P&O Arcadia cruise ship in Grenada Caribbean

Something like 60% of all cruises in the world today take place in the Caribbean! Why is the case, and should you consider cruising the area?
The next most popular destination is Alaska. I find the fact that the Caribbean so dominates the world of cruising quite staggering. In reality it probably reflects more the history of cruising which really grew and developed in the area, driven by companies like Carnival and Royal Caribbean operating out of Miami in the USA. It is additionally a reflection of how developed the USA cruising industry is, and how it is still underdeveloped in other parts of the world. It is no wonder soon after that the building of ships seems to be nearly frantic with all the growth potential as cruising catches on in other parts of the world.

What are the main features of the Caribbean Cruise industry?

• The Caribbean cruise season runs from after the hurricane season from around September until March each year, and thereupon the cruise ships are redeployed onto the Alaska route or head off to Europe to ply the Mediterranean and Baltic in the summer in the Northern Hemisphere.
• Most of the Caribbean cruises are, and pretty much always have been, 7-day trips out of Florida where ships alternate within a “Western Caribbean” and an “Eastern Caribbean” routing. that pattern ideally suits the USA vacation patterns, as most humans in the States tend to have and take shorter holidays than other regions so the 7-day pattern suits them. For those wanting 2 weeks vacations, soon after all they do is stay on a ship for two back to back cruises.
• The 7 day cruises tend to have one sea day to get to the islands, visits to 5 islands and thereupon one sea day back to port. The growth of popularity of the cruising has, though, started to see many more USA ports offering Caribbean trips – and the area is by far the most popular part of the world for European Cruise lines like Cunard, P&O and Costa to send their ships to during the European winter. Or, in the case of Cunard, in the period running up to the New Year when it tends to be too rough and is too cold for humans to book on their famous transatlantic crossings. It fills in the period before they send their ships on their 3 month round the world cruises from January to March.
• At the start and end of the Caribbean “season” many cruise lines include Caribbean legs into their ship “repositioning” schedules. My first Caribbean Cruise was part of what is called a “repositioning cruise” on the P&O ship Arcadia. There is a redeployment of ships, particularly to and from Europe, before and after the main September to March Caribbean season. Most cruise lines doing that offer 2-week trips, which consist of a week cruising round the Caribbean and a week crossing the Atlantic. These cruises tend to be very good value as less public enjoy the enlarged periods at sea and prefer schedules with lots of ports.

What is the impact of that huge cruise industry to the Caribbean?
My first Caribbean cruise in 2007 additionally happened to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the abolition of slavery which was timely as traveling around the islands we visited (Barbados, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and Antigua) the one thing that did strike me, as I learnt more about the history of the Caribbean, was that these stunningly beautiful islands were not only built on the back of slave labor, but plus just how brutal and terrible the slave trade was.

An unpleasant history….

• Behind the laid back tone and startling beauty of the Caribbean is an unpleasant tale, with the `British and French primarily squabbling and fighting by control with the indigenous Carib Indians being driven out and even massacred sometimes to take control of the islands.
• They soon after shipped in slaves from North Africa mostly in horrific conditions where many would perish on the trip. They were thereupon sold in markets held in what are now picturesque and charming town squares. The slaves were mandatory to work in the huge sugar plantations that soon covered most of the islands, with cruelty and force ensuring compliance.
• It is clear that the sugar plantations owners, all of who were from Europe, grew very wealthy on the practice and the sugar trade. But as the sugar trade declined it plus has left the islands largely under developed, as the profits had been shipped out and not invested into the place that created the money. that means that now that the sugar industry has pretty much died, both due to declining popularity for sugar and plus cheaper and more cost effective crops like sugar beet closer to the main markets, that the only real industry the Caribbean has is tourism – and particularly the cruise business.

Cruise industry impact on the Caribbean: Good or poor for the islands?
Depending on whose point of view you follow, or possibly where your political leaning is, the islands are either benefiting enormously from the cruise trade – or are being shortchanged and manipulated by the cruise industry that passes little of the financial benefits on the islands. 
There is an interesting debate on that and one I found made fascinating reading and gave me deeper insights about how the while cruise industry works.

