Southern Caribbean Cruise Vacation

The vacation that we were extremely longing for, especially because it was an escape route to run away from the terrible winters in England. Even the thought of 25-30 degree Celsius was bringing a rush of adrenaline, while we were in London at a temperature of minus 5 degree Celsius. Ahhhhhh!!!!! Finally we were all set to explore southern Caribbean.

Our vacation began on Saturday 16/01/10. We boarded the continental airlines flight at London Heathrow airport in the afternoon. As there are no direct flights to Puerto Rico, we had to connect another continental flight at Newark liberty international airport in New Jersey. Our boarding and everything else went alright. The food on the flight was miserable and very little considering our never ending appetite; 1st for lunch they gave us exactly 4 spoons of fried rice, with some gravy, where all vegetable were mixed in it... you can imagine how much I must have loved it....salad was there too (but it was just lettuce). All in all lunch was not a big treat. I watched 2 movies: Ratatouille and Motherhood.

When we were landing we were flying alongside east coast of Canada and US...Canada looked amazing, every river and lake was frozen.. While landing at Newark, I saw statue of liberty, Manhattan, Empire state building and Brooklyn Bridge. Satyam has now told me ' Veda, Newyork palaun zale tuzhe.. We are not coming back here!!' hehheh!! We had to spend some time on the airport so I had some fried rice with spicy chicken; it was a 'Chinese wok' restaurant and I enjoyed it!!!!! The next connecting fight to San Juan was of 4 hours duration and all I did was tried sleeping. In the fligh, they served a hot dog which we could not eat and there it was left to us to eat lettuce again but there were carrots too this time!.. That’s all! I patted my back ...Thank god I had relished fried rice and chicken earlier.........poor Satyam!!! Salad se kaam chalana pada!!! The total duration for the 2 flights including a 2 and half hour wait in Newark amounted to 14 and half hours. This was our longest flight journey ever!

Finally we are in San Juan.

We reached San Juan (Puerto Rico) the same night at around 11.30 PM local time. I felt as if I have been picked from a freezer and but on to a baking tray in oven !!!!!!!!! hahah! Luckily, we had booked a hotel which was literally 1 minute walk from the airport terminal. We were happy to avoid a taxi ride to downtown in the middle of the night. We had a pleasant sleep. In the morning we had a massive breakfast and undoubtedly Satyam finally feasted...3 eggs, 4 bread with butter ,cheese and jam, bowl of cereals, cake, oranges, coffee and juice........hehehhhehheh! I had a lot too; 3 bread, cake, bowl of cereals and coffee. We were now thinking of how to kill time in the hotel as the cruise boarding starts at 2.30 PM. Luckily we met a family who had completed their cruise. They told us that we could drop our baggage in the morning and utilise the time seeing Old San Juan.

We checked out of the hotel at 11 am on 17/01/10, took a taxi ride to the cruise terminal (25 minutes). When I looked at the ship, my jaws literally drooped open….Ah! it was gigantic. Luckily the cruise had started boarding early. We went through the check-in formalities (a photograph, passport check, baggage drop-in and security check).The check-in was very smooth and within 30 minutes we had our ‘sail and sign card’ with us and we were on the ship! We had a quick lunch on the lido deck (Deck 9). By 2 PM, we were out of the ship as the rooms were not ready.


We used the afternoon to visit the grand Spanish fort ‘El Moro’ at Old San Juan. We were thinking of using the trolley bus from the ship pier to go to the fort, but looking at the traffic, we decided to walk. It was a nice walk along the coast. There was hustle and bustle on the streets. Many local vendors were selling local items and the locals were dancing on the streets. Finally we reached El Moro after an hour of wandering around. El Moro is a magnificent fort with the ocean on three sides. It is built on 8 levels. It provides splendid views of the ocean and Old San Juan.


We then wandered around the streets of Old San Juan. We witnessed a local roadside music concert (everything was sung in Spanish… gave a real feeling of a carnival). It started raining at that point of time, but the spirit of the audience did not move. All had their umbrellas up and the dance and chorus singing continued. I thought to myself...true fans and true music lovers!! We also viewed the Fort of San Cristobal although we did not have time to enter it. We then headed straight to our ship.


