Celebrity Equinox - Caribbean 2023
WE STARTED 2023 on The Oceania Nautica, in South Africa. Fun trip and some nice memories. As I write this, we are 1/2 through the 3rd quarter of 2023. I may have a chance to catch up to 2024 by 2024! 😊Some may recall that I took the Nautica/South Africa Cruise out of order, with this post about the Nautica in January.
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| St. Kitts, West Indies |
AS WE have had in previous years, we had a pretty full cruise schedule for 2023. Nautica in January. Equinox in the Caribbean in February. And Apex in Europe again in June. As far as we can tell, things have (mostly) gotten back to normal in the cruising world. The demand is very high for cruising right now, and while I say "normal," I suspect some things will never go back to what we had before. But by and large, things are meeting our expectations of normal.
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| St. Kitts, West Indies |
WHEN WE did our Baltic Cruise back in 2022, I made a point of mentioning several new friends we made. We have actually made friends on every cruise we have taken since the O'Brien Cruise in 2013. Some more than others, but always new friends. But in some cases, that friendship has gone beyond just being "onboard friends," for various reasons. We have traveled with our table-mates from the O'Brien Cruise, and they have been to our home here in Florida a couple times. Recently, friends we met on our Italian Riviera Cruise on Celebrity Edge met us for lunch in Liverpool. We have stayed in pretty close touch with them since 2019. We expect that we will see them again, soon. I have gotten together with a friend we met on the Nautica Cruise recently this year. He and his wife are planning a move down to Florida, near us, and we will undoubtedly see more of them.
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| Bridgetown, Barbados |
THE BALTIC Cruise generated some interesting friendships. One couple, who we made a point of meeting up with pre-cruise, lives just about 5 miles north of us. We get together with them pretty regularly these days (and have even booked a cruise they are one in Japan in April of 2024). We have kept in touch with a Canadian couple we met, who have connections close by here in Florida, also. And, I mentioned Mike and Elaine, and promised you would hear more about them. Well, here we are. We stayed in Amsterdam's Movenpick Hotel for 3 nights prior to the Baltic Cruise. One of the reasons for choosing it was that it was close to the cruise terminal (literally next door). It also happened to be close to the Amsterdam Central Railway station and other public transportation. It was a pretty good spot. However, it was a fair distance to get to any restaurants, and after a couple of busy days, we decided to just stay close the night before the cruise. We went down to the Movenpick Hotel restaurant for a burger. We were seated next to a couple who were boarding a river cruise the next morning. The couple the next table down overheard some of our conversation, and as we left the restaurant, introduced themselves.
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| Our good friends, Mike and Elaine |
WE PROBABLY spent more time with Mike and Elaine on that trip than anyone else. We ran into them on the sail away. We ended up having dinner with them and our new friends, Jim and Flo. Pre-dinner martinis and dinner in the main dining room became kind of a "regular thing" for us with Jim and Flo, and after the first day or two, Donna and Pierre. Mike and Elaine joined us about 50% of the time for dinner, though Mike had a favorite spot before dinner: The Craft Social Bar. But off the ship, we did 2 or 3 excursions with them. I am a fairly early riser - and when on vacation, a breakfast person. I met Mike for breakfast every morning in the buffet. Needless to say, we got to know each other - and we got along well. Enough so that on an offhand comment by Mike one of the days, we decided to join them on a 12-day Caribbean Cruise on Celebrity's Equinox.
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| Celebrity Equinox - St. Kitt's West Indies |
UNFORTUNATELY, WE had some "family issues" right around the time of this cruise (all came out well). By the time the mini "crisis" arose, we were well past the deadline for cancellation. We knew we would lose the $ if we didn't make the cruise. The nature of the issue meant that we could not both leave home at the same time for an extended period. But one of us could. We reasoned that the $ was spent and one of us should use it. I would like to say we flipped a coin (or engaged in some other "fair" process). We didn't. My wife opined that I had "bonded" with Mike, and that I was more of a "social" person than she was. In a "solo" situation, she thought I would get more from it and enjoy it more than her. I am sure she would have been just fine, but ultimately, I took this cruise alone. Hopefully it will be the only time.
