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Carnival Valor Cruise ~ Day 9

April 11, 2015 deladane Leave a comment

Friday, March 20 ~ We found paradise in St. Kitts

Why do I keep waking up before my alarm?!? For the third day in a row, I woke up a bit before the alarm went off. No worries though… I was excited for a beautiful day in St. Kitts!

This would be my third time visiting St. Kitts and I had done something different every time. My first time in 2010, I took a half-day island tour through Liz Pereria. My second time in 2012, I went stand up paddle boarding. If you want to read more info about either of these experiences, please check out my other reviews (links listed below). This time around, we planned to go to the Palm Court Gardens. For $11 per person, we had access to a lounge chair, umbrella, free wifi, restrooms, and a beautiful infinity pool overlooking the harbor where the Valor was docked. With all the high-action things we had to do in the other ports, this would be our mellow day to relax. I emailed them a few months before the cruise to reserve our chairs, and they responded quickly with more details about their facilities.

After a big breakfast on Lido, we left the ship at 9am. They had given me pretty vague walking directions, but I thought we would be okay to figure it out. We left the port area and walked left along the water. I didn’t feel unsafe, especially since I had J by my side, but I don’t think I would feel comfortable to do that walk alone. We walked past some run down homes and lots of locals who looked like they were going to work. After about 10 minutes, we saw a tall monument which was our landmark to turn left up Wilkins Street and the Palm Court Gardens was about 200ft up the road on our left hand side.

This was our reference point on when to turn left… it was a World War II memorial

We both agreed this place was beautiful! The grounds were well kept, and the views of the water, the ship, and St. Kitts’ sister island Nevis were perfect!

We spent the next few hours checking in on social media with the free wifi, and relaxing on our lounge chairs under our umbrellas (we had to keep moving them to hide from the sun as it moved across the sky… #firstworldproblems haha). We also went swimming for a little bit, but not as long as I would have expected. There was a hot tub but unfortunately, we never had a chance to use it because the entire time we were there, there were a bunch of children playing in it like it was a kiddie pool. Didn’t anyone ever tell their parents that hot tubs aren’t meant for children?!? Not ideal, but at least we were sitting fairly far form the “splash zone” haha

Who put the cruise ship in the swimming pool?

Another interesting aspect of Palm Court Gardens is, well, the gardens! The grounds are well maintained and there were lots of beautiful plants and flowers around the property.

We had a lovely time at Palm Court Gardens. We bought a few drinks from their bar… be forewarned that tax is not included in the drink prices and they charged like a 30% tax! Luckily we brought our remaining Gasolinas along to supplement the drinks we purchased (shhh! Don’t tell them!) It never got very crowded… at most, I think half the lounge chairs were occupied. There were a few people who stopped by and took a look around, and then left within 10 minutes. They were not wearing bathing suits, so I think they may have been on a ship tour or something and just came to see the gardens and the views. Other than that, it was fairly empty. We asked the staff and they said it opened in 2010, about a year after the new cruise port opened. I think they need to do a bit more advertising or something because they could easily have more guests if more people knew what they had to offer (although I did love that it wasn’t crowded!) It was our own piece of paradise for a day!

One last photo on our way out…

At about 2pm, we walked back to the ship and grabbed lunch on Lido. I got the Mongolian Wok again and this time I timed it… It took 15 minutes from the time I got in line to the time the guy handed me my food. I guess the wait wasn’t such a big deal but it felt like a long time since J had no wait on the buffet line (they served Caribbean food today), and he was nearly done eating lunch when I got to the table (I told him to go ahead and eat and not to wait for me).

After lunch, we spent some time relaxing on the balcony and then got showered and ready for the past guest party. This was the first time I was eligible to attend the party since I turned Gold on this cruise, so I was very excited to get in on the fun! We got downstairs to the theater at about 4:45pm and people were starting to line up. At 4:55, they opened the doors to let us in (no one checked for invitations). We were greeted with waiters holding Mardi Gras beads and trays of rum punch (interesting fact: Apparently every time Carnival gives out Mardi Gras beads, they are referencing the original Carnival ship with the same name). We quickly found seats towards the back of the theater on the aisle based on advice I had read on Cruise Critic, but it turned out that we could have sat anywhere and been happy. There were so many waiters walking around with trays of snacks and drinks and it looked like everyone got as much as they wanted. Other reviews had mentioned that only people on the aisles get served because the waiters run out of food by the time they reach the middle of each row, but I didn’t notice that to be true. In fact, many time the waiters approached us from the other end of our row, meaning we were the last people served in our row and they still had plenty of food for us. The waiters also brought around a few hors d’vours- tomato wrapped around mozzarella and pesto, cubes of raw salmon (yummmmy!), and some weird savory cheesecake thing that we didn’t care for.

