Day 333 (Oranjestad, Aruba)
As normal the daily schedule, ‘Currents’, announced that we would arrive in Aruba at 8am, but also as usual we could actually see land well before that, so we lay in bed watching as we sailed along the coast of our first Caribbean island. The approach was not as dramatic as some of the Polynesian islands and the flatness made us wonder what they would do in the event of a tsunami.This time our port was right in the town and we could just walk through the terminal building into the town of Oranjestad, the recently renamed capital of the island. Aruba is part of the Dutch Antilles and there are reminders of this throughout the town. When we planned our route for a wander over breakfast, we had decided to see Queen Wilhelmina Park and the Juliana school (of course). The currency is the Aruban Florin with a picture of Beatrix on it. They haven’t yet got coins with the newly anointed King of The Netherlands on them but I bet there was a huge celebration when he took over recently.
I have to say that our first impressions of the town were not great. It is a shopping centre with expensive malls on one side – Cartier, Louis Vitton and Gucci – and little shacks selling the same old tourist tat that we have seen elsewhere on the other side of the road. Shopping wasn’t what we wanted to be doing – [although it never ceases to amaze me how many pieces of jewellery some women need to have bought for them by willing husbands; there are women on this ship who have had new bits of jewellery bought for them at every port of call between Tahiti and here, who don’t even walk 100 metres from the ship before they are in a jewellery shop] – anyway, we continued with our plan and saw a very small little park with a statue of the Queen, the Juliana school at the end of Juliana Street and then just about managed to find the rather small fort, the oldest building on the island, built in 1796 with a rather disappointing tower. Certainly nothing like the grand San Felipe fort in Cartagena.
While we were catching up, little charter fishing boats were returning to port with their catch and the day fishers they had taken out earlier that morning. We watched as at least two boats off-loaded young men with their proud catches of tuna and other large fish we couldn’t recognize. They all got off to have their pictures taken with the catch and then on a table just on the port side the fish were gutted and fileted – a pretty big job, but done with amazing skill and speed by the skippers of the boats. Some of the passengers got to take home their catch while the bigger tuna were taken off to the local market. I did think that one of them was bought by an Oceania chef – we are often offered a Special made with local fish in the restaurants on board after we have been in a port, but this evening we had room service so we never got to find out.
Having done all the internet jobs, we returned to the ship to have cool showers – being back in equatorial regions the humidity is very high and we both suffer. Then we spent a happy couple of hours reading. We had decided to have room service this evening so that we could watch a film that we had been wanting to see for a long while, but had not managed to catch yet, and so that we could drink a bottle of wine we had been given without having to pay a $25 corkage charge if we had taken it into the restaurant with us. Nice bottle of wine, good film and ok food.
Day 334 (cruising to Grenada)
Turns out that it’s quite a long way from the Dutch Antilles (off the coast of Venezuela) to the next group of Caribbean islands, some 480 miles, which meant another sea day, and off course at this stage in the cruise, another lifeboat drill: our seventh. We are now more expert than some of the crew, and we can certainly see the difference between previous cruise directors and current ones (bring back Dottie and JR, Roy and Margaret just don’t hack it.) As normal, several of the puppets ignored the instructions and did the exact opposite. I don’t have much hope of our chances in a real emergency so just have to hope nothing untoward ever happens.Trying to find somewhere to sit out of the sun to write blogs and read Kindles proved difficult. Our once secret quiet spot, the Barista coffee lounge, is now heaving with all kinds of people since Roy ‘outed’ it as a quiet spot, so now it is noisy and busy, but it was where we eventually ended up when seats finally became available.
It is quite funny how different areas are popular on different parts of the cruise and how the nature of the people can be quite different as well. Most people on board are only doing a short section – there are five of these that make up the whole trip we are doing. There are some people who are doing a longer section, and as Nick has mentioned before there are another two couples who are doing what we are doing all the way from Sydney to Southampton. But normally groups of people come and go. The first lot of people from Sydney to Papeete were very nice and we talked to lots of them.
Everyone seemed to be excited about their trip, and although there were lots of very elderly and some infirm passengers, it was a nice crowd.
