Adventure of The Seas Photo Review 4/19/2015 (S.Caribbean B)

[Familygoboston]

Fantastic review. Thanks for posting.

 

Every kid needs to sleep on the balcony at least once - it is an experience not to miss. We took our daughter and a friend on a spring break cruise their senior year and they slept on their balcony until 3:30am, when it started raining on them! But that was 3 years ago and they still talk about it.

 

Love Calabaza. Great pics!

 

That's great!! She's that kind of kid too...I go into her room and she's on her floor or under her bed! She likes to sleep in interesting places and she loves the out of doors, so she really wanted to do it! Do it while you are young I say...if I had slept in a lounger I'd be in traction for the rest of the cruise :eek:

 

Your daughter is adorable and tell her the navy dress with the white hem (that she wore while posed near the Vespa) is fabulous and looks great on her.

 

So Kathy you are probably the only person in the history of cruising who can manage to log 9,000+ steps on a sea day! (Aside from my DH, who once was training for a marathon and got off the ship in Key West to log 10 miles and almost didn't make it back on time!)

 

What kind of device do you use? I log daily runs/walks on my ipod and 3 miles is equivalent to about 6,000 steps for me. I need to invest in a fitbit or something I can wear all the time.

 

Loving the review...carry on! :)

 

Missy, I got a Fitbit charge, and over all I like having it, but I think the next generation version will be better at measuring other kinds of activities I like to do like biking or kayaking. We did a whole day kayaking tour and it registered about 3 K steps, my biking an hour or more might only be 5 K, but zumba is almost always 7+ K, and I know my bike rides are more "work" (calories) from a cardio point of view. But in the meanwhile I just keep track for fun!

 

Also, I'm sure the totals for the cruise were much higher, because I took the Charge off each night before dinner (because I think it's kind of ugly) and we did stairs every night from show to dinner, to dancing under the stars to going up to Johnny Rockets for shakes (and negating all those steps:rolleyes:)

 

Thank you for the compliment on DD's dress, she got that one in Spain...she literally came home with a whole suit case of stuff we hadn't packed before she left!! :p I think she was emboldened by her pals on the exchange and also her host mom.

Her host family could not have been more lovely! The mom had only one son, (who treated like a dear sister to be protected in the way that only Latin men can ;)) and when DD would come "home" with a new outfit her pals had insisted she try, the mom (who spoke not a lick of English) would "ohh", and "ahh", the way moms and daughters do! I think she was delighted to have a "daughter" even just for a couple of weeks and they still send me emails begging me to send her back (...and many days I want too:rolleyes:)

Edited May 15, 2015 by Familygoboston

[Familygoboston]

Day 4 St Lucia

Excursion: Real St Lucia

 

Link to Real St Lucia: http://realstluciatours.com/

 

When we arrived in St Lucia, it was a mad house, it's a very small area for the cruise terminal area, and a tiny parking lot for cabs, we could see that the parking lot was already jammed with taxis. There were representatives trying to launch cruise tours (which were allowed to pick up their passengers inside the secure zone, while independent tour operators had to stay outside the secure zone)

 

We had selected Real St Lucia after doing some research about the island, it's large comparatively to other islands, and most of the "sights" are down on the south end of the island requiring a long, but scenic drive. We decided that with limited time, it would make the most sense to plan carefully what we wanted to do, and not get stuck doing the "canned" taxi tour with everyone else. We knew there would be three ships in port that day.

 

Unfortunately, even choosing a private guide, we ended up on too much of the "beaten path". Most of these attractions were on everyone's list, and I think next time, I'd hire a guide and say "where would you go if you wanted to avoid all the crowds?" Shane did a great job, but we just weren't proactive about saying (or knowing) what we needed up front, and he was doing his "thing", but it wasn't really the "thing" we were looking for. But having our own cab did allow us to punt on some of the "sights" mid tour and

restructure.

We were certainly glad we weren't on one of those mini buses the ships tours were using. We noticed that at every parking lot and turn out along the way, it's was just a complete traffic jam of cabs, and mini buses. Really the port authority should control that more carefully, because it left us with a bad impression, and that is probably NOT what the goal of welcoming cruise ships into your country is!