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| Bridgetown, Barbados |
IT ALL worked itself out. Our ship sailed out of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. We were mostly in the Southern Caribbean, so we were 2 days at sea at the beginning and 2 days at the end. In between, we were scheduled for daily stops in a few of "The Windward" Islands, of St. Kitts, Barbados, St. Lucia, Martinique, and Antigua. Having been to St. Kitts multiple times (and we will be there again in January 2024), and several of the others at least once, I was in my "Caribbean vacation" cruise mode. No real plans for "educational" excursions. Play it by ear. Mostly enjoy the cruise ship atmosphere, and the nice, warm, sunny weather. Even though we live in an near-Caribbean climate these days, there is just something about being "at sea," on a floating resort that makes it worth a few days.
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| Ferry to Nevis - St. Kitts, West Indies |
GOOD THING I was in that "mode," which means "whatever happens - happens." 😀The sail-away was pretty much as expected and most passengers were already enjoying the warm, Ft. Lauderdale weather by the pool by that time. As is normal for cruising, we made good progress toward our first port - St. Kitts - overnight. But in the early morning hours, a passenger emergency forced an unscheduled stop. The closest port to us was Nassau (which we had passed by during the early evening hours the night before), and we turned around and headed back there. All in all, we lost the better part of 1/2 day, which shortened our St. Kitts stop substantially. Which was fine. The weather was great and the ship was a completely acceptable spot to to enjoy. In my case, a few drinks and a cigar (or two). My only regret was that I have wanted to take the ferry over to the other island in the St. Kitts - Nevis small nation; Nevis. Aside from being the place where Alexander Hamilton was born, I am not sure what the draw was. Just that I wanted to say "been there, done that, I guess." The shortened stop put an end to that. Maybe next trip. For what it's worth, Mike and Elaine did a back-to-back the next week and did go there. Probably not as big a deal as I was thinking. Just another island.
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| Bridgetown, Barbados |
THE REMAINDER of the cruise stayed right on schedule. We got off the ship at every stop. Mike and Elaine and another couple cruising with them were very gracious to me, including me in all of their activities. We did dinner together each night. We went to a couple shows (not my thing usually). They had planned a beach day for St. Kitts and Barbados. I wasn't in the "beach" mood, so I did my own thing. I did go ashore in both of the places. But mainly there were shops - and trinkets. None of which I sought. After a walk around I returned to the ship and my favorite spot on the back at the Sunset Bar/cigar smoking section. And relaxed.
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| Castries, St. Lucia |
ON EACH of the remaining stops, we got off as a group of 5, walked ashore, and found a local tour. They were all reasonably priced for 5 people, and the vehicles a comfortable size. In each case, our drivers were local, and pretty knowledgeable about their country/island. We saw quite a bit of each island and learned a little history of each.
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| Castries, St. Lucia |
ST. LUCIA may have been one of the most interesting of the islands. Having been to a handful of Caribbean Islands over the years, I have developed a mindset of: "seen one, you have seen them all." While there is mostly truth to this notion, it is also perhaps a bit unfair. Each does have its own character, and each strives to maintain and showcase its own identity. Nearly all of them were originally settled by so-called "indigenous" tribes which came in a kind of series of discovery, conquest by the next tribe, etc. Until the Europeans (and then later, Americans) came. The importation of slaves really changed everything and those "indigenous" tribes have pretty much become extinct. The vast majority of current island residents are descendants of African slaves.
