Back to Barbados

We were alongside in Barbados early this morning, long before either of us woke from our slumber.  However, just after 07.00 the Queen Mary 2 followed us in from St Lucia and berthed just opposite.  She is also a huge ship, but has much more elegant lines, more befitting a lady of the seas.

Barbados is the most Easterly of the Caribbean Islands, measuring just 21 miles long and some 14 miles at its widest point and has a population approaching 300,000, which makes it the most densely populated of all the islands we have visited.  Having become independent in 1966, Barbados remains within the Commonwealth.  Again, tourism is the up and coming industry and with hotels like Sandy Lane and a few others that are opening soon, this is definitely a rich man’s playground.

Breakfast was somewhat more full than usual, due to about half the passengers disembarking today and going back to the snow.  We have another 24 hours on board to enjoy the delights of this magnificent ship.  I thought I’d better start weaning myself off the full English, so I opted for cornflakes instead of the grapefruit and orange segments.  Judging by the number of voodoo dolls of the purser, with pins in some eye watering places, we can only assume that the orange segments were still absent.  Maureen and I enjoyed our penultimate fry up, then left to be ‘Immigrated’ by the local immigration staff.

Anticipating mammoth queues, it was a great shock when the tanoy announced that they were running 20 mins EARLY.  Just as well we didn’t go for the extra toast this morning.  I went along with passports and required documentation, duly completed and before you could say illegal immigrant, I was back in the cabin and we had been immigrated.  Very smooth operation, these guys have got it right and totally minimise discomfort to passengers/tourists.

With our new ‘We’ve been immigrated’ passenger cards, we were allowed to leave the ship and head for the taxi stands.  By the time we were disembarked, there were 4 cruise ships alongside and apparently there were 6000 passengers looking for tours and taxis.  With some sharp bargaining, we got a 3 hour tour for US$25 and were soon on our way to Sandy Lane with Clyde the taxi driver.  He turned out to be a bit of a bible basher, but was OK.  He’s probably done enough to book his place with St Peter.

Joy of joys, no snake vendors on our route.  This was turning out to be a good day.  When I say we were on our way to Sandy Lane, we didn’t actually get any further than the front gates, but we did turn into the golf course and saw some wild monkeys.  No, Michael Winner was not amongst them trying to sell insurance.  From here we passed by property owned by Sir Cliff Richard, Sir Mick Jagger, ( thought we saw his house in Jamaica, a few islands ago.  Flash git must have more than one) and Simon Cowell.

We traversed across to the Atlantic coast then back to Bridgetown.  The countryside is nowhere near as interesting from a flora and Fauna perspective as other islands such as  St Lucia or Dominica, but they still grow some sugar cane here and it’s the home of Mount Gay Rum.  The cricket stadium is the centre of attraction in the main town and is a replica of the Oval, with its cigar shaped grandstand.  It’s even called Kensington Oval Cricket Ground.  As we returned to the ship, the steel band that had been playing since we docked were still hammering out the Christmas carols and they continued up until about 5pm.  It was most pleasant sitting on the balcony enjoying a swift half listening to the steel band.  Unfortunately, the sun has not remembered to shine today, as it’s been hiding behind the grey clouds for most of the day.  As the afternoon draws to a close it’s that time to start packing as we have to leave the luggage outside the room between 6pm and midnight.  Terrific service as we will not see the luggage again until it’s (hopefully) on the carousel at Gatwick.  With most of the packing complete and an extra large G&T under our belt (over ordered on the tonics), we adjourned to dinner.  As promised, from the night before, Glyn, our table companion was wearing his Christmas Caribbean shirt and I was resplendent in my new shirt acquisition.  James, the third male on the table, wore a very sober looking ‘T’ shirt and not at all Christmasy or Caribbean. Clearly still young and inhibited!!  Glyn’s wife reminded us of some of the Welsh she had taught us earlier in the cruise. The two phrases we all learned were: Spoken with a Welsh accent:  Noodlly Doodlly and Gankee, which loosely translated means, Noodles, which she doesn’t like and Granddad, who she does like.  As this couple run a caravan site, I dread to think what the menu must read like and what the hell is Welsh for Grandmother???

The other couple sharing our table were very kind and treated us to lunch at the Asian restaurant on board for our anniversary, so it would be unkind and ungrateful if we were to mention the gills that they appear to have developed due to the unnatural amount of snorkelling they appeared to have done over the last two weeks.  At the same time it would be a pity not to mention them.

As this is the last dinner, it is also time for handing out the envelopes containing our appreciation for the waiters, assistant waiters and wine waitress.  It has to be said, that the service we have received from all of them has been excellent for the whole two weeks and not just the last day or so.  Nothing has been too much trouble, not even if someone wanted two deserts.  Not me, I hasten to add, but the guilty party will know who they are when they read this blog. – Won’t they James???  

For some reason better known to them, the two couples sharing the dinner table think that we have a massive cabin, with at least one bath, possibly two, a dressing area, balcony, seating area, three taps in the bath room, hot, cold and Champagne, two television sets, chocolates and champagne in the fridge on a daily basis, flowers and a butler to run the milk bath every night.  If only they knew the truth!!!!  Still, bullshit always baffled brain.

Having spent the first night on our own in the dining room, we were keen to get onto second sittings, but we have to say, they have been terrific company and we have enjoyed great banter with them over dinner and now have no regrets being on first sittings.  When they read this blog, we hope that the legal letters will not follow.

After dinner, we retired to our cabin to complete the packing, seal the luggage and get it outside the room ready for collection overnight.