 

If you don't have a tour already planned, there is a kiosk (on the left in the photo) where you can sign up for one, and plenty of people were doing that.

 

Small outdoor terminal building with shops, cabs and tours:

 

 

 

 

 

We had a hard time finding Shane, he had a sign with our name, but we were waiting in the secure zone, and he had been banished to the outer zone (insecure?;) After someone who knew that was what was happening heard we couldn't find him, he personally led us to the outer area, and there was Shane waiting with our name, just as promised...he shot the security guards a withering look, like "see how confusing you are making this, you should let us in to get our clients!" Once we found Shane, he led us to a very nice late model, fully air conditioned vehicle.

 

Shane from Real St Lucia

 

 

 

 

 

Shane's philosophy and he really embodied that "hustle"!

 

 

 

 

Next up; onto our tour and a little about out Pack for a Purpose delivery!

[CruiseEm]

Day 2 Sea Day

 

Monday morning...I knew I had overdone it when:

 

my husband said, and I quote: "what does it say on the spreadsheet that I am supposed to wear this morning?"

 

Oops, that WAS NOT the point of the thing, what had I wrought?

 

Anyway, we managed to get dressed and get ourselves up to the Windjammer for dinner. We left this behind:

 

 

 

 

 

Our DD wanted to try sleeping out on the balcony at least once and she decided that the first night was the best choice since we'd be at sea the first day and she didn't risk waking up to find a whole dock crew grinning at her at dawn! She brought her hammock with her, but decided that the new loungers looked just as comfortable, so we never set up the hammock (also, we knew if we set it up we would need to take it down every time we left the balcony for safety's sake). After spending her first night out there , she decided she got too cold in the middle of the night and it was too bright too early, so she slept on the pullman bed the rest of the cruise! (we could have told her that, but she's at that age where she needs to figure these things out for herself! ;))

 

We returned to the balcony for the rest of the morning to read and in my case write my blog.

 

 

 

DD here. It was an awesome experience and super soothing to listen to the waves at night but it gets surprisingly cold, even when temperatures are in the 80s during the day!

[Teeara]

Day 2 Sea Day

 

He kidded that every M&M he does, has one person who when they introduce themselves by their screen name everyone goes "ohhh" and act like a rock star was a introduced. I'm embarrassed to tell you I was that person...as soon as I said "Hi, I'm Kathy....FamilyGoBoston", an excited murmur went up and it was open season for Tino to mock me (and I'm certain I deserved it!), my husband pretended he wasn't with me, and I might have blushed.:o

 

Ha! That was me in 2011 on our Adventure cruise only it was in in the waiting area at the Pan American Pier when I sat down to await boarding and started chatting to the guy next to me who said he was part of a group his wife was involved with. She said it was Cruise Critic and I said I was part of it and the roll call. When she asked me who I was I said "Teeara". She let out a cry and heads started turning and people sitting nearby came up to me saying they had been "reading" me. Yes, for one brief moment I, too, felt like a rock star. :D

[perfect match]

Loving your review, can't wait to read the rest. :D

[Familygoboston]

Really enjoying your photo's and information. Can't wait to see more.

Our cruise is almost a year away.:)

Thanks!, That's a long time to wait...but I started planning, I booked Calabaza more than a year in advance! It was our second trip and she even remembered us!

 

Loving your review, can't wait to read the rest. :D

 

Thanks!! I've got more to put up today! Hoping to move it along because we've got family coming in for graduation and I have to "unlink" myself from this PC!!:p

[Familygoboston]

Ha! That was me in 2011 on our Adventure cruise only it was in in the waiting area at the Pan American Pier when I sat down to await boarding and started chatting to the guy next to me who said he was part of a group his wife was involved with. She said it was Cruise Critic and I said I was part of it and the roll call. When she asked me who I was I said "Teeara". She let out a cry and heads started turning and people sitting nearby came up to me saying they had been "reading" me. Yes, for one brief moment I, too, felt like a rock star. :D

 

I think it's a 21st digital version of when my Grandmother or Mother would go to the grocery store and know everyone...some of us are unafraid to talk to anyone, all the time:o

 

On with St Lucia!

[Teeara]

I think it's a 21st digital version of when my Grandmother or Mother would go to the grocery store and know everyone...some of us are unafraid to talk to anyone, all the time:o

 

On with St Lucia!

