Carnival Dream 14 Day Journey Tell All: Part 1

On this episode of Travel Time Stories Shannon and her co-host Ann dive into their recent 14 day cruise on the Carnival Dream and tell all....giving honest reviews of each port, the pros and cons of the ship and sharing some of the shocking things they saw and experienced. 

This is Part 1...there was so much to discuss it had to be divided into two parts so make sure you tune in to both episodes so you don't miss anything. This part covers Embarkation Day & Port Reviews.

Links:

https://audubonhouse.org/

https://islanddogsbar.com/

Instagram: @thebaklava.keywest

https://rumkeywest.com/

https://deaverdura.foodjoyy.net/

https://www.anita-gelato.com/

https://www.paletashop.com/

https://www.dutchblondesxm.com/

#carnivaldream #carnivalcruise #podcast #tunein #traveltimestorieswithshannon #travelpodcast #keywest #audubonsociety #distillery #dutchblondebar #grandturk #sanjuan #puertorico #stthomas #usvirginislands #britishvirginislands #stmaarten #stcroix #stkitts

Transcript

 Welcome back to Travel Time Stories. I'm Shannon, your host from Texas, and I am joined by my fabulous co-host and best friend, Ann. 

Hey. 

Today we're diving into our recent 14 day cruise aboard the Carnival Dream, a journey packed with seven tropical ports, sunshine, unexpected moments, and a few things that surprise us along the way.

Hey, everyone, we've got a lot to unpack from Key West to St. Croix and everything in between. So grab your favorite beverage and let's get into it. 

So before we start sipping on our virtual pina coladas, let's rewind to day one. Embarkation. Was it smooth sailing or rocky Start? We'll find out

Don't think it was bad. 

I don't think it was bad either. I actually thought embarkation was very smooth. 

Yes, I did too. I was impressed. 

Yeah, we breezed right on in 

and it was great. 

Exactly. We did get to the port early. Yes. Which we plan to do that 'cause we like to be there early and even if we have to wait a little bit, just, we'd rather be there and know we're ready to go.

Exactly. So once it was our boarding time, like we breezed right in and through, there was literally really no line. 

No, not at all. And it was moving, what little bit there was was moving quick. We were quick walking. It wasn't a slow walk, so we got right on the ship. It was awesome.

Yeah, exactly. The only hiccup at Embarkation was on our fault entirely. Yes. We had a couple of, Pepsis bottled Pepsis in our backpacks that we had been sipping on while we were waiting outside. We didn't even think we went in with them in our bag, and you are not allowed to have plastic bottles.

So, we did get those taken away from us, and that was totally fine. We understood that was on us,

we apologized, yeah. 

Yeah, exactly. It had been a while since we'd been on the Carnival Dream. Yes. So what was your first impressions of the ship when we got on board, sissy? 

Well, it's one of my favorite.

It's a, just a midsize ship. I love the layout. It's, to me a very comfortable ship. When I got on, it was like, Hey, old friend, here we are, back to see you. Enjoyed it immensely. I did think that, the quality of the food had gone down. I was a little disappointed in that. 

We'll get into that in a bit here.

Yeah. More in detail on that part.

I was really pleased to be back in the dream.

I was too, walking back, as soon as we got on board, it was like, oh, I knew where everything was. And so it wasn't the usual of trying to figure out where to go, where everything was. We already knew.

Yep. It was awesome. I did love that part of it. Went right to our state room and just, it was really nice. 

Speaking of our state room, I was really impressed by our room. I loved it. I was glad that you upgraded us to the spa room. It was worth it. It was worth it. Yeah. Very comfortable.

We had plenty of space. I didn't feel cramped at all. 

No, me either. I thought it was really a comfortable room. I was really pleased whenever we got there and got to see our room, yeah, 

me too. And we want to make sure that we mention that we had , a welcome gift waiting on us in our room when we got there.

Chocolate covered strawberries, compliments of Lamkin travel. 

Exactly. Just a quick shot, if it's okay. This is a picture of our room. As you can see, super comfy little room and yeah, we really enjoyed it a lot,

yeah. What was your take on the vibe of the passengers and the crew for Embarkation Day?

Not overall, but just on embarkation day. 

I thought everybody was pretty easy going as far as, getting on the ship. Yeah. What did you think? 

Yeah, I did too. I thought, the crew was all pumped up and excited per usual. That was great. The vibe of the passengers on Embarkation day, everybody seemed super excited.

Yes, for sure. And ready to be there. , Thank god I didn't have to worry about, any scootie running over me. So that was a plus. 

She still has a foot injury from that guy. It is, no joke. Her foot swells up. Turns blue purple. Yeah. It's really bad. She's gonna have that for life, 

unfortunately.

Yes, I probably will. Yeah. So now that we've settled in, let's hop off the ship and explore from Key West, quirky charm to St. Croix. Surprises. Grab your flipflops because we are hitting the ports now. So our first stop was Key West. 

Yes, it was awesome. I really enjoyed that. Key West has always been on my bucket list.

I've heard so much about it, so I was really excited that we, got to go there. I loved it. 

