Not your traditional Thanksgiving! No turkey for us, but what turns out to be a really fun 1/2 day touring the island with our own guide. We were originally scheduled to arrive at 8am, but they changed that to 10a a while ago, so we’ve had to trim down our tour schedule, which didn’t please us, obviously. And we are getting even more irritated as we sail into the harbor – we are here around 9, making us hopeful we will be early, but they dock so slowly, it was painful. It took over 45 minutes to come alongside – and it’s a big, commercial cruise terminal dock! It’s not like some little backwater place! Then, once we are docked, and we watched the “port officials” come aboard, it takes forever to let us off the ship. We have rescheduled our tour to start at 10:30, and with these delays, we’re fearful we’ll even be able to make that (this is reminding us of Adelaide!).
Finally we are allowed off, and we rush off to the Hyatt Regency, fortunately right next to the cruise terminal, to meet our guide. We weren’t 100% sure if this was a private tour or we’d have others with us, but when we arrive, it is just us and Jenelle, our wonderful guide for the day. We set off immediately, driving out of Port of Spain and heading toward Chaguanas to tour a local market.
On the way Jenelle talks about Trinidad, explaining about immigration and how many Venezuelans are coming across – some legally,some illegally – and how the government is favorable to this and helping what I’ll call “refugees” get established and get jobs. As we drive through Caroni, where the sugar and rice used to be grown, she explains that Trinidad is the 3rd richest country this side of the Caribbean due to the oil and the gas, and how the working population turned from agriculture to oil and gas work because it paid so much more. Tourism, which is growing and could be a huge industry, is never advertised (which is so different from most other islands, heck, most other cities around the world…..yes….I’m referring to Asheville as I write this!).
Entering the town of Chaguanas, Jenelle expertly navigates through car and people choked streets, going around slower drivers, letting others turn in and out in front of us. Its an exercise in patience and skill, of which she has an abundance. The sidewalks are lined with retail stores selling everything under the sun, and there are people everywhere – it is crazy busy. I ask Jenelle if it is always this busy, and she says this isn’t busy, Saturday is busy! Oh my gosh!
We pass the market, then circle the block to wait in line for the parking lot. We are fortunate in that there are spaces available, otherwise we would have had to wait in the street until someone leaves. Probably due to the time of day, it’s a little late for most shoppers here in the market. This place is huge, too. There are maybe 100 or more vendors with everything from farm fresh fruit to vegetables to fresh caught fish, and these great “hairy” crabs! As a matter of fact, that’s the first stall we come to – the hairy crab stall, where they have these things bundled up in bunches, tied together with stalks of thick grass. They’re amazing! And the ladies of the stall are so sweet, they show us how to take the hair off the crab, then cut the legs off and crack open the shell. They’re just like blue crabs, only in miniature – and with all that hair!
We progress from the crab into the main seafood hall where there are baby sharks and tons of other yummy looking fish, then head through rows and rows of produce, with Jenelle giving us a commentary on everything, what it is and for what recipes it is used. We walk by sorrels, which look like a purple star fruit or something. These are only seen around the holidays and are used to make a special spiced drink for the season. Then there are breadfruit looking fruits, huge pumpkins and squash, tons of yummy cabbages, peppers , potatoes, cassava -well – you get the point. If you need any produce, this is the place. It makes us crazy that we can’t just start shopping and then go somewhere to cook everything. There is an upstairs level (which is good for photos of the market below) which houses clothing and other supplies, including this great little stall that is one-stop shopping: Instant passport photos, gifts, commissioner of affidavits, Lasko fans, brooms and mops. What more could you want?
Circling back downstairs, we pass through the fruit section with all sorts of citrus and odd rose apple type products.. One of the vendors sweetly hands us one of his Pegs, a little tangerine type fruit, for us to try. It’s excellent, just like the ones we have in Chiang Mai, actually. Then we move back to the sweet section, where they are selling Jalebi! Yes, my favorite Indian snack – Jalebi! Along with some other delicious looking snacks called Kurma. After taste testing the Kurma, it’s like fried pastry dough doused in brown sugar glaze (oh yum), we can’t resist it and buy a 5TT bag (less than $1 US) of the Kurma, and then a Jalebi for $1 US. The girl also throws in a piece of what they call fudge as a gift. So sweet.
Next stop: the Hindu temples of Trinidad.
