Smithy's Cruise Blog

The earlier speakers left the ship in Antigua and Barbados and the new troop arrived before we left St Maarten.

You may remember that a couple of weeks ago I told you that we had a "Celebrity Speaker" aboard. I showed you a photo and asked you if you could name him. He was called Paul Fletcher. He had played football for Bolton and Burnley and had later been CEO of those and other clubs. His claim to fame was that he had been involved in building new stadia at those clubs and had also been on the committee involved in the redevelopment of Wembley. Some of us found it difficult to understand why Cunard had invited him to speak and why they had called him a celebrity.

General Sir Simon Mayall KBE CB is one of the new troop. He is a brilliant speaker. He is an expert on the Middle East and has been a Senior Advisor to the Ministry of Defence. Yesterday he gave us the complicated background to the troubles in the Middle East under the title History and the Crisis of Isis. Tomorrow it is the Ottomans.

We also have a naval historian speaking, Captain John Nixon. Today his topic was Captain William Bligh of the Bounty fame. The Mutiny is one of my favourite topics as a result of our day at Pitcairn Island in the early part of 2014. Tomorrow his topic is another man near the top of my list of great sailors, Admiral Lord Cochrane. Brother in law David Holt had lent me a book on the great man and I packed it when we went off round the world. I forgot about the book until we arrived in South America. Cochrane's exploits kept coming up during lectures and I'm sure I reported on him on the blog back in February 2014.

I am hoping that everything I write gets published this time. I will limit the photos in the hope that the written word prevails.

Jane and I first came to Barbados to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary in 1998. After much research we booked into the Royal Pavilion through Kuoni. We were due to fly out on the Saturday and on the Friday I received a call from a lady at Kuoni to tell me they had overbooked at the Royal Pavilion and that we would not be able to stay there.

I was not happy! I said I wanted to speak to her line manager. I got short shrift from her. She said we could stay at the Glitter Bay (then a very good hotel, but now apparently converted into apartments) next door, but that If we didn't like that we could have our money back! Can I speak to the MD please? Another lady called me back. The MD. An all women operation. She promised a suite at the Glitter Bay and for us to eat dinner every evening in the Royal Pavilion. Sounded good and we settled for that. It proved to be an excellent deal.

Since then we have been to Barbados a number of times on cruises on QM2, QE, QV and Regent's Navigator. We have usually taken a taxi to our favourite places, but this time, as Cunard had sorted out an adapted vehicle, we booked a tour.

After a morning around the port, Jane, Kim and I set off with Chris the driver and another couple, Richard in a wheelchair and Kath his wife. The route took us up the West Coast. We drove past the Sandy Lane and into Holetown. I knew that Dennis and Shaz Hall were having lunch at the Lone Star and it was my intention to run in and surprise them if we drove by. Sadly we turned off to the right and into the centre of the island before reaching the restaurant.

After a very bumpy journey we arrived at the Highland Centre close to the highest peak on the island. The views across to the East coast were dramatic. Jane and I realised we had been there before. After a rum punch we drove down to the East coast, with its wild beaches and high waves and eventually back to the ship in Bridgetown.

This was not the greatest itinerary for wheelchair users because the roads were poor and all of us were shaken about for over 3 hours. Such a tour should have kept to the island main roads, which are good. There are plenty of places to visit without using the narrow and poor roads in the middle.

As we left Barbados the Captain announced that the weather in Guadeloupe the next day would be much the same, with temperatures in the early eighties.

For reasons I do not understand yet, this blog is not publishing the whole of each of my submissions. Nor is it publishing the photos within the text, but is grouping them all together at the start. Sorry.

One of the problems that is with us on the ship is that frequently the satellite connection is weak and it takes ages (at vast expense!) to download a submission. I will consult with my blogging guru and hope to get back on an even keel (!) shortly.

First, it’s Guadeloupe for the day.

Jane and I were last in St Lucia in 1981. I had found a deal at the Halcyon Beach Club, just north of Castries – 3 weeks for the price of 2 and children free. We only had Louise at that time, and we all had a fantastic holiday. Great food and drink and unlimited waterskiing and sailing. The  hotel is now owned by the Sandals group and is known as Sandals Halcyon.

Queen Victoria arrived in Castries on time and was berthed and secured by 7.00am. She was followed in by P&O’ s Britannia and then by Fred Olsen’s Balmoral.

Cunard have arranged a number of wheelchair friendly tours for this voyage and we took advantage of their tour of the north west coast which left the ship at 8.30am. Bruno was the driver and Mitch was the guide. Here’s Mitch – a very bright young man with an amazing vocabulary.

The plan was to drive south from Castries to Anse La Raye, a small fishing village. It was not much of a place. Most of the men were sitting in the Main Street doing very little. Possibly that was because it was a Saturday, possibly not. Most of the fishing boats on the beach were in poor condition and the nets were strewn about and in disarray.

Inevitably the women were  working. On a street parallel to the one where the men were lolling about, the women had stalls selling the usual tourist ‘tat’. Sadly they didn’t appear to be having much success in selling to the numerous small tourist wagons that arrived while we were there.

Next we turned north again and stopped for refreshments (compulsory rum punches) looking down on Marigot Bay. A beautiful bay regularly used in Hollywood movie scenes.

As we continued north, the traffic ground almost to a halt. Mitch was keen to get us to the final destination – Pigeon Island – and we made it, but it took 30 minutes longer than it should. We circled the National Park. It had been a lookout station when the French and English fought over St Lucia.

Sitting out in Rodney Bay at anchor were 2 cruise ships – a Thomson vessel, which I had seen earlier in the day on the horizon as it passed Castries, and the 4 masted Wind Star

We then set off on the journey south, but again met a traffic jam. Clearly the tour people at the ship were getting concerned because Mitch kept getting calls. When we did get back some 45 minutes late, it became clear why there was some anxiety. Three people in wheelchairs were waiting with their companions for another tour in the same vehicle! What a shame for them. Their trip would have been dramatically shortened.

As we drove through Castries, it was buzzing.