DAVID MOLYNEAUX
St. Martin, Lesser Antilles of the Caribbean â For the first time in more than 15 months, vacationers from North America began boarding in June a small selection of cruise ships that have been activated from their slumber during the pandemic. Among them is the 312-passenger Star Breeze that glided out of the harbor at Philipsburg, bound for ⦠maybe St. Bartâs, said the captain, maybe not. Even the captain did not know where we were going.
Turned out that our expected one-week itinerary changed nearly every day, and passengers were confined to a vacation bubble that included masks, social distancing, and friendly yet serious enforcement. Our experience, while delightfully relaxing and comfortable aboard a spiffy ship recently enlarged and renewed, sometimes was not the carefree voyage that cruisers normally expect.