by Jim Bellomo | Feb 1, 2022 | Photography
See—I love those alliterations. Can’t resist them in headlines. Never have been able to ?.
Let’s talk Aruba. We have been here before…a very long time ago (2004) on our first Panama Canal cruise. It was the stop the day before we went through the canal. I totally get that things are going to change in 18 years but I guess I wasn’t expecting it to go this far south (pun not intended).
When we were here in 2004, we had heard it was really easy to get off the ship and immediately rent a four-wheel-drive vehicle and drive all the way around the island so that is what we did. It was (to that point and until this cruise) our favorite Caribbean experience. We had a lot of fun, saw a lot of stuff and generally enjoyed ourselves. The island reminded me of what we found in Curacao on this trip, not overly developed, not overly touristy.
Well that changed. If you saw my post two days ago about the commercialism in cruise ports you know what I am talking about. I have friends who follow this blog and know that I have never been a big fan of the Caribbean in general. Now they are reading the last few posts and I am being asked if I now have either softened my stance on the Caribbean or changed it all together. I think I figured it out last night when I started writing the post. It’s not that I have changed my mind about the Caribbean, it’s that I have seen a different Caribbean on this cruise than we have seen before.
I figured this out when I was explaining to my brother and sister-in-law about the Caribbean islands we had seen as opposed to the ones we had seen before. In our past experiences down here we have stopped in…
- St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands
- St. Maarten
- Labadee, Haiti
- Casa del Campo, Dominican Republic
- Cozumel, Mexico
- Costa Maya, Mexico
- Puerto Rico, USA
- St. Kitts & Nevis
- Grand Cayman
- Nassau, Bahamas
If you know the Caribbean and you see this list you realize that these are all the commercialized ports that ships sail to. These and the cruise line’s private islands are about it. On this trip we stopped in one of those places—Puerta Plata in the Dominican Republic. When we were touring there it reminded me of all the things I really don’t like about the Caribbean. Tours of rum distilleries, tobacco/cigar factories, chocolate stores…anyplace they could sell us something.
In the new Caribbean I found on this trip they took us to Grand Turk, Bonaire and to some extent Curacao. Places where it is probably much like the Caribbean used to be. No chain stores, beautiful beaches, tours that featured the natural beauty of that island. Sadly, those places are few and far between. But they reminded me of being in Galapagos. The guides in both places were proud of being from those places and they wanted to preserve the things that were important to life on their island.
Which brings us back to Aruba. Since we were here in 2004 I have always said that of all the islands in the Caribbean we had visited, I liked Aruba the best. And now I know why. Back when we visited it was like Bonaire. Oranjestad was a sleepy little town. It’s not anymore. Check out my photos below to see what I mean. There is a pink building that you can see in the center of my Oranjestad photos. When we were here in 2004, you could walk to that building from the port and not really pass any other buildings. And right outside the ship you could rent that Jeep to drive around the island. There were at least six places at the pier you could rent a car. Not so anymore. When I went walking in town, I asked where you could rent a car and was told that Enterprise was about three blocks away. That’s sad.
So what did Kathleen and I do in Aruba? Pretty much nothing. Kathleen stayed aboard and I took about a 45 minute walk to shoot some pics, get some postcards (yes, we still send those) and a magnet (yes, we collect those for the door of our garage freezer), ran into our buddy Seth and that was about it. Came back to the ship and had lunch with him. So the pics below are either from that short walk (not much to take pictures of) and stuff I shot from the ship. Please note the ENORMOUS hotel in the distance. Not here when we were here before but we are told it is incredibly expensive and they are building more.
I do want to add that my brother Steve and and his bride Jamie took an overall bus tour of the island and loved it. They saw a lot of the stuff we saw on our Jeep ride in 2004 and told us they had a great guide who truly loved his island. So maybe some of that spirit is still out there. All I know is that it kind of made me sick to walk through what downtown Oranjestad had become because now it looks a lot like the other ten places we had been before. I hope Bonaire and Grand Turk don’t succumb to this but I don’t have high hopes for Curacao.
