scottishgirl87
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 18, 2009
- Messages
- 1,591
Hi all 
Got back first thing yesterday morning after 3 nights in New York and 9 nights cruising the Caribbean! Was away with boyfriend and my parents for my mum's 50th birthday, she only found out about it at Christmas! Flew Continental again and as usual very happy with the service
Our flight out the plane was half empty so neither we or my parents had anyone sitting next to us. Flight back was virtually full (I assume alot of people coming home from celebrating St. Patrick's Day) and a night flight, we got lucky as the woman sitting next to us IFE didn't work so she got moved, yippee! Meant I could stretch out and get some sleep (and I can NEVER sleep on planes!).
Forgot just how busy NY was! I'd been before and originally wanted to stay in Times Square this time but I'm glad I didn't! We stayed at the Fitzpatrick Grand Central and it was a great location and great hotel! We got an absolutely bargain rate thanks to TravelZoo but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it My parents even got complimentary champagne and strawberries to celebrate my mum's birthday! Needless to say, boyfriend and I didn't see ANY of that!
Boyfriend hadn't been before, so a few of things we did the rest of us had done before. Did the usual touristy stuff Empire State Building, Central Park, World Trade Center, etc. We also did Top of the Rock and the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island which none of us had done before! Enjoyed the SOL alot more than I thought I would and the climb to the crown wasn't as bad as I thought (even if I did huff and puff it the whole way!).
Cruise was good, great ship (Explorer of the Seas), and we stopped at San Juan (Puerto Rico), St. Thomas (US Virgin Islands), Samana (Dominican Republic) and Labadee (Haiti, but it's Royal Caribbean's private island). Out of those my 2 favourites were Labadee and St. Thomas, Labadee probably just edges it! Samana was horrible, really poor place, beggars everywhere they even came into the bars/restaurants to ask to wash your shoes and stuff, I just don't like that. Needless to say we were off and back on the ship within about half an hour! The place was beautiful but the harassment and guilt put us all off, we would have spent more time if it hadn't been for that.
Despite boyfriend and I kind of deciding that cruising isn't really our thing (this was our 2nd cruise), we do already have a Med cruise booked for October which we are still going on (I think) as boyfriend is desperate to go to Rome and this cruise goes there.
HOWEVER, the good news is! Boyfriend agreed on this holiday that after October it's Florida for us from now on
I knew this holiday would go one of 2 ways.....1 it'd make him want to go back to Florida again (not that he didn't want to he just isn't interested in going back right away) or 2 it'd make him realise he wants to visit different places first. Although I don't think it'll be for a few years as we have to start saving to move out 
Struggling at the moment as as much as I had a great holiday, it just wasn't Florida. Plus my best friend just told me when I got back that she's booked to go to Florida this year at the same time we went last year (May). To say the least I'm so jealous!
Got back first thing yesterday morning after 3 nights in New York and 9 nights cruising the Caribbean! Was away with boyfriend and my parents for my mum's 50th birthday, she only found out about it at Christmas! Flew Continental again and as usual very happy with the service
Our flight out the plane was half empty so neither we or my parents had anyone sitting next to us. Flight back was virtually full (I assume alot of people coming home from celebrating St. Patrick's Day) and a night flight, we got lucky as the woman sitting next to us IFE didn't work so she got moved, yippee! Meant I could stretch out and get some sleep (and I can NEVER sleep on planes!). Forgot just how busy NY was! I'd been before and originally wanted to stay in Times Square this time but I'm glad I didn't! We stayed at the Fitzpatrick Grand Central and it was a great location and great hotel! We got an absolutely bargain rate thanks to TravelZoo but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it
My parents even got complimentary champagne and strawberries to celebrate my mum's birthday! Needless to say, boyfriend and I didn't see ANY of that!Boyfriend hadn't been before, so a few of things we did the rest of us had done before. Did the usual touristy stuff Empire State Building, Central Park, World Trade Center, etc. We also did Top of the Rock and the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island which none of us had done before! Enjoyed the SOL alot more than I thought I would and the climb to the crown wasn't as bad as I thought (even if I did huff and puff it the whole way!).
Cruise was good, great ship (Explorer of the Seas), and we stopped at San Juan (Puerto Rico), St. Thomas (US Virgin Islands), Samana (Dominican Republic) and Labadee (Haiti, but it's Royal Caribbean's private island). Out of those my 2 favourites were Labadee and St. Thomas, Labadee probably just edges it! Samana was horrible, really poor place, beggars everywhere they even came into the bars/restaurants to ask to wash your shoes and stuff, I just don't like that. Needless to say we were off and back on the ship within about half an hour! The place was beautiful but the harassment and guilt put us all off, we would have spent more time if it hadn't been for that.
Despite boyfriend and I kind of deciding that cruising isn't really our thing (this was our 2nd cruise), we do already have a Med cruise booked for October which we are still going on (I think) as boyfriend is desperate to go to Rome and this cruise goes there.
HOWEVER, the good news is! Boyfriend agreed on this holiday that after October it's Florida for us from now on
I knew this holiday would go one of 2 ways.....1 it'd make him want to go back to Florida again (not that he didn't want to he just isn't interested in going back right away) or 2 it'd make him realise he wants to visit different places first. Although I don't think it'll be for a few years as we have to start saving to move out Struggling at the moment as as much as I had a great holiday, it just wasn't Florida. Plus my best friend just told me when I got back that she's booked to go to Florida this year at the same time we went last year (May). To say the least I'm so jealous!
Welcome home, it sounds like you've had a great time. I hope you've got some photos to share with us
