March Cruise 2026 Part Three

 March Cruise 2026 Part Three

Martinique offered what looked on paper like a fun excursion (sound familiar?). We were to go to a rum tasting and also a banana plantation. The rum distillery no longer functions but is open to tourists because of its historical significance. It is situated smack dab in the middle of a lovely botanical garden that was great fun to walk around; they even have Dale Chihuly stained glass "balloons" in one of the ponds.  A quick rum tasting (fun and interesting and handled by two charming guides), and then back on to the bus for a long drive to the banana plantation.  The last mile was nearly impossible for the bus to navigate due to huge craters that some would call potholes - we were crawling (and rocking) at 5 mph for a full 15 minutes before reaching the parking area.  We got off the bus in order to take a little train around the grounds to see ... well, to see bananas. Most of the people on these cruises are pretty smart and we caught on quickly when were told that it takes nine months to grow a banana and then it dies.  This was repeated, and repeated again, during the train ride until we were all ready to scream!  The train was the equivalent of being in a jeep with no suspension while driving over ditches, rocks, tree trunks and potholes. We were all holding on for dear life and our internal organs shifted quite uncomfortably.  We did learn about packing and storing and shipping of bananas, and of course this operation is small potatoes compared to Chiquita.  Finally it was back on the bus and then back to the ship. If all of that could have been done in three hours, we would have enjoyed it, but four and a half hours was far too long for what we learned. 

The next island was Bequia, which is very small - very, very small. We  were anchored and took a tender to the island, which I had never been to and was looking forward to exploring. It didn’t take long!  There is nothing there, just a few tourist shops and diver bars and some nice looking cafes and restaurants overlooking the lovely harbor. There is a beautiful paved shore walk that takes you past all of these places which was the saving grace of this port. It was Sunday and the highlight on the walkway was a church where the entire congregation was on its feet in song. We stopped and listened and enjoyed the experience. Then back to the ship!

The next stop was St. Lucia, a beautiful island and one we were looking forward to visiting. For some as yet unexplained reason, instead of docking at the Pointe Seraphine Cruise Port in Castries, the main city of St. Lucia, we anchored outside of Soufrière, a small town of 7,000. There was literally nothing to do there - and oh, it was raining.  We tried to make the most of it but it was really a putrid little town with one rather beautiful church that looked locked up but wasn't - and inside was a beautifully painted sanctuary with bright blues and yellows. A lucky "stumble" to see that since there was no mention of this in the scant information provided on the ship.  The underside of the roof resembled the inside of a large wooden boat. The joke is that no one knows how to build a church but any fool can build a boat!

Later on the ship we mentioned the church to other passengers who had slogged through the wet town, none of whom had bothered to enter the church (I guess they believed the locked-up look).  So Cindy hauled out her phone and showed them what they missed.   Which reminds me of another Silversea misstep - they provided almost no information at each port about what to see and do, and of course they are fully aware that many people explore independently and do not take tours.

Back to our exciting (not) adventure in St. Lucia:  We had to tender in and as we approached the one working dock, we had to wait for little boats to pick up passengers. It was all rather chaotic and the actual time in the tender should have been fifteen minutes but due to the traffic of the little boats it was more like forty-five minutes in a pitching sea (did I mention it was raining?). Another forty-five minutes in the tender back to the ship, again spending far too much time waiting our turn. We were able to get good views of the twin mountains, Petit Piton and Gross Piton, which were very lovely. We also got to see the real port of Castries from the bay just so we knew what we were missing. My theory, shared by many others on board, is that Silversea is trying to save money by anchoring instead of having to pay docking fees.

Next it was off to Guadaloupe where we were to anchor in the harbor of Deshaies (pronounced day-hay). This was one of the main reasons we wanted to come on this cruise since this little town is where they film Death in Paradise, a mystery series from PBS and Britbox. We have watched all fourteen seasons and wanted to walk around all the places we have seen in the show. It is a very easy walk with almost everything within one mile and we had a ball just wandering around and looking at the Police Station, Catherine’s bar, the church, the marina, and the little cafés and bakeries that are ever so French!  We wandered into town at about 10 am and most everything was closed but we had a marvelous time anyway, just absorbing the Frenchness of the island. I do believe that this was the highlight of the cruise for us. 