All in all, this cruise has been a very pleasant experience and we have met some great people along the way.  Whilst this was a very last minute holiday, I think we will probably take another cruise at some time in the future, but it will be difficult to be as good as this one.  We hope that you have all enjoyed reading this blog and we will endeavour to maintain one for our exploits in New Zealand and Australia next year.  If you’re interested in the next epic, please let us have your email address and we’ll give you the new blog address, once we start it.  Contact us on djpu@btinternet.com or mgpu@btinternet.com.

Dominica

Could this be the start of a good day, as we entered Dominica slightly ahead of schedule, only time would tell.  Before Full English had assembled in the main restaurant, the captain was announcing that we were tied up alongside and just awaiting formalities before we were free to go ashore.  The good news was short lived; when it became apparent that there were no orange segments in the orange and grapefruit for breakfast – again!!  Well, if the purser had been around he would have been tied to the mast and received numerous lashes.  Lucky for him there does not appear to be a mast on this ship.  There was more to come – sat at our breakfast table was Richard Fothergill’s brother Derek, or so it seemed.  This guy came from Northern Ireland and had two brothers who lived in England.  I was positive he must be a Fothergill, but no he wasn’t.  If Derek ever needs a stunt double then I know just the man for the job.

Geographically, we have headed North again and Dominica sits midway between Guadeloupe at the tail end of the Leeward Islands and Martinique at the head of the Windward Islands.  Dominica is roughly 29 miles long, 16 miles wide and has a population of around 79,000.  Again, like most islands, the economy is becoming more dependent on tourism, although they still export bananas, coconut oil, cocoa and limes.  This place is like one giant rain forest.  Very fertile and has the highest rainfall of any Caribbean Island.

After breakfast we took, what has become our usual venture ashore to find a taxi that will take us round some of the island on a sightseeing trip.  No More than a few paces from the gang plank and we were soon accosted.  The going rate seems to be around US$25 per head for about 3 hours round trip.  This taxi driver was exceptional, not only was he very very proud of his island, but he could recite the full history of the place from when it popped up out of the sea, millions of years ago, to the present day as well as name just about every tree we passed.  Trust me there were millions of them. 

We were soon going through the Botanical gardens with its incredible display of trees and shrubs.  This is without doubt the best botanical gardens to date.  As we ventured up to a high point overlooking the main town of Roseau, it was clear that the view was going to be stunning, and it did not disappoint when we got there.  From here we continued to climb up heading towards a sulphur pool, when horror of horrors, there was another snake vendor on the side of the road. The driver stopped right alongside him asking if anyone wanted to take a picture.  Yesterday was bad enough, when we were on the other side of the minibus, but today, we were in the front seat and the snake and his dummy were just by my left ear, on the other side of the glass window.  That peculiar sulphur dioxide smell seemed to permeate through from the front through to the rear of the minibus as I shuffled uncomfortably in the front seat.  Fortunately, this minibus was full of like minded people and nobody wanted pictures or felt a burning desire to stroke it, unlike yesterdays Muppets.  As we sped off we continued towards the sulphur springs and much like yesterday, pools of water bubbled away spewing boiling water over the surrounding rocks.  Guess this is just a warm up for Rotorua in New Zealand.  The local vendors were also selling the same sulphurous, creams that will allegedly cure all ailments from prickly heat to multiple chins if you rub it on once a day ‘till eternity.

From here we headed to the waterfalls in the National Park, deep inside the rain forest.  The humidity must have been almost 100% and very hot.  Not the best climate for walking in, but the result was worthwhile.  Finally, ahead of us were the twin cascading waterfalls of Trafalgar.

From here we made our way back to the ship and a spot of silver service lunch.  Curry for me and fishcakes for Maureen, chased down with ice cream.  After lunch we needed to check that the sun deck was still operational and caught a few rays before the sun disappeared behind a huge cloud for over an hour.  It was soon time to get ready for the ship to depart our last port of call before heading for base in Barbados.  The ship slipped out of the berth bang on time this evening and we were soon ‘Going to Barbados’ – as the song goes.

We do not get off the ship until Saturday afternoon, so for us, it is not our last day on board.  For those flying home tomorrow – weather permitting, dinner was their last supper.  As always a terrific choice of food, but tonight, starters were course pate for both of us followed by steak for Maureen and haunch of venison for me, followed by posh blueberry tart and a cheeky bottle of New Zealand Shiraz.  Again, just practicing.

Lots of speculation as to whether tomorrows flights will be leaving as rumours abound regarding the closure of Gatwick.  What a pain if we get stuck out here!!

After a short stroll on the promenade deck, we went to watch a very humorous and very talented pianist in the main theatre, before retiring to write this blog.

Back to home port tomorrow and the wonders of Barbados.  We turned down a lunch with Michael Winner at Sandy Lane as we just knew that all he wanted was to sell us car insurance.

St Lucia

Wednesday and we’re in St Lucia, however, we should be in Dominica. For some reason better known to the captain, we have changed locations.  However, we arrived a little early this morning and by the time the FE association had mustered in the Saffron Dining room, we were berthed alongside with gangplanks down and ready to disembark.  This was the last time that we have been early for the rest of the day.

Things started to go downhill from breakfast, when to poor steward had to announce that the grapefruit and orange segments were without the orange segments. The ship had run out of them!!!  How mutiny was avoided is beyond me.  I’m still not sure how our taste buds survived the shock of just grapefruit segments on their own.  Hopefully, they will be able to replenish supplies here in St Lucia.

