Caribbean Cruise
May, 1974
This page contains some scans of photos and postcards on the Caribbean cruise Pat and I took in 1974. This was our first real trip/vacation/honeymoon. We were in our mid twenties at the time of this trip. The cruise line was Norwegian Caribbean Cruise Line and the name of the ship was the MS Skyward. The ship left from Miami - we flew Delta Airlines to Miami. As I recall, Delta at the time served complimentary wine. The ports of call of the cruise were Jan Juan in Puerto Rico, Cap Haitian in Haiti, St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands, and Nassau in the Bahamas. We had a great time and made extensive use of mid-night buffets, the on-board slot machines that were open for business in international waters, and the other amenities of the cruise.
We had assigned seating for dinner. One of the couples at our seating apparently were experienced gamblers. In both San Juan and Nassau, they hit the casinos and appeared to be very successful.
At St. Thomas, we met a friend of Pat's. They both had taught school in Niles Michigan in 1971/1972. We had a good visit and checked out the cheap liquor and jewelry stores. There were some historical sites (Blackbeards' Tower) that we also visited.
In Cap Haitian, we took a donkey ride up a mountain to visit a fortress built around 1830. We were warned to only drink fluids (beer) brought off the ship. The Haitian water was evidently worse than Mexican water for US citizens. Our steward at dinner had pillows for us to sit on that night. He know what those donkeys would do to us. We also bought a large (about 3 feet by 5 feet) primitive Haitian painting. I was surprised that we got it home undamaged. We still have that painting.
Below are the scans from that trip.
The first six pictures are scans that the ship photographers took. Pat was so sore from the donkey ride that she refused to have that picture. The last picture are our dinner companions. I believe this table was the youngest adult table by far on this cruise.
An old time style map of the Caribbean.
The two postcard scans below are the fortress in Haiti. This fortress was built to repel the French after the inhabitants had declared independence. It was never used. But can you imagine in the early 1800's building this citadel in the mountains in an out of the way place where it could not stop the French from doing whatever they wanted? Oh well.
On the bus ride to get our donkeys for the journey up the mountain to the citadel, we passed through several villages. The poverty was astounding. Naked children, thatched huts with dirt floors, open cesspools for bathrooms. It really was an eye opener for me.
Haitian Voodoo stilt dancers. This is a scan of a postcard, but we actually saw these two guys on our way to the fortress.
The three postcard scans below are of the harbor fortress in San Juan. In the middle one can be seen the MS Skyward. We must have purchased these on the ship.
The three postcard scans below are of the Virgin Islands. The first one is of Blackbeards' Tower. Pat and I did go through it.
The postcard scan below is again of the MS Skyward.
The three photo scans below were taken during a shipboard show. As I recall, the shows we saw were good.
Hope you enjoyed this page.
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Mike & Pat