caribbean cruise


H. bihai, Vermillion Lake Andromeda Garden,Barbados	Unidentified Ginger, Andromeda Garden,Barbados	H. metallica Red Andromeda Garden,Barbados


Piton Pints, St. Lucia	Baths, Virgen Gorda, BVI

Celeste and Carmen in front of Dawn Princess	View from Paradise Point, San Thomas,USVI

Dawn Princess	Dawn Princess

Jeff, Endre & Luis in Andromeda Garden, Bar.	Endre, Carmen, Ellen & Henrik in San Thomas

On Sunday, October 26, Carmen and Luis Vega, Celeste and I performed the ultimate sacrifice in the service of our beloved HSI

1. Go on a Crash Diet. We planned to lose a total of forty pounds in 7 days, 10 pounds each.

3. Meet the people on the Caribbean islands who can help us next year to make the Post Conference Caribbean Cruise more enjoyable for HSI members

4. Find out if the cruise ship is a fun place to be while being transported to the islands.

It was a great sacrifice, but what had to be done had to be done. So the four of us selflessly volunteered for the monumental task of this weight reducing ordeal.

After a sumptuous buffet, which was a little richer than we formerly planned, I had no choice but try all five of the pastries to find out if they really tasted as good as they looked. To my astonishment and chagrin they did. At this point I started to wonder if a Caribbean Cruise Ship is really the ideal place for a crash diet.

I did not say anything to the maitre d' about our secret mission, but I am sure somehow he found out, because he treated us with utmost courtesy and he assigned for the four of us a private table next to a window in the formal dining room.

I am also sure that he selected specifically for us only, a very beautiful Serbian waitress, Valentina, who spoke perfect Spanish and English, and a Philippine head waiter, John, who, I am sure, was secretly instructed to fulfill our smallest whims. I tested him and challenged his patience on various occasions by changing the sauce on the shrimp coctail, by ordering two soups; one cold piña colada soup, that was hatefully delicious, and one mushroom soup. Of course I was obliged to order two desserts, one with berries (raspberries, strawberries, blueberries), and an apple strudle. Of course we were sure that the extraordinarily delicious, irresistible, marvelous food was only for the first day, and the second day we will start our long overdue diet, which was our first motive to endure this cruise.

After supper came the safety drill. We sat comfortably, all 700 of us, in one of the large rooms, where they had their shows at night, and we were shown how to put on our life jackets. In 15 minutes we were done.

After a very witty and entertaining comedian-magic show came a singing and dancing show. To our delight the singer sang Ricky Martin hits.

We left San Juan harbour at 11:00 PM. The breath taking view from the ocean of the indirectly lit Morro Fortress was really spectacular. As the faint lights of the shore of San Juan blended into the horizon we left the open deck and the star-lit skies and went back inside the ship to one of the dance halls where a three musician orchestra and a Philippine songstress created a great latin mood for our dancing pleasure. Being fantastic dancers, Carmen and Luis stole the show.

So the first day was not such a large sacrifice as we had anticipated and dreaded. We were determined and ready to endure the performance of our duty for the remainder of the cruise.

As the cruise progressed, and we hopped from island to island, Barbados, St. Lucia, San Martin, Tortola and San Thomas, we realized our horrendous error of judgement and finally had no choice but to conclude that a Caribbean Cruise is not the optimal place for a crash diet. The Peking Duck, Alaskan King Crab, Roast Lamb, Lobster Tail, Roast Beef, Roast Turkey, Cornished Hen, Salmon, Escargot, Frogs Legs, Baked Alaska, etc., did not aid our will power to obtain a slim figure in seven days.

On the second day, spent on open sea, Luis and I dedicated our free time, when not dining, or enjoying the shows or dancing, to design a system of Heliconia Cultivation classes.

There were two excellent shows each night, at 8:30 and at 10:30 p.m., with comedians, magicians, singers, dancers and jugglers. With these shows, I fulfilled my quota of wife maintenance for the rest of the year.

During one of the shows, Peter Fernandez, a latin singer of Cuban and Spanish extraction sang songs from all over the world. After singing a beloved song by Puertorricans, "En Mi Viejo San Juan", he descended among the audience to search for candidates to sing along with him. He noticed Carmen and said "there is a lively one". He proceeded to give Carmen the microphone and she stole the show again by singing extremely well, in a steady melodious voice, completely uninhibited. The singer, obviously very pleasantly surprised at her remarkable performance, complimented Carmen's singing. During the tremendous applause of the audience a voice was heard saying "and she dances too." It was Celeste putting her two cents worth, to which the singer retorted : "and she brought along her agent too".

