(upbeat music) - [Lynn] I'm Lynn Elmhirst, I'm a travel journalist with a deep passion for sailing the high seas.
My most cherished travel experiences have been by water, the spectacular scenery, fascinating ships, and maritime traditions you can only experience when you cruise.
When the world went into dry dock, I bided my time by diving into my library of footage to relive some of my favorite travel memories, on "The World's Greatest Cruises."
(upbeat music) Today on "World's Greatest Cruises," a seafaring, tropical Caribbean escape!
On a girlfriend getaway, we're sailing on a week-long, roundtrip voyage from South Florida to the Eastern Caribbean, calling at St. Martin and the cruise line's private island in the Bahamas, Half Moon Cay.
We're among about 2,000 guests and a thousand crew sailing on Holland America Line's Nieuw Amsterdam.
Yes, there's a Dutch connection.
Holland America Line began sailing passengers from Rotterdam to New York in the 1870's.
It's evolved into a modern-day cruise line, but it hasn't forgotten its roots.
You may recall Nieuw Amsterdam used to be the name of what today is called New York City.
On board, it becomes kind of a game, to spot the clever nods to the New York/ Netherlands connection.
We took an audio tour of the ship's $3 million art collection, including Dutch works and pieces that are a clear nod to New York: From, literally, a big apple, to elevator doors that evoke New York's famous art deco skyscrapers, even an installation of an actual New York City checker cab.
The city that never sleeps is everywhere, even overhead!
The atrium chandelier is an abstract, upside-down sculpture of the NYC skyline!
And this may be my favorite, the Andy Warhol print of Queen Beatrix, New York and the Netherlands together on the Niewu Amsterdam.
My friend, Karen Sealy, is a TV interior designer.
She's sailed ever since she was a kid, but this is her first cruise and I wanted her to fall in love with cruising too, so I curated this trip just for her.
Beginning with the design treasure trove of Miami, where we explore three eras of landmark architecture.
We go sailing, but not just on any sailboats, on an America's Cup racing yachts, in a friendly, but competitive regatta in Dutch St. Martin.
And a beach day, but not just any beach resort, on Holland America Line's private island.
And on days at sea, we get to go behind the scenes to get a taste of what it really takes to operate a cruise ship.
We even get our hands a little dirty.
- I think breakfast is gonna be late if you let me make all the bread.
(all laughing) - [Lynn] Our cruise embarks from south Florida, and to me, that says pre-cruise weekend in Miami.
Miami often makes the news for its stylish scene, steamy nightlife and hotels with trendsetting travel innovations, like lobby vending machines that sell more than breath mints.
24 caret gold handcuffs could be yours.
But a big part of what gives Miami it's signature travel lifestyle is the backdrop, not just the sun and the beach.
I really love the idea of architectural tourism of cities that have these iconic architectural landmarks that people travel here just to see these things.
- [Karen] And we're gonna see it all today.
- [Lynn] Whirlwind tour.
(Lynn and Karen laughing) - Starting in Miami Beach's art deco district, it's the first 20th century neighborhood to be recognized by America's National Register of Historic Places.
The district includes over 800 historically significant art deco buildings that date back to the 1920s.
That was the golden age of steam travel.
Miami buildings of the era rode the wave, with port holes and curved rails, evoking ships, their pastel hues reflecting the tropical and environment.
After World War II, another era, Miami Modern, nicknamed MIMO, and it took that unique Miami tropical art deco and added a mid-century, rat pack twist, full of escapism and optimism in the future.
Luckily, a renewed interest in art deco and MIMO helped preserve these gems and Miami's city scape.
They also fostered a new future for design and architecture in Miami, which has been reborn with a new generation of art, design, and structures that have transformed Miami's neighborhoods with contemporary experiences and landmarks.
There's even something they're calling parkitecture, parking structures designed by international starchitects that have elevated Miami's street scape.
(ship horn bellows) For all the Latin influences on Miami's cuisine, there's one flavor that is completely homegrown, and we found a chef to introduce us to stone crabs.
Both delicious and sustainable, only one claw is harvested and crabs just grow it back.
- This is definitely a very popular Florida tradition, here and just the Bahamas, is the only two places you can get 'em.
There's four different sizes.
They grade out at medium, large, jumbo and colossal.
- So what are these guys?
- These are jumbos.
Colossal are like, like big.
On the west coast of Florida, they serve 'em warm.
On the east coast, that would be like, tragic.
- Tragic?
Tragic, yeah, good word.
You cook 'em, you boil 'em, you put 'em in ice water, and you refrigerate em, and it's just like a cocktail.
