It's been 6 years since I was last in the Caribbean (It ended up being my last trip for a long while as covid broke out in 2020). Anyway, the lady I hung out with on our Italy cruise (I'll call her Ms. Ohio hereon in) and I decided to escape the gloomy winter and get some sunshine. We booked 51 days before departure date which to me is like last minute, haha. I was very excited about a NEW ship. The NCL Viva's maiden voyage was Aug. 2023.
NCL has changed their all-inclusive drink packages. "Free at Sea" is now "More at Sea", 🙄. They turned premium but you pay more as well. However, I would be able to drink Grey Goose or Belvedere vodka if I wanted or Hendrick's gin, etc. etc. Anyway, we seemed to make out pretty good with $1800 CAD all-in each and that included tips, wifi, one free specialty dining meal and $50 excursion credit on any NCL ones - that's great for solo's but not for two people. Anyway, we were really just going for a beach vacay in the sunshine... Airfare was not as kind, that and insurance cost another $1500 CAD for me, 🙄. I cashed in my credit card travel awards and got $850 off the cost so that helped a little. We also had to get a hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico and it is NOT cheap there! We ended up with a "Motel 6" like rating/vibe for $330 CAD! At least we were splitting the cost. Ms. Ohio said to think of it as camping for one night 🏕️. They didn't even supply shampoo though they had complimentary transport to the cruise port, so I could bring my own shampoo...
Castries (St. Lucia) is the one port I was really interested in seeing, so we booked a land/sea tour through Viator for that one port. ($150 CAD each). We were supposed to have no sea days but Bonaire was unfortunately cancelled. The only port on this itinerary I've been to before is San Juan. The only place left in the Caribbean I want to still see is St. John's in Antigua. I didn't write any of this report till a couple weeks after returning home so it was all by picture memories, and frankly I didn't take many good ones (mostly food!) so I guess it is what it is... I borrowed a couple from Ms. Ohio as well. I'll try to keep the report short and sweet with some highlights/lowlights...if I don't have a picture, it didn't happen (or rather, I don't remember) 😉. If I didn't write descriptions about the pictures you can hover over them for it.
Friday, February 21, 2025:
I had a red eye on WestJet. I had to stop in Atlanta and then move to Delta airlines. Because of the Delta leg I was unable to prepay my luggage and it would cost me $10 more because of that. This flight nickel/diming to death is wearing thin on me (shrinkflation)... Anyway, I was scheduled to arrive in Puerto Rico at 12:45 pm the next day.
The weirdest coinky dink happened. People I hung out with on my UK/Scotland/Ireland cruise emailed me the night before and asked how I was doing and what travels I was up to, and it turns out we were on the same departing flight to Atlanta together! I haven't talked to them since Nov. 2023, so it was a strange coincidence...I met them at the airport and we had a drink and caught up on our travels and politics which seems to be the popular topic these days with Spray Tan Satan's never-ending tirades about Annexing Canada...😠😖🥹 UGH...and then there's the tariffs too...
Saturday, February 22, 2025:
I arrived in Atlanta just before 7 am. I was lucky that a bar ⬆️ that was right by my gate opened at 7, so I and many others proceeded there for drinks. I had a couple of prosecco. Next flight on Delta left on time and everyone clapped when we landed...(A Delta flight had just rolled over in Toronto a few days before I left).
I used Uber from the airport and it was a long walk to where the pick up station was. $36 USD and I accidentally used the wrong credit card which charged foreign exchange so it cost me $53 CAD. The hotel wouldn't let me check in so I told her I would just sit in the lobby (on an uncomfortable metal bench) until the room was ready. The time let me figure out how to get my esim working on my new android phone and about an hour later, the desk clerk gave me my key. The room was as expected but seemed clean enough and was quite large. There were two queen beds but I already had all my crap all over mine so I didn't take a pic of both. She wasn't arriving till 3:30 pm.