One slight disappointment was that the drinks were very weak. I know we could have asked for something other than the rum punch, but we didn’t bother. We each ended up with 4 or 5 drinks and we were both still sober when we finished. Weird, but I guess we can’t complain since they were free! Haha The waiters were really great about making sure everyone always had a drink in their hands. Once our cup was half empty, they brought us another drink!

After about 10 minutes, the Captain and all of the officers came out and spoke. No wonder they hold the party before all aboard time! If the Captain is down here entertaining us, who would drive the ship?? hehe

After that, they showed a little video promoting the Carnival brand. It was fun when they asked us to cheer for the ships we have been on. I think I was the only person in the room who cheered for sailing on the Holiday (that cruise was a LOOONG time ago!) I was so jealous of people who cheered when they showed the Vista (meaning they have a cruise booked on the not-yet-built ship). Hopefully someday I will get to be one of those people!

The party ended at 5:40pm (maybe their watches are fast since it started and ended 5 minutes earlier than expected), and we went up to our balcony, and then to the secret deck all the way forward on deck 6 to watch the sunset and sail away. It was beautiful and the perfect place to watch the views.

Sorry for the abundance of sunset photos… it was just so amazing out there that I couldn’t narrow it down any more than this haha

This is one of my favorite photos of the trip…

As we were heading back inside, we noticed that one of the forward facing cabins (maybe considered an obstructed oceanview?) had their blinds open. In case there is any question about if people on the secret decks can look into your cabin if you leave your blinds open, I think this photo will answer that question!

I’m glad no one was getting dressed while we were out there!!! I do think it’s important to note that this was after sunset so it was dark outside, and their cabin lights were on inside, so that is probably why we could see in. When we went out there during the day, I do not remember obviously being able to see in to the cabins (but we didn’t actively try to see in, so it is possible that we could have).

We were full from all the snacks and drinks at the past guest party, but decided we should at least go to dinner for a light meal. We got there around 8pm and were seated immediately. I had the beef brisket for an appetizer, and the short ribs for dinner (I guess I was craving beef that night!). No dessert tonight!

We were stuffed after that so we skipped dessert. Plus, that allowed us to get to the comedy club in time for the 9:30 show.

There were 2 new comedians on board tonight. Up first was Vera something (I can’t remember her last name), and we didn’t care for her so we left after 5 minutes to check out the piano bar. We stayed there for a half hour or so, sang along with a few songs, then went back to the comedy club to check out Tim Young’s show. We thought he was great and fully enjoyed his show! However, by the time he was finished, I was nodding off in my chair (not because I was bored… Just from the exhaustion from another long day in the sun!) so we called it a night and went back to the cabin.

We turned off the lights at 11:55pm, and I fell asleep right away… 5 minutes shy of being the birthday girl!

Cruise

Carnival Victory ~ Day 8: St. Kitts

December 15, 2012 deladane Leave a comment

December 14, 2012

Friday in St. Kitts
On Friday we docked in St. Kitts. This was my only repeat island for the itinerary, as my cruise two years ago docked here as well. Last time, I took an island tour through Liz Pereria’s Tour Store and I really enjoyed it. This time around, I went for a more active excursion and tried my first attempt at Stand-Up Paddleboarding. We pre-booked a tour through Konu Pelikana and our guide, Nick, picked us up at the port at 8:30am. As it turned out, there were only 4 of us booked on this excursion and the other two people were a couple we met on our Cosol tour bus in St. Lucia. It was great to have such a small group, and even better to share the excursion with our new friends Katie and Damian.

Backing up a few hours, I wanted to mention something that happened that morning… My alarm clock went off at 6:40am, and 10 minutes later, someone came on the loudspeaker system and announced “Operation Brightstar on deck zero”. I didn’t know for sure, but I had a strong feeling that this was Carnival’s code for a medical emergency. We didn’t hear any other announcements, so we got ready for the day, ate breakfast on Lido, and then got into the elevators to get off the ship at 8am. When I pushed the deck 0 button in the elevator, it wouldn’t light up, so I hit the button for deck 1. When we got down there, there were about 30 people already waiting and the staff had put up a barricade across the stairs so we couldn’t walk down to deck 0. At this point, we figured out that there was indeed a medical emergency, but we never heard any announcements about delaying getting off the ship. At 8:15am, someone came up and removed the barricade and we were able to leave the ship and meet our tour guide on time. There was an empty ambulance sitting on the dock, so I assume that they held the passengers until another ambulance could drive away with the sick passenger. Due to HIPAA laws, I knew that we would never know for sure what happened to that passenger, so I can only hope that he/she was okay.

