FOR 2015, we cruised on the (maybe slightly upscale) Celebrity Reflection. It was Dejavu for my wife and me, as the Reflection was our very first ever Celebrity Cruise in 2013. As before, we really liked the Reflection (a good thing because we have since sailed on her 2 more times - in Europe). You may remember from my Celebrity blog post here, that The Reflection was the 5th (and last) and largest of the Solstice Class ships (now the middle class between Millenium, Solstice and Edge classes). With a capacity of just over 3,000 passengers, the Reflection still remains one of the largest in the Celebrity Fleet. Celebrity has 3 primary classes of ship: Millenium, Solstice and Edge. Though the Millenium class ships are the smallest and oldest (with passenger capacities of just over 2,000), they are in the process of being "re-fitted" one at a time. These ships still provide a nice, if not intimate cruise experience and we would not hesitate to cruise on any of them. But we mostly have cruised on Solstice - and lately - Edge class ships. Indeed, as far as we are concerned, you really cannot go wrong on any Celebrity ship.
With a capacity of just over 3,000 passengers, the Reflection still remains one of the largest in the Celebrity Fleet
THE CRUISE this time was slightly shorter (7-days), hitting only places we had become somewhat familiar with. But we were able to put a new "spin" on all three of our stops. Sadly, while we didn't know at the time, this would also be our last Caribbean Cruise for several years - finally making it back again in 2022. And I am pleased to report, we have one booked again for February 2023!
LEAVING FROM Ft. Lauderdale Cruise Terminal this time meant a couple of different approaches to the cruise. Our first day was an "at sea" day, as it takes a full day to cruise from Florida down through the Straits of Florida to Puerto Rico. Once again, San Juan, Puerto Rico would be our first stop. But this time, we ported in the Old San Juan Harbor, right in the middle of things. We arrived in the afternoon, and though we didn't leave port until later in the evening, it still made the day seem short. This one was destined to be a "beach and bar" cruise. We walked up to the Castillo San Crisobal and spent a couple hours there. Then we walked back down into town and did a mini-bar crawl on some of the back streets in old San Juan. There may have been a flight or two of beer involved. And I had to chat with one of the bartenders and taste some real, quality Puerto Rican Rum (nope - not Barcardi). 😏
BECAUSE WE departed later, I was able to go back off the ship for a short time after dinner and do some night shooting. Looking back at my archive, I probably made less photos on this trip than any other cruise. But night shooting is a rare opportunity, because we are usually at sea at that time. I mainly wanted to get a shot of our ship lighted up, so I didn't have to venture far. As you can see from the above picture, I was also able to make a night shot of one of San Juan's most famous icons (well maybe the entire Caribbean). 😈
ON THE following day, we made port fairly early in St. Thomas, USVI. In 2014, we had visited St. Croix, USVI for our first stop, and finished in St. Thomas. The main cruise port in St. Thomas is at the USVI capital: Charlotte Amalie. In the 2014 blog, I opined that St. Thomas seemed touristy, crowded, and kind of dirty to me. I am really not trying to "dis" St. Thomas - or even Charlotte Amalie. We have had some fun there and I encourage exploration of both the town and other parts of the island and come to your own conclusions. But after two visits and not having changed that opinion, it was time to "change it up." Our cursory research had told us that it was an easy day trip to nearby St. John USVI. Once ashore, the folks as the cruise port told us our easiest and shortest trip over was to take the ferry from nearby Red Hook, just 5 miles from Charlotte Amalie. You can see from the map that there is a ferry route directly from the cruise port, but it looks to be a much longer ride. Instead, we took a 10-minute cab-ride to Red Hook, bought our ferry tickets, and took the short, 15-minute ride over to St. John. The cab ride over to Red Hook was also very interesting. It is an area that might be worth exploring on another trip.
THE IMAGE here kind of makes St. John look like all the other Caribbean ports. But it's really not. In fact, although there are a handful of large, fairly high-end resort/hotel facilities there, most of it (over 60% is protected land) is actually the uninhabited, relatively unspoiled Virgin Islands National Park. It is a destination for longer term visits. More than a day trip. But for us, the day trip was what we could do.
