Another non-DCL cruise report: Royal Clipper, Jan. 22, 2022

[ChuckElias]

This was a 7-night sailing on the Royal Clipper (operated by Star Clippers), which departed from Bridgetown, Barbados on Jan. 22, 2022. My wife and I traveled with a small group of friends. It was the first time that anyone in our group had been to Barbados, and for me, it was actually the first time that I'd been to ANY of the islands that we visited. So I was personally really excited for this trip.

DAY 1 -- Bridgetown, Barbados

Our flights were completely unremarkable (except that we left our house at 3 a.m. to get to the airport on time ). However, I will say just a little bit about testing requirements to enter Barbados. We had to have a PCR test 3 days prior to our arrival. And we also had to have a PCR test within 72 hours of boarding the ship. So Kathryn and I got PCR tests on Tuesday before our Thursday arrival. We then went to CVS for a rapid PCR test on Wednesday morning, just in case the first test result didn't come back in time. Then we had to wait until 4 p.m. Wednesday afternoon to get our PCR test for boarding the ship. They said we'd have the results within 72 hours, which seemed perfect for our timing. (For you English majors out there, that's called "foreshadowing".) The morning test wouldn't have been accepted because it was more than 72 hours before we were supposed to board. So anyway, we had 3 tests in 2 days, and we felt pretty good that we'd done everything we could do to meet the requirements.

But. . . I'll just say that they're very particular about the type of Covid test that you take before arriving in Barbados. Even though Kathryn and I had gotten PCR tests, they weren't the right type of test. You have to have the test that "scrapes your brain"; the one that goes ALL the way up your nose. Our test didn't do that. And apparently, 75% of the people on our plane also had the wrong type of test, because there's a re-testing facility set up in the Arrivals terminal. They had to re-test us with a rapid test, which they did at no charge. Almost everybody on our plane had to do the same thing.

Once we got that all cleared up, we took a cab to our hotel in the St. Lawrence Gap area, which is almost exactly halfway between the airport and cruise terminal. We stayed at the Meridian, just around the corner from the Sandals resort and down the street from the Divi. Let me just say that the Meridian Inn doesn't make a great first impression. The exterior looks old and kind of run down; and the room was very bare-bones. There was a kitchenette, but it was also very dated.

But what we realized over our two nights there is that it's impeccably clean, and we weren't really in it all the much anyway. We had a fridge for drinks and small grocery items, and we had a corner room with a balcony, so we could have breakfast with a (somewhat limited) view of the ocean. And it included free wifi. So, while it wasn't a luxury resort by any means, we did enjoy staying there.

By the time we got to the Meridian and into our room, it was about 5 pm, and we'd been up since 2:30 a.m., so the plan was essentially find dinner, stick our feet in the water, and then make our way back to the hotel. We walked to another waterfront resort (the South Palm Hotel) for our dinner, skipped dessert, but had an after-dinner drink, listened to the live music, and then walked the beach. We got back to the hotel around 9:30, checked our email for our last test result. It hadn't come back yet, but it was only Thrs, and we didn't need it until 4 pm on Saturday. So no worries. I fell asleep watching the end of Liverpool's League Cup match.

Here's the Sandals next door. . .

And here's the live music from our dinner

 

[RememberWhen]

Oohhh! Looking forward to hearing all about it. Sounds like you had an adventure. We’re scrambling to sort out getting the kids pcr tests for DCL, but that’s nothing compared to all your hoops.

 

[ChuckElias]

Day 1, continued.

I forgot to mention that this was the first time that I had flown to a Caribbean destination. I've been on a bunch of cruises to the Caribbean, but they've always left from the US. So I'd never seen the ocean and islands from above. And I have to say that it was really a remarkable experience. It was really cool to see these little strips of land seemingly in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by all that blue water. I liked it a lot.

And just because I have this random picture, this is the airport where we arrived in Barbados.

 

[KellBelle]

Following along! Looking forward to seeing some sun!