- And I bet they go great with a cold beer.
- And a sunny day.
- Cold beer and a claw and a sunny day.
- Or a glass of white wine.
You know, it's fantastic.
You put it right in there, but you wanna put it on its, like that, okay?
And you wanna hit it, like give it a nice hit.
You're gonna see, it's pretty firm, so.
- Ready?
- I'm ready, I might stand back a little.
- One, two, three.
- Woo!
- Was that too hard?
- A little bit, little bit.
- But that's okay.
It's okay.
- She has a strong arm on her.
- [Chef David] You see?
So there's your- - Look at how thick that shell is.
- Here's our knuckle, which is very, the knuckle meat's very tasty.
- Of course it is.
- Just give it a little, (crab cracker thudding) just enough to give it a little crack.
- Not the way I did it.
- You wanna try one?
- Yeah, I wanna try, okay.
See if I find the magic.
- It's kind of like, just like a chop.
There you go, oh she- - Chopped it right in half.
I think we were thinking, 'cause it's so thick, you'd think you need a lot of that muscle power.
I did it, though.
- With stone crabs, the classic sauce that they've been serving for years is a mustard, a mustard-like aioli, mustard mayonnaise.
- Oh, nice.
- But I always felt, you know, if you didn't wanna eat the mayonnaise, then why don't we create something a little lighter, a little bit more healthy.
So I created a passion fruit vinegarette.
- Oh!
- Which has, it's basically lime juice, a little bit of garlic, a little bit of shallots, passion fruit puree and a little bit of olive oil.
- Oh, sounds divine.
- So both are great, it just depends what you're in the mood for.
- Can we try that?
- Yeah.
- Into the passion fruit.
- Oh!
(Karen laughing) - Success.
- It's divine.
Yeah, it's fantastic.
- It's divine.
- Where's the wine?
- Where is the wine?
- I can go get some.
- Where is the wine?
(all laughing) - I think I see a bar right behind me.
- Mmm.
- Isn't that, it's sweet.
- Fantastic, huh?
- It's sweet, huh?
- It's not overly sweet, but it's kind of like rich and sweet and- - Buttery, buttery, buttery?
- It's got, it's a nice texture.
The knuckle has this beautiful little chunk of meat.
When you just pull it away, you get this beautiful piece of meat.
- A little bit different from.
- Yeah, the meat's not as dense, it's a little softer.
- We're just gonna stay here all night, if that's okay.
- I'm not leaving.
(laughs) There's a whole slew of these, we got the cracker.
- We got the cracker, we're in.
- We're set, we're good.
I'm not afraid of getting dirty, either.
(upbeat music) - [Lynn] So, welcome aboard.
- This is amazing.
- Your first adventure at sea on a big ship.
- I'm so excited.
- Me too, what are you most excited about?
- Oh gosh, where do I start?
The lounging, the reading, the food, the wine.
- The wine.
- The spa?
- No, there'll be none of that.
Food and wine?
None of that.
- In fact, I'm kind of hungry now.
- We embark on the Nieuw Amsterdam in next door Fort Lauderdale.
(ship horn bellows) In the best cruise traditions, cocktails start in time for a sunset sail away, watching Port Everglades recede in our wake from the top deck.
Dining night after night in a different restaurant, each with its own theme and cuisine and menu, what we see is an endless stream of culinary moments, where the cuisine, like us, is dressed to impress.
What guests don't see is what's happening in kitchens and lower decks behind the scenes to feed 2,000 guests and a thousand crew several times a day.
Unlike hotels and resorts on land, everything fresh on a ship at sea has to be made right here.
Even a staple we take for granted, like bread, takes a dedicated team to keep breakfast toast, lunch sandwiches and dinner bread baskets coming all day long.
- [Karen] Good morning, hi everybody.
- [Lynn] Wow, it smells amazing in here.
This is worth getting up for.
- [Karen] Sure is.
- [Lynn] When does your day start?
- [Baker] Around 4:00 AM.
- 4:00 AM?
- Yeah.
- Okay.
- But we start at 3:00 AM for mixing the muffins and different kinds of rolls, big sliced bread.
- [Lynn] So how much flour do you use in a week on the ship?
- I order 400 pounds of flour.
- In a week?
- Every day.
- Every day.
- Yes, ma'am.
- [Karen] 400 pounds every day?
- [Baker] A lot of rolls, around 600 pieces.
- 600 rolls.
- Wow.
- Could we help?
- Yes, ma'am.
Fold the dough.
- Do you flower your hands first, so that it doesn't stick?
- Yeah, little bit flour your hands.
- flour your hands.
- And the dough, like that.
