2026 - Barbados

Bridgetown Cruise Port - Barbados, West Indies
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

THE DAY after our stop in Antigua and the Antilles Stillhouse Distillery, our port was St. Lucia. We stopped in St. Lucia the last 3 Caribbean Cruises we were on. In 2023, the "solo" cruise for me, the 5 of us hired a taxi to take us on a tour of the island. A volcanic formation, the island is known for its own "twin peaks," the Pitons. Like a few of the other such islands, St. Lucia has a full - blown rainforest, some nice waterfalls, and magnificent, colorful flowers. But other than that, there really isn't an awful lot to see. The others in the group haven't even found a beach to their liking there on the last 3 stops. In 2025, our second stop there, we got off the ship and walked around the cruise port (which is old, small, and dated in comparison to some of todays newer port areas) for about 30 minutes and then got back on the ship. On this trip, we didn't ever get off the ship (we are booked on the Celebrity Eclipse in 2027 with an even larger group of friends and currently, do not plan to even go ashore). So not much coverage there. We will treat it as another "sea day," which will actually be fun, as there will be fewer people aboard, and a "laid back" atmosphere.

St. Lucia, West Indies
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

THE NEXT port, however, was Barbados. Our third time in Barbados, my wife and I had booked a tour of the island on this trip (the rest of the group went to the beach again). I didn't venture far from the port area in 2023, and that was my bad. Should have done my homework. For 2025, we did do some homework and we visited the Mt. Gay Rum distribution center, just adjacent to the cruise port for a tasting, which we thoroughly enjoyed. For these Caribbean cruises, most of the time our terminal port is here in Florida (mostly Ft. Lauderdale), so we don't have to deal with airlines and restrictions on baggage. So I have begun to buy stuff (mostly rum 😎) which we can rather easily transport home. Rum is the "stuff" of the Caribbean, and Barbados is where it all started, so what better thing to do than rum tasting. The Mt. Gay rums are universally good, and I routinely keep my bar stocked with them.

Mt. Gay Rum Distribution Center; Bridgetown, Barbados
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

THIS TRIP, having heard from our friends Todd and Heather about a tour company they used earlier in 2026 on their Royal Caribbean getaway, we engaged the Williams Tour Company and had a very nice tour around the island by our new friend and tour guide: "Rooster." We learned a lot about the island, including that is it one of the safer spots for tourists. Apparently, the current Prime Minister, who is serving her 4th term, made it very clear that anyone harrassing tourists in any way would face a severe penalty (imprisonment for as much as 5 years) and that has been a sufficient deterrent. Along the way, we made a stop at the local restaurant and shop (they appeared to be doing a brisk carry-out business, and also sold packaged liquor and a few "sundry" items). As we drove by the Mt. Gay distillery, I asked Rooster (a lifetime native of Bridgetown) what his recommendation for a Bajan (citizen of Barbados) "everyman" rum and he told me when they get together to play cards, etc., the guys all drink "Old Brigand." Sources on the internet tell us that this rum (not to be confused with their "Black Label" rum which is aged 3-5 years in old bourbon casks and is apparently readily available in the U.S.), while an inexpensive "staple" in Barbados, is hard to find anywhere other than on the island. Not knowing whether I would like it, I bought this small bottle (just under a pint). It is good (perhaps not the best I have had, but good). Had I known how difficult is was to get, I might have bought a full bottle (and will very likely do so on our 2027 return). A "Brigand," by the way, Merriam - Webster tells us, is a bandit or armed robber, typically operating as a gang. Or - in this case, a pirate. 😎

Old Brigand Barbados Rum
Copyright Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved

