Ken'swife

2 hours ago, wardwhitty said:

I booked my 1st Journey cruise on the Sunshine October 19th mainly because of the itinerary.  Since the majority of posters are experienced journey cruisers, what makes a journey cruise different? Is it the ports and length, additional activities, more perks ?

 

Just curious and I am sorry if I hijacked this thread.

Here's a link to the explanation on Carnival's website.
https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3936/~/carnival-journeys-cruises

We did the Black Pearl Snorkel and Sunset cruise in November 2018. We had a great time.  The sailing was smooth and relaxing. We made a couple of stops to snorkel then we slowly sailed back to the dock while they served us delicious hot grilled cheese sandwiches.  My husband said the sandwiches made the entire trip worth it. HA HA.  I would highly recommend them if you are looking for a sunset cruise. 

2 hours ago, coevan said:

 

 

Didn't the tour company tell you when to meet? Every tour I have been on we are told to meet at 9 am Atlantic time, always very specific. The 9 am was non specific, just an example. The tour companies definitely know the difference between their time and ship's time. 

No, I double checked the e-mails after the trip.  Nothing was mentioned about it.  

I just went through this in December.  I booked a private yacht/snorkel excursion through Seas the Day. (Excellent trip, by the way!) We were supposed to meet them at 1:45pm. I told all my group to meet me at 1:30pm.  I did not realize that island time was not the same as ship time in this port.  I ended up running around like a lunatic trying to reach everyone to tell them we had to get off the ship an hour EARLIER than we had planned.  Thankfully, I reached everyone at the very last minute and we made it to our tour just in time.  I was a nervous wreck.  Hopefully lesson learned about the difference of island time and ship time.  Bad thing about it was I thought I HAD figured it out before we left and I was STILL wrong.  NOT a fun way to start a day in port but could have been worse. LOL

Take note that our Woodwind excursion was on island time which was an hour different from ship time.  We were almost all an hour late showing up. The ship never made an announcement that island time was different.  In my experience they usually do tell you the morning as you are debarking.  Not this time. 😞

On 12/29/2019 at 7:52 PM, mickeyhereicome said:

 

Same situation but Woodwind has our tour starting at 11:45 with a 11:30 arrival.  Please report back of how the taxi tour went or if you found a tour when you got off the ship.  We sail in April.

We decided not to do a tour before hand. Decided we didn't want to risk missing Woodwind. 
Our friends that did not snorkel took a tour (through Carnival) and said we didn't really miss anything around the island. 
Also take note we were ALL late for our Woodwind excursion because island time and ship time was an hour different.  I thought I checked before hand and it was the same but I was wrong.  

We just did this excursion on December 9th.  I have snorkeled quiet a few times before in the Caribbean but had never done a drift snorkel before. I'd also only snorkeled in coves or very calm water, had never been out in the open ocean where the water was actually choppy. I was really nervous and pretty much talked myself out of it when I saw how rough the water was...didn't like the idea of being out there drifting away from the boat.  One of the guides talked me into just trying it for a few minutes.  She said she would hold my hand, all I had to do was put my face in the water and let her pull me around and ENJOY.  She put a "belt" around my waist and also gave me a noodle.  I AM SOOOO thankful I let her talk me into giving it a try.  In less than five minutes I was comfortable enough to let go of her and do it on my own.  It was one of the best things I have ever done.  The views of the reefs, fish, turtles, sting rays, coral etc...was AMAZING!  Just like the photos posted above. Your group stays with your guide. She has on these super long fins so she will dive down and point things out to make sure everyone in the group gets a chance to see everything. (I'll attach a picture.)  You are SO close to the reefs at times you have to just stay on your stomach and float so you don't accidently kick and hurt the coral or the reefs.  Amazing is not even a strong enough word for the sights we saw!  I highly recommend Woodwind.  If we get back to Bonaire I WILL do this with them again.   
P.S. we had snorkeled in St. Thomas a couple of days before and saw NOTHING like we saw in Bonaire.  It was almost like the difference between watching black & white TV and color TV.  The coral & reefs at St. Thomas have not recovered from recent hurricane damage. Very sad. 

8 hours ago, NateUpNorth said:

 

I still see a "Three Hour Tour" advertised which I believe is the afternoon trip?

*not sure if allowed to post the link, but it's definitley in the drop down options under "Cruise Ship Guests*

 

I did get a response from them.  They said they change their schedule when the cruise ships are in town and that we are confirmed for a four hour tour from 12pm-4pm.  Their website is very misleading.  I can imagine there are cruise passengers that don't book with them because they don't see the times they need. 
UPDATE: I don't see ANY times on their website now.  I guess they took that off...now you have to email them to ask about availability. Oh well, we are booked.  I guess that is all that matters. 🙂

16 minutes ago, dawnvan said:

The other one that I found was Bonaire vista tour, they also had good reviews,  you could check with them. Worst case could always find a cab to give u a quick tour of the island.  I’m not a fly by the seat of my pants on cruises. So that really didn’t work for me. Plus their is 6 of us so that makes it a little harder also 

They don't return in time for us to do Woodwind either. I like to plan in advance as well but looks like we may have to find a cab to give us a 2 - 2 1/2 hour tour. I really want to see the salt flats, slave huts and maybe some flamingos.  I don't want to go to a new island and not see some of the highlights. 

dawnvan, Thank you for the response.  I really wanted to do Bonaire Photo Shoot. I sent them an e-mail asking if we could do it before our 12pm tour with Woodwind.  They said we could not. They don't return until 12:30 so it would be too late.  I am very disappointed. Oh well, I am sure I'll find something else. 

