top of page
white sand mountain

Blog

Welcome to the Adventures by Amaris Travel Agency Blog! You'll find travel tips and travel stories within our posts.

Writer's pictureAmaris Scipione

ASTA Caribbean Showcase 2024

I go to the Netherlands. No jet lag. I go to Curaçao which is in the same time zone as home and I’m jet lagged. I make no sense. 


I am usually not a morning person, but here I am, up early. I’m not quite awake enough to do work, but also not tired enough to sleep. What to do? As I write this I probably should have thought about working out and having a productive morning, but that thought didn’t even cross my mind. The tranquility tub on my patio does and it’s going to be a bath morning. 


I start the water, order room service, wait, wait some more, do other things, come back and wait some more. Aah the tub is full. My patio is kind of secluded and there are curtains you can pull, but I treat this as my own personal little pool and not a bathtub. I sit in the tub and look out into the abyss of greenery. I wonder how far the garden extends and wonder what is on the other side. Surely an eyesore since the bush is so thick. You only put that many bushes when you’re trying to hide something. Five seconds later I see something. Is that a sailboat mast? WTF. There is water there!?!Why would you block an ocean view? I guess to keep the tranquility tub tranquil? 🤷🏻‍♀️


Fruit, tranquility soaking tub, potatoes/bacon
Room Service at Sandals Royal Curacao

Room service arrives and it’s clear they’re used to couples in rooms. I order fruit, breakfast potatoes, and bacon. It’s a dinner-sized plate full of fruit and another dinner-sized plate split with bacon and potatoes. Way more than any normal person can eat. I eat my breakfast on my patio while hearing the birds sing. It’s a nice start to the day. 


The ASTA Caribbean Showcase is about learning and today was our day for classroom learning. We hear several speakers throughout the day and there is one speaker who talks about social media. Throughout his presentation he shows a handful of videos and what makes them work. To my surprise, one of my videos was in the presentation and he pronounced my name correctly! When I realized it was going to be one of my videos, I assumed it was going to be the one that won me a river cruise. It wasn’t. It was a video I did of my stateroom on the ms Joy. Why that one I wondered? He used very kind words saying how I used quality lighting and was authentic. He went on to explain how you don’t have to be picture-perfect to produce content and it’s good to get in front of the camera. I mean my hair was a mess and I was in a hurry to meet friends for pancakes. Fair points. I wondered, how did he know how to say my name? People who don’t know me don’t know how to say my name. I pondered this question for an embarrassing long time and then realize my video started with, “It’s Amaris, hi…”


Amaris and Allison twinning, refreshing cocktail, view of Sandals Royal Curacao
ASTA Caribbean Showcase

I ate lunch with friends from the food trucks. Everyone from the conference had a choice: indoor restaurant or food trucks. It was blazing hot, but we made the right choice. Hardly anyone chose the food trucks over AC so our food came quickly and we even had time for ice cream afterwards. 


Strawberry Lemonade and BAO Chicken Teriyaki
Food Truck Lunch

Suppliers hosted dinners around properties and we signed up for them on the first day. Last year, I chose Curaçao and it was super exciting because I chose it before we knew the conference would be here. The announcement was made before dinner and it was interesting to get a sneak-peek about the island. I was hoping to guess correctly this year too. I chose the dinner was the Bahamas. Sandals announced they will be converting their Sandals property on Exuma into a Beaches property! I thought maybe the conference would be there next year. I was wrong. It will be in Jamaica. Anyway, dinner with the Bahamas was at Vincent. It’s one of two restaurants that require a reservation and is modern European food. I was delighted to see French dishes on the menu. Duck à l’Orange, yes please. It was a delightful evening making new friends and learning more about the Bahamas. 🇧🇸 


Duck Dinner and Dessert
Dinner from Vincent

 

0 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Kommentarer


Kommentarer er slået fra.

ABOUT

Adventures by Amaris Travel Agency crafts family and milestone vacations.

Let's Chat

Schedule a consultation so that we can talk about your dream trip.

Let's Plan 

Submit a vacation request to initiate the quoting process.

Let's Travel

Read through our resources such as our travel guides to prepare for travel.

bottom of page