anonmom

I have 2 requests:

1. Just seconding the request for current MDR dinner menus from as many nights as possible.

2. Can you or your spouse sign up for the District leaderboard contest and report back? Some have said that the bartenders provide paper copies of the beer list so you can keep track of how you are doing, but apparently those weren't available last week. Also, there is a new person running the contest and they didn't get any numbers up on the leaderboard until Friday last week. I'd like to know if this runs more smoothly next week.

Thanks!

Also, I was at Harvest Caye in January on the Getaway and I wasn't impressed at all. The pool looks nice and there is a fun-looking splash park for the kids, but it is so hot, with minimal shade. The beach is ok, but the sand is rocky and the water is cloudy.

Still, I'm glad we got off the ship because now we've done it and never have to go back. ;) If you do want to get off, remember to pack a Yeti or another big to-go cup. The bartenders will fill it for you before you leave the ship and that will give you enough fuel to walk through the butterfly garden, see the animals, and stick your feet in the water at the lagoon, which is nicer than the ocean beach.

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Thank you for all of the kind comments!

 

While it's back to reality this morning, I must say that my office has never felt so homey...

 

Congratulations! I woke up to this "spoiler". Now I'm going back to read the details. :)

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Can someone please clarify the times that the DBH is open. In one post i see 400 -1200. I read this to be 4 am til noon. If this is true I can see the challenge, but if the true time is 4 pm until midnight, it might not be such a heavy lift. Whatever i say slainte.

No, it is 16:00 to 24:00

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Gotta remember that the drafts are 16 oz each and many of the beers are of the sipping variety instead of the pounding type you're accustomed to. And you have to factor in that after day one the DBH is only open from 400-1200, which would be a good thing since you don't want to just drink beer the entire trip. You have all day for frozen or other types of mixed drinks and then you can buckle down and concentrate on the beer after 400. You really need to be determined to win out for the week.

 

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What is the contest actually? Is it the person who tastes the most beers? Or the person who finishes the most beers?

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On Doug's live thread, they still had no numbers on the leaderboard as of Thursday because they hadn't tallied anyone's totals so far. Is this how it was in other weeks? It doesn't seem like it will be anywhere near as fun if you can't see how you are doing against the competition...

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Noon on day one...400 the rest of the week.

 

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Excellent, thank you!!

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I'm sorry I'm so stuck on this one thing, but still no leaderboard update? I do not understand if there is a huge **** up this week or what? I thought the whole point of the thing was that you could see where you stood throughout the week...

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So the leaderboard isn't done in anything approximating real time? You just have to drink as much as you can and hope that no one else drinks more? When do they announce the winners?

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One more tip: being drunk has a strong social component. If you expect that you will get drunk, and you are with other people who are getting drunk, you are more likely to get drunk.

Get together with your roll call for a pub crawl and enjoy!

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Great live thread! Do you remember what time there District opened on embarkation day? And how about the rest of the cruise? We really want to maximize our District time on our 12/9 cruise. :) 🍻🍸🍹

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Does anyone who has cruised on the Escape recently have an update on when the District opens on embarkation day?

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Pics aren't showing up for me. :/

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Nice! Did he just print up a beer list before leaving home? Or write one out longhand the first day? Or does the District provide paper copies of the menu for that purpose?

We will be on the Escape in December and I'm working on how to integrate the District leaderboard into our roll call activities. We're already doing a combination pub crawl/cabin crawl, but I'd also like to do some type of multi-day activity, where we meet at the district at a certain time each day and work on our "personal best" even if we don't make the official leaderboard, LOL!

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I actually appreciate reviews like this. I think I like the exact opposite things as the OP, so it is a nice reminder that I am not missing anything by sticking with NCL

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Thanks, we'll plan on Brewer's!

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No worries! :)

The Baths can be a challenge so just heading to a beach is a much more relaxing day.