Totally unlike the second group however. This section of the trip was just ten days from Tahiti to Tahiti, around the islands, and it attracted much more of a ‘party crowd’. These people would shout at each other along the corridors, talk loudly outside your cabin door late at night and in fact were particularly rude, (Nick’s run in with the impatient and drunk Frenchman was an example, but the ship had to put people off in Bora Bora who spat – yes, spat – at a crew member.) We were glad when that group left.
The third cruise crossed from Tahiti to Pitcairn and Easter Island before arriving at the South American coast and the people who joined this section were more interested in the travelling and the places than the partying and the nightlife. This was when it was easier to get into the gym as there were fewer fitness fanatics sweating and puffing ostentatiously through their regimes. Quite a lot of this group are staying on board until New York, including one couple who are doing the Grand Voyage – Tahiti to Southampton – because it is 54 days and this year is their 54th Wedding Anniversary. How brilliant.
The current bunch seem very interested in sunbathing, on their way to New York, many of them travelling through the Caribbean for the umpteenth time, and many of them travelling with Oceania for the umpteenth time too. When they got on board they greeted the crew as old friends, recognising people who had served them before on previous trips. The Oceania Club Cocktail party will be interesting this time, as many of them will be being awarded their Gold and Platinum, and even their Diamond, pins based on the huge number of trips they have taken with the company. Some of them almost live on board. However this group are above instructions and feel they can do whatever they like – ship’s rules and customs don’t apply to them. You might know the person who has just opened the door for you, but you don’t have to thank them.
It remains to be seen what the group who join in New York will be like. Watch this space.
Days 335-339 (Grenada, St. Lucia, Barbados, St. Barts, Puerto Rico)
In an attempt to prevent ourselves getting too hot, we thought it might be a good idea to get up early and leave to see St George’s as soon as we could get off the boat, so following the announcement that we had been cleared to go ashore, we went. Still super hot.The town of St George’s on Grenada was devastated by Hurricane Ivan in 2004 and now it is a mix of restored buildings and ones that have still to raise the money to rebuild. Our first port of call was the cathedral. At the top of a steep hill, it overlooks all of the town and it was obviously important to restore this building quickly. This has been done and now it hosts services for the Catholic population but also for the Protestants on special occasions, because just down the road, the Protestant church is still awaiting the $700,000 dollars needed to repair it.
As we looked around what is left of the Protestant church, the caretaker, Chris, appeared from a side chapel to tell us about the building. The side chapel was the only bit that had any kind of a roof and he explained that everyday there are still services held in that little section. There is still a very active Mother’s Union and other church groups meet regularly, but the main body of the church is getting worse and worse as the weather is not being held at bay. The old Victorian tiles, some of which have been lifted and stored, stand no chance in the tropical humidity and rain storms.
What stood out for me was that the church was on top of the hill, solidly built, and in other places we have visited that would have made it the place of safety, where everyone would have gone to in an emergency, like a storm. But the storm had been so ferocious that even this safe place was destroyed. What chance less well built homes?
Likewise the Parliament building and courts stood empty and destroyed, with locked gates. No longer the Members Entrance. The Parliament has been rebuilt on the Carenage Harbour, and who knows what will happen to the empty old building. There doesn’t seem to be any money around to do anything.
We strolled down into the market place where fruit and vegetables were being sold next to the spices for which the island is famous – nutmeg, mace and vanilla, as well as cinnamon and others. It was like all the other markets we have been to, hectic and busy and noisy and colourful but never before have I been called to, ‘Hey, Sexy Lady’!
We continued our walk around the town by crossing over to the harbour of Carenage. This used to be where all the ships docked before the storm but now they dock elsewhere and the bay has returned to being a pretty horseshoe, with bars and shops all around the edges. The boats that are still here, are much smaller than ours, probably going from island to island. A couple of them didn’t look in the best of condition, but they were still loading up with various things – wood, slabs of soft drinks, people. Next to them were a couple of party boats. We saw one of these being loaded with the biggest sound system you have ever seen. That one would probably be heard in neighbouring islands with no trouble.
