CRUISING
20
ISLAND HOPPING IN
Mark Meredith returns to a former haunt and undergoes a Caribbean conversion.
A
fter an absence of 10 years I was finally returning to the Caribbean, a 50-something cruise ship virgin with no history of motion sickness. As a journalist working out of Trinidad, I had seen the huge vessels docked in port, in Dominica, St Lucia, Grenada and Barbados, a fevered sense of anticipation apparent on the quayside as taxi drivers and souvenir sellers prepared for the hordes to disembark and part with their dollars. Not for me, I had thought. You can keep your cruise ships and overweight Americans. I’d have to be in my dotage to get me on board one of those. Funny how things turn out. Earlier this year I found myself flying with my wife to Miami from Auckland to join the Azamara Quest’s 11-night West Indies Hideaway voyage taking in the US and British Virgin Islands, Iles des Saintes in Guadeloupe, St Barts, Nevis and Sint Maarten. Owned by Royal Caribbean, Azamara Club Cruises promise a more intimate cruising experience because of their relatively small size. There are two identical ships, the Quest and the Journey — the latter has an Australian and New Zealand itinerary — and they carry 686 guests and 408 crew, a very manageable number. Unlike some of the behemoths cruising the oceans — our captain pointed out another ship passing by with 6000 guests and 3000 crew; imagine trying to grab a lounger by the pool on that — the size of the Azamara Quest (181m long) means it can anchor off small bays and even in them. We did not have to share any island with any other cruise ship and that can make a big difference to your onshore adventure. The islands we visited were small, and hideaways pretty much summed them up. Our
Clockwise from main: Orient Beach, St Martin Colourful boats and homes, Terre-de-Haut, Illes Des Saintes, Guadeloupe St John Fig Leaf Church, Nevis Pictures / Mark Meredith
itinerary showed us a part of the Caribbean you’d see only if you arrived by private yacht, Sint Maarten apart. But even with our modest size we had to be tendered ashore at most ports of call — a very well organised, smooth procedure. Azamara touts the “immersive” experience they are able to offer with longer stays and more “overnights”. The ship had plenty of organised, pre-paid “Land Discoveries” you could take, but they were not cheap. Instead, we pre-booked rental cars to explore by ourselves. The best part of a Caribbean cruise is experiencing the enormous diversity to be found from island to island, collecting different rums as you go. And, like the rums, each has a unique flavour: from the idiosyncratic French islands of St Barthelemy (St Barts) and Iles des Saintes to the slightly run-down, rustic charm of Nevis with
its domineering volcano; the serene exclusivity of Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands, to overdeveloped Dutch Sint Maarten/St Martin, half of which is shared by France, where duty-free shopping and apartment building seem the preeminent occupations. A good way to judge which islands were our favourites was to fantasise about owning a property and living there. And, from our brief experience, the Virgin Islands won easily, British or US, we didn’t mind which we would retire to. We loved our first stop, the charming town of Cruz Bay in St John in the US Virgin Islands where we had a cheap and fabulous creole lunch at De Coal Pot following our morning snorkelling at gorgeous Honeymoon Bay. The best views and bluest water we found on Virgin Gorda. From the Hog Heaven restaurant