I will have to say Key West is a very walkable port. Yes. You get off the ship and you're right there at town, so yes. It's not a, it's not a far walk at all. Every place in the town is easy to get to by walking, so you don't need to rent, a golf cart or anything like that unless you just absolutely want to.

Yeah. I noticed a lot of people rented bikes. 

Yeah. 

so yeah, I think 

the popular things to rent there, it seemed were the bicycles and the golf carts. There were a lot of people Yes. That had rented the golf carts too. Yeah. We didn't, we chose to walk, which in hindsight now. With the heat may not have been a great choice.

Yeah. We were looking at the golf carts as they were cruising by. We were like, what were we thinking? Seriously so hot. Exactly. Like I never felt before, just 

Yeah. Yeah. I thought Texas was hot, but No, this is 

different. It's, 

Since it's literally an island. Yeah.

Like the heat, the humidity was off the charts. I literally felt like I was dying at times. It was hard to breathe. 

Yes. The air was really thick and humid. 

Mm-hmm. 

It was crazy. 

But the town's very charming. So many cute shops and lots of bars and great places to get food. The first place we went to was the Audubon House and Botanic Gardens.

Yes, 

it was beautiful. Lots of really cool flowers. It's very tropical there, of course. And I live in the middle of the United States, so for me it was a big treat to see a lot of these plants that I actually pay for at the store. And there they are, growing in the wild. It was just, it was like, oh my gosh, this is amazing.

Got some great pictures. The gentleman that was there was so sweet. He told us lots of interesting, history about it and just basically turned us loose in the garden. It was really nice. 

Yeah. And Ann found a chicken hiding in the garden.

Yes. Saw something moving in the bushes. I'm. Like, what the heck is that?

And so I'm looking and sure enough, it's a chicken and as she's down there laying her egg, I'm like, okay. They're a big thing. They're very protected. And yeah, there's quite a few of them though, I will say. 

Mm-hmm. There's chickens running around everywhere there. 'cause like you said, they're a protected animal there,

They have definitely multiplied. Yes, we walked down to the marina and there were so many gorgeous, beautiful yachts out there. Oh my surprise. It was amazing. 

Yeah. Some of those, well they're not boats, but they're boats. Some of them were just incredible to see. It was fun to go and look at them.

Fantasy Fest was going on while we were there. Mm-hmm. So we saw lots of amazing costumes. Yeah. People all dressed up. 

We were actually really lucky to be there at the very start of it. if you've ever been, you know, how crowded and crazy it gets there, especially later in the evening it gets, so we were there at the beginning, so we saw, people coming out in their costumes and walking down the street

there's some really amazing stuff. So I wish we could stayed longer. 

Yeah. It would've been nice to have been there at nighttime when in the evening everything was Yeah. Kicking off. Yeah, I agree. 

Yeah. 

I felt bad for them in their costumes though. 'cause I know they had to be dying. It was so hot. 

Yeah. And some of them were really heavy.

Like, I saw these two ladies in these bird costumes, I guess. Mm-hmm. But they were really heavy, thick costumes, tons of feathers, you know, a bird body sticking out. And I'm thinking they've got to be roasting. They had little hats on and yeah, it just looked so hot. I felt so bad for 'em. 

Exactly. I did too.

We went and had lunch, while we were there at Island Dogs Bar. 

Oh yeah. 

We each got something different and then we shared, so I ordered the Island Dog, which is a bacon wrapped hot dog topped with mango, pineapple, banana peppers, red onion, and sweet chili sauce. And let me tell you, it was Chef's Kiss.

That was so good. That was the best hot dog I've ever had. Mm-hmm. 



Thank you Island Dogs for that. That great experience, great service too, and just really nice people there. I ordered the, egg roll trio, however, one egg roll was stuffed with like Philly cheese steak and all that good stuff.

One egg roll was the Cuban egg roll, so the pork, the pickles, all that cheese. And the other one was, what was the other one? Sis? 

Buffalo chicken. 

Yes, Buffalo chicken. You can tell which the two I was impressed with first 

two. 

Yeah, those, it was fabulous. I mean, to this day, sometimes at night, like right now, having my little drink, I could go for an order of those egg rolls.

I'm just saying. 

Yeah, they were really good. Yeah. Yeah. Good. I know your favorite was the Cuban. My favorite was the Buffalo chicken though. But yes, all three were delicious. 

Yes. I have a softness for that. Cuban. Yeah. I love that sandwich. 

Mm-hmm. I love the Cuban sandwich. Yes, for sure. Then we also stopped in at a place called the Baklava and had Turkish ice cream.

Oh my gosh, guys, this isn't like our ice cream. I don't know how they make this, but it was so creamy and so rich. Yeah, it was fabulous. I got chocolate and it was just all I could do to finish it, literally. And I'm an ice cream piggy, so I normally can finish a whole big bowl. 

Yeah. It was the best ice cream I've ever had.

Yeah. I 

need to find out how they make it, because yeah, like you said, it was so super creamy. Very rich in flavor, so rich. And it was thick too. 