We had one last excursion that we were going to go on in St. Kitts. Again, on paper it looked to be super fun:  a narrow gauge train around the island called the St. Kitts Scenic Railroad. Here is a small description of the tour that made us choose it: 

EXPLORE THE UNDISCOVERED CARIBBEAN  "The St. Kitts Scenic Railway takes passengers on a 3-hour tour that makes a 30-mile circle around the beautiful Eastern Caribbean island of St. Kitts, with 18 miles by narrow gauge train and 12 miles on sightseeing buses. Built between 1912 and 1926 to transport sugar cane from the island’s sugar plantations to the sugar factory in the capital city of Basseterre, today the “Last Railway in the West Indies” provides visitors an unsurpassed opportunity to experience the scenery and culture of this unspoiled country."

The reality was that the sightseeing bus was a twenty-passenger mini-bus with zero leg room and dirty windows. The driver was very cool and funny and the short ride from the pier to the train was entertaining. The train was waiting for us and it looked lovely, just like the photos in the brochure. We went up to the top deck since it was much easier to see all around as opposed to the interior lower level with table and chairs and windows. There was ample room on the upper deck assuring me that we would be able to move to either side of the carriage for better views. That was before the next bus unloaded all of their passengers onto our train. We were now seated on hard benches with butts touching! We finally pulled out and got to see our first scenic site, a huge smelly landfill. This was followed by a lovely passage through a gravel pit where the dirt and dust were choking and our eyes were filled with dirt which turned to mud as you cried.  (from Cindy: he really doth exaggerate! - but it wasn't very pleasant.)  Soon after we were passing through a graveyard dump for old cars and trucks, very scenic!  In fairness there were some lovely views of the Atlantic ocean, especially where it meets the Caribbean; the colors were lovely. However there were two things that kept this from saving the show:  1. the sun was constantly on my back forcing me to turn my hat around to prevent a sunburned neck, and  2. the train was constantly and violently rocking back and forth preventing anyone from getting up to move around or to go down the narrow stairs to use the toilet. Needless to say, I passed on the free drinks! Cindy and I were sore, physically sore, from having to brace ourselves every moment of the trip. It was a most uncomfortable train ride and certainly one that I’ll remember. We finally made it back to the boat after a forty-minute drive in the same small, over-filled minivan and boarded the boat just moments before the skies opened up and it rained and rained and rained. Goodness we were happy to be back and know we never had to leave the ship again until Florida!

We fear that the fact that Royal Caribbean has purchased Silversea has doomed it and it will not retain its place at the top of the best all-inclusive offerings in the cruise industry.  We noted in other blogs that Cunard really became a sad case when Carnival took them over. We hope that Silversea will not suffer the same fate. One telling sign is the fact that for the first time in our twenty-plus years of sailing with Silversea they had a Silent Disco!  We first saw this on Celebrity, another cruise line owned by Royal Caribbean, which was a larger ship with lots of young people on bargain cruises. They would put on headphones and there were two DJs playing different songs and the headphones were color-coded so everyone knew who was dancing to which DJ. I guess it was a contest, but it looked so foolish to me as these twenty-somethings jumped up and down like so many mice on an electric grid. However, it fit the clientele of that ship. Not so much on Silversea. The first night they had ten or twelve people, the second night about the same and the third - yes they did it three nights - about twenty. Those of us who thought there would be a real disco - that you could hear - had to sit and watch these few jumpers without the benefit of hearing any music. Very dull, and not appropriate to the age group of the ship. 