There was one more noteworthy incident with Celeste's participation. The favorite word of our head waiter, John, was "excellent". We wondered if it would be a not so subliminal suggestion to affect the word to use at our final evaluation indicating our satisfaction with the crew's service. Whatever we said, he responded "excellent!" When he asked how did we like one particular dish we all responded obediently in chorus "excellent!". The only disident voice was that of Celeste who said "It was Good!" That made John very nervous and worried since in the final written evaluation by the passengers the only word which counts is "excellent". Good is not good enough. Luis, Carmen and I declared our love and loyalty to him and said that we will answer to all questions with "Excellent!" He believed us, but he wanted to make sure that Celeste will close ranks with the rest of us. Celeste took her evaluation task very seriously. She wanted to be objective and fair. So the last night, when we had the King Crab Legs and Baked Alaska, John, our unfortunate waiter accidentally dropped the Baked Alaska on no other than Celeste's lap. The three of us found it very amusing, being that Celeste was the only person in our table who was not thourougly brainwashed to say "Excellent!" to all questions. Now we thought poor John really blew it. But to our astonishment and surprise after this incident finally Celeste also declared her love to John by saying: "Don't worry I will still answer 'Excellent!' to all questions". And she actually did. So this little shipboard drama had a happy ending after all. We were happy about the final outcome because the service was really excellent!

We visited four Botanical Gardens: Andromeda Gardens in Barbados, Diamond botanical gardens in St. Lucia, a small botanical garden in Tortola, BVI in close association with the Royal Botanical Garden in Kew, England and the St. Peter Great House botanical garden in San Thomas, USVI.

The heliconia collections were not as extensive as in Hawaii or even Puerto Rico but the landscaping was exquisite in all four gardens.

The most varied heliconia collection was to be found in Andromeda Gardens, where Jeff Chandler, HSI member and a dear old friend of ours took us around. He will come to Puerto Rico in 2004 and will present a paper also. Here we saw, in full bloom, various magnificent Caribbean hybrids, platystachys, two varieties of rostratas, two varieties af metallica Red, Nickeriensis Yellow, a very beautiful latispatha Red, latispatha Distans, Vermillion Lake, mariae, indica Spectabilis, among others.

I am ashamed to say it, and openly admit my treason, but the plant that most caught my attention was not a heliconia... but horrors... it was a small beautiful very intensely red ginger. I will shortly place its photo on the HSI Conference 2004 web site, home.coqui.net/tciendre. Please visit it.

Jeff promised me that he will talk to three persons from Barbados to join HSI. He also suggested to contact the University of the West Indies in Barbados, where he works, to solicit their cooperation during our visit next year.

In St. Lucia, the home of the two Piton Points, unfortunately we could only see one of the two botanical gardens, the Diamond botanical gardens. This was probably the most tastefully landscaped of all gardens that we visited. They had a nice water fall. They also showed us how they prepare their soil mix in which they grow their extremely healthy looking, strikingly magnificent heliconias. They use the outer soft layer of the coconut shells to keep the soil in place around the large heliconia clumps. It is beautiful, neat, effective and when decomposed serves as nutrients.

Here we saw in bloom collinsianas, rostratas, many many magnificent Red caribaeas, Golden Torches, Nickeriensis, Jaquiniis. They used very effectively and tastefully Creppe Gingers for landscaping.

I contacted on the phone the manager of the garden so that next year she can assist us when we visit her garden.

In Tortola, I visited the garden alone because Carmen and Luis went to spend the day at the Baths in Virgen Gorda, a must experience site. Here I saw some psittacorums in bloom. I talked to the curator, and invited him to join HSI and to come to Puerto Rico in 2004.

In San Thomas we were received by Ellen Higgins, HSI member and our dear friend, and her fiance, Henrik. They were very kind and took us around many interesting sites.

First we visited Bryans Plants & Garden Supplies. Its owners are establishing a new botanical garden called Villa Botanica. Hopefully it will be open to the public by August 2004. The owner promised to join HSI and wants to come to Puerto Rico in 2004.

Then we went to St. Peter Great House Botanical Garden. Here we saw in bloom lot of Nickeriensis and Alpinia Purpurata (Red Ginger). We talked to the director. Invited him to join HSI and to come to Puerto Rico in 2004. He will come if the owner authorizes him.

We also visited Montain Top, a tourist attraction, where they invented the Banana Daiquiri 50 years ago. We tasted it. It was really superb.

Then we visited Paradise Point, where the funicular ends. In all of these sites the view is just plainly spectacular. You have to see it to believe it!

In conclusion, if you have never been on a Caribbean Cruise, then you can not say that you know what the good life is all about. This is your opportunity to find out about it! Don't count on losing weight though. The gardens and the sites you will see are unforgettable and the cruise ship crew will spoil you and make you feel better than you have ever felt before. So join us with the HSI Post Conference Tour on a Caribbean Cruise Liner in August 2004! We need to know if you are considering it or not.