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And the winds they did Howl...just back from SDII


Tiki_Man
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Good evening all

 

We are home after a week sailing on SDII in the BVI and FWI. First - of course it was fantastic. The crew and service were outstanding. A tip of the hat to Captain Erikson and his staff. The weather did not always cooperate however they did everything possible to make the sailing as smooth and safe as possible.

 

I will do a more in-depth review soon and even try to upload some pic's if possible. The ship is in wonderful condition, the food as always was amazing (thank you Chef Tomas) and the service of the crew is simply at an entirely different level that is hard to put into words.

 

The only note to leave you pondering - what happens when 25 Norwegian's and Swede's come together to celebrate on SeaDream? - well let's just say we all learned a new meaning to cocktail toasts. ;)

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Good afternoon. Itried to post a couple of times on the new site but it continued to “time out”and I lost most of the review. Trying towrite it in Word and copy, hopes this works.

SeaDream II – March 4th 2017 St. Thomas to St.Thomas 7 days. Mark and Mary fromAtlanta, in our 50’s on our 2nd SD sailing.

Flew in direct from Atlanta on Delta to St. Thomas on the 4th. Simple 5 minute cab ride from airport toCrown Bay (cab cost was $25). SDII wasthe only ship at the pier so it was basically empty. Porter took our luggage right at the cabstand. We walked to the entrance gateand they asked if we could wait until 2pm for boarding (it was only 1:45 so nota big deal). The adjacent mall area hadplenty of shade and we sat with several other awaiting passengers. Promptly at 2 they welcomed everyone aboardand we soon had champagne in hand. Normal procedures with a safety drill at 5:30 and then welcome cocktailsat 6:30. We ate outside with 2 othercouples and later that evening the ship sailed over to Cruz Bay at St John(very smooth).

Cruz Bay. We wentashore on the first tender to try to attend Mass at the church in CruzBay. We were a little late arriving butenjoyed a wonderful mass where all of the music was by Steel drums (at bitdifferent from home). Back to the shipand relaxed that afternoon around the pool. We noticed the wind start to pick up a bit (refreshing in theheat). The jetski’s were available butdue to wind and waves it was difficult to last more than about 10 minutes. The dinner was supposed to be outside foreveryone that night but around 5 pm that Captain made an announcement that dueto weather we would not be going to Anguilla, but straight to St. Barths and ifanyone was susceptible to seasickness, please come inside now and take a pill(first time I have ever heard that announcement on ANY ship). Also, outside was cancelled and moved todining salon. We were delighted to beinvited to dine with the Captain that evening. He advised that a strong front was approaching and he was expecting GaleForce winds. Yikes, so of course we hadmore wine and then a night cap at TOYB with Gareth and Cameron.

Arrived the next morning in St. Barths and let’s just say itwas NOT crowded at breakfast. The shiprolled and pitched all night. Mary and Iwere fine but several folks did not have their sea legs yet. No excursions planned since we were to be inAnguilla so it was a relaxing day in Gustavia. Beer’s at La Select, walk about, and then back to the ship. The pier was full of fantastic Yachts withseveral more in the harbor. Dinner againwas planned for outside but about 6 pm then changed and moved it back inside.

Tuesday in St. Barths was cloudy with some rain and LOTS ofwind. The harbor was suddenly full ofthe super yachts due to the fact that the Harbormaster requested ALL ships toleave the pier and go to anchor. Everywhere you looked there were amazing yachts. We took a cab over the mtn ($30 us) to Eden Rockand walked around by Nikki Beach. Weleft just as the Nor/Swede group arrived at Nikki Beach (more on this grouplater). Went to Shell Beach but toowindy to even sit outside so back to the SDII. The weather cleared somewhat for sun but the wind was incredible. Again, they tried to have dinner outside butto no avail. (they would actually set up the entire outside dining area only tohave to break it all down at 6 pm). TheCaptain again makes an announcement that we would not be stopping at The Bathsin Virgin Gorda the next morning (the ONE excursion Mary and I really wanted),but would go straight to North Sound and out of the wind – good call.

Wednesday morning in North Sound of Virgin Gorda right offof Levericks. No excursions so somefolks just went to Levericks Bay while others took Water Taxi to Bitter EndY.C. but they had a difficult time getting back for dinner (glad we passed onthat). We just stayed on the ship,enjoyed the pool area and took a swim a couple of times. Once again, Jamie and Silvio tried to do dinneroutside but NOPE, this time rain and wind.

Thursday was travel day haha. The captain waited until early morning andthen moved the ship to Soper’s Hole in Tortola so that passengers could sleep abit easier. We arrived around 8 am withplenty of excursions for passengers (evidently the dolphin adventure wasfantastic). I wanted to dive but I wasthe only one on the ship so no luck (and most of the shore operators did notwant to get out in the wind). Mary had aspa day while I went and “borrowed internet” at Pusser’s. The ship sailed at 1 pm to Norman Island,across Drakes Passage. Large Passengerexcursion for snorkeling, and somehow (will explain later) we talked thecaptain into allowing 6 of us via zodiac to go to Willy-T’s for cocktails andjumping off the top. Once back on boardthe Captain moved the ship over to Jost Van Dyke and arranged to have tenderservice to Foxy’s after dinner. We wereso fortunate to once again have dinner (Yes, inside) with the Captain again andhe stated that he had never experienced a sailing where outside dining had notbeen possible. He also stated that thecrew had worked very hard that day with basically 5 locations in less than 24hours.