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| Castries, St. Lucia |
BUT THEY are all influenced by the (mostly) Europeans who have dominated those places. They all developed primarily for their agriculture (mainly sugar, but also bananas and other fruits). Most of that has now lessened significantly and the primary "industry" of the Caribbean has become tourism. They are all competing for tourism dollars and trying to entice the cruise ship industry to make stops there. Some have a much more developed tourist infrastructure. Others are more recent to "the game." St. Lucia is one of those late developers, and as such, has the highest crime rates, and the least of amount of "modern" development. But in and of itself, that has a certain charm, I think. You get a bit of a view of what it may have been like before the influx.
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| Colorful Fishing Fleet - Castries, St. Lucia |
DEPENDING ON how they were geologically formed (some from volcanic activity, and others more from winds and sand), the islands (especially the volcanic ones) often have a rainforest in the interior, and beaches on the exterior. Some of the beaches (generally on the Caribbean side) are sandy and nice. On the Atlantic side, they are often rugged with dramatic seas and waves. Almost every island has a somewhat substantial fishery. Not for export, though. These fisheries primarily serve the local population and tourism industry.
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| Church of the Sacred Heart of Balata - Fort DeFrance, Martinique |
MARTINIQUE WAS the one primarily French influenced island we visited. That made the history of the place a little more interesting. We were there on a Sunday, and many things were closed, but we did get a tour around the island. Poor perspective and unflattering light made it difficult to record well, but the Church up at one of the island's highest points was still a highlight for me. It was architecturally impressive.
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Fort DeFrance, Martinique
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I LIKED the view of the city of Fort DeFrance, with the touristy, but colorful, cruise port buildings in the foreground, and the unique steeple of The St. Louis Cathedral in the distance. It kind of speaks "Carribean" to me.
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| Depaz Rhum Distillery - Fort DeFrance, Martinique |
EVEN THOUGH it was Sunday, one thing was open for sure. Indeed, these places seemingly never stop. But we did. 😃Surprisingly, given the amount of time over the years that we have spent in the Caribbean, we have done very little rum (or rhum, as they call it there) distillery visitation. I am thinking we need to rectify that in the future! But one of the stops on our "tour" in Martinique was the Depaz Distillery. We walked through the facility, and then had a "tasting" in their shop at the end. It was mostly a self-guided tour. Not sure if they offered anything more detailed, but they weren't on that Sunday. I put quotations around "tasting" for a reason. Unfortunately, I found it a bit off-putting. For our (if memory serves me correctly) about $10 American entry fee, we were given the option to taste two different rums (additional tastes were another $3.00 each). And they were limited to two or three they had at the counter. In the shop there were a number of nice-looking bottles, but there weren't any open for tasting. What we did taste was underwhelming. I like a nice rum. Having driven to the port in Ft. Lauderdale, this would have been a good time to take a bottle or two back with me. But I didn't. I think that if they really want to sell some of their product, they need to work on their tasting set up. But that's just me. 😏
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| Devil's Bridge National Park - Antigua |
OUR FINAL stop was St. John's, Antigua. There is little doubt that Antigua is the most developed of our Caribbean stops as far as tourism is concerned. Antigua is a fairly large island, with some very dramatic Atlantic Coastline, and some beautiful, sheltered bays on the Caribbean side. In terms of "bang for the buck," this was our best "tour," once again negotiated after we walked on shore. There is a lot to see in Antigua, and we got a pretty good feel for it. My 4 companions were all doing the back-to-back thing (interestingly, on a different ship - Royal Caribbean), the following week. They would get off the Equinox on Saturday in Ft. Lauderdale, stay one night in a motel, and join another couple on their Royal Caribbean ship on Sunday for another full week with a virtually identical itinerary to the one they just finished. They considered a couple of our island tours to be "scouting trips," particularly for good beaches. All 6 are from the Buffalo, New York area, and in February, a week in the sun on beaches and cruise ship decks are the re-charge northerns need to get through the rest of the hard winters up there.
