In October 2023, Harold and I embarked on a 14 Night Carnival “Journeys” cruise to the Eastern Caribbean out of Galveston, Texas on the Carnival Dream.

We booked this cruise the year before when I saw the itinerary went to most all of the ports that we were supposed to go on in March of 2020 to celebrate our 40th anniversary. That cruise was cancelled due to the Covid-19 hysteria. So, over three and a half years later, we finally got to go on our Eastern Caribbean Cruise!

Our Itinerary:

Day 1 Galveston (Embark)

Day 2 Sea Day

Day 3 Key West

Day 4 Sea Day

Day 5 Grand Turk (XXLD due to weather)

Day 6 San Juan, Puerto Rico

Day 7 St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands

Day 8 St. Kitts, Basseterre

Day 9 St. Maarten, Netherlands Antilles

Day 10 St. Croix, US Virgin Islands

Day 11 Sea Day

Day 12 Falmouth

Day 13 Sea Day

Day 14 Sea Day

Day 15 Galveston (Disembark)

Days 1 and 2 were sea days and were mostly spent exploring the ship, enjoying the music, entertainment, food, and people.

Day 3 brought us to Key West, Florida for the afternoon. We walked down to the Southernmost Point, and enjoyed several of the sights along the way: the Kapok Tree, the Key West U.S. Naval Air Station, and back to town to do a little shopping. We visited Key West in 2017 but missed seeing most of the things we saw on this day, so this was a great stop.

Days 4 and 5 were both sea days as Hurricane Tammy made it impossible for the ship to dock at Turks and Caicos. We already visited Grand Turk in 2019, so we were much more thankful to be safe rather than sorry. We filled the extra time relaxing and enjoying the ship activities.

Day 6 was spent in San Juan, Puerto Rico. We took a local tour to see the old town, forts, new town, the capital building, and the beautiful colorful homes of San Juan.

On day 7 we slept in a bit after being up late the night before. In St. Thomas we shopped a little and then went on the Skyride and saw some amazing views. It’s a beautiful island.

Day 8 at St. Kitts, Basseterre, I got up early this morning and snuck around the ship hiding 7 rubber ducks and 7 cards with Bible verses. We ate made-to-order omelettes for breakfast and climbed back into bed as it was raining when we docked. We went ashore around noon just as the rain subsided and enjoyed some shopping and the colorful sights at St Kitts.

On day 9 we docked on the Dutch side of St. Maarten, Netherlands Antilles, and took a tour of the island which included the French St. Martin side as well. We learned it’s a long distance phone call from the Dutch side to the French side. They also have two completely different governments. My favorite stop was at the SXM airport where the beach runs right up to the landing strip. The signs along the fence warn about death and serious injury if you stand there. We ate lunch at the Sunset Beach SXM Restaurant while airplanes landed and took off. I walked over to the beach and got a video of a jet flying overhead me as it was landing. I remember wanting to visit SXM several years ago when I worked for Delta, so it was really nice to finally be able to come visit here.

St Maarten, Netherlands Antilles, SXM, and Port of St Maarten.

We spent day 10 in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands shopping and enjoying the colorful sights and sounds. Back on the ship, we enjoyed our nightly routine of dinner and entertainment.

Day 11 was a Sea Day. We (actually Harold) found a rubber duck this morning on our way to breakfast. The day was full of activities including a costume contest. Harold wore his Indianapolis Colts Manning #18 jersey and I dressed as an Indianapolis Colts cheerleader. We watched the Texas Rangers play in the World Series on the big screen up on the Lido deck, and went to bed, exhausted after a full day on the ship.

Day 12: We visited Falmouth, Jamaica and enjoyed some shopping at the port. The port is cone-shaped which lets two cruise ships dock around it at the same time. Jamaica is full of colors, music, and a lot of humidity.

Days 13-15 sea days went by super fast on our way back to the Port of Galveston.  We picked out our favorite photos from our prepaid photo package, enjoyed the entertainment, the people, the crew, our dinners and especially the desserts!

We enjoyed every minute of this cruise and were thankful to have been able to celebrate our 40th anniversary on this wonderful cruise, even if it was three and a half years later than originally planned. 

Sadly, I came away feeling sorry for some of the other cruisers. We noticed several of them who seemed bored, unappreciative, and liked to complain a lot. Newsflash: True happiness is not found in cruising. Happiness is found in a relationship with Christ.

“Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4

“You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Psalm 16:11

And, until a person comes to the realization of the truth of the gospel and their desperate need for a Savior, no amount of cruising (or whatever a person is doing trying to obtain happiness) will ever fill the need in our lives which can only be accomplished through receiving Christ as your Lord and Savior

“Happy are the people whose God is the Lord.” Psalm 144:15