Shiels: International intrigue at sea and ashore in the Caribbean and West Indies
Miami itself is a very international American city, but sailing south into the Caribbean Sea aboard an Oceania Cruises ship put me in the company of 800 crew members from 53 nationalities, not to mention the 1,000 savvy travelers who had journeyed from as far away as Australia to climb aboard Oceania’s elegant, new “Vista,” christened in 2023 by Italian celebrity chef Giada De Laurentiis.
“Our staff working together adds to the value of the experience of our guests in terms of the cultures: different nationality, different religion, and different beliefs all working together is a good melting pot for our guests,” said Vista’s General Manager Damien Lacroix. “A cruise vessel is like a small United Nations that works.”
As an American, I was intrigued to cruise to Grenada, 40 years after, as I understand it, United States Armed Forces, at the request of a confederation of Caribbean nations, staged a brief, effective military intervention and a targeted bombing of a combat airfield after Grenada’s leader and others were assassinated by firing squad during a coup-turned-civil war.
“I appreciate what Ronald Reagan did for us here. He saved Grenada from communism,” said friendly Phillip, a taxi driver. Phillip was driving me back from bucolic Grand Anee Beach, a 10-minute drive for which he charged me $5 (the same price I paid for the water taxi boat that ferried me to the beach from the cruise dock. Of course, I tipped on top of the fare).
Bring U.S. dollars and your own towel, otherwise Grand Anee Beach has all the beverages - including local Caribe beer - food, watersports, live music, shopping and restroom facilities you need, including a cushioned beach chair and umbrella for only $10.
For $15 dollars I hopped aboard the Grenada Discovery Train – a cute, two-car, open-air trolley right beside the cruise terminal. The trolley tour looped around every 45-minutes going up and down the twisty, hilly roads of St. George’s.
Beyond Ronald Reagan, my other Caribbean collision with Commanders in Chief during my Oceania Cruise came during an excursion tour which included the “Walkway of Presidents” on Constitution Avenue across from Puerto Rico’s capitol building.
Life-sized statues of U.S. presidents who visited Puerto Rico while in office since the 1898 end of the Spanish-American war: Ford; Kennedy; Eisenhower; Truman; FDR; Hoover; Theodore Roosevelt; and Obama with plaques are all represented – no Trump or Biden yet.
Barbados, the British Commonwealth nation, is the furthest east of the Caribbean’s windward islands, and, in terms of quirks, forbids anyone visiting to wear camouflage (which is the level of detail Oceania communicates to passengers.)
The cruise dock terminal in Bridgetown led me to right to lines of taxis ready to take me, for only $5, to Carlisle Bay and Browne’s Beach, where, for $10, I entered the Harbour Lights Beach Club, which had beach chairs, snorkeling, glass-bottom boats, souvenir shopping and a restaurant with local flying fish cakes. Best of all, it had local Barbadians from the public beach next door.
As I dogpaddled in the warm, aquamarine water, a much better swimmer than I used an efficient breaststroke to knife through the water. She was wearing a neon-green swim cap accented with black tiger stripes – and she had the wild personality to match. Her small talk was big fun:
“Are you from a cruise ship? Which one? Where is your next stop? Are you going to see any more of Barbados? It would be good for you to walk around Bridgetown some. How long until you leave? Make sure you take some photos…”
Initially I thought she was ramping up an island sales pitch of some sort, but no: Connie Francis-Barrow was genuinely interested in conversation while she kept an eye on her tall, thin husband, grown kids and family frolicking. I learned she had spent six weeks in Venezuela years ago to learn to be a swim teacher and was planning a trip to Panama in a month.
“Just to go somewhere different,” she explained.
When this smiling mermaid of an ambassador for Barbados finally got out of the water, she poured a big, two-liter Sprite bottle of full of water over her head to wash off the salty sea. She then put on a bright yellow cover-up outfit before she left.
“It is one of the colors of our national flag. We celebrate Independence Day next Friday so I usually wear some of the flag colors throughout November,” she sweetly explained.
I swam out deeper after Connie left where I was greeted by Geneva, who said was paddling to look for her daughter’s swim class, so we dogpaddled together for a while. “Connie was my swim teacher long ago when I was 12-years-old, and I am 48 now. She is older than she looks,” Geneva laughed.
“You do not look your age, either,” I told her
“I get that a lot.”
“Do you mind all these tourists coming into your country?”
“No. We are all really the same, so…"
When Geneva told me she was a banker, I joked her name was appropriate since Geneva is full of Swiss bankers. Either she smiled at my painful joke – or was just squinting in the sun - and I told her I was not smart enough to be a banker.
“Everyone is smart in their own way. You probably have abilities that I do not. I happen to be good with numbers and organized.”
“Is everyone in Barbados so friendly?”
“That is what the surveys of people who visit Barbados indicate,” said Geneva with modest pride, “that everyone was so friendly.”
Contact Michael Patrick Shiels at MShiels@aol.com His new book: Travel Tattler – Not So Torrid Tales, may be purchased via Amazon.com
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Shiels: International intrigue on Oceania Cruises' new ship Vista
