Cruising Thru Postcards 6

It's finally time to cruise thru the postcards mailed during my last cruise. Even though the cruise took place back in late November and early December, the last of the postcards just arrived yesterday. My Lovely Teena and I set sail from Miami, FL on The Carnival Liberty for 7 days in the Western Caribbean. We flew out of Calgary on November 27 to Toronto and overnighted there. Then we flew to Miami and stayed two nights there. We did a few of the touristy things there and even managed to post a number of postcards. Have to say though, Miami is not my favourite city, if I take another cruise out of Florida, it will be from Ft. Lauderdale. The first postcard is of the ship we sailed on- the Carnival Liberty. She is 952 feet in length and takes 2974 passengers. The Liberty was to be our home for 7 days.
Here she is lit up at night.

Of course the only stamp I could come up with was the round Global Forever stamp from 2012 showing the Earth. We've all seen this one before so I won't bother with showing it here.

Then keeping up her tradition , My Lovely Teena managed to pick up a Miami card and get it in the mail to me. Again with the round Global Forever stamp. Teena's card is a view of the Miami downtown skyline at night with the bridge to the port of Miami in the foreground.

We set sail from Miami at 4:00 PM on Saturday Nov 30th, headed for Cozumel, Mexico, our first port of call.  The Carnival Liberty actually docked at the International Cruise Terminal in Puerta Maya, a short distance from downtown Cozumel. It was now 8:00 AM on Monday , December 2nd. I managed to find a number of postcards in Puerta Maya and a small selection of stamps. It was really a poor selection of both. You can see downtown Cozumel with the international pier on my card.

I posted this card on December 2nd, 2013 , but it didn't arrive in my mail box until February 5th, 2014. I always wonder where postcards linger for such long times. I used a large definitive from a set of 12 issued in 2011 to get this card home.

We departed Cozumel at 6:00 PM for Belize City, Belize, arriving there at 9:00 AM on Tuesday, December 3rd. After touring around the city, I located the local Post Office. I wanted to see if I could buy any of the Queen Elizabeth 60th Anniversary stamps form 2012. I get quite tired of the regular stamps that always seem to be offered to locals and tourists. Of course they weren't  available at the post office but the clerk said I should go over to the Philatlic Bureau. Music to my ears. Off I went and yes the stamps I wanted were available. They actually had a pretty good selection of stamps , I was allowed to look through them and I made my purchase, including a nice aviation single stamp souvenir sheet.
My postcard here is a very tranquil beach scene and a few small cabin type structures off shore on stilts.

I used a couple of the Queen's Anniversary stamps on this one. They are from a set of 6. Interesting thing about this card is I wrote it out and posted it on December 3rd, 2013 but it never received its postmark cancellation until February 5th, 2014. It arrived in my mailbox on the 15th of February. Another case of where it's been ?

Here's another card from My Lovely Teena, sent from Belize City. Her card shows St. John's, Belize City's Anglican Cathedral, built in 1812 out of bricks imported from England as ballast. Over the years it has survived many severe hurricanes.

Teena also used 3 of Queen Elizabeth's 60th Anniversary stamps, although different than the ones I used.

We sailed out of Belize City at 6:00 PM that evening. That made for an 8:00 AM arrival at Mahogany Bay, Isla Roatan, Honduras  the morning of December 4th. Spent some time on the beach in Roatan and then shopped around for some souvenirs and postcards and stamps. Purchased some cards and some nice stamps , and prepared the postcards for mailing. I posted 2 cards to myself. This first one is just a southern island scene, palm trees, beach, beach huts and calm water.

I used 2 copies of a 2005 stamp featuring Pope John Paul II. There are 2 stamps in the set.

This card was in really bad shape when it arrived, bent , scrub marks on it and a few small nicks. One of the worst I have received in a long while.


The second card from Roatan shows West Bay beach area, where the coral reef makes it a great place to snorkel. 

The stamp on this one celebrates the Centenary of the death of Honduran poet Juan Ramon Molina in 1908. Again it is 1 of 2 in a set.

We left Roatan at 3:00 PM and set sail  for Georgetown, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands. This was our second time in the Cayman Islands and again found it to be a wonderful place. Arrived Georgetown at 10:00 AM. After sightseeing and a little shopping and a dilly bar at Dairy Queen to cool down, I made my way to the post office and went directly to the Philatelic Bureau. I surveyed the available stamps and again purchased some Queen Elizabeth 60th Anniversary stamps along with a few Christmas stamps.

My first Cayman Islands postcard shows the endangered Blue Iguana, which makes its home in Cayman. Sun Bathing in the Cayman Islands, British West Indies. I wonder if he sunburns, changing from blue to red.

Of course I used a couple of the Queen E stamps I found at the Philatelic Bureau. A set of 4 were issued in 2012 and here we see 2 of them.

 

Here's the last card from the Cruise. It's a 3D card, designed by artist Guy Harvey. He currently maintains his art studio and retail store in the Cayman Islands. His love of the sea is certainly evident on this card. 

Again I used the other 2  Queen E stamps from 2012 along with 1 of a set of 4 Christmas stamps. These Christmas stamps were issued with tabs as is evident  on the one I used. 

We pulled out of Grand Cayman at 6:00 PM and headed north to Miami. After a full sea day on December 6th, we arrived back in Miami at 8:00 AM on December 7th. 

Bus to the airport, and flights back to Toronto and Calgary and we were back to -29 C .What a way to come home. All in all though , it was a wonderful little holiday. We got to see a little of Belize and Honduras, places that we hadn't been and of course the Caymans, what can I say, we love it there. 

Thanks to My Lovely Teena for a wonderful vacation and putting up with my postcard and stamps and post offices addiction .But I really don't want a cure. 

That's it for this time. Thanks for visiting, leave a comment if you have one and are inclined to.