February 24, 2025 – Basseterre, St Kitts – Mostly Sunny – 85F

It's a beautiful day in Basseterre, St. Kitts.  

We are not on tour today – going to check out the Port Zante shops later on.  I do remember the long walk from the ship to the port entrance (you can see it on the map).

Had another early and nice breakfast – I tried pancakes and two over medium eggs just to shake things up a bit.  Tasty.

We are hear today alongside the Enchanted Princess (about 600 or so more passengers than Eclipse).  This will still mean a lot of people wandering through the port area.  

At around 10 AM, we scanned out and walked the very long pier to the entrance of Port Zante.  And yes, it was tropical storm force winds in the tunnel between the ships. I did get a nice picture of the two ships here today.

We also found someone who was willing to take our picture in front of a welcome sign - not a great shot but it's us.

Our first destination was the Chop Shop, a spa and salon located just a couple of blocks from the entrance.  I went in a inquired about one hour Swedish massages.  The guy at the desk told me that this would cost $EC250.  That comes to about $83 USD, pricier than just about anything at home.  Apparently, St Kitts is not Mexico.

Ellen checked out just about every shop close to the port – I did score a St. Kitts cap for $5.00 – it looked in good shape and the right colors.  I was also able to get a shot of the island sign at the entrance to the shopping area - not easy with all the people around.

We then passed through a largely empty indoor mall then led to the city beyond.  We walked to the Berkeley Memorial located on a small traffic circle that was supposed to be based on London’s Piccadilly Circus.  

We also saw a nice city park, whose name I could not find, that is attached to a Chinese Restaurant.

It was getting warmer and there wasn’t much to see in this part of Basseterre so we headed back to the ship. 

After lunch in the Oceanview Café – pizza and assorted salads – we went up to the Lawn Club on Deck 15.  We don’t go there often because there isn’t much shade up there but today there were nice comfortable seats in the shade.  It was not too hot and there was a nice breeze up there.  The Lawn itself was in real good shape and it is a very peaceful place to hang out.

From the Lawn Club, you can get a good view of both St Kitts 

and companion island, Nevis.

In my wanderings on the open decks, I also saw the Signature Singers and Dancers (maybe just the dancers) practicing out by the pool.

The sail away was pretty dramatic. Eclipse did a complete 180 before heading out to open waters.  I took several pictures of the rotation.

Dinner tonight was in the Oceanview Café.  I had the pasta chef make me Spaghetti Pesto and Garlic – he did a great job in putting together a winner of a dish.  Just the amount of pesto and garlic.  Staying away from iced tea (cutting down PM caffeine). Dinner also provided a pretty nice sunset.

There is a new show tonight in the theater – “Shades of Buble” - three guys from New York (the group was started there in 2015 and there are clones of the group all over the place) who perform only Michael Buble songs in three part harmony.  

They also incorporate a lot of choreography into their act so they are really a mashup – “The Shades of Michael Buble Jersey Boys”.  The choreography was really well done and entertaining.  I watched the show until it was over but Ellen went to Celebrity Central to get seats for another show by Solo Guitarist Jay.

She did get good aisle seats on the right side of the audience near the exit. Tonight Jay was singing the songs of James Taylor and John Denver, two of my favorite singers.  He did a great job on “Amy’s Song” and “You’ve Got a Friend”, with the second song turning into an audience sing a long.  At one time, Jay’s mic went out and he played the guitar and the audience did the singing.  Another entertaining show.  It seems that Jay is on all the time.  BTW, this is his fourth cruise and he just got a new contract – not surprising considering how popular he is.

A nice day in St Kitts.

February 23, 2025 – Castries, St Lucia – Mostly Cloudy, Showers – 80F

Caught a beautiful sunrise just before 6 AM (kind of early, I know) and caught the sail in to Castries. The sunrise at that time of morning was spectacular.

By 8 AM, the clouds had rolled in and it was raining.  

The forecast is for intermittent showers.

