Caribbean cruise

Last year, I wrote about a beautiful cruise that my friends and I went on, travelling in the Persian Gulf on the Costa Deliziosa. This year, we decided to do a cruise on the Costa Luminosa, the twin vessel of Costa Deliziosa, in the Caribbean Islands. Sadly, though, this cruise wasn’t as beautiful as last year’s.

Costa Luminosa is beautiful, but the Deliziosa ship that we travelled on last year is newer, pleasanter, more colourful and more luxurious than its twin. The cruise in the Caribbean sea was more tiring than travelling in the Persian Gulf because every day the ship arrived at a different island and in every port people were landing and boarding. This continuous activity was stressful! The ship was always in working progress, so the guests never had peace and quiet.

However, actually visiting the Caribbean islands is beautiful. The French Antilles, Guadeloupe, Martinque and half of St Martin have wonderful, untouched beaches and sparkling seas, while the Dutch half of St Maarten is very touristic, full of well-equipped beaches and many organised activities like watercrafting, surfing, bars with music and everything that tourists like.

Santo Domingo has a wonderful marine park and two little islands, Catalina and Saona, where you can find white beaches and transparent seas of blue, green and turquoise hues.

The Virgin Islands and Antigua are the best islands we visited. These islands have beautiful vegetation, exotic fruit trees and pineapple and banana plantations. These islands have many beaches: Antigua has 365 of them, and Virgingorda Island has many small beaches between groups of large granite stones.

Antigua is a big, free port. In this place, you can buy jewellery, watches and precious stones.

The Caribbean Islands are a beautiful place for a wonderful holiday but  in my opinion, a cruise isn’t the most relaxing way to visit them!

by Rita Montagna, pre-elementary level

Cruise

Sometimes we need to forget our problems and stress. I personally think that a beautiful cruise is the best solution!

I got a cruise ship in Dubai recently. Costa Deliziosa is a very big and comfortable ship. The staff are very efficient and nice, so you can forget everything and you can relax. You can sunbathe near the swimming pool, get a beautiful massage in the spa, take a drink, go skiing… or anything else you’d like to do.

The cruise ship docks at the ports of the most beautiful cities in the Persian gulf.

Dubai is the Arabian Manhattan. Its skyline is like that of New York. This city has the highest skyscraper in the world – its name is “At The Top”.

Abu Dhabi is a mix of three cities: the promenades and beaches of Miami; the beautiful villas, gardens and fountains of Bel Air in Los Angeles; and the skyscrapers of downtown San Francisco.

Muscat in Oman is a beautiful and typically Arabian town, with mosques, houses in white marble and its souk (typical market) full of people, spices and things to buy.

One of the best tours is the desert safari by jeep, between the red sand dunes near Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

In addition, every night on the cruise ship there is a lot of entertainment: music, a disco area, a cinema, a casino and live shows in a real theatre!

Last, but not least, the food is very, very good: Italian cuisine and also international cuisine. The chefs cook all the time so you can eat any time you are hungry…

What more could you want?

by Rita Montagna, elementary