08/01/2024
For the first time we decided to try Xmas and New Year away so we booked a P&O cruise on Arvia in the Caribbean for 2 weeks. Although we have been away for New Year before (On Marella to Madeira for New Year which we highly recommend - Amazing fireworks display on Madeira. We had the best seat in the house on the ship's deck with a view of the whole bay.), we have never been away for Christmas.
The journey to and from Manchester & Barbados did, for the most part, go smoothly. We had an early evening arrival at the ship in Barbados which meant that our cases arrived late. However, we were both very tired from travelling so after our evening meal we retired early to unpack.
The weather was fabulous and our ports of call were as follows:
Barbados - St Lucia - Sea day (Christmas Day) - Dominican Republic - Sea day - St Maarten - Sea day - Antigua overnight - Sea day (New Years Day) - St Kitts - Martinique - Grenada - Barbados overnight
We were originally meant to visit Tortola on New Year's Eve day, but due to delayed flight arrivals & departures for those arriving and leaving us, we spent two days in Antigua and left early evening on New Years eve. To compensate for the missed port, we visited Grenada in place of a sea day. 🙂
St Lucia
Our first port of call was St Lucia but we remained on the ship to relax. On previous cruises we had done excursions in St Lucia. The most recent one was for my 50th birthday when we went on a catamaran cruise to the Pitons and had a swim off a beach with lunch and a few glasses of rum on our way back to the ship.
We got off the ship in every port after St Lucia.
La Romana
In Dominican Republic our port of call was La Romana. Fabulous beaches here but as we have never been to this area we decided to take an independent shuttle service to Alto de Chevon which was a very old village.
St Maarten
In St Maarten, we took an independent taxi tour of the Island. Previously we have only been to the beach. Its a lovely island, especially the Dutch side. Part of our tour included a stop at Maho beach where the planes land and take off very close to it. There are plenty of you tube videos of the beach showing people being blown into the sea when a plane is taking off. Philipsburg is a lovely town to walk around with its little streets and courtyards set behind the beach front. There is a water taxi ($7 per adult) from the port to the town pier. Plenty of sunbeds available with offers such as $25 for 2 sunbeds, umbrella and a bucket of pop/beer.
Antigua
On Antigua, we decided it was time to spend a relaxing few hours on the beach so we took a taxi to Runaway beach. Once there, we hired sunbeds and an umbrella at $10 each. The taxi cost us $10 per person return. (The yellow shirt taxi/tour guys were charging $20 per person and wouldnt budge on price. They would fill up their mini buses so you would have to compromise on the pick up time with everyone elae, but if you walk further into the port area there are taxi drivers you can barter a cheaper rate with and have one to yourself). If you don't fancy the beach then I can recommend visiting Nelsons Dock yard.
St Kitts
In St Kitts we went to a beach for a few hours. There were a lot of ships in port on the day we visited. An early start is recommended as the beaches do get full very quickly. Sunbeds were $5 each at Shipwreck beach shack and others along the beach. It is probably best to book a P&O beach transfer that includes sunbeds for this port. However, for independent travel, the shuttle service to the beaches in frigate Bay etc was $7 per person each way. St Kitts is a very pretty island so if the beach isn't your cup of tea then opt for an island tour. I've also heard the railway is a good choice too.
Martinique
In Martinique we just walked around Fort de France. We did consider taking a passenger ferry to Case Pilote where Gaugin lived and painted, but the queues were horrendous. You can also get a ferry to the beach. Taxis to St Pierre and Case Pilote were very expensive so it worked out cheaper for 4 people to book an island tour with P&O.
Grenada
Grenada was a new port of call added to the agenda. We decided to do a tour of the Island for a couple of hours and booked it through P&O. We visited the Fort and stopped off at a few view points. In a previous visit to Grenada, we just walked around St Georges, its spice market and harbour.
Barbados
Barbados was our last port before we were homeward bound. As we had an overnight stay in this port we spent a few hours at Rockly beach (Accra). We love the beaches in Barbados because of the fine white sand and warm sea. We went independently because P&O only did beach transfers to Carlisle Bay and we wanted to go to a different beach this time. (For those who want to walk around Bridgetown and also spend time on the beach then Carlisle Bay is the nearest and both are walkable. However, beach clubs do tend to request an entry fee which includes sunbeds. The taxi cost us $10 per person each way to Rockly beach. We hired our sunbeds by the Tiki bar. There were two areas to hire there although further up the beach nearer to Accra beach hotel there were other sunbed hires. The Tiki bar itself advertised $30 per person which included 1 sunbed with a shared umbrella & a $25 voucher for food & drink or right next door you could hire 2 sunbeds, an umbrella, table and 2 bottles of water for $20. They did do other offers if you preferred beer /wine or Prosecco.
During the Evening we checked out Oistins Fish Fry. Every Friday they have a street party and bbq all types of fish, sea food, chicken and pork. There was a P&O transfer service for £29 per person for 4 hours (6pm to 10pm), however, we went by taxi at 7.30pm so we had more flexibility. We did prebook with the taxi driver we used to go to the beach. The cost agreed was $10 per person each way to go by taxi for 4 people. However, there were plenty of taxis waiting outside the port terminal if you don't pre-book. Oistins is very crowded and very loud. There was music all evening with plenty of stalls serving food and drink as well as craft stalls.
Christmas and New Year
The Christmas decorations on the ship were lovely. For Christmas day, we each received a gift from P&O - chocolate, a Christmas tree ornament and a Christmas book and card. Santa paid a visit and the kids each received a gift from Santa and a chance to have a photo taken with him. On Christmas night, it was a black tie night and we prebooked our dining time (early or late sitting). We received our table booking in our cabin which was also the same table booked for New Year's Eve which again was another black tie night.
On Christmas day evening, we received a menu choice which included the traditional Roast Turkey and all the trimmings a long with an amuse bouche to start and petit fours to finish. Two complimentary bottles of wine were provided along with Christmas crackers.
On New Year's Eve, Haggis and a Filet of steak were amongst the menu options along with complimentary bottles of wine. Champagne 🍾 was available to preorder or drinks could be ordered from the bar.
Both Xmas day and New Year's Eve celebrations were spent at sea so although we didn't see any fireworks for New Year we did get to celebrate the UK New Year and the Caribbean New Year. Screens showed Big Ben and the fireworks in London and Edinburgh.
Although it was strange celebrating Christmas in hot weather away from home, we had a lovely time.
Overall we had a great experience and I would definitely consider having Christmas away again in the future.