On to the geography – St Lucia is the second largest of the Windward Islands, which is not to be confused with the windward passages mentioned previously.  With a population of some 160,000 and 30,000 of which live in Castries, the main town, it is one of the more populated islands that we have visited.  Although independent since 1979, St Lucia remains a member of the British Commonwealth.   Like many other islands, tourism has taken over from sugar production as the islands main source of income. However, bananas are still a strong export.  That is, until hurricane Thomas hit about 4 weeks ago and wiped out the banana plantations.  It will now be many months before St Lucia bananas will be in our supermarkets.  The hurricane caused a lot of landsides which are still being cleared from the roads as we drove from Castries to Soufriere.

We took a taxi ride from the capital town of Castries taking in the coastal town of Marigot Bay, the fishing port of Canaries and on to Soufriere.  Along the way, we went up and down the steep hills and valleys that are characteristic of this island.  The roads are cut through lush vegetation and as you head towards Soufriere, through the edge of the tropical rain forest that covers part of the island.  At Soufriere, there is a clear view of the twin Pitons that are synonymous with St Lucia.  From Soufriere, we headed in to the volcano and foul smelling sulphur springs.  Speaking of which, it’s the second time today that the stench of sulphur dioxide filled the taxi. The first time being when there was some lunatic holding a boa constrictor on the side of the road.  For some god forsaken reason someone in the taxi wanted to take a picture of this lunatic with his snake, so the driver pulled over. As if it wasn’t enough for the man and his snake to appear at the minibus window, some raving idiot opened the window to get a better picture and wanted to touch the snake.  For those that know me, you will understand why there was such a strong sulphur dioxide smell at this stage!!!  Needles to say, there were no pictures from our cameras.

This is the most lush and fertile island that we have visited so far on this cruise, mainly due to the high rainfall that occurs between June and November.  There is a profusion of rugged jungles, ferns and trees as you drive along.  We saw lots of different birds along the way including humming birds.

The taxi ride took longer than estimated, so we were back on board a little later than anticipated and therefore we had to forfeit the silver service lunch and just get a snack at the poolside grill.  We then headed for the top deck to capture the last couple of hours sunshine before it disappeared over the hillsides surrounding the port.  We were scheduled to leave at 5.30 and as this is our last quayside departure, Union Jack flags we handed out ready to bid St Lucia a fond farewell.  The music started and the flags waved, but the ship remained alongside.  There were a number of other cruise ships berthed alongside us and it appears that they had priority over us for departure. As it is the final formal evening on board, we had to leave the sun deck and get to our cabin to get ready for the early dinner shift at 6.30.  Tonight we had a superb dinner of Atlantic prawns for starter and Beef Wellington for main course.  Deserts included Chocolate torte and orange souffle which were fantastic.  An Australian Shiraz helped with the digestion and washed the cheese and biscuits down very nicely.

After dinner, we waddled along to the Havana Room to watch a Cher tribute act, followed by the same George Michael act that we saw the other evening.  Cher was actually pretty good in that she not only looked like her, but even sounded like her.  The shame was that the sound engineers simply think that loud is good. I think that the quality of the entertainment could be hugely improved if they sacked the sound engineers and replaced them with someone who knows what they’re doing.

Just one more island before we return to Barbados.  Dominica – a new experience for both of us.

Antigua

Tuesday and we’re steaming into the home straight as we start down the British Leeward islands and make a stop at Antigua.  We were just a little late in getting alongside as it was so windy and with a ship of this size, high winds are a considerable problem.  However, by around 08.45 the extra mooring ropes were all secure, the gangplanks were down and we were free to go ashore.  Today is also officially the end of the Hurricane Season.  I hope that someone has told the Hurricanes that.

Antigua is just about 12 miles in diameter and has over 350 stunning beaches.  It is also the place where Admiral Nelson re-fitted his fleet of ships whilst fighting the French.  It became independent in 1981, but remains part of the Commonwealth.

Again, the berth and terminus are right in the centre of town, so once disembarked, it was just a short walk to the taxis.  We opted to share a minibus with 4 others and do a circular tour of the island.  With Winston at the wheel, we stopped at various points along the route for Kodak moments and made the first scheduled stop ay Shirley Heights.  Most appropriate given where we live. The views from here over the English Harbour are quite stunning and with the sun beaming down, it was even better.  From there we dropped down into English Harbour and Nelson’s Dockyard.  This is a natural harbour that no longer shelters Nelson’s Men o’War, but is home to millions of pounds worth of private yachts and giant motor cruisers.  I might park my one here when the syndicate wins the Euro Lottery Millions.

After leaving the dockyard, we came through the rain forest along Fig Tree Drive, which is where most of the fruit and veg are grown on the island.  Fig here means banana!  In places, there are some serious potholes in the roads, caused by a hurricane earlier in the year.  It would appear that they do not repair the roads until the end of the hurricane season, just in case they get damaged again.  Sensible thinking; but not if you’re a passenger in a taxi.

Once we returned to St Johns, we boarded the ship for a spot of silver service lunch.  With every intention of going back out to roam the streets of St Johns, we returned to the cabin to freshen up, sat down and both promptly fell asleep!!  After waking, we decided to retire to the balcony, have a cup of tea and phone home to see how deep the snow is.  We watched the sun set over the hills at the entrance to the harbour as the ship slipped its moorings and we reversed out of the berth.

Time for a Speckled Hen and G&T as we get ready for early sitting dinner.  We opted for something plain and simple this evening, mashed swede and haggis tart for starters, roast rib of beef for me and Guinea Fowl en-croute for Maureen followed by Bramley apple crumble and custard.  All accompanied by a bottle of Beaujolais.

