Friday 2nd April

Caribbean Cruise, The Final Chapter.

Day 14: St Vincent and The Grenadines.

It was a funny day in St Vincent. As usual I was on deck for 6am with beverages to watch us pull into port. It was warm and breezy and even at that time I could tell it would be a hot one.

Natasha had finally booked a day's pass to the on board spa which she had been around and said looked amazing. I was fine with that and said I would paint.

We decided to go into town first, early after breakfast, and sample the local market before the ship began disgorging passengers. It was Saturday morning, market day and once we had waded our way through the port with taxis wanting to take us on excursions we hit the town. We felt a little conspicuous as we were obviously from the cruise ship in a local market. I say market but it was more than that. There were indoor and outdoor markets and on every street there were street vendors lining the "pavements" with small stalls, tables and cars selling a multitude of items from their boot, even selling off the actual street. It was incredibly noisy,  hot and crowded. The traffic amongst all of it was a little scary and the driving erratic. It was probably like the old London markets used to be. The variety of goods was incredible especially the fruit and vegetables but unfortunately we weren't really looking to buy stuff. We were already concerned about packing our cases. Although we hadn't bought very much on the trip our cases were pretty full on the way here and we still had to fit the stuff we had bought in them for the journey home. 

We couldn't find anywhere quiet to have a drink and use WiFi as it was still only 8.30am and the Cafés and bars weren't open except in the port. It wasn't really a place to browse and so we decided to head back to the relative calm of the port complex, find an open Café, have a drink and some WiFi. We negotiated our way back without getting run down and found somewhere to have a drink in the shade and get some WiFi (which we had to pay for and was still unreliable) before re-boarding the ship.

It was the first time we had spent a significant time on board during the day. Natasha went off to her spa and I got settled above the pool deck at a table in the shade with my painting stuff. There is entertainment of one sort or another almost continually during the day. Live bands, music, quizzes etc and for once it was fine.

I had several people come across to talk to me about what I was doing during the day and I was happy to chat with them. I managed quite a few watercolour sketches interspersed with drinks and food. Natasha had a great time in the spa and had it to herself. She then spent some time packing the large cases which had to be placed outside the room before 2am for collection. 

I found a taste for the Guinness which was interesting as we had to be up at 6am. We ate and enjoyed our final evening aboard ship. We sailed for Barbados in the sunset. 

Day15: Bridgetown Barbados. 

It was our 3rd visit to Barbados and we did manage to get up early to see us arrive despite the copious amounts of Guinness! We pulled up next to the cricket stadium again.

We had to have all our hand luggage packed and out of the room by 8am. We were able to store them in the nightclub until our departure at 4pm. I spent the day in the sun on deck with Martin. Natasha and Sheena did venture into port for some last minute shopping. It was a long day and finally at 4pm we left the ship to be bussed to the airport. We were very sad to leave. It didn't help that we were crammed like sardines for the half hour bus ride to the airport. We flew at 7.15pm so had a look round the airport shops and bought some duty free. We boarded our Tui jet and took off on time. We headed up the coast of Canada but it was dark by then, before turning to get a tail wind across the Atlantic. Despite being so tired we found it hard to sleep. After drinks then food we did try. Breakfast seemed to be on us sooner than expected  but we realised we were landing in an hour and a half. The 71/2 flight passed reasonably quickly and as we flew across Belfast, Cumbria and Northumberland towards Newcastle we were treated to a beautiful sunrise. When we left Barbados it was 32° , when we landed in Newcastle it was a balmy 4°! It was freezing with an ice wind. Our taxi was waiting and after an interminable wait for our luggage we set off for our 1 hour journey home. We were all so tired we dozed on the way. Dylan and Luna were very pleased to see us. We were wiped out for the rest of the day. We managed to stay up until 11pm with a few doses in between.  We finished the evening by watching an episode of Death in Paradise which as well as the usual police station and Catherine's Bar, showed the exact part of the beach and the stones we sat on to eat our lunch last week. It was a bit surreal!

The Cruise Review:

Would I cruise again? Probably yes but probably not to the Caribbean in that format. Island hopping has its pro's and cons . We did get to see 11 islands in the Caribbean, some more than others. The island tours are great for seeing more of the islands but with time constraints you can then miss out on the beaches. It would be great to spend more time on some of the islands. Our favourites were Antigua, St Kitts and Guadeloupe. If you're brave or more experienced you can sort yourself out but we weren't in that position. Booking some of the Tui trips guarantees arrival and collection and designated spots on the beaches, which feels safer but the port buses and taxis are very good. They all tend to have designated tourist routes and we did feel like tourists. A bit of time to spend on some of the islands would give a better feel of the culture and lifestyles but with the cruise you always have one eye on the time as everyone had to be back on board by 5.30pm. No exceptions. Booking trips everyday can get expensive though and you've already paid a lot to go on the cruise in the first place. The towns near the ports and the ports are geared for cruise ship tourism. Many of the islands rely on it. The shops can all get a bit samey. We would have also liked to sample more of the local cuisine and we managed a little but again the timings were often against us. Having said all that it was a fantastic experience seeing so many Caribbean Islands something completely alien to us. Arriving at different ports everyday was very exciting. 

I can't fault the actual cruise experience.  The ship was excellent.  It was just the right size for us unlike some of the other massive ships we saw like the Virgin, Disney and Discovery which dwarfed ours. We were able to navigate around it mostly. There was an abundance of entertainment most of which we didn't really use. We didn't use the cinema, theatre or nightclub. We didn't spend the evenings in The Lounge Bar with live entertainment or the Squid and Anchor which was more like a social club. We spent most evenings on deck. 

The rooms were also excellent. I've been in worse hotel rooms. The room staff were fantastic. They made the beds and tidied in the morning and did a turn down service in the evenings leaving chocolates on the pillows and animals crafted from towels on the beds. They always greeted us with smiles and a chat. The serving staff were also brilliant and attentive and became friends. The ship was spotless and continually cleaned and even painted en route. There was so much choice when it came to dining and food and drink was available from 6am until the early hours. Although there were 1800 people on board it rarely felt crowded although the pool deck was always the busiest area. 

Although we might not do the Caribbean again for a while, I think we would do other cruises perhaps Greece, The Med or Norway.

Back home, the reality of life has kicked in. Natasha went back to work on Wednesday, I've cut the lawns (3 times as they were long), we've been shopping and it's back to cooking our own meals. I've even got my delayed Quiz tonight.

We will never forget this holiday though. It was so, not us, but it would be very easy to get used to.

I'll be back at work too next week and we've got the massive project of the house move this Summer. Come August our Caribbean Cruise adventure will all be a distant memory.  

Thanks to all who have stuck with it. I know it can be tedious listening to someone elses holiday. However, we'll always have a record to go with the photos and my sketches.