Tag: travel

Caribbean Cruise 2024- Day 8 – St Maarten

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Today we docked at the port in the Dutch side of St Maarten. The island is split in two with one half owned by the Dutch and the other side owned by the French…they even speak their own language depending on which side you are at, although English seems to be universal reflecting the islands reliance on tourism.
After breakfast, an amusing affair which left us chuckling, we packed a beach bag and headed on out. It’s quite a walk to the water taxi. They charge $7 return fare for the ferry over to Philipsburg, the Dutch side capital. Disembarking the ferry you are swarmed upon by tour and beach touts… we bargained hard with one lady who started at $35 for 2 loungers, parasol and 5 drinks and finally agreed with $20 for 2 loungers and no drinks.
Our loungers were at the waters edge and we were quick to strip down to our swimming suits…water shoes on and in we went. It has a steep shelf with the sand shifting under your feet, so it’s not the easiest to get into …however we managed it with some decorum!!……Bliss, warm water, clear and bright blue who could ask for more…

We even managed to get out without falling and doing my usual beached whale impersonation!!
After several sunbathing then cooling off in the sea sessions we took the ferry back to the ship and had a light lunch followed by an afternoon nap.

We went up to the Photo studio at our appointed time. We were once again sat down and all yesterdays photos were shown to us. We were given choices between similar pictures. We never have individual photos but the photographer had insisted and there were some very nice ones of us both together. He had us select 20 in total. Then came the crunch ……..I did say that the photo session had been complimentary didn’t I??

ummmmm…well ….we were given a choice of either a photo album or the photos on a memory stick …. And our 20 selected photos at the discounted price would ONLY cost a $1000 on a memory stick…….well!!!!! ……They might have had to of put one of the individual photos on our coffins because we both nearly dropped dead……The photos started at the discounted price of $99 each but the more you bought the cheaper they got. So if you bought 20 they were discounted to $50 per picture. Absolutely no way …..he tried several combinations with us eventually saying that we could have an album with actual photos, plus a memory stick plus two canvasses with our 2 favourite photos on for the bargin price of $650 ….. I am not certain which bit of “ we’re not in the market for buying photos at that price and anyway how do we get the canvasses home” he didn’t understand. I was all for walking out at that point, but the COMPLIMENTARY PHOTO SESSION had been a big part of our special day… he asked what we would pay and we agreed $200 for just 2 photos on a memory stick.
I asked which part was complimentary and he said the photo session, to which I asked wasn’t that complimentary to ALL guests which he agreed it was. …….we said the letter was a scam to which he replied that Princess Shoreside gave them the names of all cruisers celebrating an anniversary or a birthday and they sent the personalised letters out to each of them. So we have been to guest relations and told them how we feel the letter scams people….it is ambiguous in the fact it leads you to believe you are being gifted a photo …in-fact nothing at all is complimentary because the photo sessions are free to everyone…..I can’t think of anywhere in the world where complimentary doesn’t mean free of charge…..it’s a bit like saying your bingo game is free but you have to pay for the prize…..So at the moment we have two lovely pictures at a huge price …but they are a memory of our special day…even though we will always think that Princess Cruises has pulled a scam on us….we will wait and see what guest relations comes back with but we’re not holding our breaths.

After our massively disappointing session in the photo studio we went for supper and enjoyed some nice seafood antipasto …Ernesto knows us well!!! …when I said that it was a much bigger portion than usual he just laughed and we knew he’d given us one and a half portions….. we both had veal escalope as our main courses and John had a soufflé whilst I had the sugar free option of a coffee moose desert. Feeling much more relaxed again we settled in Princess Live lounge for a quiz before having an early night.

Caribbean Cruise 2024 – Day 7 – Antigua

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21st November 2024….a very special day….it’s our 10th Wedding Anniversary. We had a lovely day which started with us giving each other a card and gift… John gave me a gorgeous diamond eternity ring which fits perfectly below my two other rings. I gave him an engraved tin containing cuff links with J&J on … So I went for the traditional 10th anniversary gift-tin and John went for the modern-diamond.
After breakfast before going out on the beautiful island of Antigua we decided to reflect on our 10 years of married life so we made a list, in no particular order, of all the countries we’ve visited together … England, Wales, Scotland, St Kitts & Nevis, Tortola, St Maarten, St Thomas & St John, Grand Turk, Trinidad & Tobago, Martinique, Antigua, Grenada, Dominica, St Lucia, Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Bahamas , Cayman Island, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Colombia, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, USA & Alaska, Canada, Singapore, Vietnam , Borneo, Bali, Thailand, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, India, France, Germany, Netherlands, Denmark, Poland, Estonia, Sweden, Norway, Spain, Gibraltar, Madeira, Monaco , Portugal, Vatican City, Italy, Morocco , Malta, Gozo, Gran Canaria , Lanzarote, Tenerife , Las Palmas, Cyprus, Egypt, Hungary , Croatia, Montenegro, Czech Republic, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Mozambique, Zimbabwe , Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ras Al Khaimah, Oman, Umm Al-Quwain, Fujairah, Greece… quite a list 75 countries in total.