 

Or walking into Market Basket on any given day and seeing all the people chitchatting in the aisles. :D

 

Loving your review and the pix. Looking forward to St. Lucia! It was the one place I was really looking forward to visiting. Oh well. Another cruise...:D

[Familygoboston]

Day 4 St Lucia

Excursion: Real St Lucia

 

For anyone interested in more photos, and a unique story, I wrote a blog post about our time in St Lucia, it can be found here:

 

https://kathleen-klofft.squarespace.com/config#/pages|/travel-blog/2015/4/24/flora-and-people-of-st-lucia-aboard-adeventure-of-the-seas

( I also recommend that when reading my review and looking at the photos, grab a map of the island, so you can visualize where we are)

 

When I researched St Lucia, I saw that there were several tour companies offering essentially the same tour...with variations. One was a drive down the South Western side of the island from Casteries to Soufriere with visits to all the major "sights" along the way and a drive back essentially the same route. Any tour company can offer the drive tour, and you can even arrange it with any cab driver after disembarking.

 

A variation of this is the drive, but adding a stop at the beach between the Pitons (formerly known as Jalousie Beach and now named for the resort there called, Sugar Beach) and a return by speed boat along the coast. If you want to beach/boat option you need to find a tour outfitter that has a boat, and we found they didn't reply to individuals, only groups, since they can sell their tour to the cruise ships and have no need to work with independents. If you want that option, you might be better off booking the cruise ship excursion, especially if there is more than 1 ship in town, because they all go to the same places!

 

And for us that was the problem with St Lucia. It has beautiful tucked away resorts for week long stays, but they seem to take all the cruise ship tourists along the same route, so we found it crowded and touristy, not authentic. I contrast this with our trip to Dominica (with Woody Dominica) where we did the "Off the Beaten Path" tour, and avoided all the usual tour places for equally (more?) beautiful, but quiet spots.

 

This was my mistake in planning our itinerary, I should have communicated that, instead, because we did want to see some of the traditional sights, but also do something off the beaten path, but we didn't express that. The parts of our tour where I specified seeing something others don't consider, ended up being the best parts, while the rest of the time, we were just following the herds! Shane was great, and when we finally woke up and said what we wanted he was very happy to accommodate us. SO the lesson is; just because the book says it's "must see" doesn't make it so, do what interests YOU!

 

We paid $65 per person, one of our cheapest private tours of our week, for the car and tour guide/driver, no "bar" although he offered us a local beer. We were to pay our own entrance fees at each place and for any snacks our lunch (had we chosen to stop) We sent a message to Janus who was excellent at returning our emails and we set up an itinerary that included stops at the fishing villages of Anse la Raye and Canaries, Diamond Botanical Gardens, and a hike at the Tet Paul Nature Trail. We chose to skip the Sulphur Springs (drive in volcano) having seen volcanoes and in Central America and not really liking the idea of a mud bath 5,000 of our new best friends. Shane knew EXACTLY what we had planned from Janus and was happy to accommodate our plans. Communication was excellent!

 

Our first stop was at the banana plantation where Shane explained that this was the main business outside of tourism. We noticed that this lush island had lots of agriculture businesses and we saw so many beautiful flowers and plants!

 

 

 

 

At this overlook, there were so many cabs and mini buses, we could barely park. There are folks set up everywhere with coconuts and selling coconut water or making coconut palm objects or seed bead bracelets and trying to sell them for a few dollars. (I'm fairly certain all of these cannot be brought into the US) It seemed about every person we met was looking for a tip. My best advice is carry a bunch of $1 bills and just pass them out if you want to photograph anything other than the view or talk to anyone, or just say a polite "no thanks" and move on.

