Arcadia 2005

Thursday 5pm3rd November in the year of our Lord 2005, the holiday starts.  Finished promptly at the office and home for tea with Jono and Jen before wishing adieu to Jono for the run to Bewleys our Manchester Airport overnight hotel.  The weather could not have been more inclement over the highest motorway in Britain, the M62, and with the added hazard of the spray from the trucks it was a testing run.  Negotiating the traffic management system at Manchester Airport was also a test of my new Toyota Sat Nav system. 

Check in was traumatic as it was very busy and they, as all hotels under strain appear to do, had no record of my booking; luckily or my organizational skills resulted in my having the booking clerks name and the reservation confirmation number so they could not wriggle out of the duty they had to accommodate us.  Car long-term parking sorted and it was off in the arms of Morpheus.

04:00 came around very soon and the three hours check in procedures that Charter Airlines insist upon was not too bad.  Reasonable flight into Bridgetown Barbados and a rapid transit directly from the plane to Arcadia – no bags to collect or customs to clear; pure class!

Quiet night aboard trying to get to know our way around and getting the inside information from those returning after their cruise.

Saturday was a full day at sea, and just as well because the trip out had been long and tiring so a day aboard getting used to our new luxury was excellent and Saturday night was our first ‘formal’ for the Captain's welcome party.  It was really good to see how well we all scrubbed up!  The evening’s entertainment in the Palladium was an Andrew Lloyd Webber medley of epic proportions.  What a show, breathtaking in its extravagance.

Sunday and our first Port, Isla Margarita, Venezuela.  Arcadia is too big to come alongside so it was the ships Tenders for any shore excursion.  As the island is not very commercialized we took the organized trip to Playa Aqua where we spent a few hours on a typically tropical beach, had Red Snapper from the BBQ and a very pleasant chill day.

Back on board and I treated myself to a manicure; luxury.  We also booked a couple of lectures for later in the trip and I planned on a Balinese Head Massage.

At this stage of the cruise it was obvious that some serious waist expansion due to the exceptional food was only to be expected however ‘good’ you tried to be.

Well it’s Curacao today and at 07:00 whilst writing this diary entry we are coming alongside.

35 years since my first visit and 32 since my last so not too many memories of those earlier times.  The highlight for me is the pontoon bridge that joins the two halves of Willemstad but they have the bridge out of commission for essential repairs.  I hope it returns as it adds to a certain differentiation that Curacao has over the other Caribean Islands.  We bought Lynn van der Eijk a small gift from Alberts’ home town.  Back on board for lunch a siesta and poolside for the late afternoon sunshine top up; it’s a tough life but someone has to do it!

Second entry:

Arcadia 2005-2

Tuesday so it must be Aruba!  The ‘A’ of the ABC islands, ‘B’ being Bonaire and ‘C’ Curacao.  A welcome sign that there was in fact a H-D Dealership only a few hundred yards from the dock gates; oh what joy.  But the five cruise ships already alongside in Aruba and all the L, XL and XXL t-shirts were gone, it was as if a plague of Harley riding locusts had swept through, but never mind the assistant told us where the best beach was so off we went and she was spot on for we arrived at THE tropical paradise beach.

Palm Beach was all a tropical beach should be.  White silica sand, swaying palm trees (with coconuts!) and the most azure blue sea you will ever see.  All complimented with Pelicans diving for fish, beautiful.

We walked in this Caribbean Paradise leaving only footprints to detect our passing.  Arcadia was the backdrop to this perfect scene.  Back in the town we strolled and checked out the traders wares before returning for more delicious food on Arcadia.

Life on board is perfect too.  The entertainment in Palladium auditorium is up to any West End production.  It was Knights of Rock and Roll and a more energy packed with skillful players you would not see.  It was brilliant capped off with an early to bed – just the way I like it; I really could get used to this.

Wednesday was a day at sea so I had a Balinese head massage and Jen went to two Aromatherapy classes.  It was also the second formal night where we all get the opportunity to dress up.  Bobby Knut was the comedy entertainment and he was right on the money; I particularly liked his joke where he popped to the bathroom at 3am and came back to find the steward had been in and made his bed – not too far from the truth with the exceptional level of service you get whilst on board.

Thursday and we are another Tender port of Grand Cayman.  We decided on the same formulae as Aruba, a little shopping and more tropical beach time.  Good news Harley fans a well-stocked H-D T-Shirt emporium right on the tender dock!  Oh perfect Joy.  T’s sorted and I wanted to check out my long time ambition of owning a Breitling watch; not sure if I got a good deal but I am very happy with my new trinket!  The beach was again excellent but it had a few rocks to detract from the perfection we are slowly getting very used too; to even mention the problems of stubbed toes is an affront to the overall unbelievable thing that we, from humble folks, are enjoying the luxury of a P&O Caribbean Cruise – who’d of thought.

Friday and it is Jamaica (No she went of her own accord!).  We stopped at the famous James Bond set quay near Ocho Rios (Eight Rivers), just along from the famous Dunn River Falls.  Guided tours and the regimented system they have to work to are not for me, we like to get the locals to sort us out and what a lottery that is.  We struck lucky with Kevin, a family man, just into the Taxi/Tour Guide business, negotiations over it was off to the fern valley to meet Kevin’s cousin who offered a nice line in Tourist Dollar trapping crap.  The scenery is spoiled by the poverty and the 30% unemployment means desperate peoples trying to get as many dollars from as many cruise passengers as quick as possible – not nice but Jen and I did our bit to redistribute the bounty we have been fortunate enough to enjoy.  From Kev’s relatives trade stalls we went to White River where I wanted to get a Calypso bamboo raft ride; that was fantastic.  Clear mountain stream, laugh of a boatman and relieved of more of those dollars that were spoiling the pocket line in my shorts!

