Caribbean Cruise January 2013

January in Chicago....it's cold and there's snow on the ground. It gets dark at 4 p.m. It's ugly.

If there was ever a good time to take a cruise to somewhere sunny it is January. This usually means the Caribbean-but which one? Western-over to Mexico or Honduras, Jamaica and Grand Cayman?
Southern- to Aruba, Curacao or Bonaire (the ABC islands)? or Eastern to the most popular islands like St. Maarten and St. Thomas? All of these are reachable in the 7 days we have at our disposal.

We always arrive one day before the ship sails and stay one day after the cruise, so it's 9 days away from work and the bone-chilling cold.

In 2013 we chose the Eastern Caribbean route and the ship we chose was a new one to us-the Ruby Princess (built in 2008), leaving from my favorite cruise port-Port Everglades, in the city of Fort Lauderdale, Florida (where it is NOT cold!)

We are dressed warmly when we arrive at O'Hare Airport in Chicago on a Saturday morning. It is 30 degrees F. We check our bags and the bag checker says he wishes he was coming with us. We sit in the United Lounge and watch the crew de-ice the aircraft's wings.

Soon we are up in the air, looking down on the white landscape below.

Three hours later we are in a room at the Marriott Harbor Beach hotel....

This is the Atlantic Ocean

The temperature is 77F. Nice. Warm sea breeze on the balcony-nicer still.

Comfy room...

We first stayed in this hotel a year before when we sailed to the Southern Caribbean on the Crown Princess. We stopped at it's beach restaurant "Sea Level" for lunch and liked the look and location of the hotel so much that be booked it for our one night stay after our cruise.

It's a comfortable hotel, with a great pool area, access to a soft-sand beach and has 3 restaurants.

The lobby

Their signature restaurant where the chef, Paula da Silva was a runner up in TV's Hells Kitchen

A casual restaurant called  Riva where they serve a buffet and a la carte breakfast.

One of the many reasons why I like this hotel is that it is one of the few on the beach and the closest one to the mouth of the harbor at Port Everglades. Each weekend in winter I log on to the Port Everglades webcam to watch the cruise ships leave port at 4 p.m.

As I am so close I have to walk the 3/4 mile along the beach to see the ships leave....first to leave at 4 p.m is the Grand Princess the largest cruise ship in the world when she launched in 1998.

Next comes  Carnival Freedom

The Grand Princess is already far out to sea

Caribbean Princess- we didn't know at the time but we would sail on her a year later to the Western Caribbean

 Caribbean Princess, 113,000 gross tonnes.

 3,000 passengers onboard.

Then came the World's Largest cruise ship- Oasis of the Seas at 225,000 gross tonnes. She has a sister called Allure of the Seas who would sail Sunday.

She can carry over 6,000 passengers

Here is the Celebrity Eclipse, with the dramatic sunset as her backdrop

2800 passengers in a 122,000 gross tonne frame so plenty of space for each passenger

Once the Eclipse had passed it was time to leave our comfy rock and take the long walk back to the hotel

Back at the hotel

Here's a video of the ships sailing away from Port Everglades

The changing face of Las Vegas

The days of building theme hotels that look like Paris or Venice or have erupting volcanoes and sinking pirate ships would seem to be over. Now the new builds are  straightforward towers of glass and concrete-luxurious hotels without the creativity and humor of the 1990s.

When we were last there in 2009 the completion of a new complex of casino hotels and shops called City Center was nearing completion in a plot of land between Bellagio and Monte Carlo hotels. 

The Jockey Club is surrounded!

These two towers make up the Cosmopolitan Hotel (opened in 2010) which has 3,000 rooms and of course a large casino. It looks like an office complex though. However it is a highly rated hotel by Conde Naste: One of the "World's Top Hotels" Unlike most hotels it has underground parking as it was built on the parking lot of the Jockey Club due to space limitations. The Aria hotel is also part of City Center and is also highly acclaimed.

