CDreamer

ACWMOM, thank you again for your wonderful report & all your great pics!

Have enjoyed following along and appreciate your and SOShrink’s detailed reviews of this particular cruise itinerary.

SOShrink, thanks - this is EXACTLY why these trip reports are so invaluable. Now I have a much better sense of our time frame with this itinerary option. Good to know we’ll have a morning to sleep in a bit before venturing out!

ACWMOM, just chiming in again to say I really appreciate you taking the time to post your trip pics along with your review. Very informative, and your photos give us future Uniworld travelers a good idea of the general layout of the ship (& meals served!) as well as a real sense of all these wonderful places that you visited.

SOShrink, thank you for posting an explanation of the Palace Gardens and Marie Antoinette’s Estate tour and your advice to watch the movie beforehand - very helpful info since we too have been to Versailles and are instead planning to take this tour.

Mantes-la-Jolie sounds like a nice town to explore, so will research it a bit more. Did you eat lunch there and, if so, is there a good restaurant that you recommend?

Have been following ACWMOM‘s thread and also wanted to thank you, SOShrink, for posting a review of your cruise too. We will be taking this same Joie de Vivre cruise, so appreciate both of your in-depth, detailed accounts of your experiences both on and off the ship!

Robin, thanks. So far no specific questions, but am following your report with great interest & really appreciate your detailed review!

Robin, we will also be taking this cruise this year so appreciate your detailed report and all of your pics!

“Bitter End basically doesn’t exist.“

Oh wow, that’s sad - so many wonderful memories were made at that place!

Sounds like the sea has been a bit angry this time around, but you’re right - the advantage of SD is their ships can easily change course, if necessary. Just hope you get a bit more time at the remaining ports. Like Zimmy, I don’t remember the Splash in the Caribbean ever being held by the pool... only in Europe. Always fun tho’.

Am enjoying your reports, Vandrefalk, & look forward to reading more updates. Please hoist a Painkiller or two (!) for us and have fun!

Vandrefalk, safe travels and have a great time! We’ll be there in spirit and send you both a virtual ‘bon voyage’ toast! :bottle-pop::champagne-toast:

Vandrefalk, glad the seas have calmed down.

Like you had mentioned, I remember a bit of cleanup up work post dry dock on that particular cruise we were all on, but certainly not to the point where it was all that noticeable. I think Ho Hum mentioned a lot of work was being done during their last Crossing. I wonder if more extensive repairs are scheduled during that particular time frame due to all the passengers staying put??

Was Sudesh finally able to join you all on board? Lucky of you to have him AND Christophe on your voyage! Please give them both our best.

Like WhatNot, will be interested to hear about the various activities going on during your cruise that will (hopefully!) keep you all out of trouble! ;)

Vandrefalk, sounds like a great start to another fun SD adventure! Please give our best to everyone, including the crew (a few of whom might still remember us) and of course, Christophe. Looking forward to reading more about your adventures since this was one of our favorite cruises on SD.

Great trip reporting, DupontCruiser2!! Have been to Greece, both on our own and on 2 prior SD cruises, so it was fun to read about your time on SD2 & the various excursions you took.

Had to laugh about your wild taxi ride in Santorini! One of our funniest memories (now!) was when we took a taxi from the Santorini airport to our hotel. We were hanging on for dear life whenever we'd hit a hairpin turn -- our driver would suddenly speed up then check his phone, look to the (other) side of the road, check himself out in the mirror, order a pizza (not really!), start chattering away, whatever... definitely not a ride for the faint of heart!! :eek: But somehow we still made it to our destination in one piece and enjoyed every minute of our time spent on Santorini! :D

Thank you again for taking the time to post about your trip, and agree: Frud IS the best of the best!

This is very sad news, but am relieved to hear crew and passengers were evacuated safely. Maritime Herald (the spinoff link to Jim's link) mentions SD1 has been towed to Naples for evaluation. Hopefully the damage is not too extensive.

This brought back memories of Windstar's Wind Song ship that caught fire in French Polynesia in 2002... we had sailed from Lisbon to Barcelona on Wind Song the year before, so it was quite a shock to hear the news. Fortunately, as with SD1, all passengers and crew were evacuated safely, but sadly the damage was substantial so Wind Song was not salvageable.

