White Sand Beach Villas

Our Star Clippers cruise adventure has begun!

Yesterday, the eight of us flew to Barbados and we all arrived safely, with all of our luggage, within a couple of hours of each other. As we came from San Diego, Michigan and Florida, that was pretty remarkable.

Our living area

On this trip with us are several relatives. There are our daughter Paula Palazzolo and her husband Sam, my sister Beth Brewer and her partner Tim Wilbur, my husband’s brother Carl Janssens and his wife Vicki, and Chet and I. Oh yes, and Bob, the traveling SATW bear is with us, too. So it is going to be a fun group.

We had decided to come into Barbados a couple of days early so that we could all “decompress” a bit for beginning our cruise. So we booked two nights at the White Sands Beach Villas (www.wsbvillas.com) in St. Lawrence Gap and are we pleased! The units are luxurious and are located right on the beach. I mean, right on the beach…how perfect. I have already been swimming twice today.

The view off our terrace

We came upon this place when we were seeking alternatives to the very expensive hotel rooms in Barbados (single rooms in season often cost $400 and up per night). We discovered that two couples sharing the expense of a condo was a much better deal. We have big balconies overlooking the beach, large living areas with flat-screen TVs, fully appointed kitchens with granite counters and nice bathrooms.

There is also free wireless internet, a lovely swimming pool and free local phone calls. It is really a nice way for a group to be able to socialize together.

Because these villas are only a couple of years old (there are only 22 units in the building), they are not well known. So to boost their rentals, they are now listed with hotels.com, Expedia and soon with Travelocity. You can also book directly through their website.

We also really enjoy being in the small, funky community of St. Lawrence Gap where we can walk to lots of shops, markets and restaurants. Tomorrow I will post more about this fun little area that is reminiscent of Key West.

Our stay in Barbados is all too brief, but we have been enjoying the small community of St. Lawrence Gap where we are staying. The main road through “The Gap,” as the locals refer to it, is only about a mile and a half long so everything here is accessible on foot.

All beaches in Barbados are open to the public and there are many small access points if you search for them. But many folks head directly to Dover Beach which offers a nice swimming area and amenities such as water sports rentals and umbrellas and lounge chairs.

Dover Beach

This area is diverse: There are a number of hotels and villas, both luxury and simple. Probably the biggest property here is the Divi Southwinds, but there is also the Turtle Beach Resort . There is an all-inclusive called the Escape at the Gap, and an upscale property called the Southern Palms Beach Club & Resort Hotel. There is also a new large condo complex called Sapphire Beach with units for sale. Eight of our units here at White Sands Beach Villas are also on the market (www.wsbvillas.com).

There is an array of little shops, all brightly painted, and reminiscent of Key West. My sister Beth and I must have inherited our mother’s shopping genes because yesterday she and I visited every one of those little shops. Most just sold beach gear and were not too impressive. I also paid way too much for a tee-shirt in one shop, only to find it for $5 less at the next one.

The nicest shop by far is called Best of Barbados and it is in the Southern Palms Beach Club. It features a very nice selection of island items, including books and toiletries. It is well worth a visit.

What The Gap is best known for all over the island, however, is its great restaurants. There are about 15 restaurants in this area. At the luxe end there is Pisces seafood restaurant, Josef’s and the Brazilian Steakhouse. More moderately priced is Bellini’s Trattoria, the Café Sol (Mexican) and Sweet Potatoes. Most of these are located at the northwestern end of the Gap. At the other end, there is Luigi’s.

Reminiscent of Key West

For breakfast or lunch, we recommend Happy Days in the Chattel House Village. We enjoyed dinner at Bellini’s (right on the water) and at the St. Lawrence Steak House and Pizza Hut (funny name but moderately priced food). We would not recommend eating at the Red Rock Café (breakfast took two hours and was totally unremarkable).

There are also a couple of nightclubs here, mostly featuring reggae music.

If you are planning a visit to Barbados I would definitely recommend staying in The Gap. It is tourist-friendly (cabs are readily available if you want a tour to to travel elsewhere on the island) and while prices are high like most everywhere else here, you can find cheaper places to eat and you can find local dishes (like flying fish with macaroni and cheese, called “Fish and Coco” readily available.