Thursday, November 28, 2019
Wednesday, November 27, 2019
11/27–St. Lucia–island tour and Antillia Brewery
That’s the end of our historical tour, now we are off on a scenic drive to the west side of the island, also called the “countryside", for great views over Marigot. The roads are definitely small, twisty and steep, which makes me ever so glad we weren’t able to find a car here. Much more relaxing letting someone else do the driving, particularly someone who is local and knows what they are doing!
The little lane (that is the main road, btw) runs up and down over steep hills and little valleys, before we turn uphill again toward the coast for Marigot. We stop at a crowded lookout platform where EVERY tour (local and otherwise) stops for photos. it is an excellent view, down to the protected harbor with the high dollar villas and cottages dotting the hills around the sailboat and yacht choked bay. Nice pix! There is also, of course, a little shop here selling everything from batik beachwear to rather expensive Banana Ketchup and local snacks. We did try the Banana Ketchup, and it was quite good, but not at $6 US a little bottle. Hopefully we can find more in a grocery store in Castries.
Back on the van, we have to sit for about 5 minutes waiting for the other vans to leave and unblock us, then we are retracing our route, back down the mountain and into the flatlands of Roseau, where the banana fields are located. Bananas being the main export here, the fields stretch forever, with little fruit and souvenir stores dotting the side of the road where the banana field owners are selling their wares. We stop for Genil to give us a banana growing lesson, and manage to snap a photo (through the van window) of a blooming banana plant. We’ve been to banana plantations before, but it was nice to get a refresher – I’d forgotten that banana trees only produce fruit once, then they are cut down and the “suckers” that grow out of them begin to create a new tree.
Onward through the country we ride, reaching our last destination, Anse La Raye, a typical little St. Lucia village where we have 20 minutes to wander through the souvenir stands, the beach (a pretty little cove) or through the little town where there is a nice looking church and the typical houses of the island, stacked side by side, touching each other, or built together.
We wander the streets, grab a beer from a vendor, then hop back on the van for our return to the city. It was a nice little 3 hour tour, and we still have tons of time before all aboard at 4:30. So, once we are back to the Castries harbor, we head over to the ferry to go to Point Seraphine, the other cruise ship terminal where the larger ships dock (in this case, today the NCL Gem is here – which has some symmetry for us since that is our next ride in January!). The Gem however, is not the reason we are here, nor is the “duty free shopping.” We are here to check out the local Brewery, Antillia Brewing. The $5 return ferry drops us off virtually right in front of the little open air wooden palapa that houses Antillia Brewing – wow! Its such a great setting, right on the water looking out over the bay. And the beer is equally great – Ed has a wheat beer and I have chocolate porter. I don’t care how hot it is, I’m a chocolate porter girl – and this one doesn’t disappoint! We sit in the shade, with a nice breeze and good wifi enjoying our beers and whiling away the time until we decide to head back across the harbor.
We manage to miss one ferry, but then wander through the shopping area, find the restroom and then catch the next ferry back to Castries central. There we wander through the central town, finally finding the grocery store that is packed – and I mean absolutely packed – with people. The check out lines are 20 people deep. School has let out and the place is filled with kids, parents, just an overload of people. So much so that we abandon all thoughts of shopping and leave within minutes.
With still over an hour to kill, we head back to the terminal and find our way upstairs to one of the restaurants (the one with A/C, not the open air one!) for a last beer before heading back to the ship. A nice cool ending to a pretty nice day in St. Lucia.
Back on board, it’s our normal routine, gym, dinner, show. Now we are ready for our non-traditional tour day in Trinidad.
The little lane (that is the main road, btw) runs up and down over steep hills and little valleys, before we turn uphill again toward the coast for Marigot. We stop at a crowded lookout platform where EVERY tour (local and otherwise) stops for photos. it is an excellent view, down to the protected harbor with the high dollar villas and cottages dotting the hills around the sailboat and yacht choked bay. Nice pix! There is also, of course, a little shop here selling everything from batik beachwear to rather expensive Banana Ketchup and local snacks. We did try the Banana Ketchup, and it was quite good, but not at $6 US a little bottle. Hopefully we can find more in a grocery store in Castries.
