The Photo Essay

My vacation through the Caribbean

My heart started pounding as soon as the plane left the ground. It was a mind-blowing experience. The view from the plane was astonishing. The shadow of the plane was visible when it first took off. Looking down through the small window, buildings and cars became pocket-sized. This was the start of an amazing vacation.



After four hours of flying, the plane started slowly descending. Everyone started clapping as a sign of relief as the airplane touched ground. We finally arrived in a Porto Rico and the view of the ocean was breathtaking. Sadly, the island had tons of poverty. I couldn’t believe that there were people who lived this way.




When we arrived, we had to claim our luggage and get a taxi to the cruise ship. My mouth dropped when I saw how monstrous it was. It had three swimming pools, a massive outdoor projection screen and eighteen levels. This enormous ship could fit three thousand passengers and twelve-hundred staff members. All the food was included and the buffet was open twenty-four seven. I didn’t expect it to be so spectacular.



We finally arrived to our cabins and they were surprisingly tiny. There were no windows; therefore it was impossible to tell what time of day it was. The room stewards (housekeepers) made our bed and gave us new towels twice a day. It was nice not to have to clean up after myself for an entire week. Every day they would give us a schedule of all the activities and shows that were going on threw out the day so we wouldn’t miss anything.



The night we arrived on the ship was the night of the Superbowl. On the top deck they had a humongous party around one of the pools. They had the football game playing on the big projection screen outside. Also, they had staff walking around handing out popcorn, hot dogs, pizza and drinks for anyone that wanted any. Everyone was rooting and cheering whenever a team would get a touchdown. The atmosphere was fun and enjoyable.




Our first stop was in St-Thomas. We didn’t do an excursion that day, but instead we went shopping. We hitched a taxi downtown. It was a scary feeling that everyone was driving on the left hand side and that the steering wheel was on the left hand side as well. When we got downtown, everyone had booths with hats, necklaces and shirts. The weather was blazing hot; it felt so good to be away from wintry weather.


The same night when we returned on the cruise ship, it was a formal night. Everyone was dressed their finest. It took longer then usual to get ready. At six o’clock we had to go down to deck six to the Palm Dinning Room for our dinner. The waiters/waitresses made everyone feel like royalty. They made us put our serviettes on our laps and the menu was filled with fancy words that I could barely understand. All in all the food was amazing and the desert was the best.



Every night after dinner there would be a show in the Princess Theatre. They had comedians, dancing and they even had a hypnotist one night. The hypnotist asked volunteers to come upstage to get hypnotized. I decided to go up stage to volunteer, but it didn’t work on me.Then he made, whoever did get hypnotized, do a bunch of embarrassing things. He made one person be the laughing police and yell at everyone that was laughing, but in a Chinese voice. Thank goodness I didn’t get hypnotized!




The next day we stopped at an island called Tortola. The excursion we did was a tour of the island and then we got to go to one of the beaches and have a complimentary lunch. The island was beautiful, but a lot of it was filled with poverty. This was the first time I swam in the ocean. I wasn’t expecting the bitter taste of the salt water though.




The third day our ship stopped at a beautiful island called Antigua. My brother, my dad and I went on a catamaran (in other words, a sailboat with two parallel hulls held together by a single deck). They brought us to a place in the middle of the ocean where we could snorkel freely. The bottom of the ocean was filled with beautiful multi-coloured fish and coral. At one point, a jellyfish got right next to my head and that was the end of snorkeling for me.



The night we left Antigua they had a Caribbean party on deck 18 (the same deck where they had the Superbowl party). They had a band playing and mostly everyone was dancing on the dance floor. They remade New Years Eve and everyone threw streamers everywhere. There were ice sculptures and an enormous buffet that fed 3000 of us. It was the most fun I’ve had the whole trip.


When I woke up the next morning we were in St-Lucia. That day my family and I went zip-lining. This was the first time I’ve ever been. Swinging threw the rain forest on a little wire was an exhilarating sensation. They had wobbly bridges that everyone had to cross. The place we went to was called Tree Top Adventure Park and there were eleven zip-lines and two wobbly bridges.


The following day we went to an island called Barbados. This was the richest and most beautiful island I’ve ever seen. We went on a Safari Adventure tour and they brought us through the rain forest and in the back roads of the island. We saw monkeys and peacocks and a bunch of other wild animals. Barbados has the most gorgeous beaches I’ve ever seen. Apparently tons of celebrities own a house in Barbados (such as Oprah, Bill Gates, Simon Cowell, etc) and they only come every five years.


The last day on the cruise ship was a whole day at sea. They had a bunch of entertainers and activities that day. My mom and I went to bingo and we won a hundred dollars. Most of the day, I laid around the pool and soaked in the sun. I had to take advantage of the last day in the heat. It was a depressing knowing that the next day it would be all over.


My family and I had to wake up extremely early the next day to debark the cruise ship. We got to the airport at nine-thirty in the morning and unfortunately our flight wasn’t until four-thirty. On top of that, our flight was delayed an hour and a half and we had to wait even longer. By the time I got home it was midnight. It was the longest day of my life. But it was worth every minute of it because it was the best vacation I’ve ever had.