Barbados

“More English than England sheself,” Barbados is not one to hide the lasting influence of colonial rule.  For more than three centuries, the island was under the British rule, making it one of just a few Caribbean islands to be continuously controlled by a single nation .  Here, amidst sandy beaches, azure sea, and lush tropical fields, English tradition mixes with the African heritage brought by sugar plantation slaves, to create a unique and vibrant Bajan culture. While tea is enjoyed every afternoon and cricket is played as the national sport, roadside fruit stands and fried fish stalls can be found all over the island.

We have toured the island quite extensive while visiting here twice before so today’s plan was to hit the beach again, but not until we did a load of laundry.  Best to do that while most people are on shore touring.  So after our chore was done, we hopped the shuttle bus that takes us from the ship to the port entrance.  This is a working port and no one is allowed to wander about outside the ship so shuttle buses are provided. 

The port is an industrial port

We then got a taxi and went to Carlisle Beach just a few miles south of the port.  $15 got us 2 chairs and an umbrella right at the ocean’s edge.  It was another relaxing day as we people watched, bobbed around in the warm waters, and walked up and down the length of the beach.

Beautiful white sand beach

Lifeguard and security police at the beach

For our Grandson!  We miss you!!

 

We’ll be watching the ship leave Barbados this evening from the balcony of our Colorado neighbors.  Good times with good friends.  Next port is Trinidad and that is the start of all new ports for us as we near South America.

 

Antigua

Christopher Columbus landed on Antigua (pronounced An-tee-ga) in 1493 and named the island after the Church of Santa Maria de la Antigua in Seville.  In the 18^th century the British Royal Navy chose Antigua as its base and it ultimately developed into one of Great Britain’s most important military bases in the Caribbean.  When we visited the island in 2009 we pretty much covered the military siteseeing spots as we had explored Nelson’s Dockyard, named after the legendary Admiral Horatio Nelson.

So, this time we thought we would see the other thing that Antigua is known for…..365 beaches…one for every day of the year!  We joined a small group from our Cruise Critic rollcall and headed out for a day of relaxation on a beach. 

 

It didn’t all go as planned as our group had a hard time finding our driver (there are 4 ships in port today), and then we find out that the beach we were originally scheduled to go to was doing renovation of its facilities so another beach had been selected by the driver.  As a result, we headed in a different direction and what little siteseeing of island spots we thought we would see, we did not.  Oh well, we had seen them before.  This was also supposed to be a day where we would be able to snorkel.  There was little to see snorkeling at this new location, so we decided to skip that.  Instead we bobbed around in the ocean waves and lounged around under the scattered clouds, occasional raindrops, and sun. 

 

Weather changes very fast on these islands as the winds carry the clouds and rain away as fast as they come upon us.  Actually, the sun is extremely hot when it is beating down and the occasional clouds are a welcome! 

This is a very colorful island.  Houses are painted in every color of the rainbow.  Some of them are kept in very good condition; others, are not!

 

We enjoyed our relaxing day in Antigua and as we set sail, we look forward to our next island….Barbados!

 

St. Thomas, USVI

 

 

After two sea days, we arrived at the port in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, USVI.  We’ve been to St. Thomas on many of our previous cruises and usually leave the ship and head to St. John, one of our favorite USVI.  But, the ferry schedules didn’t work too well with our ship’s time in port so we decided to stay in Charlotte Amalie and take the sky ride (gondolas) up to the top of the “mountain” overlooking the bay. 

Six ships in the harbor

 

We stayed on top for quite awhile just enjoying the view and watching rain squalls move through the area.  There are a total of 6 cruise ships in port today, with a total cruise passenger count over 24,000 people.  We docked next to the Disney ship, Fantasy.  First time we have been up close to one of those ships.  This one has Dumbo riding on its aft. One can see many kids scampering across her decks.  Sightings of children on our ship so far numbers TWO.   LOL!  Across the bay at the Crown Bay dock, sits the biggest ship of all, the Royal Caribbean Oasis of the Seas.  Next to it a Carnival ship, which looks so small in comparison.

Oasis of the Seas next to a Carnival ship

Christopher Columbus visited and named these isles in 1493. Curiously, except for a rare shipwreck victim or pirates, for more than 200 years, they remain uninhabited.  The swashbuckling privateer Sir Francis Drake, enroute to defeat Puerto Rico and a bout of fatal dysentery, used the calm waters of Magens Bay to lie in wait for Spanish treasure ships.  And buccaneers, Blackbeard, Bluebeard, Captain Kidd and other colorful marine marauders called St. Thomas if not home, then a pirate safe harbor.  Creating one of the world’s largest slave enterprises, the Danes colonized the islands in 1666.  Hundreds of thousands of slaves were brought from Africa to be shipped to America and other parts of the world.  While the Danes were the first European nation to abolish slavery in 1802, the practice was in effect until 1849.