Back on the van, we have to sit for about 5 minutes waiting for the other vans to leave and unblock us, then we are retracing our route, back down the mountain and into the flatlands of Roseau, where the banana fields are located. Bananas being the main export here, the fields stretch forever, with little fruit and souvenir stores dotting the side of the road where the banana field owners are selling their wares. We stop for Genil to give us a banana growing lesson, and manage to snap a photo (through the van window) of a blooming banana plant. We’ve been to banana plantations before, but it was nice to get a refresher – I’d forgotten that banana trees only produce fruit once, then they are cut down and the “suckers” that grow out of them begin to create a new tree.
Onward through the country we ride, reaching our last destination, Anse La Raye, a typical little St. Lucia village where we have 20 minutes to wander through the souvenir stands, the beach (a pretty little cove) or through the little town where there is a nice looking church and the typical houses of the island, stacked side by side, touching each other, or built together.
We wander the streets, grab a beer from a vendor, then hop back on the van for our return to the city. It was a nice little 3 hour tour, and we still have tons of time before all aboard at 4:30. So, once we are back to the Castries harbor, we head over to the ferry to go to Point Seraphine, the other cruise ship terminal where the larger ships dock (in this case, today the NCL Gem is here – which has some symmetry for us since that is our next ride in January!). The Gem however, is not the reason we are here, nor is the “duty free shopping.” We are here to check out the local Brewery, Antillia Brewing. The $5 return ferry drops us off virtually right in front of the little open air wooden palapa that houses Antillia Brewing – wow! Its such a great setting, right on the water looking out over the bay. And the beer is equally great – Ed has a wheat beer and I have chocolate porter. I don’t care how hot it is, I’m a chocolate porter girl – and this one doesn’t disappoint! We sit in the shade, with a nice breeze and good wifi enjoying our beers and whiling away the time until we decide to head back across the harbor.
We manage to miss one ferry, but then wander through the shopping area, find the restroom and then catch the next ferry back to Castries central. There we wander through the central town, finally finding the grocery store that is packed – and I mean absolutely packed – with people. The check out lines are 20 people deep. School has let out and the place is filled with kids, parents, just an overload of people. So much so that we abandon all thoughts of shopping and leave within minutes.
With still over an hour to kill, we head back to the terminal and find our way upstairs to one of the restaurants (the one with A/C, not the open air one!) for a last beer before heading back to the ship. A nice cool ending to a pretty nice day in St. Lucia.
Back on board, it’s our normal routine, gym, dinner, show. Now we are ready for our non-traditional tour day in Trinidad.
11/27–St. Lucia–St. Mark’s and La Toc Battery
We are on a ship’s tour today. I know, I know, it’s totally surprising, but we really didn’t have any idea what else to do, we couldn’t find a car rental (and once we are here, we see there is good reason why) and don’t cherish the idea of spending a whole day onboard without anything planned. Thus, the ship’s tour. Although, once again (we’re not sure how we have done this), we think we are going on a different tour than what we have booked. We have one print out, but it doesn’t match our itinerary. Not that it matters – they are both scenic tours, so what ever! We have 20 in our group, which is fairly manageable, and our tour guide, Genil, is adorable and fun. We’ve already been warned about the transportation (Oceania is big on giving explanations/warnings about everything – in this case, the buses are Japanese, not ideal for people over the height of 6’2”, Max. weight is 250 lbs, etc., etc.), but honestly, it’s a fine little bus with really good A/C.
Genil gives us the basic history of the island. It was fought over by the British and the French for control of the harbor because it was safe and deep and was a refueling station for ships going further south. Each country won the island 7 times with the British finally prevailing. As we make our way up into the hills above the harbor, Genil gives us little facts: it is illegal to wear camouflage here (we already knew that from Sandy) because the police (military militia sort of – it’s some odd configuration of security personnel) where camo, and there was a time when people would wear camo and “cause trouble” then blame it on the police, thus the law prohibiting anyone but the police from wearing it); St. Lucia only got electricity in 1964; it takes 5 hours to drive around the island and there are no street signs to tell you where you are because, I think, there aren’t any street numbers to the houses? Maybe? I know for sure she told us the locals just give directions by landmarks and descriptions and that if you didn’t know how to drive in reverse, you couldn’t drive in St. Lucia, because you were always having to reverse to let cars pass from the opposite direction (which definitely explains why there were no car rental places available when we looked).
