E-Edition
Sign up for email newsletters
Sign up for email newsletters
E-Edition
A mobility scooter proved the perfect companion on my 11-day southern Caribbean cruise in April.
My balance isn’t the best even on dry land, and my ZiiLIF mobility scooter served to counteract the ship’s slight motion as Celebrity Cruises’ Beyond sailed to St. Martin, St. Lucia, Grenada, Barbados and Antigua.
At 15 decks tall and more than 1,000 feet long, the Beyond has a lot of territory to cover when meandering among its many bars, sun decks, dining rooms, shops and other public places.
Batter yet, the scooter’s clever design let me easily drive it ashore when the ship docked at island ports of call.
I was joining my daughter Sascha and her husband, Fred Nelson, on this cruise and figured I’d stay on board when they went ashore. It was Fred’s gift trip for her milestone April birthday, and I’d often been to these islands while they hadn’t.
I bought the scooter in September for my visit to the flea markets of Paris.
How we overcame mobility issues in post-Olympics France
Weighing just 37 pounds and folding to a suitcase size, it proved easy to gate-check and retrieve at the aircraft door for flights. Its 22-inch width would pass through my stateroom’s door, so I could keep it inside and ready to go.
But, just days before the cruise, Fred lost his 15-year government job after cuts made by the Department of Government Efficiency. He tried to cancel the paid-for voyage, but a refund wasn’t possible.
The dream trip — with hopes of snorkeling from a catamaran, exploring by dune buggy, speedboating and other island adventures with the ship’s shore excursions — morphed into less-expensive discoveries by foot and public transportation.
Sascha began researching scaled-down possibilities on board and ashore. She’s an expert in making lemonade when life hands out lemons.
At home, before the trip, I’d discovered that towing my bag while scootering was not going to work. I’d be traveling with it alone to Fort Lauderdale, where I’d meet Sascha and Fred aboard the Beyond. To keep my hands free, I wore a waist pack for my phone, notebook, water bottle and other walking-around essentials. I pack light with a carry-on-size bag, but steering the scooter while towing the bag proved more of a challenge than I’d expected.
So I turned to Luggage Forward and its door-to-door delivery service. Back in the day, I’d researched the company for sending cumbersome scuba-diving equipment in advance. But, daunted by the price for a quick dive trip, I’d chosen to rent dive equipment upon arrival instead. Wondering if I could afford it this time, I quickly discovered that Luggage Forward has lots of options for cruise passengers. I could save significantly by packing light and being flexible with pickup and delivery dates. Its website gives all the details.
Packing carefully to keep my carry-on bag’s weight under 25 pounds, I had it ready for the Luggage Forward pickup 10 days before my departure. It was delivered to my stateroom and would be returned to my home a week after my return.
Our staterooms were a deck apart near the rear of the ship. As a frequent guest of Celebrity, I had a verandah stateroom on Deck 12 that was much larger than their inside stateroom on Deck 11. I shared my stateroom perks with Sascha and Fred, sipping glasses of complimentary champagne as we avoided the prospect of DOGE-related unemployment woes awaiting at the end of this voyage. Elaborate snacks were delivered four times per day — each more delicious than the one before. We sat in the sea breeze from the verandah’s room-wide window, which opened and closed at the touch of a button, and watched for flying fish through the provided binoculars.
During our two days at sea before reaching St. Martin, Sascha continued her online research for their time ashore. Strategically placed webcams even gave live views of beaches, including Maho Beach at the end of an airport runway, where sunbathers become plane spotters with flights just overhead.
I planned to revisit some favorites from previous visits, including a foray by scooter down Front Street in Phillipsburg, the capital of the Dutch side of the island, where it’s called St. Maarten.
A treaty signed more than 350 years ago between the Dutch and French, who call it St. Martin, has resulted in coexistence in perfect harmony. At 37 square miles, it’s the smallest land mass in the world shared by two nations. Its border makes for a good photo opp.
Back in the early 1990s, I’d stayed at the Pasanggrahan, built in Phillipsburg in 1904 and once the home of Dutch royalty. Now it’s the oldest inn on the island, and I wanted to see if it had kept its West Indies charm. I’d hoped to find it when I explored Front Street.
Meanwhile, Sascha and Fred expected to walk 10 minutes from the port to catch a bus to Grand Case Bay, on the island’s French side. There, they would meet a boat to take them to Balaou, a casual, floating restaurant with diners seated on inflatable rafts tethered to a floating dock. It obviously would not be accessible to me and my mobility scooter, so we went our separate ways.
Much to my surprise, we met an hour later on Front Street, just as I was leaving the Pasanggrahan.
“We missed the bus,” they told me.
They changed their plans and instead took a water taxi into Philipsburg.
Since my last visit to the island, a lovely boardwalk had been built along the beach just outside the inn’s back door, so we strolled the boardwalk in search of lunch and a place to buy Guavaberry liqueur, St. Martin’s national drink. Described to us as having a sweet, tart and spicy taste, Guavaberry was elusive along both Front Street and the boardwalk. We finally found it back at the port as we returned to the ship.
To learn more about Celebrity Cruises and the Beyond, visit Celebritycruises.com. Read more about our adventures on board and ashore in future travel stories.
See my story from May about Grenada at bit.ly/nh-grenada-spiceisland.
Visit LuggageForward.com to see if a luggage pickup and delivery service will work for you.
Find out about my Ohio-made mobility scooter at bit.ly/z-scooter.
Fall under the West Indies spell of the Pasanggrahan, where things haven’t changed much in many years and fishing charters can be arranged. Go to pasanhotel.net.
Copyright © 2025 MediaNews Group
