bon voyage!

we planned a wonderful 2-week transatlantic cruise for the middle of april.  we had booked it nearly six months prior so we had eagerly been awaiting this long vacation.

we flew down to tampa and stayed at our crew hotel so that we could fly to san juan the following morning.  we spent two nights in san juan at a beautiful resort before the cruise set sail.  it was great laying in the sun, relaxing.

we boarded our cruise ship and explored, as we always do when we first get onboard.  it's always interesting to see what type of people will be on such a long cruise.  obviously you have some retired people, but this cruise was filled with europeans and LOTS of gays.  i suppose the crowd wasn't too surprising considering europeans take longer holidays than americans and the gays have the disposable income to take cruises such as this.  we met a few people as we made our way around the ship, having our pre-departure beverages.  when we went to dinner that evening, we met the four other individuals at our table - two friends traveling together from new jersey and a lovely couple from london.  we quickly became friends with our tablemates.  we spent a majority of the time over the next two weeks with them.

on our cruise we went st. thomas and st. maarten before making our way across the atlantic.  in st. maarten g and i had been looking forward to going to maho beach.  it's a top destination for airline geeks as the end of the runway is literally at the edge of the beach.  planes are so low by the time they reach the beach you feel like you can reach up and touch them.

KLM 747 landing over Maho Beach

g, me, ryan & john (our new, jersey frriends)

the next 6 days we spent at sea.  there was plenty to do on the ship and having met people we enjoyed the days went by quite quickly.  we spent time in the sun during the day, typically had drinks on our huge aft-facing balcony in the evening, met our group in the dining room for dinner every evening, and then made our way to the casino and/or nightclub at night.  we caught a few performance shows, including two ice skating shows (YES! ice skating on a cruise ship!).

our junior suite

the view from our aft-facing balcony

mark, melissa, g, and me on formal night

ryan, me and melissa on our last night

once we reached land we visited tenerife and lanzarote in the canary islands; madeira, an island off the coast of africa belonging to portugal; and finally ended the cruice in malaga, spain.

we had visited tenerife on a previous cruise so we opted for just walking around the city.  we also did a hop on/hop off bus so we were able to see more of the city.  in lanzarote, formed by a volcano, we drove to winery to do a quick tasting of their sweet wine they are known for before making our way to the "fire mountain".  the colors were absolutely gorgeous.  there is also so much heat coming within the ground that we saw chicken being grilled over an open oven that got it's heat from the 50m hole in the ground.  the highlight of the day was our camel ride.  i'm not going to lie that i was a bit skeptical, but when else am i going to ride around on a camel?! it was so much fun!

madeira was one of my favorite destinations on the cruise.  we took a tram to the top of the city where we found a cafe with free wifi (we were going through a bit of withdrawal by this time).  we then walked around a garden built on the side of the hill.  the views down below to the ocean were breathtaking.  to get down the hill we took a toboggan ride, a tradition in madeira.  i would love to go back and visit on our own.  we were told that it's still an inexpensive place to visit because it hasn't "caught on" with many tourists.

heading up the aerial tram

tobogganing in madeira

heading down the hill (not us)

our cruise ended in malaga.  our plan was to take the train to madrid, spend the night there before jumping on a flight back to the states.  we checked our flight options and realized that both options were full and wouldn't get us home.  we made a quick alternative plan and bought an inexpensive ticket to amsterdam where we were able to fly home that same day to detriot (and then bless g's heart for making the 4 hour drive to chicago from detriot after nearly 24 hours of travel).  we were definitely glad to be home to see our two adorable kitties (who were well taken care of by andrea!) after a wonderful vacation!

short layover in AMS but i got to take this great picture of the tulips!