Here’s the pics, such as they are. Don’t forget, if you click the first shot, you can then scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping…and PLEASE…don’t look at my photography on a phone. Please…
You know the ship photographers who take your pic when you get off? I told him to “DRAW!” He won but we ended up talking cameras for 15 minutes, so that was fun.
Parked right in front of us was Celebrity’s Silhouette. We had one of our best cruises on that ship to the British Isles.
Is this a good job to have or not?
Parked kind of behind us was the Freewinds, one of two very OLD cruise ships in use by the Church of Scientology. Didn’t see Tom Cruise but we did see them running all over the place doing drills.
To get to this sign, I had to walk through three blocks of the most putrid sewage smell ever.
This is the pink building I was talking about in the text.
I kind of liked this church.
Here is the big hotel that I mentioned. Reminds me of Nassau.
A panoramic shot of the island.
And the sunset was beautiful.
That’s it for our ports of call. The last two days of the cruise are sea days as we make our way back to Fort Lauderdale. Yesterday was a lot of fun as we spent much of the day doing Sail with Seth stuff including a group photo, a cooking demo and a mixology class. Took up most of the afternoon.
My plan is to do three more posts about this cruise. One on the food, one on the ship and finally an overall review. Watch for those in the next couple of days. I will do them today (our last day onboard ?) and tomorrow on the flight home and then post when we are home.
I sometimes detect that a type of regional divide is setting in, and there is a lack of real Caribbean connection among the islands, and I am concerned about this. —Anthony Carmona
by Jim Bellomo | Jan 31, 2022 | Photography
Usually my headlines are written just for the alliteration but this one really is true. We thought things were pretty colorful the day before in Bonaire, but Curacao really takes the colorful cake. It appears that this town loves color. We took a short tour on the town’s trolley and our guide told us the real reason that Curacao’s capital Willemstad has so many colorful buildings is that about 100 years ago, the governor of the island decreed that houses could no longer be white. That they had to be painted one of a set number of colors. After he left office it was found that not only was he the governor but he was also part owner of the only paint supplier on the island ?.
But it has served Curacao well as you will see from my photos. It’s a photographer’s paradise. Besides all the colorful buildings my photos benefited from one of the bluest skies I have ever seen.
But before I show you the photos I want to tell you what we did to tour. First, when the ship arrived there was quite a bit of discussion between the ship and the port. It went on for a while. So long that many people were waiting for the Captain to announce we were going to have to skip the port. But finally, almost an hour later, the port allowed us to disembark. There was one big change though. We were originally scheduled not to leave the port until 11;00 pm but because Willemstad had a 9:00 pm curfew for everyone in the town they moved up our all-aboard time to match up with the curfew and let us off.
Our included (in our Have It All promotion) shore excursion for this port was the aforementioned Old Town Trolley Tour. We were actually picked up by taxis (vans) and driven across the Queen Juliana Bridge to meet up with the trolley and our guide in downtown. Our tour was in a three car trolley pulled by a gas-powered engine that looked like a train engine (bell included). We saw lots of colorful architecture on our about 90 minute tour which started and ended at the old town fort. Our guide was good, the driver a great guy but I can’t recommend this tour. The fumes from the engine were horrible. By about halfway through we were either nauseous or getting there or we had a horrible headache. This trolley engine needs a tune up or a replacement before anyone should try and take that tour again. But it was interesting (when you could breathe). What we saw is in the photo captions. Funny but it was one of the few times we were thrilled to be wearing masks. Can’t imagine how bad it would have been without them.
After we were done they gave us the option of either walking back to the ship or taking the taxi back. Kathleen had a bad headache from the fumes so she headed back. I wanted to take more pics of downtown so I elected to stay and walk back across the fabulous floating bridge.
So here’s the pics that explain everything else. Remember, if you click the first shot, you can then scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping…and PLEASE…don’t look at my photography on a phone. Please…
Sunrise!
Took this as we crossed the Queen Juliana bridge
This one of downtown as well.
