Saturday 17 January 2026 – At Sea: Roger

We woke early after a night of smooth sailing and went down to meet Debbie and Dave at the Grand Dining room for breakfast. Dave in particular enjoyed the large array of food with enthusiasm and we all tucked into a hearty breakfast. We sat and chatted for over an hour, catching up on Debbie and Dave’s new life in Adelaide, Australia, where they moved early last-year.

At that stage the ship was cruising along at ~19 knots, heading east along the coast of Cuba. We spent the rest of the day relaxing as the ship pushed its way smoothly through what was about a 3m swell. There was quite a strong wind blowing so the Captain had closed the walking deck, and we all visited the gym at various points before meeting in the Horizon Lounge for a rather decadent afternoon tea, with a choice of many treats and of course the normal raisin scones.

At 1830 we headed to Jaques restaurant for another fabulous meal, enjoying some of the many choices on the French inspired menu.

At 2115 we headed down to the Allura Lounge on deck five to watch the show which featured Yaniv Zarif, who apparently speaks something like 30 different languages. He put together a number of songs which encompassed many of the languages he spoke, including Russian Indonesian, Hebrew and French, just to name a few. The show over, we headed up for an early night although it was well past 2200 and the clocks were going forward an hour.

 

Sunday 18 January 2026 – At Sea: Roger

At 0830 we headed down to the Allura lounge, where Swazi, the fitness Director ran an immersion stretching class on the stage with digital screens around the stage displaying different passive scenery.

With this relaxed start to the day and the walking deck still closed, we had to use deck 14 and clocked up a few laps around the deck, which overlooks the pool. All the sun loungers were full of people just lying there, some reading books, some having their morning beer, but all soaking up the Caribbean sun and no doubt enjoying the relaxation.

The average age of people on this part of the cruise has increased quite a lot from the last leg with many more people on electric scooters, with Zimmer frames or in wheelchairs. The TV series ‘Waiting for God” comes to mind. It makes us all feel quite young.

In the afternoon some of us visited the gym and at 17:00 Sylvia and Debbie headed to the HIT class, which Sylvia really enjoys.

At 1800 we headed to Red Ginger, the Asian specialty restaurant. This also has a magnificent menu. We chatted while we dined on some amazing cuisine.

At 2100 we headed down to the grand lounge, where we watched a show on the history of Broadway. With its digital backdrops, a great variety of costumes, along with some impressive singing and dancing they took us through the evolution of Broadway from the early 1800s right through to the present day. The show over we headed to bed, ready for a day out in Puerto Rico, a US protectorate state, tomorrow.

 

Monday 19 January 2026 – San Juan, Puerto Rico: Sylvia

At 0800 Franzer, our butler, served the four of us breakfast in our suite. I am constantly amazed at how they manage to deliver the food exactly as ordered, piping hot and on time.

At about 0845 we wandered downstairs and disembarked at the pier in downtown San Juan. It is always nice to be in a port where you can walk straight off the ship and start your day’s activities immediately. I had prepared a self-guided walking tour and we strolled past many brightly coloured and well-preserved buildings to our first stop at Castillo San Cristobal.

Puerto Rico was sighted by Columbus during his second voyage in 1493. In 1508 Ponce de Leon started the first Spanish colony on the island. Puerto Rico was ideally situated and with its readily defended, deep bay was an excellent port. It was the first major island with water, shelter and supplies that sailing ships arrived at on their way to the Americas from Europe. The local Taino people were enslaved and although they revolted in 1511, never fully recovered.

Castillo San Cristobal was the second of two large forts built on the island. (More about the first one later). It was built over a period of 150 years and is the largest European fort in the Americas. It is an impressive fortress with many layers and a complex tunnel system that served not only as a way for troops to get around, but also as a means of defence. Explosives were laid inside alcoves in the walls and ceiling so they could be detonated if invaders were inside. The fort had some observation towers added during World War II, when it played a role in watching for German U-boats.

Three flags fly at the fort today, the US flag, the Puerto Rican flag and the Burgundy Cross, which was the flag flown during the Spanish period.

After exploring the fort, we headed back along the colourful, narrow streets, arriving at Chocobar Cortes, clearly a very popular cafe. The wait for a table proved to be worthwhile. We ordered an eclectic variety of food with Dave having a salmon wrap, Roger steak and eggs, Debbie a chocolate lava cake and me a fudge brownie. The portions were all huge and the food was delicious.

