My Cruise Holiday By Melinda Messenger - Part 2

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My Cruise Holiday By Melinda Messenger - Part 2

Posted on July 23rd, 2009 by Melinda Messenger

Back again, with the latest from my family holiday! The first week was brilliant, lots of lazing by the pool and beach and taking in the Bajan culture.

On the second week, we boarded Carnival Victory to start our 7 night cruise adventure where we had a different Caribbean island to explore every day. Bliss!

Weds 27th

First day of our cruise! The kids are very excited, and of course, so are we! We transferred to the port around 12pm and we were through port customs and in our cabins in no time at all.

Once we were unpacked and organised we decide to head straight for the top deck and watch the ship sail away from Barbados with a strawberry daiquiri.

The Carnival Victory ship is so big, we had no chance of discovering it all the first day, so we prioritised and started with the shops! Then we spent most of the evening touring the ship, in and out of the several bars and restaurants it had to offer – perfect.

Thurs 28th

Today we docked in St. Lucia – the highlight of cruising has to be waking up every day in a different Caribbean island. It makes your holiday feel less like Groundhog Day and gives you a sense of purpose – you really feel the need to go out and discover.

Today, we went on an excursion up into the rainforest – on a gondola sky carriage! It was simply breathtaking with just the most amazing and dramatic back drops and humming birds flying all around you! St. Lucia and Dominica were definitely the prettiest islands we visited for this reason.

Got back to the ship around 5pm and enrolled the kids into the Carnival Victory ship’s kids’ camp, Camp Carnival. For some reason the kids’ camps on the cruise seemed to be even better than we’d experienced at hotels… I think its more staff, more kids, more activities – whatever the reason, they loved it!

Fri 29th

Woke up in Antigua today! I could get used to this! Breakfast first before we get off to explore. Breakfast time on a cruise is a busy time but be patient as the food is well worth the wait!

Because we haven’t been to the beach for a couple of days we decided to hit the beach, and wow! What Antigua lacks in comparison with St Lucia in terms of scenery it seems to make up with beaches. We had a very nice day on a wonderful beach near the Sandals Antigua resort.

Got back to our Carnival Victory ship around 6pm and the kids were straight off to camp…

Meanwhile, I went for a hot stones massage, and would highly recommend it! The spas on Carnival ships are amazing and this was a particular highlight.

A few hours later, and tonight, we had our first evening in the ships restaurant which has excellent food, service and wine selection!

Sat 30th

San Juan today! Puerto Rico is an American territory and probably the most interesting port to visit architecturally, with some lovely buildings, a castle and cobbled streets. But cultural interests didn’t sway us for long, and we were soon off to the beach.

Wayne went to the Victory’s gym every day! He seemed very happy with it – but honestly, who works out on holiday? Later that night we took the kids on top deck to watch a movie on a giant screen under the stars.

Sun 31st

How lovely to wake up in St. Kitts! Today, we decided to do an island tour to give us a real flavour of the island (although my favourite is still St. Lucia!). We decided to try out a great restaurant on the beach.
Got back to the ship around 5pm and the kids trotted off to the kids’ camp leaving us free to enjoy another relaxing evening sipping strawberry daiquiris.

Mon 1st

St. Thomas this morning. There is a great selection of duty free shops in the port of St. Thomas so we shopped for an hour or so before heading off to Magens beach. Apparently this is often in the top ten beaches in the world list, and we certainly had no reason to argue – it was simply beautiful. We dragged ourselves back to the ship around 6pm and the kids wereoff to the kids’ camp again. We had to wrestle them out of camp each night, they just loved it in there!

And yet another torturous evening for us sipping strawberry daiquiris…

Tues 2nd

This morning saw us dock in Dominica. I had heard Dominica was a lot like St Lucia in terms of rainforest and scenery so we decided to book a trip to the Emerald Falls. This was an amazing excursion into the mountains finishing with a walk through the forest to the Emerald Falls. Absolutely breathtaking! Wayne, Morgan and Evie were straight in there – apparently freezing but wonderful. Locals say a dip in the Emerald Pool takes 10 years off you! Although they forgot to add that the walk back up to the coach puts it all back on!

The last evening on ship was a fun one to say the least and our only regret is that we did not make the effort and dress formally. It seemed to be a tradition that everyone really dolled up for the last night on board and boy did the Americans really go for it – it was like a night at the Oscars! Whilst we were initially happy to bow out, as the night went by, it felt as though we had really missed out on the fun! A very enjoyable evening and a perfect end to a wonderful holiday!!!

Thank you very much to everyone who made it possible at Virgin Holidays Cruises.

Melinda xxx
Melinda & Wayne
Melinda, Flynn & Morgan
Wayne With The Carnival Victory In The Background
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