Our first stop is St. Mark’s, an old Colonial-era house at the top of the Morne Fortune mountain, reached by a tiny narrow switch back road facing the Castries Harbor. The house is owned by a shipping family, the man, a Scotsman married a local woman, and had a family who live here today (they only open the lower level to tours). They were obviously important society people here on the island with collections of African and European art, and a curio table filled with British royalty memorabilia, including this Fergie and Prince Andrew commemorative dish – obviously from far happier times.
The tour takes in the dining room, with beautiful mahogany furniture, precious glass and ceramics from around the world and the iconic painting of fishermen on a beach by a local artist. The light filled living room runs the entire width of the house and is decorated with overstuffed chairs, lovely Persian carpets and family photos on the grand piano in the corner (giving you a little odd feeling of intruding or spying or something – walking through someone else’s personal space while they are upstairs). Out back on the veranda we are treated to rum punch and fried bananas and plantains, which we take and then wander around the porch, looking at at the gorgeous views over the harbor.
A few minutes of looking at the scenery and we are back on the bus (after shooing off some ladies from the other bus who obviously got confused) and heading toward La Toc Battery, the British fort built in 1888 to protect the harbor against the French. While La Tock had an excellent location with views across every possible attack direction, the French never came back to claim the island, so the fort was abandoned in 1905 and sat unprotected and unpreserved for years.
Then, in the early ‘80s, Alice Bagshaw, who moved to the island from Pennsylvania (I believe) with her husband, bought the battery because she felt it was languishing and needed to be preserved for history. She spent hours researching the battery, even went to Britain and had help from the military there to uncover information regarding the building of the batter, and tons of money to rehabilitate the site, cutting down the overgrown trees and even hiring a guy with a big Catapillar tractor to move the one remaining cannon from the shell room to the top of the fort where it should be placed as originally used (PS – the story goes that Alice looked all over for someone or something to move the cannon, and this guy who owned the Catapillar said he could move anything, so he came up with the Catapillar, moved the cannon almost to the right spot before the tractor broke and had to be trucked out of the fort, never to be run again! Thus, the cannon is facing the wrong way, and there is a cylinder block from the Catapillar next to the cannon as a memorial.)
Alice was also an avid scuba diver and explored all the areas around the harbor, finding over 900 glass bottles from various eras which are now displayed in the soldiers’ war shelter area. We tour the bottle display, which is really quite fascinating, looking at how the bottles were originally found covered in barnacles and coral, then looking at all the different styles once they were cleaned (of particular interest were the blue bottles that were simply called “poison” bottles, because they were only used to store poisons).
We move from the war shelter to the shell store rooms, where in one there is a photo array from the restoration, all yellowed with age, but clearly showing Alice in the middle of the restorations – from original shots of the reforestation that took place over the old fort, to the removal of the foliage to that darn tractor! Then there is the display of shells, which Sunny just has to play on, but its getting far too warm in there to stay and let him run rampant over the displays, so we make our way outside for just a little breeze, hit the restroom and then wait with Genil for the rest of the group. As we are hanging out Genil tells us that Alice just turned 80 on Saturday, but she’s had to slow down recently because she fell and needed a hip replacement. The doctors told her to take it easy, and she’s had to close her silk screening business (she’s obviously a go getter!). It’s such a small island (even with 180,000 population), that Genil saw Alice the other day at the grocery store shopping. Sweet!
Genil gives us the basic history of the island. It was fought over by the British and the French for control of the harbor because it was safe and deep and was a refueling station for ships going further south. Each country won the island 7 times with the British finally prevailing. As we make our way up into the hills above the harbor, Genil gives us little facts: it is illegal to wear camouflage here (we already knew that from Sandy) because the police (military militia sort of – it’s some odd configuration of security personnel) where camo, and there was a time when people would wear camo and “cause trouble” then blame it on the police, thus the law prohibiting anyone but the police from wearing it); St. Lucia only got electricity in 1964; it takes 5 hours to drive around the island and there are no street signs to tell you where you are because, I think, there aren’t any street numbers to the houses? Maybe? I know for sure she told us the locals just give directions by landmarks and descriptions and that if you didn’t know how to drive in reverse, you couldn’t drive in St. Lucia, because you were always having to reverse to let cars pass from the opposite direction (which definitely explains why there were no car rental places available when we looked).