The Bellagio is right next door

Bellagio from across the wide Las Vegas Boulevard

Next to the Paris Hotel and Casino

The view from the top of the Eiffel Tower is not to be missed-especially as the lights go on at dusk.
There is a good French Bistro at street level called Mon Ami Gabi. The hotel's buffet is quaint as it looks like you are dining in narrow Paris streets but the food isn't spectacular compared to Bellagio or the MGM Grand which is within easy walking distance.

What used to be the themed hotel Aladdin is now a Planet Hollywood. Shame as they had a great Middle Eastern section in their buffet.

I'll leave you now at one of my favorite places in the Bellagio- the pool area, where we have whiled away many relaxing hours after our trips out into the countryside. Although we haven't been to Las Vegas in 6 years I have no doubt that when we return we will stay at Bellagio again-it's a beautiful and well-run hotel. Hopefully they have kept their standards high in the meantime.

Las Vegas had 41 million visitors last year. There are enough hotels to accommodate them and more than enough restaurants to feed them. The people in the streets have happy faces as they are there on vacation, with money in their pockets, intent on enjoying this Disneyland for adults.

Thanks for following along!

Where next?

Mount Charleston

If it's too hot in the city-and we have been there when it was 106 degrees F, then a great excursion to take is a drive to Mount Charleston, 35 miles North West of the city. Once you turn off the highway you won't meet many other cars as you work your way slowly up towards the summit (11,916 ft).
We won't be climbing to the stop but will go as far as the car will take us.

Snow in the distance promises cooler temperatures

In 2004 I found out that my sister would be on vacation in Las Vegas, so I thought I'd surprise her.
I called her at her hotel, the Sahara and asked her where she was ("We're in Las Vegas!") and how was the weather. She thought I was calling from Chicago. I remarked that I hadn't seen her in a long time (10 years!) and asked her what she was doing that afternoon...it was then I told her where I was  (gasp!) and within an hour was picking her and her husband up for a drive to Mt Charleston-so here they are. Yes, she was surprised to see me.

We are stopped at a horse ranch. If there's a horse in sight Carol has to stop and admire it. Rightly so.

There were no people around looking after the horses and we could have stolen one but with two passengers there was no room in the back seat and even if we did get it back to the Bellagio it would not have been welcome in the room.

At a stop along the way where there are bathrooms I found a poster showing what kind of animals we could meet as the elevation climbed. Some we didn't really want to meet at any altitude.

The road goes ever on, climbing higher and higher as mountain roads do

Other mountains appear in the distance

From a point at about 7,000 feet we can look over to the former testing grounds for the Atomic Bombs, which had been developed at Los Alamos, near Santa Fe, New Mexico in the years leading up to August 1945.

The white stuff on the ground is snow

 This is as far as the road takes us. There is a ski resort here with a restaurant and bathrooms

No snow at this time- I think this photo was taken in October

Here are some photos that were taken in February

Although it's hardly the Swiss Alps, Mount Charleston gives visitors to Las Vegas the opportunity to get out of the desert and ski (snow permitting). For us it's just a nice scenic drive out of the city and a break from the crowds and the hotels and heat.

Before or after a visit to the top we stop at Mt. Charleston Lodge (about halfway down) where they have a decent casual restaurant (sandwiches, burgers and fries etc) and of course restrooms!

On the way back into the city on the busy highway we catch a glimpse of The Stratosphere Hotel and Casino, the tallest in the city at a height of 1149 feet, including the radio mast on top. (extreme left)

There's a well-reviewed revolving restaurant near the top and a 2,400 room hotel and casino at the bottom of the tower.

Up until 2010 there was a roller-coaster ride on the top (at the foot of the mast) but that has been removed. There is also a fun ride called X-Scream which rolls passengers along a track in an open car which stops 27 feet over the side of the building and then tilts downwards so that the terrified passengers are looking at the street over 900 feet below...(I called this a fun-ride??)

There's another "fun" ride which shoots people strapped into harnesses (good idea) up the mast to a height of 1080 feet above the street. It's called Big Shot and shoots the riders 160 feet. They experience 4G during the ride.

I've been on the roof terrace watching all of this as it is a great viewpoint to see the city at night but I am not planning to "enjoy" those rides. But you can!

A day up the mountain admiring the scenery and enjoying the cool air is more our style!