Two tickets to paradise
It’s been quite the year to this point. 2017 started out West during a long weekend in San Francisco. As the year went on, there were a multitude of changes both personally and professionally. Everything would lead up to the big trip, an escorted tour of Ireland. Nine days of natural beauty and unbridled joy followed.In a normal year, the escorted tour would be the peak of the year. But as it has been proven time and again, 2017 hasn’t been an ordinary year. There was something more on the horizon.
Before getting to the events of this week, we have to go backwards. The topic of a Caribbean cruise came up during Christmas Eve dinner for the last three years. Our cousins and us would discuss it, but not much came of it. Then earlier this year, the topic came up again via my sister. She asked me if I was interested in going on a cruise and couldn’t say yes quickly enough. In order to prevent scheduling conflicts, we agreed on the week of December 10th. After discussion, we settled upon a cruise to the southern Caribbean, leaving from San Juan, Puerto Rico.
This summer wore on, everything seemed to be moving smoothly. That was until an unexpected complication came up, hurricane Maria. As it was barreling through the Caribbean, this trip took a backseat as our friend Carmen and her family live in San Juan. Thankfully, her family made it through the storm safely. The aftermath of the hurricane would turn into a long waiting game as the flights and the cruise were already paid for. But Royal Caribbean assured us that the cruise would sail on as scheduled. We had debated whether or not to go but we decided on yes, doing our bit for the local economies.
But before the cruise began, we flew out to San Juan, PR. On a snowy Saturday morning, we arrived at JFK Terminal 5. Due to the snow, we were delayed half an hour so the plane could be de iced. It was a long afternoon with the flight being unusually turbulent as we arrived after 7pm Eastern Caribbean Time. The flight was unusual in that everyone onboard was in a joyful mood as the plane landed as a good chunk of the passengers were heading home for the holidays. I would learn this lesson early and often during my stay in the city, the people will not let the hurricane diminish their joie d’vivre.
After collecting our bags, we arrived to our hotel. My sister’s friend and college roommate Carmen joined us for dinner that night at the Yerba Buena restaurant not far from our hotel. Over dinner and mojitos, time seemed to stop as we caught up with each other. A short time later, we ended up at La Placita in the nightlife district of the city. There was a giant open air concert going on and you could feel the passion in the air to accompany the humidity and the rain. We would end the evening at Carmen’s apartment and saw a glimpse of Maria’s aftermath as well as the view of the skyline from the windows.
The next morning after breakfast, we rejoined Carmen. The attraction on tap for the day was a big one, the fortress of El Morro. The views of the sea were incredible and the breeze helped take the sting out of the strong sunshine even in the early parts of the day. On the clear days, you can see the entire skyline of the city. For lunch, we went back to La Placita and it was night and day. The sidewalks were a lot easier to walk and there was a peaceful calm after a spirited night of music and people dancing in the streets. As Carmen had an SU function to attend, we made our way out to the Port of San Juan. After clearing immigration and formalities from the cruise line, we embarked on the ship, The Jewel of The Seas. At 8:30PM on Sunday night, the ship set sail. By day break, we would arrive at our first port of call, St.Kitts.
The next morning saw the boat dock in the capital of St.Kitts, Basse Terre. The full name of the country is St. Kitts & Nevis, with the islands separated by ferry. Past the port terminal, our first shore excursion would begin. The scenic drive began through the city and took us into the rain forest. The first stop would be a demonstration of the local art form, Batik.The process involves using dyes to create beautifully intricate portraits. Anything that could be made this way from clothing to accessories was for sale. I had my eye on the shirt and matching shorts but it was a bit out of my price range. When we left, it started to downpour for a brief moment. The skies cleared enough to arrive at our second stop, at an unfinished fortress. Upon return to port, we found a nearby bar and sat for drinks before having lunch on the ship. After afternoon break, I would head down to the Schooner bar on deck 6 for afternoon trivia and in the process, met Pat and Bob and our paths would cross as the week continued.
Tuesday morning, we arrived in the port of St.John’s, Antigua. The excursion for the day was the first physical challenge of the week, zip lining. After a demonstration of the equipment and the techniques needed to fly safely,it was time to began the course. I was terrified at the first line as I didn’t know what I was getting myself into but I stuck my legs out and flew through the air and with a lack of grace, made it to the other side. As the day continued, the landings got smoother and thankfully, I had another ranger behind me to help the whole way. We made it to port and had a pair of Wadali beers to celebrate the accomplishment. Then, we made an unscheduled detour and took a taxi to Runaway Beach. Though we didn’t fully prepare for this, we had a nice time on the beach before returning to the ship. It wouldn’t be our last beach day of the week.