Nick decided that he wanted to return to the ship, while I went up to visit Fort George, up on the hillside overlooking the port and town. This is one of a series of forts on the surrounding hilltops which would have protected the island from attack. Now this one houses the Police force and their training base.
Back at the ship we had quick showers before getting ready to go to our third Captain’s party for Oceania Club members (free drinks ….). But our hectic social life meant that we only had time for one glass of champagne before we had to leave. We had been invited by the German couple, Georg and Barbara, to have a sun downer in their cabin before having dinner together. It was great to see how the other half live – they have a Penthouse suite with a walk in wardrobe, space for tables and chairs, and a butler!
We had a jolly evening together with lots of stories told and lots of laughing done – always a nice way to spend time – and even though we went in to dinner early, we were still amongst the last to leave the dining room.
***
Georg and Barbara had asked us if we would like to share the cost of a rental car with them so that we could see a bit more of the island of St Lucia and we readily agreed. In order to make the most of it we decided to meet at 8am, which meant that Nick had to get up super early to do his run. This was run three of week six: twenty five minutes of solid running, plus the five minute warm up and warm down walks. At the end of the podcast, Laura, the voice of the podcasts, said ‘Now you’re a runner.’ Brilliant. Nick came back pleased with how he had done. Still three more weeks of podcasts to go but he is already doing the 5kms distance.
We met up with Georg and Barbara, and got a car which Georg was happy to drive, even though St Lucia drives on the left, as we had to remind him every now and again, and we started off towards Soufriere, about 40 kms south. It was the most amazing drive up and over the mountainous landscape, with hairpin bends and fantastic views around every corner. We stopped often to take pictures at viewpoints. At each stop vendors were touting their wares, knowing that the tourists would be stopping to see the view. At one spot, the first viewpoint for the Pitons – two mountains formed after a volcanic explosion, for which St Lucia is famous – both Barbara and I succumbed and bought brightly coloured necklaces made from coconut. Along the way we stopped off at Maingot Cove, which is the beach where some of the original film of ‘Doctor Dolittle’ with Rex Harrison, was made. If you remember it, it was when the giant sea snail came to rescue them and take them back to old England. There is a hotel and restaurant there now called ‘Dolittles’.
Once we got to Soufriere, we parked and looked around the town. It used to be the capital of the island and still has some historic buildings, but mainly it was market day and the streets were packed with fruit and vegetable sellers. Outside the church we were told about the Drive-In Volcano, which we thought we would have to go and see. So back to the car and off we went, using Georg’s iPad for directions – the wonders of technology.
The volcano is one of a chain of volcanoes through the Caribbean. This one last erupted some 200 years ago and what remains is thermal activity and sulphur pools on the surface, while two miles below ground the lava still flows apparently, although we only saw what was happening above ground. It was a pretty smelly trip, given the sulphur, but we learnt from a guide that the smell is a good thing. If an eruption is imminent, the smell disappears, birds leave and trees start to die. So that’s the time to move away, quickly. There were hot springs here that we could have bathed in but we all decided not to!
As we returned down the hill we saw a sign to a resort between the Pitons, where we thought we might get a cup of coffee. We followed the long and twisting route to, what turned out to be a hidden paradise. One of those locations that you imagine film stars stay at –private beach, huge pool, bungalows onto the white sand. Much too expensive for us, but having driven all the way to it, we decided to take a look anyway and ended up having a wonderful lunch in the beachside restaurant which didn’t quite break the budget.
With all the twists and turns in the road, we were about an hour and a half away from the ship, so it was time to return. Georg heroically drove us back and nearly always stayed on the left hand side of the road! We had one last stop to look down on the capital, Castries, and our ship, from just in front of the Governor’s residence, where we met another vendor, who told Nick that when he sees the Governor, he calls her Mum. She is well loved here. We returned the car, and just about had time for a local beer, Piton, before we had to board the ship. A brilliant day out, and a fraction of what we would have been charged if we had done the ship’s tour.
We hope to be able to do another trip or two with Georg and Barbara before we all disembark in Southampton.
