On our first evening after a yummy dinner at a French restaurant we went to see "Chicago" which was playing in the theatre next to our hotel.

The next day,our first full day, we went to Radio City Music Hall and the Rockefeller Center

We took the elevator to the "Top of the Rock" for some spectacular views of the city.

In the afternoon, we went to the musical "Shucked" 

The show was "corny" (pun intended) with lots of silly jokes and double entendres (most of which Kristine missed), but it was very light and fun, which was exactly what we had expected.

"If I had a crystal ball, I would probably walk different" 

"Your grandma died doin’ what she loved…makin’ toast in the bathtub"

"I think people in China must wonder what to call their good plates"

As we walked back to the hotel, Times Square was ablaze with lights.

That evening, we had dinner at the Glass House Tavern

On Thursday, the next day, we headed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was busy all day and there were lines to get in all the time. We spent most of our time in a special exhibition comparing the works of Manet and Degas, who were contemporaries and apparently friends as well.

In the evening, we went to Radio City Music Hall, to see their Christmas show.

The show was spectacular - a literal "wow" and we thoroughly enjoyed it. When we emerged outside into the cold, the lights were also very pretty.

Next morning, we visited the Frick Collection , housed in temporary quarters, as the main Frick building is undergoing renovation.

QM2 Cruise - Dec 22nd to Jan 3rd

We took a Uber from the hotel to the QM2 at the Brooklyn Cruise Port. The boarding process was quieter than we expected and we were on board very quickly.

Sea Days - December 22- 25

The first three days and four nights were sea days, so we had plenty of time to look around the ship, although this was our third time on the QM2, so there were no great surprises.

One evening was a formal "Roaring Twenties" so we both had to dress up.

St Kitts - December 26

Our first island stop was St Kitts. Unexpectedly, the Travel Agent we had used to book the cruise, offered us a complimentary  bus tour of the island. Our first stop was Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park

We then moved on to Romney Manor, which was a plantation house dating from the 1600s. In it's day, it would have been the heart of the sugar plantations which grew all around the estate. Now, the house makes and sells batiks

After lunch, we headed back to the ship, stopping for a picture of the beaches, which were very quiet.

Bridgetown, Barbados - December 27

In Bridgetown, we hired a taxi to take us around the island. The beaches didn't seem to be very busy !

We stopped at St James Church, the oldest church on the island, which dates back to 1628, although the present building dates to 1874.

Our next stop was for lunch at the "Fisherman's Pub" in Speightstown. 

After lunch, we continued our tour, passing through Sandy Lane, an exclusive golf club neighborhood. Before heading back to the ship.

Castries, St Lucia - December 28

The ship couldn't dock, so we were tendered ashore. When we boarded the shuttle, it started to rain, so when we got to shore we just stayed on the tender and went back to the ship until the rain stopped.

Unfortunately, the Cathedral was closed, so we didn't get to see inside. Looks very colorful, though.

We were amused by the visual presentation of the dress code for the infant school, which was adjacent to the cathedral.

Roseau, Domenica - December 29

In Roseau, we were moored very close to the town.

We took a trolley tour of the island. Our main impression was how green the island is - very lush with high mountains in the middle of the island.

The island is famous for it's waterfalls and we did get to see a couple in the distance

After touring the island, we stopped at the Botanical Gardens, which had a good view of the town and the ship.

Philipsburg, St Maarten - December 30

Our last stop on the cruise was Philipsburg, St Maarten. 

We hired a taxi and he took us on a tour of the island. Our first stop was Orient Beach, which is at the end of the runway at the airport. It's famous (or infamous) because people hang out there to watch the planes land right over their heads.

We waited for a big aircraft to land but all we saw was a small plane landing. Disappointing !

We then crossed over from the Dutch to the French side and stopped in Marigot, the main French town. Clearly parking was a big problem, so our driver stopped a little outside town at a taxi rank and we took a quick tour of the marina, but there wasn't a lot to see. 

We then drove on to Orient Bay, which is a heavily developed nude / non-nude beach,

Quite correctly, photographs at the nude end of the beach aren't allowed, but the clothed area of the beach is very similar and very busy.

After a brief stop at Orient Beach, we headed back to the ship.

At sea - December 31 to January 3rd

Once we left St. Maarten, we had three days at sea, heading back to New York. The highlight was New Years Eve, which gave us another opportunity to dress up for dinner and (of course) to celebrate at midnight.

By now, we knew we both had Covid, so we spent most of the next two days in our cabin (although we still went out for our meals) until we arrived back in New York and caught our flight back to Orlando.