At mid week, we visited the only non English speaking island on the itinerary, la ile du Martinique. The island is an overseas territory of France, and uses the Euro instead of the Eastern Caribbean Dollar. After driving through the capital of Fort De France, we ended up in the town of St.Pierre, which was the original capital of Martinique. The city would be destroyed in a volcanic eruption in 1902 and later rebuilt. If you go near the town’s museum, you will see the remnants of the town post eruption. Our last stop of the day ended up at the De Paz rhum distillery where we got a tour of the facility and the opportunity to taste the rum. The younger rum was my favorite due to the smoothness of it. All of the islands have touristic markets but in this case, they’re not as obviously noticeable as opposed to the other island ports. After dinner on this night, came the first showtime on deck 5’s Coral Theater. The show, From West End to Broadway is exactly as promised. The show was a giant megamix of shows from both sides of the Atlantic, running the gamut from We Will Rock You, Hair, Cats, Damn Yankees and A Chorus Line, with Barry Manilow’s “Copacabana” for the big finish. This day marked the end of my Cannon Powershot’s life and I replaced it with a new camera before the show began.
Thursday brought us to the island of Barbados. The excursion for the day would bring us to Harrison’s Cave. But before getting there, our group took a scenic drive, that included among the sights, Rhianna’s childhood home. We arrived at the caves and after a short video showing the history of the cave, the group boarded a tram. The trip through the caves took us deep underground and through the darkness and the damp, showed what a natural marvel they are. As an unscheduled stop, our guide showed us around the Highland Adventure Park with a vista worthy of a postcard before continuing down the west coast of the country, or the Paradise coast due to all the celebrity beach front property. Once back in port, we had our second beach day at Harbour Lights nearby. As our excursion ran a bit long, we had just an hour at the beach before we had to be back onboard the ship. And through the rain showers, this was a beautiful beach to end our day.
The week had come to an end, but not before the last port of call, St.George’s Grenada. There was one more adventure in store, kayaking on glass bottom boats. My sister and I were paired together and from the start we weren’t in sync. After getting pulled up closer to the group, we switched partners and each had a guide riding up front. Though my lack of coordination was on full display for all to see, I refused to give up and eventually finished the trip. Along the way, we got to see beautiful sculptures from the glass bottom. It was nice to get the moment of peace on water after a bumpy start on land. The bottle of Carib upon returning to shore tasted all the sweeter after this accomplishment. I had a relaxing rest of the day as the activity took it out of my hands and shoulders. That night was the second show, City of Dreams. The show was a loose love story of a man and woman spanning time. This was one to suspend your disbelief as only here can Nessum Dorma, DJ Sammy’s “Heaven” and Christina Aguilera’s “Fighter” be used to be the plot along.
The last full day was spent at sea as we were supposed to visit another island but we couldn’t due to hurricane damage. After a busy six days, it was a day to relax. I gave trivia one more shot and with the team I’ve been play with all week, we ended the week with a draw. As lunch came around, it was time for the crew to shine with the parade of Nations poolside. As there are crew from 60 nations on board, each got their spotlights. Later in the day we attended a wine tasting before dinner and one last show. By the time the entirety of the ship’s staff made it to the stage during the finale, it put a bow on this week.
With our accounts settled and our bags packed, we arrived in San Juan this morning. The beautiful sunrise outside on deck belied the sadness of having such a great week come to an end. Our friend Carmen met us at the port for the ride to the airport. As I write this, my flight from San Juan has landed at JFK Airport.
I’d be utterly remiss if I didn’t thank the Jewel Of The Seas staff as they deserve all the admiration for pulling this off time and again. The same goes for the tour guides in each port of call for making each day a wonderful experience.I would cruise again with Royal Caribbean in the not too distant future, it’s just a matter of where. And last but not least, thank you Carmen. It was so good to enjoy your company while in San Juan and I hope we’ll see each other again sooner than later.
The next two weeks will fly by with the holidays. And soon enough, a new year will begin.But I’ll always treasure this week and come back to it mentally. Whenever I’m stressed out, I’ll picture myself on these islands. This ticket to paradise was worth every penny!