The ship and our room


Since it was our first cruise, we had nothing to compare this grand ‘Carnival Victory’ ship! We were extremely fascinated as soon as we were on it. The ship has 11decks and several viewing spots. It reminded us of the Titanic. There are ample facilities on the ship like swimming pools, spa, lounges, conference rooms, bars, casino, food courts, dining rooms and entertainment lounges. It accommodates 3700 passengers and 1100 crew members. Our cruise had 3200 passengers and 1100 crew members. We had booked a room with balcony. The views from our balcony on deck 6 were awesome. The room was spacious and clean. The room was cleaned at least 3 times a day (amazingly strange) but I was too happy about that fact. You just enter the room and it was sparkling clean, no matter how much dirty you make it before you leave the room. Wow!

Food on the ship


We had our fist dinner on the self-catered lido deck. The quality of food was good and there was definitely enough to choose from. There is a 24 hour pizzeria and ice cream counter. There is a choice of Eastern, oriental, Asian, Italian and American cuisine to choose from. There is coffee, tea and lemonade 24 hours. Soft drinks and liquor have to be purchased and can increase the bill considerably. There is also an option of buying special food like branded pizzas and starbucks coffee. Every night for dinner, we went to the main dining hall. The menu changed everyday. We had Western food the first three days. It was really hard for us to enjoy too much of that. I wonder how someone can enjoy boiled potato, broccoli or just boiled fish/chicken as dinner. There was lobster on one of the days. Since we are Goans, we choose Indian menu for the final 3 days. We were served by some jolly good waiters. They even sang and danced for us. Everyone wears formal attire on 2 of the 6 dinner nights. We met a few Goan crew members and we developed friendship with a young Goan waiter Seville. He was very nice and provided us an excellent service during breakfast and dinner.

Activities on the ship


Since the cruise had a packed itinerary with a port of call everyday, we ended up not using any of the daytime facilities on the ship as we utilised every minute of the time on the islands when the ship docked on the ports. However, the ship has swimming pools, spa, ongoing movies on big screens, kids’ pools, bingo, entertainment programmes, etc. We tried our best to attend the ‘Main show’ every night after dinner. The show was different everyday and consisted mostly of dancing, cabaret, magic show and entertainment shows. There were spot prizes from time to time and to my luck I won a small gold bracelet. Parallel shows continued on various decks of the ship. Every night there was a disco. Surprisingly, there were people teaching you hip-hop dance, salsa dance, etc. If you like singing, there would be a karaoke every night. There were people singing and playing the piano on different sections of the ship. Last, but not the least, if you have enough money to blow, there is a moderately large casino on the ship. The jet lag and tiredness following daytime excursions left us too tired to keep ourselves awake to enjoy all the entertainment on the ship.

Ports of Call

The ship started sailing at the scheduled time of 10 PM on 17/01/10. The reason we chose this ship was because of the ports of call. Everyday, we had a different island/country to explore and we were not disappointed.

Charlotte Amalie (St Thomas, USVI)

Our first port of call was St.Thomas. The ship docked at Charlotte Amalie on the island of St Thomas at 7 am on 18/01/10. We had a pre-booked island tour with Godfrey tours. After breakfast on the cruise, we met Godfrey just outside the ship at around 9.15 am.


We sat in his open air safari vehicle and he first took us to downtown Charlotte Amalie. Here we wandered around for a few minutes and then took the Blackbeard’s castle tour. The tour comprises of a visit to Pirate Blackbeard’s castle, some of the ancient Danish houses and the Amber museum with amber waterfall with loads of information about the history of the island. At around 12 PM, Godfrey picked us up and took us for an Island tour. Godfrey knows his stuff and he gave sufficient information about the island. We stopped at several points for photos (Drake’s seat, paradise point, Mountain look out point, etc).



We then went to the ‘St Peter Great house’ and saw the ancient architecture and forest trails. From here we had a magnificent view of the Megan’s bay beach (heart shaped beach). We could also see most of the British and US Virgin islands from here.