***
We both slept marvellously after our busy day, and woke up to find that we were already docked in the harbour at Bridgetown, Barbados. Our plan for the day had been that we would go out to a beach and have our first swim in the Caribbean sea, but the view from the top of the ship, where we had gone for a cup of tea, was really disappointing.
You have this romantic notion that arriving in places by boat is the best way to arrive, right into the heart of the town. But, unfortunately, the view that greeted us was another container port. Also, it was Sunday, which meant that everything was closed. Suffice to say, we couldn’t quite summon the same enthusiasm that we had had for Grenada and St Lucia. We decided to have a leisurely breakfast in the Grand Dining Room and reassess the plan.
Feeling revived, we thought that we would have a Sunday stroll, the mile or so into the city to see what we could see. Much to the disgust of the taxi drivers, we walked past them all and took the coast path into Bridgetown. We hadn’t realised previously that the centre was another UNESCO protected site. Still there are the old town hall, the Parliament buildings and St Michael’s cathedral and some other old churches, so in fact our stroll turned out well, despite a heavy downpour in the middle, during which we chatted to a couple of other people sheltering where we were. Turned out that one of them was a huge Tottenham fan and we parted blood brothers (or blood brother and sister, with Nick as part of the gang because I was now' ‘blood’.) At the cathedral, there was a service taking place so we couldn’t go in, but we stood outside to listen to the choir and priest singing the responses, then a song by the choir, which was lovely, all while the ladies inside fanned themselves to keep cool.
We strolled the path back and watched a sailing race out in the bay, and decided that it was nicer than the arrival had led us to believe. We left early (at 4pm) so that we could get a start on the long journey to St Bart’s. We won’t arrive there until midday tomorrow and it is a tender port so it will be a short time to explore. Looks like it will be there that we finally do our swimming.
***
Nick decided to get up a bit later for his run this morning as we were not scheduled to arrive in St Bart’s until midday. When he got up we were just passing St Kitt’s and Nevis, so he got to do his run watching them from the gym. I had a brief lie in until the phone rang with a lunch invitation for us to join two of the other passengers who have been on board since Sydney. Stefan and Amanda have been doing the same trip as us, with ten days off in Tahiti, where they stayed on the island and rejoined the ship for the Pacific crossing. They have also been travelling around the world without flying for about a year now, and we have been intrigued to find out about their trip and route. Now we will be able to do that.
The invitation is for Privee, the tiny private and exclusive restaurant on board which holds up to ten people. Very exciting. More to follow on this as it is on one of the sea days on the way to Charleston. I ended up acting as social organiser for a while, as in order to attend this supper, I had to cancel a reservation we already had in the Polo Grill, which allowed me to make a new reservation for four so that we can meet up with Barbara and Georg again. So this involved a series of phone calls and checking with the concierge whether we could have the dates ….we are living in a hectic social whirl! We have also been invited to lunch on one of the sea days in Jacques. This is for all the people who are doing the Grand Voyage – 22 couples apparently. So much for not eating as much!
Because of the late arrival in St Bart’s, the dining room was holding a Brunch buffet, so we had brunch there. This is always a lovely occasion with all kinds of buffet stalls set out in the centre of the restaurant, as well as the a la carte breakfast menu. Hard work for the staff though who have to rearrange the whole restaurant then put it all back again.
We arrived early in St Bart’s. Not a surprise really as we had been doing top speed since we left Bridgetown. (Top speed is 20 knots.) So once the tenders were down, we made our way to collect tickets and sat waiting for our tender in the Marina Lounge. This was the first tender ride of this part of the cruise so all new for some people. Meanwhile we are old hands at tendering now and know exactly where to sit to get some air and to be able to get off reasonably quickly. It was a 15 minute trip into the horseshoe harbour of Gustavia and we were soon standing on the quayside looking at the collection of expensive shops – Hermes, Cartier, Ralph Lauren etc etc – all of which were shut. Today was a church holiday, Pentecost, so no shopping. Shame, I needed another diamond or two.
Instead, we strolled gently through the little town and looked at the pretty buildings in their pastel shades, some showing the French influence on the island, others the Swedish one, with street names in both languages. We saw the Swedish Bell tower, the oldest building on the island which no longer has a bell but a clock.
