Passengers, who arrived in Anguilla aboard the cruise ship, Seabourn Odyssey, immediately got a considerable amount of firsthand knowledge about the history and culture of the island when they visited Heritage Collection Museum at East End on Monday, March 4.
The visitors from the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States, were welcomed to the museum by its curator and historian, Mr. Colville Petty, OBE. They showed an absorbing interest as they journeyed through the rooms of the museum stacked with tell-tale artifacts reflecting various periods of Anguillian history.
“I think all of it – the artifacts, the pictures and the narratives about things that happened are very, very interesting,” Mr. Joe Papia of Los Angeles, California, commented.
His wife, Mrs. Papia, remarked: “I love it. I am in awe. It is amazing. I have never seen anything like this.”
One lady from England said about the museum: “It is a wonderful display. It has everything. I am from Hampshire where it is snowing at the moment.” It is one reason why she came to sunny Anguilla.
Anguillian Mrs. Nakishma Rogers-Hull of Lively Island Tours, said Seabourn Odyssey which regularly calls at Road Bay, Anguilla, every two weeks or so, first visited last December 7 during its current cruising schedule; then on January 21; February 4 and 18; and now March 4. The next scheduled visit to Anguilla is March 18.
“This visit to Heritage Collection Museum is the historic part of the tour,” she explained to The Anguillian. “I have some guys doing a beach tour at Crocus Bay, and then there is the ultimate boat tour to Scrub Island where the visitors will go hiking.”
Mrs. Rogers-Hull said Lively Island Tours have a contract with Seabourn Odyssey. She was pleased to report that “next year they want to extend their calendar which is going to be better, because the more they come here, the more work the taxis and everybody else will get.”
She added: “I just got a call from a couple other ships saying that because of this tour business they want to come here. So next season I expect us to have two, or may be three, good size ships coming to Anguilla.”
Seabourn Odyssey has a capacity for 450 passengers. The Italian company has five ships in its Cruise Line fleet.
