ONE if by Land, TWO if by Sea - A Combo Summer Trip Report

[HouCuseChickie]

Based upon your photos, that ship is very impressive looking. I like how each deck has its own individual designs, etc.

It's a big part of why I picked this sailing/ship. These huge ships just have so many little areas to explore and things to do that at times, you forget that you're at sea on a ship. While I'm sure we would have enjoyed things on one of the smaller ships, this seemed like the best fit for older kids as well as a family totally new to cruising.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Everyone made it back to the rooms in time to prep for formal night. This was also one of those nights where I was really thankful to have two rooms. Two teenage girls vs. one 50-something husband...all trying to get ready at the same time...and one mom having to help them all. David was all cranky because none of his dress clothes were really comfortable and Sam never wears dressy stuff, so I was having to do little tweaks and finishing touches to convince her she looked great. Kendall also has this whole hair and makeup routine that was just too big for the bathroom and encompassed the desk/lit round mirror spot as well as the adjacent full length mirror. So yea...we needed our space. Somehow in all of this...I managed to get ready too!



We headed down to the MDR area a little early because my parents wanted family pictures. They had a number of photo spots all along the promenade. Each had long lines, so we just picked the closest one. It ended up being a big issue. They didn't want to accommodate us because we were a party of 10. They said they couldn't take pictures any larger than a group of 8. Now, we saw several larger groups ahead of us taking pics as well as several along the way. It turned into this whole thing where we had to get a manager. We eventually got to take our pictures and there was room for all of us. I personally think they just didn't want a larger group because you can't see the ship in its entirety. Sorry...I care more about the people than the backdrop. At least they turned out nicely.




Tonight, the waiting area was open outside of the MDR. Some people in our group had on less than comfortable footwear, so we decided to go take a seat while waiting for the main doors to open.



Once seated, we went through the nightly ritual of placing our massive order and waiting. We did tell our server that six of us had show plans after the meal, so it was important things go more smoothly tonight. It still ran really long, but we tried.

My appetizers for the night...an iceberg wedge salad and calamari...



The salad was nice and cold, but the calamari was lukewarm at best.

Next up, my entree...which was some kind of filet. It was at least cooked the way I like it tonight. It was also was only lukewarm, but at least the asparagus was cooked a bit better tonight.



And for dessert...carrot cake.



Not bad, but the cream cheese frosting was much lighter than how I like and make mine. It had very little tang to it.

We also had a special dessert come out. With my parents celebrating their 50th anniversary...we made sure the dining room did something special. So, they got special dessert and the room singing happy anniversary to them.




After this, we pretty much had to fly to the other end of the 5th deck. The four of us and my parents had reservations for Grease and they start letting standing room guests in at about 15 min before the show. It was already a little after 10pm (like I said, another slow serving night), so we had to go fast. My nephew wasn't too happy about not joining us, but it was already past their bedtime. Of course Kendall was in crazy high heels so she was a real fun one for the walk. I told her to bring backup shoes, but she knows better. LOL

 

[HouCuseChickie]

A little side note about formal night...

I had been hearing all kinds of horror stories about attire. I know some of these people have been cruising for decades and miss the years of dining being black tie, but I also didn't see anyone that looked like they just came off the pool deck or rolled out of bed like so many complainers described. On formal night, we saw lots of nice dresses, plenty of sequins (including one man's tux jacket), a few traditional tuxedos, and nothing super casual. We were definitely some of the more casual ones, but I'm also not sure I would have enjoyed the night as much if I had gone super fancy. I'm mixed on the experience as a whole. On one had, it can be nice to dress up and it can make things feel more special...on the other...I really would have been fine with dressy casual every single night.

So, we made our way across the promenade and decided to just go for the balcony for our seats (main seating is a floor below on 4).



Again...first time cruiser, so it may be perfectly normal, but this is where I knew I wasn't imagining the rocking. Those screens rocked back and forth on their mountings for the entire performance. Someone else noted it in one of my Facebook groups and while I wholeheartedly agreed...others said they saw absolutely nothing. I'm not sure how that's possible when the screens were shifting as much as 3-6", but I guess we all see things differently. It's also interesting when people are trying to sing and you hear waves crashing against the hull. The whole thing just kept making me brace like a roller coaster ready to go over a lift hill.

