Carnival Triumph Day 3: St. Kitts

St. Kitts is the only port (other than Galveston) that is new to both of us. We decided to take a tour for an overview of the island. When it turned out to be a overcast, windy day that reinforced our decision.

Before breakfast, I joined my sister in the deck 10 smoking area. It has really nice outdoor furniture and I even enjoyed sitting there as long as I stayed upwind of the smoke.

After breakfast (I can’t remember where) we got off the ship pretty quickly and found the port area was a typical shopping plaza type setup with the usual suspects (Diamonds International, etc.). We walked through and found a flea market that did have a couple of local artisans.

One of the St. Kitts ornaments on my tree

I bought three hand-painted gourd pieces; two are ornaments and the other is a magnet. We then went back to a coffee shop where my sister had another cup of joe and we both used the free WiFi code with purchase.

We were looking for a particular tour company Sister T had read about but they weren’t at the port that morning. So, we booked with one guy and killed an hour waiting for the tour time of 10:30 am. I believe the price was $35 and it included three stops plus drinks.

The bus with our guide, David, at one of the stops.

If you aren’t a shopper, there’s no need to rush off the ship as we found most of the independent tours weren’t starting until 10:30 am or later and there were plenty of options.

The tour started by going through Basseterre with David pointing out some highlights. Independence Square is now a park but at one time was where the slave market was held.

We passed trees with flocks of white birds.

Bloody river is the site of a massacre of Caribs in 1626 and the river ran with their blood for three days.

Nothing was running there today. We passed, schools, a university, and a hospital among other sights. I saw monkeys in the trees as well as monkeys in cages in yards or with their owners.

Our first stop was the Romney Plantation which is now a tourist site.

We had 30 minutes to explore the area but the $3 admission fee to the gardens and Caribelle Batik area was not included in our tour. I paid it so I could get access to a restroom.

When I got done taking in the sights, David was offering drinks from the back of the bus. I had rum mixed with Ting soda and it was so delicious! He also offered bottled water, local beer and sodas.

Next we headed to Timothy Hill which is the gateway to the Southeast Peninsula and a great viewpoint.

That’s the Atlantic Ocean on the left and the Caribbean sea on the right. There were vendors here and one of our tourmates bought some raw sugar cane and offered it to us.

As you can tell by my hair, it was very windy up here. It was pretty exciting coming back up this hill as you can see in the video below.

Our next stop was a resort where we could choose to stay and enjoy the beach with pick-up later. Because of the weather, we decided to just go back to the ship as did most of the people on the tour.

The Carnival Liberty was docked next to us and dwarfed the Triumph!

When we got back on the ship, we went by the Lido buffet for lunch. I had some food from Chopsticks.

We supplemented it with room service. Sister T had the veggie plate.

I ordered the first of a few BLTs consumed during the cruise. They are delicious!

We probably relaxed the rest of the afternoon reading, resting and then getting ready for elegant night.

Before leaving our cabin for the evening, I took a picture of the decor we had on the door. Decorating your door makes it easy to find the right cabin without paying close attention to the numbers. It was an inexpensive cling I found on Amazon.

I headed to the Alchemy bar for a pre-dinner beverage. It was the first time I had the snack plate which Sister T and I both enjoyed. We also tried tonight’s Taste Bar offering which was chicken tortilla soup and carnitas. Very good!

Before long it was time for our seating in the Paris dining room.

For starters I selected the tart with kale and pork tenderloin…

and the baby spinach salad.

Both were very good although the salad could have used a bit less dressing. My entree selection was the broiled lobster tail with shrimp.

It was very good. Unfortunately we had a snafu with service during this course. Sister T had ordered the spaghetti carbonara and when they served it parmesan cheese wasn’t offered. She requested it from an assistant waiter and waited… and waited. She requested it again from our head waiter but by the time it came, her sauce was congealed and not very appetizing.

The head waiter felt terrible but it still wasn’t a great way to end the evening.

For dessert I had the creme brulee.

It was very good but at this point I was pretty full and ate about half. I skipped tonight’s entertainment in favor of TV and reading. Tomorrow’s another port day!

Tonight’s towel animal was an elephant.