• The view against:
• On the one side of the debate are a series of interesting books by an author called Ross Klein who wrote “Cruise Ship Blues” and other books that talk about how the industry plays islands off against each other to drive lower revenue for the island and more for themselves. For example, he talks about how cruise ships do not restock supplies and the like on the islands but only in their home ports for the main, that they keep the bulk of revenues from tours and such like and that worldly firms own many of the chains in the new port side malls that have been built.
• The view for:
• On the other side of the argument are the materials from the main cruise body called CLIA. Their site is cruising.org, and the organization talks about the money they spend on assisting with infrastructure and the overall benefits from the money passengers spend on-shore. Either way it makes for really interesting reading and it is worth hearing both points of view.

One thing that you cannot help to note on all of the islands is that they overall do seem fairly poor and underdeveloped. There are, of course, glitzy hotels but these again seem to be owned and operated by the major chains. Of course they are an vital employer of locals but it is a pity that you do not see more local enterprise here.

So despite these observations what else struck me while cruising the Caribbean?
These are based on visits to Barbados, Grenada, St Lucia, St Kitts and Antigua. go on the hyperlinks for specific reviews and photos of each of the islands.

• I loved all the islands. They are all so beautiful and the beaches are glorious. In most cases the citizens are welcoming and friendly, which is quite a feat when they are subjected to waves of tourists during the cruise season in specific asking the same questions and doing the same things.
• I have to confess though one of the challenges of visiting so many islands in quick succession for one day on a cruise whether that they do kind of blend into each other as an overall Caribbean experience. 
• So while beautiful, I did wonder whether the islands have missed an opportunity to be more strange and distinctive. I am certain that whether you spent more instance on each you would get to understand and appreciate their distinctiveness, but the cruise experience does not do that justice. I am embarrassed to confess that I think that whether I was not an obsessive photo taker and so have piles of images from everywhere, that I would not clearly be able to remember which island was which. Of course the trip on the island I can associate but from the non-trip elements from the port, walking around the town is where it starts to get less clear.
• This seems like a missed opportunity. Admittedly the broad history of the islands is broadly similar (English and French fighting by them, largely English dominating, driving out the Carib Indian locals, importing slaves to drive the sugar industry), but I do think that there is way to find more uniqueness in the culture and story of each island. But that is probably more of the marketing background in me coming out, as I am not certain my fellow travelers thought as much about that.
• The Port areas are all now very similar and that is a aftermath in most cases of original facilities being destroyed at the turn of the century by hurricanes and being rebuilt to meet the needs of the current ship types and passengers in a more harmonious way. Disappointingly though, most of the shops in these ports are plus the same with even the same chains, like the Diamond worldly chain for example. 
• Even the curio/ gift shops are stocked full of largely similar merchandise with the name changed. Much of the merchandise was made in China and even the UK (most of the china items). At the risk of going on, I did feel it was pity but saved on buying a lot of items from each island.
• As a UK resident, visiting the islands has a lot of familiarity in a number of respects as the cars drive on the left hand side and many of the street names and places are familiar names from UK history and places like Piccadilly Circus and Nelson’s Dockyard. As you get further North, the islands start to have a more American flavour, but their roots in British Colonialism reeks everywhere you go. Though I did notice that the more south the islands the more laid back public were and the closer we got to the USA the more assertive. I am not certain whether these islands get more ships and passengers and so the islanders have become more competitive with each other.
• If you go on a classic Caribbean cruise with basically an island a day, it can be a tiring experience as you will be up early as ships get in usually around 7am to 8am and thereupon you are off on trips and set sail at about 5pm and 6pm next still to have the dinner, shows and other activities in the evening to enjoy. It can become a bit of a blur whether you don’t pace yourself. With the repositioning cruise we had a great balance as we had the busy 5 days at the start and next the 5 sea days to really relax.

There is no denying though that whatever observations and thoughts about similarities, the Caribbean and a cruise in that area is just a stunning experience. I adore the place. The islands are beautiful, the beaches and sea glorious and the public on most of the islands for the most part are charming, welcoming and surprisingly patient.
Have any thoughts and tips? Please leave a comment below, and share using the social media buttons too!