- And the dough, okay.
- And fold it up, like that.
Just put, insert in.
- I think breakfast is gonna be late if you let me make all the bread.
(Lynn and Karen laughing) - Hey look, we have an audience.
(laughing) They don't look impressed.
- Then one more fold.
- Oh, one more fold?
- Is that round?
Is it too tall?
Is it too square?
- Yeah, like that.
Yeah, that one.
- That one's okay?
- I think I should cut, no, maybe not.
- Yeah.
- [Lynn] Maybe, can Karen cut, and I'll roll.
How about that?
You like that?
- Yes, ma'am.
- Okay, so Karen's gonna roll, I'm going to cut.
- What?
You're rolling.
No, you're cutting.
- It's tired, okay?
(laughing) It's tired, I'm late.
- There, is that okay?
- Breakfast at midnight tonight, folks.
- Breakfast at midnight, yeah.
- Like, there're like 12 pieces of dough in here.
- I'm a perfectionist, Lynn.
It's very important to get it two pounds, 12 ounces.
- Exactly, precisely.
- This one's gonna be really close.
- Yeah, 'cause now you're eyeballing it this time, right?
- Oh yeah, look at that.
- Now you know from last time.
There, is that close?
- Thank you.
- Okay.
- Perfect.
- Perfect?
- Did you see that?
- Woohoo (clapping hands).
Can we taste something?
It smells so good.
We're so hungry.
- [Baker] Yes, ma'am that's fresh from the oven.
- [Lynn] Oh, yum.
- [Baker] It's crispy.
- It's warm.
It's worth getting up in the middle of the night.
- Mmm, mm hmm, and there's herbs in it.
- Yeah, with herbs.
- Mmmm.
- [Lynn] Here's a riddle for you.
Where can you visit two countries while at dock in one island port?
St. Martin's over a thousand miles southeast of Fort Lauderdale, among the outer edge of Caribbean islands.
It's the smallest island in the world, divided between two countries.
One side of this 37 square mile island is part of the Dutch kingdom.
And the other side is a French overseas territory.
Cruise ships stock on the Dutch side, in the capital, Philipsburg.
It's just a wander off the ship onto the mile-long boardwalk that runs parallel to the beach, and you're immersed into a colorful, bustling town with popups of color, 18th century history and beach town lifestyle.
(bright island music) We're traveling by ship, but on St. Martin, almost every visitor makes a trip to the Dutch side's Princess Juliana airport, or at least the beach outside the airport.
(crowd chattering) Cheers.
A one, two punch.
(laughing) Maho Beach has sun and sand, but that's not its claim to fame.
This beach is in the airport landing path.
The real daredevils time their visit for when the biggest planes are scheduled for departure.
- Oh, look at that, police.
Police have pulled over, and they're saying, "No, you cannot stay at the fence.
That is too dangerous, you're too stupid."
(plane whooshes) Those big jets need the full length of the runway to take off, putting beach goers this close to the jet blast.
Woo!
(laughing) A little sandblast facial for everyone on the beach.
French St. Martin's only a short drive away.
If you blink, you miss the small obelisk and flags that mark the so-called border.
French St. Martin's capital, Marigot, feels like a French resort town, complete with the same street signs you see in France, sidewalk cafes, and chic beachwear boutiques.
17th century Fort St. Louis looms from its hilltop perch.
And if you're lucky, your port call at St. Martin coincides with Marigot's outstanding market.
(upbeat music) The Dutch side of St. Martin's where I've got something special planned, especially for sailboat-loving Karen.
- So we're sailing, not only sailing, we're sailing America's Cup racing yachts.
- I'm actually kind of teary-eyed.
- I know, and we're racing them.
- (inhales sharply) Let's go!
Common, can we go?
Can we go now?
- Okay, let's go.
Luckily for me and many of our fellow cruise guests, you can be a complete land lubber and still experience the thrill of crewing a real America's Cup racing yacht.
12 meter refers to a very specific formula of racing yacht measurements, and these are very special boats.
- 12 meters, as everybody knows, is about 39 feet.
- [Lynn] Right.
- But not these babies.
These boats are measuring at about 70 feet.
They're weighing about 35 tons.
And they have masts on them, which are about the height of an eight story building.
And the boats that we have are all from the 1987 America's Cup that was held in Fremantle, Australia.
And it was Dennis Conner with his fantastic stars and stripes program that emerged the winner after 253 individual yacht races.
- Wow.
- And he brought that trophy back to the United States, and they had this ticker tape parade.
They had the boat on a big trailer, and it went all the way through New York and down wall street.
And that boat, some people say it should be in the Smithsonian.
