Introduction

 

It seems so long ago that we were invited to join our friends from BC and England on a cruise to the Southern Caribbean to celebrate a milestone birthday. Because I’ve been told that a gentleman does not reveal a ladies age, I’ll just say that Oliva is younger in spirit than most millennials.

The departure date has just about arrived and on Friday we leave for a ten-day trip of fun and relaxation. We leave from Fort Lauderdale and visit the following ports;

Philipsburg, St. Maarten

Castries, St. Lucia

St. George's, Grenada

Bridgetown, Barbados

St. Johns, Antigua

We are travelling on Celebrity Cruise lines again. As noted in earlier blogs, it is our favourite cruise line. It will be our first time on a one of their newest  “edge class” ships and our ship is named "The Beyond." It could accommodate the entire village of Port Stanley. We seen some of promotional videos and it looks amazing. 

On Tuesday we travelled to Toronto because our flight to Fort Lauderdale was early in the next morning. We stayed in a budget hotel called Tru by Hilton. It was clean and comfortable. The staff was very polite and efficient. Unfortunately, the hotel was right on the end of a major runway at Pearson Airport. I didn’t realize how many planes take off even late into the night. If you’re looking for a quiet hotel, this wouldn’t be the place.

Our flight to Fort Lauderdale was uneventful. I checked, before we left for Toronto, and their website said there were entertainment consoles with each seat. Unfortunately, they lied. Thank goodness I had loaded several movies on the laptop, so Marg had something to watch during the three-hour flight. I was able to make a sizeable dent in a book that I’ve been meaning to read for several months. 

We are staying at a Holiday Inn, near the airport.  Our shuttlebus driver was fabulous. We really enjoyed his conservation, which was both humorous and educational. His heritage was Haitian, but he had been raised in the USA.  His uncle lived in Quebec and as a boy his uncle would send French language books. He said as a boy he didn’t find time to acquire a second language, but now he did speak some Creole.  

The hotel itself is good.  The room is big, quiet and clean.  The outdoor pool and hot tube are beautiful. I can see that we’ll be spending a lot of time there tomorrow.