More articles on the Caribbean and Cruising by TipsForTravellers:

• Tips for travellers considering a Caribbean Cruise
• Barbados
• Grenada
• St Lucia
• St Kitts
• Antigua
• All my photos of Cruising the Caribbean and islands

[Source] Gary Bembridge

Bathsheba Barbados

I adore the exotic and beautiful Barbados, in the Caribbean. An island I have been to 3 times to moment. One of the most easterly of all the Caribbean islands, it is additionally one of the most stunning.

1. Friendly and welcoming people. The population of Barbados is only about 275,000 regular inhabitants. And they are the most incredibly friendly, outgoing, charming public. They have great spirit, and are very welcoming. They’re very well‑educated, and have a point of view they love to share. You don’t feel threatened, even by the guys and gals on the beach who come by trying to selling things. They’ll chat to you; give you tips and advice and they won’t hassle you. whether you see them the next day and you said “no thank you”, they won’t hassle you. Unlike some places in other tourist resorts where you nearly feel threatened by citizens.
2. Barbados is more British in feel than American. that is due to its enlarged urls to Britain. Even Admiral Nelson visited Barbados not towering before the famous Battle of Trafalgar, and there is even a square that used to be called Trafalgar Square, which still has a statue of Nelson in it, which was erected even before the one in London. 
• Cars drive on the left‑hand side of the road, as you do in the UK.
• You’ll find the spelling of places and words is the British spelling, versus American spelling.
• You generally find that most of the tourists there are from the UK. There’s a very large tourist industry, with both British Airways and Virgin flying in very regularly, and daily in the season and pretty regularly out‑of‑season. A lot of UK charter airlines additionally fly into Barbados. So the tourists who really go there are much more from the UK and not even that many Continental Europeans go as there are not that many direct flights from Europe.
3. All beaches are public. Although there’s a beach in front of a development or in front of a resort, it’s not only for the guests or residents of that resort. All beaches are public, which I think is a great view. society tend to stick more to wherever they’re staying, usually, but anybody can swim on any beach.
4. Barbados itself is a relatively expensive island to visit. That may be why it tends to attract a undoubtful type of tourist and is seen as an upmarket place to visit. In the UK, for example, it tends to be seen as a playground for the rich and famous. In fact, to give you an example of that, Concorde, when it was flying, used to fly to from London to New York but in season it additionally flew from London to Barbados, so that gives you a sense of the type of humans who go there.
1. It is a pretty expensive place to go out eating. There are some very upmarket and world class restaurants, and I cover these in another blog posting about the best places to eat in Barbados. But take a big wallet with you! 
2. If you’re worried about how much you’ll spend, there are quite a lot of all‑inclusive resorts where, obviously, you can prepare certain that you know what you’re spending when you go. But it can be a pretty expensive place to visit.
3. Property is very expensive. There’s a lot of property for sale in Barbados and a lot of developments taking place. On the West Coast, for example, you’d be struggling to buy a one‑bedroom place for  US $300,000 US. In many of the developments, the starting price for a one‑bedroom apartment is around $600,000‑700,000. There are additionally many villas for sale for by $6 million and more.
5. Risk of over-development.One of the things that I felt and concerned me is that the scale of development of building holiday homes and developments, matched by the increasing tourism will eventually turn the island into an over‑developed island and it will lose some of it’s charm. 
6. The roads in Barbados are not particularly good in general. There is one major highway, which runs from the airport and runs right the way up to the St. Peter area, which is where the Sugar Cane Club is at the top of the island. It is really more of a dual carriageway, with many traffic roundabouts along the way. Mostly there are just regular 2 lane tar roads, and thereupon secondary roads on the map which are often dirt roads.
• There seems to be a good bus service. There are two types of buses: one owned by the state and one which is private, which are very inexpensive. There’s no train system, so citizens are pretty reliant on cars and busses. So traffic in Barbados can be pretty poor.
• It feels like the roads don’t really have many signs. perhaps that is considering it’s not a particularly big place, and so folks just kind of know their way around! Although, we have hired cars when we have been there and found it pretty easy to find your way around, considering, at the end of the day, you can’t get that lost!
7. Despite the glitzy resorts and monied visitors, as you drive through Barbados, it feels relatively poor, but not as poor as other places I’ve been to, like Mauritius. You do feel that the growth of tourism is not really filtering through to the population as much as it should. But the island does have flair and has a very distinctive architecture, like wooden houses which are built up on concrete blocks and are generally are painted bright, vibrant, exciting colours.
8. Golf! The other thing Barbados is known for is golf. There seems to be very many golf courses in Barbados. Sandy Lane itself has two new ones and one of its original ones. There are golf courses galore.

