night, right? So I’m all dressed nicely for dinner. I wore a nice button down shirt with a BRAND NEW pair of khaki’s. So when I ACTUALLY get to the restaurant, I get REMINDED that it’s formal night and HAVE TO wear a SUIT/JACKET to get in. So I go BACK to the room AGAIN, and put on a light sweater to “cover up.” Mom asked the guy if that it was acceptable, and he said “yes.” (I think he said it just so I don’t have to the room again and change for the third time) So I FINALLY make it to the table, in embarrassment, and our waiter, puts out my food. They had already ordered for me! It’s ravioli WITH VEAL!!  THAT was my new food! Amanda told me after I finished it. AND I LIKE IT!!! I knew there was somethin in it, but didn’t know what it was. Apparently, I didn’t mind either! After I finish dinner, it’s about 9:10. I go up to check to see if there’s seats left to watch the BCS Bowl- Texas/Alabama. There was so I got back to the room and change into comfortable clothes for the game. Amanda, Mom, and Dad all came up to see how I was, and where I was sitting. Mom and Dad went off to a show or somethin, and Amanda stayed and watched the game with me. After the 1st Quarter, I go get some Pizza. But there was a 5min wait. I go back to the room and put on a long sleeve shirt, because it was super windy, and too cool for bein out in the Bahamas. Texas lost it 21-38 to Alabama. The game didn’t finish till a lil after 1am last night. Amanda and I come back to the room. Turn on The Ugly Truth. I fell asleep because I have already seen it twice, and Amanda stayed up and watched it all.

Wednesday, January 6, ’10 (St. Maarten/St. Martin, Netherland Antilles)

Last night wasn’t terrible, but wasn’t that great either, So, Mom woke us up right at 9 as we’re comin into St. Maarten on the Dutch side. Amanda and I go into our parents’ room to look out right before we leave. It was H-O-T HOT!!! So check this out- The population of St. Maarten (Dutch) is 25,000 people. Boerne’s is an estimate of 29-30,000 people. Boerne is NOT EVEN CLOSE to the SIZE of that part of the island! THAT’S INSANE!!!!! You could probably fit ____ Boerne’s in there! But the Island itself is 37sq. miles. There’s also the French part too. They spell it St. Martin. Once we got here, and off the Gangway, Dad and I stood in line to get our Water Taxi tickets, so we could go into town. Lots of people, but it went super fast! So we took the Water Taxi into town. First part was kinda boring and took a while. We did some exploring/lookin around. What’s cool, and easy to remember where you are, is the part where we came in ONLY HAS 2 streets- Front Street & Back Street. Really NARROW roads, and small cars. But I would guess that’s normal for islands/countries like St. Maarten. Dad actually got a REALLY GOOD BARGAIN on a watch he bought. Originally it was $300 somethin. He got it for $99 EVEN!! No tax, no nothin added on. I almost paid it for him, but he wouldn’t let me. After we looked around, we had lunch at a hotel that we found by walking past it. It had Beach front property, AND FREE internet! So we got to see what’s up with everybody, w/o usin minutes! It was a pretty sweet deal he got. THEN it was BEACH TIME!!!!!!!! The water was CRYSTAL CLEAR, but not as warm as I thought it would be, knowing its Caribbean water. But it felt good once we got in! Amanda, Mom, and I went on just a small walk for a little bit. I think we left around 3:30-3:45 or somewhere around there… So there were 2 HUGE lines for gettin on the Water Taxi back to the cruise ships- Red and Blue (wristbands). Once we saw there’s 2 taxis, then some of us scramble to form a quick line. What was funny was there were some Blues that had gotten mixed in with Red. The captain of the taxi told the people with Blue wristbands to wait till he has ALL THE RED on board, because Red was ________________! Mom and Amanda just HAD to go thru one more shop. So I went on and waited for them on Deck 15 by the big screen TV. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince was showin at the time. I ended up fallin asleep for a little bit. Then I went back to the room to take a shower, and rise off. When I went back up to the pool deck, Dad and I just was lookin at the other ship across from us. I made another quick trip to go get my phone, so I could take some pictures as we were leavin St. Maarten/St. Martin. We ended up leavin at 6:15pm. So after we set sail, I went to the room to grab my laptop so I could work on my journal for today. I’ve been up here since then. They’re showin a couple artists’ concert videos on the big screen tonight. They showed Beyonce, Matchbox 20, Tina Turner, and Cirque Du Soleil videos. Cirque Du Soleil was UNBELIEVEABLE!! I had fallen asleep during Tina Turner, and this sweet lady (staff member) came and put a blanket on me. That was VERY nice of her to do that. Then I watched a good 35mins of 17 Again before goin back to the room at 11:40pm.