Around mid morning we ventured out ….it had been raining but the sky showed promise of a beautiful day. Wandering up the main terminal shopping area we noticed two ladies with a tour board. We asked if they were waiting for booked customers, which they were. However it turns out the customers hadn’t turned up so they asked what we were looking for. We had already decided to go up to Shirley’s Heights and the Block house on Dow hill so we could see the magnificent sights, and a little sight seeing around the island. One of the ladies said she would take us for $40 each and we would need to pay an entrance fee of $15 each to go up to Shirley’s Heights and the block house. We agreed and off we went. Auntie P was a very knowledgable, fun loving person and we were soon installed into her very comfortable air conditioned 7 seater SUV. We then embarked on a quick tour of St Johns with Auntie P pointing out all the sights. Passing the cricket ground and the Hero’s board we headed into the countryside towards Nelson Dockyards.

As we traversed the beautiful island of Antigua Auntie P pointed out lots of the different vegetation, including coco pod, sugar apple and Ackee. The later is poisonous if eaten before it is fully mature and if it’s not cooked in the correct way. Auntie P said they eat a lot of it in Jamaica and many a wife incorrectly cooks it if she finds her husband is unfaithful …or so the stories go !!!

We enjoyed meandering through the villages. Coming across a taxi with the driver flagging Auntie P down we stopped. They had broken down and our kind driver offered the 4 French speaking Canadians from Quebec a lift to Nelson Dockyard so they could get a taxi from there back to their ship. We were pleased when they got out as they were very noisy and we couldn’t hear what Auntie P was telling us about the island. We stopped on the way to the Heritage site dockyard to take a photo of Clarence House on the opposite side of the harbour. This is where the Queen Elizabeth II had stayed. However due to the rain the photo didn’t really do the area justice. We didn’t go into the heritage site as we had done this on a previous visit to the Island. We passed by many disused windmills which would have been on sugar cane plantations in the olden days…we also experienced a variety of domestic animals roaming freely by the roadside.


When we got to Shirley’s Heights and Dows Hill we went up to The Block house first of all. This is where the soldiers monitored the southern Atlantic and Caribbean approaches to English Harbour. The remains of the ammunition store and the barracks are still clearly visible. The view is magnificent. The white building was built by Eric Clapton and is a rehabilitation centre.


After this we went up to Shirley Heights. This was first used as a lookout and a signal station since the days of the war of American independence in 1774. The sentry would spot approaching ships and use flags during the day and guns at night to spread the alarm across the country…evidently the whole island could be on alert within 10 minutes. Today it’s regarded as offering the finest view of English Harbour and the dockland. Unfortunately the rain didn’t do the views any justice in the photos.

On we continued to Curtain Bluff and Tamarind Cove before getting to Fryes Bay. Here we stopped for a complimentary drink. While people watching we saw a Monarch Butterfly which Aunty P told us were quite rare these days.

We returned to the ship past Auntie P’s house and the primary school she had attended. Auntie P was a preschool teacher and had also had her own day care centre prior to becoming a tour guide. Her love for children still means that she does occasional supply work in the local school. She was a really interesting person who shared her knowledge of the island and island life generously with us….a wonderful tour. We can recommend her to you… . You can contact her directly either by email or phone her email address is kidsplace63@hotmail.com phone number (268)770-9195

Once back on the ship we rested a little before getting ready for supper and our photo session. We were gifted a complimentary photo session by Princess Cruises so we got ready for supper early and went up to the photographic studio…. Tomorrow we’ll see what they turn out like. We had booked a table in the Crown Grill restaurant -which you pay to eat in, unlike most the restaurants on the ship which are covered within your cruise fare.
We had a lovely meal of crab cake starter, surf and turf, both the fillet and lobster were cooked to perfection, I then had sugar free ice cream and John had caramel creme brûlée. A perfect meal to end a perfect day….

Thanks to everyone for making our Anniversary an extra special day.