We are enjoying our time on the ship.  Have met many Aussies.  I hear the ship is 30% Australian passengers.  They are the friendliest bunch of people and we have enjoyed sitting and chatting with several of them.  This afternoon we met our stateroom neighbors—just kind of all met at the same time outside the cabin doors in the hallway.  Four are from Australia and two are from Canada.  I’m sure we’ll be seeing and visiting with them often.

Embarkation Day

As stated earlier, this is our longest cruise to date.  I  will also state that this was the longest embarkation we have ever experienced…more on that in a  moment. 

Jen and Donato drove us to Port Everglades to board the Grand Princess.  First, though, we tried to get some Skype time in with Lisa and Enzo back in Colorado.  We decided to climb up the bridge that overlooks the port and show Enzo all the ships docked in port.  We counted at least 6 big cruiseliners, including the biggest of them all, Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas. 

Skyping with Lisa & Enzo

On the bridge overlooking the port. 

We had received notice a few days ago that the Grand Princess would be docked at Pier 29, instead of Pier 1.  That turned out to be the start of a long boarding process.  We dropped off our luggage and saw the line to check in winding around the port area.  We have always been able to just walk right into the terminal.  Not today!  We snaked our way outside the terminal for about 90 minutes before reaching the lines inside the terminal.  It was another 40 minutes and we were finally on the ship.  This was most unusual and we wondered what had happened to cause such delays in boarding.  According to the Princess staff, being way down on Pier 29 means we were at the end of the line for port employees and there were very few people assigned to security and to check everyone in.  Oh, well….we got on board and sailed away just 2 and ½ hours late.

 

We enjoyed a sail-a-way drink with our neighbors, Bob and Tissy.  They live just down the block from us in Fort Collins and this is the 3^rd cruise we have been on with them.  They are great fun to cruise with!

Our first sea day was a relaxing one after the Meet and Greet session with our Cruise Critic roll call.  We number several hundred and it was a time to meet the people we have been corresponding with and will be sharing tours with over the next few weeks.  The afternoon was spent on the deck, in a lounge chair, watching the sea drift by, reading a good book.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Bon Voyage

Well, today's the day we board the ship.  We have had a wonderful past few days visiting with our daughter, Jen, and boyfriend, Donato, in Florida. 

Now it's time to repack the bags and head for the ship.  Our first two days will be sea days and we will be meeting many of our Cruise Critic friends that we have met online through the rollcall forum for this cruise.  It will be nice to put faces on the names we have corresponded with for almost 2 years during the planning of this cruise.  Our "Meet & Greet" with this group totals over 400 people.  We will be going on privately arranged excursions at the ports with many of our Cruise Critic friends.

Today is Australia Day and the Aussies on board will be celebrating Australia's 225th birthday at Sail-a-way.  There will be lots of Australian flags waving as the ship sails from Fort Lauderdale.

So off we go as we start our South America adventure...

Our upcoming South America cruise

Tomorrow we head out on our South American adventure.  This will be the longest “Angell Travels” yet!

We start our adventure by flying to Fort Lauderdale.  While in Florida we will spend a few days visiting our daughter, Jen, before heading out on our 49-day cruise around the "horn" of South America!

This is going to be an awesome experience for us and a trip that has been in the planning stage for almost 2 years.  When we booked the cruise, we were 600+ days out; now we are down to just a few days. We are packed and ready to go!  

Our cruise begins in Ft. Lauderdale when we board the Grand Princess cruise ship which will sail to a few Caribbean islands and then goes on to circle South America. We will be in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, while Carnival is going on, and we plan to visit a samba school in the late evening to watch their rehearsals for the Carnival parade.  The next day we will leave the ship with a small group to fly to Iguazu Falls, which borders Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay.  It is said to be spectacular.  We will be there 3 nights and then fly to Buenos Aires to rejoin the ship as it arrives there.

We then move on to Uruguay and a couple more ports in Argentina.  We go to the Falkland Islands where we have a special tour booked to travel in a convoy of 4x4 jeeps to Volunteer Point. Here we will be among the largest (several thousand) population of King, Gentoo and Magellanic Penguins. We really hope we are able to make this port as we have heard so much about how neat this tour is!  Weather problems can give ships only a 50/50 chance of making it to this port.

From here we sail on around the "horn" of South America and do some scenic cruising to see glaciers. We stop at a few ports in Chile, and then it is on to Peru, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Mexico.

We will end our cruise with disembarkation at the port of San Francisco 49 days after we leave Fort Lauderdale! We are looking forward to an incredible trip.

As with our other trips, I will try to keep a record of what we see and do in this blog. You are invited to come along with us as I will try to share our experiences with you.

I will try to post as often as I can and post photos depending on internet access and speed in uploading text and photos. Sometimes internet access and speed on cruise ships is not very good, but I'll try to post as often as I can.

So come join us as we begin our "Angell Travels" to South America.......