My first cruise was with my husband. I think that it was in St.Lucia where we rented a motorbike. We had such fun and the island was beautiful! I couldn’t drive the bike because I didn’t bring my drivers license with me to the island. Who would have thought to do that? Well, my husband did and I was so happy that he did.
Another island that we visited on that cruise was Granada. What we didn’t know ahead of time was that the communists were trying to take over the island, so they would drive through the streets with loud speakers on their trucks telling their story. There seemed to be much upheaval there. One thing I knew was that it all was very frightening! After about an hour we decided to return to the safety of the ship. I may have forgotten a lot of what I experienced on that cruise, but I’ll never forget my visit to Granada and the fear that I felt there.
One of my friends from PA asked me to join her for a cruise to Alaska that a travel agency in her town was sponsoring. It was a tour/cruise. We had such a great time! We did the tour first, visiting several towns and attractions, kind of working our way south to meet the ship. I had never been on a bus tour before. It was fun because we got to know our fellow travelers pretty well since we spent time together on the bus and during the stops also.
When we got on the ship, we unpacked and dressed for dinner. When we were leaving dinner we passed an elderly couple who were on our tour. We stopped to chat and later I commented to my friend that he didn’t look too well. While we were getting ready to turn in, I stepped out on the veranda. I saw a vehicle with lights flashing. It kept coming closer to us. Finally I couldn’t see it anymore but it had to be coming to our ship because we were the only one docked there. Long story short, we found out later that the husband had died that night. The tour leader didn’t want to share that but we kept bugging her.
Alaska is so different from the lower states. While we were there it never got totally dark. When I inquired what a particular flower was, I was shocked to learn that it was a dandelion! It was as large as four roses put together. During that trip we were on a train, plane, bus and ship! I had never had to stop my vehicle because of a moose in the road before Alaska! Some of Alaska looks like it probably did in the Gold Rush era, but then you also see the modern cities. A very interesting and different place to visit! Plus, where else can one see icebergs?