 

[ChuckElias]

Day 2 -- Bridgetown, Barbados
Mostly sunny, warm all day, low 80s

We got up around 7:30 and really eased into the morning. We sat on our balcony a little bit, trying to get the lay of the surrounding neighborhood. We hadn't had the energy to do any food shopping the previous night, which meant we didn't have any coffee in the room. So around 9, we went out to search for coffee and breakfast. Just a couple of minutes from our hotel was The Cake Lady's Coffee Shop. We loved this little shop. We met the owner and had a really nice conversation. Her parents were from Barbados before moving to England. She grew up there, but decided to retire and move back to Barbados to open her shop. I got a slice (it was more like a SLAB) of her lemon/blueberry cake and Kath got a ham croissant twistie. They were both delicious. We took our treats across the street to the public beach and sat in front of the water to enjoy breakfast. It was pretty wonderful.

This was where we sat for our breakfast:

While we sat there, a woman came by to ask if we wanted a drink. We didn't, but it occurred to me that maybe were in a spot reserved for a nearby restaurant. After we finished eating, I found the woman and asked if this area was public, and she said "No, but I didn't want to be rude and ask you to move so early in da morning".

We had wanted this to be a beach day, not a busy day, but we did need a few items from the grocery store, so we did our shopping and headed back to our hotel and put our items back in the room. Then we walked a little further down the street from where we had breakfast and found a public beach, where we rented beach chairs for $15US for the whole day, and the Meridian had provided us with beach towels, so we settled in and stayed until 4pm. The water was warm and gorgeous and it was just so relaxing to sit for a while, then enjoy the water for a bit. I'm not typically a "sit at the beach" kind of guy, but even I had to admit that it was a wonderful way to spend our day.

Mickey goes with me everywhere. . .

At around 4, we headed back to the Meridian to get cleaned up because we were excited to go to the famous Fish Fry. We'd heard and read a little about the big fish fry in Oisten (about a 15 minute drive from St. Lawrence Gap) and were really looking forward to it. We caught the ZR taxi van (the locals call it the "Zed-R" because the license plates on the vans all start with "ZR". There are also Zed-M vans, but we didn't use those.). These vans are a little crazy. There are designated stops for the taxi vans, but those are pretty much irrelevant. The vans stop almost anywhere if they think you're looking for a ride. They stop in the middle of the road to talk to a van driver who is going in the other direction. They're CRAMMED full of people. But they're only $3.50Bar per person, instead of $15Bar for a private taxi.

We met part of our cruising party in Oisten, and had dinner together. The fish fry was not what I was expecting, but it was fun. I was thinking there was one spot, maybe with a big bonfire to cook the fish, and it wasn't like that at all. It was more like a fish marketplace. There were lots of little booths/restaurants, and each one offered a variety of fish dishes. And between the fish vendors, there were little souvenir booths selling hats, shirts, trinkets, etc. I had the Marlin dish, and Kathryn had Kingfish. Both were really good. This was a pretty fun way to spend the evening, especially with friends, as it's right on the beach. Beautiful sunset.

We took the Zed-R back to the neighborhood of our hotel and met the rest of our sailing party, who were staying at a nearby hotel. We made plans to meet up and use a local taxi driver to give us a tour before going to the cruise port. We all talked for a long time, then we headed to the Meridian to turn in for the night. I made one last email check to see if we'd gotten our Covid test results for boarding the ship. They hadn't come in yet, but we didn't need them until 4 pm the next day, so no real reason to worry. Right??

Sunset at the fish fry:

 

[RememberWhen]

The suspense!

 

[ChuckElias]

Day 3 -- Barbados and Embarkation
Sunny, 80°

We were going to meet our driver/tour guide at 9, so we were up and packed fairly early. We had a quick breakfast of inferior baked goods that were purchased from the grocery store. (The Cake Lady shop was closed on Saturday morning ) We checkout of the Meridian and then waited to get picked up for our tour. One nice thing about this tour is that our guide, Sanjay, said that we could bring all our luggage with us and he would end the tour by dropping us at the cruise port. Very helpful!

Our first stop on the tour was the St. Nicholas Abbey. This is a privately owned former plantation that now produces high-end rum. It was never actually an abbey, but the original owner had visited an abbey in Europe and just liked the sound of the name. We toured the house, the distillery facilities, and there's a train on property, which we rode to a beautiful scenic overlook spot called Cherry Tree Hill.