On 10/9/2019 at 6:41 PM, dawnvan said:

We have an afternoon snorkeling tour planned but looking for ideas on what to spend our morning doing. We have around 3 hours.  Thanks

 

Did you find something to do?  We are looking for the same thing in a couple of weeks.  A tour around the island from about 8:30 - 11:30am. 

Booth44, is this one of the places you can find a taxi/tour as you walk off the ship? I really like to book in advance but I know that isn't always necessary. 

Thanks for the review.  We are doing this next month. I can't wait.  

Eldaph, I checked their webpage a little while ago and now I only see them offering a morning tour. I sent them an e-mail asking to confirm that they have me down on the afternoon tour.  I'm like you, I need a heads up if NOT so I can arrange the rest of my day. And I would be SO disappointed if I was to show up at 12pm and they had only done the morning tour. 

On 11/12/2019 at 11:49 AM, Eldaph said:

My advice would be to check in with Woodwind about a week before your tour.  We were all set for an afternoon tour, only to be told that they had little interest in the afternoon and would only be doing a morning tour.  I have no idea when they would have told me, I reached out to them.  We still plan on going, but now I'm scrambling a bit to change our day around.  

Yikes, that's not good.  I haven't seen any complaints about that on trip advisor so maybe that doesn't happen often.  Thanks for the heads up I will certainly check with them just in case.
 
I'm still trying to figure out if we'll be able to get a fairly good tour of the island from 8:30-11:30AM.  I hate to wait and grab a taxi when we get there.  I really like to have everything arranged before I get to port. 

No, sorry I did not realize that comment was in the Bonaire section and not on my roll call.  Not even sure how I got on there.  This is my first time on CC in a few months. LOL

I am booked with Woodwind so I looked back through my notes.  I have hand written 18-20 people max but I'm not sure where I saw that information. If you look at pictures and reviews on TripAdvisor you can see it doesn't look crowded on the catamaran at all.  Did you read the FAQ's on Woodwind's website?  It says they break up into groups of about 6 and every group gets their own guide that points things out as well as takes pictures of the group and things spotted while snorkeling. 

Join us on the the 12PM tour!  :-) We'll still be in port for a few hours afterwards.  I still haven't decided what else to do that day if anything. 

On ‎6‎/‎8‎/‎2019 at 9:36 AM, scpirate said:

I thought about the 5 day from Charleston since we live 2 hours away.but one whole day in Bermuda and the rest sea days doesn't sound good.i guess docking for a couple days cuts into the casino and bar revenue.unfortunately Cuba got cancelled and part of my refund will be in the form of a carnival gift card.i really don't care for the carnival experience.w e have done most all the Caribbean ports at least twice.maybe itineraries will change in 2020.

We dock at 1pm and leave at 3pm the next day.  We've decided to take the ferry over to St. George's on day 1 and go to the Crystal Cave if we can get there before they close...if not we'll just explore St. George's on our on...day 2 we will have a five hour tour around the entire island.  I have a feeling I am going to want to go back.  I read that the casino and bars are open from 9pm until 5am. I am really looking forward to spending time in Bermuda. 

9 hours ago, princeton123211 said:

Worth noting that there are plenty of other options that will give you 2-3 days on the island if its important to stay longer-- but none of them are the 5 day trip that Grandeur does. 

Sorry, I didn't clarify that...we are actually doing a 7 day out of Charleston on Carnival Sunshine.  We were just fitting in a quick get away before an 11 day cruise later this year.  We will drive to port, no hotels, no airfare and we don't have to use any extra vacation days for travel.  The week we could get away was limited because of the availability of our trusted house/dog sitter.  I'm not thrilled about the limited time we will have in Bermuda so I guess I'll just have to plan another trip there so I can see and do more.  🙂

CruisinCrow, I'm pretty sure we are going to copy you for day one and possibly day 2 (waiting to hear back about that one). 
Looks like I will also be making a list for the next visit. HA HA
Thanks for the suggestions! 

Certainly does look like there is a lot to do there.  I guess I need to prioritize. 
CruisinCrow, thanks for suggestion for the two days. 

I am considering a cruise to Bermuda. We would port in Bermuda at 1PM, stay overnight and leave the next day at 3PM. 
I want to see the caves and a few other sights.  I would love opinions...do we have enough time to see the highlights of Bermuda in this time?  Or should I book a different cruise? 
I've looked on-line and seems like Bermuda has some awesome sights.  I don't want to miss any!  Help! LOL

We are booked on the 12pm - 4pm Woodwind Snorkel excursion in December.  This will be our first time in Bonaire so we'd also like to see some of the island.  Any suggestions for an early morning tour that would have us (4 adults) back to the port by 11:30ish? We will dock around 8AM so could do an 8:30-11:30 island tour. Any recommendations?