Some people say it should be in the National Museum of Yachting Heritage.
But it's not, that boat is actually down here.
And that's one of the boats that you're going to be racing on today.
- [Lynn] Unbelievable.
- I think it would be horrible to take that boat out of commission.
- I agree.
- You know, I think it has to be sailed.
That boat was built to be sailed, and now we all get to enjoy it, and I think that's fabulous.
- Yes, and of course the other boats that we've got are the Canadian boats, Canada II, which is arguably the fastest light air America's Cup, 12 meter race boat of all time.
- And is that the one that we're going to be on?
Because it sounds like if it's the fastest, we wanna be on it.
(all laughing) Everyone on board, newbie or experienced sailor, is assigned a task for our race.
- Girls?
- Yes.
You are the backstay winch wenches today.
- The winches wenches?
- The winch wenches, yes.
- [Lynn] Oh, and have I mentioned, Karen's pretty competitive.
- Don't tell anybody yet.
I'm actually gonna get on the helm and drive the boat, but I'm not supposed to, so watch for it.
- Welcome aboard the Canada II.
How is everyone feeling today, good?
- Like winners!
(audience murmurs excitedly) - Sweet.
I wanna tell you to unwrap it and to set it up.
- Unwrap it and set it up.
That's it?
- Yeah, that's it.
- That's my whole job?
- That's your whole job.
- I think I can do that.
- Can anybody tell me how we start a 12 meter yacht race?
- Running start.
- Running start that's right.
For six minutes, we're gonna be doing a running start, sailing up and down in front of the starting line, screwing up the opposition as best we can, to get the best position to start this race.
Seeing as no sailboat in the world can sail directly into the wind, we need to do a series of maneuvers called tacks, alright?
Basically zigzagging, all the way up towards the windward marker.
Is this today's winning team?
- [Crew] Yes!
- Stand by to tack, stand by to tack.
Pull tight and set it up, pull tight, set it up.
Tack it!
- I'm inching in, getting closer and closer to the wheel.
- Main grinders, stand by, stepping down, and go.
(winch whirring) Two minutes to go, two minutes to go, guys.
We're heading straight for the line.
- Here we go!
(clapping hands) Woooo, good start.
- Well, I can't give you the play by play that Karen can, but I can tell you there's a lot of screaming, and I guess that's a good thing.
- Four out of five, guys.
Second gear, and go.
- [Lynn] Nice work, guys!
- Right now we're crossing in front of Stars and Stripes.
That means we're beating them.
- [Karen] Look at this, everybody.
Who's first around the bend, we're first around the bend.
- [Lynn] Ooh, it's close, it's very close now.
- We started in second, we're now in first.
This is where we're gonna stay.
- Stand by to tack, and we're taking.
- Come on, guys.
Somehow we went from first to second.
We have to get the first back.
This is it, the last leg, tension building.
Karen, can we do it?
- Yes!
- We need to find the markers, guys.
We need to find the windward marker.
- [Karen] Go team, go!
Let's go, guys, let's do it.
Falling behind, we're in third now.
- [Lynn] Actually, good timing when the camera got a soaking and cut out, it couldn't capture our third place finish.
- We didn't really lose, we came in third.
- Right, which in it in the Olympics is a bronze medal.
- We got a bronze.
Congratulations on the bronze.
- Congratulations on the rum punch.
(laughing) - This is a good consolation prize.
- Another glorious day at sea, and we do spend some of it relaxing outdoors in the fresh sea air.
Then I've arranged for us to see another part of cruise ship operations many people never even think about.
- So Karen, I promised you a behind-the-scenes glimpse of how things work on a big ship.
And so here we are in laundry.
- Yes, and is it ever hot in here.
- It's steamy.
Is this the hottest part of the ship?
- Yes.
(laughing) - You think?
- Yeah.
- Hotter than the engine room?
- Even more.
(laughing) - [Lynn] How many towels a day would you clean?
- [Laundry Worker] It's more than 4,000 towels.
- 4,000 Towels every day.
- Yes, every day.
And then there's bedding and there's napkins.
- Yes.
- [Lynn] And there's sheets.
Wow, and then guest laundry.
- So what's the first step.
- First, I separate the color, white.
I put inside only the whites.
Different color wait until it's finished.
I take out, I put the dryer.
- What is this machine?
- Just for the washing.
- This is a washing machine.
- Washing machine.
- Okay, I've never seen a washing machine like this.
- The water goes through the engine, just reused again for the washing.
- So the water is treated and reused again.
So it's environmentally friendly, so we can have clean laundry and save the environment all at the same time.
