Medary.com

The Bollywood to South Beach Voyage - Regent Seven Seas Voyager, October 29-December 18, 2009

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Thirty-five

(Remember to click "read more" if you're looking at this from the main medary.com page to get the whole article!)

December 14 (Monday, Day 47, St. John’s, Antigua – amended to be a day at sea) -

Antigua--as close as we were going to get

Snookums woke up and went to Muscle Mix. While doing crunches the Captain made an announcement saying that since one of our four engines is broken we will not be stopping in Antigua today and will head directly for San Juan, Puerto Rico. We were originally scheduled to get to Puerto Rico at noon on Tuesday but now will arrive at 7 AM. We were not thrilled by this news since we haven’t been to Antigua before and have been to San Juan several times, but things like this happen on cruise ships. There won’t be any zip lining in Antigua for us today!

More after the jump . . . Snookums returned to the cabin and got Filbert for breakfast. Afterwards, Snookums took a nap while Filbert surfed the Internet. Filbert showered and got ready to hang out in the Observation Lounge and Snookums decided to get up (again) and shower and get ready for the day. She left the room at noon and decided to get some sun.

We met back in the room around 3 PM and did our own things (Snookums read and journaled and Filbert surfed). Snookums also perused the boutique to figure out how to spend our $89 in shipboard credit. Regent boutiques never have anything and she ended up with a Regent polo shirt. Several people were shopping in order to spend their leftover shipboard credit and no one was happy about the choices.

We had dinner with Monica, Joel, Elsa (social hostess), FayeMarie and Jules. Around 10:15 we adjourned to the Observation Lounge to have an after dinner drink while listening to the pianist, Vlado. Snookums had a virgin pina colada and Filbert enjoyed a couple of Manhattans. Around 11:30 Snookums turned into a pumpkin so we left.

December 15 (Tuesday, Day 48, San Juan, Puerto Rico) -

We woke up when Cruise Director Lorraine piped into our room saying that at 8:45 AM everyone would need to clear U.S. Immigration. We showered and got ready for our day in Puerto Rico. After we walked through the immigration line, we weighed ourselves and went to breakfast. Snookums lost 2.5 pounds from the first time she weighed herself on the ship in Mumbai and Filbert gained 3.5 pounds. Not too bad at all for 48 days of cruising!

Around 10 we got off the ship and walked around Old San Juan. We’ve been to San Juan before and have seen the forts so we didn’t have a destination in mind. We decided to walk to the dome in the distance and it turned out to be the Capitol of Puerto Rico. It was built in the 1920s and was gorgeous on the inside with marble pillars and beautiful mosaics on the inside of the dome. The 3-story building was decorated with lots of Christmas trees and garlands and also had a life-size nativity scene in the foyer and Christmas music was playing. There is obviously no separation of church and state in Puerto Rico! On the way back to the ship we saw a dead bright green parrot on the ground. We weren’t lucky enough to see a live one, but we did see a dead one.

After a quick lunch we met for our tour of riding horses in the foothills of El Yunque Rainforest. 38 people from the ship were on this tour and the average age was probably 65. The group was divided into experienced and novice riders and then the horses were distributed. We were with the novice group. Snookums was the very last person to get a horse. She had never been picked last for anything in her life and now she got the last horse. The group rode for about 45 minutes. Along the way Snookums saw 4 iguanas. Two of them were 3-feet long and were orange and green in color. Filbert didn’t see them. We rode to a river and then we had a break. Some people waded in the cool, clear river but we didn’t. Filbert did buy a beer, though. Then it was back on the horses for another 45-minute ride to the stables. Filbert’s horse was named Pepita and Snookums’s was Frankie. Pepita liked to amble along towards the rear while Frankie liked being towards the front of the group and hugged the left side of the trail which meant that Snookums was frequently riding through bushes and her left pants leg got lots of burrs on it. At one point Frankie nudged a horse in front of him and that horse kicked its leg back and kicked Snookums’s stirrup. Snookums was very glad it didn’t kick her shin since that could have broken it. Everyone made it back on the bus in one piece. Snookums’s socks, shoes and pants were splattered with lots of mud but Filbert’s weren’t too dirty.

The horse ride:

Pepita says hi. Or, she's maybe trying to bite my foot.

Hitting the not-so-dusty trail

”I'm having fun--really!”

Trying to look like he's done this before (he hasn't)

He calls himself Joel, from out Mahopac way

All smiles at the riverside

The horses contemplate the return trip

There's that winning smile!

We took quick showers and enjoyed a nice dinner in Compass Rose while our dirty clothes were in the washing machines. Filbert stayed awake to see us leave Puerto Rico and also listened to the SDSU men’s basketball 73-66 loss to a Cal Poly team that isn't very good. He's not happy.

Next: Christmas decorations on the Voyager.