Our first stop is St. Mark’s, an old Colonial-era house at the top of the Morne Fortune mountain, reached by a tiny narrow switch back road facing the Castries Harbor. The house is owned by a shipping family, the man, a Scotsman married a local woman, and had a family who live here today (they only open the lower level to tours). They were obviously important society people here on the island with collections of African and European art, and a curio table filled with British royalty memorabilia, including this Fergie and Prince Andrew commemorative dish – obviously from far happier times.
The tour takes in the dining room, with beautiful mahogany furniture, precious glass and ceramics from around the world and the iconic painting of fishermen on a beach by a local artist. The light filled living room runs the entire width of the house and is decorated with overstuffed chairs, lovely Persian carpets and family photos on the grand piano in the corner (giving you a little odd feeling of intruding or spying or something – walking through someone else’s personal space while they are upstairs). Out back on the veranda we are treated to rum punch and fried bananas and plantains, which we take and then wander around the porch, looking at at the gorgeous views over the harbor.
A few minutes of looking at the scenery and we are back on the bus (after shooing off some ladies from the other bus who obviously got confused) and heading toward La Toc Battery, the British fort built in 1888 to protect the harbor against the French. While La Tock had an excellent location with views across every possible attack direction, the French never came back to claim the island, so the fort was abandoned in 1905 and sat unprotected and unpreserved for years.
Then, in the early ‘80s, Alice Bagshaw, who moved to the island from Pennsylvania (I believe) with her husband, bought the battery because she felt it was languishing and needed to be preserved for history. She spent hours researching the battery, even went to Britain and had help from the military there to uncover information regarding the building of the batter, and tons of money to rehabilitate the site, cutting down the overgrown trees and even hiring a guy with a big Catapillar tractor to move the one remaining cannon from the shell room to the top of the fort where it should be placed as originally used (PS – the story goes that Alice looked all over for someone or something to move the cannon, and this guy who owned the Catapillar said he could move anything, so he came up with the Catapillar, moved the cannon almost to the right spot before the tractor broke and had to be trucked out of the fort, never to be run again! Thus, the cannon is facing the wrong way, and there is a cylinder block from the Catapillar next to the cannon as a memorial.)
Alice was also an avid scuba diver and explored all the areas around the harbor, finding over 900 glass bottles from various eras which are now displayed in the soldiers’ war shelter area. We tour the bottle display, which is really quite fascinating, looking at how the bottles were originally found covered in barnacles and coral, then looking at all the different styles once they were cleaned (of particular interest were the blue bottles that were simply called “poison” bottles, because they were only used to store poisons).
We move from the war shelter to the shell store rooms, where in one there is a photo array from the restoration, all yellowed with age, but clearly showing Alice in the middle of the restorations – from original shots of the reforestation that took place over the old fort, to the removal of the foliage to that darn tractor! Then there is the display of shells, which Sunny just has to play on, but its getting far too warm in there to stay and let him run rampant over the displays, so we make our way outside for just a little breeze, hit the restroom and then wait with Genil for the rest of the group. As we are hanging out Genil tells us that Alice just turned 80 on Saturday, but she’s had to slow down recently because she fell and needed a hip replacement. The doctors told her to take it easy, and she’s had to close her silk screening business (she’s obviously a go getter!). It’s such a small island (even with 180,000 population), that Genil saw Alice the other day at the grocery store shopping. Sweet!
Monday, November 25, 2019
11/24 to 11/25–Sea Days
The first sea day keeps us busy going from the history/cultural lecturer (we have once again lucked out, Sandy Cares, the lecturer is fabulous with her teaching background, she makes every presentation very interesting and full of fascinating facts), the chef cooking demonstration, the afternoon movie (The Hustle – stupid, but we sat through the whole thing) then back to Sandy’s lecture. Sort of fills up the day.
The show is the production cast, who are great, and the cruise director is originally from Asheville! We will eventually corner him to talk about our hometown, but in the meantime, he’s fun to watch and listen to his jokes and entertaining information.
We have 2 comedians onboard – one an Irish comedian who is quite funny and the other an American who does comedy and magic, also funny, but not as much as the Irishman. I’m going to jump ahead here, because they both put on 2 shows each over then next 4 days, and while we enjoy both, man, this is a tough crowd. At 2 of the shows, we were the only ones laughing. We think a lot of the jokes just went right over peoples’ heads. It was a little brutal there in those shows.
Aside from that, we do our norm – gym, lectures, lunch, lectures, gym, dinner, show. I’m not going to bore you with everything – suffice it to say – this is just the sea day placeholder!
