Cruising

[Mac66]

Just got off a 12 night cruise to the southern Caribbean. Two days down out of Ft. Lauderdale, 7 islands then 2 days back.

Got a chance to go diving on two islands, 2-2 tank dives. One one St. Croix and one on St. Kitts. Pretty good dive on St. Croix lots of fish, rays, turtles, octopus etc. Excellent dive on St. Kitts. First dive was on a wreck, lots of fish, rays etc. Second dive was on reef/drop off wall into the abyss. Lots of rays, turtles and reef sharks. The sharks were all over the place swimming right next over, under and next to us. Of course reef sharks aren't dangerous but are fun to swim with. Went down the wall to about 70 feet, which is about all I'm rated for. Really good dive. I had two more islands scheduled to dive on but due to covid restrictions on the islands was forced to cancel.

The other islands we went to were St. Lucia, Granada, Barbados, Dominica & Antigua. Tourism is pretty much the only economy on these islands and they are still suffering from the covid lockdown. Economies are just starting to come back a bit and they were very happy to see cruise ships in port again.

It's interesting to note that most of the islands are volcanic in origin and therefore very mountainous. Granada is pretty flat and is basically a reef. I tried to get our tour guide to take us to the some of the places where some of the battles during the US invasion happened back in the 80's unfortunately, time didn't permit it.

Everybody had to have a negative covid test within 48 hours to board the ship. Covid restrictions on the ship have pretty much been done away with, no masks on board. All the islands still require masks but it was only sporadically enforced. The captain announced that two people complained of symptoms after visiting Barbados and tested positive. I assume others also were infected but never heard any more reports.

All in all a very nice trip. The was the longest cruise we've taken and 12 nights on board is a long time. You get used to it pretty quickly and it's hard to get back to normal life once it's over.

I'll post some pics once I've had a chance to go through them.

[tom mac]

Just also went on a cruise out of NY... first cruise on NCl to allow no masks but same as to covid test 48 hrs before...
Had a great time, good to get away and just relax.
End result ship was 50% full, and from others about 10 people got covid after.

Good to hear there's another diver here, they sound like great dives. Was the wall a drift dive or at your own pace ?
Use to teach scuba ( old NAUI and PADI instructor from 80s to early 90s ). Don't get to dive much anymore except when away in warm water ( not doing the drysuit up here anymore , to much like work and in summer to much plankton (vis at 4 ft if lucky) )

[Mac66]

Just also went on a cruise out of NY... first cruise on NCl to allow no masks but same as to covid test 48 hrs before...
Had a great time, good to get away and just relax.
End result ship was 50% full, and from others about 10 people got covid after.

Good to hear there's another diver here, they sound like great dives. Was the wall a drift dive or at your own pace ?
Use to teach scuba ( old NAUI and PADI instructor from 80s to early 90s ). Don't get to dive much anymore except when away in warm water ( not doing the drysuit up here anymore , to much like work and in summer to much plankton (vis at 4 ft if lucky) )

The wall dive was with a group lead by a dive master. It was fairly shallow, 35 ft until you got to the wall. There were about 11 divers, not much current so it was follow the leader. If you go to youtube and search for Pro Divers St. Kitts there are videos of the wreck "River Taw" and the shark/wall dive at "Brimstone Shallows" dive sites we did. It's pretty much what we saw. I met another diver on the ship who had a $4K underwater camera setup. She promised to send me her photos and video of both St. Croix and St. Kitts dives.

I just started diving 2 years ago at the age of 65. Something I always wanted to do since we were going on cruises all the time. I did the class in a pool in Michigan and then did my 4 open water cert dives in Aruba and Curacao while on a cruise. I did those dives and 2 others in 2019 before the covid hit. There is some good diving in the Great Lakes in Michigan but it's too cold. I'm strictly a warm water cruise diver.

We had 5 cruises canceled in 2020 & 2021, all but one I planned to dive on. I finally got to dive again in December 2021 in Roatan after a two year hiatus. I did a two tank dive in St. Thomas in February and these two dives in March.

We traditionally go on a cruise in late Nov-early December between the holidays and after deer hunting (kind of off season so prices are low), so I hope to get another dive or two in this year.