Our favorite beach on STT by taxi is Sapphire, gorgeous beach with nice views and all the amenities you want. Have you been there? Nice drone video in this webcam link -

www.sapphireinthesun.com

Another webcam by the new beach bar -

https://www.skylinewebcams.com/en/webcam/us-virgin-islands/st-thomas/east-end/saint-thomas-virgin-islands.html

 

If renting a car or hiring a driver and looking for a quieter beach, Hull Bay and Cowpet Bay (Elysian Beach) are much less frequented by day visitors and both have beach bars but lounges are a question.

 

Cowpet Bay -

https://www.skylinewebcams.com/en/webcam/us-virgin-islands/st-thomas/east-end/saint-thomas-cowpet-bay.html

 

 

On Tortola both Cane Garden Bay and Brewers Bay are a 20 minute, $8pp safari taxi, or you can take a private taxi for a little more. Taxis will return to pick you up for your return.

CGB is where most day visitors go because it is a larger bay, and there are multiple beach restaurants there. If going there I'd suggest renting lounges and an umbrella at Myett's. They also have the best food and a nice veranda. Tony's next door also has great food.

 

 

Brewers is a smaller bay with a very nice beach and one beach bar and one restroom so it's much less crowded. More like that Caribbean beach you've been looking for. Both beaches are typically very calm, but can be rougher depending on the conditions. Below is a link to a webcam at CGB, you can find videos of both beaches on YouTube.

http://www.resortcams.com/webcams/cane-garden-bay/

We have never been anywhere in the Virgin Islands. I've heard good things about both Sapphire and Coki on STT. We're definitely not renting a car or hiring a driver.

One thing we like to do is snorkel from the shore. Between Sapphire and Coki, and also between CGB and Brewer's, where is the snorkeling better?

Thanks!

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I agree with skipping any premixed/slushy-type drinks, but it sounds like you are already doing that, so I think you're going to have to eat less and drink faster.

For me, once I lose my buzz I'm done. If I don't drink fast enough to get/keep a buzz, then I have to give up for the day and take a nap, then try again in the evening. Or give up for the night, go to bed, and try again in the morning.

Also, make sure you are drinking before your meals. You'll want to grab a drink at one of the bars so that you can get one in on a totally empty stomach. Then order a second drink as soon as you sit down and a third when your meal arrives.

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That was Gimmiethebeach's post.

 

If taking an independent operator from Tortola I'd stick with Patouche.

 

If coming from STT you spend much more time enroute but it is possible, Breakaway II is another option for day visitors.

 

The swim from a mooring into the beach at the Baths can be very difficult depending on the sea conditions and is not for weaker swimmers.

 

The one benefit with the STT option is if you can see there are no ships docked at Tortola or VG that day you can experience the Baths without the bigger crowds...But you'd have to check the cruise ship schedule, and there could still be a change where a ship docks at Tortola that day, so no guarantees...

Sorry, I did a bad job grammatically there. I was replying to each of you as "you" and that is totally confusing. I knew that you were different people, but both of you posted about the complications of going to the Baths via private charter, and after that, you both posted about being confused by my post.

In any case, I asked my husband if it was really that important to him to go to the Baths and he said that he was only going because he thought it was important to me. So it turns out that we don't have to take the ferry or the private charter. We're just going to take a cab to the beach in both STT and Tortola! We'll go to the Baths some other year when we have a reasonable amount of time in port at a reasonable time of day.

That was Gimmiethebeach's post.

 

If taking an independent operator from Tortola I'd stick with Patouche.

 

If coming from STT you spend much more time enroute but it is possible, Breakaway II is another option for day visitors.

 

The swim from a mooring into the beach at the Baths can be very difficult depending on the sea conditions and is not for weaker swimmers.

 

The one benefit with the STT option is if you can see there are no ships docked at Tortola or VG that day you can experience the Baths without the bigger crowds...But you'd have to check the cruise ship schedule, and there could still be a change where a ship docks at Tortola that day, so no guarantees...

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And then here, you said that you were dropped off and had to swim in and it sounds like there was no guide/captain/whatever with you, so you didn't know how to get back to the boat.