There is also a church, right on the water. I believe that the Church of St. Lawrence is Anglican (as Barbados is a British island) but it would be pleasant to attend services here.

You can download a fun map of St. Lawrence Gap at www.barbados.org.

This afternoon we head to the pier to board the Royal Clipper.

Photos by Chet and Cindy Janssens

Jan. 16-17: Our Royal Clipper adventure begins

On Saturday, we headed to the cruise terminal at 1:30 p.m. because we had to be out of our condos by then. Thus, we were at the pier two hours before boarding at 4 p.m.

The Royal Clipper

However, Barbados has a lively cruise port with an array of shops that pretty much kept us busy in the interim. We even managed to get a quick lunch at a snack bar.

Boarding went very smoothly and most of us boarded in the first group at 4 p.m. We were very please to discover that our cabin, C-241, was a tad larger than others because it is situated around a stairwell…thus, we had two closets. The cabins on board the Royal Clipper in general are tight but serviceable. There are two twin beds which can be pushed together to make a queen, a vanity with stool, small TV and good-sized bathroom.

The Royal Clipper is quite lovely in its furnishings. There is dark wood in most places set off with brass that they keep bright. The decks are teak. There are many paintings around, most of a seafaring theme.

Our first evening is quiet as most passengers are tired from traveling. So there is a short briefing, dinner and most head off to bed.

Our first day we sailed to St. Lucia, where we anchored at noon in Rodney Bay. Most in our group reported that they slept restlessly, not used to the rocking of a sailboat. This morning we had the required fire drill and then the captain and officers introduced themselves. This process was more fun than usual, because each of them made some personal comments…including Mariano, the marine biologist, introducing himself as the “token Italian” in the crew.

Our cruise director Ximena gives a short briefing about St. Lucia, explaining the history of the island and that our passengers have three options: They can go on a shore excursion (sign up in advance, of course), or take a tender to the marina or take a tender to the beach for water activities.

Our group splits up. Beth and Tim are the most resourceful. They go into the marina on the first tender and hire a cab for a short tour of the island. Paula, Chet and I go into the marina a bit later, but discover the few shops there are closed (except for an art gallery which featured some excellent, and very expensive, work). So we have a round of Piton beers and head back to the ship. The Rodney Bay marina is very modern and full of very expensive boats and so we have a chance to take a look at these.

A wedding: Liv Nilssen and Luke Miller

Sam and Vicki opt to stay aboard and she does a set of very clever watercolor sketches. Carl goes to the beach for a snorkeling trip led by Mariano which turned out to be quite arduous and “not worth it.” The water was murky and the surf was rough. Visibility was poor and it was a long walk back to where they started.

Later in the afternoon, we gals are thrilled to discover that there is going to be a wedding…and a 5 o’clock sharp the captain married Luke Miller and Liv Nilssen from San Francisco on the bridge. Although we couldn’t see the brief sunset ceremony from where we were, we were able to applaud the glowing couple after. Their wedding was followed by a private reception in the library. At dinner, their group was seated at a long table in the middle of the room under a canopy that included her wedding bouquet. They were serenaded by a crew member and their wedding cake was in the center of the table, so it seemed like we were all at the party. It was lovely to behold.

Tired from a full day of sea and sun, our eightsome retired after dinner…not opting to stay up for a fashion show from the ship’s shop and dancing on deck.

January 18: The island of Dominica

Our second day aboard the Royal Clipper, flagship of Star Clippers, we visited the small island of Dominica. However, we did not anchor until noon so we had a restful morning at sea.

While many just read and napped in chaises, others were busier. A group of six or so were taking scuba lessons in the pool. Others opted to climb the mast to the first crow’s nest. Still others climbed into the netting at the bow of the boat so they could ride above the waves. The ship is full, with 208 passengers on board.

