Christmas Eve - Barbados
Well, it's not often we can say we were somewhere exotic twice in a year, but having been in Barbados in April, that is the case this year. In fact, as this was our third visit we've almost done it to death. Accordingly, we decided on a cool, relaxed morning in Bridgetown finishing Christmas shopping rather than trying to do any tours - and anyway, we'd done them all before (a bit blasé we know).
So, M & D walked as usual from the cruise terminal into town. This time D was not allowed to do the wholesale fish market, but since there were three other cruise ships in port already and one of the super cruisers arriving as we left MSVG, getting to the shops early was at a premium. We went in our usual route and finished on the boardwalk to the main bridge and nipped down Liverpool Lane into Cave and Richardson, Bridgetown's answer to Harrods. But actually, not a bad department store for a small Caribbean town; there are probably no small towns of this size in the UK with such a good store - but there again, apart from Alderly Edge, not such a high density of super-rich in such a small area either. We recalled this store because 5 years ago, we were amazed to be able to purchase a lens cover for M's then video machine when D had said no chance.
We got in the store by about 8.40, but did not get out until about 10.30 - so much for M not liking shopping. However, we did, more or less, complete the outstanding purchases we needed to make including some lovely local Christmas cards. One or two lucky folk will get one of these next year. On finishing at C&R we made for the cafe bar on the waterfront where we have partaken of a large glass of Barbados beer on previous occasions to repeat the exercise, meeting some friends on the way. Very relaxing sitting in front of super catamarans and pretending we were very rich! Having spent an hour doing nothing but chatting and drinking, we wandered around the Bridgetown sites briefly, revisiting the Cathedral and discovering real downtown Bridgetown where the locals were completing their Christmas shopping before we ambled back to the ship. A nice few hours - but Bridgetown is so pleasant.
Christmas Day - At Sea
Says it all, but we had a nice day -smoked Salmon and scrambled egg with Buck's Fizz for Breakfast and real fizz for noon. We had a formal dinner (turkey of course) in the evening and a Christmas show. Quite nice.