We are on tour today – “West Side Treasures by Catamaran” – 

and our meeting time is 9:10 AM in the theater.  About five minutes after sitting down in the theater, that they started calling numbers.  The first two groups were 16 and 17 and we were in the second group.  We scanned out and found our guide – there were about 20 people or so in our group.  We walked a short distance to another small pier where our catamaran was waiting.  Embarking the catamaran was no easy task – the boat and dock were about a foot apart in distance and the only way to get on the boat was with the assistance of one of the crew, who essentially pulled you onto the boat.  We grabbed seats in the inside of the cabin since the sun had come back out and we wanted the shade.  One of the crew members went around taking everyone’s picture including ours.

And we were on our way, and at a pretty good clip.

The excursion would involve stopping at two places with good snorkeling and passengers could either snorkel (the crew passed out equipment including life vests) or swim.  If you were not a water person, like us, you could watch from the boat.  It took a few minutes to check out the West side of the island which consisted of homes on the hills (rich folk maybe) and resorts (lots of Sandals resorts).  The catamaran eventually returned to the starting point 

– we could see the ships docked in Castries. 

While we were sailing around the tip of the island, the Eclipse was joined by the Oceania Vista. 

We then headed to our first stop, Anse Cochon (“Pig Bay” in French), 

a popular beach on the western side of St Lucia (the Caribbean side).  Almost everyone hit the water.  We were not the only boat there today.  We stayed at Anse Cochon for about 40 minutes – the captain signaled it was time to go with a whistle.  You couldn’t miss it. 

Everyone got back on and we were off to our second stop, which was near the famous Les Pitons volcanic plugs. Thee are two volcanic spires – Petit Piton is 2,438 ft high and Gros Piton is 2,619 ft high.  Les Pitons are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The spires were formed about 200,000 when magma cooled over an active volcano, thereby blocking the volcanic vents.  There is still geothermal activity at the site.

We did get some nice shots of Les Pitons.  I should mention that it was difficult to take good pictures from the boat – there were a lot of people and they were in the shot many times and the safety cables that prevent passengers from falling off the boat obstructed the view as well. 

We went a little north of Les Pitons to Anse Mamin Beach.  

We thought we would be able to get off the beach and sit on our towels on the beach.  The boat, however, did not get close enough for us to hop onto the sand. In fact, the water was almost chest high.  We couldn’t enjoy the beach but pretty much everyone got off the boat and either snorkeled or swam. Some of the people who were in the water at the first stop opted to stay on board this time. 

Again the whistle blew and the people got back on the boat.

Ellen got a rare decent picture of me on the catamaran.

There were other boats on the same type of tour - almost raced at one point.

Once everyone was sort of dried off, we were told that lunch was served.  The mini-buffet lunch consisted of chicken, green salad with Good Seasons Italian Dressing (good); a pasta salad (very good – I had a second helping of the pasta salad); a Caribbean rice dish (not good at all).  Drinks included diet coke and rum punch and some other juices.  Not a bad lunch at all.  I had one rum punch, which was good.  After lunch and when we started back to Castries, the rum punch was flowing freely.

There was another site on the itinerary – Marigot Bay.  

The catamaran left the Caribbean Sea and entered a large bay with ritzy homes lining the hillsides of the bay.  There were plenty of smaller luxury yachts in the bay and fancy hotels and a resort were found along the water.  Marigot Bay is also where Dr. Doolittle (Rex Harrison version) was filmed as well as the scene in Superman II where the Man of Steel flies to Marigot Bay (you can see Les Pitons in the background) to pick some Birds of Paradise for Lois, who is back in the Fortress of Solitude.

The guide also pointed out the luxury Ti Kaye Resort at Anse Cochon (where everyone snorkeled earlier).  

I checked out the prices online and you will pay between $460 and $590 per night at the resort (best price – probably not the fanciest room).  That doesn’t sound like much when you consider prices in Boston and even in Florida.