Nick met us at a parking lot behind the stores in the port, and we drove up the coast. He made a brief stop at Timothy Hill to see the amazing views. Here is a photo of Beth, me, Katie, and Damian with the Marriott resort in the background:

And here is a view in the opposite direction where you can see the Atlantic Ocean on the left and the Caribbean on the right:

Next, we drove up to another overlook for a view of the coastline where we would be paddling. Nick told us that we would paddle a little over 2 miles until we got to a beach, and then he would ride back to get his truck to pick us up.

We got back in the car and drove down the coast to a tiny parking lot where Nick’s family usually docks their boat. Nick unloaded our boards from the back of his truck, and we got ready to go. The shore was very rocky, but Nick helped us get on the boards and briefly told us the easiest way to stand up and paddle. Amazingly enough, I found it fairly easy to balance on the board. I struggled a bit with controlling the direction the board drifted and I moved much slower than everyone else, but overall it was a fun way to see the island.

Nick offered to hold my underwater camera so he could take a few photos along the way. He had cargo pockets with a zippered closure on his swim trunks so I figured it was safe for him to hang onto the camera. We spent about two hours paddling up the shore, taking a break mid-way to sit on our boards and rest, or to swim if we wanted to. At the end of the tour, we reached the Carambola beach club and I asked Nick if I could have my camera back. He reached down for his pocket and said he didn’t have the camera- did he already return it to me? At this point, panic set in as we realized that the camera had fallen out of his pocket and he didn’t know when! Luckily I had uploaded my photos onto my iPad every night on the ship, so I knew I didn’t lose all the photos I had taken all week, but I was really upset about having lost my brand new underwater camera. Nick left us at the beach club and went back up the coast to look for the camera. I knew it was highly unlikely he would find it, but the camera was attached to a bright yellow floating wrist strap, so all hope wasn’t lost. Fortunately, none of us had any excursions booked for the afternoon, so we weren’t in a rush to get back to the ship and we sat at the bar and ordered a few drinks while we waited for Nick to return.

An hour later, Nick came back, and amazingly enough, he found my camera!!!! One of his friends took him back up the coast on a jet ski, and he found my camera floating on the shore near where we stopped to take our rest break. Nick had taken out the camera to take some photos while we were sitting there, and I guess he just didn’t get the camera all the way into his pocket when he put it back. I was so beyond excited that he found my camera, and I gave him a HUGE tip at the end of the day haha

So now that you all know I got my camera back, I can show you a few photos from our excursion…

By the time we got all the equipment loaded back in the truck, it was close to 2pm so we headed back to the port. We were originally supposed to get back by noon-ish, so I was very grateful that Katie and Damian didn’t mind spending some extra time at the beach club waiting for Nick to find my camera.

The port area in St. Kitts is fairly new (they were doing tons of construction and building new stores when I was there 2 years ago, so by now it looked like they were finished with all the building). We did a little shopping and then went in search of some wifi to check our emails. I had read on cruise critic about a bar/restaurant called Ma Pau which offers free wifi. The bar area was super crowded by the time we got there, so we walked into the casino on the ground floor, and sure enough, the wifi signal worked fine from inside the casino! This was now a totally free wifi signal because we would have had to order a beer or something if we used the wifi from the bar area.

After checking our email, we went back to the ship for a late lunch, then spent some time relaxing on Lido deck before getting ready for dinner.

Tonight’s sail away wasn’t scheduled until 6pm, so this was our one chance to watch the sunset before dinner while the ship was still docked. I picked up a much-needed glass of Miami Vice and headed up to Lido deck to watch the sunset after a crazy day.

I ordered a lot of food for dinner tonight, but it was mostly because I needed some back ups in case I didn’t like something haha I was really curious to try the pumpkin squash entree, but it was a very bizarre combination of flavors (I don’t think cheese belonged in this dish!) Something else we noticed throughout the week is that the items on the menu that are listed as being “healthy” with a heart icon, are not necessarily the healthy options. Clearly a dish that is filled with cheese and covered with a filo dough pastry crust is not a healthy option! Another thing that we noticed is that the descriptions of the food on the menu weren’t always accurate. Like they would describe a dish on the menu and make it sound really fancy, and then the plate would show up on the table and it looked nothing like what we were expecting. Anyway, here are some photos of everything I ordered tonight…

shrimp cocktail

oysters rockefeller

petite filet mignon and braised boneless short ribs

cinnamon pumpkin, squash, yam, and cheddar cheese pie

Apple pie

diet pumpkin pie

After spending the whole week searching for something fun to do at night on the ship, our wishes finally came true. Tonight’s theme was 80’s night, and they were playing 80’s music at a lot of the bars and the trivia game was an 80’s version of name that tune! I LOVE 80’s music, and I knew that game would be perfect for me. We sat down at the casino bar, ready to play some trivia, and guess what? I won!!! I was very proud of my ship on a stick 🙂