We continued our meandering, passing some of the original city walls and the Plaza de Armas, Puerto Rico’s historical main square, which is currently under renovation. Everywhere we walked through the city, the remnants of some sort of festival that had been held over the weekend were evident, with the pack down still in progress.

We stopped at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist, one of the oldest buildings in both Puerto Rico and the Americas. It contains the tomb of Ponce de Leon.

We then wandered through the Plaza del Quinto Centenario, with its 40 foot totem statue, symbolising the indigenous people of the continent and built in 1992 to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Columbus’ arrival.

Next we visited Castillo San Felipe del Morro, which was the first fort built to protect the deep harbour from attack by sea. We watched a very informative video showing the development of the fortresses over many of years. The fort structures, Spanish army and local militia managed to defend against many would-be invaders. Sir Francis Drake made the first unsuccessful British attempt in 1595, followed by an equally unsuccessful Sir George Clifford in 1598. The Dutch attack in 1625 was also unsuccessful although they did raze the city. The British attacked again in 1797 but it wasn’t until during the Spanish-American war in 1898 that Puerto Rico became a US terrritory. Even then, it wasn’t because the island’s defences failed, but due to the peace treaty agreement from the war, which encompassed many Spanish territories.

We started heading back to the ship, wandering along the top edge of the city walls, then dropping down and walking along their outer edge. We caught a glimpse of the Colon, a statue erected in honour of Christopher Columbus before arriving back at the Allura. With temperatures in the low 30’s and a baking sun it was a relief to be back in air-conditioned comfort. We all enjoyed massages in the spa in the early evening and then had a quiet night, opting not to attend the violin virtuoso’s show.

 

Tuesday 20 January 2026 – Tortola, British Virgin Islands: Roger

When we woke around 0700 we were already docked at Roadtown on the island of Tortola, one of the main islands in the British Virgin Islands, or  BVI.

Discovered by Columbus in 1493, it then became a Dutch settlement until 1872 when the British took control and started sugar cane plantations, worked by slave Africans. With the abolishment of slavery in 1834 the agricultural economy struggled, leading to increasing autonomy. It became a separate colony in 1960 and gained significant self government in 1967. A transformation into tourism has now turned it into quite a wealthy economy.

Interestingly the currency is the US dollar. The cars are left-hand drive but they also drive on the left-hand side of the road. Other parts of the Virgin Islands were owned by the Danish and many years ago were purchased by the United States becoming the USVI.

On leaving the ship, we wandered down the pier and through the security area into a small shopping area. At the end of this there was a bunch of taxis waiting. A very helpful gentleman asked us where we were going and arranged a taxi for us. Heading west in the taxi van, the lady driver, who was a little hard to understand, explained that earlier in the morning there had been a fire at the local bus company, wiping out 17 of their 20 buses. This is going to make it pretty hard over the next few days as there are a lot of tourist boats coming.

We drove along the coast road for about 30km, eventually coming to a little settlement called Fisherman‘s Cay. There the driver dropped us off, collecting US$120 for the return fare and promising to come back and pick us up at 1500.

As in Puerto Rico, there must be a surfeit of pastel-coloured paints here as many of the buildings along the coast, and particularly around this little fishing village, are all painted in bright colours, which can only be described in the photographs.

Heading down between some more colourful buildings, we found Captain Kylie alongside her 26 foot speedboat with a couple of 150 hp motors on the back. Captain Kylie was highly organised and after giving a safety briefing and pulling in the lines we headed west along the coast, passing a point with a few houses on that apparently is for sale at the moment for US$25 million. Rounding the point there was a bit of wind and the sea was a little choppy with spray often going over the boat. Heading east around the north of the island, we then headed north towards some smaller islands in the not too far distance.

Arriving at the island of Jost van Dyke, we tied up to a buoy about 70m from the shore, slipped on our snorkel gear and swim across to the rocks along the shore. After heading along the coast a little way and not seeing too much in the way of fish and coral, we headed back to the boat and moved to another spot. Debbie and I sat this one out while Dave, Sylvia and Kylie swam over to, and alongside, a little island just off where we were tied to a buoy. There still wasn’t too much activity here as the water was still quite choppy so we headed back around the coast to quite a busy bay. At the left side many boats were tied up in front of Soggy Dollar, very popular restaurant. We headed to the quieter right side of the bay, put on our snorkelling gear and swam over to a little man-made reef not far from the shore, which was stacked with many kinds of fish in various colours.

Back on the boat we sat back and enjoyed a snack while Kylie told us about her upbringing on a boat in the Caribbean. They started off with a 32 foot yacht and when her brother came along they bought a 1940’s 50+ foot yacht. Kylie completed her education in the US and several years ago came back to the Caribbean, where she met a kiwi guy called Sean whom she is now engaged to.