Just one interesting fact about the railroad system on Barbados: in the early days, the engines weren't all powerful enough to get all the way up some of the hills on the island. So when they came to one of these hills, the 1st Class passengers remained seated on the train, but the 2nd Class passengers had to get out and walk next to the train -- and the 3rd Class passengers had to help PUSH THE TRAIN up the hill!!! Those passengers were actually compensated with food and drink afterward, but that just was amazing to me.

Some pics of the Abbey grounds:

 

[ChuckElias]

Day 3, Continued.

Here are some pictures of the train experience:

And the view from Cherry Tree Hill:

Another cool thing about the train ride is that there's only one track on the grounds and it comes to a dead end at Cherry Tree Hill. So they disconnect the engine, turn it around on a turntable, then attach it to the other end of the train. I got to help turn the engine around.



After leaving the Abbey, we had lunch at a local restaurant that served burgers, fish, macaroni pie, etc. It was good, but nothing special. They also had free wifi, which allowed me to check my email to make sure that our Covid test results had arrived so that we'd be allowed to board the ship at 4 pm. Um, still no results. Ok, ok. They said it could be up to 72 hours and it's still not quite 72 hours. It'll get here. I'm sure it'll get here.

After lunch, Sanjay took us to a wildlife preserve because one of the people in our group wanted to see them feed the monkeys. I guess it's kind of an event and a few people thought it would be fun. We were only going to have an hour or so here, and Kathryn and I weren't interested in paying the entrance fee to see monkeys being fed. So we hiked the surrounding nature trails, which was really pretty and we sort of stumbled upon a historic lookout tower on the property. It had undergone a rehabilitation and had some interesting historical information and artifacts inside. We climbed up to the top and enjoyed the lookout's view. Here's "Grenade Tower":

And the view from the top. The next lookout tower should have been visible from this one, because they would have sent visual signals back and forth, but apparently the next tower was destroyed long ago.

After the wildlife sanctuary, Sanjay took us to the port. The entire time we're driving to the port, I was trying to check my email to confirm that we had our required test results. We stopped for a quick drink and I used the shop's wifi to check my email and the results still hadn't come. At this point, we only have about a half hour until boarding time, and I honestly had started thinking about finding a hotel for the week because I was pretty sure they were going to deny us from boarding. But we decided that we would just keep going as far as they'd let us and just try to figure it out as we went along.

Port security checked our passports and our cruise documents to ensure that we were really booked to sail today and didn't ask for our test results, so they let us through. So we went to the terminal to meet the Star Clippers embarkation staff. Here's where we were going to have a problem. We showed them all our paperwork, which was perfect. Then they asked for the test results and we explained that we had negative test results from Tuesday and Wednesday morning, but our test within 72 hours hadn't come back yet. They said those were no good, which we already knew. They asked if we had any other test at all. And I said that they tested us at the airport when we arrived on Thursday. I didn't think that would be good because it was an antigen test, not PCR. (Although I didn't tell them that.) But after looking at the test results, they decided it was good enough. We were going to be allowed to sail!! Everybody also had to test negative at the port before boarding, so we got in line for that. We took the test and 15 minutes later, we were cleared to board. A quick shuttle bus ride to the ship, and we were actually on an actual cruise ship to take an actual cruise!!! It was almost impossible to believe.

Here we are in the terminal. We're smiling because they accepted the test result from the airport. LOL

And here's the Captain, welcoming us aboard:

Next up: A look at our stateroom and our first dinner on board.

 

[RememberWhen]

Yay! Though it was a bit anticlimactic. Nobody roughed you up trying to find out why you were sneaking onboard without the proper testing?!

 

[twall0415]

A quick shuttle bus ride to the ship, and we were actually on an actual cruise ship to take an actual cruise!!! It was almost impossible to believe.

My favorite quote so far! Really enjoying the trip report and I'm definitely on board for reading the rest. Also having to add Barbados to my growing list of places to visit. A rum factory and an old fashion train ride with scenic views is right up my alley.

