In December 2022, we took a 20-day cruise around the Caribbean. It was two 10-day cruises back-to-back. We were looking for a warm vacation and wanted to take a cruise to build up some sea days prior to booking a longer cruise in the future. This was our first travel outside of the US and Mexico since the pandemic.
Because this was a long trip, I have split this post into three parts. This instalment, Part 2, will describe the ports during the second 10-day cruise. Part 1 described the ports during the first 10-day cruise. The third part will describe life onboard the ship.
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Day in Fort Lauderdale
We returned to Fort Lauderdale in order for passengers who were only on the first 10-day cruise to disembark, and for passengers who were only on the second 10-day cruise to embark.
I will discuss the process for passengers that remain on the ship during a “turnaround day” in Part 3 of this series.
Princess Cays – Bahamas
As a repeat from the first 10-day cruise, we started with a day at Princess Cays, a private beach resort on the southern tip of Eluethera Island in the Bahamas. We never complain about beach days, so this was not a problem at all for us!
We took a longer walk on a road outside of the resort that another passenger had told us about last time we were here. The road skirted the beach, and we alternated between walking on the road and the beach. After our walk, we hung out in lounge chairs for a while before eating lunch and returning to the ship.
Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands
We had been to St. Thomas before, on our first Caribbean cruise approximately 25 years ago, but we did not really spend any time there. During the prior cruise, we were dropped off by tender on nearby St. John, and took the ferry back to St. Thomas. We probably had a drink in Charlotte Amalie before returning to the ship, but I don’t really remember anything about the island from our prior visit.
This time we decided to spend our time in Charlotte Amalie, the city where the ship docks. Charlotte Amalie is a boating hub, and the nearby marina and anchorage had many varieties of boats, from luxury mega-yachts to boats similar to the one we sailed on, anchored in the harbor.
We spent our time walking the waterfront area, and then on an unplanned self-guided food and drink tour.
Our first stop was 13 Restaurant for a drink, because it was too early to go to lunch and it was one of the few places that was open.
We intended our second stop, Leatherback Brewing Company, to be our lunch stop based on their menu and reviews we had read. However, the kitchen was closed that day, so we each had a beer.
Based on the recommendation of the bartender at Leatherback Brewing, and the fact that it was very busy (always a good sign), our third and final stop was for lunch at The Smoking Rooster, a barbeque place. We enjoyed the food and the company, visiting with two local ladies who were there for a business conference or training and who shared our table.
St. John’s, Antigua
This was our first visit to Antigua, one of the islands of the nation of Antigua and Barbuda.
We started a day walking to the local market and around town near the port. We were lucky to be there on a Friday, one of the days of the week when the market was operational. Many locals were out doing their shopping.
After our walking tour, we went to a restaurant that I had found via Google maps that had good reviews, Hemingway’s. We enjoyed people watching from our second floor perch and visiting with a passenger from another cruise ship.
The food was outstanding! I had the conch curry, and it was one of the best things I have eaten anywhere! Conch, a large snail and local specialty, can be tough if it isn’t prepared properly. In this case, it almost melted in my mouth and was like the texture of mushrooms.
Castries, St. Lucia
This was our first visit to St. Lucia. We were there on Christmas Eve, and the city was bustling with activity. Many people seemed to be out running errands as is typical of many places where the holiday is celebrated. We visited the local market and bought some spices, went on a nice waterfront walk, and then rested in the shade in a square under an amazing tree and watched people.
After a while it was time for lunch, so we headed to The Balcony Restaurant and Bar, with a view overlooking the street and the square. We were in no hurry, so we had a very leisure meal and a few drinks. We enjoyed visiting with several groups of locals and people watching.
One funny local story; Kevin asked a man what type of tree was in the square. The local said he didn’t know, but the word for “I don’t know” in French is “massive,” and it is a massive tree! Looking it up on Google Translate that doesn’t seem to be the case, but the locals speak English and also a French-creole dialect so perhaps it is part of their creole dialect. Or he was just messing with us ….
Bridgetown, Barbados
We were in Barbados on Christmas. Barbados became a republic within the British Commonwealth in 2021, meaning that the King is not their head of state (unlike realms of the Commonwealth) as was previously the case.
Because it was Christmas, most businesses were not open. But we did walk around and look at some buildings on our way to the beach on Carlisle Bay.
This was the most beautiful beach we visited on this trip, and one of the nicest beaches we have been to anywhere. It was flat, with soft white sand. We walked the beach and then hung out at Savvy on the Bay. It was a very fun atmosphere, with local Christmas music playing. We had a few local beers and then some jerked lamb for lunch from a local food truck adjacent to Savvy that was open. We stopped so Kevin could swim (it was a bit cool for me for swimming) before heading back to the ship.
Basseterre, St. Kitts
Our final stop on the cruise was St. Kitts, part of the two-island nation of St. Kitts and Nevis. We had been to Nevis on our prior Caribbean cruise, but this was our first visit to St. Kitts.
St. Kitts has a non-traditional Carnival schedule. Usually, the celebration is held just before lent (same timing as Mardi Gras in New Orleans), but in St. Kitts it starts on December 26th. Because of that, most businesses were closed. But more disruptive to our visit was the festival, specifically the parade.
We live in Mexico, so we are used to noise as compared to US standards, and we have been to the Carnaval parade in Mazatlán. By a very large measure, this was by far the loudest parade or festival of any kind we have experienced! We could only stand to be within several blocks because the music was so loud. It was louder than the great majority of the loudest concerts I have ever been to. There was no hope of talking within probably two blocks of the parade.
We did walk around town as best we could while avoiding the parade route. We then headed to the shopping and dining area near the cruise port. We normally don’t spend much time in these areas (common in many cruise ports) but in this case it saved the day. We had an enjoyable meal at yet another balcony restaurant with good people-watching opportunities. Many of the crew from our ship that had the day off were also in the restaurant.