Entertainment seemed a little thin on the ground this evening, so we have opted for an early night, ready for an morning encounter with St Lucia tomorrow.

St Maarten

Monday means it’s St Maarten.  We arrived on the dot at 08.00 and were all tied up and ready to get ashore by 08.30.  However, not before a meeting of the Full English Club in the main restaurant.  As always, breakfast did not disappoint.

We have never been to St Maarten before, despite having laid a cable from here to Curacao back in the mid 70’s.  For today’s geography class The island is about 150 miles East of Puerto Rico in the Lesser Antilles and covers some 37 square miles.  There will be questions asked when we return, so it’s advisable to keep up and if you can’t keep up – take notes.  There is sufficient trivia about the ship to run the Sunday Quiz for the next 5 years, so brush up your maritime memories.

Upon disembarking – that’s nautical for getting off- we took a taxi tour with eight others and went round some of the high spots on the Island.  It looks like a great place to holiday or live, reasonably clean and tidy, the properties did not look as ramshackled as some of the places we have been to.

What is very peculiar is that the island is divided in two.  One part belongs to the Netherlands and the other part is French.  They therefore have two different police forces, two lots of different laws and two currencies.  But ignoring that, it was definitely the best place that we have visited so far on this cruise.  As always in the Caribbean, everyone is friendly and they certainly know to respect tourists as it’s their prime source of income these days. 

One of the points of call on the tour is the airport at St Maarten.  The runway here pretty much backs onto the beach, so the planes literally go just a few feet above your head.  I have photos to prove it!!.  When a big jet takes off, people hang onto the fence and the jetwash lifts them off their feet and they ‘float’ holding on to the fence with their hands.  A mall executive jet took off whilst we were there and it almost blew us off our feet, so heaven knows what a big jet would do if you weren’t holding on.  Funny what qualifies as a tourist hotspot in the 21^st century.

From there we went to Marigot in the French half and spent some time wandering around having multiple Kodak moments. I also bought a super Caribbean shirt, which will get an airing at the Christmas quiz.   Note that as we are in the French half, it is now St Martin.   Eventually, we returned to Philipsburg (St Maarten) and browsed the shops.  This is definitely the cheapest place for duty free and is apparently renowned for jewellery and camera equipment.  Pity Maureen bought me a new camera and I bought her jewellery for our anniversary, before we left.  If only we had known!!

We returned to the ship for lunch, but as we were late, it had to be a quick snack in the poolside grill. We then ventured out again into Philipsburg to get a better look around town.  As it was pushing 30 degrees, we eventually retired to the ship and snatched a last hour or so of sunshine before it set at 5.40pm.

We were just a few minutes late in departing from St Maarten, but there has always been something special about leaving a port, watching the land disappear.  Time to open the bottle of Champagne, that has been cooling in the fridge since we arrived.  We managed to do some serious damage to it whilst getting changed for dinner.  The menu for dinner so far has not been duplicated and continues to offer a fantastic choice.  As if that wasn’t enough, there are always three other items including a steak, a light option and something else that sounds vaguely healthy, that I can’t remember.  Tonight we dined on Duck for starters, mixed grill for me and posh prawn curry for Maureen. 

After dinner we continued with some on board retail therapy, hitting the dress shop.  Well, actually, just Maureen, I was only in tow to say that nothing looked big in the dress!  From there we adjourned to the Havana Room to watch a George Michael tribute act, who looked more like him than sounded like him!!  That was followed by a vaguely entertaining version of ‘Give us a clue’ with teams that included the Captain and cruise director.  Just a little too contrived and predictable to be good entertainment.

By this time it was way past our bedtime, so we retired to the cabin to polish off the bedtime chocolate on the pillow and sleep.  No time to complete this blog posting as we were so tired.  The weather has been windy all afternoon and it was gusting to 40mph during the night.  Not that I knew anything about it.

Ruby Wedding Anniversary

For those of you who don’t know, today is our 40^th wedding anniversary and we are at sea, somewhere between Grand Turk and St Maarten.  For some reason the whole ship seemed to wake up late and the usual crowd who muster for a full English at around 08.00 were all nearly an hour late.  Could be something to do with the fact that we put the clocks forward an hour last night, coupled with the fact that it’s Sunday.

We started the day with tea in bed, which I made ........again, although Maureren may dispute that.  We then opened our anniversary cards, of which there were many... thank you all.

After a quick shower of rain, the sun started to shine through, so up to the sun deck for some Sunday worship.  At 11.30, there was an interview with Captain Haimish Reid, which was one of the best things we’ve attended in years.  This guy has taken the political correctness handbook and thrown it away.  Considering he’s one of P&O’s most senior captains, he has a total disregard for PC and simply says things as they are.  His interests outside being a sea Captain are: farming sheep, keeping horses, carriage riding, starting a holiday let business on his farm and most bizarrely of all, he has 13 lions on his farm!!

Following on from the captains interview, we returned to the cabin and spent a couple of hours on the balcony, soaking up some more rays.  At 2.00pm we went to the East Restaurant for a late lunch with the young couple whom we share the dinner table with.  We all enjoyed a superb Asian meal; a blend of different cultures all rolled into one delicious meal.

Then back to the sundeck to soak up the last couple of hours of tanning sunlight. Today is another formal dress evening, so an extra 10 mins to get ready for dinner.  As it’s our Ruby Anniversary, we decided to have another formal picture done on the staircase of the Atrium.  Copies will be available at a moderate price when we return.  Advanced orders will attract a 10% discount, as will cash and bulk purchase.