 

I don't want to sound insensitive to the people of the islands and the level of differences in resources between the passengers and the people who live on the island. As a matter of fact, we actually participated in a collection of items requested by local St Lucian schools with "Pack for a Purpose" before leaving home, and made a donation while on our tour through the Sandals Foundation But so many tourists visiting at once might have created interactions that weren't pleasant for anyone. I was glad we were able to help in a tangible way, and not just with a few dollars here and there. (I talk about this more on our St Lucia blog post, comparing it to a particularly sensitive flower blossom we say at the Diamond Botanical gardens)

 

 

At an overlook to see the ship in port, it was too crowded to get a good shot, so we liked this shop instead! (anyone need a broom?):

 

 

 

 

The next stop was really interesting, but this is where we should have been more proactive...it's another overlook, and we would have much preferred to go down into the village and talk to the fishermen and take photos. Our guide Shane knew everyone we saw on the island, and greeted them everywhere with a toot, a flash of lights or a wave. He waved and shouted down to these guys and we should have taken advantage of our private guide to leverage those relationships and our time. We should have said "hey, can we go down there and say hi to those guys?" That's on us, Shane was just doing what he thought cruise passengers want!

 

Fishermen net fishing in Anse la Raye

 

 

 

 

 

The next "overlook" was the little fishing village of Canaries, most of the boats were already out at that point so it was pretty quiet down in the village, so we just took photos from the overlook.

 

Canaries

 

 

 

 

 

The last "overlook" stop was to the city of Soufriere, again very scenic with the Pitons in the distance.

 

A view of Soufriere with Pitons in the distance

 

[Familygoboston]

Day 4 St Lucia

Excursion: Real St Lucia

 

Our next stop was the Diamond Botanical Gardens. It was $7 per person. The baths could be used for an extra fee, and there were places to change nearby. The gardens are beautiful, really well posted, so you know what you are looking at and well kept. The falls are pretty, but there might be other "secret" falls in other places where would not have had to wait in line to take a photo, but they may not have formally kept gardens and the baths.

 

 

 

 

 

Gardner working in the garden, he showed us their composting system, which was very interesting, and we tipped him:

 

 

 

 

 

Flora

 

 

 

 

 

A variety of fruits on display

 

 

 

 

 

Baths and changing rooms

 

 

 

 

 

After hiking through the gardens, you end up at the falls, most of the larger tours, the guide joined the group and took the group through with explanations of all the plants, we self toured and found the signs easy to read and informative.

 

Diamond Falls

 

Edited May 16, 2015 by Familygoboston

[EMED2010]

Hi Kathy! I love all your reviews! I would like to do Calabazza one day and was wondering the cost. I have pulled up their website but I could not find what the cost of the snorkeling with turtles tour was.

[Familygoboston]

Day 4 St Lucia

Excursion: Real St Lucia

 

Our next stop was the Tet Paul Nature Trail the link can be found here:

http://www.soufriere.communitysaintlucia.com/tour/tet-paul-nature-trail/

 

Again, we paid our own way here, (about $7 pp) and used the local guide provided by the Tet Paul Nature Trail. This was our favorite part of the tour, first, there was no one else there!! Well, maybe another party of two, but not so that you noticed! Secondly, it is run by the Soufriere Foundation, a community organization that runs the trail and gardens around it. Many of the gardens are organic food and medicinal farms being harvested for use by the community. The guide was very knowledgeable and shared lots of interesting information! Lastly, the top of the trail is about 2000k above sea level and is between the two Pitons for an excellent view of them and the Sugar Bay Beach below!

 

 

The guide did a good job explaining the garden operations and about the invasives (eucalyptus and bamboo) and he showed us this Waxrose flower that we had seen at the Botanical Gardens with a sign, "DO NOT TOUCH" under it! We didn't know why, but our guide explained that the dramatic, waxy flower will grow and go to seed, so long as a human doesn't touch it. Once touched, it withers on the stem and doesn't form seeds! (You can see why I used this as a metaphor for not letting humans "kill" the islands by loving them too much!)

 

Waxrose

 

 

 

 

 

"touched" Waxrose plant:

 

 

 

 

We also saw some of these little sensitive plants, which are always fun and have a neat little defense to our touch.

 

Sensitive Plant:

 

 

 

 

 

Link to the sensitive plant in action video on Tet Paul Nature Trail:

 

 

 

 

 

Pineapple

 

 

 

 

 

The actual hike was only about a mile or so, but there are some stone steps, called the "stairway to heaven" that might be difficult to negotiate for some. But it is not difficult for anyone who looks at my step count each day and thinks, "oh, I can do that!" It's uphill for quite a while, but plenty of stops for views and to talk about the plants. It was starting to get cloudy and we had a few sprinkles while hiking. The clouds were hanging over the Pitons in dramatic fashion. Anyone who has visited mountains of any sort or lives near them, knows they can be "out" or hiding" under the clouds! We caught them just before they hid!

