schlot

Thanks everyone!

 

Cunard, HAL, Celebrity and NCL all have voyages to South America, but the Island Princess cruise is by far the best itinerary. Having said that, we prefer the food onboard Celebrity, HAL and Cunard. Princess food is not bad, it's just not great. Even there alternative restaurants are so so. When we cruise NCL, we add the UDP (ultimate dining package) and eat every evening meal in one of their wonderful alternative restaurants. Oceania and Azamara have wonderful cuisine, but their costs are twice as much. MSC is great, if you can afford the Yacht Club.

 

Some people rave about their Princess experiences, so we want to give them another try -- maybe we are missing something?

 

I'm not anti-Princess, just looking for a good match.

 

Enjoy!

Kel:D

Don't take this wrong but after 64 cruises (except for 3) on non Princess lines, I'm thinking you will be disappointed in any line that isn't one of your chosen lines.

At 64 cruises, money is obviously not an issue and your tastes in cruise lines can reflect what you want and not what you can afford.

In my case at a whopping 3 cruises, I would be ecstatic to take that cruise. Because of my place in life I would recognize but overlook the shortcomings mentioned above, whereas you will probably not.

I'm not being critical of your ability to cruise so frequently just saying you may be setting yourself up for disappointment.

Just my 2 cents.

the carnival glory is going there in Feb. 2019.

Pat

Very cool.

Departing Miami?

We did a little shopping and walking then took a cab tour of the island.

Had a great time talking to the driver about the island and her day to day life on the island.

I heard this was damaged during the last 2 hurricanes and is not open to the public.

Any news on this? Any pictures of the damage?

More variety...not less.

Princess suits me fine, HAL not so much.

Thanks.

I see she is still at Port Everglades even though she was scheduled to leave over an hour ago....any idea as too why?

Edit....just heard on Vhf she will still be another 20 to 30 minutes.

???

I hope you don't mind me adding to the conversation as a "straight folk"

Although I've never asked a person if they're gay or lesbian there's been times when I have been tempted to. I can't speak for others but for me it has been the desire to make that person feel as if they had nothing to hide.

I have several gay friends and over the years I've watched them wrestle with the problems of coming out in or acting natural in public areas. I can only guess how difficult it would be to hide a major portion of oneself. By asking and understanding I would hope it would make them feel more at ease.

On our last cruise my bride and myself had a cabin right next to a gay couple or at least I'm 99% sure they were gay since I actually didn't ask nor did they volunteer.

Perhaps I was reading into it more than I should but they seem very reserved in public. And although this just could be their personalities I could only think it maybe due to them being gay and not feeling at ease enough to show their emotions for each other.

Just my 1.5 cents.

Check Native Choice Tours. They offer tours to a couple of ruins. We did the Chacchoben Extreme Tour with them and enjoyed it. The time to the ruins was maybe 45 min or so.

 

 

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We had a great experience on this tour. Friendly and well run.

I’ve been a Vegan for 45 years. Many foods at the buffet are suspect from a vegan point of view. Vegetable soup with chicken stock as an example. Of course, we don’t just eat salad !! Best bet is eating in the dining room. When I first board I contact the Maitre’d as soon as possible. Find out who my head Waiter will be and give him a list of foods I will eat and foods I don’t want to eat. I also like to have a table for two (or as small as possible) as nothing is worse than eating with a table full of meat eaters.

 

 

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Yes you are right, the use of animal products can be easily overlooked even when preparing vegan food for those not accustomed to it.

As a meat eater I would have to disagree with you though. I would think sitting across from a judgemental vegan would be worse. :)

Crystal and Pescado...thanks for your input. As with a lot of people, the food we had was a big part of us enjoying our cruise, and I was concerned she might not have many options.

There is no real way to know what food would meet her needs on the buffet. Some items may contain meat or are cross contaminated with varying cooking methods. I agree with the advice to eat in the MDR IF she is concerned.

I guess we would trust them if they listed a food as vegan. I can't remember seeing such signage in the buffet but then again I wasn't looking either.

Yes, I agree the MDR is a more sure fire method of eliminating the use of foods she doesn't want to eat.

The last two times we sailed my wife was a vegetarian so we found plenty to each at the buffet areas. Since then she went full vegan.