Also taken from the cab on the way downtown
A walking drawbridge
This used to be a floating market but now it is held on land.
Another view of that drawbridge
I love what this says. A great piece of street art.
Some houses are in total disrepair
But most are gorgeous…
…and in glorious color
With all kinds of decoration
Statues galore
And color everyplace
We were told many of the founders of the city were Sephardic Jews
This house is very famous as a restoration.
More statues
We stopped at the Catholic cathedral. Nothing like Europe.
From the outside is is beautiful
When we got downtown, Nieuw Statendam is peeking out
The swinging/floating bridge opens to let a Coast Guard vessel out
The inside of the old fort. See the dot between the two vertical strips on the left. Cannonball from Captain Bly’s ship.
Downtown Willemstad
More downtown Willemstad
Loved this sunflower mural.
Loved this statue
It seems like every tourist town has not copied the IAmsterdam sign
More downtown Willemstad
More downtown Willemstad
This seemed to be the trademark of the old town. They were everywhere.
Love this sign
Saw a band playing Caribbean music. Tipped them well and then shot their photos.
The guitar player was the most animated
See what I mean
Now I am cross the floating/swinging bridge
Looking from one bridge at another that we had driven over on the way to the trolley.
Looking back at downtown.
This is the signature view of More downtown Willemstad
And here’s a panoramic shot from the middle of the floating bridge.
That was about it for downtown Willemstad. From the bridge it was about a ten minute walk back to the ship, back aboard and after a nice evening (more about entertainment and food coming soon) we went to bed and woke up sailing into Oranjestad, Aruba. More about that tomorrow.
What makes things memorable is that they are meaningful, significant, colorful. —Joshua Foer
by Jim Bellomo | Jan 29, 2022 | Photography
Yesterday (Friday January 28th) we were in beautiful Bonaire. One of the three ABC islands, the island is predominately known for its diving—both scuba and snorkeling. I could go on and on about their politics, their industry and the rest of it but if you really want to know—click here—for a link to the Wikipedia page for Bonaire.
What I will tell you about is the two (yes 2) excursions we took and how impressed I am with the island. First let me say that we are NOT divers of any kind. We leave that to our friends Mike and Cathy. They do the snorkel thing and the scuba thing. They live in Florida so they have warm water. We live in Washington where if you go in the water, you freeze to death in less time than you can say, “GET ME THE HELL OUT OF HERE!”
So we started off the morning with a ship’s excursion called “The Best of Bonaire.” There were three groups of about 12 people in three different vans. We had settled into one of the vans when the head of shore excursions asked for volunteers to move to another van because they had miscalculated the numbers on ours. We were in the front so we said we would switch. Best decision of the day. I have nothing against the guide and driver on the original van but the new van had a guide that made our day—Gladys. Now we really doubt Gladys is her real name because she acted like it was a joke all day long but if you are in Bonaire doing this tour, get Gladys. The woman is a HOOT! Not to mention an excellent guide and you could tell how much she loves her adopted island—Bonaire. She is originally from Wisconsin but has been on Bonaire off and on since 1963 so she knows her stuff. Her driver was a guy she called Cheech because of his past life as a cop confiscating marijuana and being in charge of burning it after the perpetrators were caught.
These two took us all over the island and while Gladys regaled us with stories, history, geography, science, nature and local customs, Cheech kept a VERY sharp eye out for the best flora and fauna he could find. And find it he did, time and time again. Check out my pics to see what I mean. He found parrots, parrot fish (he was good at parrot stuff ?), lizards and all kinds of other stuff. Then he would slow down or stop so that us photographers could get the pics we were after. (BTW: I am so sorry I did not get a photo of Gladys or Cheech—my bad.)
We were out touring with Gladys and Cheech for 3.5 hours and other than my knees giving me problems from sitting for so long we had a great time and saw a bunch of great stuff as you will see in the photos. Don’t forget, if you click the first shot, you can then scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping…and PLEASE…don’t look at my photography on a phone. Please…
Caribbean sunrises can be awesome.
