Cruising Through Postcards # 11

Blog # 993

Cruising through postcards - I love the sound of that. It means I'm back from another great vacation. This time it was 10 days in the Southern Caribbean and 10 days in the Eastern Caribbean . Add on a day going and returning and a couple days in Florida and it worked out to 24 days total. That's 24 days away from the frigid cold of an Alberta winter. The first week away , temperatures here in Airdrie were in the range of  -17 C and during the 2nd and 3rd weeks temperatures just fell off, -23, -27 and -30 . Good days and nights to be away, down in the Caribbean. There were no minus temperatures down there.

I think this will be a fairly long update so grab a chair, and a tea or coffee and settle in.  We ,( My Lovely Teena and I ) flew out of Calgary on a Tuesday evening, January 22nd. We overnighted in Toronto and then flew down to Fort Lauderdale on the 23rd. We stayed in Lauderdale  3 nights and took in some of the sights , even  though we had rain showers off and on for the 3 days.

Our cruise was scheduled on the Crown Princess of Princess Cruise Lines, setting sail out of Port Everglades at 1600 hrs on Thursday 24th of January. The Crown Princess was build in 2006 and sails with 3,080 passengers and 1,200 crew. She is 290 m long , weighs in at 113,561 gross tons and was under the command of Captain Justin Lawes of South Wales.  Here's a look at the Crown Princess, our home for 20 nights.

We were a little late setting out but at 16:56 we were underway and set sail for our first port of call, Oranjestad in Aruba. The distance from Port Everglades to Oranjestad is 1091 Nautical Miles so we had 2 full sea days before our arrival at 08:19 on Tuesday 29 January.

Port # 1 - Oranjestad, Aruba
I have 2 postcards to show from Aruba. The first one is of one of the locals. I recall seeing him out and about. He was just licking his lips in Aruba.

The stamp on this one is from 2010. It is 1 of 3 in a Recycling issue.

The second card from here is a look at Aruba's California Lighthouse. It was open in 1916 and is named for the Steamship California which was wrecked nearby on Sept 23, 1891.
Teena and I had a great visit to the lighthouse and to the nearby restaurant. It was a wonderful place for picture taking. Also in port that day were the Norwegian Dan and the Disney Wonder. So lots and lots of people around.

This card has a 2014 stamp. It's 1 of 6 in a Classic Cars set. Shown is a Corvette Sting Ray.

The Crown Princess sailed from Oranjestad at 20:27  enroute to Willemstad, Curacao 123 Nautical Miles away. We arrived Willemstad at 06:27 on Wednesday January 30th.

Port # 2 - Willemstad, Curacao
Curacao is an independent country and the largest of the three ABC Islands ( Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao ) . A few points of interest in Curacao are Willemstad, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Fort Amsterdam, another World Heritage Site built in 1635 and the Queen Emma Pontoon Bridge built in 1888.  Of course we checked out all three while we were there.

Again it's two cards from Curacao as well, both in typical blue-white Delft Blue colors.  This first one is the lighthouse located on Klein Curacao, a small uninhabited island located 1.7 sq kl south of Curacao. It was first lit in 1913.

This card is from My Lovely Teena. She always manages to find a postcard and send it off to me. Teena used 2 of the 2015 10/10/2010 set of 4. If that makes any sense.

Bon Bini is the focus of this 2nd card. Bon Bini is the traditional welcome you'll hear on arrival in Willemstad.

The stamp used here is from the XCOR Space Explorations from Curacao set of 10. It was issued in 2014.

At 14:00 all lines had been removed from the Crown Princess and we sailed away from Curacao and then it was on to St. George's , Grenada some 423 Nautical Miles away. We arrived a little early in St. George's at 11:33.

Port # 3 - St. George's, Grenada
Grenada is known as the Isle of Spice or Spice Isle and as such you'll find nutmeg, cloves, ginger, cinnamon and cocoa everywhere.

Here's another card from My Lovely Teena and it shows what else  but nutmeg. As Teena mentioned on the card, I always have nutmeg on my oatmeal. It's been that way since I was a little boy.

Teena used a 2017 stamp of US First Lady Melania Trump. It's from a set of 6 Trump Family Members - Donald, Melania and Ivanka.

My 2nd card from Grenada shows Maurice Bishop International Airport, located 5 km from the capital of St. George's. I don't have a whole lot of Airport postcards, but the ones I have add a different dimension to my Aircraft / Airlines Postcard Collection.