 

Petit Piton was to our right

 

 

 

 

 

Gros Piton was to our left, and just starting to "hide". Below it is the sign that designates the area as being part of the UNESCO World Heritage area

 

[Familygoboston]

Hi Kathy! I love all your reviews! I would like to do Calabazza one day and was wondering the cost. I have pulled up their website but I could not find what the cost of the snorkeling with turtles tour was.

 

Thank you!! Calabaza is not inexpensive...it is usually about $110 pp. We had a discount for being 2nd time guests. We found the same Royal Caribbean excursion was called BBC3 Swim with Turtles, Shipwrecks, Snorkel and Beach, it's listed as $79.75 pp and is only 4 hours, no food, and a rum punch. (note the shipwrecks can't swim ;))

 

We found it well worth the extra 30 dollars per person, but if you want to see turtles (she sees sea turtles by the sea shore? ;)) on a budget, you could go the more crowded route, less luxe and still see them for less! There are also other well reviewed independent 12 person cats that do a similar excursion, but I think they are priced pretty competitively.

[EMED2010]

Thank you!! Calabaza is not inexpensive...it is usually about $110 pp. We had a discount for being 2nd time guests. We found the same Royal Caribbean excursion was called BBC3 Swim with Turtles, Shipwrecks, Snorkel and Beach, it's listed as $79.75 pp and is only 4 hours, no food, and a rum punch. (note the shipwrecks can't swim ;))

 

We found it well worth the extra 30 dollars per person, but if you want to see turtles (she sees sea turtles by the sea shore? ;)) on a budget, you could go the more crowded route, less luxe and still see them for less! There are also other well reviewed independent 12 person cats that do a similar excursion, but I think they are priced pretty competitively.

 

Thanks! We always book tours on our own. We are not a fan of crowds!

[Familygoboston]

Day 4 St Lucia

Pack For a Purpose

 

So that brought us to the end of our day out and the need to drive the 45 minutes or more back up the coast to Casteries. Casteries, is a busy city, with not a whole lot of "tourist" areas, although it's very close to where the ship is docked, so you can easily walk around.

 

On our way back, we had arranged to stop at the Sandals La Toc to drop off our Pack for a Purpose collections. For those not familiar with Pack For A Purpose, you can find the link to it here:

http://www.packforapurpose.org/

 

We had heard of this organization, and had never had the extra space to "pack" before. But this trip since DD wanted to dress up on board, we had larger bags and room to "pack". I looked on the website and found several of the islands in the Caribbean had created targeted wish lists of items they'd like visitors to bring, and PFP partners with the Sandals Foundation to provide a place to drop the items and for them to be equitably distributed among the deserving organizations. In our case, we collected for preschools, which is perfect for me, because I work at a preschool myself!!

 

Here is our collection of wishlist items before the trip for Pack for a Purpose.

 

 

 

 

And here we are in St Lucia with our backpack full of supplies to leave at

Sandals on our way back to the ship.

 

 

 

 

During our trip, I blogged about this as part of my St Lucia post, and had an email waiting for me from the PFP founder when I returned home! We had a wonderful phone call, and she invited me to submit a blog post on her site about my experience as a PFP participant, specifically with the perspective of a cruise ship passenger. My post should go "live" on her site next month, and I will post it here as soon as it does! But the long and short of it is that doing this as part of a cruise itinerary was easier and more rewarding than I expected! I would encourage anyone who isn't too fussed about bag fees or number of bags, to try it out!

[Familygoboston]

Oops! I realized I gave a bad link (goes nowhere) for the St Lucia Blog- if you are interested in that the working link is:

http://www.goseeittravel.com/travel-blog/2015/4/24/flora-and-people-of-st-lucia-aboard-adeventure-of-the-seas

 

That should work better- darn, how I wish there were edit functions on this board:( It's just impossible to get every detail perfect the first run through when sharing this much info! (really it's more like the 4 th edit by the time I post it! )

Sorry about that!