At around 2 pm Godfrey dropped us at Coki beach after a quick visit to Megan’s beach. We went to the Coral Sea world to see real life corals in the ocean. They have built tunnels underwater; one can go there and see, what the underwater world looks like without swimming. As I was entering the place, I couldn’t help myself from screaming aloud and disturbing the tranquillity of the place… There was an Iguana near my feet. I just had a wide look around, and it looked like all the iguanas in the country had come to party in the ‘Coral world’.Oh my God! But then I realised that just how squirrels in England and dogs in Goa are seen everywhere, iguana's are plenty in St.Thomas.


We also witnessed turtle and sting ray feeding. We spent around 75 minutes here and used the remaining 45 minutes we had to relax and swim at Coki beach. Coki beach is amazing. It’s like a swimming pool with clear water. Unfortunately we did not have time and equipments to snorkel. So all we did was enjoyed the clear water and the music that was being played on the beach. Godfrey picked us up at 4 PM and we headed back to the ship passing through local villages.


Roseau (Dominica)



Roseau was our second port. We arrived in Roseau at 10 AM on Tuesday 19/01/10. We had pre-booked a tour with Levi Baron from Bumpiing Tours. Levi met us at 10.20 am outside the port and we were seated in our respective vans. Our driver was George and the tour guide was Vivian. We were 8 of us in the comfortable air conditioned van.

I must credit the drivers for their driving as the roads are awful. The terrain is hilly and bumpy. But Dominica is a beautiful unspoilt island. It lacks infrastructure and that’s the beauty of it. Our 6 hour long tour started with a drive to Ti Tou Gorge. We were told that some scenes from pirates of the Caribbean were shot here. Ti tou Gorge is a wonderful cove. 'We need to swim in cold waters inside a cave and then we arrive at a waterfall' that’s what Vivian told us. When I stepped in the water, it was not just cold, it was freezing! Never in my life have I ever drank such cold water..how could I swim??? With great courage I dipped myself, but I was finding it too difficult to swim in that water and enter the dark tunnel. I backed out and din’t go any further. Satyam did go across in the cove and he did have a great experience!


Our next stop was Trafalgar falls via the village of Laudat. These are twin falls. It is very scenic and the funniest thing was the difference in temperatures of the water. Although the falls are around 20 metres apart and can be captured in a single photo, one falls is fed by hot water spring while the other is fed by a cold water river! We had an opportunity to paddle around in the hot water pool below the falls. We went near the hot water spring and yes!! Water was hot, and we could literally see the steam of water. We enjoyed the feel, it was like sitting in a hot water bath tub. Another great experience!


Our next stop was Morne Bruce look out point. From here we could see the town of Roseau including the Dominica cricket stadium. We then drove through botanical gardens.


Our final stop was at Champagne reef in Scott’s head. I just gave up snorkelling on the face of it, the tide was high and the waves were gushing. Satyam did struggle with the waters as he saw champagne like bubbles coming from the hot sulphur springs at the base of the ocean. And yeah! Satyam did enjoy and I had lost an opportunity. Vivian is an excellent tour guide and provided us with a lot of information on the island tempting us to return to Dominica for a 2 week stay! He also provided us with unlimited cold drinks while on the tour.


Bridgetown (Barbados)



Bridgetown was our next port. We reached Bridgetown on 20/01/10 at 8 AM. We had pre-booked an island tour with Scenic Barbados tours. Bridgetown port is a bit confusing. After exiting the pier you are taken to the port terminal via bus. After the port terminal, you need to walk another 100 yards to come out of the port completely. Once out of the port, we were met by Marson at around 9 AM. Luckily for us Edwin Lowell, the owner of Scenic Barbados website was taking a group of people on a different tour and he had set us up with Marson. The great thing was that we had a car for just the two of us!

Marson is a 60 year old Barbadian and he knows his country very well. Though Marson is 60, he looked like some one in their early 40s. A thorough stress-free gentleman! Probably that’s the secret of his young looks. He also told us that he teaches dance and had been a great cricket player in the past.

We went to St Lawrence gap, a beautiful bay with cosy surroundings. Then we were taken to another beach besides Hilton hotel.


