A glimpse of our 11-night Eastern Caribbean cruise

  • Day 1 - flying pigs attached to the ceiling at Talavera, the Mexican restaurant where we had lunch.
  • Day 2 - our stateroom on the Zuiderdam, home for the next 11 nights.
  • Day 3 - our transit map displayed in the lounge, showing our destinations and current location.
  • Day 4 - a view of the ocean from the ship during a day at sea.
  • Day 5 - a mountain on Sint Maartens (the Dutch side), visible from the port area.
  • Day 6 - a scenic overview on Antigua (the island, not to be confused with the city in Guatemala, which is land-locked).
  • Day 7 - a scenic mountain view in Martinique from the botanical gardens we visited.
  • Day 8 - looking at Roseau, Dominica from the boat.
  • Day 9 - a historic plantation in St. Kitts with a view of the water. The oddly shaped pond was a PokéStop.
  • Day 10 - a mountain on St Thomas (in the US Virgin Islands), visible from the port area.
  • Day 11 - Another ocean view from a day at sea.
  • Day 12 - a brilliant sunrise approaching Half Moon Cay.
  • Day 13 - returning to the Port of Miami in the early morning, followed by an airport transfer and our flight home.

While a picture paints a thousand words, sorting through a thousand (or more) pictures takes time. Some of our activities involved water – not surprising for a Caribbean cruise – which means combining photos from across cell phones and the waterproof camera I bought back in 2017 for our Galápagos trip.

As is evident in the photos, we had fairly nice weather… I think there was a drizzle one day when we were already getting wet (“champagne snorkeling” – snorkeling above geothermal vents), and a downpour on another day when we were already in our bathing suits (for a helmet dive). The upside to a cruise is you get to see a lot without having to repack; the downside is that you may find an area you’d like more time in, but the ship is only there for a single day. There are definitely places we want to return to after this adventure, with extended time to explore those areas.