I’m a person who likes to hedge her bets….so I seldom burn my bridges, I seldom slam doors, I always join in the office lottery pool…and whenever I am handed a contest coupon I usually fill it out….”you just never know” is my motto…
That is why I put my name and number on the piece of paper handed to me by the cashier as I was paying for my microwave oven.
Weeks later out of the blue, I got a call informing me that I had won a cruise to the Caribbean!!! It was truly an all inclusive prize: they paid for the airfare, the transfers, a balcony stateroom. Wine with dinner and tips were included as well as a set of luggage!!! NIIIIIIIICE!!
Getting on the plane to Fort Lauderdale proved to be the only challenge of the trip…It took three full hours to get from the entrance of the terminal to the boarding gate!! We were dealing with major paranoia, after the averted bomb during the holidays…we were not allowed any hand luggage save for a small purse and a laptop…I was even told to check the novel I had planned to read on the trip and the bag my laptop was in, as it was deemed larger than its content… But we made it…and arrived in Fort Lauderdale to temperatures that were below those we had just left back home!!! It made for an eery sight that evening as vapor clouds were hovering over the water…I shot this mystery vessel without knowing what I was looking at….only later that week did I realize it was the “Oasis Of The Seas”, the biggest cruise ship on the water…
The cruise line was new to me as I had never sailed with them or even sold them to anyone, so, from a professional point of view, I was curious to discover this new “product”. The ship was the “MSC Poesia”, an Italian line.
It is a large ship with space for 3000 passengers. It is fairly new, having been built in 2008. It is nice looking, well kept and very clean.
Our stateroom was nice enough although small. There were no toiletries in the bathroom, only a dispenser that squirted watered down hand soap by the sink and two unidentified ones in the shower…
The beds were not very comfortable and the internet cable was at the opposite end from the electrical outlet…there were no chocolates nor towel animals on our beds at night. But there was a nice little balcony that made up for everything else.
But I quickly noticed there was not a single fresh flower on board. Even the centerpieces in the dining room were plastic flowers. The one thing that was a bit shocking was the number of smoking areas. The staterooms were not smoke free, nor were several of the main bars, and the casino.
On the other hand the ship was pleasantly quiet, there were very few PA announcements…no piped music…and the entertainment was never invasive.
But the big disappointment for me was the food. It must be noted that I am NOT complaining: this was a free cruise and I am not looking a gift horse in the mouth but if I am to assess this properly I cannot ignore it. The food lacked variety, was presented in very bland fashion, and did not taste good. The only great thing on that ship was the bread and the croissants… The omelet station at breakfast was a tray of folded empty pre made omelets…The cheese platter on the table d’hôte menu consisted of three slices of mostly processed cheese with 2 saltines in their plastic wrapper and a dollop of marmelade…The pasta, though ever present, was unimaginative. The midnight buffet had amusing food sculptures but the desserts did not taste good,..I tried most of them…and nothing was right…I had hopes the cannoli would be good…but they were soggy and tasted of cardboard…
My last negative comment would concern an unpleasant sewer smell that was often present on the upper outside decks…
Having said all this, let’s move on to the cruise itself.
We set sail from Fort Lauderdale for San Juan Puerto Rico arriving there after a day at sea.
It got very windy and as I walked the upper deck something strange caught my eye…
No, it is not a dead bird…it is a WIG!!! Somebody’s wig got blown away and over the furthest security glass panel….…I spend the rest of the trip trying to figure out whose it was….
I had been to San Juan before, so there was little novelty for me there, but I did take the city tour as it was late afternoon and I did not want to get lost after dark…We drove through the “Old town” and visited the ancient Fortress of San Cristobal
We also stopped by the Capitol building with its 26 different kinds of marble
Next we set sail for Saint Maarten. At this time of year it looked lush, although I am told it does not stay that way.
This island is half Dutch, half French. You cross over between the two sides without fuss. Phillipsburg is the Dutch capital and where the boats dock, Marigot is the French capital, with a lovely craft market and great restaurants…
Everywhere you see boats, sailboats, catamarans and fancy yachts of all sizes.
We visited Orient beach, which is quite well known. It was lovely and the water was so warm!!!! Unfortunately the clouds rolled in, the rain started and eventually put a stop to our swim.
And so we set sail again, this time for Tortolla, in the British Virgin islands. This is a gorgeous island, again very popular with sailboats.
I did not ride through it but rather sailed around it towards “The Baths” on Virgin Gorda. What makes this site famous is the rock formations scattering the beach. Unfortunately it makes for a smallish, thus overcrowded sandy area. There are caves to be explored but not for the claustrophobic.
Our last stop was one I have visited before: Nassau! This time I chose to visit the aquarium at the Atlantis Hotel. I had visited the public areas of the hotel but never paid (through the nose) for the total aquarium display. It was money well spent. The hotel is still spectacular.
But the aquariums are amazing! There are 50000 sea animals form 200 different species! The main one is a glass tunnel for people to walk through the aquarium. It is kind of scary when you think of the pressure on the sides from 2.5 million gallons of water!….not for claustrophobics! That is where I saw this showy specimen:
Then there are several smaller aquariums with a variety of species such as:
Then you walk outside and discover a series of pools or lagoon (as they are called), each with a different selection of fish or marine animal, you can see a variety of sharks, stingrays, turtles….
Soon it was time to get back on board for the last evening before reaching Fort Lauderdale and the end of our journey.