2015 - 3 - St. Maarten

THIS WAS our third time in St. Maarten, but the other couples' first. The concensus for that day was to find a spot close by on the beach, rent some chairs, and get a bucket of beer. As I have said in the past, we are not huge beach people. I can take it or leave it. My wife doesn't do well in the sun. So we don't do a lot of it. But in the last two circumstances, it worked out great, because we were able to get shade under an umbrella. And - its the company you keep. 😊 We enjoyed just relaxing in the "chill" atmosphere of a Caribbean Island. Fortunately for us, we had seen a lot St. Maarten on our first two trips here.

Beach in Phillipsburg, St. Maarten
Copyright Andy Richards 2015 - All Rights Reserved

THE SHIPS dock in the deepwater cruise port in Phillipsburg, on the Dutch (and south) end of the island. It is a quick 5-minute water taxi ride across from the cruise terminal to the main pier in downtown Phillipsburg. As you exit the pier, you can go either right or left. Interestingly, whoever was leading the charge decided to turn left. Down the beach in that direction is where all the "happening" bars are. Those bars face the waterfront, and there is a boardwalk that separates them from the beach, which makes a much narrower beachfront. Your feet are almost in the water.

Beachfront Bar - Phillipsburg, St. Maarten
Copyright Andy Richards 2015 - All Rights Reserved

TO THE right is a much wider beach in front of a number of highrise condominium buildings. From a sand and aesthetic view, I think it is the much nicer looking beach of the two. But in the end, we probably made the right call. About 2 hours into our day the skies darkened and a major dowpour with heavy winds opened up. We could feel the wind and see it coming and quickly abandoned our chairs to the attendant and walked just a few feet across the beach to one of the bars, which had a covered area - and a table for the 6 of us.

Beachfront Bar - Phillipsburg, St. Maarten
Copyright Andy Richards 2015 - All Rights Reserved

WE STAYED mostly dry, and ended up having some lunch, and in a short time the sun was out again. We would enjoy the ship's amenities for the next couple nights. We would have another full day at sea the next day before arriving back in Ft. Lauderdale in the early morning hours the following day.

As we now approach the end of 2025, this 2015 Caribbean Cruise was the last Caribbean Cruise we would do until after we came out of the Covid-19 Pandemic in 2022. Instead, we would turn our attention increasingly to Europe, including the Mediterranean, The English Channel, the Bay of Biscay, the North Sea and the Baltic. 2015 would mark our second cruise in the Mediterranean - on the Emerald Princess - more to come, so stay tuned. But in the meantime, Here is wishing all a Merry Christmas, a Happy and Prosperous New Year, and happy holidays to all those who observe one or more of the many holidays celebrated during this season!

2015 - St. Thomas - Again

Celebrity Reflection coming into St. Thomas
Copyright Andy Richards 2015 - All Rights Reserved

THIS WAS our third time in St. Thomas. We had seen much of the island, including Magens Bay 😎 last year. The concensus was to find a nice beach somewhere. We had heard that the Island of St. John was cool, and it was a short ferry ride over. There are ferries from the Cruise dock. But that distance was nearly 12 miles and they were estimating close to an hour each way. Aside from not really wanting to spend 2 hours on another boat, we had some concerns about getting back to the ship timely. We would be dependent upon schedules, weather, etc.

Red Hook to Cruz Bay Ferry - St. John, USVI
Copyright Andy Richards 2015 - All Rights Reserved

I DON'T remember who, but somebody suggested we take a 15 - minute taxi ride to Red Hook at the east end of the island and take the Red Hook ferry across. Only 2 miles and 15 - 20 minutes. That's what we did and it was a great call. The vast majority of St. John is a U.S. National Park - essentially uninhabited. But the western side of the island has a few nice resorts and some amazing beaches. The little community of Cruz Bay, where our boat came in, was very nice, with some nice restaurants and shops. Our quest for a beach was solved when a local told us how to get to a small, but public beach that was little known and therefore not overrun with tourists.