The show is the production cast, who are great, and the cruise director is originally from Asheville! We will eventually corner him to talk about our hometown, but in the meantime, he’s fun to watch and listen to his jokes and entertaining information.
We have 2 comedians onboard – one an Irish comedian who is quite funny and the other an American who does comedy and magic, also funny, but not as much as the Irishman. I’m going to jump ahead here, because they both put on 2 shows each over then next 4 days, and while we enjoy both, man, this is a tough crowd. At 2 of the shows, we were the only ones laughing. We think a lot of the jokes just went right over peoples’ heads. It was a little brutal there in those shows.
Aside from that, we do our norm – gym, lectures, lunch, lectures, gym, dinner, show. I’m not going to bore you with everything – suffice it to say – this is just the sea day placeholder!
Saturday, November 23, 2019
11/23–Oceania Insignia
Condo cleaned (well, beds stripped, trash out), car packed, we hit the road at our desired 8am departure time. It’s a little less than 3 hours to Miami, and we have a Dollar Tree stop in between, so we want to give ourselves plenty of time to turn in the car and get to the port. All goes according to plan: Dollar Tree is right on the way, where we stock up on cough drops and cough medicine (Yep, either the Red Tide got us, or the Celebrity Crud did – but we both have developed a cough – ugh!), along with other toiletry supplies; the drive across Alligator alley is smooth and relatively traffic free; we find the rental car return in Miami without a hitch (we switched from the port return office to one in a mall about 10 minutes from the port after we read reviews about how horrific the port office was, too small, standing in line for hours, shuttle taking forever – with 6 huge ships in port, no way we were getting into that mess); Uber to the port showed up fast and we were on our way a little before noon.
The port was – as I mentioned above – crazy busy with all the ships. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the pier location for Oceania, it was never mentioned in the doc’s and we thought there would be a big LED sign showing pier locations (as there is in Ft. Lauderdale, or maybe it’s Barcelona), but no such luck. We thought it was at E, so we fortunately directed our Uber driver to that area of the port while I frantically searched the web for info. I finally found something that said Oceania and Azamara type ships docked at Pier J, and after confirming this with a security guard, we continued all the way around the port complex to the last pier on the opposite side of the island. Phew!
Bags handled, porter tipped, we head upstairs to check in, which goes according to “status” – suites, concierge, etc., first, us verandah peons last. It took a while to get an open agent, but once at the desk it was quick and painless. Arriving onboard, we immediately headed to the Terrace cafe for lunch, but that wasn’t happening – it was jam packed without a table to be had. We traipsed out onto the Waves grill and patio area, managing to snag one of the last 2 tops available. Into the fray for lunch, where someone asked me what Steamship Round was, (we were served our steamship round – and everything else (one of the differences on Oceania, virtually everything on the buffet is served to you – with the exception of rolls and some fruit, you have to wait for a server for all food)and then back to the somewhat quieter patio/pool area. As we are eating, we are surveying the other passengers, and oh my gosh, the demographics are not at all what we expected. I am one of the youngest people on this ship, besides the crew! It’s amazing! And a good 1/3 of the ship have mobility issues (canes, walkers, wheel chairs). What are these people going to do in the Amazon where there are rainforest hike tours and little boats that need to be boarded to see the river and the sights??? This is going to be interesting……
After lunch we reserve our 4 specialty restaurant dinners, all late (8:00 and 8:30) because the suites and concierge got to reserve first and they took all the good times. But, nonetheless, we have 4 dates, including Thanksgiving, which will be nice. Then we settle in to wait for the cabins, which are available at 3pm. And then its the normal embarkation day, get the luggage, unpack, go to the muster drill, then try to find the Cruise Critic gathering for sailaway that is supposed to be in the Patio by the pool. That area though is where the band is playing, so the get together doesn’t really materialize, and we spend sailaway upstairs in the nice breeze watching Miami fade from view.
Off we go on our 25 day Caribbean and Amazon odyssey.
The port was – as I mentioned above – crazy busy with all the ships. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the pier location for Oceania, it was never mentioned in the doc’s and we thought there would be a big LED sign showing pier locations (as there is in Ft. Lauderdale, or maybe it’s Barcelona), but no such luck. We thought it was at E, so we fortunately directed our Uber driver to that area of the port while I frantically searched the web for info. I finally found something that said Oceania and Azamara type ships docked at Pier J, and after confirming this with a security guard, we continued all the way around the port complex to the last pier on the opposite side of the island. Phew!