Some of them just keep getting better.
So many of the islands in the Caribbean were big producers of salt. Bonaire still exports a bunch of it.
They also bill themselves as a “Diver’s Paradise” on their license plates.
Their beaches are predominately coral. Lots and lots of coral.
These are former slave quarters. Drove me nuts that people kept taking selfies with them. Kind of like taking selfies in a concentration camp.
Back to the salt
The pink in the foreground is a salt pond before the water is removed. The mountains in the back are salt.
Cheech was driving around 20 mph when he spotted this six inch lizard.
Driving along the coast we saw this perfectly framed boat.
This rock formation is called Satan’s Eyes. Can you see them?
This iguana is REALLY spiky unlike the ones we encountered in the Galapagos.
The blue you see in the upper right of this photo is a parrot fish. Another amazing spotting by Cheech.
The same for this wild parrot.
After we left the coastal area we found this lake, Bonaire’s largest.
It deserved a couple of panoramic shots.
Our last stop was Bonaire’s National Park where I also did a panoramic shot to catch the windmills that provide much of Bonaire’s power.
Our second excursion a little later in the day was a short but very nice trip on a glass-bottom boat. Having never been on a glass-bottom boat before I thought maybe I could get some great underwater photos without going underwater. And our guide and skipper Kim took us out to the coral reef around a large island called Little Bonaire that is just off the main port. While we were able to see some very pretty fish, the only photo I could even slightly make work is the one of the turtle you see below. The other pics are from the boat ride but just not the underwater parts.
A “pirate ship” excursion boat coming back as we were going out.
Kim, the captain of our glass-bottom boat.
Looking back at Nieuw Statendam
The reef from up above.
Lots of great things to see but none that I could get a decent photo of. Like this turtle that is just way too murky.
We were passed by many other boats going back and forth to the harbor.
After the boat ride I headed into downtown Kralendijk.
Since the ship did not leave port until 11:00 pm I got one night shot.
To sum all this up, I would say the one thing that most impressed me about Bonaire is that they have not succumbed to the usual cruise-type shops. No Diamonds International, etc. Also, both guides we had were so in love with their island and the things their government (which is funded and supervised by Amsterdam—Bonaire being a Dutch protectorate) is doing for their people, their environment and the flora and fauna of the island. It I also impressive that 70% of the island’s power (even powering their desalinization plants) is from wind. And they hope to be 100% renewable within 5 years. Not only that but everyone there has health care, an education, a guaranteed retirement…all things that every human should have a right to.
I sometimes detect that a type of regional divide is setting in, and there is a lack of real Caribbean connection among the islands, and I am concerned about this. —Anthony Carmona
by Jim Bellomo | Jan 27, 2022 | Photography
After missing our first port (which should have been HAL’s private island, Half Moon Cay) due to weather conditions and not COVID, our first stop became Grand Turk Island. Grand Turk is the Turk part of Turks and Caicos. This was our first time on this island so we had no clue what we were in for.
On past cruises we hardly ever do ship’s shore excursions but using HAL’s Have It All program, we not only received a drinks package, two nights in specialty restaurants and complimentary Wifi but we were able to sign up for some HAL shore excursions for free. With that said, we chose “Charming Grand Turk by Open Air Tram.” This was just one of those overview tours where we would see the island and hear from a guide who would tell us a little about the island, their country and its history.
Sometimes things go wrong on a cruise and you just hope it’s not a big deal. This turned out to be one of those times. We had arrived at the correct time for the afternoon tram ride and after they signed us in they told us that the morning tram group had not come back yet and we would have to wait 15 minutes. No biggie. But the 15 minutes turned into 30 and then almost an hour. The shore excursion team offered us a full refund or we could wait another 15 minutes. In fact the tram never showed up (they might still be there ?). Some people chose to take refunds and headed back to the ship. We had decided to wait the full hour and then take the refund.