I brought a large thermo bottle filled with wine as I was planning to use it for the beach clubs, but it must have exploded on the flight as some of my clothes were reeking of it, and I had bought her a personalized notebook and it was stained with wine too ☹️. There was about a quarter bottle that leaked out. Ms. Ohio arrived and we got ready to go out and have dinner. We didn't have a reservation till 8 pm and they wouldn't accept us early so we went to another place (
Los Pinos) to drink a mojito and we also shared a "mofongo" - both a
must do in Puerto Rico.
We wandered over to the restaurant in the dark but I took this picture below earlier when we tried to change our reservation time, "
Casita Miramar":
The place was jam-packed full and we looked forward to a nice evening. We were seated on the outside patio, above where the string of lights are. Below, we loved the "Violeta" cocktail which was: Bombay Gin, Creme de Violette, Lime & Orange Peel.
Below at the top of the picture was "Alcapurrias ($14 USD)" which was roasted pork and a "must try" our server said. Below that was my dish of "Pastelón ($24 USD)" which was beef picadillo, sweet plantain, cheese fondue.
All the food was scrumptiously delicious and they brought out little extras like soup and tostones. We had zero complaints other than not knowing what any of the food was when it arrived at our table. I figured it out when I got home with the bill ($150 USD) and google, lol. After dinner we walked back to our hotel and retired for the evening.
Sunday, February 23, 2025 (Sail Away - 7 pm):
We awoke, showered and headed out for coffee for her, and wine for me for the beach days. There was store about a 5 - 10 minute walk away.
Wine was $20 USD a bottle and I bought three. These were wines less than $20 CAD at home but it would be cheaper than buying multiple drinks at the beach clubs. We went to get her a coffee next. Then it was time to check out and take our ride along with everyone else in the hotel. As Uber was only $6 we booked that instead. We were on the ship in no time. Check in was a breeze and we were getting our first drink probably by 11:30 am!
The main dining room (Hudson's) on deck 7 opened at 12 or 12:30 for lunch so we headed there.
It was lovely and wrapped the entire ship so had windows all the way around. Lunch would be the only time we dined there the entire trip (same old NCL food that neither of us love that much). Wedge Salad below.
We walked up to the Observation Lounge (Deck 17) and had a drink. That would end up being our favorite place to imbibe on the ship and we spent most of our time there.
Outside there was a deck that circled the entire ship and partly had see-through glass; walking above the ocean, which was not good for me who is afraid of heights. I did the lap once...
We got the announcement we could enter our rooms and found our luggage in the hall so we got to work and unpacked. We went to the early comedy show which was funny and shared good laughs.
Afterwards we went for dinner at the "Indulge Food Hall". This was our favorite casual dining spot on the ship. It had multiple types of cuisines (small plates) and you could order whatever you wanted from a tablet. You didn't have to wait to be seated, just find a table and start ordering. The food was very good there!
Monday, February 24, 2025 (La Romana, Dominican Republic):
We didn't book anything today. There was a big pool beside the ship free to passengers so we decided to have breakfast and drinks and then head over. We found a couple of good loungers poolside and it was really nice and chill there with pleasant views. Below was a drink local to the DR called "Mama Juana", similar to port.
When I tried to send that pic to a couple of people, it ended up sending to about twenty random people on my contact list, some of who were not friends and some who I haven't talked to in years, and some I just didn't want to talk to, haha. I spent the next hour trying to unsend them. :(
The pool got much much busier as the day wore on. We were leaving port early so were back on the ship around 2-ish. I tried a local beer before we left:
We went for lunch at the food hall. Below was the Indian station with Tandoori chicken.
Below, we both LOVED this salad, possibly our favorite dish there? It came with perfectly seasoned flank steak but you could choose your protein.
ROMAINE & KALE
feta, tomatoes, red onion, cucumbers,
za’atar spiced breadcrumbs, citrus dressing
Tonight we had a pay dinner at the Italian place. I dined at "Scarpetta" in Vegas a couple of times when chef Scott Conant owned it and it was divine. This cost us $40 each and was well worth it. Fantastic meal!!!
They bring you a bread basket and the salami bread is to die for! I remembered it from Scarpetta so was delighted to see it here.