Tuesday, January 5, ‘10 (At Sea)

Last night, I slept WAAAYYYY BETTER then the night before. Wanna know how? We had a wake-up call set for 10am this morning, I got up and answered it, and fell back to sleep for another hour and 15mins (11:15). Finally started moving at 11:30am when Mom called to see if we were awake. Didn’t get outta the room till bout 12:15pm or so when I went w/ Amanda to go get her some brunch. Then she came back to the room with me, so I could my cereal for the morning! Then we went up to the Pool Deck with mom and dad. It was crowded b/c Transformers 2 was showin on the big screen. So we found 4 together that “looked” like they weren’t being used. So we go along our business, and put our stuff down. This guy (w/ an accent from who knows) was real mean to us and gave us a dirty look. He said “He was sitting there, and that he was goin to get a drink!” He never came back! FREAK! It started to rain real lightly, so everybody was in a scramble to get under cover. I was in more of a hurry to get in front of them to protect my computer, because I had it out there….Not knowing it was gonna do that. So I’m in the Observation room for a little bit, catching up on my journal from last night, till now. Later! So when 2:40 came around, I met the rest of my family in Club Fusion for some BINGO! I guess forgetting that it starts at 3:30pm I rushed back to the room to get my glasses, because I thought I would need them to see the board of numbers. I thought it started at 3pm. We played 4gms. On the last game, we played “Blackout” (where you have to fill the WHOLE CARD to win). It got down to where, I had 1 MORE NUMBER (B9)!!!! And they didn’t call it! I could’ve SINGLED HANDLY won $400!! Soooo close, yet soooo far!!! After BINGO, we went outside, and just hung out there for a little bit watching the sea at it’s’ best! Then we went up to the pool Deck, and just laid out for bit. Amanda and Mom went back to the room as soon as the sun went behind the clouds. So did Dad after he asked where they were. I was a MAN (haha lol) and with held the cool air. I listened to my XM while layin out. Few mins after dad went in, I made the decision to go check out the areas/pools. So I laid out there for 20mins or so. I waited till it was pretty dark to go in and get ready for dinner. I wanted to watch a little bit of Julie and Julia (6:30), but I went in before it started, and after I finished my pizza. I went in at the right time, because as soon as I got in the room, I asked Amanda “What time we are meeting Mom and Dad for dinner?” She said “7pm) I THOUGHT ABOUT goin back to the room at 7! Luckily I made the right decision to go early. So tonight’s attire is Formal-Shirt, tie, pants, and suit (if ya got one). So we headed down to Deck 6 to get out formal picture taken. There was A WHOLE LOT of people all on Decks 5-7…. It was the Captain’s Champagne Waterfall Partay! So back to dinner! We ate at the same place as last night. I actually had some Bow Tie Pasta that I liked. (Tried some of Amanda’s this morning) So unfortunately, I was the first one done, and went back to the room to get undressed. I put on MUCH more comfortable, casual clothes, and go check to see if anyone was out by the pool watchin the game. There was! So I go back to the room, grab my lap top, go back up there and find me a comfortable spot to watch the game. I was kinda multitasking by watching the game and working on my journal. It started to sprinkle a bit, so I went down to a buffet, and worked on it there. After I let my battery get low, I went to go get a glass of milk. Once I get back to the room, I notice I don’t have a bowl or spoon for some cereal. So I make ANOTHER trip back to the buffet area, and get one of each. Come back to the room. Watched some TV and had me some Cinnamon Toast Crunch! Bout 11:30pm, I left the room and went up on deck, kicked back and relaxed while watching the Iowa/Georgia Tech game. That was a good game! Got back to the room around 12:45am and just fell asleep after watching TV with Amanda.

