We took an 11-day cruise in the Caribbean spanning 8 ports of call across 7 countries.
The ship, Norwegian Breakaway, is an old ship. So, the amenities are lacking compared to our recent experience with the Royal Caribbean.
Compared to our previous trip seven years back on Norwegian Cruise Line, The food quality for vegetarians has declined significantly, especially since the buffet is no longer open 24 hours. Furthermore, the dine-in restaurants are startled when we ask for vegetarian food.
While we have done smaller duration cruises before, we were a bit apprehensive about such a long cruise; overall, it was still a great experience. On longer cruises, the crowd is usually older and friendlier. Further, the shows start to repeat and get boring.
Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic - port of call 1
I was planning to do Damajagua Waterfalls here, but the bad weather caused that trip to be canceled. So, I took a cruise and paid for $50 4-hour tour of the city instead. The tour included a visit to a chocolate shop, a cigar shop, and other souvenir spots. It was underwhelming, and I don’t recommend it.
I later took a tour of my own and found better spots in the city. I also took a $30 massage at Edith Salon, and I can definitely recommend their service.
Do note that compared to Santo Domingo and Punta Cana, Puerto Plata is underdeveloped.
San Juan, Puerto Rico - port of call 2
Our second stop was San Juan, Puerto Rico. This was a nostalgic moment for me as I was visiting Puerto Rico again a decade later. The city still looks the same, an old Spanish-style colonial town.
We took a walking tour of Old San Juan, which included Salsa lessons as well.
Saint Thomas, US Virgin Islands - port of call 3
Saint Thomas was the most underwhelming stop of our tour. Everything is expensive; however, there is very little of value. So, if you want to skip a stop, this is the one.
I did a $38 2-hour tour of the island that takes you to the highest drivable point on the island to drink rum. It was underwhelming because there isn’t much to see in Saint Thomas. You can also do a sky ride instead. Either one of these is sufficient. One can take a boat to reach the other islands, like St. John, but there is a risk of missing the cruise ship.
St. John’s, Antigua and Barbuda - port of call 4
We took a 5-hour tour of Antigua and Barbuda with Gordon for $75 per person. The tour guide was pretty good. I will definitely recommend Gordon, but the island is a bit underwhelming.
The island is underdeveloped and generates income via tourism. There were great spots on the island to see.
Basseterre, St. Kitts and Nevis - port of call 5
I decided to do the Mt. Liamguia hike here.
While one can do this hike solo, reaching the starting point of the hike is hard. And you will spend $50 round-trip on a taxi for that. You can instead do a guided tour for $75 instead or contact Marle directly.
The hike is exhausting. The temperature and humidity are both high, and I won’t recommend it unless you are in good shape. It only takes about 2 hours to reach the highest accessible point, slightly below the inaccessible crater top. Overall, we finished the hike in about ~5.5 hours. The only advantage of coming solo is that you would be able to descend into the crater.
Afterward, I checked out the city. Like Antigua, it is an underdeveloped island.
Philipsburg, Sint Maarten - port of call 6
Sint Maarten (Dutch) and Saint Martin (French) are two parts of the same island. There is no border crossing between the two. And it is the smallest island in the world shared by two different countries.
We did a 5-hour $65 per person tour with Bernard here; You can find his contact details here. This was the best tour of our whole trip. Partly because this was one of the best islands of the trip, and partly because the tour guide had a perfect setup with an AC bus, free drinks, and used a microphone. The guide knew that the roads get congested and takes clever shortcuts to get everyone back to the ship on time. I would highly recommend this tour.
We stopped along the way to visit various scenic stops on the island.
The beach was gorgeous, and we enjoyed swimming there.
Our final stop was the airstrip next to the beach.
Afterward, we took a walk in Philipsburg. It is a fairly beautiful city.
Tortola, British Virgin Islands - port of call 7
The ship docks at 6 AM and leaves at 1 PM. And in this short window, I wanted to visit Virgin Goda and do Baths National Park. Be warned that compared to national parks of the American southwest, Bath National Park is underwhelming.
I took $20 RoadTown Fast Ferry that left at 7:15 AM from Tortola to Anegada via Virgin Gorda. From Virgin Goda ferry terminal, I hitchhiked to Bath’s National Park. One advantage of taking the early ferry is that I reached 8:05 AM without any tourists, and even the ticketing office wasn’t open at that time. While others arrived at 8:45 AM, I finished my trip to Bath National Park by 9:45 AM and took a $20 early ferry back at 10:00 AM to Tortola. A round-trip ferry with the same ferry company (including transport to Bath) is $40, so one ends up paying only slightly more for a much better travel experience.
Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas - port of call 8
Norwegian Cruise Line’s private island in the Bahamas felt similar to how it was 7 years back.
We felt nostalgia for sure.
On ship entertainment
- The Mentalist show is awesome
- Comedy shows were underwhelming
- Ropes experience was similar to Norwegian Breakaway
Note
- We used a Maya Mobile SIM card, and that covered us even on Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas.
Shrinkflation
- The effect of shrinkflation was palpable. In 2017, during our first cruise with Norwegian Cruise Line, we got free spa access with a Balcony suite. That’s no longer the case. Everyone has to buy the spa access explicitly now.
- Another effect of shrinkflation is Tap water. 7 years back, it was fine to drink it. Now, they recommend not to do it. And you can see a long line of passengers on the top deck at night, filling water bottles. I recommend carrying a hydration pack.
- The buffet no longer runs 24 hours. It closes at 10 PM. So, if you are a vegetarian/vegan, you are out of luck till the next morning.