Caribbean Cruise 2024 – Day 6 – St Kitts & Nevis

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We both woke up early and watched from our bed, whilst drinking coffee, as we pulled alongside the pier in St Kitts…….what a decedent life style we live 🤣.
It was a grey day with the cloud hanging very low on Mount Liamuiga, there was no view across to Nevis. The extraordinary sight of a bright rainbow coming out of the bottom of the rain cloud into the sea put a smile on our faces.
Breakfast this morning consisted of yogurt and fresh berries, John followed this with a full English cooked meal, whilst I had smoked salmon with cream cheese on a toasted bagel. After breakfast we returned to the cabin and people watched ….it was windy and wet. We decided to wait a bit before going ashore and I took the chance to have an after breakfast nap……after all I’ve been up early every day 🤣🤣. I was finally ready to disembark at about mid-day. By now the sun was shinning and we walked the several thousand steps to the cruise terminal entrance. Once again we had not booked anything…we have been here 5 times before. Last time we went to Nevis by speed boat and explored the island with a Princess excursion. Prior to this we have always taken the train through the old sugar cane plantations. Princess had offered us this trip at a discounted price of $145 per person …the 3/4 hours would have cost us $290 ……it seems that the Americans and Canadians don’t think this is a lot but to us British that is a shed load of money….So we wandered down the quay and caught sight of local a tours lady…She offered us a 2.5/3 hour island tour for $25 per person …Yes Please !!! We had to wait 10 minutes so she could coerce another 3 people into doing the tour…..Castella went and got her air conditioned mini bus and off we went.

A quick drive around Basseterre, the capital, showed us a variety of sights ranging from schools and universities to churches of all denominations. We headed along the coast road passing Bloody Point, where the French and English had combined forces and massacred over 2000 Caribs. From here we went to the Old Road Rum area.


Continuing on passed one of the oldest churches and Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park.
Eventually the coast road got to where the Atlantic and Caribbean Seas meet. We stopped at a view point to take photos.


Our journey took us a little way inland and we enjoyed the beautiful street art prior to stopping at the Lava Rock.

We walked out to the viewing platform and enjoyed the spectacular jet black rock formations. These are formed by lava, from the volcano. As an aside, it’s probably important to explain that all the natural sand on St Kitts is black volcanic sand. One or two of the upmarket resorts do have yellow sand which is imported. There were a few souvenir stalls at the Black Lava Beach and I purchased a nice little leather purse for my forex and a hand painted Christmas decoration.

Our final stop was a view point over Frigate Bay, this offers splendid views of both the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.

It was a superb tour with lots of information and we saw a great deal of the island which we had never seen before. Back in the cruise terminal we stopped to buy…..yes you guessed, John a t-shirt…..they had 2 for $10, as we like a bargain it would have seemed rude to buy one so we ended up with two!!!

Back on board we changed out of our hot and sweaty clothes, the humidity had been very high, and we headed to the buffet for a light lunch and a few games of cards.
Tonight is the second evening of “The Voice of the Ocean”, auditions, which we are looking forward to hearing….don’t worry Dad I am not singing…..for those of you who don’t know me well I have a voice like a howling dog !!!! More about our evening tomorrow…Thank you for travelling along with us and thanks to those of you who have left such encouraging comments, we are glad you are enjoying our trip.

Cruising the Caribbean 2024 – Day 5 – Tortola – British Virgin Islands.

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Before I we move on to our first port day, we’d like to share the end of day 4…….It was a black tie evening, so John looked his usual handsome self in his “bib and tucker” DJ or as the Americans say in his tuxedo. I put on my newly discovered ( I can’t remember buying it and I’ve never worn it!!!) black evening dress with a beaded top along with one of my many evening over jacket…..We had decided to go to Capri Dinning room and try to get a table with Ernesto’s serving lady …but alas it was full so they took us down to Santorini Dinning room and guess what? …….we were seated in Ernesto’s area…it couldn’t have worked out better if we planned it. We both started our meal with crab cakes and followed on with roast duck, adding a pecan caramel cheese cake as dessert……it was immaculately cooked and served…now this is the standard of food we expect . If you are wondering why Johns not smiling in all the photos it’s because he is self conscious of his broken front tooth!!!!

Feeling more than satisfied with our supper we waddled along to the theatre. It filled up quickly and it was good to see at least 3 officers ensuring that people didn’t save seats etc. The show was “Spotlight Bar” . It really was of the West End, or perhaps we should say Broadway standard. Both the choreography and the vocals were superb. We delivered a standing ovation before hot footing it along to the Princess Live Lounge. One of our favourite games to watch is the “Yes No” game….it never fails to amuse us. The contestants are asked lots of chit-chat questions and they are out if they say yes or no …if they last 3 minutes they win a bottle of champagne. Two ladies managed it…it never fails to be hysterically funny…we met the nice couple we’d sat next to the previous evening at supper and they decided to play but unfortunately they weren’t called up. After this we stayed where we were and enjoyed the first audition of “The Voice of the Ocean”. 7 contestants sang….the standard was amazing, eventually we voted for a lady who had belted out “ Black Velvet” and our second vote went to another lady whose rendition of “My heart will go on” was better than the original. …….so that was the end of Day 4 …what a great day we had, had at sea.