Bags handled, porter tipped, we head upstairs to check in, which goes according to “status” – suites, concierge, etc., first, us verandah peons last. It took a while to get an open agent, but once at the desk it was quick and painless. Arriving onboard, we immediately headed to the Terrace cafe for lunch, but that wasn’t happening – it was jam packed without a table to be had. We traipsed out onto the Waves grill and patio area, managing to snag one of the last 2 tops available. Into the fray for lunch, where someone asked me what Steamship Round was, (we were served our steamship round – and everything else (one of the differences on Oceania, virtually everything on the buffet is served to you – with the exception of rolls and some fruit, you have to wait for a server for all food)and then back to the somewhat quieter patio/pool area. As we are eating, we are surveying the other passengers, and oh my gosh, the demographics are not at all what we expected. I am one of the youngest people on this ship, besides the crew! It’s amazing! And a good 1/3 of the ship have mobility issues (canes, walkers, wheel chairs). What are these people going to do in the Amazon where there are rainforest hike tours and little boats that need to be boarded to see the river and the sights??? This is going to be interesting……
After lunch we reserve our 4 specialty restaurant dinners, all late (8:00 and 8:30) because the suites and concierge got to reserve first and they took all the good times. But, nonetheless, we have 4 dates, including Thanksgiving, which will be nice. Then we settle in to wait for the cabins, which are available at 3pm. And then its the normal embarkation day, get the luggage, unpack, go to the muster drill, then try to find the Cruise Critic gathering for sailaway that is supposed to be in the Patio by the pool. That area though is where the band is playing, so the get together doesn’t really materialize, and we spend sailaway upstairs in the nice breeze watching Miami fade from view.
Off we go on our 25 day Caribbean and Amazon odyssey.
Monday, November 18, 2019
11/18 - 23–Sanibel, what can we say?
It’s like coming home, sort of, although they always say you can’t come home again. But here, well, you really can. It is like we’ve not been away for 3 or 4 years now. Virtually everything is the same, same restaurants, same shops, same same. We are staying in a completely different location, though, right off the causeway on the Bay side, overlooking Punta Rassa and the mainland. The condo is really nice, 2 bedroom, 2 bath. Great kitchen and open floor plan. The lanai never gets sun, which is perfect – its even cold out there – but we’d rather that than the baking hot sun. Weather has been fantastic, 70’s during the day and low 60’s with a tradewind at night. Couldn’t ask for more.
We did the circuit of the island plus Captiva and Ding Darling on Tuesday, hung out Wednesday then did errands. Walked the beach on Thursday and went for our anniversary dinner at Il Tesoro on Friday. All in all a great 5 days. Will we come back? Maybe. It is so familiar and comfortable, but then again, so is Asheville in the winter, just a tad colder (but we also have a fireplace there, so, really who cares?).
Next up: Oceania Insignia and the Amazon!
We did the circuit of the island plus Captiva and Ding Darling on Tuesday, hung out Wednesday then did errands. Walked the beach on Thursday and went for our anniversary dinner at Il Tesoro on Friday. All in all a great 5 days. Will we come back? Maybe. It is so familiar and comfortable, but then again, so is Asheville in the winter, just a tad colder (but we also have a fireplace there, so, really who cares?).
Next up: Oceania Insignia and the Amazon!
11/18–Off to Sanibel
Debarkation was a dream. So smooth. We all (crew included) were worried and expecting the worst, but hoping for the best. And the best is what we got. Went off exactly as scheduled. The first walk off passengers left at 6:30 and we went on from there. We didn’t have to rush so much, we had reserved the car for 9am, so we had plenty of time. We had breakfast in Luminae, said goodbye to all our great waitstaff, then gathered our backpacks and hit the gangway a little before 8. What the heck, we’re ready – we’ll hopefully not be charged extra for the car.