Dinner this evening was not with the riff raff (regular table sharers excluded), but in the Marco Pierre White restaurant on board.  Absolutely fantastic food and premium service.  We both started with Crab Linguini, followed by medallions of beef for me and chicken with a walnut sauce for Maureen.  For desert we had Mascarpone crème Brule and raspberry soufflé.  In between courses were various nibbles and right at the beginning we had a Bellini, just to set the tone of the proceedings.  Once the waiter knew it was our anniversary, he produced a piece of chocolate torte on a plate with congratulations written across the plate in chocolate.  A nice gesture.  A new world Merlot accompanied dinner as did as a cognac and all for the princely sum of £20 per head.  We may well go back for another session!!

We had intended to watch a Tommy Cooper tribute act, but by the time we reached to club, there were no seats available, so of to bed for an early night.  Bye Bye.

Grand Turk

It’s Saturday 27^th, so it must be Grand Turk.  For the geographically challenged, Grand Turk is one of the low lying Turks and Caicos archipelago, some 30 miles South of the Bahamas and 100 miles NE of the Dominican Republic.  It’s only 6.5 miles long and 2 miles wide.  A decent tidal wave would wash this place away, as its highest point can only be about two foot six above sea level!!!!  This place is also strange in that it is a British Crown Colony, but the official currency is the US dollar!!

Fame came to Grand Turk in 1962 when Col John Glen landed in the seas nearby after orbiting the earth 3 times in Friendship 7 spacecraft.  Some 3 months later Scott Carpenter did the same thing and also landed nearby and was also brought to Grand Turk for a medical and debriefing.

The ship berthed at 08.00 this morning at a tailor made pier for cruise ships.  There is also a new terminal complex, which houses the immigration, customs and shopping centres.  Best place that we have berthed at so far, as you disembark onto a modern jetty, then walk about 100yds into the modern terminal.  A fantastic coral sand beach is adjacent to the terminal complete with sunbeds and all free!  You can just walk along the waters edge to find beach bars, and boats to take you out snorkelling etc.

Here is our ship Ventura berthed at the terminal in Grand Turk

We spent the morning on the beach, where temperatures were well over 30 degrees.  Hope it’s not too cold at home!!!  After a mornings worship, we returned to the ship for a spot of lunch (Toad in the hole).  By this time the clouds had come over and it had started to rain, so we decided to get a taxi into the main town of Cockburn.  I think ‘main town’ is a misnomer, as there really is nothing there.  For the most part, it looks as though a hurricane hit it about 50 years ago and they decided not to do anything about it.  We visited the museum, which was quaint and the local people are rather proud of, but apart from that, not a lot seems to happen here.  Friendly people and a safe place; only about 5600 inhabitants and almost totally dependent on tourism, hence low crime.  When our cruise ship docked the inhabitants nearly doubled!

On the way back to the ship in a taxi we passed some old salt flats and there were flamingos paddling about.  The taxi driver stopped and we were able to take photographs of the flamingos in their natural habitat.  We also saw an osprey along with pelicans and all sorts of wading birds.  We could have stayed there for ages putting Fifi La Snapper’s ideas into practice.

Back on board with plenty of time before sailing at 5.30, meant that we could just sip a quick G&T before slipping the moorings and going into first sitting at 6.30.  As usual, dinner was excellent – Terrine of Guinea fowl, followed by fillet of lamb and baked apples in short crust pastry, that melted in the mouth and topped off with creamy custard.

The ship’s clocks go forward an hour this evening, so the extra hours sleep we got yesterday will be cancelled out.  For anyone just joining this blog – apologies for the lack of pictures, but the satellite broadband service is very very slow and it is just taking forever to upload a single picture.  That’s not such a great problem, but the cost per minute is!  I’ll try to add pictures when we get home, so you can get a full flavour of the cruise,

Another day at sea tomorrow, en route to St Maarten.  Therefore another full day of sun worshiping, weather permitting.  Big day tomorrow, lots of cards to open.  Have booked to go to the Asian restaurant for lunch, with the young couple on our dinner table, then into Marco Pierre Whites restaurant for dinner.  Somewhere along the line we have also got to polish of the complementary bottle of shampoo that’s still in the fridge.  God it’s hell here!!  Rather hoping that Gatwick is going to be frozen up for a few days, so nothing is leaving, which means we can stay on board in Barbados for a few more days.

All at Sea

Just missed sunrise at 06.16, but caught the early morning flying fish skimming the waves avoiding the bulbous bow if this huge ship.  We were promptly into the now customary full English and shared a table with a Belfast couple that we had sat with earlier in the week.  Turns out he has been a medical photographer all his life and we enjoyed a good photographic chat over breakfast.

Today we are in transit to Grand Turk in the Turks and Caicos Islands.  For those of you who did not take geography at school or did not pay attention, T&C are located some 30 miles NW off the east end of Cuba.  To get there from Jamaica, you head north and turn right when you reach the coast of Cuba.  You then go through the Windward Passage, which is between Cuba and Haiti and not your legs!

We woke up this morning to clear blue skies and to quote the cruise director - today has been “Brochure Cruising”.  i.e.  The skies have been cloudless and cerulean blue and the sea has been azure all day long.  The wind has got up a little during the course of the day but the sea remains fairly calm, just a miniscule roll, which will help us to sleep.

The captain was anticipating seeing some whales during the late afternoon, but if there were any, they remained out of sight.  As we passed through the Windward Passage, we could clearly see the coasts of Cuba on the port side (left to you land lubbers) and Haiti on the starboard side.

