Celebrity Equinox Holiday Cruise Day 6

[rollerdonna]

Celebrity Equinox Holiday Cruise Day 6
Wenesday December 28, 2011 Barbados




In the planning stages, a mid-winter's day spent in Barbados sounded wonderful. In reality, it was a bit of a bust.
In an effort to save some money on this cruise, we had not pre-booked any ship shore excursions, but had done some research and planned things to do on our own.
Friends had recommended a visit to St. Lawrence Bay Beach, so that was our plan.

After disembarking the ship, and a long wait for the shuttle bus to take us to the shopping/transit area, we were herded through the mall and out into the chaotic bus/taxi/tours area.
Unfortunately there were also many, many people either arriving or disembarking from one of the other ships in port, and hundreds of people and their luggage clogging this area made the chaos even worse.
We approached a taxi driver with a request to take us to St. Lawrence Bay, but he insisted no, it was too far and too difficult to get to. Another operator approached and suggested Crane Beach, and offered his bus. Of course, this was one of those tiny un-air-conditioned buses that would sit and wait until the driver found 10-12 people to fill it before he would go anywhere (we had this experience the last time we visited Barbados, and I nearly had an athsma attack in the heat). The driver also demanded $50 per person ONE WAY!
We declined and walked away.

Back inside the mall, at the Tourist Info desk, we asked about a possible trip to a closer beach and were told that for $4 per person we could go by bus to a local beach. Sounded reasonable, but we were then directed right back through the same dispatch area we had just returned from.
Hot, discouraged, and feeling highly taken advantage of, we decided then to return to the ship.

I think the highlight for James, of an otherwise disappointing day in Barbados, was seeing the many ships in port that day.
There was our sister ship, Celebrity Solstice, the Carnival Victory, Holland America's Amsterdam, Fred Olsen Cruises' Braemar, and Freewinds.












We again spent a very relaxing day on board, enjoying the relative quiet of a near-deserted main pool area, and some sun in between rain showers.
Later that day, we visited the Shore Excursions desk to see if there was anything left to book in Dominica and St. Maarten.
After today's disappointment, we really didn't want to miss any more opportunities to visit a beach, and we were lucky to be able to book two excursions in the next two ports of call.

On this evening, we decided to try BLU again, as we had not returned there since we had walked out on the first night.



The Maitre 'D and hostess greeted us like long lost friends,
asked where we'd been, did we not like the food, why was I sick, etc.
They couldn't do enough to welcome us back, and see to our every need.
I had expected BLU to be smaller, quieter, more intimate than the main dining room, but in actuality, it seemed busier.
There was more personal service, so naturally, more staff;
one to show you your seat, one to pull out your chair, one to pour water, one to serve bread, one to take your drink order, another to take your food order, and yet another to re-arrange
your cutlery depending on what you ordered. They seemed to hover and watch every bite -it was a bit overwhelming!
The menu is exquisite, but almost too much so for our basic "meat and potato" taste.
We did settle on a cold yogurt and cucumber soup for James, and a basic Caesar salad for me, while we both ordered a shank of lamb, with a special order of mashed potatoes and
steamed vegetables on the side. Our meal was absolutely delicious, and the Maitre 'D trotted out the master Chef to make sure we had no complaints.
BLU is a specialty restuarant, available free to those in Aqua Class, but Suite passengers are
permitted to book it for a $5 fee, only if space is available.
We felt very privileged to have access to it, and decided against trying Muranos ($40 fee), the Tuscan Grille ( $30 fee), and Silk Harvest ($25 fee).



Entrance to the specialty dining area.

Showtime this evening, with the Equinox singers and dancers was entitled "Limelight - The Broadway Dream", and it was the most confusing, incohesive, badly directed, poorly choreo-graphed show, PLUS, they threw in the juggler and aerial artists again, with no connection whatsoever to whatever little story line there was. I must admit, I am not a big Broadway fan, but I didn't even recognize any of the musical numbers until the end when they performed an ABBA song from Mamma Mia.
It was a disappointing show, to follow a disappointing port day.

And now for some more disappointment...the late night outdoor poolside 80's Dance Party with live band D'Revelation, consisted of 4 entertainment staff members dressed in silly 80's costumes, trying to encourage the very few people there to dance. Perhaps because it had rained and everything was wet outside, there was very poor attendance at this event, so we went off to bed, hoping for a more positive experience tomorrow in the port of Dominica.

donna

*edited to note: my mistake, it was St. Lawrence Gap, not St. Lawrence Bay Beach.

[johnthed0g]

There is no St Lawrence Bay in Barbados that I know of. I think you MEANT the St. Lawrence Gap (Gap= small road) which is an area of the South Coast that has loads of bars & nightclubs. NOW there may be a St. Lawrence Bay in some obscure location that made the driver say it was too far. Easiest options in "Bim" as we say, are Rockley /Accra/Dover beach or a touristy day at the Boatyard. Crane beach is a fair way from the port & has access controlled by the posh hotel, now village. Pity about your day there. You could have walked to town provided you are mobile enough, or a Taxi to the above beaches would have been possible.

[rollerdonna]

johnthedog, not finished editing in photos yet, check back later!

donna

[ToddDH]

Sorry Rollerdonna that your day was a bummer. Actually I'm a "destination ship" type person especially since I've been to the Eastern Caribbean three times. On our Epic cruise I'll probably get off in St. Thomas or St. Maarten just to get a couple of large bottles of Harvey's Bristol Cream. Our third stop is Nassau and I shall not get off there.I just love being on the ship and occasionally going out to stroll along the deck.

[nlb1050]

Donna, we found on our last cruise that took us to Barbados one of the nicest beaches is Malibu Beach. It is at the Malibu distillary and while there is a charge for the beach it is minimal and becasue of this the few vendors around have to stay at their tables and are not allowed to circulate. It was a very inexpensive taxi to and from.

Am very much enjoying your reports.