Land ahoy I shouted when I peered out of the curtains as I could see the ship was approaching Antigua. We were both almost silly with excitement to be able to disembark and explore an island we had never been to before.
I decided it deserved an omelette for my breakfast and jolly nice it was too. We quickly finished our food and drink (although we made time for 2 cups of tea) before returning to our cabin to pack a bag for the day. Our plan was to have a quick look around St John where the ship was docking and is the capital of Antigua & Barbuda before making our own way to the best beach on the island ‘Dickenson Beach’ which just a few miles away.
Today for the first time there was a bit of a scrum in trying to get off the ship. I’m not sure if we just timed it wrong or whether everyone just wanted to get onto land after being at sea for over 2 days. The queue was long but moved quickly. Facial technology was being used to allow you off the ship. People didn’t seem to realise that if you didn’t have a hat on or sunglasses when it took your photo as you boarded then it would not recognise you if you had them when you tried to get off.
Then we were on land in out of the port and had to run the gauntlet of dozens of taxi drivers and tour guides trying to get you to go with them. After being polite to the first 20 of them I then just blanked them, rude but effective.
St John was not for us. The first row of shops was all the usual cruise endorsed jewellery shops. Then there was nothing but third world equivalent run-down shacks. Now I don’t mean to be a snob but there was nothing to see or do and no paths to walk on. We were so disappointed. It was how we found most of St Lucia and Barbados. We had expected more but I don’t know why we thought that.
We walked back to the official taxi point and asked for a shared taxi ride to Dickenson Beach. It took about 5 minutes for enough people join us for us to be walked to his taxi by Charles, a burly cheery native. It was only a short 3-mile ride for which we charged $10 each return far cheaper than the official excursion of $80 each. Charles made everyone laugh by insisting his full name was Charles Incharge.
The beach was quite busy but we found a quieter spot. We had towels with us and so declined the $10 fee for a sun-bed each and sat under a palm tree instead and which I could lean against
The beach is apparently the best on the island and is where the Sandals resort is situated. I would say it is very nice but we have better in Norfolk. The beach is quite narrow.
I decided to venture into the sea. It was refreshing rather than warm like a bath as I had hoped. The slope into the sea had several large dips which caught me out but I was happy until I first heard other people catch themselves on underwater rocks and then I caught my toe on one myself. I cursed loudly. This is one of several reasons I can never get on with going in the sea. I have a real fear of doing myself some damage with rocks I cannot see onto dodgy legs. This knocked my confidence and after a while I re-joined Karen who I hadn’t been able to persuade to join me, under the tree.
After 90 minutes we were ready to go back to the port and took the earlier of the return times that had been arranged with Charles. He was not impressed with the amount of sand Karen had on her as she tried to get into his taxi and so brushed her down with a large broom.
And with that we were back. St John seemed no better approaching it from the countryside and so rather than pay for a drink and food for the sake of it headed back on board to the Dutch café to have ‘free’ toasted sandwiches and some proper hot drinks. Then we thought we should continue with the Caribbean spirit by having margaritas on the sun deck.
Eventually we took a couple of cans of Diet Coke (other drinks are available) and chilled out further on our balcony.
That was Antigua. I can honestly say we were not that impressed. We have supposedly seen the highlights and there was not much to it. I am glad we have been though and pleased we have done so on a cruise because at least we can move on overnight. That is the beauty of a cruise like this. You get to stay in 4/5-star accommodation which takes you places whilst you sleep. Whereas if you paid even more money and were in the Sandals resort, we sat outside of, you would be stuck in the same place for however long you were there. We said we might enjoy it for a couple of night but after that would want to get out and explore – but explore what here?
Anyhow we headed into dinner and were again greeted by the usual very snappy person organising tables. It is a bad combination of someone with very poor English who snaps at people and who doesn’t listen to what you are saying coupled with some Americans who don’t seem to want to listen to what they being told. A backlog of people all moaning soon built up. We were amongst several people waiting who were whisked up to the ‘Club Orange’ area to alleviate the problem and seated in there instead.
For the first time Karen moaned about the food being too ‘same’y’ for her. She was right in that there is always at least one Fish option, Pasta option, Beef Option, Chicken Option and Vegetarian Option. Each night they are all different. She herself couldn’t explain what she meant until she said they never had Pizza on the menu. I pointed out that she could have Pizza whenever she wanted but it would involve us going the place on board where they served Pizza. You just cannot please some people.
The only real problem with the food tonight was that Panna Cotta dessert was not set. It was like runny cream. The floor manager came and asked if we had enjoyed the meal and Karen received an apology and assurance that the chef would be told about it especially as it was not the first time it had apparently happened.
Today had been the day of Trump’s inauguration. There had been no coverage or mention of it, not that there should have been. But we hadn’t heard anyone even mention it in passing.
We were both feeling tired again tonight and neither of us fancied going to any of the music lounges again. Instead, we back to the Dutch café where Karen had an Irish Coffee and I had a glass of Red. The Irish Coffee was more whiskey than coffee which Karen enjoyed. The server was from the Philippines and said she loved my accent. She said all her nieces and nephews at home now speak with a lovely English accent as they have all picked it up from Peppa Pig. I didn’t know whether to be flattered or annoyed. She also advised Karen not to try the ‘Dutch Coffee’ which is Hot Coffee mixed with Gin and Advocaat. She said was horrible and everyone who tried it never finished it. We thanked her for her honesty.
And with that we headed to bed early for the night.
