We are at sea today, heading towards the beautiful Caribbean island of Jamaica. Since my last blog, we have had 3 ports of call and as I managed to get too much sun on my skin yesterday, I decided to take shelter and give you all an update.

On our third sea day across the Atlantic, the sun finally came out and it was welcomed by all! We had been incredibly patient with the weather and that patience paid off. The open decks were busy, people were up and down the stairs with drinks and the atmosphere overall just seemed to change.

As we got closer to the Caribbean, the evenings became warmer, so I decided to pay a visit to the Beach House on sea day 4 – this used to be Oceana’s Horizon Grill in the evening. A £5 cover charge applies and you can pay extra for things like steak on a stone or the mixed-seafood kebab. The Beach House was one of my favourite dining venues on Ventura, so it’s been very nice to see it rolled out onto other ships within the P&O Cruises fleet. I went with the mushroom alfredo to start, which I followed with steak on a stone and then chocolate fudge cake. The food was delicious, although I do prefer the chips you get with the steak in The Glass House on Britannia. I will definitely be going back at least 2 more times – I need to have my chicken (or prawn) sizzler and I am desperate to try the seafood kebab.

So, moving on to our islands! Our first Caribbean stop was St Lucia. It was hot and sunny, but the occasional rouge clouds would find their way above us and leave behind some liquid sunshine. During my time in St Lucia, I had the pleasure of ‘Groovy’ and his taxi service for a few hours. We drove from the port to Pigeon Island and I had a walk along the small beach. At this point, the sun was right above us and it was just too hot for me to even think about doing the hike to the top of the hill. Next, we drove to Rodney Bay where we left the car and took a walk from one end of the beach to the other. It was perfect! It’s been 4 years since I last had the blessing of a Caribbean beach and I was definitely in my element. Right at the far left side of the beach there was a small wooden hut where they were playing steel drums and cooking local food, if I remember rightly it was called Marie’s – it’s definitely worth checking out! If you want ideas on what to do in St Lucia, then check-out the St Lucia Tourism Board website.

St Kitts was next and my day here didn’t quite go to plan, but it was still fun. The original itinerary was to visit South Frigate Bay beach and enjoy the bars and atmosphere, however, it rained on and off for most of the day, so that stopped me in my tracks. Instead, I jumped on the shuttle bus to Port Zante and enjoyed a few hours looking in the shops then stopped for a Caribe beer. I also found0 a local food hut and devoured a chicken roti and passion fruit juice – it was SO good! Had the roti not been so big, I would have returned for more!

My day in Tortola was also thrown off course, but only briefly. I had booked a tour to Jost Van Dyke, it was one of the places I was most looking forward to going as I had never been there before, but unfortunately Mother Nature was not on our side and the tour was cancelled because of strong winds. I left the ship and started walking into town then decided a morning of endless wandering just wasn’t going to fulfil my visit there, so I went back to the ship, changed my clothes and then grabbed a taxi to Cane Garden Bay. I was incredibly glad that I did decide to do that as the sun came out and it turned into the perfect beach day – sometimes you just have to go with your gut instinct. I had visited Cane Garden very briefly on an island tour the last time I was in Tortola, so maybe going back yesterday was meant to be.

Today, we have had non-stop hot sunshine and the open decks have been alive with people enjoying the sun and then cooling off in the pools. I love sea days like this one and they are made even better when I can roll out of my bed and enjoy fresh sea air before I even leave the cabin. It really has been so good having a balcony cabin on this cruise.

I will update you all on my travels very soon, we have 3 ports in a row coming up – Montego Bay, Grand Cayman and Cozumel – so give me a few days and I will be right back! 😉