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Friday, August 28, 2015

Of Chocolate, Rum and Spice: Food Souvenirs of the Caribbean

It’s truly hard these days to find any real handicrafts. From Basseterre to Bridgetown, most of what we see is all the same—made in China, but stamped with a different port name.
 
What you can still get that’s unique and local is of the edible (and drinkable) kind. Food stuffs make great gifts for those you left behind—if you can bear to part with them once you get home. And if you pick up a few for yourself, it’s one way to keep the cruise going after it’s gone (for other ideas, see the posting Keeping the Cruise Going After its Gone).
 
Here’s a sampling of what you can pick up and take back from your next cruise:
 
CuraƧao: You won’t have to look far to find the island’s namesake liquor; there’s a vendor right at the pier. It’s actually made from oranges and you certainly wouldn’t guess that from its iconic blue color.

Cozumel: Vanilla, Kahlua and tequila is all locally made and excellently priced. You can get all three at the shopping plaza at the pier or in town.  
Granada: Known ‘cause it’s grown there—nutmeg, cloves, ginger, cinnamon, and cocoa. In the outdoor market (a short walk from the pier), you can buy inexpensive baskets of spices, packaged to go. There’s also fun spice necklaces you can pick up from the vendors, but be forewarned—the necklace deteriorates within 24 hours.
 
St. Maarten: Guavaberry liqueur is this island’s special concoction and national drink made from wild guavaberries (not guava). You can buy the brand name, Sint Maarten Guavaberry, or get a version of the liqueur in an attractive hand-painted bottle from many Philipsburg liquor stores.
 
Grand Cayman: The ubiquitous Tortuga rum cake made on this island makes a good gift; it’s well packaged and compact so it won’t take up much room in your luggage. It comes also in flavors like coconut and key lime. You can even sample it before you buy in a number of George Town shops.

Roatan: Honduras produces a high-end cacao bean and a husband-and-wife team have become the first on the island to make chocolate bars from the local stuff. You can buy this special chocolate with a variety of different flavors in the craft market at Mahogany Bay, Roatan’s pier used by Carnival, Princess, NCL and a few other cruise lines.
 
San Juan—and everywhere else in the Caribbean: Rum. Need I say more? So many choices, so little time! Just about every island has its own—from Jamaica (Appleton) to Barbados (Mount Gay) to Grand Cayman (Tortuga). But for me, San Juan is where it’s at—the home of Bacardi. You’ll find versions of its rum you won’t find anywhere else. A visit to the distillery is an excursion on many trips; it’s fun, but it is a bus trip away and when we went, a lengthy wait for the tour was in store.
 
A few more morsels...If you’re lucky enough to make it to St. Barts, you can pick up French products in the supermarket right on the main street—from chocolate to confiture. And Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee in, of course, Jamaica. But it won’t come cheap.

 

Saturday, August 15, 2015

Gaming for Laughs

Love and laughter on the Caribbean Princess
Marriage and mirth. How could they do that, we can’t help but wonder. And yet, they do. Cruise after cruise, there’s always couples who don’t mind—nay, they clamor—to share their inner most secrets with a hundred or so of their fellow travelers.

And, of course, we’re more than willing to listen—and laugh the whole hour through.

The “Newlywed Game”—for those of you old enough to remember—is alive and well on many ships, albeit under a different name and with some questions that would never have made it on prime time.

And what fun it is! Three couples, married for different lengths, volunteer to show us how much (or little) they know about each other. One spouse is asked a question and the other must guess what he or she answered while the rest of us watch them stumble and squirm.
In case you haven’t guessed, this is adult entertainment only. Just witness some of the questions: “What’s your wife’s bra size?” “Who among your wife’s friends or family would you least like to be stuck with on a desert island?” Where’s the most unusual place you’ve ‘done it’”?
As buzz is making this show a legend, get there early as seats go fast. It’s well worth it; guaranteed, you’ll leave with a smile on your face (and swearing to your companion you’d never be caught dead on that stage).
The show before you become the show, Quest on the Allure
On a quest for chaos. Quest is another only-for-the-grownup set. This show on a lot of ships is what can best be described as a scavenger hunt, but what you’re looking for is on the bodies sitting next to you. Which gives you an idea of what this game’s like.
Everyone—including even you, innocent bystander—breaks into teams, picks a captain and then braces for what comes next. Finding someone with a tattoo was one of the tamer ones. (Tattoos must be displayed for proof.)
This can get quite raucous, so it’s not for everyone. And definitely, leave your kids in the cabin.

