Carnival Splendor Journeys Review: Day 5 – Antiguafeatured
The last time I was in Antigua, I was a senior in college.
I remember more about our visit to Antigua than I do most of the details of my last two semesters. We were sailing through Tropical Storm Barry, so the seas were a little choppy. The weather in Antigua was cloudy until we got to the beach. I remember our tour guide telling us that Antigua had 365 beaches, one for every day of the year. We made a visit to some of the main sites, we spent a few hours at Nelson’s Dockyard and we spent the remainder of the afternoon at Turner Beach.
And ten years later, I still had 364 of Antigua’s beaches to go. Goals. They’re important to have (or so my professional mentors tell me).
Antigua wasn’t on our original itinerary – a late substitute for St. Maarten, which was hit hard by Hurricane Irma – but a change we welcomed. Visiting Antigua after ten years may as well have been a visit to a new island.
We pulled into port early in the morning, alongside the lush green hillsides, right through the picturesque turquoise waters. None of it looked familiar, but all of it was stunning nonetheless.
Mom and Stephanie wanted to have breakfast in the main dining room and I rushed to get ready so we could grab a table before they shut down for the morning, thinking we only had 30 minutes. And as we were waiting for the elevator, we noticed the clock in the lobby was an hour behind our clocks.
Apparently, our phones shifted back an hour overnight while the ship’s time stayed the same, and we were up an hour earlier than we needed to be. This wasn’t in the Fun Times (that I saw) or on the app, but needless to say, we had very attentive breakfast service in a very empty dining room because everyone else on the ship was still sleeping.
Breakfast was really fantastic and everything we’d tried off the new menus had been delicious. We all split an order of the pancakes to try them and they were really wonderful, with a salty sweet caramel sauce and soft whipped ricotta.
Our excursion wasn’t departing until 1:00 PM, so we relaxed back in the room with a Sex and the City marathon on TBS. Because most of our fellow cruisers were off the ship, we took advantage of the empty laundry rooms and threw in a couple of loads so we’d have some fresh clothes for the second half of our cruise. It felt like we’d been on this cruise forever, and we had just hit the halfway point.
Mom wasn’t feeling well – a combination of the motion from the night before and the heat – so she stayed back on the ship to try to sleep her migraine off while Stephanie and I went out into port to do some shopping before our excursion.
When we were in Antigua ten years ago, we never did any shopping in the port because we were booked on a full day tour, so exploring the shopping was new for us. And there are plenty stores, ranging from souvenir markets to high end jewelry (and a Burger King if the grill up on Lido deck doesn’t do it for you). But to get to those shops, you’ll have to navigate through dozens of people peddling tours, taxi rides and hair braiding. This was some of the most aggressive behavior I’ve experienced in any port – some of these people would literally follow us down the street, and don’t even ask me how many people yelled after us “Hey! Are you sisters?” and then followed after us trying to sell us their services.
Given how aggressive the locals already were, we skipped the souvenir markets and just went into a couple of shops, buying some local rums and knick knacks. We had budgeted an extra hour for shopping that we weren’t going to use now, so we went back to drop our shopping backs off back at the ship and apply an extra layer of sunscreen before heading back out to meet our tour at the dock.
Stephanie and I agreed that we wanted to do a catamaran tour in Antigua because, one, we love catamarans and two, the crystal clear waters of Antigua are ripe for snorkeling (not that I snorkel, but Stephanie does and traveling with your fam is all about the compromises…or so my family tells me). There were a ton of options and we ultimately settled for the most basic one – the Catamaran Sail and Snorkel, departing at 1:00 PM. Three hours with a snorkel stop, a beach stop and refreshments. The other tours sounded really nice and included lunch or a stop at Nelson’s Dockyard, but we just wanted to be on a boat, so this one fit the bill.
Wadadli Cats was the tour operator, running no less than three catamarans from the pier, and though a basic option, we had SO much fun. There had been spotty sun showers all day, so it wasn’t much of a surprise when it started raining as we walked from the pier to the catamaran. It was clearly going to pass over quickly, but everyone headed to the inside of the catamaran when they boarded. Not these girls, though – we headed straight for the prime real estate at the front of the catamaran. And just as we pulled away from the pier, the liquid sunshine stopped falling and made way for clear skies over pristine waters.