 

[ChuckElias]

Day 3 -- Embarkation, continued.

We boarded directly to an outdoor covered bar (the Tropical Bar) at about 5:30pm. They gave us a cocktail as soon as we stepped on deck. We proceeded to the Purser for check-in. We surrendered our passports, they took our pictures, and gave us our keycards. It was a little odd to give up the passports for the whole week, but we'd had to give them up for several days on our DCL cruise to Iceland, so I wasn't too concerned. From there, we were officially passengers! Time to check out the ship and our stateroom!

Our luggage was already in the room when we got there. That was a nice surprise, as we're used to waiting a few hours to get our luggage on traditional cruises. The room is pretty small. Not a lot of space to move around, and no space for your suitcase(s) after you unpack. Fortunately, our cruise was sailing at only half-capacity (more on that later), so our room steward put our suitcase in an empty stateroom. Very nice. Also, you'll need a power adapter if you want to plug in phones or tablets. We brought a UK-style adapter (Type G), but that was no good. You need an EU-style adapter (Type C). Just a heads-up.

Here's our room. You can see that the bed is pushed all the way up to the wall on one side and there's a chair at the foot of the bed. That makes it tough to get in and out of bed if you're on the "wall side" of the bed.

There's one closet, and it's directly to the left of where I'm standing to take this picture. There is also a drawer under the bed, which is hidden under the bedspread in this pic. There is a set of shelves to the right of where I'm standing and there's a bedside stand with drawers next to the bed. So there's some space for clothes, but not a ton.

The bathroom is pretty typical, although the placement of the hand towels is odd. You're leaning against the towels while you're washing your hands.

Two things about the shower. Obviously, it's small. Almost all cruise ship showers are small, so that's not a big deal. But first, the shower curtain is on a cheap plastic track and is really difficult to slide open and closed. It was a pain in the neck all week. Second, if you look at the bottom of the picture, you may notice that the shower is separated from the bathroom floor by an inch-high lip. So if the ship is moving while you're in the shower, the water just spills out into the bathroom. So don't wear your socks into the bathroom if your cabin-mate has just showered.

Like most cruise lines, Star Clippers provides toiletries in the room. I have to be honest and tell you that I didn't think these were very good. The shampoo made my hair really stiff, and the bottles are rigid plastic, so you can't squeeze them to get the shampoo out. You have to shake it, and it's slow, and who has the time?

After fully unpacking, we went to our first dinner. In non-Covid times, Star Clippers ships have open seating for the meals in the dining room. But on our sailing, we had to tell them which table we'd be sitting at so that if we were with other people they knew who we'd had close contact with in case anybody tested positive. We tried to get a table for two (because I'm essentially anti-social), but they didn't have any left. So we were paired with a British couple, who turned out to be wonderful dinner companions for the whole week.

For our first dinner, Kathryn had the fish ceviche, which she liked, and I had the vol au vent appetizer, chicken in a puff pastry with a savory gravy, which was excellent. I also had the lobster bisque, which again was excellent, and Kathryn had the watermelon sorbet, which was just ok. (Side note: there was a sorbet every night on the menu. I'm used to a sorbet that is frozen hard, almost like a sherbet. But these were all more like a slushy, mostly frozen, but still liquid.) For entrees, Kathryn had braised "knuckle of lamb" (really a lamb shank) and I had blackened chicken in a really good gravy. Both entrees were excellent. For "afters", Kathryn had the brie cheese plate, which was good; and I had almond cookies with a red-berry compote, which I loved.

Ceviche:

Vol au vent:

The bisque:

And the sorbet:

 

[ChuckElias]

Still Day 3! Dinner and Sail-Away.

Kathryn's lamb shank:

The blackened chicken:

The brie plate:

And my cookies and compote. (So yummy!)