But when an open air bus (not our tram) came in after their second tour, the HAL shore excursion people asked the guide if he would take us. We were totally impressed with their efforts and he agreed to tour us around. We were thrilled because he had a higher and larger open air bus than the tram would have been, which made it much easier for me to get the photos I ended up with (that I am thrilled about). The shore excursion manager did her job that day, totally coming through for us. Not only that, when we got back to the ship and checked our accounts we found that she had reimbursed us for the entire tour because it was late and we handled it so well. Going above and beyond—HAL’s service is blowing us away.
Once we got out on the road with our guide Nate we knew we were in a very fun tour. He was hilarious. He had two teenage girls working with him and they took great care of us as we drove all over the island. We learned a lot about Grand Turk and its history (for instance, did you know this where John Glenn landed after his first orbit of the earth?). Nate was also great about stopping for photos. I am going to tell you a little more about Grand Turk in the captions of the photos below. Don’t forget, if you click the first shot, you can then scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping…and PLEASE…don’t look at my pictures on a phone. Please…
Twin sisters sitting at the pier. Our ship the Nieuw Statendam on the left and her younger sister the Rotterdam on the right
The port has a wonderful pool area for ship guests only.
A beautiful beach for ship guests only
A larger view of the beach
The sisters again
The memorial to John Glenn and the Mercury space program
A beautiful Caribbean church
Grand Turk was famous for years for its salt which was gathered in the ponds found all over the island.
Love the color of the sea.
It’s breathtaking. BTW: The weather has been PERFECT!
This photo just says Caribbean to me. We found out later that this place is a crew favorite.
Got this heron shot at about 20 mph.
There are wild, protected donkeys all over the island.
Some are very friendly.
We are at the furthest point from the ship at the lighthouse.
Just below the lighthouse is this gorgeous view.
The donkeys were used to haul the salt until the salt industry died out and then they were just left to run free.
Got some shots from the bus of this stork (I think).
Very proud of my bird pics here.
Love this one of the stork landing. Reminds me of the Aflac duck.
Flamingos love the salt ponds.
They eat the tiny brine shrimps.
These last two flamingo pics are almost as good as my flamingo pics from the Galapagos last July.
This one is my favorite. The reflection just makes. it.
Not sure what more I can tell you about Grand Turk but I will say that this cruise is almost making me like the Caribbean. (For those new to this blog, this has NEVER been one of my favorite places—too warm, not a beach person, etc.) We loved Grand Turk, we had a great day in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic yesterday that I will write about later this afternoon or later this week and the weather has been near perfect. Yes, it has been hot when we are out and about and I think wearing a mask makes it about 10 degrees warmer but I am writing this on a sea day, sitting outside on our verandah. The temperature is 79 degrees Fahrenheit, the seas are flat as a lake and the breeze is awesome. I could get real used to this, really fast. We are already talking with our buddy Seth about doing another Sail with Seth in a warm climate. We will keep you updated in case you want to join us.
One more thing to mention about the Sail with Seth part of our cruise. This morning he arranged a special Coffee with the Captain just for the group and the captain verified that there are 895 passengers on board and a little more than 800 crew members. That means we have almost one crew member per passenger. No wonder the service is so awesome!
There’s definitely healing properties to being in proximity to the ocean and that breeze. There’s something about that Caribbean climate and humidity. —Johnny Depp
by Jim Bellomo | Jan 25, 2022 | Photography
Yesterday (it’s Monday right now and will probably be Tuesday before I finish this), we sailed on Holland America’s (HAL) Nieuw Statendam from Fort Lauderdale (FLL), Florida. After two really great nights in our FLL AirBnB we got to board in the first group. We had heard that HAL was being really being a stickler about boarding times due to the pandemic and we were no exception. Our time said noon and at 11:15 I dropped Kathleen, Steve and Jamie off at the port and took our rental car back to the airport. A quick cab ride back and we were ready to board right on time.
BTW: Before we went I did an early morning photowalk around Fort Lauderdale’s Riverwalk and here’s some pics from that morning. Don’t forget, if you click the first shot, you can then scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping…and PLEASE…don’t look at my photography on a phone. Please…
Saw these lights on my way downtown and kind of liked the look in the dark.