THE BEACHES on the northwest part of the island are well-known and spectacular. Many have probably heard of Trunk Bay, Honeymoon Beach, Maho Bay and Hawksnest. On the windward side of the island, they can also be very rough, and are at times closed. One of our group had heard of a lesser-known, small beach, that was adjacent to a private resort: Caneel Bay. From the port area of St. John, we found a golf cart transport to Caneel Bay. From the parking lot of the resort, we followed a small trail down to one of the nicest beaches I have ever been to. But quite small and intimate. There was a nice, sandy area just to the left of the image above. Visitors here are advised to stay down in that part of the beach. I have heard stories of swimmers getting into the area in the image above and getting in trouble. It can be very dangerous with undertow and waves crashing onto inhospitable rocks.
BUT THE sandy area is gorgeous, and the water is clear and warm. I have the image here on my website gallery for stock photography, hoping someday some advertiser will see it and want to use it for a brochure or online site, selling the virtues of the Caribbean. 😀
IF YOU have read this (and/or the 2014 account), it will not come as a shock to you that after spending some time on this beach - and time in the beautiful and warm water (this is one of the few times I actually had swim wear with me), we took the trolley back to the port area and found - of all places - a local bar! 😁
OUR LAST port for this cruise was another familiar stop - St. Martin. I often describe the islands of the Caribbean - at least as they relate to tourists and tourism - as kind of homogenous. They are all warm, mostly sunny and beautiful. The water is turquoise, clear and warm. The local populace (for the most part) - at least those that interact with the visiting public, put out that "don't worry, be happy" vibe. To be sure, each island has its own proud history. But even there, there is a certain amount of "sameness." Mostly originally settled by the same ancestry (Arawak, Taino, Carib) and taken over (and in most cases, exploited) by one European country or another (and in a couple significant cases, the U.S.), populated by the African slave trade in the 17th - 19th centuries, and having turned largely to tourism as a major source of livelihood. We still try to do some cultural experiences, but often find ourselves walking around on shore (usually not venturing far from the very commercialized cruise port areas), maybe sampling a local beer, and then returning to the ship.
IF I had to pick a favorite Caribbean Island (so far), it would be St. Maarten/St. Martin. Perhaps the most diverse and interesting of the islands in the Lesser Antilles chain, St. Maarten is split roughly in half, mostly north and south; a result of the Treaty of Concordia in 1648, between the French (the north side of the island - known as Saint Martin) and the Dutch (the south side - known as Sint Maarten). It is the one Caribbean Island that I personally have an interest in maybe spending a full week on someday. It is well-developed, and the Dutch side has one of the busiest airports offshore in the Caribbean - Princess Juliana Airport, as well as a large casino, many restaurants, shops, beaches and some very nice beach resorts. Sadly, like many of these island "paradises," there is a very substantial poor population, mixed in the wealthy (mostly foreign or expatriate).
ON PREVIOUS stops here we have walked the downtown area of Phillipsburg and toured the French and Dutch side of the island. We have sat at the bar next to Princess Juliana Airport and watched the jets take off and land virtually within arm's-reach. This time was different. I mentioned at the outset that this was more of a beach and bar cruise vacation. Our sole destination on this day in St. Maarten was the beach. After a short water-taxi ride from the cruise port, we rented chairs and umbrellas, at Great Bay Beach, and made ourselves comfortable with a bucket of beer. Behind us was a boardwalk, with many beach-themed restaurants, bars and shops. Eventually, we would make our way up there to have lunch, some shade, and to take refuge from a hard "summer" thunderstorm.
ON BOARD the Reflection, life was pretty good, too. On at sea days, it seems like there is always some "organized" afternoon activities around the pool - the central outdoor area on the Reflection. I don't participate, but occasionally "people-watch" and take photos. I also had a chance to watch the refueling operations early one morning from our balcony.
THERE ARE always some stories on these cruises. We were still in the "set table" mode in 2015. On our first night in the dining room, we were escorted to our table, which looked like it was probably set up as a 10-person table. As we sat down, we were kind of laughing at how we would probably need to use our phones to converse. Obviously, we asked to be moved to a smaller table. Thinking they would find us one for the next night, we were a bit surprised when they had us stand up and a crew came out, removed the tablecloth to reveal a round piece of unfinished plywood. They took it away and underneath it was a perfect 6-top sized table! 😅
THIS CRUISE was probably what most of us from the cold north country dream about in February. Warm, sunny weather. Cold beer (or whatever might be your choice). Beaches, tourist shops, colorful Caribbean landscapes, and relaxation. What could be better? A myriad of things, personal commitments, illness, and eventually a world-wide pandemic, would conspire against this group winter cruising in the future. We would travel together other places and times, and always reminisce about the cruises. I hope we are able to pull another one together one of these days soon. We would not cruise in the Caribbean again until February 2022.
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