While we were waiting on the show to start, my mom got really cranky. Two different families kept coming in and out of our row, which meant all six of us had to stand and let them through. Basically, they weren't sure if they'd picked the best seats. It was somewhere between our 8th and 10th time standing for these people that she said something about picking a seat and staying there. It was especially challenging because there are servers bringing drinks in the theater and we all had some drinks to go with the show.

The show itself was OK. The girl who played Sandy wasn't great, but the other performers were decent...especially the actors for Danny and Rizzo. One of the poor girls on the dance crew had a wardrobe malfunction at one point. At first I noticed about a 2" gap at the top of the dress. Within the next minute or so, the whole back came open. It must happen often, because she danced off stage mid-number and was back on in under a minute with some special, almost invisible, clip to keep the back together. David isn't big on theater or shows (used to sleep through my symphony concerts) so he wasn't all that pleased about joining us. He also felt it wasn't appropriate for the girls. I know Grease touches on some more mature subject matters, but I know my first time seeing Grease was in elementary school and I pretty much knew it by heart by Sam's age.

It was time to head back to our rooms and get into more comfortable clothes. When we got back, we found some sweet creations from our steward, Dawa. Oh, how I love some towel animals!!!



Now that we were all comfy, we had to decide if we should go to bed or stay in for the night. David was ready for bed, but the girls wanted to hit up Sorrento's for a midnight snack. So we headed to the elevators...



I loved how the elevators always had the day of the week on the floor, but was mildly sad that it was 12:07am and they hadn't been shifted from Monday to Tuesday. First world problem. Speaking of the elevators...that was one design feature that was a bit odd. The buttons were all backlit in blue. If you pressed a button, the blue would just get a bit brighter. Sometimes, it was nearly impossible to tell if your floor had been pressed.

I wanted to sit and eat rather than bring the pizza upstairs. So, I got a couple of slices of veggie, Sam got pepperoni and K got cheese.



I can't recall if it was the day 3 or day 4, but they ran out of pepperoni for a bit and were putting salami on pizzas. I remember my brother breaking the news. We'd seen the salami, but just thought they were changing things up, since they usually offered 5-6 kinds of pizza as well as some little side salad dishes...like eggplant, olives and caprese. Thankfully, for the pepperoni lovers, they got some in one of our ports. My brother had said they may have to go without for the rest of the trip if they couldn't get any!

Time to head back to the room so we wake up early enough for the gym the next day.

Oh, and this is when I took the head sculpture video.



The girls accused me of acting like a Karen...just needing my head sculpture video. Apparently, they felt I was embarrassing. How is me being totally quiet and taking a video embarrassing? Kids

 

[MinnieM123]

Oh, and this is when I took the head sculpture video.

The girls accused me of acting like a Karen...just needing my head sculpture video. Apparently, they felt I was embarrassing. How is me being totally quiet and taking a video embarrassing? Kids

I don't blame you for wanting to get a video of that -- it was very unique. Love the lighting, etc. It's always nice to see different things that you'd not encounter in your regular day-to-day routine, you know? (Don't understand why the girls had an issue with you filming it. )

 

[HouCuseChickie]

July 26th-

I woke up relatively early and wanted to see if anyone else was up for the fitness center. We had another full day at sea, so I wanted to be up and moving. Everyone else pretty much rolled over and went back to sleep. I wasn't going to sit around waiting on them, so I went down to 5 to just pick up the track without going through the fitness center. I made several laps and even grabbed a video on my last lap...



I never took a pic, but on the track, they even had a little area with wood chips set aside for service animals needing to relieve themselves. Again...this may be standard on all modern ships, but it was interesting to me.

I headed back in to do some cardio and lifting. I spent 10 minutes on an elliptical, but gave up. Every rise and dip of the ship could be felt and it messed with my stride. Sometimes I felt like I was in a deep lunge and sometimes I felt like I need to grip the machine to stay on. So, I hopped onto a bike for another 15-20 minutes...



I was able to get onto a few of the circuit machines before calling it quits. I did go to the bathroom and found a crew members badge and $ sitting in there. I turned it in to the spa desk...and I'm pretty sure it was the same person. She seemed a little embarrassed, but I'm sure she was glad to get it back. I checked in again on the family, but they were all still glued to their beds. While I should have explored other options, I decided to head to Windjammer for breakfast. I was initially going to head up to 15 from our end of the ship, but after zoning out in the art for a bit, I decided to take the corridors down to the other side.