My husband Chet and son-in-law Sam were among the hardy group that met with the marine biologist Mariano at 6 a.m. on the bridge to look for whales (which migrate through here at this time of year). They were unsuccessful, however the group that went on the whale-watching shore excursion later in the day reported seeing a pod of some 20 pilot whales and three sperm whales.

Other shore excursions included tubing down a river and touring the island. Those who did not take formal tours had two choices, one was to tender over to the nearby national park where they could walk to a fort and take a short walk through the jungle. My sister Beth and Tim opted for this and enjoyed it.

The other option was to tender to the beach (black volcanic sand) where they could participate in beach activities (wind-surfing, sailing, water-skiing, kayaking) or take a 20-minute walk into “town.” Chet and I opted to walk to town and went about ¾ of the way. There was not much to see but a good way to stretch our legs.

Others in our family made this walk about an hour later and were accosted by beggars, which was not a pleasure, to say the least.

Back on the ship, we had a spectacular sail-away with perfect light for photos. As usual, they played the theme from “1776” by Vangelis (this is our fourth cruise on Star Clippers, and every sail-away is to this music). After sundown, Captain Vlad gave a short talk on the history of pirates and Mariano gave a talk on marine mammals.

The theme this evening was pirates, so the crew was dressed in costume although not many passengers followed suit. After dinner, the evening entertainment was crab races.. live crabs are put in a circle and you bet on them by number. The first crab to reach the outer edge of the circle wins. I only know that No. 8, called “Jack Sparrow,” won the first race. We had lost our money so we went to bed.

All in all, it was a leisurely day. Tomorrow we will be in Antigua where a full schedule of activities is planned, including a beach barbeque.

Note: This blog posting is a day late because the Internet connection was out all day yesterday in Antigua. Internet is a bit problematic on these ships because of irregular connections. Also, you have to buy Internet minutes (12 Euros for an hour). However, there are two computers on board for passenger use.

The Royal Clipper under full sail

Jan. 19-20: Antigua and St. Kitts

The past two days have passed very swiftly on the Royal Clipper. On Tuesday, we were on the island of Antigua. As usual, we anchored away from the city center (St. John) at Falmouth Harbour. What this means for passengers is that when you go ashore, you really won’t find much except for a few small stores and restaurants which cater to yachtsmen.

As usual, the ship ran two tenders: One to the marina and one to the beach. Chet and I first visited the marina and then walked about 20 minutes to the Pigeon Point beach where the ship held a  barbeque for lunch. We then spent a couple of hours swimming and snorkeling from the beach.

That evening’s entertainment was a steel drum band from the island and so the party was festive. (Little did we know of the tragedy that had already occurred.)

Yesterday we visited the small island of St. Kitt’s. Chet and I opted to take a shore excursion here, a trip on the St. Kitt’s Island Railway. This company began seven years ago. It renovated an old sugar train that now takes visitors on an informative trip ¾ of the way around the island and then completes the circuit by bus.

We enjoyed this excursion as it gave an in-depth view of the island. The capital of Basseterre has greatly expanded in recent years. A land reclamation project has enabled them to build a new cruise terminal area called Ponte Zante with many upscale shops.

After dropping us off for excursions in the morning, the Royal Clipper moved to another part of St. Kitt’s for our time on the beach. Paula and Carl reported very good snorkeling from this beach.

However, all of this was overshadowed by…

On Wednesday morning, just before our shore excursion, we learned that a tragedy occurred late the day before on Antigua. A passenger from our ship was found killed on the beach at about 5 p.m. (not the part of beach that our group was on). The young woman had last been seen at 3:30 p.m. after being part of a snorkeling group. Of course, we do not know who perpetrated the crime and the ship was in no way connected to this reprehensible act.

Her family disembarked the ship that night and sailing was delayed by several hours. Word spread quickly through the ship  about the crime although few specific details were known until later in the day. Just before dinner an announcement was made that a family had disembarked because one of their party was missing and asked that any passengers with information should report it to the police. Then we were asked for a moment of silence. All in our group felt that the ship’s officials should have been more forthcoming.

