Today the Ventura docked in the port of Philipsburg, the Dutch capital of St Maarten. St Martin/Sint Maarten is half French and half Dutch so it is one of the Caribbean’s most interesting and diverse islands. We had been here once before in 2005, on a cruise on the Arcadia, so instead of going on one of the organised…
Author: bollingerbabe
Time in Tortola
This morning the Ventura docked in Road Town, Tortola. Tortola is part of the British Virgin Islands and we had been here once before, on the Arcadia in 2005. Tortola has a rugged volcanic landscape rising to 1,709 feet at its highest point. It hasn’t really been developed as a major tourist haunt so its attraction lies…
Just Another Sea Day :-)
Woke up once again to the predictable sunny and warm weather 🙂 Unlike Blighty where the weather is just about the most unpredictable thing there is. We had another glorious day of lazing about to look forward to; after breakfast we brought our sunbathing stuff up to the pool deck and spent some time lying…
Grand Turk
Today the Ventura was docked in Grand Turk, the largest of the Turks and Caicos Islands. Last time we had been here was in 2009, on the Artemis so it was a familiar view that met us when we looked out from our balcony. The whole island is only six miles long and has a long pier…
Cruising the Caribbean
Another day spent at sea today. I quite enjoy the sea days; time is of no consequence, we can just do what we like, when we like. When we crossed the Pacific on the Volendam in 2009, we had a full nine days at sea between the USA and Japan, so it is just as well…
Snorkel Sensation in Aruba
Today we awoke to find the Ventura docked in Oranjestad, Aruba. We had been here once before; on the Arcadia in 2007 and we enjoyed it a lot, so we were pleased to be back. After breakfast we decided to go ashore and spend the morning looking around the town. We were booked to go out on…
Willemstad, Curaçao
Woke up this morning to find ourselves docked in Willemstad, capital of Curaçao, Dutch Antilles. Curaçao is the largest of the ABC islands, which also include Aruba and Bonaire. We hadn’t been here before so we were looking forward to exploring. After breakfast we had to assemble on the quayside for our excursion this morning….
A Flash of Flying Fish
We woke up early this morning once again, looking forward to a whole day at sea. After a good breakfast in the Waterside buffet we went out on deck, where the sun was already bright and the day promised to be another scorcher. We decided to spend a couple of hours or so up on…
New Year’s Eve in Barbados
Woke up this morning really early; in fact we’d been awake since about 4.00am due to the 4-hour time difference. So at 5.45am I was up and onto the balcony, looking from our vantage point on Deck 11 over the awakening port of Bridgetown. Directly ahead we could see the floodlights of the famous West…
Venture on Ventura
Well, folks, here we go again – it’s Holiday Time! Yes, we are off on another cruise, this time in the sunny Caribbean on board P & O’s M/V Ventura. Left the house at 5.00am for the three-hour drive down to Birmingham International Airport. It was the first time we’d flown from there. The drive…