After leaving them behind (which took several hours, it seemed) we had five glorious days at sea. Many people are curious to know if we got "cabin fever" on the boat or were bored being at sea so many days. My answer is a resounding "NO!" I loved the days at sea. For 5 days we saw no land and no other ships at all. The feeling might be similar to being in a sensory deprivation chamber (I am guessing as I have never done that) in the sense that external stimuli are reduced to a minimum and it allows one to contemplate. I spent many hours staring at the waves. I did a lot of thinking about early explorers, like Columbus, who were in this same ocean for days upon days and didn't really know that they were going to arrive somewhere at all. I found that I became much more connected to the elements outside - clouds, rain, moonrise - these all took on near mystical proportions.
We began to see floating bits of the Sargasso Sea, which made me think of the book by that name by Jean Rhys. Flying fish were a daily occurrence. I loved to see their sleek silvery bodies hurtling through the air. I swear they appeared as birds flapping their wings low over the waves.
Meanwhile, there were plenty of activities to do on ship, if one grew tired of looking at the sea. Our cabin was very near the ship's library. It was well stocked with good books and I enjoyed reading some very fine books which I had been meaning to read. Paulo Coelho's "Brida" perfectly fit the contemplative mood of being at sea. Barbara Kingslover's newest book, "Lacuna" amazed me with its depth and richness. It is true luxury to have time to sit and digest books like this.
Opposite the library was the card room. There were lots of games there, including cards, but we had brought our own games with us, so we had several rousing sessions of dominoes, Upwords and Russian Bank. On this ship there were so many activities to do that one literally could not do them all. We had a rock climbing wall, two swimming pools, a gym, spa, sauna, steam room, classes of various kinds, demonstrations, Bingo, Karaoke, scavenger hunts, movies, shopping, etc, etc. Every night we had a show. These were quite varied - Broadway musical revues, Argentine tango, a circus performer who balanced plates while standing on his head on a champagne bottle on a table (!), comedians, singers...something for everyone.
These guys are doing a hilarious routine with folding chairs.
And then there were the meals. These became the high point of our days at sea. There were a few formal night thrown in, which made it fun, but there really was no pressure to be really dressy. We had outstanding service from our dining room staff, whom we got to know quite well after our full two weeks on the ship. We had Sandra, from Peru, who was our assistant waiter. She did things like offer us four different types of bread throughout the meal, ensure our water and wine glasses were full, and otherwise generally assist the waiter. She was absolutely delightful.
Our waiter was Cahya, from Bali. He was a perfectionist, never allowing us to go from dinner to dessert without scraping the crumbs off of our table and ensuring that our dessert silverware was set just so on the table. We had many interesting conversations with him about his grandmother's cooking and things he did as a child in the remote jungle of Bali where he grew up.
This international flavor, both in crew and guests, was one of the things I loved most about this cruise. We met so many interesting people from all over the world.When we finally saw land, it was both exciting and kind of shocking. Our first Caribbean port was in the Netherlands Antilles, the island of St. Maartens. Actually, Dutch St. Maartens is only half the island, the other half being St. Martins and French.
I was unprepared for the incredible touristy commercialism of this island and all of the huge cruise ships in town along with us.
It was my worst nightmare of cruising - store after store selling diamonds (who are these people that want to buy all of these diamonds?), high end clothes and other stuff that no one needs, and the streets full of gawking, sweating tourists.However, the waterfront area was nice and clean and had a certain charm.
And I did manage to find one fun sign for my collection:
After buying the requisite tourist stuff - t-shirts, coin purses, baseball hats - in the outdoor market where one could bargain, Nancy and I went inland and found the real Phillipsburg in a grocery store. I am not a typical tourist - the things I like to buy for souvenirs are locally made products like hot sauce, soap, honey, etc. I felt much better about touristy St. Maartens after visiting the grocery store.
It was so incredibly hot and humid here that Nancy and I made a beeline to a Chinese restaurant for lunch simply because it advertised that it was fully air conditioned. As it turns out, we made an excellent choice. The restaurant had no other tourists but was full of Chinese and staff from our boat. Good food!
We pulled out of St. Maartens in early evening knowing we would wake up to the island of Antigua the next morning. Here was our final glimpse.
I am sure if I were the kind of person who loves to sunbathe and snorkel all day long I would have had a more positive feeling about this island. But I am not and I did not. Returning here is not on my bucket list.Audrey