The other dish I always ordered in Vegas was spaghetti with tomato and basil. Simplicity at its best and it was pretty damn good here too.
We sat beside a couple from Florida and it was hard to avoid conversation as it was like being seated at the same table. The man reminded us of "
The Crypt Keeper" from Tales from the Crypt. 🪦 I didn't think he could even talk but Ms. Ohio said he did while I was using the washroom.
I'm not even going to show ALL the dishes. We ordered and ate way too much food! We even snuck the pizza out in a napkin as they won't allow you to take the food which is such a waste...
BURRATA
prosciutto di parma, heirloom tomato,
arugula, balsamic reduction
BEEF FILET
spinach purée, potato, seasonal vegetables,
natural jus
BUTTERSCOTCH BUDINO
salted caramel, chocolate chip cookies,
chocolate gelato
TIRAMISU
coffee, mascarpone, cocoa, lady fingers
We ended the night at the Observation Lounge with our favorite bartender Elustre known as "Ice Cube". If encouraged he would do magic tricks, sometimes good and sometimes not, like tossing ice and then it ending up on the floor, to which his waiter "Ice Pick" Igor would clean it up. 😊 You probably had to be there to appreciate it but they did keep us laughing till tears ran out of our eyes.
And then off to dance to "Disco" music I'm guessing by the screen on the pool deck...
Tuesday, February 25, 2025 (Aruba):
We had rented chairs/umbrella at a place called "
Reflexions Beach Club" for a cheap price of $21 USD. It was about a thirty minute walk and away from the other beaches where all the cruise ship passengers congregated at. I stopped to buy a magnet on the way out and told the lady I didn't need the bag for it, and then she took the bag off and threw the magnet onto a table! Not a good start to the day🤬. My bag was heavy, my cover up kept falling off and it was humid. Plus I was a little hungover and my esim wouldn't work properly for google maps. I had a melt down. I had agreed to walk and knew how far it was so this was no fault of Ms. Ohio in any way, it was all me. So I huffed and puffed all the way there and it was a side of me I work on constantly NOT to be, but it still happens at times unfortunately...
Once we got to the beach, I apologized and we talked it out. Then it was time for a bucket of local beers!
I thought I better start with this one below, haha. 😏 We both liked the "Magic Mango" one best though.
The water was beautiful, easy to swim in, no rocks or seaweed and it was a peaceful day. We split an appy platter ($17 USD). The only thing that was "Dutch" were those wienie thingies at the top called "
Frikandels". They were only okay...
The planes fly pretty low down and reminded me of St. Maarten, Maho Beach.
We stayed for dinner. I had the grouper sandwich and she had a Caprese salad. I love grouper and can't get it at home. It was yummy.
We got a taxi back which I think it was only like $10 USD pre-tip. She said no way she was walking with me, haha. There was a go-kart track on this ship, but we never got there though it was intended. Someone had mentioned they had tried the "dry slide" and that just cracked us up 🤣.
I caught the sunset from the Observation Lounge. I've never had any desire to visit Aruba and today didn't change my mind about it.
I have no other pictures of this evening. We usually bopped around on the floor if a dance party was going on - we did the 80's/90's and Glow Party over the week. We were booked to see the Broadway show of "Beetlejuice" but they changed our time and we never ended up being able to get to it. The first night we had it booked the reservation said it started at 7 and to be there at 6:30 so we arrived then but the show was already playing at 6:30 🤷🏽♀️. The second time we booked it, it was cancelled.
Wednesday, February 26, 2025 (Curacao):
I finally felt like I was in vacation mode today. I was happy to be in Curacao 🌴!
We had day passes at
Avila Beach Hotel, $15 USD each which included two loungers and an umbrella. We took a shared taxi to the resort which I think was about $10 each pre-tip. The resort was beautiful! I was happy here for sure. Beautiful rock protected cove with snorkeling. Ms. Ohio brought us floaties so we spent a lot of time in the ocean today. I had my bottle of wine and was content as could be.
