Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Norwegian Pearl March 11–16, 2014

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Cruise #50!    Unbelievable.   Our first cruise was in 1991 on the Chandris Line’s Brittanis.  There’s been no stopping us ever since!   This cruise was the first time we’ve been on Norwegian since 2004.   Our card playing buddies from NJ, Linda and Bill Reinman were also on this cruise.  They are frequent Norwegian cruisers and were somewhat of a celebrity on this cruise, since they had the most cruises (23 I think) on the ship.  

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Upon boarding the ship, we noticed quite a number of college age kids.  Yep……SPRING BREAK! 

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The photo above was taken before we even left the port!   Smile

Our first port was Key West and we were determined to take the bike tour that we were too bummed out to take in December.   Ricardo was our very knowledgeable guide who brought through the narrow lanes into residential neighborhoods where the tourists generally do not go.   We started our day with breakfast in the outdoors cafĂ© as the sun came up.

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During the tour we made a stop at the home of an expert on Hemmingway.   I don’t remember his name, but he is in the process of publishing a book that he has been researching for 20 years.

 

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Above we made a stop at a botanical garden.   Beautiful.

 

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We spent lots of time playing domino’s and cards while we were at sea.  

Our next port was Grand Cayman.  Since we’ve visited that port often, we just took a walk along 7 Mile Beach.   Beautiful.

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The Summer Palace Dining Room was modeled after Catherine’s Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia.    Beautiful.

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