Weeks 3 and 4 in December 2012 of my E-learning quests escaped me!

It is because of my multitasking nature that it became necessary for me to focus on my real life activities. I had to focus on passing my online Math class. That became priority numero uno (#1)! I passed thanks to a friend of my niece in Texas. He should have been the one teaching the whole class! The regular online instructor/facilitator was not into helping his students outside the online forums at all. I pledge that I will not be like this facilitator was/is!

It was also Christmastime. I had planned a Christmas to be spent like no other! I had made plans to go on a holiday cruise with my Mother, and some very good and close friends! I left my packing until the very last few days before we left. We were going to be spending 8 days at sea or docked in ports of call that were on our itinerary. We left on Sunday 12/18 and returned to the Port of Tampa on Monday, 12/26/12

Key West was our first stop; it is a very touristy place and full of shops. We were there from 8a until 3 p ET. I bought Christmas ornaments for my nieces at each stop. We ate lunch there. There were many families of roosters, chickens; and chick lings roaming the street as we ate at a table nearby.  The highlight of this stop was the Key Lime pie dipped in chocolate, on a stick! We took the trolly bus ride back to where our Carnival Legend boat was docked. See the map below to see the route we took:

All times are Eastern time.

We did not get to dock at the Grand Turk Islands as planned due to high sea waves as we neared the tendering location. We ended up having an extra leisurely fun day at sea!

We were ready to land in Ocho Rios, Jamaica where everything there seems to be looked at as "no problem"! We took a guided bus tour around the town as our bus driver and tour guide pointed out sites to look at while riding from one part of the island to the next.  We got to see homes; some were only partially built because they get built in stages. We saw many banana plantations as seen below:

We also saw the oldest church in Jamaica as well:

This was followed by a ride by the ocean where we caught a glimpse of our ship on the trip back into town to visit a local pottery shop.

I picked up some small pottery jars; one for Mom who was back on the boat waiting for me, one for my Aunt Carol; and 1 for me! Very interesting stop indeed.

We then saw an Art Museum:

From here we rode to the bottom of the Dunns Falls:

From here we went shopping at a small plaza where I bought rum (3 flavors' peach, punch; and white rum), t-shirts for Mom, David (who was in Iowa at the time); and my self. There were plenty of jewelry shops to visit and dream about!  We headed back to the ship. We had the early dinner time so we were glad to get back early enough to rest and get ready for the evening affairs! 

Goodbye, Jamaica! Hello, Grand Cayman!

This is one of many towel creations that were left for us each night when we got back from dinner!  This was left on Mom's bed the last night of the cruise!