Amazon Cruise

First of all, my apologies for delayed postings. We're saving on internet charges by only buying service one day at a time. Also, sorry for no photos which I hope to add after I get home.

Thursday, November 8

Taking a limo from home n C'ville to the Richmond airport is THE way to go (unless you're flying out of CHO). Ambassador Limo Service was on time with some big black Lincoln (called an MKX?). Our driver Stewart did a great job and had a great sense of humor to boot.

The flight to Ft Lauderdale went on time and smoothly except for a couple small bumps in the air. I will say that the only thing I did not appreciate about JetBlue is the shortage of knee room. Of course they would be delighted to sell you an upgrade of a few extra inches.

The adventure began when trying to check into our hotel. While I am more or less a fan of Hampton Inns, This Fall I have learned that requesting an accessible room if you are using the Hilton website does not work well. The request just does not get transmitted to the local level. This leads to problems when I try to check in. Add to that a desk clerk who appeared to be new at the job. But all was eventually sorted out after Margaret made a trip upstairs with the maintenance man to be sure this was what we wanted.

So we finally got to our room. Then we ordered in some dinner. Next Margaret discovered that the bathroom door was locked from the inside, so we had to call for yet a different maintenance guy to come get it open. Evidently the latch mechanism is rather touchy and was tripped accidentally by the first maintenance guy. That's okay, our dinner finally arrived and was just fine. Next time I'm here I'll certainly order delivery from Sarpino's again.

Friday, November 9

Late morning we took a taxi to the pier. The hotel has a shuttle, but I had so much trouble climbing up into it yesterday that I just couldn't face it. I think that my fall last week has caused my CMT to take a giant step or two forward in a not so good direction. 

Boarding the ship was a breeze. After a light lunch, we were in the cabin when our luggage started arriving. Much of the rest of the day was spent unpacking. We've got loads of space in our cabin both for storage and moving around plus a good-sized balcony.

Saturday, November 10  --  At sea

The whole day we sailed south on calm seas with low islands occasionally visible to starboard. We spent most of the day reading or doing needlework.

This evening was a Gala Formal night. Food on board is always beautifully served, but this evening was particularly elegant. We have 3 table mates in the dining room for the 8:00 p.m. sitting: Sandy and Stew from southwest Florida, and Jean from Gettysburg, PA. Margaret spilled the beans about my birthday, so of course I got serenaded with the Indonesian birthday song.

Sunday, November 11  --  At sea

A lazy sea day spent sitting around various parts of the ship, knitting or crocheting and chatting with other passengers. We had gone down to the dining room for a late full breakfast, so skipped lunch.

We attended an interesting lecture on the geology of the Caribbean. The speaker had lots of gorgeous slides of various islands and in some cases the volcanos that created them. I had not known of the group of islands that originally formed near the Galapagos then moved via plate tectonics through the area where Panama is now to the east side of the Caribbean. (The isthmus as we know it reformed about 5 million years ago.) I remember a feisty geology professor at the University of Virginia who was very vocally opposed to even the idea of plate tectonics back in the 1970s. These migrating islands would have really set him off.

Monday, November 12  --  Philipsburg, Sint Maarten

Margaret went on a tour this morning.  Since I have been here several times before the huge cruise ships came along, and have done all the local tours that interested me, I just stayed on board. In addition to our ship, the docks were graced by only 2 others: the Celebrity Summit which Margaret thought was huge compared to us until she saw the Carnival Breeze which is much closer to gigantic.

In the afternoon we just hung around in public spaces with our knitting and crocheting and drew in another knitter. When we got back to the cabin, I got a really nice birthday present from the Hotel Manager for the ship. It's a $50 credit coupon for the Spa and Salon. The extra nice thing is that I already have a hair appointment for tomorrow afternoon. 

Tomorrow we will be at Guadeloupe which is one of the islands that I have not visited. I'm hoping to go ashore even briefly, but as it is a tender port, it is very weather-dependent for me. I no longer have the jumping ability that is often required to get from a bouncy tender back onto the ship. We'll see what the weather is doing.

Tuesday, November 13  --  Terre-de-Haut, Iles des Saintes, Guadeloupe

This island is French like Martinique, New Caledonia, etc. The French govern their island territories pretty directly. For example, if you mail a postcard from Martinique, it goes to Paris to be sorted and sent on. At least that's how it's been in the past. I hope the few we sent will get home before we do.

It's a rather lumpy bumpy island like a lot of conical tree-covered hills randomly stuck together. In a word, it's cute. The main bay where we and the Crystal Symphony were anchored looks somewhat like the remains of a volcanic caldera, but I don't know for sure that it is. 

It rained overnight and the weather this morning has been intermittently misty and drizzly although the sun has finally peeked through after lunch. Given the weather and that this is a tender port, I decided not to go ashore. However Margaret went ashore and walked all over the town and up some of the hills. On return she noted how clean the place was compared to Philipsburg on St. Maartin. Well that's the difference between 3 ships with over 5,000 tourists and 2 ships with around 1,500 tourists. The photos she took seconded the idea that this island is cute despite all the damage from hurricane Irma.

Not long after we sailed from Guadeloupe, the ocean got quite bouncy. We are out in the Atlantic after all. I decided that it was foolish to risk a possible fall by going all the way to dinner, so I stayed "home" and called room service. While it certainly isn't the roughest I've experienced, with my reduced sense of balance these days, it's rough enough.