But that's difficult. There are so many easy (inexpensive and close to the ship) options on Antigua, Barbados and St Thomas, fewer on St. Lucia and fewer still on St. Kitts.
But, future planning considerations aside, today in St. Kitts was HOT. Like sweat rolling down your spine when you're sitting in the shade hot. And with unrelenting sun, there wasn't a lot of shade to be found. We stood at the front of the ship on Deck 16 while the ship slowly approached the port, and it was so pleasant, and shady with a gentle breeze. But as the ship neared the dock, it got noticeably hotter. We walked off right away hoping to use free wifi while it was still fast, but the Carnival Victory was in port ahead of us, and its crew was already on Captain Jack's wifi en force. We didn't last too long- it was that hot- but decided that the only two acceptable places to spend the day were on a beach or on the ship. We chose the latter and were back on the ship by noon.
And what followed was a most pleasant afternoon. We first ate lunch in the buffet, and sat there for so long that I told G all we needed were cards or dominos and we'd be turning into bona fide old people. We then decamped- G for a hot tub (no surprise there) and me for the Terrace Pool less than 15 steps from our cabin. There were lots of available loungers, but I was most comfortable on my float in the pool, listening to an audiobook. (Did I mention yesterday that we saw a teen in the terminal in Barbados with an iPhone in a Lifeproof case with a bright orange Lifeproof life jacket? It's not just me...).
About 4pm we showered for dinner, but put our grubby shorts and t-shirts on and walked back off the ship into the Port Zante area. By then the wifi had speeded up considerably as we were the only two people using it. But the funnest thing was that most of the cruise passengers were back on the ships, and Port Zante's bars and shops were packed with locals out for a fun Friday night. Contrary to what I might have believed, that area is not just for the benefit of cruise passengers...it gets a lot of business after 5pm too.
All on board was at 5:30pm, just minutes before sunset, so we boarded the ship at the last minute and raced up to the Promenade Deck to get photos. The day was gorgeous right to the end.
It was Italian night in the dining room, and we were happy, thrilled, ecstatic- you name it- to have the alternate Italian menu tonight (and not the same one as last cruise). G ordered his favorite fontina chicken and I had seafood stew and happiness reigned at our table. We decided to postpone dessert and coffee until after the show (production show Boogie Shoes at 7:15pm), but caught Gordon and the Emerald Princess Orchestra playing Dixieland in the Piazza on the way back to the dining room. Gordon (an Ohio State fan) said it was all he could do to play the a song called the Wolverine Blues. I hope the Wolverines aren't blue tomorrow night, but I'm not optimistic... Still, GO BLUE!!
Headwaiter Mirko seated us at a table in Sutti's section again, and we enjoyed our coffee and dessert (tiramisu...yum!!). There is much to choose from tonight (island night party, Jazzio in the Adagio, etc.), but we arrive in St. Thomas at 7am tomorrow morning and are all packed up for a day on a beach, hopefully Honeymoon Beach on Water Island and hopefully reached via the 8am ferry. Or the 10:30am ferry. We'll see how we feel when the alarm goes off at 6am.
Photos 3 to 5: production show Boogie Shoes
Photo 6: during Dixieland in the Piazza, we were also entertained by these little ones, ages 2, 3 and 4. They've been dancing to the live music in the Piazza all cruise long.
Photo 7: the pool deck decorated for the island night party