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| View from the interior and above of Castries, St. Lucia - Our ship in the background |
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| Another view from up in the interior - this time, Fort DeFrance, Martinique |
ANTIGUA WAS no exception. When we negotiated our tour, we told our driver we wanted to not only see some of the features of the island, but also check out a few of the beaches (not to stay, but to scout). The Devil's Bridge is a naturally excavated (by the often-violent action of the Atlantic) "bridge" of rock that extends out over an inlet on the Atlantic Ocean side of the island. The waves can at times be spectacular. Today, it is an Antiguan National Park. And what National Park would be complete without its own version of souvenirs?
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| Devil's Bridge National Park - Antigua |
THERE IS a bunch of Caribbean history here. In the 1600's, led by Christopher Codrington, a group of English colonists from St. Kitt's, moved to Antigua to settle, and to develop a sugar plantation using new and modern methods. Today known as Betty's Hope, the plantation serves as a site to visit. Our stop there was interesting and educational. It is a small and not touristy site, with a very modest entry fee. You can walk around the grounds where there are various pieces of machinery that was used in the operation. Kind of some fun photog - ops, too.
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Betty's Hope Sugar Plantation
Betty's Hope Sugar Plantation - Antigua |
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| Betty's Hope Sugar Plantation - Antigua |
ENGLISH HARBOR is another important historical part of Antigua. Said to be the deepest harbor in the Eastern Caribbean, it was also the site of Nelson's Dockyard, a British Naval Facility, first established in the early 1700's for the British Naval squadron of the West Indies. For a 3 or so year period in the late 1700's, the famed Admiral Horatio Nelson was put in charge of the British Caribbean Fleet and was headquartered at English Harbor. The Naval facility was later named Nelson's Dockyard after him. Today, it is surrounded by toney, upscale resort properties and restaurants, even while being a UNESCO World Heritage site. The area hosts a couple internationally known sailing events each year, and draws wealthy tourists - particularly yachters.
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| English Harbor, Antigua |
CRICKET IS Antigua's most popular sport - perhaps the most popular sport in the Caribbean. The West Indies Cricket team is internationally famous and competitive. Built for the 2007 World Cricket Cup, the $60 million Sir Vivian Richards Stadium - just outside of St. John's - is their pride and joy. Our driver drove us past it at the beginning of our tour.
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Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Stadium - St. John's, Antigua
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THE CRUISE was fun, as was the company. The final two days were spent sailing back to Ft. Lauderdale and the weather remained cooperative, so a last couple days were spent on the deck, in the sun. The only cigar smoker in my group, I spent much of my time on the back deck, while the other 4 spent their time mostly around the pool area. During my time on the back, I met a few other folks from other parts of the world, including Germany, Canada, and other parts of the United States. As always, you meet interesting and nice people on board - and sometimes make lasting friendships. I have an on-line connection now, with one of the guys I met back there.
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| A "back street" near the cruise port in St. John's, Antigua |
I HAD ambitions to finish up the 2023 cruise blogs by year end. I didn't make it. That is a good thing, because it means I won't soon run out of subjects to blog about. We spent a full couple weeks with our friends and neighbors, Bruce and Joyce, in April, in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and on the Celebrity Apex in the North Sea, with stops in 3 Iceland towns, Belfast, Ireland, Liverpool, England and finally, Dover, England. Those will come after the New Year. As noted above, we board the Apex again in just days for a short (for us), 7-day Caribbean Cruise with our dear and close friends, Paul and Linda. We have spent time with them in the Mediterranean on two different cruises in past years. They were fun-filled adventures, and we both have missed them. Paul is one of my few very best buddies, and we have so much fun together. I know all 4 of us are looking forward to this one. A first for us, we will be on the ship for the New Year. This one will be mostly about the ship - only three stops, and one of them St. Kitts again. We will get off, but more than likely walk around, have a few beers, and rejoin the ship. Fortunately, the Apex is an incredible ship - one of our favorites, with plenty to do on board. Since I won't be here to do so, I want to thank readers for hanging in with my (often "dad-joke-like") odd sense of humor and reading on; and wish all of you, along with my growing group of "cruise friends" a very happy and prosperous 2024.
Happy New Year!
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