I am going to let you guess what this is.
Loved the overall blue tint to this building
And this unusual architectural feature
Don’t know why I like this shot, but I just do. Something about early morning solitary walking?
The Riverwalk is a great place to walk. Felt totally safe.
This bridge had a very interesting ramp entrance. I walked it later and it is also used for bikes.
Loved the art on the side of this building. That mural is over seven stories high.
This oak grove (according to the sign) was planted during the bicentennial
This is the Carrie B that we took on a very nice excursion the day before. More on that later when I have those photos done.
The sky was totally overcast (which makes for very gray photography) until this finally opened up and gave me some decent light.
Our home for the next 10 days
Check-in took less than 15 minutes and would have been faster if you took out all the COVID stuff. As soon as we got on board our rooms were available so we went to drop off our carry on luggage and to unpack those. I am not sure if I mentioned this but originally we had a verandah stateroom on deck six. About two weeks before the cruise we got an e-mail asking if we wanted to upgrade to a Neptune Suite. Neptune Suites are the second highest level of suites on the ship and the cost to upgrade was amazingly reasonable so we grabbed it. The suite is AMAZING! More than 350 square feet (which is big for a cruise ship stateroom, with a monster bathroom and a huge living space. Here’s some pics to show you what we are living in for the next ten (now nine) days and…don’t forget, if you click the first shot, you can then scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping…and PLEASE…don’t look at my photography on a phone. Please…
The view as you walk in from the hallway. On the left are a huge panel of closets, on the right the door to the bathroom.
The bathroom is HUGE! I truly believe it is larger than our master bath at home. Jetted tub, giant shower and dual sinks.
King size bed
To the left of the bed a bunch of storage, a desk and a bar.
Closeup of the desk. Plenty of room for all my electronics and so many outlets I can’t fill them all.
The bar area has a full set of glassware and some complimentary and some chargeable beverages. There is a mini-fridge and more storage below.
Looking from the bed you can see these two comfortable chairs, the couch and the flat screen TV. Lots of free movie choices and it works just like a DVD so you can pick up where you left off.
The couch is seven feet long and can convert into a King size bed.
But the bed is very comfortable.
The door to our verandah is an actual door and not a slider.
Once outside we have an oversized verandah with two loungers, a table and four chairs.
You always hear folks say, “I don’t need big room or a verandah because I am never it in.” This is true until you get a stateroom/suite like this. Then you are in it because you have everything you need. And on this cruise (and others for awhile) this is the only place we can walk around without our masks on. And because it’s just awesome!
I will drop some photos in my next post of the rest of the ship. Here are some facts about this particular cruise. First, due to COVID there are fewer than 750 cruisers on board. This is on a ship built to hold 3,214 passengers when at full capacity so to say that things feel empty is an understatement. I will say that there are some events (the Blues Club we were in last night) that can get crowded but we are doing our best to stay in our little pod of four.
We were supposed to have six ports of call on this cruise but that got tossed out the window yesterday when we could not land at Half Moon Cay, (HAL’s private island). This was NOT due to COVID but to high winds. Half Moon Cay is a tender port (that means they drop life boats and ferry you in from the ship) and the winds and seas were just too high to put those in the water safely, so we skipped that port. I will give the activity staff high marks because they quickly adjusted and found lots of things for people to do. BTW: If you are a trivia buff, this cruise is for you. I think there is trivia scheduled about every three hours along with lots of other activities.
Still have five ports scheduled and as I type this we are tied up at the pier in Grand Turk. We (the four of us) are going off around noon to do a HAL shore excursion. We got two free with our cruise and this is one of those. Grand Turk will allow us to get off and just wander around.
Tomorrow we are in Amber Cove in the Dominican Republic, then a sea day, then we hit Bonaire, Curacao and Aruba in that order, on successive days. Then it’s two sea days and we are back in Fort Lauderdale. So far, everything is going great. More on the ship, the activities and the food in my next post.
The purpose of our lives is to be happy. —Dalai Lama