DAY 5 – Tortola ….I’ve never visited Tortola before and it is 30 some years since John was here last.
We watched from out balcony as we approached and docked. After breakfast we made our way to the gangway and disembarked. We hadn’t really decided what to do, but thought we might hire a taxi to show us the sights of the island. The cruise terminal area is so like most of those found on Caribbean Islands…posh diamond and gold shops and expensive mass produced souvenirs. Having asked a nice local where to find a taxi we made our way as directed. Before getting to the small individual taxis we found open sided taxi buses offering 2 hour island tours for $25 per person….it was a no brainier and we hopped on to the back seat.
it was a really informative tour, with several stops for photos, toilets, shopping etc. we went through the capital, Road Town, then we stopped at various view points on the climb up to Mount Sage National park.

The tour then wound its way back down the mountain to Cane Garden Bay. This looked a beautiful resort town.

We stopped at the only remaining rum distillery on the island, before heading along to the beach area. The beach was lively with sun-loungers, parasols, people swimming and the usual beach sellers. We had 15 minutes here, in which time we managed to buy John the essential t-shirt, just another to add to his massive collection!!, and he paddled in the sea whilst taking a photo.

The tour then ended back at the Cruise ship.

Wandering through the modern terminal area we stopped to buy a Christmas decoration…..for those of you who don’t know us we have Christmas tree decorations from special places we have visited around the world …we are very global at Christmas time.

We are looking forward to another enjoyable evening …more about that tomorrow,

Caribbean Cruise 2024 – Day 3 & 4 – at Sea.

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Our first evening meal went smoothly. We tend to find that the Sail Away supper is always ok but never spectacular and our meal in Amalfi Restaurant proved our philosophy correct….

We participated in a couple of quizzes in the Princess Live Lounge and then headed for bed.
During our supper I said to John that I thought I’d seen Ernesto Constantino, our all time favourite waiter from a previous cruise on a different Princess ship. I messaged him and sure enough he was on The Enchanted Princess.
The following morning we headed for Amalfi Restaurant for breakfast and Ernesto greeted us and sat us at a window seat in his serving area. Having a great waiter makes all the difference to our cruising experience. It was good catching up with him and learning that he will be a granddaddy next year. We had a super breakfast and a good laugh…

The rest of the day we spent sat on deck playing cards….our good friends Geoff & Caz are responsible for introducing us to “Five Crowns” …a rather addictive card game…which for once I can give John some stiff competition!!!!

After taking part in “Famous places and People” Quiz…in which we came second, we changed for supper and went for our 6.30 reservation. ….Let’s put it this way ..we hope things can only get better…..we were quickly shown to a table…40 minutes later a waitress took our order, no introduction or welcome only a faint apology for the delay and a grumble from her that her new assistant didn’t know what he was doing….Order taken …..John broke a tooth on the rock hard bread rolls…. Another 40 minutes passed before the starters arrived by which time we were feeling a bit disgruntled…eventually the main courses followed on….they were so delayed I’d almost forgotten we’d had a starter…We struck up a nice conversation with the couple on the table next to us …it was their first Ocean cruise…we did reassure them that dinning was usually a far, far better experience than what we were having…let’s hope so anyway.
By the time we had eventually got through our elongated dinning experience we had missed the entertainment we had decided to go to. Instead we returned to Princess Live lounge and enjoyed a couple of unusual quiz type music and movie themed games.
Today Monday 18th November…we had a repeat of yesterday… Ernesto treated us to some extra strawberries and blueberries with our breakfast yogurt. We are trying to change our dinning reservations for the second part of the cruise, to fixed time dinning so that we can be in his restaurant and then at least we know we’ll get great service….however dinning reservations didn’t know if that was going to be possible…we’ll have to wait and see.

We did, however, manage to book into The Crown Grill for Supper on our Wedding Anniversary. We also went to the photo gallery because they have kindly gifted us a photo shoot for our anniversary and we booked it in the studio before supper on our special day. The young man was so upbeat and enthusiastic about it that we are really looking forward to it.

More cards on deck…it’s a bright blue sky and none of the grey cloud from yesterday. We decided to skip lunch and instead had a very cheeky gelato ….. it’s formal night tonight , so we need time to get into our “glad rags”…. More about that tomorrow…

In the meantime we say “cheers” to you all and thank you for joining us on our cruise.