Sunday January 12, 2020
The Crown Princess arrived early to the island of St. Lucia in the eastern Caribbean Sea and docked at the capital city of Castries. It was a brilliant sunny day with rolling high clouds. We found a water taxi to take us across the bay.
The markets and shops were closed because it was Sunday, so we returned to the cruise terminal and signed on with a guide to drive us around the island. We were joined by five other passengers. The van immediately climbed up a steep road with wonderful views of Castries’ harbor.
Our first stop was Morne Fortune which had been a French military fort built in 1784. The French and British armies captured and recaptured the fort multiple times over several decades.
Original fortifications still stand on the summit and some of the buildings are currently being used by two colleges: the University of the West Indies and Sir Arthur Lewis Community College. The college was named after the St. Lucian economist who was awarded a Nobel Prize in Economics in 1979.
We continued to Vincent Joseph Eudovic’s studio to see St. Lucia’s leading wood carver at work. His abstract carvings made from local trees were beautiful. Photos of his work are on his website: eudovicart.com
We also visited a banana farm and roadside market selling local crafts.
Rain clouds drifted overhead as the van drove up and down the steep mountainsides of the beautiful volcanic island.
After our tour, we returned to the ship with good memories of St. Lucia. The Crown Princess left the dock in the early evening and pointed north back toward Florida. I went out on deck to watch the proceedings and took a few pictures:
Back inside the ship, the party continued….. We had three “Sea Days” back to Fort Lauderdale because the ship couldn’t get into St. Kitts due to gale-force winds. This cruise was a bit disappointing because in 10 days we had six sea days and stopped at only three ports. We were originally scheduled to visit six ports.
Nonetheless, we had fun onboard! We joined a Trivia Team and did quite well and even won once! Our prizes were rubber Princess coasters. Our teammates were British and Australian so we had all the local questions covered. We lounged in the hot tubs, were entertained, relaxed on deck, I finished a good book, and learned to play Caribbean “steel pans” (sorta!! – it’s a lot harder than it looks!)
The Crown Princess arrived back in Fort Lauderdale early before dawn on January 16th and prepared for the next group of passengers…..