ON OUR drive around the countryside, we saw (from a distance) the actual Mt. Gay Distillery fracilities, several areas with "affluent" the residents (interestingly, housing costs for their better off residents resemble what we saw in the U.S. 20 years ago), a drive by of a couple of the beach resort communities (mostly along the Caribbean side of the island), and a drive-by of St. Nicholas Abbey. Not an abbey at all, the St. Nicholas property is a 400 - acre plantation who's anchor attraction is a fully restored, 17th century Great House. In addition, the site is a currenly working plantation and a craft rum distillery and tour includes the optional 60 minute Heritage Steam Railway through the plantation. Heather and Todd visited it on their trip. We didn't. but they thought it worthy of the (return for them) visit and we will book it on our February, 2027 Celebrity Eclipse cruise. We plan to take the short ride on railway this time, too. Even though we have been to Bridgetown on 3 prior cruise stops, we have yet to walk around Bridgetown's "downtown" area, but have been told there are some splendid examples of historic architechture, including the rather impressive Parliament Building. We have scheduled some time at the end of our 2027 visit to do some walking around and picture - taking of the downtown.

Adjacent to the Abbey is the Cherry Tree Hill Viewpoint, 
Barbados, West Indies
Copyright Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved

WITH OUR rum tasting and sightseeing experience, Barbados has become one of our favorite Caribbean stops and we look forward to another visit in the very near future.

2026 - Antigua

English Harbor, Antigua
Copyright Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved

THIS WOULD be our third time in Antigua. The first time was in 2023. I was solo on that cruise, joining Mike, Elaine, Terry and Deb for the first time. My wife was unavoidably detained for that one. Little did we know at the time that this would become an annual "thing." In 2023, we hired a taxi for a half-day tour of the entire island. My four companions were on a back-to-back and they used this to "scout" for nice beaches for their return the next week. It was a good overview of the feature - filled island. On our return in 2025, my wife elected to stay on board, and I walked off and around just the cruise port for an hour or so, making pictures. We have yet, a fourth stop planned in Antigua for 2027 with our friends Todd and Heather. We have a private tour with a fully scheduled day - primarily around rum (for which Antigua is know as the birthplace), on the Celebrity Eclipse.

Antilles Distilling Company - English Harbor, Antigua
Copyright Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved

OUR TRAVELING companions on the prior 3 trips live in Buffalo, New York (a/k/a "The North Pole" 😀), so this 12 - day respite from snow, ice and freezing temperatures is a true Caribbean Vacation for them. They spend most at sea days in the sun by the pool, and most port stops involve a trip to a nice beach. In 2025 and this year, that is what they did. We live on the Florida gulf coast which is like living in the Caribbean year-round. And as we get older, we are not really "beach people." So this year, I found another tasting experience, this one labeled a "spirits distillery."

Antilles Distilling Tasting Area and Distillery
Copyright Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved

ANTILLES DISTILLING Company was really tucked away down in English Harbor, near the southern tip of Antigua. English Harbor was Great Britain's Naval Base, commanded by the famous Admiral Lord Nelson, on Antigua. It was originally set up by the British to "police" the American ships that attempted to trade with Antigua. Today, there is a national park there, and also a quite "ritzy" development of wealthy residential housing and fancy hotels, bars, and restaurants. It is also the site of one of the world's most prestigous sailing regatta's: Antigua Sailing Week, with upwards of 100 racing sailboats participating and hundreds of other pleasure boats in the harbor area during the week. But the distilling company is northeast of the harbor, up in the hills in a quiet, middle class residential area. It wasn't easy to find as we wound our way up into the mountainside and it was only with the assistance of some very small, handmaid blue fish signs that we ultimately did find it.

Antilles Distilling Company - English Harbor, Antigua
Copyright Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved

THE COMPANY, much like Clifton Rums, did a lot of blending. But in this instance they did distill much of their base alchohol from different plant materials. Antilles does not make rum, choosing to stay out of that very competitive Caribbean craft. Instead, they concentrated on mainly clear liquors (basically vodka and gin or some variation), infusing them with locally grown (in their own garden) botanicals. It was a very interesting process. The liquors we tasted did not really appeal to me for the most part, though they did serve us the equivalent of a couple mixed drinks that were not bad. All the products were bottled, canned or otherwise prepared on-site and packaged in colorful containers, whose artwork was all designed by the proprietor's wife. We purchased one liter bottle of one of their "Lemongrass" spirit, which, when mixed with something like a lemon simple syrup, or perhap some Limoncello, made a kind of tasty cocktail. We also bought a coffee liquor that we will probably use to make espresso martinis one day. The site was beautiful, and it was another interesting day.