We exited in the Suites/Global Entry line, which as per usual was probably slower than the normal lines, but again- we aren’t in any rush! Outside we had to walk forever to get to the taxi line, but once there – there was no line and we were in the car and out of the port in no time. 10 minutes later we are at the rental car center and heading in to get our car. Seamless. Except for the couple (on our cruise, and even in a suite because we’ve seen them in Michaels and Luminae) who are virtually running into the car rental center. We’re just walking over to the building, fast, yes, because that’s how we walk, but not crazy rushing. This woman is bound an determined to get there first. Fine, we don’t care. But as we get into the building, she hesitates to look at the directional signs, and we just walk toward the Budget rental counter. She’s behind us now as we make our way along the Disneyesque rope line, but suddenly, she just ducks under the rope line to end up at the front of the line – directly in front of us. I’ve just had enough, so I look at her and say “really?” And she looks and says, “Oh, I was going to let you go in front of us.” Yeah, right. I swear……people!
Sigh.
Now at the rental counter, the agent says she doesn’t have our compact car, but can upgrade us for $10/day. No. We don’t want a bigger car and we aren’t paying $10/day, so she goes outside to find a car. 10 minutes later (yeah, she was gone a long time), she comes back and says she doesn’t have a compact, but she is upgrading us for free. Well, thanks, that’s very nice. Finally we get to the car, and upgrade, it may be, but it hasn’t been washed, there are all sorts of odd marks on it (looks like tape or something? We took pictures to cover ourselves) and it smells suspiciously like smoke. Great upgrade. But, at least we’re on the road, and its way earlier than we had even dreamed.
We make it to Ft. Myers for shopping by 10:30, then get gas (because the gas wasn’t full either!!!) and arrive on Sanibel a little after noon to check into our totally cool unit in Mariner’s Pointe. This is the first time we’ve been on the Bay side of the island, and this little unit is fantastic. It’s a 2 bedroom, 2 bath, all nicely updated with a fantastic lanai that overlooks the bay and the causeway bridge. It’s absolutely perfect. We settle in (the only negative is that is on the 3rd floor and hauling those suitcases up those stairs is a workout!), organize and relax a bit before hitting The Jac (new owners, remodeled!!!) for happy hour (still great apps for $6 and cheap(er) wine and beer) and then lanai sitting and relaxing for the rest of the night.
We exited in the Suites/Global Entry line, which as per usual was probably slower than the normal lines, but again- we aren’t in any rush! Outside we had to walk forever to get to the taxi line, but once there – there was no line and we were in the car and out of the port in no time. 10 minutes later we are at the rental car center and heading in to get our car. Seamless. Except for the couple (on our cruise, and even in a suite because we’ve seen them in Michaels and Luminae) who are virtually running into the car rental center. We’re just walking over to the building, fast, yes, because that’s how we walk, but not crazy rushing. This woman is bound an determined to get there first. Fine, we don’t care. But as we get into the building, she hesitates to look at the directional signs, and we just walk toward the Budget rental counter. She’s behind us now as we make our way along the Disneyesque rope line, but suddenly, she just ducks under the rope line to end up at the front of the line – directly in front of us. I’ve just had enough, so I look at her and say “really?” And she looks and says, “Oh, I was going to let you go in front of us.” Yeah, right. I swear……people!
Sigh.
Now at the rental counter, the agent says she doesn’t have our compact car, but can upgrade us for $10/day. No. We don’t want a bigger car and we aren’t paying $10/day, so she goes outside to find a car. 10 minutes later (yeah, she was gone a long time), she comes back and says she doesn’t have a compact, but she is upgrading us for free. Well, thanks, that’s very nice. Finally we get to the car, and upgrade, it may be, but it hasn’t been washed, there are all sorts of odd marks on it (looks like tape or something? We took pictures to cover ourselves) and it smells suspiciously like smoke. Great upgrade. But, at least we’re on the road, and its way earlier than we had even dreamed.
We make it to Ft. Myers for shopping by 10:30, then get gas (because the gas wasn’t full either!!!) and arrive on Sanibel a little after noon to check into our totally cool unit in Mariner’s Pointe. This is the first time we’ve been on the Bay side of the island, and this little unit is fantastic. It’s a 2 bedroom, 2 bath, all nicely updated with a fantastic lanai that overlooks the bay and the causeway bridge. It’s absolutely perfect. We settle in (the only negative is that is on the 3rd floor and hauling those suitcases up those stairs is a workout!), organize and relax a bit before hitting The Jac (new owners, remodeled!!!) for happy hour (still great apps for $6 and cheap(er) wine and beer) and then lanai sitting and relaxing for the rest of the night.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)