An isolated rain shower caused the passengers that were outside to come under the roof of the boat.  I used my beach towel to keep my shirt from getting wet.  The rain only lasted about five minutes.

As we continued back to Castries, the music, which was muted somewhat through most of the excursion got louder and louder as a crew member turned into a DJ and some of the passengers decided that this was actually a party boat with Karaoke.  By the time we got back to the port – a good couple of hours – the passengers were shicker and the dancing wild and crazy.  Any longer on the catamaran would have spelled ear damage.

We could see the ships docked at Castries so we were nearly home.

The catamaran started to dock at a pier quite a ways from our ship.  

It turned out to be the wrong pier and he redocked much closer and next to the little park containing the St Lucia sign.  Getting off the boat was even harder than getting on because now we were jumping up to the dock.

I couldn’t get a picture of the sign because there were too many kids swarming around the sign taking pictures.  We walked to the ship, tired after a long day.

We took a quick look around at the vendors in the little shopping area but found nothing of interest so we continued to the ship.

We decided to go to the Moonlight Sonata Restaurant for the first time this cruise because we were not planning to go to “Topper”, the production show in the theater.

I went up there at 5:15 PM, when they were scheduled to open – they were already open and there was no line for the hostess.  I asked her if table 516 (around the corner against the railing) was available and she said it had been reserved. I gave her my room number and she was momentarily confused by our folios but then she printed out my table ticket and it was 516.  Was there something she saw in my folio that changed the situation.  Who cares? We had the best table in the restaurant.

I ordered the potato leak soup (it was hot and I really liked the cold version).  I also ordered a veggie spring roll from the vegetarian option and I got one roll, a little larger than a tootsie roll.  It was good, though.  My entrée was almond crusted Hake.  I looked Hake up and it was a kosher fish (a member of the Cod family).  I also remember that I had Hake in the past (maybe South America) prepared as Fish and Chips and it was unusual but good.  I ordered a baked potato with the fish.  As it turned out the fish was very different that I remembered it – it had a funny texture.  I ate the potato and just messed around with the fish.  Ellen had the standard Salmon and liked it.  We both had Apple Pie a la mode, always good.  Finished off with decaf tea (don’t trust that my coffee will come as decaf).

We spent some time in the Ensemble Lounge before heading for the room.

February 22, 2025 – Bridgetown, Barbados – Mostly Sunny – 85F

Up early and continuing my string of great breakfasts.  Today, I brought Ellen some eggs over easy (right off the griddle and down to the room).  She ate them before the rest of her breakfast arrived (he was a little late). 

There are three other ships here today. The PO Britannia (a few years ago in St Maarten, this was PO’s biggest ship and brand spanking new – had some nautical miles on her since then); 

the smaller Windstar Star Pride, 

and the gerontological cruise ship, AIDA Luna (not so funny anymore).  

We were not going off so I took a lot of pictures of the port and the ships.

We watched the sail away from Barbados. All our companion ships got in this shot.

The rest of the day was pretty routine – lunch in the Oceanview Café – Dinner buffet as well (they do have a vegan section but I have been waiting for the Impossible Chili to show up – not tonight). The dinner might not have been spectacular but the sunset was.

Looking forward to Showtime tonight because the headliner is Anne Martinez, high energy, multi-octave singer who performed a wide variety of songs from “Tennessee Whisky” to “Bring on the Men” (my least favorite song from “Jekyll and Hyde”). She did a song from “The Little Mermaid” and finished with “The Last Dance”, which is really her kind of song.  She is very good on stage – knows how to move and use dance to complement her singing, which is really good (one of the best we have seen).  She also tells good stories between songs – tonight is was all about her husband’s interesting way of marinating meat and turkey.  I just didn’t get the feeling that the audience was engaged.  She didn’t do an encore. 

From the theater, we went over to the Ensemble Lounge to hear Jay again.  As expected the place was packed.  We found two seats in front of Murano (probably for passengers waiting to get into the restaurant) and Jay again did not disappoint.

An easy day in the Caribbean.