We had lunch there and of course when in Curacao, Ms. Ohio had an island drink:
blue wave
White rum, pineapple juice, coconut rum, blue Curacao,
lime & lemon juice, sprite
My beef croquettes with a glass of cava cost $22.75 USD or $33 CAD (ouch). It wasn't an island dish but it was something I hadn't experienced before and it was tasty. We departed the resort to get back by 2 pm as we were departing at 3.
We had dinner at Palomar this evening. This was the seafood pay restaurant on the ship. We used our free dining credits here as the price was $60 each if we hadn't.
GRILLED OCTOPUS Fingerling Potato, Baby Spinach,
Pickled Red Onion, Pimenton De La Vera
GREEK VILLAGE SALAD Tomato, Cucumber, Green Pepper,
Red Onion, Feta, Olives, Capers, Parsley
THALASSINI SALATA Seafood Salad: Shrimp, Scallop, Calamari,
Mussels, Caper, Celery, Lemon
DOVER SOLE Olive Oil, Lemon, Lilliput Capers, Grilled Carrots
GALAKTOBOUREKO Greek Yogurt Sorbet, Orange Custard Pie
I had ordered some tuna crudo that was really disappointing, it was mealy, zero seasoning and cut very uneven. I didn't even eat it. For me, on the rarest of occasions, my dessert above was the best thing I ate! It was really interesting and tasty. I usually only have a bite or two but I finished this. The rest of the meal was just okay. I guess my expectations were too high and sadly I was unimpressed.
We went off to dance and closed the last dance bar down. There was a "farmer's convention" onboard so they were everywhere selling their "special seed". One of them tried to pick us up asking for a threesome, lol. I ended up getting into MAGA conversations and was waaaaay too drunk for them. Ms. Ohio wisely went to bed and I continued on till 3 am... 🙄🙄🙄 I'll never learn...
Thursday, February 27, 2025 (Sea Day):
I slept in till noon and had to force myself out of bed! I ran into the MAGA couple I had been chatting with till 3 am and I exchanged hugs and apologized (that's twice this trip, so far!). They were fine and laughed it off and said they slept till noon as well. And first thing I saw on deck was a corn farmer, lol:
I was so hungover all I wanted to do was eat and try and drink off the pain... Ms. Ohio who can't sit still was happy to cater to my whims (a grilled hotdog and later a turkey plate from the buffet). We bounced around bar to bar outside. The ship felt packed, I guess because it was, lol.
That evening we went and saw the "Press Your Luck" show and yelled "No whammies"...
Meanwhile at the Observation Lounge, Ice Cube had made me a rose. He always teased it was made with toilet paper from the men's bathroom and then he'd put an orange twist over it to make it smell better. He painted the edges with pretty grenadine. I took it home and am displaying it in my living room. It took him the whole day to complete it and I thought it was gorgeous!
I visited the casino and lost, lost a couple to $300 there this week. We watched a singer in the Atrium bar. The theatre had turned into a Latin dance club, but I was done like dinner...The chairs collapse in there and it turns into a dance floor.
Friday, February 28, 2025 (St. Lucia):
We were ready and at our tour for 8:30 am. This was the only time we had to set an alarm the whole week and that was kind of nice though I didn't love it today. Our ankles were swollen and fat. We called them our "EF-A's"... It was raining outside too. I got asked twice today if I was Ms. Ohio's mother so yeah, that felt good, NOT. ☹️ But I did feel like the crypt keeper today - that is true! We had a full van and headed out. As we stopped for a minute by a police station an angry lady broke the whole front window out of the station, glass pouring down on her and then just walked away. That was my first impression on the island! Anyway, my next thought was that it's very green:
The roads kinda suck, are narrow and are very, very windy. I was dizzy after making our way to Anse La Raye. My son gets car sick and would not have done well on this ride at all. But, I was very happy to have a good driver/guide (Smolley) indeed! Below was a banana tree grove. We had a stop and I bought some banana ketchup which was absolutely delicious. I can't stop using it at home now and wished I'd bought more!