We used Patouche Charters and they dropped us off near shore and we had to swim in. It was fun and definitely an experience we will remember. However, if anyone in your party is not a strong swimmer I would take the ferry. It was really rough getting in to the beach and the crew did not give us any directions on what to do once we were through the baths. We all walked all the way back around the top path where you come down from the ferry. We were stressed the whole time we wouldn't get back to our boat on time. Apparently we were supposed to swim directly from the beach once you get through the baths. We couldn't see our boat from there so we were afraid to chance it. Not a bad experience at all, just tiring! But we were not at all stressed for time and I was worried we would be if we did the ferry on our own. I had read that often the earliest ferry is for the cruise excursions but I don't know if that was true or not.

 

 

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And then you

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You can find posts from folks who opted to go with a private operator near the ship that drops you off the beach at the Baths, but some of those reports have been horrible so do your due diligence if you look at that. Enjoy your day!

When I said "local charters" in the next sentence, I just meant that right here you said that there are some horrible reports about private operators.

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It was a company called something like One Love Charters.

Exactly.

 

Anonmon I'm not clear on the option you mention for $175pp that includes Cooper and Norman from STT - who does that? Is that Breakaway II out of Sapphire?

And what "local charters" are you referring to in your next sentence? From STT or Tortola?

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I've gone back and forth about whether to go to the Baths from Tortola or St. Thomas. At first, I assumed we would definitely go from Tortola. It is so much closer, there is public transportation, there is no need to pay extra customs fees, etc. But the schedule just seems so tight. We'd have to be ready to get off the ship right at 7 am (a time when I'd way rather be sleeping), catch the 7:45 ferry, have 3-4 hours to do the Baths & Devil's Bay, and be stressed the whole time that we would somehow miss the ferry and then miss our all aboard time of 2:30 pm.

I've been thinking that instead of paying about $80 ($40/pp) for that stress, we'd find some roll call members who wanted to go in on a charter from St. Thomas and pay about $350 ($175/pp) for a relaxing day (6+ hours) at the Baths that could also include Cooper Island and Norman Island if we feel like moving on after a few hours. So I'm distressed to hear that some local charters just drop you off near shore and expect you to swim in to the beach and somehow swim back to the boat. Is that typical of all the charter boats or just a few bad operators? I assumed that paying several hundred dollars per day for a private charter would get you a captain who would at least drop anchor and swim to shore with you, if mooring at a dock isn't possible. Is this an unrealistic expectation?

How much did this excursion cost through NCL? (It isn't listed for my December Escape cruise yet.)

TIA!

Unfortunately I did not take any photos of the MDR menus. We scoped out the menus on a couple of different nights, but on those nights we looked, nothing looked particularly appetizing! I'm kinda disappointed we never got around to eating in the MDR, particularly The Manhattan Room.

 

 

 

This cruise really did get me excited to take them on a cruise somewhere down the line! Airfare is the most difficult part. Each of our previous three cruises we've used an airline credit card program to fly for free. That's doable when you're flying two people down, but tougher when trying to make it four. Time to start saving!!

I hear that. I am trying to figure out how to maximize our SDP without missing out on the MDRs, especially the Manhattan Room. What I've got so far is that we are going to have to eat 4 meals per day! 😝

As far as taking the kids or not, we're doing the opposite of you. For our first two cruises, we felt like we'd be leaving money on the table if we didn't use the KSF! So we just sucked it up and 'paid' for three airfares each time. (We also use credit card rewards and airline miles to fly to our departure ports.) But our Escape cruise will be our honeymoon, so we are leaving our daughter at home and getting the SPD for our second perk instead of KSF. (UBP always being our first perk, of course.)

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If he didn't, I saw that shadowmeboy was just on Escape and he posted menus as well as the Dailies. Here is the link:

 

Shadowmeboy's Escape to the Western Caribbean!

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2516206

 

 

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Thanks for the tip! Between these 2 awesome Escape reviews, I'm not going to get anything done this week. B)

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