Yes. Super thick. 

So yeah. Like 

a really consistency that was frozen. I don't know. 

It's amazing. So yeah, if you're in Key West, go by the baklava and try some turkish cream.

Yeah. 

It's worth your time. 

Yep. 

I just wanted something to cool down with. 

Yeah. We were so hot and eating that ice cream saved us. It really cooled us down so we could continue walking around. 

Yeah, definitely. 

Then we also stopped into the Key West.

Legal rum distillery and this was amazing. They gave us a sample of their Pina colada. And let me tell you folks, I, Pina Colada is one of my favorite drinks. Mine too. I've tried 'em like almost every, everywhere went. Yep. And this was the best pina colada I have ever had. 

Yes. I will second that. It was so good.

I mean, oh, it was really good. 

Yeah. And we told ourselves we were gonna go back and get a full glass. Yes. Before we got back on the ship. But we did not make it back. 

No, we did not. And to this day we regret that. 

Exactly. We had got so overheated guys that we just wanted to get out of the heat and back on the ship.

Yes. And. Take a shower and cool down. Yeah. So yeah, we did not walk back an get a Pina colada, but now I wish that we had 

Yeah, same. 

We also sampled one of their rums while we were there. They will let you sample anything that they have, so if you go in, you can sample whatever.

And we tried, the glazed smoked pineapple rum sounds like. Hmm. But let me tell you, this is the only rum I've ever had that didn't burn. Yeah. When you took it, sipped it, and it was so delicious and smooth. It was, yes. 

It was wonderful. I could have probably sipped on that out of a glass without mixing it with anything.

The most delicious, smooth rum I have ever tasted. There was no burn whatsoever, and I'm kicking myself now that I didn't buy a bottle of it and bring it home.

Yep. I agree. I'm actually not a rum person at all, but, this was really good. 

Okay, so our next stop was Grand Turk. 

Yep. 

So for Grand Turk, we did not get off the ship this time because we have been there before and after being overheated in Key West the day before.

We, we just wanted a day of rest and relaxation and not be in the heat. So we decided to do a spa day on the ship. Yeah. 

Which was awesome. We, had spa passes because we had a spa room, so we went down and did all the steam rooms and the Thalasso pool is magical. What I wouldn't give to have one of those.

Gosh. So yeah, we soaked out all our achy. Last time we were in Grand Turk, we actually rented a golf cart and we're all over the island and we literally went everywhere. Is that where we went to the grocery store too?

No, that was Aruba. 

Yeah, that was Aruba.

But yeah, so we had seen Grand Turk pretty well, 

If you are going to Grand Turk, that is what my recommendation to you would be. Rent a golf cart. It's not that expensive for the golf cart for the whole day. You have it for the whole day. The island is so small that you can literally drive everywhere and see everything, in the golf cart 

Yeah.

From one end to the other. 

Yeah. And that's what we had done before we went all the way to the tip where the lighthouse is. 

Yep. 

Sissy got to feed the donkeys, so she was so happy. Then we went we found a really cool beach hidden away. So there was like nobody there. We had the whole beach to ourselves.

It was really nice. There's several beautiful beaches on Grand Turk. Yeah. You can just drive around to each one if you have a golf cart. And then Grand Turk also has, the other thing that most people do at Grand Turk is Margaritaville in the port. So if that's your thing, then you can get off and go to Margaritaville in the port.

Also, if you don't wanna rent a golf cart and you wanna go to the beach Grand Turk, the beach is literally right there at the end of the pier. Yeah. There's a beach on each side at the end of the pier. So you can just literally walk down to the end of the pier and go to the beach right there. And they do have free chairs and umbrellas.

They also have the ones that you pay for, but there is a section there that is free. 

Right. And a lot of people were doing that too. 

Yeah. 

The beaches were awesome there. I loved 

it. Yeah. Grand Turk is very beautiful. It's one of my favorite places. Yeah, 

for sure. 

If we had not been overheated.

From the day before then we definitely would've been off in Grand Turk. 

Yeah, we would've, 

Our next stop was, a place that Sissy and I have been dying to go to forever now. And that is San Juan. 

Yes. 

Been on our bucket list forever. So now we have checked that off. I'm actually ready to go back again.

'cause there was plenty that we didn't get to see and do. Yeah, for sure. I will have to say San Juan is walkable, however, just forewarned that mostly everything is uphill. 

Yes. 

So when you're walking, it's all uphill and it's cobblestone street. So you make sure you have good footwear.

Yeah. So you don't fall down. Right. 

Especially if it's wet. You don't wanna go up there in flip flops. You will. You'll look get hurt,

exactly. 

Yeah. San Juan was gorgeous. Oh my gosh. It was beautiful. 

I love San Juan. The only thing I did not like about San Juan is when we first got off the ship, I messed up and we were going to go to the chocolate bar that they have there, and I didn't realize how far it actually was.

Like it said one mile on the app. Right. But then when we got there and started walking, it actually was gonna be further than that. And we were walking along the sea wall, I guess what you would call it, against the water. Yeah. And we were getting swarmed by these nasty little bugs. I don't know what kind they were, but they were nasty and swarming big time.

