SISTER CRUISE

My sisters and our husbands were blessed with many trips paid for by Mom over the last 25 years.  We enjoyed cruises to Hawaii, Northern Europe, Northeast USA/Canada; along with a bus tour of Europe; fall foliage in the NE, family gathering in Branson and many times in Bella Vista.  She told us, more than once, that she wanted us to continue to travel and spend time together after she was gone.

So we honored her request and booked a 10 Day Southern Caribbean Cruise for March 28-April 6.

            We left port in Ft. Lauderdale, FL and sailed to the islands of Curacao, Bonaire, Aruba, and the Bahamas on the Holland America Ship, "The Rotterdam." 

Jeff and I do love cruising and this was another enjoyable one.  We have been to the Caribbean several times, but not to these Islands, so that was fun!

We stayed overnight in a hotel in Ft. Lauderdale and yes, I dressed with "cruising" apparel that morning before boarding ship!

Our Ship

Leaving port......

Our rooms were right beside each other, so we could talk from balcony to balcony ❤️

Our first two days was Sea Days, which I love.  We enjoyed relaxing, playing games, eating well, napping, etc!  Our second night after dinner.

We played lots of games during our 10 days.  What a view as we played!

On March 30th, we docked at Willemstad, Curaçao 

We took a van tour of the city.

I had purchased Sister shirts for us, so we wore them on this day.  It was so windy!

The next day, April 1, we docked at Kralendijk, Bonaire 

We again took a van tour.  

Saw several salt mines and lots of pretty water!

There were many of these super small dwellings where up to 8 slave families would live who worked the salt mines many years ago.  Unimaginable as these "huts" were so small!!

Visited a pretty beach

Saw a lighthouse

April 2 -- Oranjestad, Aruba

We once again took a van tour

Another windy day!

We climbed up a large rock to get a good view!

Jeff took our picture as he couldn't climb that rock!

Another lighthouse

This was a fun stop!

No, I didn't know what I was doing - duh!

Bev and Don did it right! (Kaye and Rob didn't pose here)

Very colorful homes!

Sadly, we didn't find Natalie Holloway🥲!  But Aurba is a beautiful island!❤️
We then had two Sea Days again.....

Orange Night:

Our last Island stop:  Half Moon Cay, Bahamas

April 5th....would have been Mom's 96th Birthday 💞💞

Ready to get off at the Island (but due to unforeseen circumstances, we had to wait over 4 hours and only had a short tine on the Island....our only disappointment to our week):

Jeff wasn't down on the Promenade at this time, so I got a picture alone

They had lunch on the Island for us (hamburgers, hotdogs, etc.)  Then we had a short time on the beach. Sure would have loved longer there.

This is a Christian couple from CA that saw Jeff struggling with his Menieres on the ship more than once and prayed for him and with him several times! The day on Half Moon was really tough on him as it was a long walk to the bbq they fed us near the beach and Jeff went down at one point . The staff helped get him to a table to sit down and such a “God thing”—he was seated near a pastor and wife from Florida. Jeff got to talking to them and found out the wife has also dealt with Meniere's Disease for years. So they also prayed for Jeff before they parted ways (they were on the Gaither ship). Such a blessing by all these folks! 

Leaving port.....for our last night on the Ship 😢

Sunday, April 6th

The clouds were just beautiful on our flight home

April 10th was Sister Day, so I posted this:

So thankful for this time we had together!  So thankful for my Sisters (and our husbands)!  Everyone knows Jesus personally and loves and serves Him, so we are not only Blood Sisters but Sisters in Christ!!💗

A few weeks later we spent several days together at the Lakehouse in Bella Vista and since we really didn't get a good picture in our shirts on the Cruise (due to such terrible wind), I asked them to bring to BV and we got a picture there ❤️