[briceand4]

Thank you so much for the pack for a purpose information. I am very excited to take some school supplies to Nevis during our St. Kitts port day. We were already planning on taking the ferry from St Kitts to Nevis ($7 each way) and now we have something great to do.

[kleo30]

I am really enjoying your review. Thanks.

[Familygoboston]

Thank you so much for the pack for a purpose information. I am very excited to take some school supplies to Nevis during our St. Kitts port day. We were already planning on taking the ferry from St Kitts to Nevis ($7 each way) and now we have something great to do.

 

Excellent! Be sure to post with the sign, because PFP will see it and people do see it and then they "pack" too and it just pays it forward! One thing I'd also recommend that we forgot to do, is if the drop off is at a Sandals, try to phone ahead of time and speak to the exec on site at Sandals who manages the PFP donations. We have a funny story that will be on the PFP blog about the security guard and intern not knowing quite what we had planned - "gee pardon us while we drop this unattended back pack on your property" didn't go over well with security! Once they spoke to the exec in the office, she came right out to thank us! I probably could have smoothed the way a bit if I had let them know what day we were coming, and to expect us!

And as you read in my blog- we learned that these things are appreciated! :D

 

I am really enjoying your review. Thanks.

 

Thanks Kelly! Hope you are going soon, it's a really fun crusie with so many ports and a very lively and engaging crusie staff!

[Familygoboston]

Day 4 St Lucia Back on Board

 

Because the only thing we had eaten all day was a few plantain chips and a banana, we were ready for a late lunch at 3 PM when we got back to the ship. We headed up to the WJ and filled our plates! We had a nap and blogged a bit on the balcony and then got cleaned up for dinner.

 

We decided to forgo the headliner show called “It Had to Be You” ; described as “The Music of Frank Sinatra and Judy Garland”... we all nixed this one and went to see our photos from Formal Night instead. The ice show was also running 2 shows at 7 and 9 PM, but we had already been.

 

Dinner Day 4 Shiitake menu

 

 

 

 

 

After dinner we went to Johnny rockets for shakes

 

Our wonderful waitress, from Columbia!

 

 

 

 

She made these cute little straw paper designs for us!

 

 

 

 

 

Who wants to be a cruise character?

 

In the years DH and I have cruised we have often been on cruises where over the course of a week, a few passengers become what we like to call “cruise characters”. If you’ve cruised before you know what I mean…the couple at Love and Marriage who tells an outrageous story that should not only be kept secret from strangers on a cruise ship but especially from their in laws (or worse kids!) sitting in the front row!! You know, the guy with the amazing facial hair and giant belly who wins the belly flop contest, the guy who does the whole quest in his tighty whities…you know… cruise characters…everyone sees them on their cabin tv and cruise in review video! Everyone sees them around the ship and says “hi” !

 

Well, in our cruising history we have endeavored not to be “that guy”, but we don’t judge! And it’s a good thing we don’t because our daughter, the one who barely spoke to strangers before she entered high school, the one who worries about doing everything just right, who gets's straight A's (except chemistry, more on that later) the one who looks so demure in the picture by the Vespa, THAT daughter became…a Cruise Character!

 

We decided to attend the “Who Wants to Feel like a Millionaire” game show at 9 PM. We sat inconspicuously near the back, far from the action. The show was run by Cruise Staff, primarily Eric from Mexico. The premise of the game is based on “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” with questions asked, doubling the money from $1,000 to 1 MILLION dollars, you can refuse the next question and walk away with all your winnings or keep answering correctly to win the BIG prize. Of course Royals version starts with a keychain and ends with a BIG prize of a tote bag, so the stakes are kinda low. Luckily, even the cruise staff recognizes the lameness of their prizes and it’s renamed “Who wants to FEEL like a Millionaire” both to avoid licensing fees and to more accurately represent the level of tchokes on offer to the winner!