It has been a hard day today keeping our strength up whilst continuing to worship the sun god.  I took a break from sunbathing, mid morning as I had answered an advert for a one 2 one with FiFi La Snapper the ships photographer. The ad was in the ships telephone box, so I knew she could more than cope with my 200mm..........................lens.  It turned out to be a good session and she complemented me on the fact that I was clearly no beginner at this game.   Knowing what buttons to press is half the battle, but I picked things up fast and was soon turning out photos rather than snapshots.

As we were on board today, it was only polite to enjoy silver service for lunch, Thai Green Curry followed by honeycomb ice cream.  Dinner this evening was Scottish smoked salmon on muffin with poached egg and Hollandaise sauce, followed by seared scallops then desert and cheese & biscuits, all washed down with a passable New Zealand Merlot.  (Just getting some practice in).

After dinner we retired to the Metropolis bar for a quick drink then to the Havana room for an evening’s entertainment from  Lulu and Robbie Williams tribute acts.  Not bad, but the ship could do with getting the sound levels right, so you can hear what’s being sung over the backing.

Then to bed, ready for a full day in Grand Turk.

Ocho Rios - Jamaica

Thursday, so it’s Ocho Rios Jamaica.  We were alongside at 08.30 this morning, bang on time.  How the hell the skipper inches this huge ship alongside with such precision, is just amazing.  No tugs, just seems to get it almost in place by using the engines and bow thrusters, then simply pulls it tight to the jetty with the mooring ropes.

The wind died down last night, so the journey from Aruba was very smooth.  However there were some ominous clouds gathering at 06.30 this morning and it looked as though it was going to pour down.  Fortunately, these clouds passed over and the sun began to shine, luring us into a false sense of security, as just as we left the ship, it started to rain.  In true Caribbean style, the sun shone again and it rained again.  It was like this all day!

We took an organised tour as lots of people warned us that it was not a good place to go sight-seeing on your own.  Our tour took us to the famous Dunne River Falls, where for an extortionate fee you can try your hardest to break an arm or leg.  If you’re really lucky you may just get away with minor lacerations or losing a layer of skin or two as you climb the 600 feet up the waterfall. But it’s ok; as when you come to make the insurance claim you can replay the video that some mad cap guide has taken of you falling the 600 feet back down the falls.  I’m sure that climbing the falls is regarded as one of the things you should do before you die.  However, we’ll just have to hang on a bit longer as we managed to resist the temptation this time round!!

Also went to Coyaba (which is Arawak for paradise) gardens, which were very pleasant, quiet and tranquil.  Not as many flowers as we would have really hoped for, but interesting nevertheless.  On the way to the gardens we saw Mick Jagger’s house, which is located right at the top of the ridge that overlooks Ocho Rios.  He must have the most amazing view.  Can’t think why he set up a home here???

Minor disaster on the food front today, as were a little late back for the silver service lunch, so had to make do with a burger from the poolside grill.  The sacrifice did mean that we could snatch a couple of hours worshiping before the sun went down behind the hills.  As the clocks went back an hour last night it means that sunset is now around 5.30 pm, which happened to coincide with our departure from Ocho Rios.  There has been a guy singing reggae music on the quayside since we berthed at 08.30.  They finally shut him up at around 4.45pm.  I reckon he was one of Bob Marley’s Wailers from the sounds he was making.  He also seemed to float about a foot from the ground most of the time.  It was probably something he puts on his cornflakes in the morning; whatever, he seemed to be enjoying himself.

As usual, a fantastic choice for dinner, but I opted for a traditional dinner of sirloin steak followed by treacle tart and custard, hotly pursued by cheese & biscuits and coffee.  We then adjourned to the theatre to watch the Ventura dancers prance around the floor to various different tunes.  Pretty good really, as they only have a few days to get it all right, before they have to perform, then learn the next routines.

Not sure why, but we feel absolutely cream crackered this evening, so have gone for an early night.  Very busy day tomorrow, as we will be in transit to Grand Turk in the Turks & Caicos Islands, which means an early start to get a decent sunbed ready for a full days worshiping.

Finally, something that I should have mentioned earlier; there are three good things about cruising on this ship.  Firstly, you can get a pint of Pedigree bitter.  Secondly you can also get a pint of Speckled Hen and thirdly they only cost £2.65 a pint.  Cheaper than most pubs back home.

Finally, finally, for all those poor souls freezing and expecting snow, the temperatures in Jamaica today just nudged the low 30’s, but don’t worry about us, we just turn the A/C up a notch!!!!

Wednesday and we are at sea, in transit from Aruba to Jamaica, we should be arriving at 08.00 on Thursday.  Weather first thing was fairly windy and plenty of white horses on the sea. During the night it apparently lashed it down with rain, but I heard none of it, just saw the puddles on the balcony. As the ship thunders its way through the sea there are no end of flying fish skimming the waters getting out of the way.  The weather looks ominous with lots of black clouds and threatening to deliver heavy rain again.  However, after more full English the clouds broke up and it turned into a very pleasant sunbathing day.

Spent the morning worshiping the sun god and then slipped down for a bit of silver service lunch.  Fish and chips today.  After lunch I attended a free seminar on taking travel pictures, whilst Maureen said hello to the sun god again.  I followed later for a couple of hours, but then it was time to start getting ready for the second formal dinner.  No cocktails or Captains speech tonight, so it was straight into dinner.  Mellon followed by Tiger prawns followed by baked pineapple marinated in rum and topped with rum & raisin ice cream.  Positively delicious, yet again.  Food and facilities on board are excellent and have not heard anyone complaining about them.