We were off to the mud baths (
Sulphur Springs). I didn't feel like getting in them due to the hoards of people, the sulfur smell and then having to clean it all off, so I just watched everyone else. I might have went in if it was guaranteed to heal my fat ankles though, haha.
One of the guides or staff was trying to convince me to go in to no avail. I told him I didn't want the smell lingering on me. He then told me this was a great place to fart 😏!
We arrived in Soufriere and then were off to our speed boat ride. It was pouring out now! We were headed to Sugar Beach for our snorkeling portion of the tour. Ms. Ohio is always cold so this wasn't a great part of the day for her. The rain whipped at us while were in the boat.
We stopped to view a "bat cave".
The snorkeling was fantastic here! There were fish everywhere we swam. Water shoes were an absolute necessity as it was extremely rocky upon entry. We got an hour and it was amazing. They also brought out the rum punch/beer, etc. Ms. Ohio took this picture below, I'm not sure if it's when she put her iPhone in her mouth to hold it as she was in the water then accidentally bit down on it, but a blue streak immediately happened and her screen started to die...
Below was me posing with a Piton Beer in front of the Piton, of course...the picture confirmed I indeed looked like the Crypt Keeper today...
Our guide Smolley flirted with me though so that made me feel a bit better; it's always fun to flirt. He held my hand, told me I was beautiful and batted his cute eyes at me. We packed up and it was time to go to our next stop which was
lunch:
I missed out on most of the carbs but everyone RAVED about the mashed taters! Lunch was very good, no complaints. Everything was included in the tour price so that was nice as well.
After lunch we were off to our final stop:
Personally I've seen better waterfalls before but this one was appealing too. And then we embarked for the long ride home and we both nodded off with our bobbling heads... Traffic was crazy but we got back on time. Ms. Ohio's phone turned into a black screen (unusable) and I had to wait forever to buy my son a shirt in the shops. She lives on her phone so I knew that was rough on her and she was DONE with the day at this moment. Back on the ship I took a picture of the Tapion area in St. Lucia and said good-bye.
We had dinner in the Commodore Club which is the sister restaurant to Hudsons on Decks 6 & 7. We both ordered off Cagney's menu and got lobster tails for $25 and I remember they were delicious. You can't beat the price for them. I have no pictures of anything else that evening.
Saturday, March 1, 2025 (St. Kitts):
Our last day! We had a day pass booked at
St. Kitts Marriott Resort & The Royal Beach Casino. This was our most expensive pass as it was $59 USD per person. We could use the beach or the pools and there was a 10% discount off food/drink...
We got a taxi and that was $10 per person pre-tip. We booked "Uncle Barry" for our return trip and he assured us he'd be there at 2:30 sharp. Ms. Ohio wanted to come back early so she could start packing. She said 2 pm but compromised with me at 2:30 as I wanted to stay till 3. St. Kitts felt upscale compared to the other islands, more like a city.
The resort was sprawling, luxurious and on a beautiful setting. The ocean was quite rough here and I didn't go in at all today because of the seaweed. Ms. Ohio had a couple dips though as she doesn't mind wading through it, I can't stand it.
We grabbed a cabana and enjoyed the salt air and breezes. It was relaxing. The smell of salt air and a nice breeze is a little piece of heaven as far as I'm concerned.
A masseuse from the resort talked Ms. Ohio into having one for $50 USD so off she went. She had mentioned that she needed one and her hip was bothering her so I was glad it came to fruition for her. I put my tunes on, opened my wine and enjoyed the scenery. Ms. Ohio came back an hour later then went to the bar to get a drink. She was gone for a long while. She came back and said she had been chatting and had found her ideal 10/10 man (I didn't find mine). We had tasked each other with finding one. About lunch time I agreed to go see him and get a snack. I ordered some conch fritters which were fantastic.
I finally got to look at her 10/10 when I asked him to pick a local beer for me. And then I saw what she was talking about! In this picture what you won't see was his blue/grey eyes that were quite mesmerizing. He was 6'4" and 52 years old - she had picked well and age appropriate for her too. His name was Rudel ♨️!
