It's a wanderful life, so it is

We’d booked four weeks’ of accommodation in Savannah but the landlady had forgotten she had offered her apartment to her family for Thanksgiving. So we had a fortnight to stay anywhere else that we fancied. After exploring some possible destinations, we thought, how about a holiday? We’d been so busy living our lives, a Caribbean cruise would be a nice change of pace. So we hired a car and headed down to Fort Lauderdale to join our ship.

The itinerary was the big attraction for us as it included a number of islands that we’d never been to before. We’d booked a drinks package, of course, but lost the run of ourselves once we got on board and upgraded to the premium package instead. Admittedly, we took this decision after having had quite a few drinks first.

We usually arranged our own activities at each of the stops but we did book one organised excursion. This involved a bit of a tour of St. Lucia, with its lush scenery and volcanic peaks before getting on a speedboat to a beach where we could snorkel. We were given an inflatable vest so snorkelling involved no effort whatsoever but we were concerned that lying on our fronts would expose our backs to the fierce midday Caribbean sun and all the burning and calamine lotion that would inevitably follow. Fortunately, the rainclouds that make the island so green descended and the feel of the gentle shower above the water and the sealife below made for a fantastic experience.

When we stopped for lunch, Mhairi scrawled some graffitti on the restaurant wall. It’s good to see that she’s picked up some habits from her time in Belfast! Finally, we visited some hot springs for a mud bath. We were told it was guaranteed to make the bather look ten years younger, “If not today, then tomorrow…or maybe the next day!”. 😂

In Martinique, we took local buses to get about. These ran to a very Caribbean timetable but we had plenty of time and were happy to wait for whenever they turned up. The fare structure also seems to be left to the discretion of the drivers, who chose not to charge us. We just had to love those laid back vibes. Le Jardin de Balata is a botanical paradise situated in the middle of the island. It has spectacular views back down the valley to the coast and contains a 50-foot high wooden suspension walkway in the treetops that Mhairi somehow convinced me we were insured for. It is limited to two users at any one time and is very secure (we kept telling ourselves!). There is a lot of fauna alongside the flora and it’s a cracking way to spend a few hours.

Antigua claims to have 365 beaches, one for every day of the year. I’m not so sure about that but I know it would be a long time before I grew bored of the beach we visited and started to seach out any others.

One of these days, we’re going to have to plan our three months in the Caribbean and build on our loose outline in our ‘Trip Ideas’ section.

Most of the time on a cruise is spent on the ship, of course, and that’s an experience in itself. The people watching is top notch with the added bonus of occassionally bumping into people later on and finding out if your speculations were accurate or not!

Being on the ship can affect people in strange ways. The hordes of camera wielders that appear when some carved fruit is put on display, for example. Although nothing was more shocking than the Trumpers who went to the effort of bringing all their props with them. It goes without saying that the cardboard cutout would make a better president than the original.

A peculiar thing happened on the last day. Mhairi was away at the bar replenishing our drinks when a woman approached me and said she had seen us dancing one night, singing to each other and looking into each other’s eyes. I thought she was going to say we should shut up as she couldn’t hear the professionals in the band but she thought it was the most beautiful thing she had seen in ages and we should keep doing it. Well, even a bitter old grouch like myself was touched by this, although a simpler explanation is that she had been hitting the cocktails even harder than we were.

Normally, we avoid the ship’s photographers as much as possible but, having opted for the premium package, we found ourselves hounding them for a change! We had a terrific time on the cruise, from watching films and sports under the stars to abusing the bar menu shamelessly, from the wonders of the islands to Mhairi getting exactly what she asked for for dessert, we feel refreshed and ready to get back to the grind of our retirement treadwheel. It’s Key West and Miami next.