After dinner entertainment has been a classical pianist and a male singer, both of whom was very talented and put on half reasonable shows, by anyone’s standard.  The wind has died down as the day has gone on and the ship now has virtually no movement.

The clocks are going back an hour this evening, so we will be 5 hours behind GMT.  Good thing is that we will get an extra hour in bed!!

Aruba

Tuesday, so it must be Aruba.  Docked at around 08.30 this morning and the temperature is the customary 28 degrees, rising to low 30’s later in the day.  Very acceptable!  Tried to avoid another full English, but failed miserably.  As usual, it was delicious and eaten amongst excellent company from Belfast.

Went ashore fairly early, around 09.15.  Intended to take a taxi for a tour of the island, but instead took a bus tour with a difference.  The bus was an ex-school bus like you see in the movies, but it had a new paint job and all the windows had been removed!  The ultimate in air conditioning.

Interesting bus in that there were speakers mounted inside the coach, but bolted to and pointing down to the floor.  This meant that the bass tones vibrated though the floor of the coach and through your body.  Visited a local rock formation, the oldest catholic church and the oldest lighthouse on the island amongst other things.  Strong American influence here reflected in the hotel chains and a number of popular US eating houses.

Landscape is fairly green, but I suspect that is mainly due to it being the rainy season.  I could imagine that in the summer months, the landscape is fairly harsh and not a lot grows other than the abundance of cactus plants.  There must be almost as many as in Arizona.  Just about everything other than babies are imported onto the island.  There is a huge refinery, but as the island is only 18 miles from Venezuela, the crude is bought to Aruba by tanker, then shipped off again as finished petroleum products.

Apparently Aruba is rated as the number 4 place in the world for snorkelling and scuba diving.  Even as you walk along the waterfront, by the docks, you can see blue parrot fish swimming around and loads of sea urchins, crabs etc.  You don’t even have to get wet!!  It must be fantastic further out on the reefs.

Returned to the ship for a spot of lunch, then back out again for a walk around town.  Went through the Queen Beatrix Gardens and came across loads of iguanas.  Lots of small ones and a few pretty large ones.  Ugly crechers but then I expect that they think we’re pretty ugly too.  Back to the ship again for a couple of hours sunbathing, before a swift G&T on the balcony and into early sitting for dinner. Tonight we had a full house on the table.  A couple from Wales who run a caravan park were our new table partners.   Followed that with a drink in one of the clubs and listened to a young lady singing for an hour or so before retiring to bed. 

Very windy on Tuesday evening and the ship had a small amount of movement, which helped rock you to sleep.  Not that we ever need it.

Bonaire

Bonaire, our first port of call.  Plenty of cloud around at 6.30 this morning, but still very warm.  There was a German cruise ship anchored alongside as we entered port and whist it was a pretty large ship, it was small compared to the Ventura.  With fantastic precision the captain manoeuvred the ship exactly into place behind the German ship and we were ready to disembark by 08.15.

Arriving Bonnaire

German ship

However, before than we were obliged to take another full English in the Saffron Restaurant, which is our silver service restaurant.  Even better than yesterday.  Delicious grilled bacon, sausage eggs, inch thick fried bread that melts in the mouth and just about anything else you ever wanted for breakfast.

We then disembarked and picked up a minibus with four others for a trip round the north end of the island.  Malcolm our driver appeared to be knowledgeable and definitely friendly as are most people in the Caribbean.  On the trip we saw iguanas, monkeys and pink flamingos in their natural habitats as well as sheep, goats and endless cactus plants. 

Iguana

Ever seen a cactus fence before? We have!



We returned back to the ship just in time for lunch.  Another three courses of excellent food, followed by a quick stroll along the harbour, taking in the parrot fish that were clearly visible from the quayside. 
Bonnaire

 Then back to the ship for a couple of hours sunbathing on the sundeck.  We were due to depart at 5.30 so the resident steel band struck up around 5.00pm and that was the cue for the first cocktail.  Now we have our first  Pina Colada under our belt it feels like a holiday.

Sunset leaving Bonnaire

Quick change for first sitting dinner left little time for a swift G&T before getting into diner at 6.30.  New table this evening, which we shared with a very pleasant couple from Torquay.  The other couple that were supposed to be on our table did not materialise.  Maybe they’ll be there tomorrow.  After dinner ,we listened to a classical pianist in one of the bars followed by a singer and small band.  Pretty good considering the size of the bar and a relatively small audience.  One for the road, then we retired to bed.

Day 1 at Sea

We were awake early this morning (21^st), so we made a cup of tea and went onto our balcony to watch the sun rise over the stern of the ship. 

After showering and dressing we were up to deck 15 to the self service restaurant for full English.  It was that early the main restaurant wasn’t open yet.  Back to the cabin to pick up the swim ware, then returned to deck 15, the lido deck for some sunshine.  Even at 08.00 the sun was blazing down and by 09.00 it was incredibly hot.  We survived until about 11.30, when we returned to our balcony to cool off a little. 

As we’re on the early shift for dinner, we thought it better to have an early lunch, so into the main dining room for silver service lunch.  As it’s Sunday and reviving an old tradition from my cable ship days, it had to be curry for Sunday lunch and delicious it was.  Maureen opted for something light – a dressed crab salad.  After lunch we retired to the cabin before taking a further 2 hours of late afternoon sunshine. 