He then took us to Oystin’s bay where we went to a local fish market. He bought some fish to feed the turtles. We went to the bay and he started dropping the fish into the water and guess what? Huge turtles started surfacing the waters. It was awesome!


We then went to Crane beach which is full of pink sand. Then we went to Bathsheba where we saw some rock formations, people surfing in the Atlantic waters and then had some tender coconut water. We drove through the banana and sugarcane fields and reached St John’s church look out point for beautiful views.


We were then taken to Paynes beach where Marson set us up with a catamaran sailor Smiley. We were the only two in the catamaran and we were taken to the turtle feeding area. I finally did some snorkelling and saw turtles, sting ray and various fishes. It was amazing. It was my first snorkelling experience and I was in love with the underwater world. After 45 minutes we returned to Paynes beach and we were in the calm waters for another 45 minutes before Marson collected us.


We were then taken to the ship. While on our way, we stopped at Kensington Oval, West Indian main cricket stadium and we were very fortunate to see Dwayne Smith, Pedro Collins and Suleiman Benn (West Indies cricket players) doing net practice. I can’t explain the way Satyam was excited. He has always been a fan of West Indies cricket team. He always cheers for the team after Indian cricket team. He kept jumping around; he was like a kid who had seem power rangers or Mickey mouse come to life or something like that. It was a wonderful experience in Barbados.

Castries (St Lucia)



The ship arrived at Castries on 21/01/10 at 8 AM. We had the Cosol tour pre-booked for this day. When we got out of the ship, we were met by Cosol (Francis Nereus). I think there were around 50 people booked on his tour. He organised us in groups of 8 and a driver cum tour guide was allocated to each group. Our driver was Mustin. It was a 6 hour long well organised tour.


We had several photo stops overlooking the mountains and the bays. We were taken to banana plantations where we were given information on the banana industry and bananas to eat. There were people in the tour who listened to all the information about banana so carefully, later I realised these people are American, who have never ever seen a banana tree. There were people who were taking loads of pictures of the tree……me and Satyam just exchanged a glance!!!!


We then passed through the fishing villages of Anse Le Raye and Canaries. At a look out point, Cosol had organised a local breakfast for all of us. This consisted of various coconut cakes, fish cakes, local fruits (mango, cosol fruit), local cookies, breadfruit, etc. Rum punch and soft drinks were available throughout the tour. Its always a unique experience to eat local food.


We then had a breath-taking view of the two Piton Mountains. Then we drove through a volcano at Souffriere. As soon as we reached the site, it started smelling of rotten eggs because of the sulphur fumes from the volcano. The guide told us, ‘if anyone wants to pass gas, this is the right place because no one will know that its you.’ Everyone laughed as if it was the joke of the millennium. You could see hot gas and boiling water pouring out of the crater.



Then we went to the souffriere bay where we boarded water taxis to the nearby Jalousie beach. We had a good view of the Pitons while in the water taxi. The excitement began when we reached the Jalousie beach. We did snorkelling and that was an absolutely amazing experience, thanks to some expert fellow traveller swimmers who escorted me while snorkelling. We were able to see the different types of coral and several different types of fishes. You just name the colour and it existed underwater. The feeling was like being entirely in a different world. Unfortunately there was no time for the beach. But the Jalousie beach was just worth it.


We then headed back to the souffriere bay in the water taxi. Our final stop was a waterfall. It was not a great site to see. But good pictures made up for the place. While returning back to the ship, Cosol had organised local hot bread with cheese for lunch. We returned to the ship driving through the capital city Castries.











Basseterre (St Kitts)



We reached Port Zante, Basseterre on 22/01/10 at 8 AM.

I had Zip lining excursion booked for 11 AM, Satyam had opted out of that option and I was suppose to do this alone. We got out of the ship at around 9 AM and ventured into the town. Satyam bought a few postage stamps and then started hunting for a bike hire. I went for a zip lining excursion with some fellow travellers. They drove us through the town of Basseterre onto a mountain. We were explained about each and every piece of equipment and safety measures. After the briefing, we were all sitting in an open jeep with all equipments in our hands and with our helmets on. I was feeling like I am on some mission which involves security of the state. ;-) Finally we were on top of the mountain. We had 4 different laps across the mountain. The valley was deep, mountains on one side and the ocean on the other. One helluva ride, it was, few times I screamed those typical Tarzan screams..woooooooooooohooooooooooooo! It was a ride of my life.