Since then she has been identified as Nina Elizabeth Nilssen, age 30, of New Mexico. What is especially tragic is that she is the sister of  Liv Nilssen, who was married onboard on Sunday, and was part of the wedding party. She was found partially clothed and was stabbed in the neck. An autopsy showed she died of exsanguination. No one has been apprehended as of yet, according to local Antigua newspapers.

I think that this incident reinforces a fact of travel that we should never forget. That crime exists everywhere, be it Palm Beach, Thailand, Easter Island or a Caribbean island and we should always be mindful of our personal safety. We should always travel with another person and not go off with people we do not know. This is just so sad.

In my next post, I will discuss how the matter was handled (or, rather, not handled) on board the ship.

On a more uplifting note: Last evening the ship sailed at 5 p.m. and passengers were given the opportunity to board a tender to go out and take pictures of the ship under full sail. So at the top of this posting is a lovely photo taken by Chet.

Star Clippers announced today that is dropping calls in Antigua in the wake of last week’s murder of one of its passengers on the island.

The sailing ship line says it will substitute the Caribbean island of Nevis on upcoming itineraries of the 227-passenger Royal Clipper. The ship normally calls in Antigua every two weeks.

“Star Clippers has called at Antigua for many years without incident, and with its long sailing and yacht history, the island has always been a popular destination with our guests,” Star Clippers CEO Mikael Krafft said in a statement. “We are taking this decision after much deliberation, and we will continue to monitor the security situation in Antigua and evaluate our options for next winter season regarding returning to the island.”

As most of you know, I was on the sailing when Nina was murdered. I have been following the case very closely and unfortunately no one has been arrested yet. I believe Star Clippers is making a smart decision.

Police in Antigua have arrested a 24-year-old fisherman man as a suspect in the Jan. 19 killing of a cruise ship passenger visiting the island. The woman, Nina Elisabeth Nilssen of San Francisco, was sailing aboard the Royal Clipper as part of her sister’s wedding party. Her murder was first reported in this blog as I was on the same cruise.

The Associated Press quotes police as saying Tishara Daniel, a native of Dominica who has been living in Antigua for several years, confessed to killing  Nilssen, 29, on a trail just off the island’s famed Pigeon Point Beach. The police say Daniel had Nilssen’s camera in his possession when arrested.

The Antigua Sun has reported Nilssen’s body was found with a stab wound to the neck and partially unclothed. Police say they have recovered what they believe was the knife used in the crime.   Police said there was no indication that Nilssen had any association with the suspect.  They don’t know why she was targete

Named one of the “world’s sexiest” beaches in 2007 by Conde Nast’s Concierge.com, Pigeon Point is popular with tourists visiting the island. It is near swanky Falmouth Harbor, where many large yachts are moored.

The Royal Clipper visited the island bi-weekly and always held a barbeque for passengers on this beach. The parent company, Star Clippers, has announced that it will be replacing Antigua with the island of Nevis for the balance of this cruise season.

The past ten days or so have been tumultuous as I have been writing about the murder of one of the passengers on the ship I was traveling on. It had to be reported, of course, but it did sidetrack me from writing about the cruise.

So, I hope to wrap up that topic today and then write some more about the cruise itself. A suspect has been arrested in the murder and Star Clippers has decided not to visit Antigua again this season, so…

Let’s talk about how the issue was handled  on board the ship.

The body of 29-year-old Nina Nilssen was found at about 5 p.m. near the Pigeon Point Beach on Antigua on Tuesday, Jan. 19, and her family onboard did not discover that she was missing until around 11 p.m. (she was part of a large wedding party and everyone thought she was with someone else, I think)…anyway, the immediate family departed the ship that night and we sailed for St. Kitts about 3 a.m.

It has taken some days for me to collect my thoughts about all of this, but here are some of the problems with the way it was handled on board.

1. The crew blabbed. Most of them did not find out until early morning and, according to one, they were “freaked.” After all, they visit Antigua regularly and hold a barbeque on that beach. I do not think they were formally informed by the ship’s officers, but rather learned it through the rumor mill…which was in overdrive. The problem was that they started telling all the passengers and their information was inaccurate.

