Should We Stay or Should We Go - Our Travel Journal

The last port of call for this cruise was Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic.  We were very much looking forward to this port of call as we had an excursion booked to go up the mountain to hike to some waterfalls and to some zip-lining.

Photo by Nils Huenerfuerst on Unsplash One of my favourite places in the Caribbean is San Juan, Puerto Rico.  I was so happy to see that it was one of our ports of call on this sailing.

  We woke up in the Bahamas - at MSC's private Island, Ocean Cay. Ocean Cay is a man-made island that was created in the late 1960's for the purpose of mining Aragonite sand. The island sat abandoned for many years before MSC signed a 100-year lease in 2015. After spending 5 years and 200 million dollars the island was cleaned up and transformed into a beautiful 95-acre cruise resort. The island has eight white-sandy beaches and plenty of room for 5,000 passengers to spread out and explore. 

We sailed out of Miami for our cruise, but to save some money (even with the rental car), we flew into and stayed in Fort Lauderdale the night before. With our check-in time at the pier set for 11:30, we had a relaxed morning without the need to rush. It set the tone for the whole week – just take it easy and enjoy! We had a laid-back breakfast at Starbucks (mostly because it was convenient) before heading to Miami.

  Photo by Julian Hochgesang on Unsplash If you read my last post you would have read about my flight being cancelled at 11pm ahead of my 7am flight the next morning. I was able to finally get some sleep and make it to the airport for my new 10am flight. The change in flight plans meant that my friends would make it to Fort Lauderdale an hour ahead of me, and would have to wait around the airport for an hour until I arrived, before we could pick up the car rental, as it was in my name.

 What's the quote? "The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry." - Robert Burns

  Photo by Arnel Hasanovic on Unsplash Tomorrow we are leaving the snow and ice behind and escaping to warmer temperatures.

Photo by Matt Ragland on Unsplash  Reflecting on our trip afterward brought a clearer understanding of what could have been done differently. While we were focused on enjoying each place, there were details we missed that would have enriched the experience. It's easy to feel like you’ll remember everything, but in hindsight, I see how helpful it would have been to plan more thoroughly or to take notes along the way. So, what are the lessons we've learned? Do More Research Before our travel, we did searches on what the must-see spots were in each place we visited.  Due to the limited time we had to plan the trip (and the amount of stops we were going to have on this trip) we didn't do a deep dive into what we were going to see.  After the trip, I looked into each location further and discovered things I wish I had known beforehand, as well as historical spots I regret not learning about in advance. Take Time to Sit and Enjoy the Location It was very easy to get caught up i...

  Photo from ncl.com We are seasoned Norwegian cruisers.  We've been on many Norwegian cruises, enough that we are now Platinum. Our preference is typically for smaller, somewhat older ships, as we enjoy port days and exploring new destinations. These smaller ships can access ports that larger, newer ships cannot.  Our review should be read with that lens.  

As we left the Azores behind we began the last leg of our journey - 5 days at sea. 

 Our last stop on this part of our trip, before beginning to cross the Atlantic, was Ponta Delgada, in the Azores.

  Reflecting on the past year, I feel incredibly grateful for the opportunity to travel as much as we did. We began our year, as we have for the last three years, by escaping the Canadian winter for three months to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.  It's a perfect way to spend the winter months. Once we returned back home in April, we stayed close to home for the Spring and Summer, spending some of the time up at the lake where we have a trailer. We wrapped up the summer with a glorious week visiting friends in Newfoundland. It  was the perfect way to end the summer. Our Fall travels consisted of a week spent at my sister's home two hours north of where we live, house and cat sitting, while she was travelling. We also had a quick road trip to visit our son and daughter-in-law in Virginia. Our highlight of the Fall was an incredible month-long European river cruise with two of our boys, followed by a transatlantic cruise from Rome to New York City. What an unforgettable adve...