Tuesday 9 October - day 49 - Day 4 on the Oasis of the Seas (Charlotte Amalie).

It's quite a long cruise from Nassau to Charlotte Amalie - even with leaving Nassau in the middle of the day on Sunday and cruising quite quickly, we still don't get to leave the ship at Charlotte Amalie until 9:30am at the earliest.
First impressions - based on the view from our balcony - are of a pretty, tropical island but I understand that this one is also quite commercialised, of course aiming at the tourist trade.
Paul and I have booked a shore excursion to St Johns - another island in the US Virgin Islands.  It's supposedly not as commercialised and is largely a National Park, along with a couple of expensive resorts and some private housing (I gather generally owned by the rich and famous).
It's going to be quite hot today, but the trip is only 4 hours so we should survive.  I hope.

If you click on the photo above you can just see an arrow pointing at our cabin.  This ship is simply enormous!!

This is the dock at St Thomas just as we arrived.

Same dock a few hours later.

OK, we're back now.  It was a very hot day - even the local tour guide commented on the heat.  Anyway, the first part of the trip was a 45 minute ferry ride from St Thomas to St Johns.  I have no idea why it didn't occur to me to take a seasickness tablet, but as it happened I was ok, although the ride was fairly choppy.  The tour guide on the ferry pointed out some homes of famous people etc and also talked a bit about the history of the islands (not much though)
We got off the ferry and into our tour bus - there must be hundreds of these things on both islands - commonly a Ford F100 or something similar with a few rows of seats in the back and a roof overhead, but no sides.  Still, it wasn't too uncomfortable.  Basically he took us around part of the island, showing us some resorts, beaches, and various bits of really lovely scenery.  It was a little too much like an advertisement to try to encourage people to buy houses on the island - I'd like to have been given more information about the history and geography of the island but I can only assume that sort of information isn't really appreciated by the passengers on Caribbean cruises. 

 There are iguanas everywhere!

Trunk Bay - claims to be one of the 10 most beautiful beaches in the world.

One interesting piece of information - the normal price for milk in the US is around $2 to $3 per gallon; on the island it costs anywhere from $9 to $12.  On the other hand, you can get rum for around $3 per gallon on the island.
We then went back to the dock for the ferry ride back to St Thomas.  There were four separate tour groups who had caught the same ferry, and we were all supposed to be there in time for the ferry to leave at 2pm, but one of the tours was about 15 minutes late. As it happened, this was a crucial 15 minutes, as a tropical storm started pelting down on us just as the ferry docked.  There was no-where to run - and actually I didn't really want to as first because it was so cool.  Unfortunately, by the time we got through security, most of us had already gotten pretty wet, and there was a fault in the roof right over the exit door from security and water was just pouring down on us.
Anyway, we finally got onto the ship and back to the cabin, by which time the rain had stopped.  We'd have been fine if it wasn't for that 15 minute delay - it's not a huge drama except that it's so hard to dry your clothes on this ship - there's no self service laundry so the only option is to send it off to be washed (not cheap!! - and anyway, you still have to do something with it until they pick it up) or to hang it all around the cabin, which isn't so good for dripping wet things. 
We've got all the wet stuff on the balcony for now, but we'll have to bring it inside later as you really can't leave stuff on the balcony while the ship is underway  :-)
On the brighter side, when we came back to our cabin we were greeted by some early "Happy Birthday" decorations:

We were all supposed to be on board by 5:30pm today, for sail-away at 6pm.  There was always a risk of problems, because the 5:30pm they're talking about is ships time.  However, local time is an hour earlier, and as Paul found out today, your phone is just as likely to automatically set itself to local time.  I don't know if that's what happened, but I do know that a bunch of about 50 passengers got off a ferry and onto the ship at about 10 to 6.  I was a bit surprised that the captain waited for them; I guess it was probably less of a drama here as it's only a fairly short trip to our next stop.  They certainly copped a stack of ironic cheers (and actually, some not so polite jeers) from people already onboard.  Anyway, we got underway only a little late. 
Paul and I are going to try the main dining room for dinner tonight, for the first time.  However, we didn't have lunch until around 4:35 so we are going to leave dinner for a while yet :-)

Monday 8 October - day 48 - Day 3 on the Oasis of the Seas (at sea)