Around noon, we headed back around the coast to the next bay where Sydney‘s Peace and Love restaurant is located. A smiling young chap, Ronaldo,  with thick dreadlocks and sunglasses, welcomed us and helped tie up the boat, then led us barefoot into the concrete floored restaurant. “No shoes, no shirt, no worries”. We ordered a meal being warned at the time it would take over 30-minutes to prepare. We sat and chatted, Dave and I sampling the local beer, which wasn’t too bad. Eventually our dishes turned up and we all enjoyed a nice lunch consisting of fish burgers, beef ribs, or barbecue chicken.

Lunch over, we made our way back to Fisherman‘s Cay. The sea was much calmer on the way back as we were sailing with the wind, which made for an easy journey. Some poor yachting have not fared so well. We saw one very much the worse for wear boat, surrounded by inflatable yellow bags, being towed in by a rescue boat.

Arriving at the wharf, we were greeted by Kylie‘s fiancé Sean. They are both planning to head to New Zealand sometime in the next 12-months or so – it will be good to see them again if they do call in. It had been a great trip with our skipper being super efficient as well as relaxed as she took us around. It was obvious she was born to be at sea.

Our taxi was waiting and we made the trip back to the boat. After a shower we headed to the creperie for a light but tasty snack.

The show tonight was called Flash Back where a variety of singers and dancers performed with great voices and lots of enthusiasm. The talented dancers gave a vigorous performance and the number of costume changes was staggering, often taking place in seconds.

 

Wednesday 21 January 2026 – Frederiksted, USVI: Sylvia

We had planned a fairly quiet day in Frederiksted, so had a slower start this morning, meeting Dave and Debbie in the Terrace Cafe for breakfast at 8:30am. A US navy frigate was berthed alongside us on the pier and we could see turtles swimming in the clear water around the boat from the deck. The sun was shining, the water sparkling and the beaches looked inviting.

St Croix, with a population of only ~41,000, is one of the quieter islands in the USVI and is only visited by cruise ships once a week. Only ~10,000 people live in the greater western region of the island and less than 1,000 in Frederiksted itself. We wandered down the pier and spent some time browsing at the stalls that the locals obviously set up when a cruise ship is in port. They were all commenting on how quiet it was and we made a few small purchases to help out.

Frederiksted itself is pretty run down but the old colonial buildings retain some charm, despite their dilapidated appearance. After wandering through the town we headed to the old fort.

The fort itself is small and fairly run down but it contained some really interesting exhibits outlining some of the history of the islands. The earliest traces of human habitation date back to about 2000 BC with the Taino people well settled in the area when Columbus arrived in 1493.  In 1692 Denmark took possession of the uninhabited islands of St John and St Thomas. St Croix was owned at various times by the Spanish, English, Dutch, Knights of Malta and France.  Denmark purchased the island from France in 1733. St Croix and the rest of the USVI were bought by the US in 1916. Interestingly they first tried to buy them for 3.5 million in 1900; they eventually ended up paying 25 million, with the islands becoming increasingly important with the advent of WWI.

Under the Danes, St Croix became one of the most productive sugar economies in the world with large sugar plantations driven largely by enslaved people. Some of the exhibits about the conditions the slaves were kept in were particularly moving. Fort Frederik was the site where the enslaved people demanded their freedom, under the leadership of John Gottlieb, better know as Buddhoe. He led a massive protest rally with about 40% of the island’s slaves joining and this resulted in the declaration, on 12 June 1848, of the emancipation of all unfree in the Danish West Indies.

After exploring the fort we headed back to the Allura to change into our togs and grab our snorkel gear. We then grabbed a shuttle for the short drive to Rainbow beach, where we secured sun umbrellas and loungers. The sea beckoned and Dave, Debbie and I enjoyed some swimming and snorkelling while Roger snored on shore. This was what I had pictured when I thought about a Caribbean holiday. The sand was white and the water turquoise and warm. The water was a bit cloudier than I had expected and the snorkelling wasn’t overly exciting but it didn’t really matter at all. After a couple of hours of lazing and swimming, we headed to Rhythms restaurant at the other end of the beach for lunch. Then it was time for another swim and some more relaxing before returning to the ship.

The creperie beckoned and we enjoyed our afternoon tea there rather than in the Horizon lounge, then spent some more time relaxing until the evening show. Yaniv Zarif was back on stage, this time with a show featuring some of our favourite songs from Broadway.