Ivanka Trump , The First Daughter, is featured on the stamp on this one. I hope whoever got the Donald stamps are not too upset - I know he's not every one's cup of tea.

After a 7 hour stay in St. George's the Crown Princess set out again at 18:38 for our next port of call, Roseau in Dominica, a distance of  192 Nautical Miles. We docked at 06:37 on Friday February 1st.


Port # 4 - Roseau, Dominica
I have to say I didn't really know much about this small country known as the " Nature Island " of the Caribbean and I guess I still don't . My time here was not what I expected. We did go into Roseau on a bus, but we didn't get a good feeling for the place so we immediately went back to the ship. Better safe than sorry, I guess. Needless to say, I can't recommend Roseau and we won't go back.
That said, I did manage to pick up a few postcards . I returned with them to the ship , wrote them out , stamped them and turned them in at the ship's desk. I asked that they go ashore with the ship's mail for posting and it looks like that worked. But wait !

Here a card showing Our Lady of Fair Haven Cathedral in Roseau. The main church in was built between 1799 and 1916. The steeple was built in 1854.

There's always a story about the stamps or postcards from somewhere on my cruises. This cruise was no exception. I had previously purchased and brought with me stamps for most of the ports to be visited. I had some great stamps for Dominica. However as can be seen on this card, they maybe weren't great enough. I also noticed this on other cards I sent, on other blogs online. The stamps I affixed were obliterated with another stamp. The stamp that a person unknown used is from 2012 and shows Vincent's Least Gecko. Like I wrote earlier - there's always a story !

The Crown Princess departed Roseau at 15:50 for Charlotte Amalie in St. Thomas , 268 Nautical Miles away. She arrived at 07:59 Saturday February 2nd.

Port # 5 - St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
St. Thomas is just 13 miles long by 4 miles wide, not a big place . The weather is close to perfect all year long. Points of interest include Magens Bay, one of the world's best beaches and Blackbeard's castle.

I have 3 cards from St. Thomas.  This first one will give everyone an idea of where we went so far and where we still might be going. A Map Card of the West Indies.

It's U.S. stamps of course on cards from St. Thomas. This one has 1 of the 4 Music Icon - John Lennon  Forever stamps issued in 2018.
Also used are 2 of 10 Forever Bioluminescent Life stamps , also from 2018. These are really an attractive set of stamps.

This 2nd card from Charlotte Amalie shows a few of the Historical areas of the town - Blackbeard's Castle, the 99 Steps, Fort Christian and Main Street.

This card is another from My Lovely Teena. She used 3 of the earlier mentioned Bioluminescent Life stamps.

Even though Blackbeard's Castle was not open to the public due to recent hurricane damage, we still visited it to just get a look at it. We even walked up the 99 Steps  which actually number 103 steps, but who was counting.

Interesting fact about Charlotte Amalie - In its early days it was called Taphus for its many beer halls. Then in 1691 the city was called Amalienborg ( in English Charlotte Amalie ) after Danish King Christian V's wife Charlotte Amalie of Hesse-Kassel. Then between 1921 and 1936 it was named St. Thomas. Finally in late 1936 it was renamed Charlotte Amalie.

From St. Thomas , it was on to Grand Turk in the Turks & Caicos Islands some 415 Nautical Miles away. We headed out at 16:05.
Our arrival time at Grand Turk was supposed to be 13:00 on Sunday February 3rd. We were delayed a little and docked at 14:17.   The reason for our delay was that the Crown Princess experienced a little problem with her bow thrusters making the docking too unsafe.

Port # 6 - Grand Turk, Turks and  Caicos Islands
We toured around Grand Turk and to say we were disappointed would be an under statement. Sadly Grand Turk is still in a state of disrepair as a result of Hurricanes Irma and Maria in September of 2017. I realize that having cruise ships visit does add financial help to the local economies but there's still not a lot to see. We visited the downtown area, Cockburn Town and went out to Grand Turk Lighthouse. It was built in 1852 after it was brought from the U.K piece by piece. Today it's a prized historic site , protected by the National Trust. As such it still could use a face lift.   Here is a picture I took of it.

Here's a weather forecasting sign located near the lighthouse.

We did get to a beautiful beach on Grand Turk. It was actually just a stone throw from where the Crown Princess was docked. Here's a picture I took of the area.

We stayed on the beach and watched the sun go down and this is what it looked like.

 Unfortunately I didn't find any postcards at Grand Turk, so a missed opportunity. I had the stamps but they came back home with me.

