HARMONY OF THE SEAS QUILTING CRUISE --PART TWO

 Since I still have so many photos to share, here is a special Wednesday Edition of My Joyful Journey.

We started the trip the day before boarding the ship, with an overnight in Miami. I strongly recommend you arrive at least one day early for any cruise--the ship will not wait for you if you are late. A few people did miss the ship, not quilters, and had to fly to St. Maarten to meet the ship 3 days later.

The Hilton Miami Downtown was a lovely hotel and we enjoyed dinner there:

Our view from the 8th floor

Scallops for dinner

The next day we met up with 3 staff members and the other teacher for our 3 mile trip to the Cruise Terminal. We got to the Pier at 9:45 and by 10:15 were onboard, as we were "Staff", there for the Quilters Cruise:

Dawn, David, me, Dana, and April in the Pinnacle Lounge

We spent Saturday preparing the classroom with 80 sewing machines--see PART ONE for more on that. Days 2 and 3 were sea days, spent teaching the two class projects to 72 students.

Day 4 brought us to our first port: Phillipsburg, in St. Maarten. This small island is two separate countries, a Dutch side and a French side. Phone calls from one side to the other are "international calls" so most people don't call the "other side".

We had a two hour shore excursion to see the sights. It was enjoyable and just enough time off the ship for me. We were back onboard by 1 pm, eating lunch and going to the pool:

Before full sunrise on my daily power walk

Day 5 was St. Thomas. We had been there before so chose not to get off the ship. We went to the almost empty pool, enjoyed leisurely dining and having the ship to ourselves most of the day:

Day 7 was the third port of call, Coco Cay, Royal Caribbean's private island. It was the last day of the trip so again, we stayed onboard, enjoying the empty pool and whirlpools and leisurely dining. It looked liked a great place for families and we sure thought of our grandchildren and how much they would love this place:

We saw two fun shows, Grease and Columbus: the Musical. The cast was very talented, the sets were great and we enjoyed them both:

Several days we ate lunch in the Main Dining Room on Deck 3, not far from the Conference Center. Service and the food was excellent, so nice to be served from a good selection of menu choices. I loved these two License Plate art installations:

Days at sea are labeled in the schedule as Day 2, Day 5, etc. So to help you remember what day of the week it is each elevator floor told you:

I will close with my favorite sky photos. I wish you could see the bright stars at night from our balcony. The nights were clear and we saw many constellations. Here are sunrises/sunsets:

This Crescent moon was still high in the early dawn sky, at 5:30 am when I went for my 5 mile walk that morning. Each lap took more of it from sight as the sun rose on the opposite side of the ship.

Pretty spectacular trip and one I hope to repeat!

Join me on the Alaska Legacy Quilting Voyage, August 9-16, 2024. Information will be posted soon at Stitchin Heaven Travel Cruises.

Let's quilt.

Barbara