The first version I heard, as I was about to board the tender the next morning for St. Kitts, was passed on from a member of the deck crew. It was that the woman killed was brutally mauled with a broken beer bottle and that she was a member of a 25th wedding anniversary party. Both of those facts were wrong, as we later learned. But they certainly scared everyone.

I believe that the crew should have been gathered together early in the morning and given some basic facts by the ship’s officers and then told to not discuss it with passengers. They should have been told who to refer passengers to for information.

2. No one was giving out any formal information. It appeared that the ship’s officers were stymied by the situation and they were reluctant to talk with passengers. However, on a small ship news travels fast.  This just fueled the rumor mill. Early that afternoon, I heard through another passenger, who had lunched with the chief engineer, that the woman killed was the sister of the bride that I had written about earlier in the week. This, of course, increased our horror as we had all shared the joy of the wedding party. This information, regretfully, was true.

3. The police form. When we returned to the ship from the morning shore excursions there was a printed form in our cabins from the Royal Police Force on Antigua and Barbuda which stated that it was “investigating a homicide…” that “the offender might have been captured in tourist photographs” and asked us to review our photographs for anyone fitting a certain physical description.

This confirmed for all of us that indeed there had been a murder but there was no information about the victim. No information was given to us about this from the ship.

4. Finally, a reluctant confirmation. About 4 p.m., I finally managed to talk with the cruise director. I told her that there were all sorts of rumors swirling around the ship and suggested they gather the passengers together and give them some facts.

She did confirm for me that the sister of the bride was the woman who was killed (although I did not know her name at that time), and that the family had disembarked the night before. She noted, with some surprise, that the last time the girl was seen was 3:30 p.m. That is all she told me but it was enough for me to post it in this blog. I could not ignore the fact that this kind of tragedy had occurred.

5. A cryptic announcement. Just before dinner Wednesday an announcement was made that a family had disembarked because one of their party was missing and asked that any passengers with information should report it to the police. Then we were asked for a moment of silence. This was just plain weird, and more evidence of the officers avoiding the issue.

Again, I believe they should have called all passengers together and confirmed the basic facts because for the next three days on ship it was just about all the passengers were talking about. Everyone was trying to figure out exactly what happened, how it happened and what the timeline was.

As my sister-in-law, who has a background in psychology, explained: We were all trying to process what happened. This tragedy struck very close to us. We had all been on that beach, with that woman, just a couple of hours before she was murdered. And we felt close to that family, as we saw them all celebrating the marriage of their older daughter.

6. We sailed away in the dead of night. Over the next few days, this was the issue that most concerned many of the passengers…that we had sailed away, leaving a grieving family behind. Many felt we should have stayed in Antigua at least one more day in case we could have assisted the police investigation in any meaningful way. Perhaps a police official could have come on board to answer passenger questions.

To be fair to the cruise company, Star Clippers, the murder was not their fault. This was our late night in port, so they had no way of knowing a passenger was missing. However, we received no specific warnings about being safe on shore, never being alone, etc. but most passengers are fairly well traveled and, hey, this kind of thing had never happened before.

There really seemed no one on board who was capable of making the appropriate decisions. Both the captain and the cruise director were quite young. And, frankly, the captain’s English was so difficult to understand that he would not have been an effective communicator in this instance. The hotel director seemed the most mature person, but he never spoke to the passengers in any official capacity, although this might have been the time to bring him forward.

What should they have done? Perhaps flown in some official from either the company or its public relations firm to talk to the passengers.

I gather that the family of Nina was very well treated by the cruise line, the cruise agent and people on Antigua, according to their travel agent. And part of the confusion as to what to do about the passengers on board might have occurred because the travel agent apparently asked that the matter be kept private. But that whole idea was misguided.

The next few days on board were still pleasurable for many. Actually, the majority of the wedding party was still on board, but this event did overshadow much of the discussion. However, the ship’s officers just carried on like usual, as if nothing had happened and I think that was wrong to ignore passenger concerns and anxieties.

I had thought we might hear from the company after our return, in the form of an email or letter, but so far we have received nothing.

Again, I want to express my condolences to the Nilssen family.