Eighty members of our HG Travel Club recently returned to the Glen after our 11-day, 10-night Caribbean cruise. We all returned exhausted but have a boatload of memories of our trip with our friends.
Our travel agent, Omni Tours, arranged our trip so we conveniently boarded two motor coaches at the HG Clubhouse, and then traveled over to the Fort Lauderdale Cruise Port to board the Celebrity Eclipse, a 2,800-passenger cruise ship. From the Glen directly to the ship; extremely easy!
We then began the cruise with two relaxing days at sea, followed by a day in St. Thomas. And then onward to Antigua, Barbados, St. Lucia, and finally St. Kitts and Nevis. Each of the islands has its own distinct personality, and it was very interesting taking our shore excursions to explore the cultures. Shore excursions ranged from simple beach time, catamaran rides, exciting trips to the top of the island’s extinct volcano, botanical gardens, and (of course) rum tasting. But once we returned to the ship from our various shore excursions, the day was just beginning! There was a myriad of activities to participate in while on the ship, from delicious dinners at restaurants’ buffets, the main dining room, and various specialty restaurants. But finishing dinner only meant that the evening’s entertainment was just beginning…
The Main Theater presentations included a magic show, where our own Pat Crytser was the audience star of the show. She was holding in her hands a piece of white paper, which exploded into flames … and then turned into a living long-stemmed red rose! This magician was good enough to appear on the TV show America’s Got Talent! Later in the week, this same performer provided the ship passengers with a hypnosis show and some of our HG cruisers were featured in this performance.
The Main Theater also hosted music performances and Las Vegas-style dancing performers. However, there were numerous opportunities to listen to music in smaller venues, and lots of our cruisers burned off those excess dinner calories with their very active dancing away the evening in different music settings. But sometimes you just have to slow down the pace a bit. About a dozen of our HG Chorus members composed almost half of the members of the informal ship’s chorus during their presentation on the Main Staircase.
Marla Pierce was busy coordinating line dancing times and getting people together for hand, knee, and foot card games. Ginnie Varney easily corralled people in putting together jigsaw puzzles. So even though there are lots of active excursions to participate in, there are also opportunities to slow down a bit and relax.
What’s next for the Travel Club? We have a Spain, Greece, Turkey, and Italy cruise scheduled from October 18 to 28 this fall. There are almost 60 Glenners signed up for this cruise, but there is plenty of space left for those that would like to book a cabin and go with us.
Plus, we are all looking forward to our next Caribbean cruise February 28 to March 8, 2026. It’s not too early to begin making plans for this cruise next spring. Come and join us!
For more information about how to join us in our fun activities, please give me a call at (636) 541-4561 or email at [email protected]. Or call Rhonda at (314) 566-6168 or email at [email protected].
