During my four years in the U.S. Navy, I visited the Caribbean islands of Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. None of these visits were that scenic and my means of transportation was limited to a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier. Not quite a Caribben cruise by most people's definition.
My return to the Caribbean in 2005 was aboard the Royal Caribbean luxury cruise ship, "Navigator of the Seas", and my visits to San Juan, Puerto Rico; St.Thomas and St.Maarten in the Virgin Islands; and Nassau in the Bahamas, were definitely a holiday for me.
Click on the map to the right to get an enlarged view. You can see Miami in the upper left, and below, from left to right you can locate Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Still further to the right you can locate Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Nassua is east of Miami, in the Bahamas.
The motivation for this trip was my daughter's birthday. My son-in-law wanted to do something special for her birthday and decided on a trip to the Caribbean. In a sense, I was a tag-along. Basically, it was a seven day cruise, with two full days at sea plus a one day visit to each island. As is my nature, I thought I would share my photos and text with others who might be interested in taking such a trip. To begin to view my pictures and narrative for this trip click here or click on any one of the days in the following list, to go directly to the pictures and narrative for that day.
For a detailed listing of daily diaries and photos click here.
Click on any picture to see an enlarged view. Use back to return.