Not that I needed to say hi right now, but it was always easy to spot my parents' room with their door decor...



Things were busy again at the Windjammer. I ended up sitting at the end of a large table with another family for a bit. As usual, various members of my family eventually found me and we all grabbed a bigger table together. My niece also insisted on some selfies...



Afterwards, my nephew wanted everyone to go for soft serve ice cream, but we had some things to take care of first. So we promised to meet up in a little bit. In the meantime, I went back to the room to take some pictures of my big suitcase. Among the issues, they damaged my bag when bringing it on board for embarkation...



I know damaged luggage happens, but I was wondering how I'd be getting this bag off the ship in this condition. I also find it crazy that it's flown with me numerous times and been on a ton of road trips without issue. It's a big heavy bag that's been dropped before and never before have I had these issues. At disembarkation, I noticed quite a few other bags with significant damage, so I clearly wasn't the only one. I went to guest services to inquire about a solution. They had me fill out a bunch of paperwork and then gave me two options.

1. New bag that was a fraction of the size of my suitcase and soft sided.
2. $100 on board credit.

The bag was a 31" and what they were offering was around a 20", so I just took the onboard credit. My mom had randomly decided to bring a roll of packing tape (something happened years ago where she needed it, and she brings it along ever since), so I'd get to benefit from this crazy ounce of preparedness. I never took a pic of my taping job, but I taped the living daylights out of my bag and it was able to make it off the ship, all the way to my car and into my living room. So the tape worked. It hit the trash after I unpacked.

David went over to the British style pub on the ship while I was taking care of the bag details. So, I met him over there when I was done.



I was still a bit bothered by the whole bag thing, so I needed a stronger drink...extra dirty vodka martini.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

After our drinks we headed over to one of the ice cream dispensers...passing our level of the MDR along the way. Each floor has its own name...American Icon (3), The Grande (4), and Silk (5). I have since seen pics of the other dining rooms and it looks like windows are open in those dining rooms since they don't face the walking track. So, I guess at least two out of three get some natural light and views.



Back to ice cream! There was one on each side, so we weren't quite sure which one was the plan. My parents decided they were too full for ice cream and skipped it, but the girls eventually came up and my brother showed up with the kids. So, we all had ice cream as promised.



We had a show coming up around 3:30pm. It turns out my parents booked the same show. This would now be the second time we randomly ended up booking the same shows. We made plans to meet near the theater closer to time, but in the meantime, David and I decided to go to Central Park. In fact, the seven of us all went to Central Park. We just wanted to sit and have a few drinks while my niece needed to show us her ability to do back bends.



This would also be when my kids realized they could order non-alcoholic fun drinks like daquiris and my niece and nephew would want their own. David doesn't usually pay much attention to all that I do with vacation planning and booking, so he encouraged my niece and nephew to have my brother get them some...not realizing that they didn't have the extra drink package I'd added on for our girls. He didn't push it again in the future, but I felt bad, because they are also really sugary and I don't know if my brother really wanted them to have them after the ice creams.

It was time for us to head to the show. My nephew got upset because it seemed we had more shows booked, so we had a more tense parting, but we just have different schedules. This time we'd be heading to Studio B, which is the ice skating rink. And hey look! The elevators have the correct day!!!



We waited outside of the theater for a bit...



My parents were running a little behind, so we just went in and grabbed some seats and saved a couple for them.



The show was our favorite of the entire cruise. Mind you, I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was absolutely incredible. It started out as this semi-comedic ice dancing number in my video, but morphed into a Cirque du Soleil type production. A few of the skaters had a hard time with landing jumps, but this is a tiny space compared to a normal ice skating rink.





We also picked a good spot. The performers would often come out onto the stairs next to us and interact with the crowd and they played with a number of people in the first row.