 

After someone flamed out in round one, the people near us were exhorting DD to go “try out” (correctly answer a buzz in question by being the first to yell “tequila”, it's enough to make any mother proud) She got into the chair with Eric and the questions and prizes started coming. She had phone a friend, ask the audience and 50/50 life lines. She worked her way through the questions winning; a key chain, pony tail holders, a highlighter, a notebook necklace (have we seen ANYONE actually wear one of these?) luggage tags, visor, a disposable “part-paper-part-cloth-bag-you-get-for-free-at-every-convention-you’ve-ever-attended” tote bag and was finally at the one “gift” we knew she wanted- the Royal Caribbean Travel mug! We knew if she won the travel mug, she would retire a winner; like her parents she’s a calculated risk taker, not a gambler, and she knows when she’s got her deal and when to walk away.

 

 

 

 

 

She knew when to use which lifelines (years of playing strategy games with her dad paid off) and she infuriated him when she used her phone a friend to phone mom instead of her much smarter dad!

 

(how does phone a friend work? You ask…well here’s how. A member of the cruise staff holds up a thumb and pinky to their ear, and says bringggg, bringgggg, bringgg, in the way that only a highly trained cruise staff professional entertainer can, and walks over to the area where the rest of your party sits and they ask the “friend” to “answer” the phone and help the person answer the question.)

 

At this point people were pulling for DD, (newly minted cruise character) she had made it further than anyone, and they may have been calling out the answers (in clear violation of the rules, or possibly because they were too darn drunk to understand the rules, we can’t be sure!) In a tense moment the travel mug prize is up, the question was asked…She was out of life lines!

 

Which is the biggest sea? (google it!) She is good at geography, and probably would have got the answer right, but the crowd is whispering it (in the way that only really drunk people who think they are whispering and in fact are kinda shouting can) so with a little help from her new friends, she gets it right! (all right, all right, I’ll tell you, it’s the South China Sea)

 

She wins the travel mug, which we, as her parents know, means this is as far as she is going. We know this is what she wanted all along, and she’s going to walk. With such nefarious cheating going on, Eric decides he is not about to part with the ultimate gift, the real made-of-canvas, tote bag (not the made of “part-paper-part-cloth-bag-you-get-for-free-at-every-convention-you’ve-ever-attended” tote bag which she had already won). He announced that if she does not get the next question right, because of the cheaters, she will lose everything but the key chain.

 

He asks if she will go on and we already know the answer; we know she is too smart to trust the already liquored up crowd in the Imperial Lounge to risk losing her sought after travel mug! She declines to go on, leaving a victor- the last question revealed (just for fun) is a chemistry question…I think whew, good thing she didn’t go for it! (remember the C in Chemistry?) But she told the crowd she DID in fact know the answer, the chemical formula shown was for Plaster of Paris, which she had used as art camp counselor! There was mad cheering and everywhere she went for the rest of the week people said “hey, you won the Millionaire game!” and she had become a bona fide “cruise character” !

 

 

 

 

 

After that excitement we went to the pool deck for the pool party and they were putting out a nibbles and dessert "midnight" buffet under the stars. Unfortunately, everyone was waiting around for food and no one was dancing, and having had too much excitement for one night, we called it a night!

This fella was waiting for us in the cabin. Get a good look at those sunglasses because it’s the last time you or I will ever see them, but that’s a story for St Martin!

 

 

 

 

Steps: 7991 Floors: 26

[Familygoboston]

Day 5 Antigua

 

We were awoken by noisy birds in port and noticed that several Frigate birds were swooping and “dive bombing” the ship; clearly seeing it as a “challenger” relocating to “their” harbor!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The dockmen at work…is this boat coast guard approved?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were the only ship in port and it made for a much more pleasant day!

 

Adventure in St John’s Antigua

 

 

 

 

 

Heritage Quay- there are plenty of uniformed taxi drivers you can hire for an island tour here, or make arrangements ahead of time and meet a guide at the entrance to the Heritage Quay.

 

[Familygoboston]

Day 5 Antigua

Excursion: Antigua VIP Safari Tour

 

Link to Antigua VIP Tours: http://antiguavipsafaritours.vpweb.com/About-Us.html

 

My blog post about Antigua is here:

http://www.goseeittravel.com/travel-blog/2015/4/28/antigua-its-all-about-that-boat-with-apologies-to-meghan-trainor-aboard-adventure-of-the-seas

 

We went to breakfast in the windjammer, and disembarked to meet Keisha, our guide from Antigua VIP Safari Tours, she was waiting just outside the Columbian Emerald store in Heritage Quay with a sign with our name on it.