After a short walk we arrived at the beach, along with quite a number of our fellow passengers. We walked along the sand a bit to find a spot that didn’t have too many Oceania blue towels and settled down. It was quite an achievement to persuade Nick to come for a couple of hours on the beach, but I think he quite enjoyed it. We both bobbed around a bit, then I did a bit more snorkelling. It wasn’t an amazing place for snorkelling but I did see a puffer fish, some stripey black and yellow fish and a whole school of about 30 vividly purple/blue fish, which I followed for quite while. This might have been the last lot of swimming for this trip, and it was the first time in the Caribbean, so it was good to make the most of it. The beach was called Shell Beach and, true to its name, there were millions of shells on it. We collected a few to add to my collection which is now on the desk beside me as I am writing. Might even try to make a Polynesian style necklace with some.
After a couple of hours we thought it was time to get out of the sun. We had dried enough to put clothes back on and wander back to the tender. Once back on board, however, I managed to persuade Nick to more water activity and he agreed to come and join me in the jacuzzi on the pool deck. It might have been the suggestion of a tropical cocktail that did it, but we stayed in for a while and he admitted that he felt quite relaxed when he got out! After a shower, we went for afternoon tea and then back to watch the sunset with a gin and tonic, as we set sail for Puerto Rico and the city of San Juan. This will be the first American soil and before we can land we have to have a face to face with the immigration officials who will be on board tomorrow morning. Early start then.
***
We set the alarm for 7am and had both showered by the time our room service breakfast arrived. We had already docked and the customs and immigration officials had come on board to set up their base in the Horizons bar. Shortly after 8am the first group were called, then every 15 minutes passengers were called by deck. It was a pretty quick process - short queue, passports returned to us (we hadn’t had them since Tahiti), then a brief face-to-face with an immigration officer, who stamped our passports and then we were free to visit American soil. A quick check of the pages of our passport revealed stamps from Chile (from Easter Island) and Peru, but nothing from Equador or Columbia. Pity.
The weather didn’t look too promising so we took a brolly and poncho rather than sunglasses and hats. Wrong call. It turned out to be a very warm day and the sun was soon out. The ship had docked right in the heart of the old town of San Juan – this time a properly romantic spot. No containers in sight. We could just walk straight off and into the heart of the walled city.
Puerto Rico (rich port) is in a particularly advantageous position half way between Europe and the New World. ‘Discovered’ by Christopher Columbus on his second voyage in 1493, it was the first island that ships came to where they could get fresh water, shelter and supplies. It became the key to control of the New World and whoever held the island could control the gold, silver, gems and spices of the Americas and Caribbean. Spain fought off various raids - three by the British, (including Francis Drake), and by the Dutch, to keep control until the Spanish American War of 1898 when Puerto Rico became American territory. Huge sums of money were spent by Spain in building the defences which include two forts and a city wall, nearly all of which remain intact to this day.
We walked first along the city wall to a gate which led us to the park in front of El Morro fort on the headland. The park is famous for people flying their kites here and today it was full of all kinds of kites. Unfortunately we hadn’t brought Pig Cam or my little kite with us. It would have been a good day to try them out as it was pretty windy – the Trade Winds, apparently, which brought the ships across the Atlantic. We paid entry to the fort, which is maintained by the American National park system, and spent time going to all six levels of this massive place. It was even used in the Second World War as a strategic stronghold.
When we left we made our way into the small streets of the town to visit the Cathedral. This is the second oldest cathedral in the Western hemisphere, but was surprisingly small, we thought. Not as grand and intricate as the cathedrals of Europe.
We continued on through more streets with their brightly painted buildings and iron work balconies and lots of cars. (Cars, cars everywhere but all of them stop and let you cross the road, most unusual.) Eventually we arrived at the second of the forts, San Christobel, which was the land defence for the city. In front of the fort is a plaza with a statue of Columbus. Today it had an artisan market as there were two cruise ships in town.