Today will be pretty much a day of rest.  We went to the buffet for breakfast, then did 2  circuits around the walking track. 
Then we went and checked out our photos - they have a facial recognition thing going so mostly they can automatically put your photos in a folder, rather than you having to hunt them down.  They took three photos when we got off the ship yesterday  and two of them were automatically identified, one wasn't.  Not too shabby.  We have prepaid for digital versions of 15 photos which they claimed beforehand was a special, but in fact can be bought for the same price on board.  Won't fall for that one again - it's actually better to wait and see how many photos you want.
However, here's a couple of the photos we ended up getting:

After lunch we went to the theatre to see their production of the Broadway show "Hairspray".  It was really quite well done - earlier this year they telecast the Oasis of the Seas performance during the Tony awards.
We then did some more exploring, wandering and resting for the rest of the afternoon.
After dinner we went to another show - this is one of their water shows in the Aqua Theatre, with lots of diving, splashing, acrobatics, trampolining and high wire work too.  If it was on land, you'd think it was a fairy impressive show, but the fact that it's all happening over a pool on a cruise ship is seriously impressive.
Finished the evening off with another walk - one and a half times around the walking track and then a general wander around the ship.

Sunday 7 October - day 47 - Day 2 on the Oasis of the Seas (Nassau)

I woke up this morning just before 6 and wandered out onto the balcony to watch us come into port.  A lovely sight, athough my camera wasn't really up to taking a picture with that small amount of light. 
We only get to spend a few hours in Nassau, and we didn't book a shore excursion.  I had found a walking tour detailed out on the internet, and we decided to follow it.

There were four cruise ships in Nassau today - Oasis of the Seas, Norwegian Sky, Carnival Dream and Majesty of the Seas - totalling just under 14000 passengers. 
Traffic near the docks was chaotic - almost every car we saw seemed to be either a small tour bus or a taxi taking people around and showing them the sights.  Here are some of the things we saw:

 Nassau Parliament House

 Nassau Public Library - almost all of the civic buildings are painted pink

 Towards the Queens Staircase - this huge area was chipped out of the rock by slaves.

 The Queens Staircase, of course also built by slave labour.

 Sandy, trying to work out where we should go to next (outside Providence House).  This is where the walking map failed us because of some roadworks.

 At Fort Fincastle

Paul taking photos of the cruise ships from Fort Fincastle.

After our walk, we wandered back through the tourist areas around the dock.  I looked in a few jewellery stores - the prices looked ok and they seemed to be doing a roaring trade.  However, if I buy any jewellery on this holiday, it will almost certainly be something with an emerald or two in it, in Colombia.
Finally we fought our way back onto the ship, had a bite to eat and then crashed -  it was a really hot day and a tiring walk.
I woke up in time to take a few pictures as we left Nassau. My thoughts on Nassau are very much like my thoughts on Papaeete - not a place I want to go back to.  This isn't particularly disappointing though - we aren't really on this cruise to see the sights anyway, but to see the ship. 
Dinner tonight was at one of the specialty restaurants - the Solarium Bistro.  They serve what passes for low calories food on this ship - no individual menu item is over 500 calories.  Of course, once you've paid the cover charge, you can eat as much as you want, which kind of wrecks the low calorie idea  :-)
Anyway, we both had really nice meals - Paul had turkey rissoles for an appetiser and lamb for his main course, while I had a cold cucumber and yoghurt soup followed by a bison tenderloin. We also shared two 'sides' with the main course - a mango coleslaw and mushroom risotto. Then we both had berries and creme caramel for dessert.  Absolutely delicious, and for $18.20 each ($20 US), an absolute bargain!
Finished off the night by losing some money at the Casino   :-)

