Chipmoose

We just did Bernard's tour on Tuesday last week, and had a great time. Getting back on time was a big concern of mine, and although I never heard any such guarantees when signing up for this, the receptionist at the tent in Philipsburg said something to the effect that they definitely will ensure we will be get back on time, as they do not want to foot the bill for the hotel and transportation if we miss the ship (I cannot confirm that they would do this, but they have a pretty good reputation and would lose some footing there if guests missed their ship). Our driver, 'Mailman' also discusssed with us the time we needed to get back, and he did get us back with more than an hour to spare.

We enjoyed all the stops, and I also recommend Serafina's in Marigot for fanatsic beignets, pastries, sandwichs, and espresso. There were a few topless women at Orient Beach, funny my wife noticed this moreso than I did (I spent most of the time there in the water). The beach there is most beautiful, the colors of the water and sand just make it special. There was an additional charge of $10 at Orient Beach for 2 chairs and an umbrella at the Playa beach bar we were dropped of at, and that included 2 rum punches there. But the cooler on the van was filled with tons of Caribe beers and high octane rum punch, as well as water and soda. The van was very comfortable and well cooled. The airport/Maho beach was pretty cool, although now that I have done that once, not sure I need to go back there.

Overall, highly recommend this tour.

1)Typically the All Access Tour won't run unless a minimum number of people sign up. That number has been between 10 and 15 - I've had one case where I signed up but the minimum wasn't reached and my money was refunded.

We really lucked out on our all access tour on the Brilliance, it was just my wife and I and a third person that signed up. I was sure it would be cancelled, but was not! we had an almost private tour, and as others have said, definitely worth doing at least once. My favorite part was the crew areas, such as the crew bar and food spots. Wife's favorite was he laundry.

Yes, we did a park and stay at the Holiday Inn Express at Rocky Point in Tampa, they have a shuttle to the cruise port and a package that allows you to leave your car there. Lovely hotel- I would recommend highly.

Deck four is our favorite on Grandeur- and the further forward you go, the quieter it gets, but the more walking you do. We stayed all the way up front on deck four on our first cruise, and hardly came across anyone in the halls, it was very quiet. When the seas get rough, we did feel things a little bit more that far forward.

Mike

we told our kids last year we were staying at an "all inclusive resort" vacation in Baltimore (they don't travel much so they didn't know) and going on a dinner cruise. They didn't realize it was a cruise because we managed to get the customs agents and all the check in people into the story. As we walked onto the ship we told them we were going to the Bahamas. I've never seen my kids so excited.. at least until we showed them the aft Royal Family Suite.

That's funny! On our last cruise we shared a shuttle from the hotel in Tampa with a group of people that told one man in their group (perhaps celebrating something special) that they we were all headed for the port because they had chartered a day fishing trip. As we pulled up next to the Brilliance, he figured things out!

Oh good, now I have a name for what completely knocked me out for an entire day on the Mariner. :eek:

It has the same effect on me as well, despite being 'non-drowsy'. So I take one a day, just before bed, starting the night before the cruise, and have no issues.

Mike

"Chipmoose, which tour did you take in St. John?"

We went on "St Martins and the Bay of Fundy" tour.

Our guide was very good and she lived very close to the fishing village of St. Martins, so she had added some neat local stories. The fishing village itself was the highlight of the trip. The reversing falls--I think we could have bypassed that portion of the tour altogether. Although we stopped there twice on the trip, we really did not see a pronounced reverse of the current, as our timing was not right. We also stopped at a large city market which was ok. But the tour was a lot of riding around, with for me at least, the only bang for the buck coming at the fishing village of St. Martins, which we only stayed for an hour or so.

Unfortunately there is a limit to our discretionary income, so if we get a good deal on the cruise itself, that usually leaves us with more money to spend on costlier excursions, perhaps a soda package or a bottle of wine in our cabin, maybe a trip or two to the spa for the wife, etc.

So, at least for us, I think the cruise line sees more ancillary sales if we got a very good price on our cruise.

Afternoons were hot and humid. Mornings were great. It's surrounded by water at a lattitude similar to Charlseton, SC, so the climate will be similar.

Thanks, that is helpful. :)

How was the weather in bermuda, I'd like to go next July, but concerned it may be a little hot &humid.

Moeferg, the Canada/NE cruise was one of our favorites, we really enjoyed Bar Harbor and Halifax, and both those towns are great to just explore on your own. We went up to the top of Cadillac Mountain, which was unbelievable in its beauty!