We started on our return journey to the ship via several more little streets and squares, stopping only for Nick to buy a pair of sunglasses. He has been without them for a week or so, when the magnet which holds the sunnies onto his normal glasses annoyingly fell out. He was pleased with his $5 pair, which should see him through. My purchase for the day was a new flash drive memory stick for photos – number 16 – well they are backing up some 25,000 pictures. That’s going to take some work when we get home!
We ended the day with Georg and Barbara. We had a table for four in the Polo Grill and enjoyed another very jolly evening catching up with details of their days out and filling them in on ours. They did a great tour in Barbados called Turtles and Shipwrecks, where they went snorkelling with turtles – not at all jealous! Once again we were about the last to leave the restaurant, but it was a lovely evening.
Days 340 & 341 (cruising towards the United States)
After five days of early starts we took advantage of our first of two sea days to have a lie in. We got up pretty late and began the first meal in what turned out to be two days of eating. After our late breakfast, we came back to the room where Nick read and I did the crossword before having a haircut. Nick did his run later in the day, and we spent the afternoon in our cabin reading and doing the cross word.
At tea time, we went upstairs to the Gala Tea time, where we ate beautifully made sandwiches and perfect cakes and pastries, while drinking two pots of tea. I really enjoy the ship’s teatimes and have posted photos of past events already.
The main event of the day was our invitation to Privee. So we dressed for dinner and went along thinking that we might have an evening talking about travelling around the world with no flying, which is what Stefan and Amanda have also been doing. Suffice to say, that’s not how the evening panned out. Along with the other guests – Graham Dennison (the artist on board) and his wife, Shuna; a German couple, Rosita and Herbert; Gordon and his partner Andrew, an English couple who have lived in California for donkey’s years; and Franklin, a South African now living in the US, who came on board the day before and is the artists representative – we had a scream. But what happens in Privee, stays in Privee so I am unable to tell you what went on (and we have to hope that the waiting staff follow that maxim as well otherwise we could be notorious across the whole of the ship, and we have another section of cruise to go, while Amanda and Stefan are getting off in New York!)
We got to bed late and somewhat intoxicated.
***
On the basis that there is no rest for the wicked, the eating was to continue on the second sea day. This was when we had our invitation for lunch in Jacques. This invitation had come from the General manager, Damien Lacroix, and was for all the people doing the Grand Voyage, from Tahiti to New York, and beyond. Not all of the couples have been on board as long as we have. There are only three couples who boarded in Sydney and are going to Southampton. Apart from us, one of them is Georg and Barbara, and this lunchtime we happened to be seated at a table with the other couple, who came from Australia, not Canada, as we had thought.
When we got to Jacques there was a seating plan and we weren’t able to sit with Georg and Barbara. They were on a table with some other German guests. Our table was the Australian couple and an American couple, Peter and Nancy, who we had bumped into a couple of times but hadn’t really talked to. Each table had a member of staff, and we were lucky enough to be sitting with Damien. There was a one-off menu that had been created especially for the meal and wine was served.
It was another lovely occasion and again fascinating to hear people’s stories. Peter, the American, had served 31 years in the Chicago police force, 28 of them in homicide (already an interesting enough story) but he then retired from the force and started a business with a friend. After a few years the friend sold him the business, just at the point when the industry went crazy – and the industry was what, I hear you ask – oil! He now owns 90 oil wells and is a multi millionaire, with houses all over the US, time to take cruising holidays, but not yet retired as he loves what he does. We have an invitation to stay should we find ourselves in Illinois when we one day do our American tour.
Also, having Damien on the table meant that when we asked about having a tour of the bridge, he said he would arrange it himself, although I won’t get to drive as they will do the tour when we are in port sometime. It always pays to ask though!! Watch this space.
At the end of the meal we caught up with Georg and Barbara and made a plan to take a walking tour in Charleston in the morning, but that will all be part of the next section of blog, when Nick will be back and writing. We came back to the cabin and settled down to watch ‘The Motorcycle Diaries’, about Che Guevara, and to blog and read before it was time for one last meal of these food filled two days. I’ll start the diet eventually.
Next stop: Charleston, SC in the good old U S of A and the start of our next leg on our fifth continent.
Y'all come back now, ya hear?
Jx
[Click here for more photos from the Caribbean Sea.]