It’s the first formal dress evening tonight and also the Captains Cocktail party at 6.00pm, need to get suited and booted in plenty of time.  Well – all dressed in our finery and off to the cocktail party.

Suited and booted at the Captain's cocktail party.

Picture...........

The captain was in good form and delivered a humorous 15 minute presentation during which he introduced the senior officers and cruise director.  It seems that he has only just joined the ship and still has problems finding his way around.  This ship is positively huge and there are still restaurants and bars that have eluded us so far!!

Had a posh picture done this evening, by the camp photographer, that is resident as opposed to luvvy,  when we were all dressed up, so we’ll see what that looks like tomorrow.

Into dinner at 6.30, which is really too early, but it appears that there are no places in second sitting.  Probably didn’t drop the Maitre de enough on the first night.  Sat down to dinner at our table for 6 and felt like Billy no mates, as nobody else turned up!!  And we got all dressed up for the occasion!!!

More words but no more money with the Matre de, but still couldn’t get onto second sitting.  However, we are on a new table tomorrow, hopefully with some other people.  Food is excellent and plenty of choice.  Tonight we settled for smoked salmon as starter, followed by rack of lamb for me and duck for Maureen, followed by desert, then cheese and coffee.  We then waddled out of the dining room and into the theatre for a performance of Saturday Night Fever.

A slow stroll was to follow and then to bed.  We dock in Bonaire, our first port of call at 08.00 in the morning.

A Long Day

We were up at 06.00 this morning (20^th) in order to be at Gatwick by 07.00, after having a sneaky cup of tea and some toast before leaving the hotel.  We arrived at Gatwick just in time for the check to open and were met by the most officious check in person I have ever met in all my years of travelling.  We had one case that was 4Kg over weight and one case 4Kg underweight.  She made us unpack 4 Kilos of luggage from one case and put it in the other.  Needless to say, we were not very happy, but kept our cool as we were afraid of having to leave 4kilos of luggage at Gatwick. 

Having recovered from the embarrassment of unpacking our luggage at the check in desk, we went through immigration and into the restaurant for full English.  Purly to pass the time of course.  After three hours of waiting around the flight was called and off we went to the gate.  Boarding was pretty much on time and on we went. It’s been a long time since I turned left after boarding,

 However, it would appear that we had 270+ passengers but only 170 meals.  According to the captain – there had been “an administration error”.  It took a further 40 minutes to get more supplies on board, but then we we’re underway.  From then on it has been smooth sailing all the way.  The flight was as smooth as silk, plenty to eat and drink and friendly cabin crew.  Top marks to Thompson Airlines.  Nil points for the miserable bitch that checked us in.

Having arrived at Bridgetown, Barbados we were ferried directly from the airplane to the port where we were checked in for the cruise.  More sets of full marks for the staff and system of checking in.  Fast and slick ,within 15 minutes of arriving at the port we were checked in, had the obligatory photograph taken and boarded.

Pictures of our cabin

The cabin is reasonably spacious, I’ve stayed in much smaller hotel rooms and the ship is ginormous.  It’s going to take a couple of weeks to find our way around.  We set sail at about 7.45 local time, but our luggage still had not arrived in the cabin.  Out trusty cabin steward, Collin, with 2 l’s assured us that it would materialise soon, but it was worth checking with reception as any bags who’s tags were missing ended up there.  Having eventually found reception on deck 6 of 15, we also found our luggage.  Immediately, a member of the crew was summoned to get it to our cabin, which he duly did and we heaved a a sigh of relief.

Dinner tonight was positively sumptuous; duck for starter, venison for main, and profiteroles, followed by coffee, all washed down with a nice red.  Cheese was available; I thought that would be going over the top on the first night!  We sat on a table for eight with some very pleasant people.

All in all not a bad first day.  We’re at sea tomorrow and arriving in Bonaire on Monday.  It’s now 11.40pm local – 3.40am body time, so it’s off to bed.

Overnight at Menzies Chequers Hotel

For those of you who don't know it....... TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY.....

With an early start in the morning, we are staying at the Menzies Chequers Hotel near Gatwick airport.  After stopping of at the mother-in-law's we were then stuck on the Caterham byepass as the good old M25 was closed.  Fortunately for us, it was closed going towards Dartford tunnel and we were going the other way!

Having arrived at the hotel, we were very warmly welcomed by the receptionist and received a further personal welcome from the General Manager.  The room is very comfortable and has clearly just been refurbished, as can be seen from the picture.  Very comfortable - thank you Tim

We ate in the restaurant and received even more excellent service, good place to stay this, if your ever flying out of Gatwick!!  The taxi is organised for 07.00 and we'll be off to the airport.

 Last time we stayed at a hotel at Gatwick there was a fire alarm at about 06.30 and we had to assemble outside in freezing weather.  It turned out to be a real fire, as a mini bar had cremated and we couldn't get back in until the fire brigade came and put the fire out.  We should add, it was at the old Post House, not the Menzies!!  The highlight of the fire escapade was a chap turning up in reception minus ALL his clothes.  Needless to say, a blanket was materialised very quickly!!

Ah well - off to bed now, but not without a special thanks to all the management and staff at the Chequers Hotel who have looked after us like royalty.

Our First Cruise

After the disappointment of having the holiday to St Lucia cancelled due to the after effects of hurricane Tomas, we decided to embark on our first cruise.  It will be on board the P&O ship Ventura sailing from Barbados on Saturday 20th November.

At the moment the weather is not looking very good for the next couple of weeks, but I'm sure that life on board may not revolve around the weather.