Despite all the discomfort we have described, it was an interesting trip with beautiful vistas in every port.  It reminded us how much we favor trans-Atlantic crossings with only a few ports at the start and/or finish, but it was worth it to experience so many new places. We really do know how lucky we are and, as mentioned, these are first world issues. But we call 'em as we see 'em!   Cindy and William

March Cruise 2026 Part Two

 March Cruise 2026 Part Two

Our ship, the Silver Ray, has only been in service for one year.  It is a beautiful vessel, with a new design that has most of the common areas, bars, restaurants, and shopping areas on decks three, four and five. All the rest of the decks are cabins, which makes this very easy to navigate despite it being larger than all the other Silversea ships. There is more art work than we have noticed on other ships, and we sometimes would spend much longer getting to a restaurant since we would stop and examine the various pieces dispersed on stairways as well as displayed on walls and table tops. 

Because this is a larger ship, they had more room to really make the theater special. Aside from having a balcony for the audience, which the smaller ships don’t, the stage is much larger and equipped with the latest technology which really enhanced performances. There are no visual obstructions as there are on older vessels, which means there really isn’t a bad seat in the house. The music and entertainment were fabulous - Silversea does not stint when it comes to hiring absolutely the best singers, dancers, instrumentalists, comedians, etc. that are available.  The Silver Ray band is amazing and the various instrumentalists performing throughout the ship every evening were excellent including the duo in Silver Note.  The "headline" single acts at 9:30 every evening were also stellar. Because the stage is larger, they have a larger Silver Sea band, six members instead of the usual three, which was grand for us since they played at one of the bars before dinner and we were able to dance every night. We also would dance in the nightclub, Silver Note, even though we were not dining there. 

As for dining, there was too often something missing from the Silversea custom of providing great service and delicious food throughout a cruise or crossing.  The problems were definitely "first world issues" and seemingly petty in the grand scheme of life, but at the price we paid, we feel that we can expect perfection - as we have experienced to a high degree on all previous Silversea cruises. Problems included long wait times between courses, cold vegetables that were meant to be hot, bread rolls that weren't fresh, salty spinach, flavorless quiche ... the list goes on.  The worst problem was the fish - it was clear to us that Silversea had not procured the highest quality fish (except on the last two evenings when the branzino and the turbot were excellent).  At first it seemed to be a problem of slightly overcooking the fish (making it dry), but actually the raw product was not high enough quality to be prepared properly.  One exception was the arctic char served in the Marquee which was always good, but every single fish dish in every venue should have been moist and delicious.  That is the Silversea way (up to this cruise). 

We were scheduled to visit eleven islands in fourteen days: St. John USVI, St. Barts, St. Johns, Antigua, St. Kitts, Martinique, Guadaloupe, Bequia, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and Road Town, BVI. Unlike crossings, that was a lot of stop and go for us, but we thought we would take advantage of some tours and see some new things. For the most part it was a good decision, but there were places that we can’t for the life of us understand what Silversea was thinking when making up the itinerary. On St. John’s we signed up for a snorkeling trip that sounded great on paper - a catamaran out to a 2.5-mile reef, brilliant fish in clear waters, etc. In reality it was a waste of $160. They consolidated two excursions, which meant that the boat was very, very crowded. They pulled up to one of their sister ships (also overcrowded) above the reef and since they had all just come out of the water it was all disturbed. Why, on a 2.5-mile reef, do they insist on visiting the same one-quarter-mile stretch? I think we saw two fish before they told us it was time to go. Because they had nearly 70 people in the boat, it took lots of time to get us all into and out of the water. 

We stayed on board during our stop in St. Bart’s. Been there, done that and it was certainly not worth a long tender ride to shop at high end stores and eat overpriced dull sandwiches. It was fun having the whole boat to ourselves, and the bars and restaurants were empty allowing for longer conversations with the bartenders, wine stewards and waiters, all of whom were very interesting and well trained. 

Best to all, Cindy and William

March Cruise 2026

 March 16, 2026

We just returned from three weeks in the warm. Our objective was to get out of here for the worst part of the year and in that regard it was a successful trip.  We started in San Juan, Puerto Rico and from the time we got off the plane until the time we got back on a plane in Ft. Lauderdale, we were always warm, in shorts, and happy campers. 