We had a 30ish minute ride to the snorkeling spot, with some choppy seas on the way. We were going so fast, it felt like we were flying and I was absolutely giddy – I love love love being on the water. As we pulled up to the spot, they held a safety briefing for everyone who wanted to snorkel and handed out equipment. The crew was fantastic – attentive and supportive, which was important because of the wide range of abilities and swimming levels amongst the 30 or so people on the tour. The first people off the catamaran were those who were going to snorkel a little further out with a guide. The next wave were people who felt comfortable snorkeling on their own and the last wave were people who needed a little more help and would be under the supervision of one of the crew members, where they’d learn to snorkel by holding on to the ropes hanging off the front of the catamaran. One of the crew members perched himself at the front of the vessel with a bag of bread chunks, throwing them into the water to bring pools of fish closer to the snorkelers. Stephanie went in the water, keeping close to the catamaran because the current as strong, and I sat out on the wide nets, working on my tan and pondering if the water was more cerulean or more turquoise.
After 45 minutes or so, the crew called an all aboard and we started the next part of our tour, a ride to the beach. On the way, we passed the multi-million dollar hillside homes (including the home of Giorgio Armani!) and the crew came around with tuna sandwiches, announcing that the bar was now open. They offered a variety of soft drinks, as well as some killer rum punch.
We pulled right up to Deep Bay, where there was a public beach with no facilities and no people. It was almost like we pulled up to a deserted island with an untouched, white sand beach. I was enjoying my rum punch a little too much, so I just stayed on the boat, but Stephanie got off to walk the beach and look for sea shells.
The ride back to the ship was much shorter from the beach and I wish we had another few hours to just sail around the island. I couldn’t think of a better way to spend our day. We pulled back to the pier a few minutes early, a blessing for us because the Diamond and Platinum Party was also held this evening, and we had less than an hour to wash up and get ready. When we got back to the room, Mom was up and about, feeling better than she had when we left her…and she was waiting with room service for us. A gem, my mother is. We hadn’t eaten since breakfast and it was nearing the early evening, and after an afternoon of sailing and rum punch, nothing sounded better than a peanut butter and jelly sandwich washed down with some chocolate milk.
We had just enough time to eat our room service, get ready and watch the P&O ship we were docked with set out to sea ahead of us before we headed downstairs to the party, almost exactly on time. I’m sure this is an incredibly unpopular opinion, but these parties are far more tolerable now that they’re just Diamond and Platinum guests. When the party was opened up to all past cruisers, every seat was packed and it was near impossible to get a drink. There weren’t a ton of people at the party – under 100 is my best guess – and there were bar servers with trays of cocktails and wine standing at every row, servers with trays of sushi, shrimp tarts, rice and bean cakes and pork sliders making the rounds and at the front, there was a table with lemonade (and vodka, if you wanted) and a variety of beers that you could grab on your way in or as you were leaving to go. We quickly found seats and a server to grab us some Diet Cokes for Mom and Stephanie and a Miami Vice for me (which probably has more carbs in one drink than I’ll usually consume in an entire week at home, but you know, #vacation). MarQ took the stage to hand out awards and introduce the senior officers, and then rolled that video where you get to clap for all the ships you’ve been on. I’m being 100% serious when I say that in a party with free-flowing drinks, this video is still my favorite part.
After the party, we headed off to dinner, where we were seated with a new dining team that weren’t as funny or charming as Alex, but were certainly efficient and friendly. We all ordered the Beef Wellington, which was served in obscurely small slices, but was delicious nonetheless.
Bread Basket
Grilled Beef Skewers
Asparagus Cream Soup
Flatbread
Iced Bing Cherry Soup
Beef Wellington
Vanilla and Chocolate Tres Leche
Red Velvet Cake
We walked off our dinner a bit, lingering on the promenade on deck 5, where there was some primo air conditioning and a live reggae band playing my favorite Bob Marley songs. A day in the sun was taking its toll, but the cool air near the casino was the best antidote.
There were no production shows this evening – the entertainment was the Hasbro Game Show and the Love and Marriage Show. We skipped both and took a siesta in the room before the 9:30 PM showing of Wonder Woman.
We barely made it through Wonder Woman before crawling back to our beds. We’d dock in St. Kitts early in the morning and we had a full day exploring Nevis on the agenda.