Beach on Barbados West Coast: Fairmont Royal Pavillion

In addition to being an amazing holiday destination, what else is Barbados famous for?

1. Rum and Rum Shops. Probably one of the most vital things that they are famous for is rum shops. There are about 1,000 rum shops on Barbados! Barbadans will gather there to have a rum drink, play dominoes, discuss the issues of the day, so it’s kind of like the equivalent of Starbucks, whether you like. I was not a big rum fan, but I really enjoyed the rum in Barbados, and the rum punch, which is a very popular cocktail and was really great.
2. Tuk Band. Tuk bands are composed of a trio of musicians. There’s a tin flute, a snare drum, and a bass drum. It’s kind of a mixture of British military music with African rhythms. It’s part a Creole sound and part dancing music. You can’t march to it, although it’s got very clear military origins in there. But, even classical music and hymns are now played in tuk style.
3. Flying Fish. We actually saw a couple of these, and really quite close in to the beach. Barbados is known as “The Land of the Flying Fish.” The national dish is actually “Flying Fish and Cou‑cou.” The fish do fly, it’s amazing! They can fly out of the water for up to 13 seconds at a duration. It’s a very tasty fish, and it’s eaten steamed or fried. Pretty much every restaurant you go to has Flying Fish.
4. Rihanna. The singer comes from Barbados.
5. Living long. It is a very good place to be born in whether you want to live to by 100 years. They claim about 20 humans per year become by 100, which is not poor when you consider you only got a population of 270,000. that is likely considering they live a very active lifestyle, and very healthy lifestyle. 

• The airport itself is to the south of the island. The Grantley Adams universal Airport is pretty big, busy and contemporary. But with the growing popularity of the island it is already too small. 
• For despite the lengthy runway and terminal buildings, the volume of traffic, particularly at the peak seasons in the run‑up to Christmas through to Easter date is large. And so, what some of the airlines do, like Virgin Atlantic and British Airways, is that you can check in away from the actual airport. So Virgin, for example, checks in as many of their passengers as possible at the hotels and take away their luggage. So when citizens reach at the airport, they can just basically go through to a holding pen, whether you’d like, to get onto the airport.

• Many cruises, particularly by UK based or European based cruise lines, start their Caribbean cruises out of Barbados, using charter flights to get passengers in and out of Barbados.
• One good way is to travel on ships doing their relocation or repositioning cruises. You can get the ship from Southampton in the UK take a week to get there, stay a while and next fly back. Repositioning cruises are generally cheaper than normal cruises.
• The island does seem to be targeting Americans more and more. And many US visitors to Barbados tend to come in for the day on the cruise ships, considering Barbados is a very popular stopping point for cruise ships, and there’s a developed deep harbor, which actually can take ships even as large as the huge Cunard Queen Mary 2.

• It’s much cheaper to visit in their summer (may to July time), considering public get scared away by the thought of rain. Prices can be half the price of the December/ January period.

Cherry Tree Hill Barbados

#3:Where to stay?