After the show, we headed back to our respective rooms to get ready for dinner. My dad had booked one of the specialty restaurants for the evening and it was nearly 2 hours earlier than our standard dining time. He also wanted to talk to the MDR to make sure they knew not to expect us this evening.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I don't blame you for wanting to get a video of that -- it was very unique. Love the lighting, etc. It's always nice to see different things that you'd not encounter in your regular day-to-day routine, you know? (Don't understand why the girls had an issue with you filming it. )

I think they're just being teens...freaked out about anything that makes me stand out as a tourist or just in general. We do sometimes go back and revisit my videos and it's not uncommon for them to 1. appreciate that I took the video to capture whatever it was 2. admit they have no idea why they were so put off by my filming at the time. It's a neat sculpture and the ship's lighting can change in this section to really make things pop. We'd find this out later in the night on day 3.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

After the show, we headed back to the room to relax a bit and then get ready. I found myself really enjoying having this view, because I could always see where we were headed...even if it looked like middle of nowhere. I got a little too excited this time, because I saw another ship out there. It was my first time seeing anything since we left Port Canaveral.



We were back down in Central Park for dinner...specifically, the restaurant 150 Central Park. Unfortunately, we ran into an issue as soon as we arrived. We were previously informed that they could seat us together, but upon arriving at the restaurant, we were told we'd have to split. We were willing to split, but they wanted to put us on opposite sides of the restaurant. They could see they had a party of 10 on the books, so I'm not sure why they didn't prepare for this better. It did get worked out and we were put at adjacent tables. I guess I never got a really good photograph of it, but it's a pretty restaurant and it had this neat peacock looking mosaic up in the center.



Now, my niece was very excited that we were both sparkly this evening (no pics of me), but she had to model her sparkly unicorn dress.



First up, they brought out some of their signature bread. It's a pull apart filled with butter, herbs and different kinds of salts. This stuff is pretty darn good!



Unfortunately, this is where things start to go awry. My parents sat with David and Sam, and had a really great server. Some of it may also have been easier because there weren't any kids under 12 at the table and nobody with major allergies. Kendall and I sat with my brother, SIL, niece and nephew. My niece and nephew were given kid menus with coloring areas, but no crayons. My niece is a lot more outspoken than I ever was at that age, so it surprised me, but she asked our server no less than 3x over the course of 40 minutes for crayons. She did eventually get them, but just frustrating. Kendall was the other frustration. While the MDR had gotten the hang of her allergies, it was once again new. So once again, nothing on record (even though I notified RCCL) and lots of confusion. They eventually figured out appetizers and entrees she could order, but said they had nothing she could have for dessert. We pushed back and like magic, they found a safe dessert at one of the other specialty restaurants. Initially I told them if worse came to worse, they could get whatever she was getting from the MDR, since they had managed to find some safe solutions for her. At least they figured it out, and after ordering our full meals...it was time to socialize and wait on food.

I'm not kidding about the wait. Our group's other table got appetizers over 15 minutes before us. We ended up getting another round of bread! I got two starters...the beef short ribs and the crispy pork belly.



The short ribs were divine, but the crispy pork belly was a little more chewy than crispy. Great taste, but texture was off.

I also had to take a pic of one of my brother's starters. He got this beautiful beet salad.



For my entree, I got lobster thermador.



It was good. Sam also had it and thought it was incredible. In hindsight, I wish I'd tried the lamb wellington or the veal. I know others in our group got those and really liked them.

Here's where the timing becomes an issue again. The other table was 15-20 minutes ahead of us on entrees, but they held off on serving them dessert so that we all finished at the same time. So, now they were experiencing the wait that we had on the front end. Oh well...desserts had started coming out. I only ordered one, but they also brought me this pretty (not what I ordered)...



It's very pretty and I love the concept, but the balance was off. It was a peanut butter chocolate tart with caramelized walnuts and black currant sorbet. The sorbet tasted more like wine and the chocolate and walnut got lost in all of the peanut flavor. When I tasted it all together it was like an elevated peanut butter and jelly. If I were a PB&J kind of girl, I probably would have loved this...but since I'm not...I just took a couple of bites and was done.

 

[Sans Souci]

Those colors in your dress look good on you.

It seems like the dining/food is a mixed bag.

I had Southwest damage a bag. It came off the conveyor belt wide open at Midway. It was a hard shell with a zipper. I don't know if the zipper got caught on something, or what. I had to go their customer service desk. They gave me a suitcase that was not as nice as the one that was busted. I had to sign a waiver saying I wouldn't ask for a further compensation. I really had no choice, because I was taking public transportation and there was no way I could carry this bag on the L. It wouldn't close. When my husband heard what happened and saw what I had been given, he got somehow got compensation for my broken suitcase. I recognized the woman who helped me from the A&E reality show "Airline."

 

[HouCuseChickie]

This was my amazing dessert!



