Our cruise visited the islands of St Thomas, Sint Maarten/Saint Martin, Martinique, and Curaao - all new to my father and myself. These were relaxed days in Caribbean warmth, dedicated to a mild amount of site seeing. Dinners were events at the end of the day, and my father collected all the menus, which are shown as photos in this blog.
Tuesday morning our bags going to the ship were to be outside our room door by 8:30 AM. We left for the Princess ship about 12:30 for Rum lunch. The afternoon was spent getting acquainted with the ship. We booked our tours for the 5 stops on our route. Dinner on board.
The ship left the dock at 11:00 PM. We were on the upper deck for the sail out of the harbour past the Fort of Old San Juan. On deck we threw streamers and waved, as if on a crossing, with the big ship horns deeply hooting to announce our departure. Then to bed.
of St. Thomas. We drove out of Charlotte Amalie, the capital, and saw the many coves and beaches along the coastline. Our final destination was Coral World, which has various displays of various tropical species and coral creatures in tanks, under sea and in outdoor pools. A very interesting facility.
A friend in Calgary had asked me to mail a parcel in St Thomas destined for St John, also in the US Virgin Islands. The savings in postage was well worth the effort of finding a post office. Since this was US territory, things were not particularly strange to us.
Walked to the Havensight Shopping Centre (for cruise passengers). Most items for sale were very expensive jewelry or tee shirts, etc. - all supposedly well below US Mainland prices. US citizens can take back $1200 per person duty free. Liquor is not included in this amount. US citizens can take 5 – 26 oz. bottles plus one 26 oz. bottle of Virgin Island bottled liquor. Prices range from $5.00 to $10.00 per 26 oz. including imported scotch.
We left dock at 5:45 PM, delayed 15 minutes due to late departure of another cruise ship, the Westerdam. We attended the Captains
Cocktail Party where our pictures were taken. This requested formal dress. Then dinner, followed by the Princess Cruises stage show Tin Pan Alley, a musical and dance routine of early songs, etc. - copies of Eddie Cantor, Al Jolson and others.
Docked at Philipsburg on the island of St. Maarten at 8:00 AM. Also at anchor were the Sky Princess of the Princess line, Song of Norway of the Royal Caribbean Line, and the Sea Goddess 1 of the Cunard Line. The town will be full of tourists. Island trip at 12:40 PM. Rain squall.
Our tour started at Philipsburg and progressed around the Island perimeter to Marigot, the Capital of French St. Martin. The town has many very rich living quarters but in general it looks impoverished. The shops catering to tourists were stocked mostly with faddish merchandize. Instead of shopping, we had a cool drink and watched people passing.
On return we travelled around French St. Martin to Dutch St. Maarten. The currency is Dutch Guilders or French Francs. And the US dollar anywhere. The language is Dutch, French, and English, the universal language. Casinos are permitted in Dutch
St. Maarten but not in French St. Martin, although the French are permitted in the Dutch area. The French area allows and has both topless and nude beaches. The Dutch area does not permit nudity.
At 8:00 we anchored off in Martinique and tendered into the city of 100,000 people. We boarded the bus for the Island tour at 9:00 AM and drove along the Caribbean coast to where we made a short stop. After a visit to open air shops, we visited an excellent Museum of Artifacts, founded after the volcanic eruption of Mount Pele in August 1902. 3,000 inhabitants were asphyxiated. The one survivor was a prisoner in a dungeon - apparently he had the only real protection from the devastating volcano.
We left to arrive at Leyritz Plantation near on the Atlantic coast, for lunch.
