Unfortunately, weather caused us to miss Grand Turk.  We had booked a private snorkeling excursion with Blue Water Divers.  They refunded all except a $10 fee.  The port cancelation was announced at 7:00pm the night before.  There was also a letter in our cabin that evening and a free glass of champagne at dinner the following night.  We were also refunded $14 in port taxes and fees to our onboard account.

Grand Turk

This was our third stop in San Juan.  Because of missing Grand Turk, we arrived at 8:00am rather than 1:00pm.  Our departure remained at 10:00pm.  We were so excited to be arriving early because we would be able to go to La Bombonera, a favorite breakfast restaurant and get mallorcas.  Unfortunately, after 110 years in business, it has closed.  We walked around Old San Juan, up to Castillo San Cristobal, then down towards El Morro.  We used Yelp to decide where to stop for lunch and ended up at a pleasant little restaurant, St. Germain Bistro & Cafe.

San Juan

We took the water taxi over to Phillipsburg and walked around for a few hours.  We have been here a few times, and didn't really want to do an excursion.  We were back on board by lunchtime and enjoyed the deserted aft pool.

St. Maarten

Ahhh, HMC, my favorite cruise ship stop.  This was our third stop here.  Before I plopped myself down on the beach to laze and sip fruity frozen drinks for a few hours, I went for a run.  The walking loop is very short, about .6 mile, so I just took any road I could find.  I went back down to where the tenders docked, then out to the stingrays and glass bottom boat, and out to the horse stable.  It was just short of 3 miles.

Half Moon Cay

We tend to cruise Carnival when taking the kids and try other lines when it's just the two of us.Last year on the Westerdam, we had traditional late seating and dinner took over two hours every night.

Nieuw Amsterdam Review

Giving HAL another chance

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Superior Verandah Suite

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