We stayed in a new hotel in a new neighborhood of San Juan called Condado. The ad for the hotel, the Condado Ocean Club, seemed to promise a cool location between the sea and a lagoon surrounded but wonderful restaurants, bars and cafes. The hotel was fabulously expensive where entry level rooms began at four hundred $ a night. I used AMEX points! - which promised an upgrade. Upon check-in, our tattooed, pierced, twenty-something said, “I don’t know why that say you’ll be upgraded, we haven’t upgraded anyone in the two years we have been open." Our room was supposed to be a lagoon view deluxe king. The only true part of that was the king bed. In order to see the lagoon you had to ignore the main street of Condado which was right beneath us. Ignoring that you had to try to forget the large parking lot across the street that was open 24/7 and seemed to insist that everyone back into spaces since we heard the constant ding, ding, ding, of cars and trucks in reverse. Beyond that, yes there was a lagoon, which seemed to be covered with paddle boards, kayaks, and canoes. So much for the view. None of the rooms, either on our side or the seaside had balconies, the only hotel property in Condado that didn’t!

However it was warm outside so that made us happy. As for the hip nature of the neighborhood, we couldn’t find it. Yes, there were cafes - the one that advertised itself as having the best coffee on the island, had in our opinion the worst! We couldn’t finish our espressos it was that horrible. Yes, there were restaurants, mostly Italian or Indian, both equally expensive and unattractive. Yes, there were bars, but they were all featuring the same colorful rum drinks designed to allow those that don’t like the taste of rum to drink until they were sick!  The saving grace was the restaurant hotel which had wonderful personnel and very good food; whew. 

We made the best of our two days there: Cindy managed to run every morning, which was more than difficult given the construction and traffic. I managed to walk an hour each morning searching, in vain, for that perfect cafe, bar or restaurant. The hotel charged $78 per day as a resort fee. This glorified Holiday Inn Express had a small pool with a portable bar which operated in the late morning and early evening. That was the resort part of the hotel!  We didn’t use it, nor did we use the closet gym and never found the sauna/spa. Gracious, the things hotels get away with now!

Our cruise day arrived and we called for an Uber XL since we had luggage for the cruise. We were a bit surprised when our ride turned out to be a Chevy king cab truck! The truck bed had a cover and there was certainly plenty of room for our bags. The interior was very clean and spacious and the driver was really wonderful and we talked with him about the island during our twelve-minute ride to the cruise terminal. When we arrived we were shocked at how long the lines were to deposit luggage. It took us thirty minutes to get to the front of the line where there were only TWO people tagging the bags and handing them off to the longshoremen. Once that was done, things went pretty fast and within another fifteen minutes we were on the ship, a glass of Champagne in one hand and a canapé of caviar in the other. Things were definitely looking up.

We were told that our carefully chosen Silver Suite cabin had been upgraded to a Signature Suite. This was news to us but we figured it had to be better. These suites are unique to the two Silversea ships in the NOVA class, ours the Silver Ray and the other the Silver Nova.  We were very eager to get to our new and upgraded suite. The first thing we noticed upon entering was that there was a guest half bath to the left of us and a closed door to the right. We opened that door to see a walk-in closet and for the life of us, we couldn’t find the other door which we were sure would lead to the bedroom or bath. There was no other door! We walked past the dining area, the living area and there was a door into the bedroom and connected to that was the bathroom, both rooms had very large windows looking out to a very large balcony. The bed filled the room with only two feet on either side before a wall. The bathroom, which was advertised as having dual sinks,  had one sink and two faucets, no way in the world that two people could use the sink at the same time. There was a huge jacuzzi tub taking up too much space in a small bathroom and a toilet hidden behind the entry door, as well as a walk-in shower. Storage was at a minimum, no place to hang wet towels and at night very dark due to poorly designed lighting. I had to make sure I shaved while the sun was shining. As Cindy said, the person or committee that designed this upgraded suite had never spent a single night using it. 

More to follow, Cindy and William