Our final attraction was the Dunn River Falls.  Venue of many a hair product advertisement this ideal location has been spoilt by us tourists flocking to it and attracting every bum and stiff on the island selling the most crap of all tourist crap; surely they will kill the goose that has laid the golden egg by such shameless over exploitation of a World Heritage site.  It is called the Jamaican Hustle and you have to be a very hard person to ignore the need and greed that the poverty gap has created; we have so much and they so little.  You can do your bit by returning to the boat dollar-less!  Which is exactly what we did.  It was an experience and I was happy with my contribution of the re-distribution of wealth.

N.B.:  Below should either be a small icon (this means the movie is still loading), or it is playing a movie (which is what it should be doing), or it is showing a still picture of the guy on the bamboo raft in which case put your pointer on the picture, right click and select play!  Hope you can view it.

Tonight, after the trauma of the Jamaican Hustle we were scheduled for Arcadian Rhodes.  This is Gary Rhodes first ship bound restaurant and at only a £15 per person supplement was a good opportunity for Jen and I to try a really up-market establishment and we were not at all disappointed.  There are no descriptive words that would do justice to the splendor of the whole occasion.  Jen looked radiant, the environment was pure class and the food was to die for.  A wonderful balance to the rigors of Jamaica.

Well one week down and one to go, later!

I am writing this on Sunday 13th November as we sail from Catalina Island, Dominican Republic.  After the Jamaican Hustle we had Saturday at sea.  I had booked two sessions on Digital Photography, it was very informative; Jen liked the bit whereby I can now remove wrinkles from my photographs!

Saturdays show in the Palladium was West End Musicals and it was brilliant.  The energy and joy given by the artists is electrifying.  It was so energetic we had an early night!

Catalina Island, Dominican Republic is a private island owned by a hotel chain.  Arcadia's crew come ashore and prepare the beach area with loungers and umbrellas and prepare a BBQ fit for a King.  The day was a very different beach party and perfect.  I tried to capture the ambience with my new found digital photography skills as you can see:

I took this picture from the beach like this:

and by using the skills learnt in the Digital Photography workshops got the picture on the left!  I cropped it to the oval then removed the sunbeds' and my left knee, softened the edges and added text.  It was on Roxio Easy Media Creator 7.5 - OK is it not?

Today is Tortola Island, British Virgin Islands, it is an Island, not British and I am not sure if there are any Virgins so one out of three is not too shabby.  It was a welcome relief to find more laid back traders.  I got my 'horrendous' shirt for the beach party at the first store.  We then met a couple of fellow Harley riders from Hartlepool that were in town on the Norwegian Line Cruise ship alongside Arcadia, I promised to make them famous (or infamous) by sticking their mug shot on my web page so here they are:

They have a son called Big Steve, a large guy who rides a Sporty - go on Steve get a Road King you know it makes sense!

So we are now back on board and having lunched in fine style are now sitting on the poop deck taking in some rays.

Tomorrow is another day in the Caribbean.

We arrived in Antigua and did the usual thing of running the gauntlet of the local tour guides selling their services and after a little look around the town were fortunate enough to stumble upon Gabriel and Ronald (Gabriel's son).  They had two Nissan Patrols and would take us to Shirley Heights, English Harbour and what we really wanted to see Nelsons Dockyard.  Ronald had the newest Patrol and Dad stayed in town trying to sell another trip whilst Ronald whisked us out of town in fine air conditioned style.  It was a fabulous tour and Nelsons Dockyard was indeed the highlight.  Back on board for late lunch and a siesta whilst the afternoon rain kicked in.  I tried to stitch together a panoramic view from Shirley Heights of the harbour and Nelsons Dockyard:

I tried to upload the site at 4pm but was delayed due to chatting with other passengers!  Then I started the upload and was horrified to see a time scale of 43 minutes.  This was due to the very slow ships connection and the fact that I had embedded a short movie file of the Calypso Raft Ride in Jamaica, just as the download was nearly complete Captain Steve set sail, pirouetted the boat and promptly lost internet connection!  I've removed the large file 'till home on broadband and will try to upload on Wednesday.

The Arcadia Theatre Company treated us all to a spectacular show entitled Cirque Arcadia.  It was a balance between acrobatic exotica and ballet; unbelievable skills.  They have been brilliant in all their shows but tonights was really spectacular.

St Lucia on Wednesday and very nice too.  We had been recommended to go to Marigot Bay but when we got there it was a building site.  Luckily we took a small ferry across the Bay to the film location of Dr.Dolittle - it was idyllic.  We had a chill out day and got a boat taxi piloted by Carlos back to the Arcadia tender quay.  Gary Lovini did his Violin thing on Wednesday night and the evening was rounded off by a fantastic party in the Pub on board which we spent with Les who was good company.

Thursday and it is back in Barbados.  Once again we took local advice and went to Malibu Beach (yes where the drink Malibu drink is made) and it was brilliant.  We got a couple of bird feeders, one for my mate Rob Simpson who has a lovely garden, and one for our garden.  Then I took a swim with the turtles in the open sea - pure class.

Early back on board for a siesta and preparing to leave, Arcadia Theatre company did their final gig which was just as good as all their other shows.

So that's it.  Would we cruise again - yes but not for a while.  We like to do our own thing and riding the Harley is top of the list; we don't want to be a bore and only ride a Harley but we do like it and get a great deal of fun from riding our Harley so why not do it?

Catch you all latter as I finish this report on the Barbados Airport Free High Speed Internet Connection.