It's a hazelnut passionfruit bar garnished with lime gel and yuzu mango sorbet. I probably could have eaten five of these...but I didn't.

We also got another extra dessert. This is the fried cheesecake. It has Nutella, whipped cream and caramelized popcorn. It was good, but not as good as my passionfruit bar.



They also did another special dessert for my parents and we all sang to them.



Just as I was starting to feel more positive about the meal, the check came out and our server gave us a spiel about how automatic gratuity was already applied, but how some people like to be generous and give more. I probably shouldn't have, but I was trying to put positive vibes out into the universe and gave her a little extra. I figure the onboard credit I got was worth more than the broken suitcase originally cost (TJ Maxx and on sale), so I tried to leave with a positive. She did try to feed me more drinks all meal, but my first martini during the meal wasn't dirty enough and I had lost my taste for it for a bit. Too bad because the one earlier was perfect.

It was still fairly early, but everyone was doing their own things that night. We all went back to our rooms to change and then headed out. The girls did their own thing, while David and I went over to the Schooner Bar for a bit. This was a second floor bar looking out on the promenade.



I tried taking a pic of my drink...a lavender martini...but with the lighting, it just looked white. It wasn't bad and it was one of the signature drinks of the bar. While we were ordering, our bartender noted that it was smart for us getting there a bit early before the party. OK, I was not the best about checking all of the events and activities, so I had no idea what they were talking about. Then I noticed a stage was below us on the promenade. Turns out there was about to be a 90s dance party and people were already starting to dance a bit.

The girls came up to check in with us and when I mentioned to possibly avoid the crowd for the dance party, they were like...nobody is dancing. Yeah...they headed downstairs and pretty much everyone started dancing.



As you can see, those overhead lights can change colors and dance.



We had a few more drinks, but decided to head back to the room and call it a night. Some time after we got back, we found a very bothered Kendall. They had decided to hit the Windjammer to see what was on the dinner buffet. When she asked about her allergies, she said they got really short with her and told her it's too late to be putting in any kind of special requests. I'm not sure if they meant too late in the evening or too late in the cruise, but she was upset. Considering they had yet to be able to accommodate her there...I was thinking too late in the cruise. What I'd later learn is how late we really were...not our fault, but still...just so frustrating.

Everyone went to bed, but I was feeling a bit antsy. Maybe it was the Kendall issues, maybe it was just being on the ship, or maybe it was that we were coming up on our first port of call. I could see from CruiseMapper that we were getting close...



I did eventually fall asleep, but I woke up at some point in the night and saw signs of civilization...



We had small signs in our room too keep our drapes shut at night, as it can mess with the ship's systems, but I could still peak my head through. Also probably not a huge deal with all of the lights off.

I went back to sleep, only to be up again 45 minutes later. I didn't look out the window, but decided to check to see where we were. Based on how close these islands are together and how much time had passed, I was guessing the island I'd seen 45 minutes earlier was probably Saba Island.



Considering how close it was saying we were to St. Eustatius Island, I decided to check out the window.



We had a later excursion, so I tried to force myself to go back to sleep.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Those colors in your dress look good on you.

It seems like the dining/food is a mixed bag.

I had Southwest damage a bag. It came off the conveyor belt wide open at Midway. It was a hard shell with a zipper. I don't know if the zipper got caught on something, or what. I had to go their customer service desk. They gave me a suitcase that was not as nice as the one that was busted. I had to sign a waiver saying I wouldn't ask for a further compensation. I really had no choice, because I was taking public transportation and there was no way I could carry this bag on the L. It wouldn't close. When my husband heard what happened and saw what I had been given, he got somehow got compensation for my broken suitcase. I recognized the woman who helped me from the A&E reality show "Airline."

Thank you! I wanted something bright and colorful, without being obviously tropical.

It really was. I know some would say we're just picky, but some of the issues would be issues for anyone.

Oh wow! That is so much worse than my bag. Amazing that your husband was able to get true compensation on top of them giving you a bag. I forgot about that show. Too funny that you recognized the woman. I reached out to RCCL after the cruise about several issues, but so far, their customer service isn't very impressive.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

July 27th-

Who am I kidding? I wasn't going back to bed! I got a few more pics as St. Kitts came into view...




We were now officially in port.



I also got a little alarmed when this tug and barge were heading straight for us. They made a sharp turn, but were a bit too close for comfort for me after seeing days of nothing out there.



