View of the Mount Liamuiga volcano on the island of of St. Kitts
Kathy & I are currently “binge cruising,” having just completed the first of three cruises to the Caribbean from Fort Lauderdale. The first cruise, aboard Celebrity Equinox, was a 10-night cruise that visited St. Kitts, Grenada, Martinique, St. Lucia and Antigua. We took tours on all but Grenada, and needless to say I came back with a few photos, which I will likely not look at too much until we get home.
We embark this afternoon aboard the same ship, Celebrity Equinox, on a 9-night cruise that will visit Bonaire, Curacao, Aruba and Puerto Plata (Dominican Republic). On Saturday, February 18 we move to Celebrity Apex for a 7 night cruise to the Western Caribbean. After that we head back to Charlotte to rest and go on diets. š
I’ll have some more photos but no specific timetable to posting them. Too many things to do to spend time on the computer. Today was a good day to look at a few because we didn’t have to get off the ship! More later!
Trees at the Depaz Rhum Distillery on the Island of MartiniqueBoat on the beach in Anse La Raye on the island of St. LuciaView of Nelson’s Dockyard from The Lookout. Part of the Shirley Heights Military Complex on the island of Antigua
Oasis of the Seas and Celebrity Beyond in Saint Martin
On the island of St. Martin, it had been a few years since we took the time to visit the capital of Philipsburg, so we took the water taxi from the cruise port and spent a few hours there. While the buildings show a hint of old Dutch architecture. we find that most of the businesses are bars, jewelry stores run by non-St. Martians, and hotels. Go to the beach or shop is about it. Or take pictures. š
Riding the ferry between the cruise port and downtown Phillipsburg, Saint Martin
St. Martin is best experienced on an island tour with an experienced guide, a trip to a nice beach or a lunch at a restaurant on the French side. We have done this many times in the past and it is a much better time! We just didn’t want to do it this time.
Riding the ferry between the cruise port and downtown Phillipsburg, Saint MartinHats. Phillipsburg, Saint MartinPhillipsburg, Saint MartinPhillipsburg, Saint MartinPhillipsburg, Saint MartinPhillipsburg, Saint MartinPhillipsburg, Saint MartinPhillipsburg, Saint MartinPhillipsburg, Saint MartinPhillipsburg, Saint Martin
St. Kitts is another of those islands we’ve been to numerous times, and more often than not choose to stay on or close to the ship instead of trudging around the island with the rest of the tourists. This is another place where we got off the ship long enough to stretch our legs, visit a store we wanted to go to, and take a few photos. It’s easy to spend an hour or so then get back to the ship before all the pool chairs are claimed! š
Holland America Rotterdam and Celebrity Constellation in Basseterre, Saint KittsShades of Lieutenant Ilia (Star Trek reference)? Mannequins. Basseterre, Saint KittsShades of Lieutenant Ilia (Star Trek reference)? Mannequins. Basseterre, Saint KittsBasseterre, Saint Kitts
I find the island of St. Thomas to be one of those places that has been spoiled by its own success. That is to say, a beautiful place that has been over-populated, over-commercialized and over-developed, to the point where it is little more than a shopping place with beaches. I know that sounds mean, but like a lot of places what made it famous and desirable ain’t there any more.
Do Not Cross. Crown Bay, St Thomas
We got off the ship long enough to walk around the immediate port area long enough to stretch our legs and get a few steps. I did manage to take a few photos, which are fun but nothing especially interesting. Probably not tourist photos, at least not all of them!
Tug boat at Crown Bay, St ThomasFerry at Crown Bay, St ThomasCrown Bay, St ThomasIguana. Crown Bay, St Thomas
Big and little. Allure of the Seas and Marella Discovery docked at the Port Zante cruise terminal in Basseterre, Saint Kitts
One of the things that always amazes me about cruise ships is their size! The loop in our neighborhood that I walk around some mornings takes 5 laps to make a mile. The walking/jogging track on Allure of the Seas takes only 2.5 laps to make a mile!
Marella Discovery is what cruise ships used to look like. She was placed in service in March 1996 as Splendour of the Seas. With a capacity of 1,830 passengers, she was considered state of the art at that time.
Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas, by comparison, holds 5,402 passengers. When she was introduced in 2010 she was the largest cruise ship in the world. That title now belongs to Wonder of the Seas at 5,734. That’s a lot of peoples! š
I just posted a gallery of photos from this cruise and our recent swing through Florida at my Adobe Portfolio site.
Walking track on the promenade deck of Allure of the Seas
Kathy & I spent last week on our first cruise in nearly 2 years, aboard Royal Caribbean’s Harmony of the Seas out of Port Canaveral.Ā It felt good to get back on the water and we had a great time.
There has been a lot of sensationalistic reporting in the media about cruising, with much hype around the occasional rare but real report of some kind of outbreak.Ā Covid is only the latest hand-wringer.Ā I’ve said for years that cruise ships have been among the cleanest places we’ve visited.Ā They have always been very vigilant about cleaning in an effort to reduce the spread of all kinds of passenger-borne bugs.Ā A report of an outbreak of any kind is fresh meat for a media looking for anything to wring their hands over.Ā Yes, it happens.Ā But relax.Ā It was fun.Ā Yes, we had to take a Covid test before we left home.Ā Yes, we had to wear a mask on occasion.Ā But we have to do that at home anyway, and it was a lot warmer in Cozumel than it is back here in NC! š
We paid a visit to Kennedy Space Center before the cruise.Ā I took a few photos and will have more to share over the next few days.
