Page 12 of Spanners Travel Blog Posts


North America » United States » New York » New York » Manhattan July 2nd 2012

We started the day with a trip to New Jersey to a place called Hoboken on the other side of the Hudson River via PATH rain for only $2- per trip. When we got there we walked up to Washington Avenue to find it has been renamed as Carlos Bakery Way. Why you might ask ?? For anyone that knows their finer things it's because of the TV Show "Cake Boss" of course. This is where the famous Buddy makes his extravagant cakes. There was a queue just to get in to the shop and some people told us they had waited for an hour and were still not in so we did not want to wait. Instead walked back towards Hudson River to find somewhere for lunch. "Biggies" looked OK and after checking menu in ... read more
Empire State Building
Carlos Bakery in Hoboken
Meals at Biggies

North America » United States » New York » New York » Manhattan July 1st 2012

Well it was a late night as the kids stayed out at the teen centre sail away parties. Luke did not get in until 2.30am so it did not feel good waking up at 7.00am although it was nice to go out on the balcony and see our ship sailing up the Hudson River alongside Manhattan. We went to have breakfast together at around 8.00am not long after we docked at Pier 90. There were two other ships at this port being the Norwegian Star and a Hollan America ship (Veelam I think). We also saw the Queen Mary 2 docked in the Brooklyn area. It was another beautiful sunny day but stinking hot and it seemed the weather was going to be the same as it was when we left here a week ago. We ... read more
Goodbye Cabin 7-107
Lexington Avenue markets
Museum of Natural History

Oceans and Seas » Atlantic » North Atlantic June 30th 2012

Kids were very late getting up so Kerry & I went to breakfast on our own. I had two eggs sunny side up with a few hash browns. We ate out by the Lido pool deck. Beautiful day again as we have been getting used to. We then went and did the Trivia at Jeevs Lounge which was a sports trivia. For future reference the NFL team known as “America’s team” is the Dallas Cowboys, the “Cotton Bowl” is played in Dallas, Babe Ruth played Right Field for the Yankees, a Dinger in baseball is a Home Run, the national sport of Canada is Lacrosse, a Hockey period last for 20 minutes. OK you get the drift we only got 7/20 and did not win again ! After that I had a go at the Bean ... read more
Sunrise at 6am from the Balcony
Chocolates for lunchtime
Towel Art - Monkey # 1

Oceans and Seas » Caribbean June 29th 2012

Woke up to find the weather pretty ordinary on the balcony. Squally showers and only about 20 degrees. The seas were a bit choppy as well. Had another snooze and when I woke up again around 10.30 the sky was getting clearer, and by lunchtime it was now fine and sunny and back to usual 30 degrees. The sea was flat as a tack with just a small swell evident. Had cereal and fruit for breaky but spoilt by a bad coffee which just lingered. Lunch I had my first Cheeseburger & fries and a little potato salad, while Kerry had the healthier Tuna sandwich from the Deli. Only did the one Trivia session today which was sports based. Joined forces with a couple who could barely speak English but we managed to score 10 of ... read more
Luke with Basketball mates
Calm seas
Poolside


A fine & sunny day greeted us as we approached our 3rd and final port on this beautiful ship. Kerry & I went to the Phantom Lounge to hear the shopping talk and to try and get some freebies as Michael hands out Jewellery but no luck there. The ship arrived at Grand Turk at 1PM. It docks at a pier very close to the beach. There was another ship at the pier the Carnival Liberty which looked to be bigger than ours and had come from Miami. This is a private beach area developed by Carnival Cruise Lines and it has all the major Jewellery Shops, Swimming Pools, Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville, Souvenir Shops, and Duty Free. The beach area is just breathtaking with such water clarity and the turquoise colour. When we went on board ... read more
Grand Turk
Libery & Miracle side by side
Luke at the Pier


Up with Alarms at 8AM to see we are already in dock at St Thomas which is one of the US Virgin Islands. A couple of fried eggs for breaky with OJ and cereal and we are ready to get off the Ship for our only pre-organised excursion. Weather was slightly overcast and around 30 degrees. We are off for a 4 hour trip to Trunk Bay which is on the neighbouring island of St John. We have to get another boat to take us there (just what we need !). It’s about a 40 minute boat ride a bit rough as we cross where the Carribean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean and the currents are really strong. There is lots of development of the coastline but not overdeveloped. As we head out our guide Jimmie ... read more
On our way to St John
St John Harbour
Our Destination of Trunk Bay


Well we all had a great night sleep and Kerry & I got to breakfast on time. Later we headed to see the shopping talk about San Juan where we are visiting today. It is the capital of Puerto Rico. We have no organised tour planned so we will just wander around the old city. The kids finally awoke from their slumber and we headed to have brunch at the Bacchus Restaurant ground floor. They were having the Punchliner’s Brunch where the comedians give a a 5 minute routine on the hour. I had Blueberry Pancake stacks which were delicious. Kerry & I watch a game they call Bean Bag Tossing where you trough a small bean bag (like a beannie bear size) across the Atrium lobby on Deck 2 about 10 metres and try and ... read more
Old San Juan Coastline
Arriving in San Juan - Puerto Rico
View of Fort

Oceans and Seas » Caribbean June 25th 2012

Weather - a shower in the morning but gradually disappeared to overcast day with occassional sunshine and around 30 degrees. We started the day by going to Trivia where we met a nice couple from Maine who talked about how much snow they get and how it effects the school times. We had lunch on Lido Deck and met a couple from Long Island who were originally from Guyana who were Cricket fans. Clive Lloyd the famous cricket hero comes from Guyana which is part of the West Indies even though it is actually on South American mainland. Next we went check out Luke’s basketball comp. They were playing 3 on 3 and he was sweating big time wearing his new John Wall shirt (Washington # 2). Elise was also there chatting with her friends. Later ... read more
Front Pool with retractable roof
Mid Deck Pool
Towel Art - Toad with meal

Oceans and Seas » Atlantic » North Atlantic June 24th 2012

A really late start and we barely made it to the end of the third breakfast sitting around 11.30AM. We checked out the things to do list, and Luke went of to his Basketball games, Elise had agreed to check in with her new friends at midday so Kerry & I were on our own again ! A bit overcast but still warm, and captain said water temp was 26 degrees not that I was planning on jumping overboard at this stage. We started with a Sports Trivia. We joined a couple from New York in our team. 25 questions mostly about American sport but we both answered some of the questions and we managed to get 17/25. Not bad ! However 19 got first prize. Every trivia there is something that lingers with you and ... read more
Just chillin'
Slide on Deck 11
Kerry at stairs to Serenity Deck

North America » United States » New York » New York » Manhattan June 23rd 2012

Beautiful Day around high 20’s and sunny and clear. Late start to the morning and first job was to pack our suitcases and get ready to go to he Passenger Cruise Ship Terminal. We hailed two Taxis from 49th Street and Kerry and Elise jump in the first one. As I’m in the 2nd one with Luke I say those famous words to the driver “follow that cab !” He does for a while but both taxi’s got stuck on W 55th Street with a crane blocking the street so our driver yells out to the other Taxi Driver that Kerry and Elise were in “We need to go down one block across”. The other driver nods in agreement and next our driver puts the car in reverse and he reverses back into Broadway, nearly runs ... read more
Midtown Manhattan
WTC area of Manhattan
Downtown Manhattan




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