NOW TO VIEW MY JANUARY POSTS YOU WILL HAVE TO CLICK ON "JANUARY" SO THOSE POSTS WILL BE DISPLAYED.
TO VIEW PREVIOUS POSTINGS USE THE "BLOG ARCHIVE" UNDER OUR PHOTO ON THE RIGHT. THEN CLICK ON THE DAY OR DAYS YOU MISSED. ALSO CLICKING ON THE PHOTOS WILL ENLARGE THEM. I RECOMMEND THAT.
Our position today is docked in Puerto Plata on the north part of the island of the Dominican Republic. It is a toasty 85 degrees with 70+ humidity so good to stay on board today. This is our second visit here on this world cruise, turned Caribbean cruise. We called on this port on January 26th.
Oh, boy, coming back here for 3rd time on April 8th.
PUERTO PLATA BACKGROUND INFO:
Puerto Plata is the 3rd largest city in the Dominican
Republic with a population of 330,000.
It lies north side of the island on the Atlantic Ocean. The city is a trading port but has several
large resorts with a total of over 100,000 hotel beds available. So the port, tourism, minning, and
agrobusiness are its main economy drivers.
Carnival Cruise Line opened an $85 million cruise port called Amber Bay
back in 2015. Today we are docked at the
new cruise terminal, Naked Taino Bay, which is closer to the city and just
opened the end of last year. The golden
sandy beaches with turquoise waters and a mountainous landscape made this a
popular tourist destination and cruise ship port of call.
The Dominican Republic is a Caribbean nation which shares
the island with Haiti. It is the second
largest nation in the Caribbean after Cuba.
The islands population is nearly 11 million. The DR has the largest and fastest growing
economy in the Caribbean and Central America.
It is also the most visited tourist destination in the Caribbean due to
its beaches and year round golf courses.
The island exports sugar, cocoa, and coffee and unfortunately these industries
have a child labor issue. Santo Domingo
is its capital which is located on the south side of the island. On third of the DR’s population live in the
Santo Domingo metropolitan area. The third
largest gold mine in the world is located in the central part of the
island. There are 63 mines on the island
which include iron, silver, nickel, and copper in addition to gold.
LAST NIGHT:
I had requested fried chicken thighs for our entree in Compass Rose. Well, they brought our a few thighs and legs so I told them that was not what I had ordered. So the maitre'd went to check on getting more thighs. He said the chef would fry a few more thighs. We both had one thigh and by the time the others came to the table we were finished with dinner. We had enough with just the one so did not leave hungry. I'm sure the waiters ate what we did not at the end of their service. Above is an apple buckle with vanilla ice cream I had for dessert. Loved it.
Once again Fred Bevill's show was VERY good. We think he is the very best comedian we have ever heard. Once again I seemed to be part of his show.
TODAY:
Every Sunday they serve caviar in both Compass Rose and La Veranda so I went up to La Veranda for mine. Rebecca, as usual, had room service scrambled eggs so I went alone. Above is caviar display.
I washed the double order of caviar down with eggs benedict, fried potatoes, and a sausage link.
I took these photos from the outside dining area at the back of La Veranda.
As I was having my breakfast at a window table in La Veranda I watched the very labor intensive operation of them unload the container ship next to us.
Ok, there was a crane operator.
Two men on top of the containers to hook up the crane's lines to the container.
Two men in the fork lift putting two more men on the top of the container to disconnect the lines.
One guy lifting the containers from pier to the trucks.
And then there were the truck drivers. So there were a minimum of 9 men to unload a container. Good thing labor is cheap here.
Right after our treadmill time I walked in to the shopping, restaurants, pool, and beach area just off the pier. Temperature was 85 but felt warmer. I was only off the ship for maybe a half hour. I forgot I had walked through this shopping area when here on January 26th.
The fort at the entrance to the bay here is "Fortaleza San Felipe". This Spanish fortress was built in the 1500's to defend the north coast of the DR from the British & Dutch. It was converted into a museum in 1965.
After lunch I worked on this port before adjourning out to the balcony to work a crossword puzzle and went through the excursions being offered for the next cruise segment. Once again, next segment we will not be doing many tours. We are really looking forward to overnighting in both Tampa and New Orleans next segment and also spending the day in Galveston. Back in the good ole USA!!!!!
At 5:30 we will be attending the interdenominational worship service in the card room. Following this we will be joined by Susanne Peters for cocktails in the Horizon Lounge before dinner with her in Compass Rose. Susanne will be heading home (Cincinnati) when we arrive in Miami on Wednesday.
Can't wait to see "Blazing Boots" production show at 9:15 in the theater. This will be the 3rd time we've seen this show but love it so will be front center again tonight for it.
We will be sailing again at 5:00pm and we will have another day at sea tomorrow before arriving at Great Stirrup Cay in the Bahamas on Tuesday.