Tonight they also had the towel folding demonstration. I was looking forward to this all week! There wasn’t a huge turn out, but I think that might be because it started at 9:15 when many people were still eating dinner at the late seating. They had bins filled with clean towels at the entrance to the theater, and they walked us through the process of making two towel animals. It was a lot of fun (I love anything crafty!), but I doubt I could re-create it now if I tried haha Here are my new towel buddies:

Ironically, our steward also left us an elephant in the cabin. I think his was a little better than mine haha

Cruise

Celebrity Summit: ~ Part 5: Day 3 in St. Kitts

November 30, 2010 deladane Leave a comment

November 30, 2010

Monday 11/15: St. Kitts, in port 8am-5pm

I had pre-arranged a full island tour of St. Kitts through Pereria Tours ($30 for ~4 hours), so after an early breakfast, I got off the ship and headed into town. Liz Pereria was a delight to work with, and she was extremely helpful in setting up my perfect day in St. Kitts. She always responded to my emails promptly, and answered all of my questions. Liz was waiting for me right at the port, and introduced me to the other two ladies who were sharing the tour. Then we walked over to meet our tourguide/driver Seamoss, and we hopped in the air-conditioned van and set off on our excursion. It was really nice for us that only 3 people signed up for this tour, as there was plenty of space in the 15-seat van, and we could tweak the itinerary more to our liking.

First we drove through town a little bit, and then drove up to the Romey Manor Caribelle Batik. We watched a brief demonstration of how to make a batik:

and then had some time to shop in the store, and explore the botanical gardens on site.

Then we drove through a rain forest and headed back out to the main road to head to Brimstone Fortress. Our original itinerary involved a stop at Brimstone and time to walk around the fort, but our driver offered us the option to simply drive up to the top of the mountain right outside the fort entrance, take some photos from the outside, and then drive back down without getting out of the car or paying the $8 entrance fee. We picked this option so we would have more time for an extra stop at the end of our tour, and as we were driving back down the mountain, I noticed a man with a video-recorder taping us. I asked Seamoss if this was for security, and he asked if we REALLY wanted to know what it was for. When we said yes, he turned on the radio and every single radio station was talking about the robbery that happened to the Celebrity Mercury passengers the day before! I won’t go into the details of the event, as there are plenty of posts about it already on cruise critic. Up until this moment, I had no idea what had happened, and I was very thankful that Summit docked that day, and not one day earlier! I did feel very safe on St. Kitts, possibly because they strongly stepped up security the day after the incident. I didn’t realize it at the time, but Seamoss said he had locked the van doors on the way up to the fort (just in case!)

Anyway, the next stop Seamoss took us to is a place where you can see the Atlantic Ocean meet the Caribbean Ocean. This was not planned as part of our tour, but I was so happy he brought us here as I found it so interesting. I had always assumed the place where two oceans meet was as seamless as driving across state lines, where you might not even notice the change, but I was very wrong! The currents from the two oceans flow towards each other, and meet to form a small wave crest in the middle of the water. It was beautiful and mesmerizing to watch! Definitely something I would recommend seeing if you are ever in St. Kitts.

The white crest of waves out in the middle of the water is where the two oceans meet:

Next, we drove passed a black sand beach made from the volcanic ash:

and then we headed over to the Black Rocks (also formed from the volcano)

Our last stop was added into the tour by request. I had heard that the view from Timothy Hill was beautiful and worth seeing, so I asked Seamoss to take us there. In one direction, you can see the resort area in St. Kitts, including a 900-room Mariott and several golf clubs:

In the other direction, you can see all the way to Nevis, with the Atlantic Ocean on the left and Caribbean on the right. Notice how different the currents are between the two oceans!:

The tour ended at around 1:30pm back at the pier, where I boarded the ship and ate lunch from the pasta bar.

Then I went back off the ship to do some shopping near the port. The port area is newly-developed (and growing more every day based on all the construction projects I saw), and there are tons of souvenir shops and jewelry stores. I went back on the ship around 4:30 and headed to the sushi buffet for a snack, before getting ready for the evening.

Tonight’s show was comedian Jim McDonald. While some of his jokes bordered on grotesque, I thought most of the show was funny. He used a slide show presentation at the end which was hysterical! It was also nice to have one night off from singing and dancing haha

Then off to dinner, which was delicious as always!

Escargot off the every night menu. This was my first time trying escargot, and after one bite I was hooked! I literally ordered it every night for the rest of the cruise (but I only took a photo on the first night). The best part was dipping the fresh bread in the garlicy butter: