Jan 17 St. Kitts

We were docked by 7a.m. In beautiful St. Kitts. Formally known as Saint Christopher Island together with its neighbour Nevis makes up a single two island nation. St. Kitts was the first English colony in the Caribbean.

The girls decided to go ashore and find a beach while i decided to stay aboard as i'm experiencing some minor breathing issues, coughing, headache and chills. Soon they were off and i got ready and went to the Lido for a breakfast of fruit and yogurt. As well a nice young crew man offered to get me a chocolate milk which he said was really good so I said ok. It turned out to not be to my taste and so i left it after just one sip. I really deplore food waste and it made me feel bad contributing to the huge mound of wasted cruise ship food but what can you do.

Later i walked around and when i spotted the Costa Pacifica cruiseship coming into port i beat it on down back to the Lido deck to take pics of it parking beside us. A lot of people on the arriving Pacifica watched from their top deck and many watched from their balconies. It was pretty cool watching it gently drift towards us and belly up to the bar, lol. People on our ship waved and some waved from their ship even though we knew they couldn’t see us as the windows are tinted and look like mirrors from the outside. I was curious as to whether the Pacifica was larger or smaller than us but nobody could really tell from our Lido view. Later i checked it out for size and we are bigger, ha ha, we win, lol!

Speaking of big ships......i was talking about trying a mega ship cruise in the future and brought up the subject to a couple of people now and each one had a different slant on it. The guy i talked to today said it’s important to study the ships layout/map/diagram and take note of what you want to do onboard and then choose your cabin accordingly. Ok, so i knew that and i thought the only answer was to always get a midship cabin, doesn’t matter what floor. Well, he said no, that doesn’t work on a mega ship because it’s split down the center lengthwise with cabins that face in and the view is to the center, like looking at people in a park. I said oh, ok, but not really understanding why that would matter much. I do however understand that if the showroom was a place that you wanted to attend each night then consider getting your cabin on a deck near the corresponding elevator which usually is the closest one to the front of the ship. Ditto if you were going to go to the casino every day then get a room above it or below it obviously and so forth. Well, not sure i’d want it to be exactly below the casino listening to its sound effects until the wee hours and who knows, it might be a 24 hr. casino. So if a woman knew she was going to do the gym or the spa every day then it makes sense to be in that area up above it, down under it or just slightly sideways of it. But i think most people are going to be all over their ship so i’m thinking you still can’t beat a midway cabin close the elevators. Don’t worry about elevator noise, there really isn’t any and the convenience is well worth it. Then he mentioned that on mega ships passengers are given a designated time that they can attend things, such as the stage show. I did not like that idea at all! I want to go whenever i want to go! I can adapt to a designated time to eat in the dining room but, still....you get your choice of early (6p.m.) or late (8 or 9p.m)  As well, most ships have what they call “Anytime dining” which is what we did for this cruise and it’s not really as nice as it dining when you have a set time with the same dinner mates but it’s really not a huge difference. I also don’t really want an inside view of the ship, i want to see and hear the ocean; i am a Pisces after all. I dunno, this is getting complicated but it's really starting to look like i won't even consider cruising on a mega ship!

There was another funny thing that happened and that was this guy i was talking to said he could tell that this was my first cruise with Carnival and i said, nope, my second and what makes you think it's my first? So he says well, you were given a blue card and that means some screw up made Carnival think it was your first time. He asked me for the details of my previous cruise with them and i told him it was in 2012 on the Spirit on her last cruise in American and Canadian waters. We cruised to Hawaii from Vancouver and flew home and the Spirit sailed off to Australia never to return. So he asked me how long it was and i told him and he said that one added to this one would have made me a gold member and i along with my kids would have received a few perks for me being a returning guest. One of the perks might have been priority boarding and we wouldn’t have had to do that long lineup. Also possibly free laundromat or free transfer or something. Geez, that ticked me off good as i paid $100. for our transfer. When i get home i’ll straighten it out with Carnival and i’m confident some perk will click in to make me want to cruise with them again. Now i’ve got a good idea.....maybe i’ll compromise and find out which is their largest ship and book a short cruise on it just to try it out!

I met up with my daughter and granddaughter when they got back and they had a fun time at a beach on St. Kitts and had added a lot to their tans. Sabrina had awesome little beaded braids done in her hair and they had been able to hold and pet a monkey and the beach they found had beautiful white sand. Corinne then got ready for her apt. with an acupuncturist onboard as she was having a problem with her leg. She had 25 painless needles and said she thinks it worked! We sat in the Lido for a long time watching St. Kitts and Nevis disappear and then went to Guys Burgers and ordered just fries and they were very tasty. The two of them went on to the ventriloquist show while i got an ice cream cone and returned to the cabin.