Satyam on the other hand found a scooter after I had left for my Zip lining. He rode the bike encircling the entire island. Unfortunately there was not much to see. However, it was pleasant riding a bike after quite some time for him.






I returned back at around 2 PM. Satyam collected me at the port and we rode to the Brimstone hill fortress. This is a huge British fort on the cliff. You have wonderful views of the island and one can see the volcanic islands of St Eustacius and Saba towards the north-west and Nevis and Montserrat towards the south. The fort itself shows the ruins of British dominance on the island. After the fort, we went to the Romney manor (Caribelle batik) which is a manor with beautiful gardens. We also saw a few look out points like the Bloody point and fishing villages. We did not have time to explore the beaches in the south of the island.



All throughout the ride I was struggling with my helmet. It was a gigantic helmet for my tiny head. At one particular moment, my helmet swung in the air. My impulse said. . ‘ Did I smash someone’s face behind or did someone’s car is damaged?’. Goodness me!!! To my luck things were fine. We reached back to the port safely.

Phillipsburg (Sint Maarten/ Saint Martin)






Our last port was St Martin. We reached the port of Phillipsburg at 7 AM in the morning. We had reserved an ATV (4 wheel power bike) . We took off from the port with our ATV at 9 AM. It was a great riding experience but at the expense of a terrible tan all over the exposed parts of the body!




We went to Friar bay beach, Philipsburg downtown, French town of Marigot, Fort Louis at Marigot where the views of the island and the sea were amazing and rode through the villages.




Our main destination was Maho bay beach. This is the site where the runway of the Princess Juliana International airport begins just adjacent to the beach. We spent quite some time watching planes land one by one passing only a few feet above our heads! Initially I felt it a bit scary but after a few landings I began to extremely enjoy this different beach. A departing US airways plane almost blew us into the sea with its recoil exhaust during take-off. We felt like we were in the middle of a hurricane.



While returning back, we had stops at Cole bay look out point and Phillipsburg. After returning the ATV, we were back on the cruise for our final journey.









Debarkation

The ship returned back to San Juan, Puerto Rico at around 7 AM in the morning. We had our breakfast on the cruise. Our luggage was collected the previous night to make the debarkation process smooth. And indeed, it was very smooth. We were called out according to numbers and that made it very simple. We were out by 9.30 AM.

San Juan (Puerto Rico)

After debarkation, we went straight to the pre- booked hotel ‘Da House’. This is a hotel in Old San Juan and very close to the pier. We dropped our baggage at the hotel as it was too early to check in.


We then did the Bacardi Rum distillery experience. We boarded a local ferry from the pier to go to Catano island. It was around 10 to 15 minutes ride. From here we had to take a taxi to the Bacardi rum distillery. This is the biggest rum distillery in the world. We were taken on a tour in a trolley car. Several staff in turn explained the history of Bacardi and how the rum is made. We were allowed to smell the different flavours of Bacardi. In the end we had 2 free Bacardi drinks. (You could choose what you want).

After returning back to San Juan, we had lunch at a Chinese restaurant in San Juan. We wandered in the streets of San Juan, took a trolley ride through the old town (something we did not do on the day 1), did some shopping and then checked into our hotel. The hotel and our room in particular were nice, clean and spacious and the hotel had those antique looks. We relaxed in the hotel, used the Jacuzzi which was on the terrace of the building and had some dinner at nearby Burger king. The hotel was located in a busy nightlife area. We had huge difficulty sleeping because of the noise. In the middle of the night we heard loud music, screams , ambulance siren, horns and what not. It was impossible to have a good night sleep.


After breakfast in the morning, we left for the airport. The flights although bumpy due to the turbulence were on time and we were back in London at 7 AM in the morning. Definitely it was a treat to our senses in the middle of terrible winters. It was an amazing holiday, with great adventures , awesome weather, humble people and great food!