Saturday 6 October - day 46 - Day 1 on the Oasis of the Seas

I knew that by the time we got to Fort Lauderdale - after two weeks on a coach tour with 'motel only' accommodation - I'd be desperate to stay in a place with a kitchen.  So, we had a room at the Candlewood Suites last night.  $123 for the night for a room with a decent bed, a table big enough to put two laptops on (at last!), at least 8 available power points (some of the hotels have something in the room plugged into every single power point!), separate bathroom, and a full size stove, fridge, microwave, dishwasher etc.  Best value room for the whole trip.
They have a regular shuttle for the cruise port at 10:30 each day at $8 each, but that's a bit early for us - the port is less than 2 miles away and boarding doesn't start until 11:30.  And when it does, the cruise line starts with their 'priority' customers - which we aren't  :-).  However, the hotel will also organise a shuttle at any time you want - all apologetic because it has to cost more - a grand total of $10.00 each!  So, we're staying in the comfort of the hotel room until 11:30 or so (American hotels seem to all have much later check-out / check-in times than Australian ones).
Turns out that the shuttle company only wanted $8 each for the shuttle anyway.  It's all good.
Getting on-board the ship was a bit stressful but only because it was so quick - usually you expect to have to wait in the queue for long enough to get sort yourself out (eg find your passport etc)  but we were straight through security and then check-in really quickly.  We had been given our SeaPass cards and were having our welcome photos taken in no time.  At 12:05 we were still sitting in the shuttle at the hotel, but even with a drive of a couple of miles to the cruise port, we were on board by around 12:35 - I think we were lucky with our timing, but it was also very well managed.
The ship - Wow.  It's huge.  Royal Caribbean's way of getting people onboard means that you can't go into your cabin until it's ready, which is usually about 1pm.  We found a spot to wait and got into our cabin without any drama.
We then started our exploration of the ship - there's just so much to see and do that there's no way I'll be able to mention it all.  However, I will say - we were a bit hungry by this time so we went to Johnny Rocket's for a late lunch.  For a $4.95 cover charge you can have as much as you want to eat - we got onion rings and chips (you get them as soon as you sit down!) plus I had a hot dog and Paul had a burger.  Unlike normal American food, these were quite small - I guess on the theory that if you want more you can get it anyway.  But, they were both absolutely delicious.  We also had a milkshake each - so thick that they offer to give you a spoon to eat them with! and again, delicious.  Later in the cruise, we found out that Johnny Rocket's is actually an American burger chain, they've been around since 1986 and have a couple of hundred on-shore outlets.
After this - for obvious reasons! - we both did two full circuits around the walking/jogging track on Deck 5 - about 1.3 kilometres altogether.
After some more wandering we have seen large chunks of the ship, but we're still not really certain where anything is.  They have a pretty good help system though - huge touch screens near all the lifts where you can search for places and even get directions on how to get there from where you are, plus a 'what's on now / for the rest of the day' display if you're looking for things to do.  The TV in the cabin (a huge LCD screen) also has a fairly good - although somewhat slow - interactive display, including really useful things like an indicator telling you how busy it is in each food outlet so you don't traipse all the way to a particular restaurant only to discover that there's a half hour wait to get in.
That's all for today - we're on our way!!!
The somewhat uninspiring view of Fort Lauderdale from the balcony of the cabin:

The view down to the Aqua Theatre from deck 11.  The blue area where the people are walking is a cover over  really deep pool  which is the 'aqua' part of the aque theatre.  The small area further back is the stage - a large chunk of it turns over during the show to reveal a large trampoline that they use in their shows:

Our balcony:

Central Park - this is on deck 8, so we're one deck up.  You can see some cabin balconies above, but we chose one that overlooks the sea rather than the park:

 Back of the ship, the big screen and the platforms you can see are also part of the Aqua Theatre - they dive from those platforms into the pool during the show!

 Sandy on deck as we leave Fort Lauderdale:

Friday 5 October - day 45 - to Fort Lauderdale

In theory this is the last day of the coach tour, but since it consists of waking up in the hotel and leaving - no coach or driver and no tour guide anywhere - I don't see how Cosmos gets away with calling it part of their tour.  It's the same as cruise lines though - they insist on counting the day where they kick you off the ship as the last day, even though you basically just wake up and leave!
The only problems we had today were caused by me.  However, since I pretty much organised the whole day, I think I get to take the credit for everything that went right too  :-)
And actually, I didn't cause too much trouble, it's just that I caused it in the worst possible place - the airport security check.
First, I didn't understand how I was meant to stand in the security scanner, and once I worked that out, the lady made me back out of it because she needed to recalibrate it.  No idea if I caused that problem or not!
Then, they pointed out to me that in the drama of taking my shoes off (everyone over 12 goes through without shoes) while at the same time trying to manage crutches and a backpack, I had forgotten the most basic requirement of security scanning - to take the laptop out of the bag.  Or, to be more correct, the laptops - I was carrying both of them as part of our plan to make sure that our checked luggage wasn't too heavy and our carry-on wasn't too large.  Anyway, obviously they decided that they'd have to scan it again, but then this caused some sort of a staffing drama that ended up with a supervisor throwing a tantrum about who should do it.  I just cringed and grovelled apologies, and they let me go once they finally rescanned the bag.  But, in my attempts to get away from there as quickly as I could, I slammed my crutches right into my sore ankle, so it's hurting again.
However, on the bright side, apart from a change of gates, we were not affected by the current industrial problems that are hitting American Airlines.  There were definitely problems with other flights though - we had to move from Gate 28 because the flight that was due to leave an hour or so before us was delayed.  And, when they moved us to Gate 30, we got to hear the grovelling apologies of the staff on Gate 32 - apparently that flight had already been delayed for a long time, and still had no estimated departure time.
It took a fair while to get the plane loaded because of all the carry-on luggage.  Everyone carries the maximum size carry-on bag which always causes problems for people who board late, so when the automatic check-in machine offered to move us into the first boarding group for $9 each, I jumped at the chance as I didn't really want to fly for that far with our bags stuck under the seat in front - and it worked, we got overhead locked space for both of them.
It also took a long time to get off the plane - again because of the time it takes everyone to get their carry-on off the plane. However, we were only about 15 minutes late arriving at Miami. Our gate was about a mile walk through the airport from the Baggage Claim area.  However, when we got there, our limousine driver was waiting as expected.  He took our bags off the carousel and drove us to our hotel in a comfy, air-conditioned limo.  Nice.  Cost us $100, but since a taxi would cost at least $70 (maybe more with the roadworks) I reckon it was money well spent.  We actually had to drive past Fort Lauderdale airport to get here - we flew into Miami because there weren't any direct flights from Washington to Fort Lauderdale at any sensible times.
We've organised the shuttle ride to the cruise port tomorrow and have done a load of washing, so we're all ready to go!