Truth or consequences. The cleaner of the three game shows, “The Liar’s Club” puts three crew members up on stage to practice their poker faces on the rest of us. The emcee throws up an obscure word not part of most people’s vocabulary and the crew members each proposes a different definition. One of them is right; it’s the audience’s job to guess which one.

And while I say it’s the milder of the three shows, Liar’s Club can have its moments. It makes for great laughs and you’ll even learn some new words to impress your friends when you get back home--if you can pronounce them.

Look for all three of these game shows in your ship’s newsletter.

P.S. In my 18 cruises, the best answer to “Where’s the most unusual place you’ve ‘done it’?” Hands down, “In a casket.”

 Photos by RJ Greenburg
 

Saturday, August 1, 2015

Is a Smartphone the Smart Choice for Cruise Picture-Taking?

Smartphones seem to be the camera of choice on cruises these days. Well, why not? They’re compact, slip easily into your pocket and double as a phone, TV set, radio and game console. Photo album, calculator, mirror, flashlight…
 
In fact, smartphone cameras are so easy to use that they turn everyone instantly into a photographer. But is a smartphone the smart choice to capture and safeguard your cruise memories?
 
Cameras can be easy to use too—and give you much better results. I barely ever take mine out of the “IA” setting and have gotten some really amazing shots. IA stands for “Intelligent Auto,” which means the camera uses the intelligence the photographer clearly lacks and automatically adjusts to the conditions (e.g., a lot of light, not a lot of light). So you don’t have to do a thing but aim and shoot.

Of course, you can keep on using your smartphone as a camera. But know the downsides:
 
Tiny sensors limit what you can do. Smartphones typically have tiny sensors that let in less light. So you end up with fuzzy photos of the parades on the Oasis Promenade or acrobats in the Caribbean Princess’ piazza.
 
Wimpy flashes keep you in the dark. Smartphone flashes are minimal, so photos of your friends and family inside the ship can’t be taken from more than a few feet away. 

Hard to hold makes for shaky shots. Smartphones are very light and hard to hold steady, making it tough to get your photos crisp and clear. Throw in a little boat movement and you might as well throw in the towel.
 
When the sun comes out, the screen goes away. The smartphone’s screen washes away in bright sun. Which means you have no clue what you’re shooting.  
The RX100 is even smaller than the Galaxy III


Small zoom misses opportunities. There’s barely a zoom capability on smartphones, so you miss out on capturing Caribbean parakeets on palms over the streets of Aruba, rainbows melting into the hills of Dominica from your verandah and other in-the-moment photos.

If, at this point, I’ve succeeded at convincing you that a real camera is the way to go, how do you choose one? You’ll need to do some research, but below are a few thoughts. And note that these cameras are no bigger than a smartphone:
 

For inside the ship You’ll want something with a larger sensor, which lets in a lot of light and allows for photographing inside and up close. So, you can get great shots of family and friends, ship food, artwork and just about anything your imagination can conjure up. An example is the Sony RX100.

The RX100 captured this yummy shot on Celebrity's Constellation.
For the ports
A camera with a substantial zoom (up to 30x) is great for outdoor faraway shots, like seagulls in flight or the blue ice steeples of Alaska’s Glacier Bay from the deck. With a camera like this, you’ll find in your photos what your eyes can’t even see. You’ll want one with a viewfinder, so you know what you’re shooting, even in bright sun. And it will help you hold the camera steadier. An example is the Panasonic ZS50.  

This seagull at Princess Cays didn't know the ZS50 was pointing right at him.
A jack-of-all-trades, but not pocket-size
You can even get a camera that has it all, a “superzoom,” with a wide angle for close up, good zoom (e.g., 24x) for far away, and a viewfinder to boot. This will be bigger than a smartphone, though, but is easier to hold and much more versatile. An example is Panasonic FZ200.

To get shots like this one on Princess Cays, you'll need a bigger camera, like the FZ200.
All digital cameras today not only come with bigger sensors than a smartphone, but also image stabilization, to keep your shots steady even when your hand isn’t; and high definition video.

The right camera will open up a whole new world of exciting photo possibilities onboard and on shore. For some ideas on the cruising creativity that can be yours, see the posting Fun Ship Photography: Unleashing Your Inner Artsy-Fartsy.
 
And just what do you do with all your terrific new shots? Check out What to Do with Those Cruise Ship Photos.
 
Musing’s Top Tip: Some great sites for doing research on what camera to buy are amazon.com and http://www.dpreview.com.

Photos by RJ Greenburg