Pirates of the Caribbean

Well, we certainly cruised in much more luxury than the pirates of old did.  We sailed from Port Canaveral, Florida on the Royal Caribbean Oasis of the Seas.

Funny, back in 2007 when I was on an assignment in Finland, I visited a shipyard where the Oasis was being built.  I thought at that time it would be great to cruise on it someday.  Little did I know then that I really would.

We sailed with Marti's sister Gail and our daughter Heather and two grandsons Andrew and Own.

We booked two side by side balcony cabins and enjoyed the views both in island ports and at sea.

The  Oasis is the second largest cruise ship in the world.  It has all kinds of amazing things on it, like a tree lined park,

and a grand concourse.

There is even a beautiful classic automobile on the concourse.  No you can't drive it, but if you could there is plenty of room on the ship to do so.  Any guesses on what this car is?

The ship has some amazing activities on board, like a rock climbing wall.  The boys had a ball scaling the cliffs.

A zip line over the park.  No way was I going to do this, I left it to Andrew and Owen.

The Flow Rider on the stern of the ship is where brave passengers could try their hand at surfing.

We visited the Bahamas where the boys got a chance to try out their driving skills.

At a port call at St. Thomas we took a tour of the island on an open air bus.

The views around the island were amazing.

Another port call was to St. Martin/Sant Maateen, an island that is half Dutch and half French.  We booked a private tour and were saddened to see all the damage still unrepaired from last year's hurricanes that hit the island.  Wrecked buildings,

devastated marinas with scores of wrecked boats.

Even Captain Jack Sparrow was not spared, looks like he will be shopping for a new ship.

Fortunately, the island is starting to bounce back, with tourism helping to fuel the repairs.  Shops were open with loads of goodies and souvenirs

And local wildlife were doing their part to put dollars in the pockets of the islanders.

It was a great cruise, all seven days of it and the boys are still talking about how much they loved it.  Sounds like a good reason to book another cruise next year if you ask me.  😎

Thanks for visiting and feel free to leave a comment.