CruiseRita

Back

Cruising with the NCC
by Rita Carroll

Forty-eight collectors, along with their families and friends, cruised the Caribbean for ten days during the cold month of February. Two of the days going and two returning were at sea. During this time, we relaxed, spent time at the pool and joined in on some of the activities taking place on the "Constellation" each day. Each stop along the way had many shore excursions. Many of our group enjoyed the tours, snorkeling and scuba diving available at each island.

Our first port of call was Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, a territory of the U.S. The main attraction of St. Thomas is the shopping, and we took advantage of this by strolling the streets, going in and out of the shops and spending way too much money. This has always been my favorite island due to the beautiful beaches (Magens Bay), the great snorkeling and the ability to take a catamaran over to nearby St. John and its national park.

Our next stop was St. Kitts, which is an independent island under the protection of the British Commonwealth. A dormant volcano makes up the majority of the island, with beautiful black and golden sand beaches along the shore. The Capital of Basseterre is a quaint town set along a beautiful harbor. Here we walked along the streets and did a little shopping or went on one of the many excursions.

The next port of call was Barbados, which is also an independent island. We did go into the Capital, Bridgetown, but did not spend much time there, as we weren't impressed with the shabby look of the town, nor the constant attempts to get us to take tours of the island.

Onward to Castries, St. Lucia, an independent island also under the protection of the British Commonwealth. The island is full of volcanic forested mountains, lovely valleys and wide beaches and is fast becoming an important tourist stop. This island, along with St. Kitts, has a lot of new buildings, due to the heavy damage they sustained during several hurricanes. We enjoyed walking along the streets and doing a little shopping.

The final stop was at St. Maarten, which is ruled by the Dutch. The other part of the island is St. Martin, ruled by the French. We took a water taxi to the pier at Phillipsburg and then strolled along the streets, checking out the many shops. This is another of my favorite islands and has a great beach before you get to the main street.

Our evenings on board, were always fun. We started out with dinner, where the evening dress varied between casual, informal and formal. Our tablemates, some of my family, two of my friends and Randy (NCC President) and Penny Miller kept us entertained. Every evening we had a gift on our plate, courtesy of D56 and the NCC. We also all won a door prize and some even won a raffle prize. Our waiter, Gede from Bali and his assistant Marvin were always one step ahead in seeing to our needs and livening up the conversation. On Valentine evening, all the ladies were presented with a red rose by their waiter.

The food was very good, and we never had the opportunity to be even slightly hungry. Besides the meals in the main dining room, there was a Cafe, which served food at all hours, a pool grill, a small cafe in the spa area, small sandwiches and hors d'oeuvres in the Cafe in the late afternoon and in all the bars at 11:30pm. There was also a grand buffet at the end of the trip, with beautiful ice carvings and lots of food late one evening. Some of availed ourselves of room service for a breakfast and two late night snacks.

Nightly entertainment was always on tap after dinner. This varied between singer, pianist, comedian and several shows by the Celebrity singers and dancers. Afterward it was time to stop in the Casino for a little playtime at the slot machines. There were also singers, pianists, bands, 60's party band and a guitarist in the various bars to keep us entertained.

The NCC had a "Meet and Greet"ť the first day on the cruise, where we received our NCC cruise shirts, black with the cruise logo. We also met two times on days at sea. The first time we made ornaments with the NCC cruise logo on each side and the second time decorated small trees with snow and a small snowbaby head for a tree topper. The NCC, with a lot of assistance from Jan Cooke, did a great job of keeping us informed and showering us with gifts, which were courtesy of Melinda Seegers, D56 and NCC.

Our return from the 82 degree weather was a real shocker. Upon arrival at Midway Airport the five of us gathered our ten pieces of luggage and when we had to go outside to pack up the van, we thought we would freeze. The weather was very cold and the wind was strong and biting. Made us wonder why we didn't stay on the ship for the next cruise. However, we all had to get back to life, as we know it.

Many thanks to Tim and Lilia Kearney of Great Escapes Cruises and Tours for putting this cruise together and putting up with our endless e-mails and telephone calls, to our President, Randy, who was involved in the organization of this cruise and to Melinda Seegers and Department 56 for many of the wonderful items we were given as gifts throughout the cruise.

Last, but not least, Kudos to Jan Cooke. She spent many hours before the cruise organizing, buying and packing the various items to be given out on the cruise. She then had to get all these boxes to the cruise ship for delivery to her room. You've all heard the famous quote from the Godfather, "He sleeps with the fishes." Well Jan literally slept with lots of boxes. She had boxes filled with goodies on the floor and on the extra two beds, which she parceled out each day, each day gaining a little more room to move around. It's a good thing she was left with empty boxes, because she gave us one to pack all the extra things we got on the cruise. Bless you Jan!