Where in the world is “el Bori”: From Cataño to the Lesser Antilles at Sea Part. 2
Hello Guys! Welcome back to my traveling blog,
Today I will be talking about the rest of the Caribbean islands I visited during my week at sea on the Carnival Victory Cruise.
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| Boricua group in St. Lucia |
Believe it or not it, spending time on a cruise for seven days can be really exhausting, but that never stopped my globetrotting spirit to continue the adventure. After leaving Barbados, we headed to St. Lucia, a beautiful and breathtaking tiny island, not as developed as the other islands (Barbados & St. Thomas). When wandering around the streets, I noticed roosters and dogs roaming around. I have seen dogs roaming around the streets, but gallos??? Gallos means rooster in Spanish. Why were there so many gallos? Did they escape? Were they running for their lives?? Who knows! Moving on, my dad wanted to spend the entire day visiting the local markets, the harbor kiosk, and the beach. I, on the other hand, didn’t like the beach at the island it smelled like sewer water But the mountain view….Made you feel like Awwwwwww! Amazingly beautiful. I strongly recommend going to Jalousie Beach, I didn’t personally visit because my dad wanted to stay really close to Pointe Seraphine Port, but I heard rave reviews about it.
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| The Dancer at the cruise |
When we returned to the cruise, we got dinner and then went to enjoy a dancing show (did I mention before there are a lot of shows on the cruise) and it was AWESOME!! What was better than the dancing -in reality nothing, dancing is awesome, ask anyone- there were waiters walking around the room asking people if they wanted a drink and they would get it for us. I didn’t get any kind of alcohol because I was 16 (legal age to drink in PR is 18, as well as other countries) but, the fruit punch they gave me was amazing and the waitress taught me how to say thank you in Russian, which is “Spasibo”. Because I have always being interested in different cultures, one of the things that I did while on the cruise was asking all the employees where they were from and how they got into the job they were currently employed in on the cruise, because I was interested to work on one, or I thought I was. I know it was being to forward of me to ask them in that way those kinds of questions but they loved it. They liked telling their story and how they ended up working on a huge boat and how they loved or hated working there. Overall, they always ended up liking it. Even though this day in St. Lucia wasn’t the greatest, I was looking forward for the next day in Antigua.
When we arrived at Antigua, I was determined to do some tourism besides visiting the local markets or the beach, so I decided to ask my father to take us to an island tour. I was really disappointed in St. Lucia, so I was really looking forward to see what Antigua had to offer. A few hours later we arrived!!! When we left the cruise we decided to take a small tour around the island, so we went to the Stanford Cricket Ground. I don’t know anything about cricket, in fact, I do not understand the game at all. I just knew that it is a British version of baseball-or so the say- and that they have a flat bat. Our driver provided us with an education on the sport. He talked about how important this sport was to the island and how much they loved this sport. Going back to the sport, I think it’s completely different from baseball. Then he took us to see Fort James, the fort they used to guard St. Johns Harbor. This site has an amazing view of the sea that is breathtaking.
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| Fort James in Antigua. |
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| The locals with their tradicional costume and dancing. |
On our last day, we went to St. Kitts Island and the view from the cruise was spectacular. Because it was the last day, we decided to stay local and go around to the local markets and plazas. For our surprise, we had a group of locals dancing the traditional music of St. Kitts and it was really culturally rich. The colors, the outfits, and the music was great. Later that day, my father saw the Puerto Rican boxer Indio Quintana. My dad was so hype about seeing him that he stopped him at the souvenir shop and asked to take a picture with him and then made me take a picture with Indio Quintana even though he knew I was not a fan of boxing and even made me do the freaking pose. I look so not like a boxer. But it was nice meeting him. He was a really nice and humble dude.
Later, during our last hours in St. Kitts, we saw monkeys in the plaza as we were walking around. My father told us right away to not ask him to take a picture with the monkeys or to let us get near them and touch them because they are use as a distraction to get stolen and charge you a lot of money. For the first time during the whole trip my father was right. We saw how the locals would use the monkeys to take advantage of the tourists. If you touched the monkeys just one time, you had to pay them; as well, if you let them put the monkey on your shoulder and take a picture with it they also charged you. Really!!!! So, I took a picture of the monkey without them noticing it. HA! I know, I am a sneaky tourist.
On our way back to the cruise, I had a horrible feeling. I knew knowing that in less than 12 hours we will be back in Puerto Rico and that our trip at sea was over. NOOOO! PORQUE!!!! One thing that I missed and I highly recommend everyone should do is that if you ever have the opportunity to go on a cruise, wake up really early in the morning and go outside to the deck to watch the cruise coming into the San Juan Bay. My mother didn’t wake me up and she went by herself and told us. She was like one of ten people on the dock watching the sunrise as the cruise came into the harbor. Leaving the cruise was really sad but I was glad to meet all of the people I did during this trip, every staff member of Carnival Victory Summer 2009, and lastly that I had the opportunity to go on this cruise with my family.
Here are a couple on things that you should do and know before going on cruise:
• Have an agenda of the things that you want to do on each island. If you don’t want to do the activities that the cruise offers, don’t wait until you get to the port to plan what you want to do.
• Make sure to have a map of the cruise if you don’t have a photographic memory.
• Visit your cruise’s web site.
• Check when the best time to go on a cruise is depending on the region of the world that you are interested in.
• Make sure to have a valid ID or Passport. Some countries required that your passport is not within 6 months of expiring, otherwise, you will not be allowed to go in the country.
• Change your meal from the cruise every day. Try something different during dinner because if you don’t, it will become boring. Trust me, the menu doesn’t change the entire week.
• There are a lot of activities to do on the cruise so make sure to do some of them.
• Have some ME time during the cruise. An hour is good enough.
• Don’t fall asleep on the deck because you will have blisters and a first-degree burn.
• SUNSCREEN!!! HAVE THAT WITH YOU 24/7. At least 30 SPF.
Here is a video of all my pictures during the cruise:
Here is a video of all my pictures during the cruise:
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Next week, I will be talking about my one-day trip to Canada my senior week. It was a present from my parents. It was just a day but it was so nice going to the Niagara Falls in Canada. Hope to see you soon!!
If you are interested in a Carnival cruise and their destinations, visit their website at www.carnival.com.