Caneel Bay - St. John, USVI
Copyright Andy Richards 2015 - All Rights Reserved

IT WAS probably technically part of the large and popular Caneel Beach, but it was separated by a natural rock promontory which was actually a rather dangerous spot, and which physically kept it separate. We had to help rescue a woman who got pulled into that area by the current. Fortunately, we got to her before she got into the rocks. We did hear that there are drownings in that spot occasionally. You can see from the picture above how rough it is. Looking out toward the moored boats is north from our little beach. The big beach is off to the right. To get to our little beach, we took the shuttle from the port to the Caneel Bay Resort. Rather than go into the resort, we got off in the parking lot and walked down a little unobvious path our "friend" had told us to follow. I lead us behind some of the resort cottages and down onto a very beautiful little sandy beach. There may have been 30 - 40 people there during the day. It was obviously "spot," though, as the catamaran cruises were all anchored out in front of it (though it looked like those participants who swam to shore mostly went further to the north to the much larger Caneel Beach. The photo below is looking west from "our" beach. It looks tranquil. I took both shots withing seconds of each other standing in essentially the same spot. What a difference a handful of feet makes!

Small Beach at Caneel Bay - St. John, USVI
Copyright Andy Richards 2015 - All Rights Reserved

THAT IS  the one and only time I have ever swam in the Caribbean. I have never seen such clear blue water. We were out up to our knecks and I could still see the sandy bottom clearly. We spent our afternoon there, had a few beers, and just relaxed. Surprisingly, there was a very small concessionaire and we were able to get an umbrella, some chairs, and some beers.

Cruz Bay Shops - St. John, USVI
Copyright Andy Richards 2015 - All Rights Reserved

WE HAD made certain we knew the return schedule of the ferries, and made our way back to Cruz Bay in plenty of time, with even a few minutes to walk around the little port area. An uneventful ferry ride back to Red Hook was followed by an easy flagging of a taxi and before we knew it, we were back on board and ready for our evening routine. Tomorrow we would do our (already) last port of call, St. Maarten.

Another Year; Another Caribbean Cruise

Back from yet another southern cruise - the Bahamas, so technically not the Caribbean, but close enough, it seems fitting that I jump back into our cruises with yet another Caribbean adventure. This time it is our third venture into that part of the world in 2015. I was our reunion with the Celebrity Reflection and we were excited to be back on her - little did we know that we would board her 3 more times in future years

Celebrity Reflection - Caribbean 2015
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WE MUST have decided, somewhere along the line, that we like this cruising thing. 😀 In February 2015, we went on our 4th straight Caribbean Cruise in 4 years. Later this same year we would do our "makeup" Princess Cruise in the Mediterranean.

Our 2015 Caribbean Cruise "Crew"
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WE MAINTAINED only 3/5 of the same crew as last year. In order to keep it within the one-week period that seemed to fit our schedules (we were all still working full time), we found a cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale that only made 3 stops. Sailing out of San Juan takes about 3-4 days at sea out of the equation. But we didn't want the hassle of flights in and out of San Juan again, and at this point, the stops weren't really that important. Once again, this one was going to be a mid-winter getaway for us in the sun.

I have probably spent more of my own time at the Sunset Bar on Celebrity ships than anywhere else aboard