Friday, January 8, ’10 (Grand Turk)

For the first time this week, Amanda and I get up and STAY UP after our wakeup call goes off at 9:45 this morning. First thing we go and get breakfast. And we also ran into Mom and Dad. They asked us about goin to BINGO at 11:15 for another chance to win some $$$!! After runnin into them, we bring our breakfast to room. Before we met up for Bingo, Amanda and I went to the Michelangelo Dining room… They were having a HUGE SALE, and she wanted to look for a ring. My luck ran out for Bingo. My pen was workin right, and had some bad cards! While Dad is tryin to get on the internet with my computer, I go outside, and watch us come into The Grand Turks!!! BEAUTIFUL, yet small island. Its’ population is ONLY 3,700 Native people. It’s only 7mi long and 1.5mi wide! But before we got off, we HAD to stop up on Deck 15 for Miss Amanda to get some pizza. Dad and I go take some pictures of the island while she was havin lunch. After that, I go check out the Sanctuary area for prices, because I’m thinkin of getting that for Mom and Dad tomorrow, since they have done COUNTLESS number of things for us. I was getting frustrated, because I was so anxious to go get in the water. Also, because Dad told me 5mins, but he had to go the restroom, which took FOREVER because he couldn’t find it, when there was one right over by the ping-pong tables.
So we finally get off the ship, and we see the water is UNBELIEVABLY CRYSTAL CLEAR! The pier we docked at was really nice too. So as we’re tryin to find a place to sit, I walk in the water and it’s a little chilly. I thought it was gonna be all nice and warm. It kinda was, once we got used to it. Out of the ports we stopped at this week, this place has REAL sand! I mean, the other places had sand, just wasn’t as soft as Grand Turks’ sand. I got hungry and I go sit up on Deck 15, and get some pizza. Found me a place to sit and watch a bit of Harry Potter #6 on the big screen. I get down to Deck 5 realizing I had forgotten to get an extra beach towel. So I ride the elevator ALL THE WAY BACK UP and get that dang towel! Once I get out of the Gangway part on Deck 4, I took of my sandals because I was getting blisters on my toes. To waste time while Mom and Amanda were lookin at shirts, I go check out the HUGE pool, and this surfing ride called Flo Rider, where you can practically surf against high pressure water shooting up. Then right before we got back on board, I took a picture of the “Welcome To Grand Turk” sign they had on the wall to welcome tourists. By the time we got back on the ship, it was bout 4pm or so. Came by the room to get my computer. Then we all went up on the Lido Deck (15) to relax and watch My Life in the Ruins. The ship next to us, the Carnival Glory, sounded its’ horn 9x because they were missin 12 people. The movie ended at 6, and so we came back to the room to take a shower. The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas was on, so we watched that while we got ready. I went up on deck and watched a good portion of Yes Man. This nice waitress brought me a bag of popcorn. I asked for another one she came up again after I was done. I’m thinkin she forgot so I get me a second bag. After a few mins pasted, she looked at me, and that reminded her that she was gonna get me some more popcorn. I end up finishing 2 whole bags and bout half of half of the third one she brought up. I worked on my journal while watching the movie. When it was over, I waited to see what else was comin on, but nothin. Came back to the room, and watched TV and worked on my journal some more. At 10, I met Mom, Dad, and Amanda at the Princess Theater for the show “Boogie Shoes.” It was a very technological production they put on for us. Came back to the room and watched TV until we fell asleep.

Sunday, January, 3, ’10 (AKA Cruise Day)

