Cruise Destinations

It’s December 1, and Christmas has arrived early in the Caribbean. A team of riggers spent last night and today unpacking giant cardboard boxes and festooning Ventura’s bars, restaurants and public areas with maritime-themed garlands. You don’t often see clam shells, even sparkly plastic ones, among the festive decorations ashore. And you wonder whether things aren’t going a little far when even the rails around the Jacuzzis sport Christmas greenery. Ashore in Philipsburg, St Maarten, the jaunty pirates in the souvenir shops now wear white beards and red velvet hats. And the steel bands are playing the first of the [...]

There was a variety of activities on offer in the sunshine of St Kitts yesterday. Some passengers mingled with those from the Carnival Victory and got no further than the duty free shops and jewellery stores of the cruise terminal. Some walked a little further, to explore the town of Basseterre, which is described in Ventura’s pocket guide as “one of the best remaining examples of a traditional West Indian town. The four main streets – Liverpool Row, Bay Road, Forst Street and Bank Street – all converge on The Circus, with it’s cast iron Georgian clock tower. A short [...]

We’ve spent most of the last two days off the ship, but without going too far from it. Yesterday we were at the Carnival Cruises-owned resort in Grand Turk. It’s basically a shopping mall and a beach. So it caters equally for those who want to soak up the sun, or those for whom no port of call is complete without an opportunity to browse for bargains among the jewellery stores, T-shirt boutiques, and a duty-free shop which would not have been out of place at Heathrow airport. Alongside Ventura at the jetty was Carnival Splendor, so the place was [...]

Yesterday was Ventura’s first port of call since leaving Barbados on Saturday evening. The island of Antigua’s national bird, the frigate; a few brown pelicans, and a gaggle of taxi drivers and street traders all turned out to welcome us to St John's, the capital. The town itself did not have a lot to offer, unless you were in desperate need of another T-shirt, a sarong, or a dinner plate sized-steel drum. But there was a selection of excursions from the ship to enjoy Cricket fans could visit the Recreation Ground, where Viv Richards scored the fastest-ever century; the splendid [...]

Another British port is about to put itself on the cruise map. Portland, in Dorset, is the venue for the sailing events in the 2012 Olympics and today provided turnround facilities for the Hebridean Princess for the first time. Next year, the port’s refurbished cruise terminal will be used by the Seven Seas Voyager, HAL’s Prinsendam, and Peter Deilmann’s Deutschland. The harbour was used by the Royal Navy until 1996, and has been the UK home port for RMS St Helena, which carries passengers, cargo and the Royal Mail on regular scheduled voyages to the island of St Helena Portland [...]