And we were sweaty. So they were literally sticking to you in your hair everywhere. It was so bad. 

Yeah. I literally got one in my eye. 

Yes. 

And freaked me out, and it took forever. But we were finally able to get the darn bug out of my eye. 

You know, in hindsight, we should have just poured water in it. I didn't even think of that at the time, but yeah, exactly.

You get a bug in your eye, don't try to dig it out. Get your water bottle out. 

Yeah. I should have thought of that as well, but we didn't. No. And there were, when we were in port, there were several places that were closed due to water issues. So some of the places that we wanted to go try food wise were shut down because of the water issues.

We definitely wanna go back and, yeah. And finish our little food tour that we didn't get to finish. 

Yes, definitely. Yeah. A couple of places we really wanted to try weren't open, but, we did find a fabulous restaurant to eat at. 

Exactly. The restaurant that we ended up going to is called Deaverdura.

Mm-hmm. It is authentic local cuisine. It's run by locals and only locals eat there. Other than us, there was only one other group at a table that you could tell were outsiders and not locals. Right. Everybody else in there was all locals. And the menu is all in Spanish. 

Yeah. 

No English and, no pictures or anything.

So you can't just look at a picture and pick from that either. Sissy is usually not adventurous. When it comes to food, like she's a foodie but she's not adventurous with trying foods. 

Weird stuff like bugs and, that kind of stuff. She'll eat that. Mm-hmm. Yeah. 

Well just food that she doesn't know what it is either.

Yeah. And so we ended up ordering the, sampler platter at the place and we could read that, because I had seen online, that's what everybody was recommending if you go there to try the sampler platter. 'cause it gives you a little bit of everything they have on the menu. And so that's what we did.

And some of the things, we didn't know what they were, but we tried them anyway. And everything on the platter was fabulous off the chart with the exception of the blood sausage. I didn't like that. I did try it though, people, but I didn't like it. 

Well, I've had it before, so I was like, Nope, I'm not even trying that.

I know what it tastes like and no, I don't like it. So there was that. Yeah. Seen it. But you tried 

other stuff that you hadn't 

I ate everything else on that platter. 

Yeah. 

It was all so good. I have, I kept thinking, oh, I wonder what I'm eating. You know what? I don't even care. It's so delicious. I'm just going to eat it.

Yeah. And we almost cleaned that whole platter too, so Yeah, we did. 

We did. They were so pleased with us when she came and brought us our check. We were getting up to leave and she looked at us and she goes, you know, you made good decision to come here. She said, only locals eat here. Nobody else.

And we were like, well, the, I can see why the food was fabulous. Everybody in there was just really nice people and yeah, it was a good experience. 

Yeah. And it was good, fast service too. Yes. It didn't take long for us to get our food at all. No. And it's a little small place, so it was packed when we got there.

There was literally one table open. 

Yep. 

So we were lucky we got a table without having to wait. 

It must be packed often because there was a sign on the door that said, wait outside for your table and we'll come and get you. 

Mm-hmm. So, 

because it's so small, I'm sure they get a big line of people.

They can't accommodate that line inside. So Yeah. They have to line up outside and wait. But we were lucky. We got right in. Got the last table and it's awesome. 

Yep, exactly. 

Fabulous. 

Yes. And they had my favorite plantains, I was enjoying that. I love plantains. They're my favorite. 

They had 'em two ways on the platter.

So Shannon's favorite are the glaze. Plantains, which I had never had 'em that way before. Pretty darn good. If you like sweet potatoes, you would love these too. I thought those were yummy. And then they had a smashed fried one that was just mm-hmm. Huh? Out of this world 

Yeah, it was crispy,

yeah, it was really good. Mm-hmm. 

And they had some kind of sauce on the table. I don't even know what it was. I called it yum, yum sauce. It was so good. 

Yeah. She could literally drink just that sauce by itself. 

Yeah.

That's how much she liked it, everybody. Yeah, 

it went on everything.

Exactly. 

They loved it. They loved that we ate all of our food and, that we were laughing and enjoying it and talking about how good it was the whole time we were in there. Our little waitress, was just kinda keeping an eye on us. And every now and then I'd see her just kinda smile. So I think they enjoyed that.

We loved the experience and the food. 

Mm-hmm. Yeah, I do too. And then, actually, before we went and had our lunch at Deaverdura. Yes. We were so hot and sweaty and we needed something to cool down. So as we're walking down one of the streets, I don't even remember which street it was on, but, we saw a sign for the Paletas and that was one of the things on my list that I wanted to try was the paleta.

'cause I've never had one. So the place was called the Paleta Bar. And we went in there and each got a paleta. I got the, oh, what was it? Sissy the limeade, strawberry cherry limeade 

cherry lime 

Cherry limeade. Yeah. Cherry limeade. And they drizzle chocolate sauce over it. And oh my God, it was to die for, 

I got like a strawberry banana.

