CARIBBEAN

CARIBBEAN CRUISE MSC Seaview – Mar 6-21, 2022
MSC has been the only cruise line in the Caribbean to offer a cruise that sees all eight islands in the Lesser Antilles along with the European territories of British Virgin Islands, Sint Marten/Saint Maartin, Guadeloupe, and Martinique. However, in October, the stops at Trinidad/Tobago, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Guadeloupe, and Martinique were dropped because of Covid.
Boats. There are very limited boats between the islands. Ferries exist from BVI to St Thomas in the US VI, Sint Maarten/Saint Marten to Anguilla and St Barts (and from there to Saba and St Eustius).
Flying between islands. Flying is possible but expensive and accommodation necessary making for a much more expensive trip. One could obviously spend more than the 12 hours allotted with ship’s timing. Flights to St Vincent only come from Trinidad and Tobago.

The Seaview is the newest of the MSC line, opulently fitted out and 20 stories. Capacity was over 4000 but there were not more than 1200 at any time during our two weeks. There was about the same number of staff. I personally got tired of all the “good morning sir” greetings.
It was possible to board at any port and people were joining daily.
I booked this trip in the spring of 2022 for two guests with an interior room. Cost US$ 3,440 (plus a 10% gratuity charge). I was unable to find a cabin mate, could not get a refund, and finally offered the trip to my friend, Leon Arishenkoff.
Tours. I spent as little money on board as possible – no internet package (each device was charged for and quite expensive, but internet speed was reasonably fast), no alcohol package, and no tours (bubbled tours necessary on Barbados and Dominica). The ship tours were very expensive in the 70-100 € range. None lasted more than 3.5 hours, went to few sites, and always involved shopping. The short duration is because most cruisers want to get back for lunch.
An option to a bubbled shore cruise offered by MSC was to get a taxi and see the islands that way. This was enforced on Dominica but not Barbados – it was possible to leave the cruise terminal with no checking, hire a car or rent a cheaper taxi outside the cruise terminal and see things independently. By finding other travelers, a share taxi or rental car can be a very cheap alternative. Many of the rental car agencies had significantly reduced their fleets because of Covid and rental cars were in demand on some islands. We were unable to book one on St Lucia so had to use a taxi.
Most islands had share taxis and they are a very cheap way to get around ($
Food. I thought the food was very good. Breakfast and lunch were at a buffet with an endless choice. Dinner was at the same restaurant (we had the 18:30 seating). There was a choice of 3-5 starters, 5 main courses, and 5 desserts. Without a drink package, all but still water and coffee with dessert were charged for. However, most of the fish had a fishy taste and wasn’t great. On talking to two English women I befriended, they had been on several cruises and thought the food only mediocre (they also weren’t impressed with the fish and seafood).
Alcohol. There were endless bars but the drinks (someone with a drink package supplied me for two nights) didn’t have much alcohol in them – I am quite sensitive to alcohol and feel one drink but didn’t feel the alcohol at all.
Things to do. There was a water park (slides were so gently inclined to be useless), table tennis, and a pool table. Bowling, a car simulator, and a virtual sports theatre were charged for and were very expensive (and rarely used by anyone). There were at least four pools. When the sun shone, all the deck chairs were occupied and many guests had bad sunburns.
Entertainment. There were nightly shows in the theatre (repeated the next night) and we saw all of them. I was quite impressed as the costumes and dancing were very good. Included in every show were contortionists, strong man acts, and a lot of singing.
One lounge had a band with dancing but few danced and the singer was not great. A multistory stage had an individual entertainer.

Mar 5 – Flew Comox to Philipsburg, I had entered Sint Maarten with a positive Covid PCR (Feb 11, 2022, in Brazil) and made the erroneous assumption that this would be sufficient for the cruise. I had not read that a 48-hour PCR (antigen test insufficient) was necessary to board the ship.  I was refused boarding and ended up staying in Philipsburg for two nights (Caribbean Hotel, Front Street US$ 50 per night). Leon was able to board so was able to experience the entire cruise.
There were no flights to Barbados and flew on March 8 to Dominica, rented a car, and saw the island extensively on Mar 9 as I had avoided the bubble there. I got a PCR on the 7th to enter Dominica and had to get another on the 8th to satisfy the 48-hour rule of MSC that was enforced. There were no issues boarding in Dominica, even though the bubble rule was actively enforced there.

The Cruise Experience. This was my first cruise and am unlikely to repeat again for some time. Most passengers sunbathed by the several pools and drank a lot of booze. As I do neither and don’t need to be looked after on a regular basis, a cruise offers little for me, other than being able to see several places on one trip.

AFTER THE CRUISE
On Mar 20, I disembarked at 7 am and took a share bus to Marigot, Saint Marten to go to Anguilla. The ferry returned at 11:45 and I had planned on taking a ferry to St. Barts at 4 pm. I had done no research on staying on St Barts. It is a “luxury” island and the cheapest hotel was well over $1,000 per night, Air BnBs $300, and no hostels. Also, there were no flights to Guadeloupe. I had wanted to ferry around to Saba and St Eustasius from St Barts but again there was no accommodation. There were also no flights to St Vincent and none to the Dutch ABC islands. Getting around the Caribbean is difficult.
I returned to the Caribbean Hotel in Philipsburg and stayed a night, took the ferry to St Barts for the day, and flew to Guadaloupe on March 21. This was disappointing as I had hoped to get as many Nomad Mania regions as I could during a few weeks in the Caribbean at the end of the cruise.
My plan to see the Caribbean eventually involved Guadaloupe, Dominica, and then on the Greater Antilles as there were reasonable flights to the Dominican Republic – Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, Bahamas, fly to Ft Lauderdale or Miami and then to St Vincent (via Trinidad and Tobago).
I then planned to return to Brazil to finish as many regions as possible, Paraguay and the Salto area of northern Argentina to finish South America and then El Salvador to finish the Western Hemisphere for countries.