220 CARIBBEAN: Cruising in a Pandemic to Saint Lucia, Aruba & Curaçao
This week I'm going to take you to three different islands in the Caribbean. We will visit an independent UN nation Saint Lucia, then head over to two autonomous islands that are part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
SAINT LUCIA
In August 2021, I explored Saint Lucia through a 12-day cruise with Celebrity Cruiselines. I was still traveling through the pandemic and knew that this would impact the cruise. There are stark differences between how we traveled back then and now.
For example, we all had to be fully vaccinated and present a negative COVID test. Instead of having a buffet lunch option during lunch, we had someone serving us lunch. However, we didn't have to wear a mask on the ship. There were also some excursion restrictions for some destinations that we visited, and I noticed that the itinerary had changed quite a bit. The original plan was that we would travel to six UN nations, and since I am one of those travelers that travel intending to visit every
country in the world, this was one of the main attractions for me. I knew that this trip would see me mark my "visit 100 countries" goal.
However, that didn't happen, and I was a bit disappointed. Nevertheless, I made peace that things will not always go according to plan during a global pandemic. If you listen to the podcast, you will notice that I have touched on this in previous episodes. And sometimes, plans change during travel, and we have to accept, find solutions and move on.
When you're on a cruise like this, the cruise line offers a few different tours or excursions on the port days. And because my trip happened in August 2021, we had to book a trip with the cruise line for some of the stops. That was the only way they would let us off the ship.
This is obviously to curb the spread of the virus and make sure that we only traveled with other fully vaccinated and tested people. And that was the case with Saint Lucia.
MEETING A FELLOW TRAVELLER ABOARD THE CELEBRITY CRUISE
Most cruise lines in the world often have a team of people planning these excursions. On the Celebrity Cruise, I met Austria-born Jennifer Weiner, the Destinations Manager for the cruise. During our time at sea, Jennifer presented and shared relevant information with us on the big theatre on the ship. When she told us that she's been to almost 100 countries, partly because of her job, this sparked my mind, given my journey, and I thought I would ask her more about her story.
She mentioned that she caught the travel bug at a very young age and was even envious of her age mates who had the opportunity to travel to boarding school. She went to Rome to study Italian, and her life was never the same again. She even went to study business after that, but her heart was always in travel. Through hard work and serendipitous moments, she found herself working as a Senior Destinations Manager in Celebrity Cruiselines. It was fascinating to hear her story. Going on a Caribbean cruise like this and visiting many exotic destinations is exciting.
Imagine having that as your job, as Jennifer has. "It's a dream job even though it is a lot of work," she noted.
She mentioned that taking a cruise is one of the best ways to get to know a destination. You also get to meet with many people and learn about different places in a relaxed setting.
Saint Lucia was so beautiful. Here are some interesting things that I learned.
7 FUN FACTS ABOUT SAINT LUCIA
Castries is the capital and largest city of Saint Lucia, the island country in the Caribbean. It's a small city in a small country, and the urban area has a population of only around 20,000 inhabitants. It is built on reclaimed land and has undergone several restorations after fire destruction.
Saint Lucia is tiny, with 616 km 2 (238 sq miles). It is number 178 on the list of 193 (UN Nations) countries. It is smaller than Micronesia and Singapore and only slightly bigger than Andorra. (lidt større end Bornholm). The population of the country is only 184,000.
It's the first country to be named after a woman – Saint Lucy of Syracuse. It's one of just two countries in the world to be named after a woman. The other one is Ireland.
It gained its independence from Britain in 1979 after ownership of the island was swapped seven times between France & Britain in the 1800s.
After 1979 it became a member of the Commonwealth. You can still feel a bit of Britain here. For example, they love playing cricket, driving on the left-hand side of the road, and English is still the official language even though 85% of the population also speak Saint Lucian Creole.
Saint Lucia is home to the Pitons mountain range, a UNESCO World Heritage site. As the island is small, it's hard to take a picture anywhere in Saint Lucia without the two mountain peaks visible.