Does anyone has experience in whether there is much offered in the way of vegan food at the buffet.

I would imagine ordering vegan at the dining room would be possible, but typically we don't dine there a lot.

I did s search for this subject but didn't see anything.

Thanks.

What's the reasoning for the repositioning?

What cruise line were you on?

Thanks for the pictures and write up!

Thanks for the nice write up.

What was the length of your cruise? Did you leave from Port Everglades?

Was there anything mentioned about excursions related to the BBC series Death in Paradise?

I think the show is filmed on a smaller island than the main island so a boat trip would be needed to visit the area of filming itself.

I'd love to visit but it looks like it difficult to find cruises from Florida.

I see she came in around midnight to Port Everglades and is now, 4:30am, repositioning to another dock.

Any idea why the early arrival?

The tour lasts for around 4-5 hours from pick up to drop off. There is snorkeling and they provide gear if you need it too. You can even choose if you want to snorkel on the Atlantic or the Caribbean side.

 

I was so disappointed as my Royal Princess cruise last month missed Princess Cays. The weather was bad and getting worse and the captain was worried about getting everyone back on board. One good thing about Eleuthera Tours is if the ship does not tender you get any deposit made refunded.

Thanks!

We aren't into snorkeling so is there others things to do (besides the obvious beach exploring) on the tour?

Just returned from St Thomas. We had an enjoyable day touring the island at our own pace with a rental car and using google maps on our phone. Our US iphone worked without any additional plan since St Thomas is US island.

 

We rented a car from Budget for $91 including gas and full insurance. We normally just rely on insurance included with credit card, but after seeing all the scrapes/dents/damage on cars and having never driven on left side, we added full coverage. Budget staff Serena and Byron B were friendly and accommodating with vehicle request and directions. We had no issues, but there were close calls on narrow roads due to other drivers driving fast and not looking. Had to call Budget 800 number to make reservation as port location would not come up automatically at Budget website. Allowed us to rent a Jeep, but they had no jeeps. We actually liked having a car with a trunk for our things. To rent online, type in CT3 for location and Havensight Port will come up. Walked off ship and right into Budget. Their local website makes you reserve with credit card and has fee if you do not cancel by set date. We were worried about change in itinerary and no phone at sea to cancel if things changed. For us, St Thomas was a last minute change from Tortola.

 

Anyway, it was enjoyable seeing the island, going to various lookout points and stopping at two beaches. We even returned midday and parked next to our ship to run in for lunch. As far as beaches, Sapphire was quite a distance with traffic and did not look any different than Emerald Beach. Did not stay long because we wanted to see more and were worried about driving time back to ship. We wish we had just gone to Emerald first to have more time there. The airport is right next door and it was enjoyable watching planes come and go just off the beach. Emerald Beach was clean and water clear. My husband did some snorkeling. The hotel there rents chairs for $7 pp and then has bathrooms, a bar and a restaurant. And it was a quick drive back to ship when it was time to leave.

 

The island is still recovering, but we were able to get around fine. Altered route a couple times due to major pot holes. Numerous power lines were clipped at road edge and sad signs of the hurricane destruction were still evident.

 

Tip: Watch prices at nearby Pueblo supermarket. Amstel light 6 pack rang up higher than posted price. Older clerk at register didn’t want to check price and was quite rude. We asked to remove and get what was supposed to be cheaper cans. They did not scan at all, so she sent bagger to get price. I followed hoping to show him Amstel bottle price and he wouldn’t even look at it. We kept smiling and apologizing trying to lighten situation, but it really was an unpleasant, unwelcoming experience.

 

 

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Pueblo Supermarket...I remember stopping there also. I was surprised to see just how expensive their food is on the island.

We had a nice tour at the Blackbeards Castle. Sampled some rum toured the area. Had some nice views of the hillside.

Bit touristy but still fun.

My two babies Maltese and mal shi comes first

Even have a tshirt that said I am not a Maltese. ...my mommy

Tells me I'm her baby and my mommy is always right

Lol. That sounds like my situation exactly. :)

Why not go on your own with a friend? Or even by yourself?

Unfortunately she is my best friend and would rather spend my money and time on her....dang it all! :)

Plus with my work I'm gone enough from her already.

Lol. I'd be more scared of my bride than the ASPCA. :)