Cruising through the Southern Carribean
Caribbean trip report
Day 1
My first cruise got off to an awkward start. The ship crew could not find my reservation. After a few checks and a lot of sweating in the warm weather of Barbados, all was well and I was given my balcony cabin. I quickly went for my lunch to the buffet restaurant. There were some good pizza options(this is an Italian cruise, after all!). There were some healthy Mediterranean Options, including some good salads.
After a quick nap, I headed to the SportsBar where I was offered a rum tasting- 5 samples of rums from different Caribbean countries. It was pretty good - I think the Venezuelan and Puerto Rican ones were the best. The servers were quite friendly and chatted with me for quite a bit.
The rum tasting was followed by a French theatre show that was 35 minutes long. It was about the different clubs of Paris and had various types of performers. Including singers,dancers,acrobats, contortionists, etc. It reminded one of Cirque De Soliel.
Day 2
The next morning we had a tour of Grenada, which is famous for its invasion by the USA in 1983. The guide gave us a bit of anti-American rant, the only one of my tour. Grenada has received a lot of aid from Cuba and Venezuela. Including their hospital.
Our first stop was the police Fort. It was a bit nondescript. The next for was Fort Fredrick, which seemed to have a lot more history. There were multiple cannon replicas. We also got to see the red ackee fruit, which is used in Jamaican cooking. We also saw breadfruit - an item I have had in my home state of Kerala in India. In fact, a lot of the Caribbean would remind me of Kerala.
We ended the tour in the Coronavirus park, where we could roam without our masks. It was originally built for British sailors recovering from scurvy, smallpox, etc centuries ago. It had nice views of the sea.
Back on the ship I had gin tasting. I liked the pink gin, which had a fruity flavour. That was followed by another show, this time a tribute to Tina Turner. The same theatre group played her songs.
Gin tasting
Day 3
The next stop was in Dominica, which is not to be confused with the Dominican Republic. The highlight was a visit to a couple of waterfalls, which were on top of hills. The ride each way was over an hour.
Another highlight was their cricket stadium, which looked pretty large for an island of 72,000 persons. There was also a stop for a coconut rum punch, which tasted a lot like a piña colada. I met a couple from the UK - she was originally a Ugandan Goan and he was British. We chatted a lot about Goa! The best advice she gave me was that the cruise had relaxed its alcohol policy, and we could bring it onboard.
Back on the ship I finally realized that I could go for the classier sit-down meals. Then the food was pretty good - a carrot curry soup and roast beef. The dessert was sorbet. Before that, I had whiskey tasting, which was more up my alley. The Japanese Nikka and the Macallan were my favourites.
My fellow passengers seemed to be mostly from Europe. The Germans predominated, followed by the French. There were quite a few Brits and Italians too.
Day 4
This was a day at sea. Since it was Christmas Eve, the day was dominated by Christmas activities. We had to wear elegant clothes as per our daily itinerary. The crew put on a sweet performance for dinner. This was followed by a Christmas show by the theatre group, with all the acrobatic performances, and Christmassy songs.
This was followed by music on the top deck. A lot of Latin music was played - we are in the Caribbean after all.
Day 5
Our next port was St Kitts. We drove past their medical university, which attracts students from around the world. We also went past the Carib brewery, which is the most popular beer in the Caribbean.
Our risk stop was the Fairview House, a sugar plantation That was once owned by the great great great grandfather of Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the USA. Therefore the house was over 300 years old. The decor was impressive. The wooden commode was particularly interesting!
The next stop was the Batik workshop and store. This is one of those typical tourist traps organized tours take you through. The gardens were really nice, with a giant tree where I posed for a photo.
Baatik workshop
Our next stop was Fort Bethlem, which had been fought over by the British and the French for centuries. It was now by the Prince of Wales in 1983.
A funny discovery was that the duty-free stores at the port were dominated by Indians. They were really happy to chat with me in Hindi. Using Melba's advice from earlier, I bought some alcohol as souvenirs.
Day 6
Our Boxing Day stop was in Phillipsburg, which is on the island of St Maarten. The island has been divided between the Dutch and the French since 1648 AD. The Dutch part is a country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, whereas the French section is a part of the EU.