2026 - We Finally Made it to Nevis

WHEW! I think I have finally gotten us up to date! It was fun to reminisce about prior years; the good and the bad. 2026 would make a major change in our cruising (and travel in general), with two completely new experiences. One was a river cruise, so stay tuned for that. In the meantime, some new cruising for 2026.

Port Zante, St. Kitts, West Indies
Copyright Andy Richards 2014 - All Rights Reserved

2026 MARKED the second year in a row that we did multiple warm-weather cruises. In 2025, we did our now-routine mid-winter cruise in the Caribbean, and then added a last - minute, short Bahamas cruise in November. For 2026, we did two full Caribbean Cruises; one in February/March, and then again in April/May.

Port Zante; St. Kitts, West Indies
Copyright Andy Richards 2014

THE FIRST one was our routine cruise which - for several years now - has included our friends, Mike, Elaine, Terry and Deb. This one was our more typical 12 - day cruise in the Eastern and Southern Caribbean. Following the customary 2 at sea days it requires to sail from Ft. Lauderdale to the Caribbean, our first port of call was Basseterre, St. Kitts. This was our 6th time in this now very familiar port (we would stop yet another time later in April), and we felt like we had kind of "been there, done that." I always love the yellow port entrance, even if it is "touristy" and is the gateway to one of the most touristy cruise ports we have visited over the years. It is familiar, and it hasn't changed much since our first visit in 2014. We have had some fun times here, and I have some fun photographs from the past. But one of the things I had always wanted to do was to visit the sister Island of Nevis (the nation is technically "St. Kitt's and Nevis." It had always kind of intrigued me, since our second visit there back in 2013. Somewhere along the line, I learned that Alexander Hamilton was born and spent part of his early childhood there. Being a student of history, I thought it would be cool to say I had been there someday. But up until this cruise, it has still - for whatever reasons - eluded me.

Clifton Estate Nevis Spiced Rum
Copyright Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved

THIS TRIP, we finally decided to venture over there. We found a small rum facility on TripAdvisor (Clifton Estate), and I reached out to the proprietor, Mark Theron, and made an appointment for a tasting. Since we got home, I have ordered 4 5ths of his signature rum (pictured above). There is a U.S. distribution point here in Florida and you can order online. If you buy 4, shipping is free. I really enjoy it (it has some orange and spices flavor with just enough - but not too much - sweetness). I highly recommend it! 

"it all started with a drunken night in a bar."

MARK HAS an interesting story. Learning he was from Cape Town, South Africa, I asked how he ended up in Nevis. His answer was humorous: "Like so many stories," he said, "it all started with a drunken night in a bar." Sometime prior to 2010, he crewed on sailboat racing boats. Following a regatta win, Mark was celebrating with the owner and crew somewhere in Cape Town, and the owner asked him if he was interesting in being crew to sail the racing boat across the Atlantic. He might not have said yes in a more sober moment. 😅 Something like 50 + days in the sun without a bimini; these boats are not made for ocean cruising. But they made it intact to the Caribbean, and eventually, he made his way to his now home in Nevis. Nice guy. Fun tasting. It was just him and the 2 of us as the other couple he had booked had a weather-related change in plans.

Special Reserve Edition - Clifton Estate - Blended for celebration/installation of Alexander Hamilton Statue - Unfortunately, we couldn't buy a bottle of this one
Copyright Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved

GETTING TO Nevis, it turned out, was a bit of an adventure. Mark had suggested an (better) alternative to the Ferry at Port Zante. The large, ferry terminal there is a block or two from the cruise port and an easy walk. But over the years, I had been told by locals that it was undependable with its schedule, and often involved a rough ride. Most online sources note that it is a 45 minute ride (12.5 miles), and is fairly dependable, though it looks like only 4-5 trips a day, so scheduling around docking and all-aboard times will be important. Mark's alternative involved taking a taxi down to the southeastern part of the island to Reggae Beach, and taking a water taxi for the 2.5 miles over to Nevis. This was a short ride (5-10 minutes) and relatively calm waters. You can see to the other side. The taxi ride took 20 - 30 minutes, but you do get to see some of the island of St. Kitts (on our second trip in April, our tour of St. Kitts re-traced some of that). We used the "official" taxi stand in the yellow building and got a round trip from the port to Reggae Beach. Once at the water taxi, we again got a round trip ticket. One thing that was a new thing for us: there is a customs terminal at the water taxi port over in Nevis, and we had to pay a (I think it was $5 each) "fee" to go back to St. Kitts. Interesting.

Getting to Nevis was a bit of an [fun] adventure

ONCE WE were ashore in Nevis, there was a guy who was coordinating transportation who called us a taxi. Another round trip fare. Did I say it was a bit of an adventure - but kind of fun. Not sure whether we will do this again in 2026, or just take the main ferry from the cruise port area. Clifton Estate turned out to be a very small "shack" for a tasting room, with a small, but very modern and heavily built warehouse and distilling area behind it. As far as we have been able to learn, there is no real presence of distilleries in St. Kitts and only Mark's very small footprint in Nevis. There are several blending operations though, and a desire to rejuvinate the distilling industry. Mark's rums (and we learned, other liquors - primarily gin) are blended from base liquor he imports (the rum mainly from Antigua). He then uses his still operation to infuse them. His main product is Clifton Estate Spiced Rum. It is really yummy. Not like some of the sickly-sweet spiced rums we are accustomed to in the States. It is a sipping rum (and I can attest, it goes really well paired with a hand-rolled cigar). The best part is that it is readily available here in the U.S. and can even be gotten from Amazon in other parts of the world (not in the U.S.). The U.S. distributor is Clifton Estates, and if you buy 4 or more bottles, shipping is free. We bought 4 bottles as soon as we got home. We are down to 2. If you don't want to take my word for it, there is a good review here. Aside from the Nevis Spiced rum, Mark makes his "bread and butter" blending and bottling private label rums for several of the Nevis hotels and restaurants.

We bottled our own "pint" bottle, complete with the hot - dipping experience
Copyright Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved

WE TASTED several of his rums and his Nevis Gin (which is very interesting, with what I would describe as a licorice or anis touch to it). For a reasonable amount, we tasted and then we got to bottle our own pint, including the hot-dipping of the seal. Fun. We retraced our route. Taxi driver showed up as promised and all was well. After paying our fee, we reboarded the water taxi for the short ride back to Reggae Beach.

St. Kitts, West Indies
Copyright Andy Richards 2014

WE HAD one final interesting experience. Reggae Bay was not one of the gorgeous Caribbean Beaches we have seen over the years. Kind of dumpy, actually. There were a couple beat up shacks from which you could rent an umbrella and chairs for the day. Speaking with a couple young people who had been there for the day, they said the water was nice. We had about 45 minutes to wait before our taxi driver returned for us. It was very hot and we were tired. I walked into one of the shacks and asked if we could sit if I bought a beer. The lady was older and had - by appearances - had a hard life. But oh, was she nice! She said you don't have to buy anything. Come on in and go ahead and sit down. I did by a beer and my wife bought some kind of fruity concoction. While we sat there a group of what looked like college age kids came in from the beach to turn in their chairs. When she saw one of them on his phone, she asked him what he was doing and when he said calling a taxi, in a motherly, but stern way, she told him to hang up and she already had them covered. Then she came over to us and started quizzing us about our taxi. At first I thought she had some kind of deal going with her own drivers, but she explained that unlicensed taxis have become a problem there and the taxi drivers will hijack you for a "ransom" payment before taking you back to the cruise port. Our guy was licensed and had even insisted that I take a photo of him when he dropped us off. She actually knew him. But I was heartened to know that they looked after their customers. Our guy showed up right on time and got us back to the Ascent with plenty of time. Good Day!