So in mine at the bottom it actually had a banana slice on each side. It was really cool looking. I've never had a popsicle like this before. It was like somebody took a smoothie and froze it, but made it really creamy at the same time. They were delicious. Why don't we have those here? Really? 

Well, certain places do have them.

Like here in Houston we have, I have plenty of places where I live, that have Paletas that you can get 'em. Oh really? I've just never went and tried one. Oh, wow. So I'm sure like in your part of the country, they probably don't have them know. But we have a large Hispanic population here, and that's what it is.

It's a gourmet Mexican Popsicle is what a paleta is. Yep. 

It was fabulous. 

So then we had our lunch, and then after lunch we went for dessert at Anita's Gelato. 

Oh, guys, you gotta check this place out. I mean, it's just like a whole double row of gelato flavors and you can't make up your mind.

It takes a minute, but it's okay. They'll give you a sample. They're like, here, try this. 

But yeah, and you can also be like us and you can get, four flavors. Or did we get five? 

No, it was four. 

Okay. Yeah, you can get four different flavors in your cup. And that is what we did.

That's 11 bucks. But it was so worth it. Oh my God. We were so full when we got done. So yeah, we 

were so full. We really needed. Somebody to roll us back to the cruise ship. Yeah, it 

was good. We had to walk back. I'm telling you, we walked it off.

I have to say, I think that's the best gelato that I've ever had was Oh, hands down.

Absolutely. There at Anita's. Yeah. 

Mm-hmm. 

Absolutely. Me too. 

Yeah. Then as we were making our way back to the cruise ship, we stumbled upon Pigeon Park and had to stop there for a minute and take a video and a few pictures for our other sister, Kristen. 

She loves birds. Not, 

yes, Kristen does not like birds.

And we had to get some pictures and send to her that we were at Pigeon Park.

It was great though. There were people in there and the birds were landing on them and. 

No, I'm not gonna do that because that's nasty, but, yeah. 

No, 

I'm okay to stand outside and take some pictures of the birds. Yeah. But I'm not gonna go in and let them, things land on me. No. Yeah.

No, no. We checked it out from afar. 

Exactly. Yeah. After San Juan, the next stop was St. Thomas and we actually, booked a catamaran for St. Thomas. That's something that we had never done before. Never did a catamaran. And so we were super excited about that. We booked through, carnival, so it was a carnival excursion, and the catamaran took us from St.

Thomas over to St. John at Honeymoon Beach. 

Yep. Oh, aptly named guys. The sand is like white powder. You could see in the water, you could see all the way to the bottom. 

Mm-hmm. 

It was incredible. I saw fish swimming, long white ones with these white things on them. I dunno what they were, but they were cool looking.

And Shannon and saw a sea turtle. 

Yes. Another bucket list item. I have wanted to see sea turtle in the wild and so I got to check that off my list because, it was a catamaran slash snorkeling. And so we snorkeled there off of honeymoon beach and that's where I got to see the sea turtle. And I also saw a sea snake, which was really cool.

And yes, like Ann said, the beach was absolutely gorgeous. I think it's one of the. Prettiest beaches I have ever been to. I definitely would love to go back and spend some more time there. It was great 

wonder they have like an all inclusive or something. I'll have to look at that 

on St.

John. No, but you, they have hotels, but they don't have an all inclusive, so the catamaran, our captain was phenomenal. He was so hilarious. 

He was, 

Our captain and one of the crewmen, were both Samoan. And they were so much fun. A lot of fun, they were, yeah, they made sure that we all had a good time.

Going over to the island from St. Thomas to St. John. Of course, you know the music's pumping. Yep. People were dancing and singing and Yes. Ann was standing up on, the catamaran, kinda like at the back beside where the captain is. And yes, she was up there. She looked like a Titanic up there standing on the bow and doing her little dance with the music.

She tries to say she wasn't dancing, but she was her and this other girl that was standing with her, they were dancing. 

I love boats. I'm a water person, so yeah. Boats are my jam. 

Yeah. And then, we also, on the way, we got to see the house where Charlie's Angels was filmed. 

Yep. That was super cool. 

Yeah, and I took a picture of that, that was really cool to see that.

It was a really good day. Oh, we had one, as we're getting into the trucks to take us to the harbor where the catamarans were from the port to the harbor. We noticed this one guy kind of looked confused, but you know, he went with us, we get to the marina, the harbor, and this guy finds out that he got on the wrong truck and was in the wrong group.

He was not supposed to do catamaran. He was supposed to go, para 

sale. 

Parasailing.

Yeah. 

And, so yeah, but at that point it was too late. So he had no choice but to come along in our group and be with us. We did feel bad for the gentleman because apparently he had some issues and he was not able to actually get into the water and enjoy 

Yeah.



Anything like that. So hence why he didn't book, that type of excursion. But the crew and everybody else tried to, make sure that he had a good time. Yes. So yeah, that was really good. Yeah, 

it was nice on the way back too. First of all, we had never snorkeled before, so that was fun.

I enjoyed it a lot. It took a little bit to figure it out, but we got it. 