• The West Coast of the island is called the Platinum Coast, and I think that is really the best for swimming. It’s where you have the nicest beaches and the most up‑market hotels, including probably the most famous, which is the Sandy Lane Hotel. that part of the island is where the up‑market tourism is.
• The west coast has the best hotels, it’s the most expensive. It’s where most of the nice restaurants are. There’s not many all‑inclusive places on the west coast but there are a couple, like the Almond Club & Spa.
• On the south coast, which is around St. Lawrence Gap, and actually where Bridgetown is and down through St. Lawrence Gap, through to an area called Oistins is the more popular, more medium to lower priced resorts.
• The south coast it tends to be much younger. It’s where St. Lawrence Gap is, and so there’s much more night life. There’s additionally much more family stuff, including things like KFCs, and Chefette which is their own local equivalent to McDonald’s. So whether you’ve got families or you’re much younger, and you want more of a nightlife, that’s the place to go.
• On the southeast coast, it is more open although there is the well known Crane Hotel and the Crane Beach. that is a great beach. It has more waves than the west coast does as on the west coast you have the clamer Caribbean Sea, and on the East coast you have the Atlantic.
• On the east coast, it’s very quiet. So whether you like lots of quiet, it is worth perhaps considering sort of hiring a villa or somewhere along that stretch. 
• Once you get past the southeast, and up on to the East coast, while it is very beautiful, you can’t swim there as the sea has very strong currents and is much less geared for tourists as a aftereffect. So, although a lot of public like to go and visit it and walk, you cannot swim there. 

Crane Hotel and Beach

#4: Where should you eat?

• “The Cliff,” which is probably “THE” restaurant in Barbados, is literally on the side of a cliff. It  is very special, very popular,  with incredibly good food. It is additionally expensive.
•  “The Mews in Holetown on “2nd Street,” where there are a bunch of restaurants and bars. Their sister restaurant “La Mer, ” is at Port St. Charles is additionally very good. It is based in a complexwith a lagoon, and where lots of wealthy humans own property, considering they can sail their yachts and boats up to their properties. Both have great food, and are a bit cheaper than The Cliff, but very nice.
• The “Sandy Lane Hotel” is probably the most famous of all the hotels, and the most expensive. It’s really worth going to visit. You need to dress smart, avoiding jeans. Try the L’acajou, restaurant which  was stunning. It is worth just visiting Sandy Lane, and whether you’re lucky you’ll see celebrities.
• Tides is another place that is very popular, and is near Holetown, which is incredibly popular, more focused on sea foody.
• Daphne’s, which is the sister restaurant to Daphne’s in London, which is a very famous restaurant

• Hiring a car is incredibly cheap they don’t seem to have only the worldly car hire companies there. There are more local companies offering very reasonably priced options.
• Taxis are relatively expensive and so we actually found that hiring a car was nearly as cost efficient as we were going out most nights. Taxis have a minimum charge is about twelve local so about $6 US. So you’re going to spend quite a bit money on taxis, but whether you hire a car it’s a really good notion. Even whether you are there on a cruise for the day consider it, considering the island is small.

Bridgetown Barbados

1. Towns and Destinations:
• Bridgetown is the capital. From a tourist perspective it has geared itself toward the cruise industry. It’s packed full of duty‑free jewelry shops, duty‑free alcohol and perfume shops, and that kind of thing. Bridgetown is at best an ok place to visit. It’s not particularly exciting, although around the harbor area, it has been renovated and looks very pleasant. I was a little bit disappointed, to be honest, with Bridgetown. I expected to see it a little bit richer in culture.
• Holetown, which is up on the west coast, is very tiny, and Speightstown, which is a bit further up on the west coast are the main towns. But still small, but have more charm.
• Explore Saint Lawrence Gap in the South. You should have a wander around there. Lots of energy and folks out and about both daytime and at night.
• Also go out up to the west coast and past Sandy Lane and up to Port Saint Charles, which is really just worth visiting as they have created that as a second port. There used to only be two ports of entry into Barbados, which was obviously the airport and the main Bridgetown Harbor. Now Port Saint Charles has created a third entry place, and has immigration and customs capabilities.  It is a beautiful place with apartments and yachts. 
• On the East of the island, visit the Crane Beach (which has a huge lengthy beach and great waves) and further up visit the fishing village of Bathsheba which has stunning views and various stalls selling crafts.
2. Water Sports and days out
• Most of the places you stay, whether you stay in a hotel, will have all‑inclusive water sports. Go out on a kayaks. Barbados is great for kayaking, considering there’s beautiful reefs and stuff so you can kayak. Snorkeling. 
• Swimming with the turtles is a very popular thing to do so sometimes depending on where you stay you can just sort of snorkel out to them, or hotel will take you along in a boat to where the turtles are. The turtles are huge and have been swimming with tourists for a towering duration. Conservationists are trying to clamp down on it considering the turtles are being attracted there everyday by the tourists and they are getting a little bit lazy and little bit fat. And becoming more and more susceptible as they go on their migration to being attacked by turtle predators.
• Glass‑bottom boats are very popular considering of all these reefs and things, as are Catamaran sailings. There are many catamarans taking society out for the day, offering. You have punch and food as they take you around parts of the island. that is very popular.
• Party Boat. whether you’re young and like drinking a lot and partying, there’s the party boat which leaves from Bridgetown and there’s a couple of stories high and makes a hell of a lot of noise, music‑wise. You see that chugging up the west coast up to around about Port Saint Charles and coming back during the day and doing the same thing at night. So whether you’re a party animal that’s the thing to do.
3. Polo Match. The other thing I would inspire you to do is to go to a polo match. We were actually invited very kindly by the hotel to go to a match they were sponsoring. I’ve never been to polo and it really was an amazing thing to go and do. Barbados, has four polo grounds and the one we went to was called Lion Gate, which is on top of the hill. Probably the one with the most spectacular views and that’s really worth going to. Unfortunately they’re going to be building a lot of houses and stuff around it as developments. So that might block the view but really go to a polo match. Particularly whether you go in the season, as it were, all the polo teams seem to be full of “Sir, this” and “Sir, that.” “Lady, that.”
4. Animal Flower cave. that amazing cave is right up at the most northerly point of the island. The name comes from the sea anemones in the pools. Some of the pools you can swim in. You climb into the caves and there are openings where you get great views of the sea. The caves are really worth a trip, and are interesting colours from oxidation of iron and copper deposits.