We went around the island in a minibus and then switched to the catamaran. One fascinating part of the island is the airport-the aircraft comes right over the beach before landing. There are also a lot of private jets on the runway. The catamaran served some good rum punch, so I had three :)
Day 7
Our next stop was the island country of St Lucia. The main highlight was their rainforest, so I took an aerial tram ride through it. It is a relaxed way to see the forest, instead of hiking 1000 feet of height. Apparently, the biggest animal is the wild boar, but because of all the noise from the tourists, including the people who are zip lining, the animals stay away. They also have the boa constrictor and I am glad that I didn't see one.
Day 8
We had looped back to the island of Barbados, which was the biggest island on this cruise. The guide mentioned that one of the greatest cricketers of all time, Sir Gary Sobers, was from Barbados. We started with a 40-minute forest walk, where our guide identified the different plants are fruits that are native to the region.
Our next destination was a former sugar plantation. This seemed to be a regular theme in the Caribbean. The house was very elegant and is now a museum for guests to see.
Our last destination was a local church. The people in the Caribbean seem to be fairly religious. Even though their populations are small, there are followers of the different Christian sects, including Anglicans, Catholics, etc. They believe that all the religions of the world are represented there!
Church Day 9
This was a day at sea. I just relaxed, got a massage, and watched the ocean.
A rich person's yacht
Day 10
This was also at sea. More relaxation for this day.
Day 11
We docked at the British Virgin Islands. The tour today involved going around the island in an open van. This set of islands is close to the American Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, an American territory. The tour ended on a beach where we would spend 2 hours. While many of my fellow tourists went to the sea, I sat in a beach bar and had a killer cocktail. It was a version of Pina Colada with nutmeg in it. Delicious! I had a Jamaican beer on the recommendation of the server, who was Jamaican.
Once we got back on the ship, we had to dress up for New Year's Eve. The main party was on the top deck with live singers and dancers. I shared a few drinks with some friends I had made on board. We partied till 4am, far longer than I expected.
Day 12
Our next island was Antigua. We drove by the Sir Viv Richards cricket stadium. He is also a cricketing superstar from the 1980s, who all his opponents feared. There were a couple of colourful churches that we passed by.
Old British naval base Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Stadium
The first main highlight was Fort James. Antigua was a major British naval base and had 40 forts. It was famous for hosting Admiral Nelson for some time. Most of the fortress walls were destroyed by an earthquake in the 1970s. It had a fabulous view of the historical naval base. This base had a narrow pass, with one Fort on either side of the pass. Any enemy ship that came through would've been trapped by chain booms that would lift between the two passes.
The next stop was the Nelsons Dockyard, where ships were repaired. This enabled the British to have naval control of the Americas. The French islands of Martinique and Guadaloupe were close by and had to be guarded against.
Day 13
This was the second stop in Phillipsburg, the city on the island of Saint Martin. I spent time with new friends who were disembarking that day. So a few summer cocktails on the deck! I then went ashore to do some duty-free alcohol shopping, which worked out well in light of the future incident.
Day 14
Another lazy day at sea. At this point, the Covid cases on board seemed to be increasing. When I went to do my PCR test, fellow passengers were complaining about how many facilities of the ship were being closed. The daily theatre show was also cancelled. It was a sign that something bad was about to happen.
Day 15
I had received instructions in my cabin on where to show up to disembark. Once we gathered up, we were told that no one was being allowed to disembark by the Barbados authorities. Initially, we thought we would eventually be allowed to leave - I had about 7 hours before my flight took off. But the hours went by.
6 hours after we gathered, a few dozen people were allowed to disembark. It was too late to catch my flight, so I had a couple of drinks with a bunch of friendly Scottish people. One of the waitresses bought me a free drink to cheer me up! Eventually, the crew member told us that we could stay in our same cabin for the night. I went straight to bed, even though it was only 8pm. It had been an exhausting day.
Day 16
After waking up early, I had breakfast and then asked for updates from the reception. There were none. I now expected we would be on board for days! SoI went to have another cocktail at the deck. While wandering around I heard an announcement with my name, so I rushed to reception. I was told that I had to take my baggage in 10 minutes and be ready -my transfer was waiting. I ran, picked up my bags and got to the transfer bus. The ship had booked a new flight for me.
It was a happy ride to the airport.
Comments
Post a Comment