Unlike most traditional cruises that leave port by 4 or 5 p.m. on Embarkation Day, our ship wasn't due to depart from the port until 10:00pm. Just before 10, everyone gathers on the top deck and they play dramatic music and deploy the sails for the first time. It's actually really impressive for someone like me, who has never been on a true sailing vessel. Here's what it looked like:




And here's one shot of the finished product that night:

And then we were underway, under wind power! That first night, there was a LOT of motion of the ship. We weren't rocked to sleep as much as rock-n-rolled. In fact, I would say that it was the most side-to-side motion that I've ever felt on any of my cruises. There were a couple of people who definitely were feeling seasick that night. Thankfully, that was the worst of it, and even though the motion was still more than "normal" on a couple of days that week, it never came close to that first night again.

Before hitting the sack, though, I decided to check out the midnight snack, which was served in the Piano Bar above the main dining room. It was a major disappointment. I was hoping for something chocolate, but it was just grapes and cheeses. So I didn't eat anything, but I did spend some time talking to some other folks who had come to see what was being served. It was the first real chance to talk to other passengers. I finally got to bed around 1 a.m.

That's the end of our very long, kind of nerve-wracking, exciting first day on board!

 

[RememberWhen]

What an awesome adventure so far! Can’t wait to hear about the rest of it!

 

[jme]

Awesome write-up as usual Chuck! Can't wait to hear (and see!) more about this awesome trip

 

[ChuckElias]

Day 4 -- Rodney Bay, St. Lucia
Low 80s, mostly sunny, with brief rain in the afternoon

Breakfast buffet is served in the main dining room and is an actual self-serve buffet. The catch is that you have to be masked in the buffet line AND you have to wear a disposable plastic glove before touching any of the serving utensils or food containers. The glove was a pretty big pain, simply because they were really hard to get open. Well, I had a hard time getting them open, anyway. But that was a very small price to pay. The breakfast buffet was mostly the same every day. There was usually some kind of cured meat, lots of bread options, scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, cold cereal, yogurt, jams and jellies. There were other things that were subbed in -- like creamy herring, corned beef hash or baked beans -- but weren't available every day. There was also an omelet station every day, where you could also get eggs in styles other than scrambled. It was a nice buffet, with enough variety for everybody to find something that they wanted. Down-side was the potatoes were always disappointing, whether they were hash browns or tater tots, they were soggy and luke-warm.

Right after breakfast, the captain introduced us to the officers and some of the bar and spa staffs. Our Executive Chef was apparently a former winner of "Master Chef". Also told us that we were sailing with only 116 passengers. In non-Covid times, the ship carries just over 200 passengers, so we were just above 50% capacity. Additionally, only 3 nationalities were represented among the passengers: American, German, and British. I guess this is also pretty unusual, but not all that surprising, given the lower number of people on board.

Meeting the crew:

We weren't scheduled to reach our first destination until just after lunch, so I decided to wander the ship a little bit and learn my way around. So I started all the way on the bottom deck to see the gym and the spa. The gym is pretty sparse. There are a couple of treadmills, some dumbbells, a couple Nautilus machines, and an elliptical. I tried the elliptical just for fun, and every time I took a step, my head hit the ceiling. I am NOT a tall person.

The spa wasn't open when I visited, so I don't have a lot to report about it. But it's also a very small space (as you would imagine on a very small ship), with only a couple treatment rooms.

A look at the gym equipment:

Spa reception desk:

And a treatment room:

Buffet lunch is essentially the same as breakfast. You have to be masked and gloved in order to serve yourself. Lunch typically has cold cuts, some cold salads, hot options like chicken or beef, and some form of side veggie. This day also had fried shrimp, which was good. There's also a dessert table (at dinner, too).

First tender to shore was at 12:30pm. We got there slightly later at 12:45. We tendered at each stop, except for our initial embarkation and then debarkation in Barbados. Every other stop, we tendered in to shore. It's obviously more convenient to be at the pier, but honestly, the tendering was not ever a problem. The Royal Clipper carries its own tender boat, and we also used the lifeboat a couple of times.