I didn't quite enjoy the town of Portland as much, we ended up going to the LL bean outlet which was interesting for outdoors people. The Bay of Fundy was beautiful, but the tour we went on was just so so. We went on a whale watching tour in Halifax but did not see any whales there (but the tour was fun anyway), although we saw some minske (sp) whales alongside the Grandeur as we left.

I do have to say the Canada/NE tour we took, in September, had the most mature cruisers onboard as we have ever encountered. We are in our 50s and there were only a few passengers our age or younger. Made us feel quite young!

Our experience was similar to nattys. We loved the front ov because it was so secluded and quiet, but when we ran into heavy seas, we really felt it. The noise natty describes fits, we were in 15-20 swells, it was our first cruise, and the noise had us concerned about the ship. The early morning anchor chain at port didn't bother us, but we are early risers.

We just got off the Brilliance where we did the all access tour. This is something my wife has wanted to book on past cruises, but I really thought $150 was a lot of money for it. I caved on this short cruise to Mexico, and I am happy I did. We really liked it.

There were some parts that we both enjoyed, such as the engine control room and the bridge, some areas I enjoyed, (I loved seeing the staff areas, such as staff 'disco' which was really just a bar/lounge with pool tables, etc.. and cafeteria, and loved hearing about staff life onboard), and some areas my wife really loved (she loved all the backstage stuff, seeing all the costumes used in the productions, etc.)

The laundry was fascinating, huge equipment onboard for pressing linens. They even have made a machine for steam pressing the staffs t-shirts, it is like an old dress form hooked up to a steam line that when a t-shirt is put on the form, and the steam is blown thru it, it blows out the t-shirt with steam and removes the winkles.

The save the waves info was pretty interesting too, other than recyclables and a pallet of incinerated ash, they do not remove hardly anything from the ship. The waste water and food waste is processed and treated and thoroughly tested and the result is discharged at sea.

We almost had the whole tour to ourselves, one person booked at the last minute and almost did not get to go, but it ended up just the 3 of us on the tour, so we had no problems getting our questions answered!

My experience is the same as jti's, the photo one always comes off automatically, but the drinks one you have to bring to the bartenders attention.

You can also smoke on the starboard side of deck 5, at least this was the case in Sept on the grandeur.

First time on grandeur in December. Need tips, suggestions, what to not miss. :o

We always enjoy the "Love and Marriage" show, and the shows featuring comedians are usually pretty good, especially when they incorporate guests in their acts. Grandeur is a small enough ship that you will run into those guests several times over the cruise, and often crack a smile at the humor they helped provide a few evenings go.The Sexiest Man Contest, International Belly Flop contest, and the Quest are also not to be missed.

The Main Dining room food is usually always pretty good, excellent breakfast in the MDR if you are not rushing out early for an excursion. Don't forget the 2nd formal night has the Fisherman's platter on the menu which includes a lobster tail and shrimp. As was noted above, the Kummelweck Roast Beef Sandwiches and the made to order salads at the Park Café are always good. The centrum aerial shows are good, but if you don't get a good seat early it is hard to enjoy trying to see over others heads.

Poolside by the solarium is a great quiet alternative to being poolside by the main pool.

Have Fun!!!

Mike

Simple answer really! By giving the OP more than he has paid for which in this case is already more than 1/2 the initial cruise fare in OBC.

 

Perhaps I should have stated it you, and others, keep bringing up the cost the OP paid for the cruise, and I never saw that posted. I also agree with others that the cost has nothing to do with the issue, but the fact that it keeps popping up here as if it is fact is just plain irresponsible if it has not been stated by the OP.

Fishtaco,you keep bringing up that the op is getting more back than they originally paid....I must have missed the post in which the op states what they paid for the cabin, can you give me that post number?

The label says you can enter and use as soon Sad it dries. I am sure glad the

I really enjoyed this, it brought back great memories of all the fun things we enjoyed on our last cruise! Thanks for sharing!

Mike

I bought a pair of raybans from the Centrum shops on the grandeur about 6 months ago, prices were comparable to what you'd find at a specialty sunglass store , but more expensive than can be found online or discount store.

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I loved the rainbow reef excursion in Nassau. I read other folks had problems with rough waters and overcrowding on the reef due to too many boats there, but when I went last November I did not

experience either of those problems.

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I did snorkeling at rainbow reef and enjoyed, but I read reviews from others that did not, due to crowdedness or rough water, 2 issues we did not encounnter.

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Our waiter foresaw that the gyoza entree was not going to be enough to fill me and so brought 2 gyoza entres without my even requesting this. I am glad he did, it was good but indeed small in portion.

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I really loved the gyoza, and the ceviche wasn't bad.

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