RCCL Song of America
We took our first cruise on the RCCL cruise ship Song of America. This particular cruise was at New Years and had the added attraction of having ex president Jimmy Carter as a guest. Along with the ex president were his wife , thieir children and thier families. The Carters were promoting thier books and also gave a presentation on their work for world peace.
The cruise was a eastern Carribean, starting from Peurto Rico and visiting St. Croix, St. Thomas, St. Marrten Guadeloupe and St. Kitts. We took a number of Shore excursions, one on St. Kitts where we toured the island and a old fort on Brimstone Hill.. Another shore excursion was supposed to get us out to Buck Island on a snorkelling excursion but because of a US Federal employee strike the national Park site was closed. We ended up going to an alternate site but it didn't prove to be as good as what we had heard about at Buck Island near St. Croix
We also took a shore excursion on St Maarten. The ship landed on the Dutch side and we bussed to the French side of the Island to snorkel on Pinel Island. Snorkelling was fair at this spot with a good variety of fish and coral. There was a fair bit of wave action which kept the water churned up and made things a bit cloudy.
On St. Thomas we took a excursion tour of the island and visited Magen's Bay. At the time many roof tops on the buildings of this island were still in a state of disrepair after huricanne Hugo. St. Thomas is great for shoppers if you are after duty free goods. They are big on gold sales and diamonds.
The food and the service were the best we have had on any cruise, and although the cabins were small ( 144 sq. ft) they were well laid out .On the whole the entertainment and the cooridination of ships events was excellent.
The cruise ended up at Saun Juan Peurto Rico , where we had the better part of the day before catching a plane home.
Below is a couple of snaps , one of Jane and I in the cabin, and one of the three of us comming out of the dining room after a excellent meal.