Gridwork on the canopy of the Solarium area of Harmony of the Seas
I mentioned in an earlier post how we had recently had our bathrooms and bedrooms repainted, and that I had been given the “assignment” of providing prints for the walls.Ā I’ve been thinking for a few months about the proper theme and color palette for each room.Ā I’m still cogitating on the bedroom and master bath, – actually waiting for a new chair and draperies to arrive – but I finally settled on a scheme for the hall bathroom.
Grid of 8-inch Squares on a 10×28 Gallery Wrap
I’ve always tried to stay away from using other photographer’s work in my bathrooms, not being sure how that would come across. šĀ I’ll admit to previously having a John Shaw print and a Les Saucier print in our master bath, but neither of those two gentlemen are ever likely to set foot in our house, let alone the bathroom.
20×30 Canvas Float Wrap
In general, Kathy & I are going for images that capture our sense of travel, showing a sense of the places we have visited without being “literal.”Ā When we decorated our sunroom with prints from a St. Martin artist, we wanted it to “feel” tropical without sea shells and palm trees.Ā The colors and fabrics express that well.Ā For our bathroom we wanted a splash of color – ideally Caribbean-inspired.Ā I think we got there with these three selections.Ā We’ll then get to hunt for accessories to go with what we have and these prints.Ā Another reason to get back on the road again soon!
For now these are just files – my print lab starts their “sample sales” soon and I’m hoping to save a little $$$ by waiting a few weeks! š
Brilliance of the Seas docked next to Liberty of the Seas in Cozumel
We didnāt set out to book three cruises, honest!Ā It just sortaā¦happened. š
Carnival Breeze in San Juan, Puerto Rico
We had previously booked two weeks on Royal Caribbeanās (RCCL) Freedom of the Seas out of San Juan in January.Ā The ship was scheduled to go to drydock for extended renovations the week after we were due to get off.Ā But due to lots of reasons irrelevant to my post, Royal Caribbean needed to move the drydock back one week and cancelled the second of the two weeks.Ā We didnāt want to travel all the way to Puerto Rico for just a week (our preference ā lots of people do it), so we decided to cancel the first week, too.Ā We re-used the plane tickets to go to San Juan this past November instead.
Norwegian Dawn in Roatan, Honduras
Because of the cancellation of the first week, we ended up with a credit that needed to be used by February, so we found a 5-night cruise on Brilliance of the Seas, another RCCL ship sailing out of Tampa.Ā We had never sailed out of Tampa before, and figured with our credit that this would be an inexpensive way to take a short cruise and check out Tampa.
Sunrise aboard Brilliance of the Seas
Meanwhile, friends of ours had booked a Carnival cruise out of Port Canaveral for the following week and āsuggestedā that we might want to go along.Ā It doesnāt take much āsuggestionā to get us interested in a cruise!Ā So, we booked a cruise on that ship for the next week.
Aboard Brilliance of the Seas
Our son Kevin likes to cruise also, and he has been sailing with Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL).Ā He mentioned that he wanted to take a cruise in February and suggested (thereās that word again!) that it might be fun if we went together.Ā So we checked around and found a cruise on Norwegian Dawn out of Tampa.Ā But the catch was that there was a weekās gap between the two cruises, so we would need to find something to do for a week.Ā In Florida, in February?Ā Not hard to do.
Schooner Bar aboard Brilliance of the Seas
We have been working on visiting different National Parks, and had never been to The Everglades.Ā So we decided to find a place to stay in South Florida for a week, where we visited Everglades National Park, Biscayne National Park and drove through some of the Florida Keys.Ā More on those later.Ā Then we drove back to Tampa to meet our son and take the third cruise.Ā When it was all done we had logged about 3,000 car miles, who knows how many cruise miles, and about 4,000 photos!
Grand Atrium aboard Norwegian Dawn
A few thoughts:
– People ask us about the different cruise lines, and although it sounds like a cop-out, they are all good.Ā Different lines tend to cater to slightly different demographics, but things like ship size, home port and cruise length tend to make a bigger difference than the name of the cruise line.
– We tend to prefer smaller ships and this was borne out on these cruises.Ā The RCCL and NCL ships were each about the same size ā approximately 2,000 passengers, while the Carnival ship was about 4,000 passengers.
– Weāve always assumed that shorter cruises would attract more of a party crowd, but the 5-night RCCL cruise was one of the most laid-back weāve done, and seemed to have a very high number of repeat cruisers.Ā The Diamond Club, a lounge for passengers with a certain level of cruises with the line, had so many people that it overflowed into an adjacent lounge.Ā The Carnival and Norwegian cruises each had a high number of first-timers ā a very interesting contrast.
– Cruise line food is very good regardless of the line.Ā Dining choices are either fixed, with the same table and waiter at the same time each night, or flexible, where you eat where ever you want each night, but with a different waiter and different table each time.Ā We have always preferred fixed seating, as we like to establish a relationship with our waiter.Ā But one of the disadvantages of fixed seating is that a lot of the food has to be prepared at once and can sometimes be overdone.Ā Flexible seating tends to be more cook-to-order, so the food is often fresher, hotter and usually properly done.Ā This is especially important with fish!
– We really liked cruising out of Tampa and did it twice.Ā The city is nice ā much like Charlotte in terms of age and size, but on the water.Ā The port is very easy to get in and out of, and parking is a snap.
Sunrise aboard Brilliance of the Seas enroute to Tampa, Florida
Iām sure thatās more than anyone wants to read about my vacation, so Iāll leave it at that for now!
