Our Caribbean cruise to the West Indies was our first experience on the Oceania Cruise line and its new ship “Vista.” The ship was big, shimmering white and built to provide a luxury cruise with top notch cuisine, entertainment and service for its 1,200 passengers.
It would take almost three full days of steaming south to reach our first stop at the island informally known as “St. Barths.” At 6 p.m. that first evening we were on deck 12 in the Horizons Bar enjoying wine as the ship cast off lines and pushed off.
It was thrilling. As the space widened between our moving ship and the pier, a tug finally managed to squeeze into the narrow space and began nudging the Vista out into the channel.