Thursday 4 October - day 44 - back to Washington

We started the day with the usual "bags out at 7am, get onto the coach by 8am" start and then we drove back to Washington with quick stops for morning tea and lunch.
Another tour guide then joined us and took us around Washington.  Of course, in a few hours we only saw a tiny glimpse of the place - enough to convince me that I want to come back and spend a week here.  At least.  Just a few of the Smithsonian Museums could keep me going for that long, let alone all the other museums and displays.
First stop was at the National Cemetery at Arlington.  The tour guide showed us the graves of the Kennedy brothers and also gave us a lot of interesting information about how you get to be eligible to be buried at Arlington (or one of the other 100-odd National Cemeteries).   He said that because of the age of WW2 and other veterans, they have upwards of 20 funerals there every day.  We saw a lot of men in uniform - on closer glance an honour guard from fire service at Washington airport and also a number of other emergency services agencies, so we presume it was a funeral for someone senior in that area.
This was a very moving place, but not a place I want to come to again.
Next stop was to see the Korean War, Vietnam War, and Lincoln memorials.
The Korea memorial consists of a field with 19 statues (that they say are made of stainless steel) representing all the major arms of the services that were involved.  There's also a long wall with etchings of more of the people involved, and another low wall showing the names of all the countries involved in the action in Korea.

I don't really know what to say about this one - it's very nicely done, but to me it felt a little like they had tried so hard to be fair and inclusive that they hadn't really gotten the point across.  Maybe I'm being unfair but I just couldn't see it.
The Vietnam Memorial was originally a long wall showing - in chronological order - the names of every US serviceman killed in Vietnam.  Since then, they have added two further sets of statues - three men to represent the services involved, and then later they added a montage commemorating the involvement of women in the war.  I'll be very happy to see the day when women are treated fairly enough in everyday life, everywhere, that no-one feels it necessary to do "special" memorials to the involvement of women.  Anyway, that's off my chest, but I'm about to be non-PC again about the memorial itself - I'm sure it's meaningful to the people involved - which I guess is all that matters - but to me it was just a list of names that didn't really manage to make the point it was trying to make.
It's possible that I wasn't really in the mood for seeing memorials.
Next stop of course was the Lincoln Memorial.   I understand now just how significant Lincoln is to Americans - far more than I thought or understood before this tour started.  And, they explained all the symbolism to us - eg, one column for each state in the Union at the end of the Civil War.  However, like much else about the USA, I found it to be huge and overdone - to me, the same thing but 10% of the size would have been just as impressive and meaningful, and nowhere near as grandiose.
The next thing I'm going to mention is the Washington Monument - of course we saw it many times during the day as it's so huge, but this is a view from near the Lincoln Memorial.  What you can see just in the foreground is meant to be a renovated Reflecting Pool, but soon after they re-filled it, it got an algae problem, so they're currently cleaning it out.

We couldn't actually go into the Monument - no-one can.  It was damaged in an earthquake last year and further damaged by a hurricane at much the same time and it will be at least 2 years before it can be fixed.  In the meantime no-one is allowed in there.
Just a little side point here - although the tour guide didn't mention it, this memorial statue has a (tenuous) link to Australia.  It's the memorial to Tadeusz Kosciuszko - a hero of the US because of his involvement in the War of Independence and he is the Kosciuszko that Australia's highest mountain is named after.