A little later, we’d spot them right on the other side of the ship doing what appeared to be some kind of port dredging work.

My parents had an early excursion which would take them to Nevis, while my brother's family was heading to one of the beaches for their excursion. We were doing an island tour and visiting a couple of historic sites, but didn't have to check in until around 10:30am.

Today, we took a break from the standard breakfast buffet and went up to the Solarium Bistro. It had a lot of the same food, but a few special things as well. No pics, but pancakes with fresh bananas. Kendall also spoke to the chef and found a number of things to eat.



It was also nice to catch some pics of the island now that we were in port.



My only issue…I had no idea where to go to get off of the ship. I tried messaging the rest of the family, but they’d already left the ship and wouldn’t have WiFi. Oh well. At least the elevator could remind me of what day it was.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I know I went back to the room for a bit to make sure I had everything I needed for the day. I had this great debate with myself (pre-trip) if I should bring the DSLR. I thought I'd take all kinds of pretty pictures throughout the cruise, but I just didn't reach for the camera like I would in the mountains. In fact, later in the trip, I went out on deck for some starry night viewing and totally forgot my camera. Let's just say Milky Way pics on a phone camera aren't quite what I'd get on the big one. I also had to make sure I had all of the right excursion tickets. They left envelopes on our desks on day 1 with the tickets, but since they were done by cabin #, I had to rearrange them to have the envelopes by excursion vs cabin. I also had our travel documents ready to go as well. During the ice skating show the previous day, we got to see the cruise director and he gave this whole speech about IDs, passports, and vaccine cards. So, I was ready.

Once my bag was all set, I decided to go sit near the AquaTheater and watch some of the videos. Too bad we never made it to any of the movies out here.



After three days with a packed ship, it felt strange to be on there with it practically deserted. I even got to watch the crew do some emergency drills as well as maintenance. I saw some of the lifeboat maintenance on my days walking the track, but this was painting and grouting and things of that nature.

Eventually, everyone met up and after asking a few crew members, we found our way off the ship.



We learned that excursions involving boats met up in one of the theaters and left from the docks right near the ship, but land excursions all met up at this terminal building.



It was a bit of organized chaos in the terminal. There were numbered lines and sign holders at the front of each line so that people could queue up for the respective excursions. We were a bit early and another excursion was lined up in our slot, so we hung back off to the side for a bit. While temps were low 80s at the time, there was no air moving through the terminal and no place to sit. So we were kind of hot and sweaty. We could see out into the square where locals were charging tourists for pictures with the islands famous green monkeys, and next to us, we had a nice Caribbean style band.



At one point, I guess I'd turned away for a bit and when I turned back, David was getting he and the girls wristbands. The only problem...they were for the wrong excursion. So, I had to intervene and make sure she didn't start moving them towards a bus. Which was crazy...because he didn't even give her any excursion tickets! Again...he never really paid close attention to what I booked, and I rebooked our excursions A LOT. So, he really wasn't sure where we were going.

I didn't start focusing on this trip until I was out of the woods with my medical issues. At this point, nearly every excursion was sold out. They'd continue to add more options and spaces over the following months, which pushed me to keep booking and rebooking. We'd started out with a kayaking and snorkeling trip, then canceled for a rainforest hike when snorkeling opened up for our next stop, then canceled for a basic bus tour around the island after I read some awful reviews, then canceled for a 4x4 adventure that also had some iffy reviews, then a dolphin encounter which gave me some concerns, and then the one we landed on...an island tour combined with a visit to Fairview Greathouse and Botanical Gardens as well as Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park. Hey, now we could say we visited a national park in another country.

They did start lining us up for ours right after this and made sure we were right up near the front. Line position dictated when you were loaded on to a bus. So, we all squashed onto a minibus and were off. *I think I am going to do this like the Colorado portion, and just have a photo dump at the end of each section. Kendall was on the better side of the bus, so she took most of the driving pics on the big camera.

We started out in Basseterre. Our guide was knowledgeable and you could tell how much he cares about his home. He pointed out everything from historic buildings and banking centers, to places where they go to pay for this and that. I feel like he was trying to illustrate the differences in how there are things in the US that we probably don't have to cover on our own that are part of their payments and culture. It was also interesting because they had elections going on. I can't say I've ever seen political posters and flyers in another country before. I believe the first pic I took on my phone was from a war memorial, with names of men that fought on behalf of St. Kitts in some of the world wars.