Yay!
- That's amazing.
How many people are working in the laundry room?
- There's 20.
- 20, and do you operate 24 hours a day?
- Yes, 24 hours.
- Wow, these are the people that like the heat.
- Yeah.
- So next is pressing?
- Yeah, the pressing.
- [Karen] So here's a little-known fact about Lynn.
She actually loves to iron.
- I do, I love to iron my clothes.
I like having nice, crisp clothes, and then you wear them, and they hang right.
But this is not like my iron at home.
So this machine is just for colors?
- Yeah.
I put like this.
- Ooh, how much time, like 10 seconds?
- About 30 Seconds.
- My kind of ironing.
- Next?
- I go to the body press.
- Oh, the body press, I thought that was a wrestling move.
I'm loving the precision of this ironing.
Oh, that's so beautiful.
- [Karen] We can frame one for you, Lynn.
Take it home.
- Please.
Woo, goodbye shirt.
- Okay, that is kind of funny.
It's like something out of a cartoon.
- Bravo!
- This is the last one.
- The last machine.
You only need three machines to iron one men's shirt.
- Woo!
- So what do you think, Karen?
I kind of am feeling that I need this whole laundry operation at home.
So one more stop?
- Yeah, one more stop.
- Oh, okay, where are we going?
- There's a checker room.
- This is where I go shopping for new clothes.
I think I see a shirt over here I really like.
- Yeah, it's finishing here, all the guests.
- All the guests.
- And the crew, also.
- My color?
- Oh, I think that works perfectly for you, let's find something for me.
Our last port on this voyage is in The Bahamas, less than 200 nautical miles from Fort Lauderdale.
The Bahamas has 29 islands, but over 600 smaller islands called cays.
Half Moon Cay is a private island, but this one isn't reserved for tycoons or royalty.
- It's a private with little island, just for Carnival and Holland America guests.
It's quaint, it's small, it's picturesque.
And everything's within walking distance.
Apart from the draw, which is the beach, an incredible half moon crescent-shaped beach.
That's why we named the island Half Moon.
We do power sailing, snorkeling, deep sea fishing, kayaking, jet skis, glass bottom boats.
- [Lynn] In addition to ships, horses are my favorite way to get around.
Horseback riding in the surf marries my love of horses with my love of the sea.
- How you doing, Karen?
- Good.
This is fun.
- Isn't this beautiful?
The sun and the surf and the sound of the waves.
I don't know, it's just like, double happiness.
- I just love the color of the ocean with the white sand.
It's just gorgeous here.
- The water, especially this time of year, you don't wanna get out.
So when you come here, like you come home.
Welcome back home.
(Lynn and Karen laughing) - [Lynn] I wouldn't mind to live here.
- [Horseman] So the horses like the water, especially when it hot, you know?
- Cool them down, the end of the day, we gotta' wash 'em off with fresh water.
- [Lynn] Yes, of course.
Might not have been quite so much fun for our crew.
- Feels pretty good.
- It feels pretty good.
- Yeah, man.
I know you guys all wonder how how these horses get food, all the feed's imported to the island.
- And what do they eat?
- They eat a lot more hay, high-sulfur grass.
- Yeah?
- Yeah, and grains.
- Woo.
- Yeah, man, how is that, lady, having fun?
- Oh, yeah!
- Wonderful!
- Yeah, man, don't worry, be happy.
(Karen laughing) That's what the island is about.
- [Lynn] What's the best thing about this for you, Karen?
- [Karen] You know, being outside, fresh air, it's beautiful, a great guide, of course.
- Yeah.
- Great friends.
- [Lynn] Yeah, sun on our faces, a horse under our butt and feet in the water.
- Rum drinks ahead.
- And rum drinks ahead.
Actually, I see them.
Is it time to go?
Yeah.
How did that go?
- Well, that was the challenge, soaking.
But I think we got it.
- [Lynn] That's a wrap and our cue, especially for our hardworking crew, to enjoy a break and a tropical drink in one of Half Moon Cay's cabanas.
(bright, relaxing music) Until next time on "World's Greatest Cruises," wishing you fair winds and following seas.
More information about "World's Greatest Cruises" and the ship and ports of call featured in today's program on our website at www.WorldsGreatestCruises.com.
Next time on "World's Greatest Cruises," sailing on the beautiful, but not blue, Danube.
Europe's legendary and longest river has lots of stories to tell.
on our AmaWaterways river cruise, we discover sites and sounds, as we sail through Germany, Austria, and Hungary.
We meet keepers of local traditions and innovators of the future.
And all along the way, we take in spellbinding scenery that you can only experience by water.