MY PARTNER Bob (and Pam) and our friends Bob and Sue made up our group this time. The 6 of us got along swimmingly, and it was frankly easier to deal with the smaller group. This time we were on the Celebrity Reflection. It was - in a way - a homecoming for us. The Reflection was where it all started for us as far a Celebrity is concerned. This would be our second of 5 (so far) sailings on her. As much as we like all the Celebrity ships, the Reflection is a particular favorite of mine. Slightly bigger and newer than last year's Summit, there were just a couple amenities that we thought were a step up. In later years, we would ultimately sail more times on Edge Class ships than any other and Celebrity stepped those up yet again, for the most part. On the Reflection, my favorite haunt, and in my opinion, its best attribute, is the Sunset Bar. Unllike the Millenium ships, the layout of the Solstice ships (with its 16 decks vs. the 12 deck Millenium ships), allowed for a dedicated area on the rear of the ship on deck 15 for the Sunset Bar and ample seating area (there is a Sunset Bar on the Millenium ships, but it is part of the outdoor eating area of the buffet). As I described in our "Obrien Cruise" blog post, there was also the innovative "lawn" section, also on deck 15 aft. I have probably spent more of my own time at the Sunset Bar on Celebrity ships than anywhere else aboard. Sometime in the past couple years, someone had handed me a cigar on a golf course and I decided to smoke it. That began my - ever-since - cigar smoking habit. By the time this cruise rolled around, I had learned to bring my own cigars. Weather permitting, I spent every afternoon back there. Fortunately, my companions weren't averse to joining me for sunset and cocktails.

Sunset Bar - Celebrity Reflection
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THE MARTINI bar, of course, had neither moved nor much changed, and was our rendevous point for our before dinner drinks. We were still on the old "set time and  table" routine at that time (though it would be our last time). We had a nice table for 6 all week. As usual, the food was excellent. Partner-Bob had a routine of escargot every single night (carried over from last year's Summit cruise). Sue and I were the only wine drinkers, and our "package" got us most of the wine-by-the glass offered on board. You may recall the signature "wine tower" in the center of the dining room. According to our winelist, there was said to be $600 bottle of cabernet up there somewhere. We asked for a glass of it and our waiter just laughed. We had to try.

HUMOROUS ANECDOTE time (well, humorous to us at least). Cruisers know that in the ship dining rooms, the meals are usually in 3 courses: appetizers, main dishes, and desert. Celebrity wait staff takes the first 2 course orders and then brings a separate desert menu after the meal. Bob (the other Bob) was joking with the waiters. "Do you have an blueberry pie?" The are always very polite and very serious and they apologetically said they didn't and they didn't expect it to be on the menu all week. The next night, of course, Bob asked for blueberry pie once again. After the 3rd night, it became kind of a joke. On our next to last night, they brought us our desert menus. But they didn't give one to Bob. He looked at them questioningly, and they said we have a special desert for you sir. And - you guessed it. Blueberry Pie (a whole one). We all had blueberry pie the next night.

Castillo San Cristobal - San Juan, Puerto Rico
Copyright Andy Richards 2015 - All Rights Reserved

OUR PORTS of call this time were San Juan, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten. On all the shorter (one week or less) Celebrity cruises out of Ft. Lauderdale, it seems like San Juan is a port stop. But - presumably because of timing - it is always a 1/2 day or less. Many of the destination islands are a short sail from San Juan. But it seems like it takes a full day and 1/2 to get to San Juan. We stopped there again on our holiday cruise in 2024. In both cases we didn't get in to port until after 3:00 p.m., and departed usually around 9:00. That makes booking an excursion difficult. But this time we wanted to at least get off the ship. We knew the Fort was nearby and we walked up there for a while, and then back down into Old San Juan to do a short version of a "pub crawl." We stopped at a bar that had a stock of beers, and bought a "flight." Afterward, we found another bar down on the waterfront, just in view of the ship. I chatted with a bartender and got a short schooling on rums. I asked him to choose a good one for me and he poured me one. When we finished there, we headed back to the ship.

San Juan, Puerto Rico
Copyright Andy Richards 2015 - All Rights Reserved

I HAD never done any night shooting on a cruise. But I always bring a little travel tripod and this time, I decided to get off the ship again and go down on the wharf, to try to photograph our ship. The resulting photograph of our ship is the one I use here as the official blog "background."

EXCEPT FOR the sunset cocktails (we were on shore for the sunset this day), we followed our usual routine and met at the Martini Bar before dinner. Tomorrow we would be in St. Thomas, and this time we had a plan.