Today we arrived at Pointe Simon Cruise Pier at the foot of
downtown Fort-de-France, Martinique just ahead of Caribbean Princess. There
were 2 other big ships at the cruise terminal on the other end of town. It was
a busy day in town especially as the country is an overseas territory of France
and mostly Catholic and today is Samedi Gras, the start of carnival. As Princess was making their all aboard loudspeaker announcements, we heard that due to the spread of a GI virus onboard that they were raising their sanitation practices to Code 7. Whatever that means to them. What it means to us is rut-roh because we were quite literally bumping into, rubbing up against and sharing space with Princess tour groups for hours today!
While we haven’t been here before, it doesn’t count as a new
country because France.
We had an 8:15 am meeting time for our ship’s tour again today.
Terrace opened a ½ hour earlier today at 6:30 am. It was an early start like
yesterday, but today’s tour was only 4.5 hours instead of 8. Pasted below is a
description of our tour. We paid $126.75 non-refundable per person. It was
obviously not the same value as yesterday’s tour in Grenada. Today’s tour guide
claimed they were the only agricultural rum producer in the Caribbean because
they grow their own cane and distill from it instead of imported molasses.
Maybe as an exporter but yesterday’s River Antoine rum distillery processed
directly from locally grown cane too. Internet is down, so I have no idea what
tour description I’ll find online and I’m far too lazy to type it in from our
booklet! I can’t really compare our experience to the description then. It was
in a full-size bus for the first time I can remember. The roads were quite as
terrifying even though this is another volcanic island. This one active. OK, so we went to the church, garden, Clement's plantation. No sugar cane tasting. No banana field stop.
Port: Fort de France
Tour Length: Half-Day (Approximately 4 1/2 hours)
Tour Description
Tour a 19th-century plantation where sugarcane is still grown to produce rum.
Sample freshly cut sugarcane and several premium Clement rums.
Drop by a banana field and learn about the crop’s economic importance.
Visit a church designed as a smaller version of the glorious Sacré-Coeur Basilica in Paris.
Meander through a fecund botanical garden that was farmland a few decades ago.
Delve into some of the attractions that have come to define Martinique, including a plantation that produces rum, a historical church and Balata Garden. Following a scenic drive to the town of Le Francois, you will visit Clement’s Plantation House, a meticulously restored 19th-century residence surrounded by sugarcane, an essential ingredient in rum making. While meandering the grounds, you will be offered a taste of the cane and the spirit. You may also learn about the historical meeting here between U.S. President George Herbert Walker Bush and France’s President François Mitterand. The French influence is apparent throughout Martinique and extends into the architecture, as you will discover at Balata Church, a scaled-down version of the Sacré-Coeur Basilica in Paris. Afterwards, you will stroll the shaded paths of Balata Tropical Garden. In all likelihood, you will see exotic palms, brightly colored flamingo flowers and hummingbirds darting from bloom to bloom.
HELPFUL HINTS
Dress in weather-appropriate clothing.
Wear flat comfortable walking shoes.
PLEASE NOTE
This tour includes approximately two hours of easy to moderate walking and standing on uneven ground and a significant number of steps. The tour is not available to wheelchair guests and those with mobility concerns should evaluate their stamina and ability before joining the tour. As there are winding roads, the tour may not be suitable for those who suffer from motion sickness. The order of the sites viewed or visited may vary.
End of tour description.
We got back just in time to catch a quick lunch before Terrace
closed. Showers and rest this afternoon. There is an Oceania Club reception at
5:45 pm. We have Toscana reservations for dinner tonight. All aboard is 5:30
and sail away is 6 pm.
Tomorrow is yet another Sunday in St. John’s Antigua. We
were there 2 Sundays ago and toured out of town. But we noted going back and
forth through town that mostly everything is closed on Sundays. We hate to call
it another sea day since this cruise ends with 2 sea days before ending in
Miami on Wednesday anyway. But there it is.
Speaking of which, I failed to mention that a couple of days
ago we got our 3rd and final disembarkation form. The previous 2 had
later disembark windows and they were delayed even further when the actual day
arrived. This one said all passengers had to disembark by no later than 9 am.
That is the time we chose figuring on a 10 am pickup time from Mom and friend
Steve. We’ll wait to schedule until the night before in case they move the
times back again at the last minute as they’ve done the last 2 turnaround
nights/mornings.
Sorry this is so late there was a technical problem systewide with the ship's Internet and I didn't get online until after dinner. We went to the O Club reception at 5:45 pm as we began to sailaway. Clay ordered his Ricard on ice with water on the side from a sommelier and not a regular bar waiter tonight. He hadn't ever heard of it and rather than go to the bar with the order argued with Clay about it. I assured him it was a French liquor and it was at the bar. He left me a glass of champagne and didn't really act as though we could expect him back. By the time a 3rd bar waiter had questioned Clay's lack of a drink, he explained about the order and asked him to check with the bar if they'd gotten his order. Shortly after both waiters delivered drinks but only the bar waiter brought a glass of water. So it was a lot of booze. Clay felt bad and drank it all. He was very drunk. He had a half bottle of white wine he planned to finish with Dover sole at Toscana. After he lost his keycard (again) and almost fell out of his chair, I had to cut him off and ask the sommelier to throw out the last glass in the bottle. He has less than a half bottle of red to finish with steak at Polo tomorrow.