Tender boat:

We didn't have an excursion planned, so we had a choice of tendering to the town marina/market or to a local beach. We wanted to see some of the town if possible, so we tendered into the Rodney Bay marketplace. Lots of little shops, a few waterfront bars/restaurants; but because it was Sunday, many of the shops were closed. So we walked through a couple of the shops that were open (took us maybe an hour and a half) and then sat by the water and had a drink while we waited for a tender to take us to the nearby beach. I had thought that we'd be going to a somewhat secluded area, but it was just a public beach. It was a bit of a long walk from where the tender left us, and the locals were very aggressive in trying to sell us beach chairs and towels. They had parked their cars at the public entrance to the beach and were playing loud music. It was not my favorite spot of the week.

Rodney Bay marina, with mountain in the background:

Our ship, with sails stowed, taken from the Rodney Bay public beach:

Just a dorky shot of us on the beach :

We decided to head back to the ship a little early, since we didn't love the beach. We got back aboard at 4:30, which was convenient, because every day at 5pm, the Afternoon Snack is served in the Tropical Bar. The Afternoon Snack is important because dinner isn't served until 7:30 and we could obviously starve by then. So today's snack was chicken wings with a sweet chili sauce, and it was really yummy. We found a couple of other people from our small group and talked for a bit while we snacked.

 

[ChuckElias]

Day 4, Continued

After our afternoon snack, we went down to the Marina Deck. That's where the water sports activities are centered. The Marina Deck is at the aft of the ship and actually opens so that you can walk out onto the deck from the ship and jump into the water.

You can see that the back of the ship actually opens and makes a platform at water level. It's very cool and we'll come back to talk about more later. But on this day we went down there because the ship provides everybody with a set of snorkel equipment for the week, and we wanted to pick up our gear. The sports staff was terrific all week.

After getting our snorkel equipment, we headed back to the room to get showered and dressed, even though dinner was still a little bit later. We took our time, and just relaxed (and caught up on my trip notes ) in the room until it was time to head down to the restaurant. And they let you know that it's time to come to dinner by ringing an actual bell in the restaurant. It's not some cute chime that gets broadcast over the intercom. No, they literally ring the dinner bell.

For appetizers this night, Kath had the beef terrine, served cold, which was just ok. Not a lot of flavor to it. I had a dish of seafood in filo dough, which was good and I liked the flavor. But in the filo dough, the seafood was mixed with some kind of breading, almost like a Thanksgiving stuffing. It was a little odd and it made the texture more doughy than meaty, if that makes sense. But I liked it and enjoyed it.

Kathryn had the apple/carrot sorbet. Yes, it seems like a very strange concoction, but I couldn't detect any carrot flavor and overall, it was more sweet than I would have expected from that combination. We both liked it.

For our entrees, Kathryn got pork medallions in a gorgonzola sauce. I liked the dish more than Kath did. It was overdone for Kathryn's liking, but I didn't mind it. The gorgonzola was pretty mild, which I think was disappointing for Kath. (She likes a good stinky cheese more than I do.) My entree was the Rasta Steak, a tender, thin sirloin in a a jerk-spiced sauce, cooked perfectly medium-rare. I liked this very much. The chopped vegetables were way too spicy for me, but they didn't ruin the meal.

Both of us got the chocolate gateaux "Marquis" for dessert. This was a very dense chocolate mousse, sliced and served cold -- almost like a slice of ice cream cake. It was fantastic. Unfortunately, my pics of the steak and dessert got corrupted. Sorry

We stayed at the table talking to our dinner companions until about 10pm. Then we went upstairs to the Piano Bar where coffee is always available (and complimentary). This is also where the Continental Breakfast is served, if you want a croissant or something small without doing the whole buffet.

The view from the Piano Bar down to the main dining room:

Then we walked the deck, and stood outside the Bridge, looking at the sea and stars. They keep the deck mostly dark, so you do have to be a little bit careful while walking, but it makes the view so amazing. It was just gorgeous. I didn't bother checking out the midnight snack after being so disappointed the previous night and ended up back in our stateroom around 11:30.

 

[ChuckElias]

Day 5 -- Cabrits, Dominica
Sunny and hot

A lot of people like to get up early on a cruise and watch the sunrise. I am not one of those people So we slept in a bit again, and made it out of our room at about 8:45, because at 9, we met up with our sister ship, the Star Flyer and sailed with her for about a half hour. That was a really fun experience, and I found myself humming the music from the Pirates of the Caribbean movie!