Next stop was to have a look at this pretty little vegetable patch:

in the yard of this house:

Final stop for the afternoon was a photo op at the Capitol - this nice shot that Paul took showing most of the Ulysses S Grant memorial.

After this, we went back to the hotel in Alexandria - the same one where we started the tour - and had a quick shower to get ready for the evening's entertainment.  First stop was pre-organised dinner which I have to say I was less than impressed with.  The food was fine - excellent in fact (except for the dessert - Key Lime Pie which to me tasted like a second rate cheesecake).  The organisation was not so good, starting with an inappropriate table setup that left one couple on their own at what was supposed to be a farewell dinner for the group.  We sorted that out by getting the restaurant to reorganise the tables, but the dinner also ended with a rush - people were still eating dessert and drinking their coffee and all of a sudden we were being rushed out the door.
The night finished with an "Illuminations" tour - a nighttime tour of some more memorials.  All the events / people being commemorated have every right to be commemorated, so let's just leave it at this:
Iwo Jima and Kennedy Memorials - nicely done
Thomas Jefferson - makes the Lincoln Memorial look understated
We finally went home after this - it was probably the longest day on the tour.

Wednesday 3 October - day 43 - Colonial Williamsburg

Today we stayed in Williamsburg and the big trip of the day is down the road to "Colonial Williamsburg".
This is a part of town where a lot of historic buildings have either been restored or replicated.
Of course they concentrate on the Revolution, so of course there are cannons:

On some of the buildings you just get a sign explaining the significance, eg like this one:

but others are fully operating shops or work areas.  Many of them are doing work as they would have back in the late 1700's - for example, there's a working forge (we saw them making nails that are then used in the maintenance and restoration of buildings on site) and a working gunsmith.
The gunsmith will make a replica Long Rifle for you for about $US20,000 - apparently because the technology is pre 1898 it's regarded as a curio and not a weapon in the USA, but I don't think that would wash in Australia if we tried to import one :-)
The workers will also talk and answer questions about their task - for example, Paul had a long talk with the gunsmith.
We saw the Governor's Palace - somehow Australian Governors never got to have Palaces???

This sign that we saw at the palace:

 (I'm sure I took a photo of the actual landau, but it vanished somehow) reminded me of something the tour director said earlier.  Apparently when the Queen came here, she stayed at one of the hotels in Colonial Williamsburg, and they had to paint her bedroom blue for her.  I had no idea she was so precious!
Anyway, back to today.  We also had short tours of some of the buildings - for example the Public Jail.
Overall, it was quite an interesting place but quite large (so a lot of walking) and really hot - over 80 degrees Fahrenheit and over 80% humidity as well.  We had a choice of being picked up and brought back to the hotel at either 2:30pm or 5:30 pm, and we were happy to come back at 2:30.  I noticed all the Aussies on the tour did the same - and really, since this is all about the Revolutionary War period, you can see why the Americans and Poms would be interested, but it's not deeply significant to an Aussie.
The afternoon was quiet - we used the opportunity to get some washing done so with any luck we might be able to avoid paying too much for laundry on the Oasis of the Seas.
As a side issue here, I think we undertipped the waitress at the Cracker Barrel restaurant tonight - not a lot, just a few cents, but it leads me to the whole point of tipping.  I understand the whole 'when in Rome, do as the Romans do' thing.  And, I know Aussies (among others) have a reputation for not tipping.  I'm sure it's true that some Aussies don't tip even though they know it's expected.  I'm equally sure that others don't tip - or don't get it right - simply because it's so damned complicated and inconsistent.  You don't tip anyone at McDonalds.  Sometimes you tip the server, other times you add it to the credit card receipt - it just goes on and on. It's such an astoundingly inefficient way of spreading the wealth, hidden under the pretence that you're tipping for good service when in fact it's about as 'optional' as paying the State taxes that they add to the bill here.  I will be SO glad to get home - I'm going to go to the supermarket and do a stack of shopping just so that I can see that I pay EXACTLY what's displayed on the shelf, because that just never happens here. Then I'm going to go to a restaurant for dinner and pay them exactly what the bill says!
Anyway, whinging over - I'm about to watch the first episode of the new season of Supernatural, then off to bed before a big day of travel and sightseeing tomorrow.