March 2012 Cruise NY to St Martin, Antigua, St Lucia, St Kitts, St Thomas

Seemed like a good way to shorten winter.  Take a 12 day Caribbean cruise.  Luckily Celebrity had one round trip from Port Liberty NJ just across from Manhattan.  Three sea days each way then five island stops. The ship, Silhouette, is brand new, and as we later learned, designed and built in Germany. It was an easy, 90 minute trip from Connecticut with a hired car and driver.

There was a big crush of people to check in and board.  The reality of 3000 passengers hit us then.  It was like getting on the Costa Magnifica in Sao Paulo three years earlier!

But the rooms were ready at 1pm and lunch was waiting.  The buffet has random access islands for food so there were no lines except for ice cream!

We enjoyed a good dinner in the anytime dining room.  Anytime dining works somewhat. You can be seated without reserving with a very limited wait except around 7pm.  You can make reservations a few weeks before the cruise if you figured this out.  We did not and therefore had no reservations!

The usual song and dance show and off to sleep.

Next morning awoke to wind and waves and mid 40s.  We had only slightly warmer temperatures and no sun all the way down.  Low 70s and sun for St Martin.  High 70s and sun for the rest of the Caribbean and the first day of the trip home.

The passengers were varied ranging from old and infirm to 50 year olds.  A lot of wheel chairs and scooters.  A lot of Canadians and English.  Surprising number of French, Russians, Germans and  Eastern Europeans.  There were even multi-lingual announcements.

Interesting people to talk with ranging from a retired MD, a United Airlines couple, a Canadian Air Force officer and lots more.

The ship is very well laid out and modern, with a 10 story atrium, covered and uncovered pools.

We went to a presentation by the ship's Chief Engineer.  He explained:

There are two main diesel engines with state of the art fuel injection and turbochargers (like my Audi).  These engines have huge cylinders like small garbage cans and turn at 500rpm (not  like my Audi).  The engines are designed to burn a wide range of fuels from the cheap heavy traditional fuel to ultra clean diesel, anticipating new regulations in the future.

The system is all electrical so that the diesels drive generators which in turn power electric motors that drive the propellers which are in steerable pods like outboard motors!  The electrical load including lighting refrigeration and air conditioning is 60 megawatts or a small city load.

It was a beautiful day in St Martin.  The main harbor has a 3 - 4 mile beach with the ship piers on one side.  It is picturesque with the old dutch buildings and hotels.  There is a less populous French part of the island also with beautiful beaches and the best restaurants.  The impression given is one of prosperity.  We have been there 3 or 4 times and so did not get off the ship.

Then an overnight 100 mile trip to Antigua. We hadn't visisted Antigua before so took a highlights tour.  At one level all Caribbean islands look the same.  It is a medium island with 100,000 population.  The island no longer produces sugar, and neither do they produce the food they eat.  It struck us that the island had better income per capita than the Dominican Republic where we go often, but less than St Martin. The island was named by Columbus on a sail-by, but he never visited.  The English moved in in 1500s or so and the French briefly conquered it and occupied it before England got it back.  Historically it was the base for the English fleet and was a heavily fortified island.  Admiral Nelson and his fleet were based there. Now its claim to fame is excellent rum, rum punch, cricket and small ship marinas.  Nelson's harbor is not deep enough for modern vessels.  But Prince Edward and his family were in residence on his yacht.

A surprise to us was that the island has a beautiful new hospital paid for with a loan from China.  We had no idea.

We finished our tour at Nelson's Harbor with an excellent rum punch!

Next day St. Lucia.  It is slightly larger in area than Antigua and in people (35 sq miles and 175k people).  Very hilly and mountainous.  The main city, Castries, is in the middle on the Caribbean side.  It has a small airport that accommodates propeller planes.  The international jet airport is at the extreme southern point of the island.  Like Antigua, St Lucia is a commonwealth member.

Our tour took us to various high places including the site of the university which is part of a multi island system.  From another peak we saw  both the Atlantic and Caribbean.  We ended our tour with refreshments at a restaurant overlooking a marina where we had ginger beer and fish cakes.  Excellent!

The economy is 80 percent fueled by tourism.  They are somewhat able to feed themselves and they export bananas, cocoa, coconut products, beer and rum.  They have free education, including vocational training, and mostly free health care.  They have limited unemployment assistance.

Next day St Kitts.  Also about 35 square miles but only 35000 people. Country includes 3000 population island Nevis adjacent. The country is also a UK commonwealth. The island is quaint and attractive.  There are a few hotels including an elegant Marriott on an Atlantic beach.  An attractive downtown, but sparsely settled otherwise.  They were the last island to stop producing sugar (in 2005).  They blame decreased demand and falling prices for this.  We visited several restored plantation houses, all stately with beautiful gardens.  Tourism provides 90% of income mostly in the four months of the main winter season.  Our driver said that the government has done almost no job retraining.  When we returned to the ship we browsed the newly built cruise ship shopping center.

Finally St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands. It is scenic and hilly with a big harbor dotted with islands and a long beach. It had five cruise ships in port the day we visited, which is the most we have seen in any port.

St Thomas is certainly tourist dependent.  It has no industries other than tourism.  Its sister island, St Croix, has a distillery and a refinery, the latter at least temporarily closed.  St Thomas does have a hustle not seen elsewhere.  We did not take a tour since we have visited twice (honeymoon in the 50s, vacation in early 2000s).  They have the best shops and transportation infrastructure.  Also several global brand hotels such as Marriott and Four Seasons.  Our honeymoon hotel on Water Island is apparently gone.  Bluebeard's Castle our hotel for the 2000s visit is still in business.  Nice weather but not hot.

It was nice to have US cellphone service in St Thomas.

The trip back was uneventful with reasonably warm weather and the usual good food, wine and entertainment.

Some comments on Celebrity and our ship.

It is a new ship and very well thought out.  Lots of quiet nooks and crannies especially good for bad weather.  Good dispersion of people.  Quiet and activity-oriented places to sit, with adequate outdoor shade. Two pools, one covered.

The food was pretty good.  Excellent red meat.  Excellent buffet with every food imaginable.  Some things in the dining room were overcooked, such as certain fish, duck and quail. Some things under-seasoned.  Waiters generally responsive but overworked!  Lots of small specialty restaurants with a surcharge.

The entertainment was very good.  Usual song and dance, excellent comics, jugglers and magicians..

The lectures were very good, including presentations by the captain and chief engineer.

One always wonders if it is better to cruise or to go 1 -2 places and stay on land.  Considering the small islands versus the quality of the ship, we made the right decision.