Yeah. And then Ann forgot that when you're snorkeling, you're in pairs, so that if somebody gets in trouble, you're right there. Your partner's right there to help you or to tell somebody or whatever. Yeah. I'm out there snorkeling away, and I was going to where they said the sea turtle was, and I thought Ann was right behind me and no.

I get out there after I see the sea turtle and I look up and I'm all alone. 

There were some other people out there, 

but my partner was not out there with me. 

Well, um, and I was 

out beyond the buoy, which you're not supposed to go 

In my defense. I was snorkeling and I didn't even know that you had swam off by yourself.

So Yeah, when I realized that I'm way out there further than I'm supposed to be out and. My partner was nowhere to be found. And of course, as you guys know, I wear glasses and I am literally blind without my glasses. Yeah, true. I'm not joking 100% blind without my glasses. Absolutely.

And snorkeling, you don't have your glasses. So I'm out there way out in the middle of wherever, blind as a bat. 'cause I can't see, 'cause I don't have glasses and I'm trying to look and figure out where the hell am I supposed to go and where's my sister at. 

I felt really bad. 

And all I see is blurry.

Blurry and some green. So I know where the green is, that's the beach. So I just start swimming toward the green.

In my defense, I'm like, snorkeling, right? Checking out the bottom water and everything. And I get done and I look up and Shannon's she's like out there, I mean, way out there. At this point I'm like, oh my God, I can't do it way up out there. I'm so tired. I'll just watch her from afar There's people out there, she'll be okay.

And it took me a while, but I finally made it back to shore. 

I will say on Honeymoon Beach, the part that we were on, where they pulled the catamarans in at. When you go to get out of the water, you're walking, walking, walking, walking, and then all of a sudden there's this big hump of sand. You gotta climb over it and hope you don't fall back down.

You get over that. Once you get to the top of it, you just kind of drop off I don't know, about eight inches to a foot. Just boom, and then you can walk out. Well, every time I got out, when I would get to that hump, I'd start climbing up it and I would just like face plant and I would've been embarrassed, but I literally, I was not the only person doing it. I got out one time after face planting the first time and I was a little bit embarrassed and walked up to our towel and these ladies that were sitting there were like, yeah, that happened to us too. There's no getting around it.

So yeah, that was fun. 

Yeah. So needless to say, we had a great time in St. Thomas. We did. After the catamaran, they drop you back off at the port and we did a little shopping in the port, before we got back on the ship. Oh, on the trip back to the port, we're in the open air truck, you know, that's what they transport you around in is these open air trucks.

I was wearing my pink baseball cap, right. The whole time I had been holding it, you know, so it wouldn't blow off. And my arm got tired and it felt like it was pretty secure, you know, it didn't feel like it was moving or anything, so I'm like, okay, it'll be fine to take my arm down, yeah.

No. As soon as I took my arm down, p there it goes off my head. The lady behind me tried to catch it, but couldn't, and yeah, off it went down the road.

Yeah. Somebody got a cute pink hat. 

Yeah. So I lost my cute pink hat, but that's okay. 'cause while we were shopping in the porch, I found another one and just bought me a new pink cap. So I have a new one now. 

Yeah, same. I love St. Thomas. That would be a destination I would go back to for sure.

Yeah. I definitely, I would go back to St. Thomas. Then after St. Thomas was St. Kitt's 

Yep. 

I will have to say folks, before we talk about St. Kitt's, St. Thomas on the catamaran, we sun screened up big time before we went on the boat. Okay. And I re-sunscreened several times.

Because I did not wanna burn. And yeah. We ended up pretty burnt. Thank God it turned. And, we didn't peel or anything, but yeah, we were both really sunburned, I mean bad. 

Yeah. Like we can't get out of the sun today. We can't. Yeah. 

So for St Kitt's, again, we did not get off the ship because we were badly sunburned and did not wanna get back out in the sun again.

So we did another spa day. Yeah. On the ship. Now I will say we took pictures and everything of st kitt's from the ship. There is no close beach at St Kitt's, so you have to take a taxi or some other form of transportation to get to a beach there. The pier is very long. So you have a long walk down the pier just to get into the port.

Yeah. But it was very beautiful. 

It was, it was really pretty. 

It was very beautiful, very pretty. Basically similar to St. Thomas, as far as, what it looked like and everything.

But yeah, we did not want to be in that heat again, being sunburned. We did a spa day and just chilled Yeah. In the spa, which, the spa on the dream, I have to say is amazing. 

It is. 

The steam rooms are awesome. Yeah. The Thelasso pool is amazing. Like Sissy said, you lay in there and work out all your kinks.

It's wonderful. Yeah. I highly recommend the spa on the dream. Also, one of the things that we got, I guess because we were in the spa room, you get the scrub kit. 

Yep. 

Is that what it is, sissy? Yeah. 

When you're in the spa room, you get a scrub kit, free scrub kit. 

Yeah. So when you go to the spa for the first time, ask them for your free scrub kit, if you're in one of the spa rooms and you get a free scrub kit, and I had never used one of those before.

