Day 15: Antigua

Regardless of what else we did today in Antigua, we were determined to watch our arrival and sail away from our balcony or an open deck. For as many times as we’ve been to Antigua, it has been years (eight?) since I last visited, and I remember it as being a beautiful sail in so I was on our balcony as we picked up the port pilot this morning and watched as the Regal silently made its way into the harbor in St. John’s….amid a literal cacophony of coughs from the other balconies. Good grief this is a germy ship. Ours was the very first ship to arrive on Antigua this season, and I’m sure they’ll see their own rate of respiratory bugs escalate as a result. 

No shortage of sun today in Antigua! 

As for me, it now seemed obvious that I had a simple cold and this morning I was at the sniffly stage. I had fallen asleep late (football) and wasn’t a bundle of energy this morning. We decided to hang around the ship to see how I’d feel later on. The air had a real feel of 100F in Antigua today, and, holy cow,  that was hot and sticky. It was Papeete in December and Southeast Asia at any time of year all over again. 

I had room service deliver me a cappuccino, and G was off the ship early for a run. He needed a long shower when he returned, and, meanwhile, I had discovered the embarrassment of riches we’d been given today with NFL games being shown all day and evening on MUTS, with a different set of games shown on the screens in the casino bar on Deck 6. Even better, I found two TV channels on our cabin TV that also showed both sets of games. I was set for entertainment for the day, and thought that another day staying down would have me feeling great (it did). And that is how we spent our day. 

We were starved for dinner (a good feeling) and went to Crooners for a pre-dinner drink (a Dunes martini) and then to dinner at exactly 5pm. We wanted to be on the Terrace Deck for sail away at 6pm. 

Dunes from Crooners

No pics of my dinner, I just had onion soup

Our neighboring table mates had gone to Darkwood Beach on Antigua and they asked if we’re had ever been there. Yep, and we loved it so much that I made it the cover of the Caribbean cruising Shutterfly book I made ten years ago. Antigua has the most amazing beaches!!!

We were lucky to find two chairs we could move together on the Terrace Deck. They had a guitarist out there and it reminded me a great deal of the kind of thing Celebrity used to do that made them feel special. Since we didn’t sail until 6pm, it was largely dark by the time we left, which was a little sad, because I have some incredible memories of watching sail away from Skywalkers on the Emerald where we had fabulous views. 

We both skipped the show to watch Sunday Night Football on TV in our cabin. It had been another easy and restful day, and I felt totally recovered by the end of it.