Umm well, got up around 9 this morning. Amanda and I went down to breakfast and saw Mom and Dad were already havin breakfast. We joined them! I had a bowl of Frosted Flakes. Then my dad told me there’s a Burger King right down the block. So after breakfast, my mom, dad, and I go get some more for from. Then we took a really nice walk around the area. I think we walked 3-4miles? As we were walking, we heard sirens. We see a cop speeding down a side road, and go and blocks traffic. I thought he was gonna go and arrest somebody or somethin. But it turns out, he was blocking traffic b/c they were escorting 2 or 3 Charter buses to the cruise ship. It had to have been somebody “special!” We also walked half way up the bridge. It was a Draw Bridge. Pretty cool to see, because I’ve never seen a draw bridge go up/down before! Made our way back to the hotel. Took a detour thru a really nice, kinda outlet mall lookin area, Then went back to the room to just “chill” for a little bit till we load up and get on board the!
We loaded up in a van at 1:40 this afternoon and arrived at the Everglades Port (where we board the ship) right at 2pm. Then we had to go thru “processing”- room keys, etc. Right before we hopped aboard the Emerald Princess, had our picture taken. First thing we were handed a scavenger hunt card, where we could win over $1000 in prizes! My first thought of the ship was GORGEOUS, and I was right! It is! As we’re walking to FIND our rooms, we walk down a Hall of Art. There were some real pretty ones. So anyways, our “staterooms” are on the Aloha Deck (Deck 12) and Amanda’s and I’s stateroom is A412. Mom and Dad’s stateroom is A326. So once we saw the view and where our rooms are, we went EXPLORING! Knowing we’re in S. Florida, it was a CHILLY, so I went back to the room and got my sweater. I was a little too anxious for that part, cuz I wanted to see where everything is and what’s goin on where. So we took a self tour basically just went by what we wanted to find on the map and where we were at the time. That took quite a while, cuz it’s a HUGE SHIP!!! So after that, we went to the rooms for just a second, to get our life jackets for a safety demonstration in our Muster Stations. It was Dad/I and Mom/Amanda. Dad and I found out we were in the WRONG GROUP according to the letter on the life jacket. We were C, but went to the A group instead. THEN after that, met back at the rooms and sat out on their patio so we could watch us disembark. Once we saw other ships leave before us, we KNEW we were behind schedule! We were like 4th in line, which we FINALLY left at 17:45. So we made our way to Skywatchers Club on the 18th Floor to finally sit and relax and just watch the night sky fall as we leave. We sat in there for a little bit, until we got hungry. We ate dinner at one of the buffets they have on board. I found some Macaroni and it wasn’t the best! Amanda JUST HAD to bring up that by the END OF THIS CRUISE, I HAVE TO TRY SOMETHIN NEW, or IF I DON’T, THEY’LL pick somethin out for me. That right there, ruined the night, and possibly the week for me! And MOM AGREED to it!! Went back to room for a few minutes before going to the Princess Theater for some COMEDY!! The comedian was Kevin Hughes, and he was HISTARICAL!!!! It was all NON-STOP laughter for all of us! After that, I went with them to have dessert back in the buffet area. Then once again went back to the rooms for the night, but THEY stayed. I unpacked a bit, and brought my computer and found a spot in front of the HUGE PLASMA SCREEN TV out on the pool deck (Deck 15) to catch up in my journal. Got a little bit done, until it was getting low on battery. I finally found a table down on Deck 5 that has a wall-port so I could charge it! It is now 23:47 and I’m gonna go back to the room and go to sleep! It has been a SUPER LONG DAY!!

Day 1 of our Bahama Trip!

This morning I woke up at 8:45. Packed all my “electronic” things, so I could have EVERYTHING charged up till the last min. Dad, for some reason wanted to leave at 9:30! Our flight doesn’t leave till 12:30! So we get out the door at 9:45 and still made it to the San Antonio International Airport w/ PLENTY of time to spare! So we’re sittin at Gate 6 right now waiting to get on the plane. As we walked up, my dad found some change layin on the chair. My sister said “Maybe it’s a trick to see who might take it” I had to give it a second look. Then my dad just told me to take it! I counted it and it was 69 Cents! LOL! Next stop is Tampa, FL! {But fiiiiiiiirst…I look to my right and there is sitting a veeeeeeeeeeeeery HOTT blonde!}(Sister wrote that!) So as we’re comin into Tampa, one of the ___________ started singin a song that “represents” Southwest Airlines. Then the captain told us NOT to sing Happy Birthday to a lady, b/c she didn’t want anybody to know it was her birthday. Sooo, we did it anyways! The whole plane was singing/clapping! So we get into Tampa, and we’re there for like 20-25mins until we boarded our last connecting flight to FT. Lauderdale, Florida. That was only like an 50min flight. We arrive in Ft. Lauderdale, about 5:30 ET. Get out luggage from baggage. Then we waited for our “hotel shuttle” to take us to the hotel. And it was pretty chilly for South Florida. Was expecting to be like 70s or mid 60s…. We’re stayin at Comfort Suites for the night. Got our rooms, and partially unpacked. (Didn’t want to get everything out) For dinner, we went to Ernie’s BBQ. I had A Grilled Cheese sandwich. I originally ordered 2, but they were just so big, I could only finish 1. But it was good anyways! Since then, we have been back in the room watchin TV!