Animal Flower Caves Barbados

More from TipsForTravellers.com about Barbados and The Caribbean:

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[Source] Gary Bembridge

I wrote a posting a few months back entitled: Kent Seaside towns: Margate, Ramsgate & Broadstairs. Potential still to come?. It was based on observations I had during a visit during winter. It created some reaction and feedback from passionate residents and lovers of the area, which is collectively known as Thanet, on Twitter. Two of which, called Paul Nichols (from Broadstairs) and Dom Bridges (from Margate), have written and provided a review and thoughts on the area for the blog that they entitled:


Brave Thanet’s nascent revival – duration for a leisurely
expedition


Ramsgate, Margate and Broadstairs, three towns often like
siblings, each one vying to mark their identity distinct from the other two. The
reality is they are quite interdependent whilst at the same moment offer visitors
to Thanet differing experiences. Isle of Thanet is where the ancients came to
bury the dead whilst last century the Thanet seaside towns were famed as highly
popular summer resorts pre-foreign package holidays. Sadly, by the last 30 or
so years tawdry reputations have somewhat stuck with the general decline and
lack of inventive civic forward planning.


Still what falls can with ample willpower rise and community
led regeneration have been prevailing buzz words in more recent times. Riding
on the high hopes for the Turner contemporary and rock-bottom property prices a
consistent trickling influx of newcomers, mostly ex-Londoners – affectionately
referred to as DFLs – are giving the Thanet towns booster shots; injecting a
creative and enterprising spirit fuelled with passion for realising the
potential.


There’s much natural beauty to discover with miles upon
miles of wide sandy shorelines with exposed white chalk cliffs. within the
towns lies stunning, award winning, secluded bays whilst the town centre
beaches swell with ever increasing day trippers for as many months as possible.
Out of season it’s like it’s all yours, making for a perfect get-away without custom
hold-ups or distant distant travel. The high-speed train from London is set to
reduce the journey to just short of one hour.


As Margate’s Turner contemporary is well publicised, even
featured in universal airlines’ in-flight magazines, we’d like to briefly
draw your attention to other merits in each of the historic Thanet towns that
could manufacture a visit more insightful and venturesome.

Margate
The one moment pioneer of British holiday hedonism, has
sadly through recent economic downturns weathered very unbreakable times indeed. However
like a Phoenix rising from the flames, not in a dissimilar fashion to its’
American cousin, Coney Island, Margate has a genuine new buzz about it. 


