This was our second time on Antigua, but the first time that we toured almost the entire island. I must say that Antigua is impressively beautiful and fun to photograph. But before we get to that, let me tell you a little cruise secret for saving money:
It’s called Cruise Critic, and you can visit it at www.cruisecritic.com. Cruise critic is a great site where you can log on and chat with people who will be on the same upcoming cruise as you, or who have taken similar cruises to the same destinations and know all the great deals for scheduling on your own a tour once you get into port. Frequently, one or two energetic individuals will step up and take it upon themselves to put together just such a tour at a fraction of the cost that the cruise line will charge for the same service. Indeed, our Antigua tour was one such example put together by a nice lady by the name of Anna Skipworth, who hails from Australia.
Anna took reservations from upwards of around forty of us weeks before we ever set foot on the Star Princess for this voyage. For a mere $47 per person, we had a tour that started at 9:30 A.M., lasted until after 3:00 P.M., and included not only lunch and refreshments but also entry fees to Nelson’s Dockyard and other attractions. If you want to save yourself a small fortune in tour fees, Cruise Critic is a route I can highly recommend. You’ll also find information about your ship, its specialty restaurants, things to do, and other onboard services.
As you can see from today’s blog photographs, we had a rather extensive travel itinerary that included many intriguing vistas of Antigua, including the aforementioned dockyards, beaches, yachts, flora and fauna. Definitely carry spare, fully charged camera batteries and empty memory cards for an excursion such as this. I wound up taking well over a hundred photographs, and that’s just the ones I kept. I probably deleted at least half again as many.
Indeed, Antigua64 and Antigua65 are two shots I very nearly deleted because these two young ladies kept wandering into the frame. I hate it when that happens. Some people are just absolutely oblivious when it comes to a photographer trying to compose a scenic shot, thinking nothing of walking right into your carefully composed frame. Alas, in the end, I was persuaded to keep these two shots because I found the cowboy boots made an interesting and subtly contrasting statement to the rather bulky and obscuring beach attire. I guess Nancy Sinatra was right; those boots really are made for walking.
Eric Clapton fans should take locate among these photographs Antigua22 for a view of Mr. Clapton’s Antigua estate. The small structure on the left houses the estate’s servants. The large two-story structure on the right is the guest cottage. The long single story structure between those two is the estate’s primary residence.
St. Thomas will be contained in the next blog entry. And look for a review of the Star Princess’ Crown Grill restaurant, which I found to be even more impressive than the Trattoria Sabatini. Until then, here is Antigua:
Decisions — Murder in Paradise
The Globe — Murder in Luxury
R. Doug Wicker — Author 
You are SO correct about Cruise Critic . . . I’ve learned so much valuable information from their “boards” over the last couple of years. I rarely take ship-sponsored excursions anymore, as I now rely on Cruise Critic recommendations for independent tour operators (and have NEVER had a problem).
Thank you so much, Adell. It’s great to have some corroborating views on this wonderful, informative, and most importantly, great money-saving website.
Next time ask the young ladies to pose for a camera check. I’ve found it very helpful in making sure that you have the proper settings. Of course, to really take professional looking pics, it is advisable to do camera checks under a variety of backgrounds and lighting conditions. This is particularly important on French beaches, for some reason.