[David]

Sounds like a really good time. That would be the kind of cruise I'd like to go on next time around. I love to cruise, longest has been 5 days. My wife has done 7 days. The last cruise was a 5 day that I did with my son and a friend of the family. Sort of a 'bachelors' cruise. The room absolutely sucked but the cruise itself was okay. I noticed that Carnival has really gotten lousy overall. They use to have lobster night, now you have to pay for it. They use to have sushi up on deck, now you have to pay for it. And the Promenade deck was wall-to-wall photo ops to where you couldn't just sit and look out the window.

Although I'll never say never, I don't foresee going out on another Carnival cruise. They've just cheaped out too much. Use to like them and the last half dozen were with them. But I think I'd like to try Royal Carribean or NCL or similar.

I use to dive back in the 90's. I got my open water, advanced open water and rescue diver through PADI. Use to belong to DAN (Diver Alert Network) as well. But haven't dived in nearly 25 years.

[tom mac]

As to cruises, long time ago I went carnival, but switched to NCL.... much improvement.
In NCl, over yrs moved up to the Haven. Sort of first class, ship on ship deal with much more private perks.

The wife loves the pampering.

[David]

As to cruises, long time ago I went carnival, but switched to NCL.... much improvement.
In NCl, over yrs moved up to the Haven. Sort of first class, ship on ship deal with much more private perks.

The wife loves the pampering.

My wife likes NCL quite well from her days as a travel agent. I've never been on them or RC but would like to experience them. Like I said, never say never but for now I'm pretty much done with Carnival. And I'd like to make the eastern Caribbean my next experience on one of those two. Even if I need to travel to the other coast, which is very likely.

[Mac66]

As to cruises, long time ago I went carnival, but switched to NCL.... much improvement.
In NCl, over yrs moved up to the Haven. Sort of first class, ship on ship deal with much more private perks.

The wife loves the pampering.

My wife likes NCL quite well from her days as a travel agent. I've never been on them or RC but would like to experience them. Like I said, never say never but for now I'm pretty much done with Carnival. And I'd like to make the eastern Caribbean my next experience on one of those two. Even if I need to travel to the other coast, which is very likely.

We started on NCL back in the 70s for short cruises. Switched to Royal in the 80s for longer cruises. Did a couple family cruises for high school senior trips on Carnival along the way. Carnival was fun.

Did NCL in Hawaii twice 10 years apart (2007 & 2017). Pretty much do Royal and Celebrity* now. We are Diamond level on Royal and Elite on Celebrity so we do get some perks but are a long way from the next level up. Probably another 20 years of cruising to reach the next level.

Haven't been on any of NCL's big ships so we may try that some day. We did book a Princess cruise once but I broke my leg the day before that cruise and we've never gone back. Would like to try them as well.

We have 12 night Celebrity cruise in Iceland, Greenland, Nova Scotia booked in August. This was canceled in 2020 & 2021. Probably not going to dive on that one . May also do an early December cruise this year as well.

*Celebrity is our favorite

[tom mac]

If you do NCL, and and can swing the extra $, the Haven is great... The only way I'd go now and that the wife loves.
The butler is great for eat in mornings and the getting on/off the ship perk is one of the best. Never having to fight for a lounge with the Haven restaurant being one of the best on boat rates up there.
https://www.ncl.com/why-cruise-norwegia ... /the-haven

PS got a 12 day next year of S Caribbean

[Mac66]

If you do NCL, and and can swing the extra $, the Haven is great... The only way I'd go now and that the wife loves.
The butler is great for eat in mornings and the getting on/off the ship perk is one of the best. Never having to fight for a lounge with the Haven restaurant being one of the best on boat rates up there.
https://www.ncl.com/why-cruise-norwegia ... /the-haven

PS got a 12 day next year of S Caribbean

We've been in suites in both Royal and Celebrity so I totally get it. But we always weigh the extra cost of the suite with cruising more often. Do you pay up for suite or do you use that money to go on another cruise? Ah, the dilemma of first world problems.

I know a lot of people who get suites and/or balcony cabins never go back to anything else. We are happy with inside cabins or balconies. Our Feb cruise was an inside and we booked an inside for this last cruise but were upgraded to a balcony because ship was only half full. Our August cruise is an inside as well. A suite on any one of those cruises is three times what a inside cabin cost. We also tend to eat in the main dining room, rarely buy specialty dining of even drink packages. Don't generally buy the other ups they offer. We always have/had a good time.

[Mac66]

Here is the dive boat on St. Croix



And the one on St. Kitts


The dive master feeding a lion fish (invasive species) to a shark


And more sharks