 

Sean Weathered, the owner, responded promptly to our requests for a tour and worked with us on price, when we asked if he could do better if we would not be needing an on board bar (which he provided anyway, but we didn't use it) Keisha is Sean’s sister and was a wonderful ambassador for her country, knowledgeable and went out of her way to customize our day to be what we wanted and I think we laughed all day long!

 

We planned a private, independent tour in her minivan for 5-6 hours and the price included the on board bar, lunch, and entrances to any facilities that charged (I should note, only Nelson’s Dockyard appeared to have an entrance fee, the rest all appeared to be free of charge. We did see people self driving, if you feel comfortable driving on the left, you could rent a car to do this.)

 

We started out of St John and headed to the East coast (Devil's Bridge), then went South through the interior to English Harbor (labled Falmouth on this map where Nelson's Dockyard is) and Shirley's Heights, lastly, we traveled along the Fig Tree Road (which is known as the desert island's "rain forest") and worked our way up the West coast back to St John, with a stop at Keisha's favorite local beach to cool off before heading back to town on Market street, where the whole island comes to shop.

 

Old Map of the Island

 

 

 

 

Our first stop was Betty's Hope, a partially restored sugar plantation and museum. I liked the way Keisha managed the tour, she would explain a little history, but also let us wander a bit. She was also very good at putting the history in context, for instance explaining that many Antiguans today don't like to work in agricultural businesses because of a stigma attached to it from the days of their great grandparents living and working as slaves on the island, so it's difficult to find fresh local produce on the island.

 

Betty's Hope Plantation is restored and has a small museum that recalls the agricultural past and the lives of the slaves who worked the plantations.

 

 

 

 

 

Windmills used to power the machinary

 

 

 

 

 

Natural lawn mowers

 

 

 

 

 

The machine that crushes the sugar cane

 

[Familygoboston]

Day 5 Antigua

 

I forgot to add this link of video of the birds greeting Adventures arrival in St John Antigua!

 

[Familygoboston]

Day 5 Antigua

Excursion: Antigua VIP Safari

 

Our next stop was on the East Coast, Devils' Bridge a natural land bridge out on a peninsula where the Atlantic and Caribbean seas meet. The pounding sea will eventually wear this limestone bridge away, but for now, it's an interesting and dramatic sight.

 

Devils Bridge

 

 

 

 

 

link to video of the Devil's Bridge:

[Familygoboston]

Day 5 Antigua

Excursion: Antigua VIP Safari

 

Nelson's Dockyard

 

After a drive down through the center of the island, which went very quickly while Keisha wove her tales as she drove, we arrived at English Harbour, where Nelson's Dockyard is located. Lord Nelson was a famous (infamous) admiral of the English Navy, which ran a dockyard to repair boats (especially after the arduous sail from Europe or to prepare a ship before the return)

 

 

 

 

 

The dockyard was part of the infamous "triangle of trade" which included bringing ballast cobbles, manufactured goods and spices from England, first to Africa, where a load of human beings were taken as slaves and then brought to the Caribbean...all of that (and the unfortunate people) were sold and the ships were loaded with molasses and sailed the final leg of the triangle back to Europe. Today the dockyard has been restored as a "living" National Park and has an excellent museum which describes it's history and beautifully restored buildings. There is a small entrance fee for visitors, and you can get a map for a self guided tour or have a local guide give a 15 minute orientation and explore on your own afterwards.

 

 

 

 

 

Most of the buildings in the Dockyard are still used for "dockyard" purposes, albeit for the yacht crowd today. There are still marine related businesses as well as restaurants and shops to cater to the well heeled yacht owners who land here in the winter season.

 

 

 

 

Sail repair shop

 

 

 

 

Craft shop

 

 

 

 

 

 

The week we visited they were getting things ready for Antigua Sail Week, a week long season stretching yacht party with races and other activities. We saw lots of tents being erected to host sponsor parties and lots of this...

 

 

being applied by the crews of these mega yachts in advance their owners coming aboard for parties and races. We even saw one yacht with our summer hometown on it's transom! Although the town is well known in boating circles, it's actually a very small town, so it was a real coincidence to see it here! We met the captain and plan to go see it in the local harbor near our home this summer.