Ultimate Trinidad Carnival 2019 recap
Aaaaand I’m back! Did you miss me? It’s your girl Esha here and it’s time for a recap of Ultimate Trinidad Carnival 2019!
I’m going to do things a little bit differently this time around…let’s get into the good, the better and the best of what Trinidad Carnival had to offer this year for us and our clients.
The good
A few things fall under this category:
My Monday wear! It was finally completed and I remembered to get a picture of myself in it for you guys lol. And I have a little silly video of me crossing the Socadrome stage to Voice, Lil Natty and Thunder’s hit “Pandemonium”. So much fun!!
Me in my Carnival Monday wear!
J’ouvert – at Trinidad Carnival 2019, we played with Dirty Dozens J’ouvert and the vibes were slow to start, I must say. The actual street parade was delayed quite a bit (by 2 hours!) and although there was (thankfully) a pre-party, the delay had a dampening effect on our clients and the rest of the partiers. Once things got moving, it got much better though. AND Mr. Killa, fresh off of his Soca Monarch win was on de truck, and along with DJ Private Ryan had everyone “runnin wit it”!
Dutty at J’ouvert…
More Trinidad Carnival 2019 video for yuh..Mr. Killa moving de crowd!
Meeting soca stars – So as time goes on, I find my luck is getting better running into soca stars! Here’s a photo with one of my faves – Teddyson John! His song “Parlez” is in my top 5 Groovy soca songs this year. I ran into him in the lobby of the Hilton Trinidad. He was super nice to stop and take a pic even though he was clearly in a rush!
Teddyson John and I (still haven’t perfected usies though…)
Pic with Bunji Garlin himself (although he wasn’t feeling well) 🙁
The only person I wasn’t able to take a photo with was Machel Montano when we crossed paths. He was leaving the Hilton and I was running back to my room to get something that I forgot for the Trinidad Carnival Parade – sigh #missedphotoop!
The better
Seeing our clients all dressed up for the Carnival Tuesday Parade. We had very minimal costume issues with YUMA and any that we did have, were satisfactorily resolved (thank goodness!). We’ve even had a couple of our clients featured on essence.com and Instagram in all of their curvy glory!
Instgram Diva #1…we love it!
Instagram Diva #2…featured on Essence.com (click image to see the article – she’s #28)
Some of our clients during our photo shoot at the Hilton Trinidad!
Sunny Side Up. I loved most of the changes made at Sunny Side Up, THE breakfast party at Trinidad Carnival 2019 this year. The highlight was definitely Machel Montano performing – epic! Mr. Killa also gave an unforgettable performance along with Blaxx and the All-Stars.
The different layout of the Penthouse section gave me pause though. The tent was too low and the stage was sideways to the Penthouse, so you if you were at the back of the tent, you couldn’t really see the performances. I was in the cooler section for most of the party and had a great time anyway – but those are my 2 cents!
The Penthouse food court was MUCH improved. It was moved to a more open area with an additional bar (there were 3 Penthouse bars in total), with a central tent to eat under (more shade from de morning sun) and a good selection of foods to choose from. The gourmet doubles were amazing (I ran the risk of them banning me for the multiple trips I took there lol) and I also really loved the wontons and samosas! All in all, Sunny Side Up was a highlight of Ultimate Trinidad Carnival for another year.
Our clients having a ball at Sunny Side Up!
The best
Lime @ the Hyatt. I personally had the most fun and ate some of the best food during Trinidad Carnival 2019 at this party. It’s a staple of our 2-night Upgrade and it was FABULOUS this year! Every kind of food imaginable. My faves were the Chaud, Asian and dessert tents. Chaud is a fine dining restaurant which I highly recommend. The Asian tent at the party had this salmon – OMG – never tasted anything like that in my life! And the dessert tent had everything in these pretty, little cups. I felt like I wanted to eat them all!
AND on top of all of that, Kes the Band’s performance was amazing along with all of the other soca stars who passed through. Here’s a little taste of Kes and our other photos of the event 😉
Good times at Lime @ the Hyatt!
Dessert anyone?
AND hands down the best for me of the entire trip was the Trinidad Carnival Parade! For the first time EVER, I thoroughly enjoyed Carnival Tuesday more than Carnival Monday (and perhaps J’ouvert). I was in love with my YUMA costume – Lemonade – and YUMA road vibes was on point. Drinks flowing, lots of eye candy, the DJ’s were playing a great rotation of soca and the band kept moving. The last hour of the day once the trucks stopped was exhilerating!
I couldn’t help but be drawn in and inspired by the good vibes of YUMA on that day. What more can a Carnivalista ask for? Well, hmmm – I should’ve gotten a smaller backpack (lol). Poor thing barely made it off the stage. I hung it on a fence and thanked it for its service. Here’s a pic (RIP) and a video of me crossing the stage!
My fave Carnival costume #lemonadelove
My poor Lemonade backpack…hopefully it made someone else happy!
Well, that’s my take on Trinidad Carnival 2019! Want to join us next time? We’d love to have you. Click here to visit our website.
Next up: my take on the best soca tunes of 2019. It’s a tough job – there was soooo much good soca this year – but I’m up to the task!
Don’t forget to leave a comment below about your fave Trinidad Carnival moments – would love to hear them!
Til de next lime,
Esha
About Esha: As a travel curator and event planner with over 20 years of experience (whose been to 5 out of the 7 continents), Esha’s helped professional women who don’t have the time, energy, or resources to plan their own vacations so they can travel and enjoy unique, life-changing Caribbean experiences. Visit our website or click the links below to learn more!
LOVING the new blog! Big beautiful photos! And it’s soooo great to see you in action at Carnival!!!
Thanks so much Sarah! Me in action – ha ha ha ha! Your continued support of us all is invaluable 🙂