We outran the Flyer within about 45 minutes, which left just enough time to get to the breakfast buffet. I needed to eat something, because the one chocolate croissant that I grabbed on the way to the top deck (Sun Deck) wasn't enough to get me to lunch.

Chocolate croissant -- it was actually Nutella, rather than chocolate inside. Yummy.

Shore excursions in Cabrits didn't start until 1pm, but we weren't signed up for an excursion and we just wanted to wander on our own. So we hopped the first available tender and got to shore right around noon. Interestingly, the Star Flyer was moored at the dock, and they didn't have to tender. I tried to get them to let me aboard the Flyer to compare the two ships, but the wouldn't let me.

Anyway, we bought tickets to enter the island's national park (only $13 Eastern Caribbean Dollars) and explored the hiking trails. We found Fort Shirley, which had some really interesting history and great views of the port. There are trails that extend past the fort (probably a total of about 3 miles of trails), but we didn't have the footwear for a real hike. So we spent a couple hours at the fort and headed back to the ship.

You can see the Royal Clipper anchored in the bay and the Star Flyer at the dock.

Fort Shirley, and some of its guns.

Me, with the Royal Clipper in the background.

Kathryn with the Royal Clipper in the background:

I got a couple close-ups of the Star Flyer, even though they wouldn't let me board.

After returning to the ship, we grabbed a quick lunch from the buffet. They do a really good job with salads for the buffets. There was an excellent seafood pasta salad. I also tried the fried chicken, but it was just ok. Kathryn had lamb in gravy and liked it a lot. The desserts were just ok, although we both like the chocolate-banana trifle.

Back to the stateroom to get bathing suits on, because we really wanted to experience the Marina Deck!

 

[ChuckElias]

Day 5 -- Continued

The Marina Platform is at the aft of the ship and it lowers from the hull of the ship. They offer paddleboarding, kayaking, and wind-surfing directly from the platform. It's very cool. They also have floating mats that stay attached to the platform, so you can swim out to one and just lay on it to soak up the sun. So relaxing and very fun.

Here's a view of how you get from the ship onto the platform.

And here, you can see the equipment, including the floating mats that are trailing out behind the ship. We spent a lot of time on the mats. I did try the paddleboard, but I'm not very good at it. I couldn't stand up and keep my balance very long.

We stayed in the water for a couple hours, and it's such a fun, relaxing experience to be floating out in the middle of the water -- not at the beach. During our particular cruise, the sun was setting around 5:40 or so. So we got out of the water at 5:30 and headed up to the Tropical Bar for the end of the Afternoon Snack, which was chicken wings and were pretty good! Then back to the room for a desperately-needed shower before dinner.

Dinner started with a delicious mozzarella and mango appetizer. It was so light and refreshing. I really enjoyed it. Kathryn liked the tomato-basil soup very much. The sorbet was lime and rum, and was very nice. Kathryn and I had the same entree, which is unusual for us, but we both liked the sound of the veal parmesan, served over spaghetti. Unfortunately, this was very average. It had very little sauce or parmesan cheese on it. The veal itself was ok, but seemed rather dry without a bit more sauce. For dessert, Kathryn got the cheese plate, which again, was nice and light after a big meal. And I got amaretto profiteroles, which were delicious, especially when paired with a scoop of chocolate ice cream.

The tomato soup and lime/rum sorbet:

The veal parm:

Dessert: Cheese plate, chocolate ice cream (I did NOT eat all of it!), and the amaretto profiteroles:

After dinner, we went to the reception desk (located in the ship's one shop) and borrowed a DVD, but after hiking and then jumping off the Marina Platform for 2 or 3 hours, we were both exhausted and out cold by 10:30.

 

[jme]

@ChuckElias the video linked at the bottom of Day 5 is marked private so we can't view it.
Great write-up btw!

 

[ChuckElias]

@ChuckElias the video linked at the bottom of Day 5 is marked private so we can't view it.

Should be fixed now. Sorry about that. I'm not a very good youtuber, I guess!