Captain Lawes took the Crown Princess out of Grand Turk at 18:56 and headed north for Port Everglades, Florida.  Monday February 4th was a sea day . We sailed the remaining 583 Nautical Miles and arrived in Florida at approximately 07:00 on Tuesday February 5th.
That was it for the Southern Caribbean, half our cruise was over , now it was on to the Eastern Caribbean. We disembarked the Crown Princess around 0:900, went into Fort Lauderdale and purchased a few things we needed. We again boarded the ship around 14:00, hoping for a 16:00 sail away. 

Well we didn't get away at 16:00 , due to slow fuel bunkering we finally sailed at 17:57 on our way to St. John's, Antigua some 1157 Nautical Miles away. With all those miles ahead of us, the next 2 days , February 6th and 7th were sea days. The Crown Princess arrived at St. John's, Antigua at 07"24 on Friday February 8th.

Port # 8 - St. John's , Antigua.
What can I say about Antigua ? It's been around a long time , the island's first settlement dates back to  2400 B.C. Columbus landed here in 1493, Nelson's Dockyard is located there, he was here in 1784. Here's a picture of it overlooking English Harbour.

Here's a couple of cards that arrived from Antigua. First is one showing the Devil's Bridge. Over the centuries the heavy surf on the Atlantic side of the island has carved a natural limestone arch. The crashing surf spouts through blowholes with spectacular eruptions and noise.

There's 2 nice Aviation themed stamps on this one. They were issued in 2007 and are part of a minisheet of 6. They celebrated the Concorde's record flight from London to Sydney.

Hey it's another Airport card - this time it's V.C. Bird International Airport. The airport is located 8 km northeast of St. John's.

You never know who will show up on a stamp, here we have Letizia Ortiz, the current Queen of Spain. The stamp is from 2004 and was issued on the occasion of her wedding to Felipe de Borbon.

We left St. John's at 16:04 and headed off to Bridgetown, Barbados our next port of call, 298 Nautical Miles to the south east. Crown Princess arrived in Bridgetown at 08:49 and was secured with 16 lines ashore.

Port # 9 - Bridgetown, Barbados
I think Barbados might be at or very near the top of my favourite Caribbean islands. It's really a nice place and it's below the hurricane belt. You can experience the Caribbean and the Atlantic, the best of both worlds. With temperatures between 85 F and 72 F it seems the ideal place . There's beautiful beaches, Harrison's Cave, great rum, and a World Heritage Site - Garrison Historic Area. 

Since Barbados is such a favourite I have 2 cards from there to show off. I think this first one speaks for itself. Oh to have a place like this here on the beach. My beach house awaits !

The stamp on this card is 1 of 14 in a definitive set issued in 2016 called Builders of Barbados. It shows Sarah Ann Gill - a social and religious leader in Barbados during the days of slavery.

My 2nd Barbados card is from my My Lovely Teena and it shows one of the famous chattel houses of the country. These are small movable houses built without the use of nails.

Teena used a nice Lighthouse stamp on her card. It shows Needham's Point Lighthouse, built in 1855 and located right on the grounds of the Hilton Hotel on Needham's Point.  It is 1 of 4 Lighthouse stamps issued in 2013.

After a wonderful day in Bridgetown, and with all hands aboard we eased out of port at 18:08 for our overnight passage to Castries in Saint Lucia. Castries was only 120 Nautical Miles away , so after a leisurely sail through the night we arrived at our berth at 06:57 on the morning of February 10th.

Port # 10 - Castries, St. Lucia
A line in St. Lucia's national anthem reads " Land of beaches, hills and valleys, fairest isle of all the earth . "  Now I'm sure many may have a different opinion of the fairest isle of all the earth, but the rest of that line is certainly true. Reduit Beach , about 20 minutes by taxi from the port is a favorite. Then there's The Pitons - majestic twin peaks, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Each peak towers over 2,000 feet in the air. The oldest town on the island, Soufriere was established in 1746.

My postcard from St. Lucia is of ruins at Pigeon Island National Park. One of the highlights of Pigeon Island is the wonderfully restored 1808 British officers' mess building.

The stamp on this one is from a 1985 set of 8 celebrating the 85th Birthday of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.

Nice postmark/cancellation here, but the date is a little wonky. I handed this card in on February 10th in Castries, but it magically received a March 19 date stamp. Strange indeed - where was it for  37 days? No doubt one of life's great mysteries.

