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