December 24, 2023

St. George’s is the capital of Grenada, a picturesque island nation in the Caribbean. It is about 90 miles from the north coast of South America and is the first in the chain of Windward Islands. It is only 21 x 12 miles in area. With its colorful waterfront houses and bustling market, the town exudes a vibrant charm. The harbor offers stunning views and is often filled with the masts of sailing boats. We can see Fort George from our ship.

Grenada is an independent country and a member of the British Commonwealth of nations. It has a population of about 95,000. Tourism and spices are the biggest economic producers here.

It was hot and humid today and we decided to just take a walk around town.

We asked some local people if it was safe to walk through this tunnel and they said yes, but stressed that we should stay on the left side. There is no designated walking area and the cars come pretty close to you.

After our walk around town and lunch, we opted to watch Oppenheimer, or at least half of the movie since it is 3 hours long. We watched 1 1/2 hours and then Mark, Ramsay and I had a cooking class and Norm and Adam went to trivia without us. We said if they (with our teammates David and Dorothy) finished first, we were probably irrelevant!

The cooking class was fun. The subject was Mastering Heat – Unleashing Intense Flavor.

Adam and Norm came in after the class to sample. And they told us they came in first in trivia!

Because the cooking class ran from 4 – 6 pm and it was Christmas Eve, we had asked our butler, Melvin, to create a cocktail and pizza party in our room. It was a good idea for us to do that since we weren’t that hungry and we could just relax and nibble. Adam then asked Mark, Ramsay and I all of the trivia questions. I got two that they missed at the trivia game!

The show tonight was Linda Gentille – we have seen her several times before. She conducts the Jersey Shore Pops when she is not traveling and performing on cruise ships. She was as exceptional as usual and we enjoyed her fast fingers on the piano, her running commentary and much more.

After her performance, most of the ship’s crew came on stage and sang carols with the audience. Santa and the Grinch both showed up!

It was a fun Christmas Eve. Adam and I watched the officers and other staff line up for photos. Then Santa went into the General Manager’s office. Hmmmm?

Tomorrow we will be in Castries, St. Lucia. We are invited to a Moet and Chandon Tasting experience at 7 pm.