Friday was SPLASH day and finally the sun comes out and thewind dies down. FANTASTIC day at WhiteBay. Matthew actually had 35 passengersgo on a hike with him prior to the Splash and by 12 Noon the surfboard was inthe water with champagne and caviar and the ships Horn blowing in thedistance. Perfect day with lovely fellowpassengers. All back aboard by 5 pm and WOOHOOwe get to have dinner outside. Theevening was perfect, stars and calm seas and attentive service from thestaff. Perfect last night.

Arrived St. Thomas at 8 am. Customs took a bit longer than usual as only 40 US passengers out of 93total (95 staff for just 93 of us, if anyone is counting haha). Shared cab back to airport (again $25) andthen the ugliness of Cyril King airport. Long lines, no Priority Club or Sky Club, but we found seats, settled inand actually by 6:40 that evening we were home in Atlanta and starting tounpack.

I will do another report of passenger and excursion relateddetails a bit later. Please forgive forthe long-winded report. We have an OPENbooking and now just trying to figure out how quick we can get back aboardSeaDream.

Cheers

Mark

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Thanks so much for sharing your experiences, Tiki Man. We have never experienced wind like that on SD. But it sounds like you took the lemons and made some lemonade. I'm glad you had such a great time.

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great review tiki man !

we had the captains seasickness tannoy announcement on our first sailing back in 09. I remember queues outside the doctors office for the jabs !

we always found the TOY Bar the best cure ....

looking forward to the next instalment ...

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Idle thoughts from SDII on March 4th (thinking of you Hum).

 

93 passengers with 95 crew. Breakdown - 40 US, 14 UK, 25 Norwegian/Swedish Group and then couples from Denmark, Oz, Germany, Canada, Belgium and a few more that I don't recall from Europe.

 

Captain Remi Erikson, Chef Tomas, Jamie Mc - Hotel Manager, Matthew - Club Director, Silvio - Matre'd. The lovely Marie was our room steward. Bar staff included Cameron, Gareth, Doma and Alberto. Stella was the water sports director and also Blackjack dealer. Some of the dining staff included O'Neil, Jesse, Tyrone, Eugene and too many others to name them all.

 

Spring Break in the states but NO ankle biters on board. The youngest was a college student with her mother and older brother plus friend.

 

Now about the Nordic Group. A tall Viking was turning 50 on the sailing. He and his wife came on board with 20 plus friends. The T-shirt may explain things - when they went to Nikki Beach for the afternoon, all of them were wearing a white t-shirt that stated "Fifty, Fit and FU..... Fabulous" One swede even wore his shirt every day around the pool after that. They also all dressed in SeaDream PJ's for dinner one night (granted, they hoped to be outside but still). The group had a "toast" that they were constantly chanting by late afternoon around the pool and even several times at dinner. The Captain, also Norwegian, stated that the toast really just meant "drink" and was nothing special but by the end of the week he was getting VERY tired. (Funny sidenote, a few Americans had had enough of the toast - so everytime the Nordic's would roar, they came back with a similar chant). Let's just say that by the end of the cruise EVERYONE was tired of the "SUPA"

 

Second time in as many cruises where a large group has somewhat "taken over" the ship. I will say that this group was more polite than the Tobago group from Thanksgiving. It was just difficult when they moved as a herd (they would fill a tender all themselves) and the entire deck 6 area with "Nordic Land" for b'fast and lunch. Nothing that SeaDream could do but it has happened twice. OK, enough soapbox, now back to the sailing.

 

Food was wonderful. I agree with Zimmy that the Mussels are fantastic (and so so many of them). The poached egg with caviar was delightful and most of the fish dishes were outstanding. The red mean selections were a bit bland and the fresh fruit did not have a lot of variety.

 

The stateroom was fine. I do wish they would replace the worn carpets soon, your soles of your feet are almost grey after coming out of the shower. The Captain did say that possibly this Oct near the end of the Med season they might do a quick drydock, but not a certainty.

 

Tender service was wonderful (Go Garry!!!!!). Water platform was fine. The Jetski's would have been more fun if less wind.

 

Once again, overall it was a wonderful cruise and the service was amazing.

 

Hum - several of the staff said to say hello if you are by chance still observing in quiet mode.

 

If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask.

 

Cheers

 

Mark

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I forgot to explain Willy-T's at Norman Island. On Wednesday night I was trying to find a good internet spot on board to communicate with our daughter in the states (she had just received a couple of job offers and wanted "Dad advice"). Mary ended up sitting in the lobby area alone for a while and the Captain walked by and they started to chat. She mentioned that we wanted to try to go to a floating bar in Bight Bay off Norman Island called Willy-T's the next day. He smiled and said he would have a zodiac ready for us in the afternoon.

 

Sure enough, the next afternoon, after the large snorkeling excursion set off of the beach, they brought one of the zodiac's alongside. We had met 2 other couples that also wanted to try Willy-T's so we were off. The driver asked how long we would like to stay. We stated just an hour or so. We had a couple of beverages, jumped off the top deck a couple of times (NO, did NOT earn a free T-shirt :D) and then the zodiac buzzed over and picked us up.

 

These are the type of little things that make SeaDream so special. Just a simple comment became a reality and fun adventure. Special thanks again to the Captain and Matthew.

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