Every
other day a new independent shop seems to be opening in the Old Town that’s tucked
behind the water front, from high-end vintage clothes stores to cutting edge
tattoo parlours. that surge of regeneration is now spreading up to
Cliftonville, undeniably one of the most deprived parts of Margate.  At the  vanguard,  a new style café, reborn from a dilapidated 60’s
Italian Ice Cream parlour, Forts, providing all manner of entertainment from
book clubs to vintage vinyl evenings (not to mention locally sourced tip top
food!).


Margate is a town coming alive again with change and fresh new
ideas. Listen carefully and you can take in humans discussing their business ideas
openly on the streets. A buzz connected to the arrival of the hard working
TURNER contemporary but plus from the newbies to the town.  In essence it is creativity itself that is
filling Margate’s lungs with fresh air.


This is an exciting moment to witness a British seaside town
going through such a revival and to feel the euphoria of its local community,
one that wants you to stay and welcomes your creative input and ideas, to get
involved.  Or whether you prefer you could simply
wander along the epic Margate sands and follow the coast line along to Botany Bay,
perhaps stay at the luxurious Reading Rooms that carries the exclusive Mr and
Mrs Smith seal of approval. Or explore the strange enigma of the Shell Grotto or
lose yourself in RG Scott’s labyrinth of an antique emporium. Margate has
hidden gems however not every visitor will take the date or have the curiosity
to uncover them.  For example, how many would
know that beneath the Snooker Club on North down Road lies a perfectly intact
café laid out like the Lord of the Rings with a functioning waterfall running
through it?

Broadstairs
Possibly the quietest of the 3 and undeniably the quaintest
Broadstairs is beginning to shake off its out-dated legacy as a stuffy
retirement destination. 


Key spot-on stylish guesthouses, like Belvidere Place
and Salon Bohemia, have promoted that small town for a discerning luxury
weekend for hard-pressed city dwellers. 


As well as original 1960’s Italian
ice-cream parlours, new nostalgia themed cafes like Oscars Festival Cafe have
popped up providing an invaluable social space for the local bohemians and
visiting artists and writers.  The main
draw of Broadstairs are its’ 3 fine beaches, one of which Viking Bay, shaped
out of our collective imagination of a crescent shaped smugglers bay, as indeed
it was. The town plus puts on an autumn food festival showcasing the best of
local Kentish produce which each year is drawing large numbers of foodies.

Ramsgate
A much larger town and port is more urban with
spreading suburbs. The main draw here is the harbour, royal no less, with its
encompassing ring of cafe and restaurants. Less known are the faraway sandy
beaches either side that offer sufficient wide-open space to lose yourself whist
admiring the wind-surfers. For those who appreciate historic buildings, there
are old quarters, which centre around Addington Street and The Vale, both areas
colonised by artists and musicians. The Queen Charlotte, a pub, art gallery and
occasional pop-up restaurant, which opens only weekend evenings, could be your
portal into the local creative community. whether you’re after some fresh fish thereupon
head directly for Eddie Gilberts.


Words of caution, whether you’re not an enthusiast for homogenous
out-of-town shopping complexes, thereupon steer away from the Westwood Cross.  Positioned smack in the middle area that lies
amidst the 3 towns, it is frequently congested by incoming traffic and can
mistakenly give a visit to Thanet a poor first impression. Never mind it is
probably the culprit that drained much of the lifeblood from each of the towns’
high streets. Approach Thanet by the main roads into either Margate or Ramsgate
and save yourself unnecessary stress, lost instance and sore eyes.


If that brief summary has possibly whet an appetite to explore
or know more of what lies in Thanet beyond the easily seen and popular misconceptions,
you’d be well positioned to pocket the neat insider’s guide published last
year, Discover Thanet,  which I take in is
set to be updated as new ventures continue to pop up. To have a finger on the locality’s
pulse, Twitter has proved a conduit for the towns’ movers, shakers and
followers, sharing vital knowledge and their pride in these tide-changing
times for contemporary Thanet.

[Source] Gary Bembridge

[Source] bobh380

[Source] unknown

[Source] findingfukuoka

[Source] David Luekens

[Source] TTRweekly Staff

[Source] Ryan Kim