Oh and he picked this beer for me, lol:
I went and packed our stuff up so Ms. Ohio could sit there and drool and then we finished the afternoon chatting with him. She wasn't too happy she chose to go early now, was she??? 🤣 We talked about coming back in January doing a week in St. John's Antigua and a week in St. Kitts... Then it was time to go.
Uncle Barry was waiting for us just like he said he would be. He dropped us off in town so we could do a little shopping before we went back to the ship. All the merch I looked at here was much cheaper than the other ports and much higher quality too. I got the final gifts/magnet etc. I needed and then we were going to go. But I saw a "Jerk Chicken" shop so said I had to stop as it's one of my favorite Caribbean treats.
While the wings were good, they weren't the jerk wings I was looking for - grilled with real jerk seasoning, these were just deep fried with bottled jerk sauce on them. 😞 Expensive too, I think $16 USD. But the wings on every NCL ship are disgusting; to me they are inedible so it was nice to have a couple...
We packed, showered, etc. and got ready for our final dinner at Onda again. We were seated on the outside deck which was captivating.
MARKET SALAD
shaved seasonal vegetables,
truffle pecorino, champagne vinaigrette
FRITTO MISTO
calamari, shrimp, fish croquette,
zucchini, potato, remoulade
MARGHERITA
mozzarella, san marzano tomato, basil
VEAL MILANESE
herb bread crumbs, arugula,
tomato, red onion
I have to say that the Fritto Misto at Scarpetta was 100 times better than here, but that's a minor complaint. Ms. Ohio said her hip was really sore and was going to retire to the room so I carried on, on my own. I went to the casino first and lost another hundred. Then I closed out the night at the Observation Lounge and then a lady and I from North Carolina went to the Local for a final drink. I was back at the room by 3 am again - sigh...
The other staff from the Lounge were Jalapeno "Cloyd, pronounced Cloud" and the other bartender who worked his butt off named Froilan. He was the only one who didn't have a nickname.
Sunday, March 2, 2025 (St. Kitts):
We were off the boat by 8:30 am. Of course I felt like shit again. We shared a cab to the airport for $15 each pre-tip. We said our good-byes as I was let out first. If she had a working phone we could have met up and sat together as I spent 3 hours before being able to even check in. It was hard to find seating and when I did, I just nodded off/on until we could get in line. I finally found a bar once I made it past security and I had a wine or three and 4 gyoza while waiting to board and it was an hour late...
In Toronto it was also running late by an hour. Anyway, I didn't get home until exactly 24 hours later. I sat beside a coughing, runny nose, sniffling every second young adult on the last flight so put a mask on as I always gets sick on flights it seems. I was lucky and didn't catch it...
Final Thoughts: The trip was pretty good. I enjoyed all the islands except Aruba. I overdid food and drinking to ridiculous excess and that never makes me happy. I think for sharing a room with someone I don't know that well it went better than expected, for me at least. I expected much worse to be honest as I know I can be a LOT. The room was the biggest "inside" room I've seen on a cruise before so that helped us, I think. We communicated well and were able to resolve any issues which were only minor (at least in my mind, she may have a different view, haha). We laughed lots and that was great. And we talked a lot and got to know each other much better and I genuinely liked/trusted her. 💜
The ship was beautiful though confusing trying to get around. I did like it the most of all the NCL ones I've been on so far though. I have nothing bad to say about it and service was spectacular throughout the whole ship. Amazing job by all.
I can't lie, what is going on with the US/Canada put a damper on this trip both before I left, during and now after...knowing my country is looking at economic ruin is not easy, at least for me 😟 and this hurts coming from a country I've always loved and thought was an ally forever. My son and I are supposed to go to Japan next on Celebrity cruises but will probably cancel because of what's going on... We get a full refund on deposit till final payment is due so we have some time to think about it.
I'm not sure how to close this with my political thoughts right now as I have too MANY. So, I think I won't and I'll just leave this one minute and 43 second
youtube video 🍁. Oh, and maybe this too...