But we got ours and I didn't use it on the ship. I brought it home with me and I have been using that ever since. I only got a little bit left, so I'm trying to, you know, really ration it out because that stuff is amazing. 

Yeah, it is really good. 

Absolutely amazing. I love it. My skin feels so good.

Soft. 

It's so soft. Yeah. I love it. I definitely, I need to get some more of that. 

Yes. Need some more scrubby. 

Yeah, some more scrubby.

I wonder if it's Elemis products because all of their products are Elemis 

Yeah. I wonder that too. Need to find that out because I need to get me some more because I really love it. And I had to threaten my husband because let me tell you, I don't know about other people's husbands, but my husband, 

like a girl man, 

he is like a girl.

He loves all the girly products. And if I have girly products in the shower, he will get in there and use my girly products. 

Yep. 

And then I don't have any left 

shower steamers, anything she's got, he will, yeah. 

Any latch onto that stuff. Yeah, any of that stuff he uses. Loves it. And so, yeah, I had to threaten him.

Do not touch my scrub salt scrub stuff because I have just a little bit of it and I need to make it last. I'm not sharing. 

Love it.

So after St Kit's, we went to St. Martin. Yeah. For people who don't know, St. Martin is a divided island. There's two sides. One side is the Dutch side and the other side is the French side. We were on the Dutch side. Where you port at, you actually have to take either a cab or the water taxi.

To get to the town, you can't walk to the town. You have to, yeah. You have to take a cab or a water taxi to get to the town. We took the water taxi over, to the town, which was only just a few dollars for round trip. 

Yeah, it was cheap. 

Yeah, it was very cheap for the water taxi and a lot of fun.

Didn't take that long at all to get over there. And the Dutch side, the town is called Phillipsburg and that's where we were. And there's a huge boardwalk all the way down, in front of the beach there in Phillipsburg . 

They've got different restaurants, little shops. You'll see a windmill there.

And that's kind of where we, migrated to was the windmill place. I'll let Sissy tell about it. It was fabulous. 

Exactly. So if you're wanting just to go have a beach day at St. Martin, if you go to Phillipsburg, the town, the boardwalk is, there's beach all the way down the boardwalk.

It's free to go to the beach there. It costs you if you wanna rent a chair, obviously. And there's plenty of spots all the way down that's offering lots of chair rentals. Yeah. Lots and umbrellas. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So, , you have that option. But yeah, like sissy said, along the boardwalk, there's all the shops, there's, , bars, restaurants.

Yep. I mean, anything you can think of is right there on, on the boardwalk. 

Yeah. 

We made our way down to the windmill, like sissy said, because, one of the people I follow on YouTube, had been to this. Bar and did a review on it, and it was amazing. So I wanted to check it out and we were hungry and ready for something to eat and drink.

The bar is called Dutch Blonde Beach Bar. 

Yep. 

That's where we went to. And the owner, his name is Sunil. He is amazing. And, look for a future episode because he will be joining us on a future episode to tell everyone his story. He has an amazing story of how he started his business. 

Yep.

He has his own distillery and he does give tours for his distillery. But he also has this bar and grill so we camped out there for a little while, got out of the heat and had some amazing food. Tell 'em what we got sissy. 

I just can't forget the beer. There. Oh 

yeah.

That was the best I got.

We got his tacos. It's a specialty that he makes and I'm telling you, oh man, I could go for some of those right now. That sounds so good. Everything was in the taco and it was toothpick and I think they, I don't know if they pan-fried it, deep fried it at that point. I think they pan-fried it maybe.

But it, it was melt in your mouth. Delicious. So good guys. So yeah. If you go and you like tacos. He's got some pretty amazing ones. 

We got the variety and there were four tacos. We each had two. Yep. I got the fish taco and the shrimp taco. That fish taco was the best I've ever had.

The fish it was white fish. It was so flaky. I mean it was melt in your mouth good. I enjoyed the shrimp as well, but that fish one, I could have ate two or three more of those fish tacos. I'm not gonna lie. 

I'm surprised we didn't

see I got what the beef one and say, was it chicken or pork? 

I think it was pork. 

I think it was pork, yeah. Or they just, the meat was just melt in your mouth tender. I mean, and the really good seasoning flavoring in the tacos. Yeah. I would love to have that recipe 

and the other thing that they're known for there and that he does.

Fabulous is the Dutch pancakes. Yes. And we got one of those for our quote unquote dessert. 

Right. 

It had strawberries and bananas 

and 

blueberries and blueberries in it, and it was fabulous, guys. 

Yeah. Oh, it's so good. 

It was very, very good. Yeah. And one is gynormous, so literally 

four people could split that.

Yeah. Four people could eat 

off of one. 

Yeah. We didn't even finish it, I don't think. 

Yes, I 

finished 

it. 

Oh, you did?

It's a super heavy filling pancake, so just,

yeah. As Ann mentioned, the beer. He makes his own beer 'cause he has his own distillery and, his beer, the Dutch blonde, which is what the bar is named after, is an award-winning beer. Mm-hmm. So we obviously had to try one. Now I will preface with saying that I am not a huge beer drinker.