After 9 hours in Castries , it was time to move along. We got underway at 16:01 and headed north westerly to Basseterre, St. Kitts - 216 Nautical Miles away. The Crown Princess needed a little help in docking from a local tug , the Anjavel due to  gale force winds on Monday morning February 11th.  We docked at 8:14but that wasn't the end of it. Gangway operations had to be suspended at 9:20 due to the arrival of the Anthem of the Seas but normal operations were soon resumed at 9:58.

Port # 11 - Basseterre, St. Kitts
This two island nation rests in the Leeward Islands, southeast of Puerto Rico. There's lots to see in St. Kitts - Brimstone Hill Fortress, one of the best preserved military fortresses in the Americas, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Then there's Romney Manor, the St. Kitts Railway and  three mile long Pinney's Beach.
St. Kitts is pretty old - it was the first island in the entire Caribbean to be settled.

Postcards of St. Kitts.   Sadly I don't have any to show. St. Kitts is the only port on this cruise , from which zero postcards have shown up yet. I posted 18 postcards in Basseterre , I haven't received one and I haven't seen or read of any that I sent that have arrived anywhere. I can only hope that they'll show up sometime down the road.

After a delay of of an hour the Crown Princess left Basseterre , St. Kitts at 19:02 and headed north westerly for our trip to Charlotte Amalie, one more time.

Port # 12 - Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas
Since this was our second time here this cruise , we spent most of the day on board the ship, enjoying the pools, the sun, the weather and a few drinks.   We spent approximately 9 hours in St. Thomas and then left at 16:04 and began our 737 Nautical Mile voyage to Princess Cays, in the Bahamas.

It's now Wednesday, February 13th , a sea day and nothing to do but enjoy the amenities of the ship.

Port # 13 - Princess Cays, Bahamas
We arrived at our anchorage around 09:00 on Thursday, February 14th Valentine's Day. What a great place to celebrate Valentine's with My Valentine. We took a local shore tender and after 7 or 8 minutes we set foot on the sands of Princess Cays and went directly to the beach. We enjoyed the water and beach and took in the BBQ supplied by the ship's crew  . I purchased a number of postcards in one of the local shops but found no where to post them, but as they say, this isn't my first rodeo- I know what to do.  More on that later.

We sailed away from Princess Cays at 16:00 and headed due north for our final post of call, Port Everglades, 277 Nautical Miles away.  Sailing all night we arrived in Port Everglades  , Florida at 07:00 Friday , February 15th. We disembarked at 08:00 and were back on solid ground.

Our cruise had taken us 6,046 Nautical miles, or 6,957 Statue Miles or 11,196 Kilometres. 20 days, 13 ports of call and 11 countries.

I managed to buy and post a couple of cards in Florida, I think it was on February 5th, after the first week of the cruise. My first Florida card is this one, showing Ocean Drive, Miami Beach. I wasn't in Miami Beach this trip and I actually didn't see this on the card until it arrived back home. But nevertheless it's a nice card, and it arrived with 3 fine stamps.

The stamps are from the Bioluminescent Series.

 The last card from Florida features a Loggerhead Turtle. The East coast of Florida is the second largest nesting site of Loggerheads in the world.

My Lovely Teena sent this card back to me, but it wasn't a direct trip. It was posted in Ft. Lauderdale, but it received a San Juan postmark. How it ended up in Puerto Rico I can't say but nothing about postcards surprises me any more.

Most notable of the stamps here is the $1 Patriotic Waves Stamp. It was issued in 2015. There was also a $2 Patriotic Waves Stamp issued that year.

One more thing - the cards from Princess Cays, Bahamas. With no post office at Princess Cays I brought those cards back home to Airdrie. After a couple days rest I wrote them, put postage on them and mailed them back to Nassau, Bahamas and asked they be postmarked and dropped in the mail stream. Looks like it worked.
Here's one of them. The caption says it all !

This one has a Lighthouse stamp from a 2004 set of 5 on it. It is Hog Island Light dating from 1817.

Well there it is  - finished finally. A little long winded , maybe. But it was a long cruise and if I'm telling it, I'm telling it all .

Our flight home from Florida was without incident, Business Class all the way and we even got our bags on arrival.
I know it's been a long update but I always want to do my cruise report in one go, I think it's so much better that way. Special thanks going out to My Lovely Teena for making  our cruise a great and  Special Cruise.  Now where's the next one going ?

Thanks for reading, it's back to regular cards next time.