He never explained this sign, but we wanted to know who "The Pork Man" was!



Here is a small collection of political signs...

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Kendall also took a handful of sections in downtown on the big camera. Although, it's funny that the first two pics she took were of the ship. I guess just perspective on how you can see these behemoths from a number of spots.



These were some points of interest in downtown that the guide mentioned. I wish I could remember all of the information and details, but it was a lot. He did spend some time on the slave trade and related buildings still standing in the city.




One of my biggest wow factors were these trees. Kendall got these in downtown, but Sam got some close ups at our first stop



They were just so stunning. I don't think they'd grow where we live, but I would love this kind of summery pop of color at my home!

 

[HouCuseChickie]

We next headed out along the coast towards our first stop. And there's the ship again in the very first shot!



That construction equipment in the bottom right corner is actually the barge we saw crossing the bow of the boat earlier that morning.

I asked Kendall to take a pic of the beach, because the volcanic sand was that neat gray black color and it was glistening kind of like little diamonds in the sun. I don't think we really got much of the glistening, but you can see a trashed water bottle.



And there's that pesky ship again...



We passed a number of notable homes and schools, including a veterinary school. Again, I can't recall which was what, but we have pictures! Although, I think the last one was the vet school.



We also passed these trees completely full of egrets. I knew there were mongooses on the island, but apparently egret eggs are one of their favorite treats. The coastal location of these trees apparently provides some kind of protection from the predators, so the egrets congregate here to nest.



He also stopped in front of several homes with monkey enclosures. It sounds like a lot of people keep them as pets. It’s hard to see, but I promise you…there’s a monkey in there.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I guess Kendall also really liked the group of donkeys we passed next.



Then we made our approach to our first stop.



The skies look threatening in that pic, and there were some storms in the area, but no impact to us.

We exited the bus and made our way up to a pretty sort of patio area. A guide for the house gave us a full rundown of function and history. My brain was no very good with retention of these kinds of details today, although I recall how the pool was a sign of the wealth tied to the home. That being said, if you were curious to learn more, I think you can find some info here: https://mystkittstouristinformation.com/fairview-great-house-st-kitts/

I'm going to start with the phone pics and then move on to the big camera pics. One little note...I absolutely LOVED the St. Kitts and Nevis shaped koi ponds.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Before adding in the big camera pics, I also have a handful from Sam. She's been slow to share pics with me, but this is some of what she took at this stop. She too was in love with those trees.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Next up are the big camera pics. You can see in one where I completely forgot to adjust my settings, but I tried to alter it enough so you can see some of the silver pieces on display.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

All in all, it was a pretty stop, but we were ready to move on. We were also on a deadline, so it's not like we could linger anywhere for too long. We drove farther along the coastline towards an area he referred to as Sandy Point. Gee...it's my area! Seriously though...

we had some pretty coastal views along the way...



I guess Kendall was also into the coconut palms. I forget what she initially thought was growing in them, but it wasn't coconuts ...and we had a good laugh. What's crazy is that she's seen coconut palms. I think my parents even have a few.



This next area was referred to as Bloody Point. While it looks lush and green, it's tied to a massacre that occurred in the 1600s. Apparently, European colonists murdered around 2,000 indigenous people, causing the river to run red.



Just after this point, our guide held up the flag of St. Kitts and gave us the full meanings of each section of their flag...which I probably wouldn't have ever known if I hadn't taken the tour. Red is the island's fight against slavery and colonialism. Green is the country's fertile land. Yellow stripes for the year round sunshine. Black for the people's African origins. And the stars are for hope and liberty.



K took a few more coastal pics along the way, but they were dark and blurry. However, she did get this nice shot as we started heading up the hill.



The drive up the hill was scary. The road was steep, there were hairpin turns, there was only one lane, and steep drops on the side. Considering it's a national park that gets a lot of tourist traffic, you can only imagine what it's like. There was a bit of horn honking and positioning over who had the right of way. There were several times where vehicles coming straight towards us had to put it in reverse and back up into a safe spot. At least the view once we got up there was great.



I haven't watched this video since the trip, but I'm happy to see I managed to capture some of the walkway to the top of the fortress, because I didn't take any pics. It's probably because we were all trying not to fall and were kind of out of breath.