Yes. I would drink beer on occasion. Okay. But it's not my favorite thing. No. It's just meh. You know, I'd rather have wine or, a mixed drink or something. Right. Versus beer. But I could not stop drinking that beer. Like I had four pints y'all.

That's 

how good it, we were pretty feeling pretty good when we left there, 

but that's how good this beer was. I wasn't sure what it was gonna taste like. It's called Dutch blonde, so I wasn't sure what it was gonna taste like, but when he brought it to us, it had an orange on it and I was like, oh my God.

That's just like, what's the name of the bear? Sissy? Blue Moon. 

Yeah, 

blue Moon. I said, oh my God. It's like Blue Moon. And he said to us, yes, exactly. He said, I took basically what a blue moon is and elevated it. And he did too because the blue moon, the only thing I hate about it is that it has that little aftertaste at the end.

Yep. I agree. Other than 

that, I love a blue moon. 

It's a bitter finish, I think. 

Yeah. But this, by his elevation, he has removed that aftertaste, so you do not get that little bitter aftertaste at the end. 

It's also a much lighter beer too. 

Yeah, it was a little bit lighter. Blue is a heavy, 

yeah, a heavy beer to me.

This is really light, like maybe a pills or something. It's really good. 

Yeah. He also does a dark ale, beer as well. I said, I'm not a beer person, but I will have to say the beer that I love is a Guinness. It is my all time favorite, probably because I'm Irish, so, you know, but anytime sissy and I go to an Irish pub, I have to get a Guinness.

And that's my thing. So when I saw that he had a dark ale on the menu, I had to try one of those after having three of the Dutch blondes. Oh my God, I was shocked. The dark ale that he has, I would have to say it was better than a Guinness 

Yeah, it was the smoothest dark beer I've ever tried. I had a drink of Shannon's and I was pretty shocked at how smooth it was.

It was really good. Yeah. 

It's, I don't care if 

dark beer, so 

it wasn't bitter at all. No. And you could really taste the chocolate in it. 

Mm-hmm. The 

chocolate really came through. 

Yeah. Oh, it so good. 

Yes, it was. 

You'd take a drink and you just get a little pop of that chocolate note for a minute, and then it'd be gone.

You'd be like, what was that chocolate? It was this chocolate. 

Yep. Exactly. Oh my God. Now I'm ready to go back. I need a beer now. 

Right. 

Can we call Sunil and tell him to send us some beers over? Yeah. Yeah. 

Ship us a couple cases. I wonder if you could do that. 

I don't know. 

It's US Virgin Islands, right?

Yeah, it is so pretty. Sure you probably could. Yeah. So yeah, if you guys. Visit St. Martin and you're on the boardwalk. Stop in at the Dutch Blonde Beach bar. Let 'em know Shannon and Ann sent you. Yeah, try out his fabulous beer. And his food really good. 

Yeah. All of it is just, it was outstanding.

Really, really good. And we were lucky when we got there because they weren't real busy yet. So we got there kind of early, right? Mm-hmm. And so we were lucky because, we had about 30 minutes to just chat with him. He told us a lot about himself, so it was really interesting. We really enjoyed it.

Yeah, exactly. We have a friend for life now in St. Martin, so Yes, 

we do. As a matter of fact, yeah, stay tuned because he, he's very interested in being on the show with us. Share his story with you guys. Yeah. Think and 

yeah, I think you will too. His story was. It really touched my heart.

It was a fabulous story. So, yeah, it 

really was. 

Our last stop, which wasn't supposed to be our last stop, but because of Storm Melissa, we obviously were couldn't go to Jamaica. Our hearts and thoughts and prayers went out to everyone in Jamaica. I was so fearful and worried for them and praying for them the whole time.

So our last stop then became St. Croix, and we once again did not get off the ship at that port. We did another spa day. But I am actually glad that we didn't get off the ship at that port. Yeah. The people, the friends that we had made on the ship that actually got off in the port and came back on were telling us, be glad you didn't get off.

You really didn't miss anything. It really wasn't all that good. It was very underwhelming. There was a beach that's close right there at the port that you could walk to from the port, I should say. But the water was not pretty at all. 

No. It was murky looking. 

Yeah. And so I wouldn't have wanted to get in that water 'cause I'm not big on getting in the ocean anyway.

Unless it's clear water, where I can really see stuff. If not, I have no desire to get in there. I don't wanna make friends with jaws.

Can y'all tell that we really like ship days? I mean, you know, when we're port, sometimes we just stay on the ship and just do spa day or chill. Yeah. 

Just hang out and chill and yeah, sometimes we 

just take over the pool because there's nobody on board, so Exactly. Everything to yourself. Mm-hmm. It's easy to go eat

We had to split this episode into two parts, so please tune into the next episode for the continuation of our review of our 14 day cruise aboard Carnival Dream.

Thanks for joining me today on Travel Times Stories with Shannon. Don't forget to subscribe. Leave a review and share this podcast with someone who might need a reminder that they aren't alone in their journey of love, loss, and healing. Until next time, keep making memories for life.