Like many destinations in the Caribbean, rum is big business in Saint Lucia. And the Roseau region just south of the capital is home to 21 different types of rum.
Saint Lucia has it all, from stunning beaches to mountain peaks, and then most of the country is covered in rainforests.
I made my way through the checkpoints on the pier in Saint Lucia, and I managed to book a tram trip around the port city, the capital of Castries. The little yellow trolly train is run by a local company here in Saint Lucia, called Hibiscus Train. After a tour around the city with a few stops, like the Cathedral & The Minor Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, we ended up at the exotic Vigie Beach, just on the other side of their tiny airport.
ARUBA – ONE HAPPY ISLAND
We spent a night on the cruise ship and arrived in the Netherlands Antilles in thesouthwesternmost part of the Caribbean Sea. More specifically, in the first of the ABC Islands. These are Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao. We didn't go to Bonaire on this cruise, so we only hopped from A to C.
Aruba's slogan is "One Happy Island," and I agree. We spoke with Mario Arends, Cruise Manager, Aruba Tourism Authority. Aruba is part of the Dutch Caribbean Islands. Originally, Aruba, Curacao, Saint Maarten, Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba were part of the Dutch Antilles. Aruba separated from the Antilles in 1986 and became an autonomous nation within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. In 2010 Curacao and Saint Marten did the same.
Mario mentioned that over 85% of Aruba's GDP comes from tourism directly or indirectly. Tourism has been an excellent industry for Aruba for more than five decades. The pandemic affected the sector negatively, but trade is slowly recovering as more travelers swarm the island.
Aruba is a relatively small island, and there is so much more to do except visit the beautiful beach. You can do nature hikes, visit the nature park and do some cultural activities. Here are some TripAdvisor picks.
CURACAO
Curacao is a sister island of Aruba. I visited the oldest pontoon bridge in the world, built-in 1888. It is called the Swinging old Lady bridge. This bridge opens and closes to let the boats pass. There are beautiful buildings on either side, tiny colorful houses, and many restaurants and businesses. I met some interesting people from Curacao and also walked around the pier.
This was the perfect summary of my Caribbean cruise.
My name is Palle Bo, and I gotta keep moving. See you.
A TOUCHING LETTER FROM A LISTENER
I also wanted to share one amazing thing that happened to me recently. I always read the comments that my listeners and readers share with me and this particular one had to make it on the blog. I got a very touching letter from Kenneth.
Hi Palle Bo.
It's a great podcast you're producing, and I just got this from Spotify.
He then attached a picture from Spotify that said: “My favorite podcast of the year is The Radio Vagabond” and that he's streamed a whopping 5.482 minutes.
If you're having trouble doing the math, that's more than 91 hours. But this is not what blew my mind. It's what comes next in his email.
You have been a big part of my personal journey. Unfortunately, it's a journey I'm still on. In May I was hit by stress-related anxiety. The serious kind. To get through this hard time I started listening to your podcast. I've had it in my ears on my long daily walks and it has helped me control my thoughts and in this process, I'm still in – because listening to your exciting podcast, I've been able to focus on something else. In other words, your journey has been a big part of my inner journey and will continue to be that in 2022.
It's been a tough battle for me and I hope I'm back to 100% soon. I want you to know that you are one of the people that has helped me to where I am today with your podcast. And for that, I thank you so much.
Merry Christmas and happy new year.
Keep up the good work.
Kenneth
My response
I can't even begin to express your email's impact on me, Kenneth. When I started this podcast in 2016, my goal was to give you tips, tricks, and ideas for your next trip. It was to let you follow my journey and maybe inspire you with my somewhat different life choice. Also, I was hoping to entertain you along the way.
But if someone had told me that this podcast would be playing even just a tiny part in the recovery of stress-related anxiety, I would have said, "yeah, right."
And your email came at a point where I was kinda thinking, "wow, I'm spending 3-4 full days just editing one 30 minute episode. What's the point? Is it worth the many hours of work I put into this"?But after reading your email, I got the motivation back, and for that, I thank you. Also, thank you for sharing, Kenneth. Get better soon. Keep me posted.
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