Day 1 - Boarding
Monday, we boarded the MS Noordam and checked out our new digs for the next eleven days!
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| Andrew getting an early start on relaxation |
Days 2 & 3 - At Sea
The next two days were sea days as we travelled south. The first evening was the first formal night of the cruise. So we got all gussied up and ate in the formal dining room that evening. It turns out it was a Pacific Northwest kind of crowd, with both the other couples being from British Columbia!
Day 4 - Philipsburg, St. Maarten
Thursday, we landed in our first port, Philipsburg, St. Maarten. The island itself is split into Dutch (Sint Maarten) and French (Saint Martin) sides - we stayed on the Dutch side that day because it holds the famous Princess Julianna Airport and Maho Beach. This famous beach is located on the arrivals end of the airport and planes fly right overhead as they land. Folks' belongings often get blown into the water from the blasts of some planes taking off as well. It turned out to be a much smaller beach than it looks in videos, and most of the larger planes were scheduled to land after we had to be back at our ship. It was quite the experience, and we had a blast (pun intended)! One thing that surprised me about St. Maarten were the butterflies. They were everywhere - on the ship, at the beach, in the port - all a light white, pink or green color.
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| This shows how close our spot was to the airfield! |
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| This famed surfboard at the nearby restaurant shows the arrival times of the larger planes. |
That evening was the first of many nights were we watched the B.B. King All-Star Blues Band play onboard. They were so fantastic, we went back almost every night!
Day 5 - Castries & Soufrerie, St. Lucia
The next day was our first shore excursion, we did a tour that first took us to the Caribelle Batik Studios in Castries that showed us how batik products are made - it was fascinating! I ended up buying a scarf - a practical application for an Alaskan...
We then moved on to taste some banana ketchup. (It tasted just like ketchup, so I was not impressed.) Finally, we moved on to the St. Lucia Rum Distilleries were we had a tour and did some rum tasting.
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| There were 21 types of rum to taste (I only tried 12) |
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| We literally saw rainbows everyday onboard! |
After taking some pictures, we headed in to play some pub trivia, and our team won first place (after multiple second placings)!
Day 6 - Bridgetown, Barbados
Saturday we walked around Bridgetown, Barbados a little bit. We did not have anything scheduled, so we just wandered around the city - which we were not impressed with. It was also super hot - most days averaged of a high of 82 degrees Fahrenheit.
In between "downtown" and the cruise terminal though, was a nice waterside beach that we took some nice pictures at.
That night we took in one of the ship's shows called "Droom".
Day 7 - Fort-de-France, Martinique
Day 7 was Sunday as we sailed into the French island of Martinique. The two of Fort-de-France was quite calm since it was a Sunday which suited us just fine. We walked around the town and took in some of their more famous landmarks.
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| Fort-de-France's Fort Saint Louis |
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| We were there a few days after the terrorist attacks on Paris' Charlie Hebdo |
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| Schoelcher Library |
We walked into the beautiful Schoelcer Library to take some pictures, and get out of the rain (it literally rained every 45 minutes in Martinique), and discovered some free wi-fi! It was odd checking Facebook next to priceless art and books.
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| Fort-de-France Cathedral |
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| Andrew wanted to try a French McDonalds (and get out of the rain again), so we popped in for a Happy Meal |
After we got back on board, I decided to go to the fitness center to work off some of the food I'd been eating. The center is in the bow (front) of the ship, and we departed the port as I worked out. My view (below) was much better than my local Alaskan gym (and at sunset to boot!)!
Day 8 - Basseterre, St. Kitts
Monday was my most anticipated day - we were to go on a scenic railway tour of St. Kitts, followed by the famous Le Cirque dinner in the Pinnacle Grill onboard. The first half did not go as planned. The train was double-decker with air-conditioned bottoms and open-air tops and an open bar. We chose to sit up front even though there were some ominous clouds in the sky. As we chugged around the first forty-five minutes we tasted sugar cane cakes, listened to an apace choir, met the conductor, and learned the ancient engine pulling us was from Romania.
After crossing the final (very narrow) bridge and getting rather wet in a rain squall, the train came to an abrupt stop (thankfully next to a road). An hour later we learned the mechanics that took 30 minutes to get to us could not repair it quickly and that we would be returning to the ship. Another hour later, the buses finally arrived to take us all back to the trip. The drive back was the same route, but our driver tried so hard to keep us entertained! After we returned to the port, we walked around the area for a bit, waited for a huge (but short) wind and rain storm to pass, and then got back on the ship.
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| Our bus back to the ship |
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| "The Circus" in downtown Basseterre, modeled after London's Piccadilly Circus |
That evening made up for the day, as we ate at the Pinnacle Grill for the Le Cirque dinner.
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| We both had Chicken on a Brick for dinner |
Day 9 - Charlotte Amalie & Magen's Bay, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
Tuesday brought us back to America, for a short stop - the U.S. Virgin Islands! We had walked around downtown Charlotte Amalie on our last Caribbean cruise and did not desire to do that again, so we chose to take a shore excursion to the world-famous Magen's Bay Beach. On the way there, they took us to an overlook of the bay an beach itself, and it started POURING (taxis in St. Thomas are open-air safari-style buses). We snapped a quick picture and headed to eh beach praying the rain would stop.
When we arrived, it was still cloudy but started to dry up. The beach is quite pretty and we enjoyed two hours of sun and relaxation (with some intermittent sprinkles and clouds). There were some very gutsy pelicans that were used to the beach crowd and did their lunchtime fishing right in front of, and around, those in the water - it was quite something to watch!
Once our time was up we headed back to Charlotte Amalie and the port.
Day 10 - At Sea
Our last day at sea was nice and relaxing. That evening was a formal night - so we went to the main dining room for dinner.
Day 11 - Half Moon Cay
The last day was our favorite Caribbean port - Holland America's private island in the Bahamas - Half Moon Cay! We spent it relaxing on the beach, with an island barbecue lunch.
On the way back, we treated ourselves to seats in first class - my first time!
This was one of our best vacations yet - it was relaxing, but we got to experience new things. We are already to go on another trip!
***All photography is property of the author of this blog.***