Hoping for the best for SD1 - so many wonderful memories and friendships have been made on that ship!

And good to hear your news about Col. Clint, Vandrefalk. Zimmy and I send our best wishes.

Us too! So happy 'Clint' will soon be home soon and back on "his lawn" again! :D Tell him he had better behave or he'll be hearing from us too! :eek:

Wishing him all the best, including many, many more SD adventures to look forward to!

Thanks for the link - nice job Ho and Blondie! So fun to see Christophe and Sudesh and other familiar faces again.

As you were both saying goodbye to the crew and ship, I literally felt that same old familiar "tug of the heart." It's THAT special bond that brings passengers back to SD, over and over again.

Haven't posted on here for a loooong time since we haven't been on SD in quite awhile so nothing new to contribute... but HH your last post has me curious too!

Could the answer be ---- Cuba??

Vandrefalk, thanks so much for your trip report - hope the rest of your cruise was just as enjoyable as the first leg and can't wait to read more about it!

Happy belated anniversary and please give our best to Christophe and the rest of the crew!

We have not been on board recently but have have taken 9 SD cruises (on 1 & 2) and have never seen anyone OVERTLY tip the crew like this. We have VOLUNTARILY -and discreetly -contributed to the crew fund at the end of our cruises but only because we wanted to; not because we ever felt any pressure to do so.

Sheree, I am sorry you experienced this on your cruise and hope it was an isolated case because SD's crew work very hard and this reaction seems very out of the norm from anything we have ever experienced.

I guess I'm wondering why in the world these passengers would be so obvious about tipping the crew in front of others? Granted some may occasionally bring gifts to some of the crew in appreciation for their efforts or because they know them well, but handing out money in front of everyone seems a bit "showy" & over the top to me.

DSNYSDRMR, happy 21st to your DS! How fast did that time go?! :eek: ;) Glad you all had another great SD cruise and that so many crew favorites were on board to make your cruise so special. Please say hi to Ms. Sea Slug from both of us!

Ditto on Shoal Bay East! Gorgeous! Just be careful where you eat :D There is one restaurant that didn't treat some of us well -- as in seafood salad!

Vandrefalk

Yes, I almost mentioned this (several on our cruise were sick after eating at one of the restaurants on this beach) but it was years ago & may have been an isolated incident - who knows??

With this in mind though, it never hurts to read current reviews on any beach side restaurant and be a little careful about what you order. Or, better yet, just have a beer or two on the beach then enjoy a late lunch on SD! ;)

Kathy, here's another view of Shoal Bay East (looking in the opposite direction).

Agree with having an ice cold beer while you lounge on this beach & it's a great place to take a nice dip as well. Enjoy!

:::snip::: Cannot wait to visit Anguilla! were it was describes as paradise wrapped in blue!!. Now I am not sure if I want to golf there or just find a beach and take in the beauty. :::snip::;

Kathy.

Not Cortesfam but jumping in here to say Kathy, Shoal Bay East is a stunningly beautiful beach - don't miss it!

But Ho Hum, if I were that rich, I could charter SD and invite all our Sd/CC friends!

Vandrefalk

Vandrefalk, be glad to pitch in for a lottery ticket (or two) as long as you promise to throw in free Internet! ;)

Commander, we should watch out with all these nice words for Ho-Hum. You know how he blushes.:eek::D

Jim, we all know that Ho Hum's blush comes from Provençal Rose!! (See how much we all learn here on CC? :D).

Also enjoy the 'idle' thread (which, I guess, if you don't like it don't read it?). Sure, lots of silliness and off topic subjects, but HH also takes the time to write first hand reports when he and Blondie are on board (which is probably more time than they actually spend on land!). So between the SD trip reports and the daily interaction between past, present, and future SD passengers, isn't that the whole point of this board??

Cortesefam, am still really looking forward to hearing more about your cruise. Hope you'll check in soon!

Cortesefam, just chiming in to say I am really enjoying your on board trip report.

Looking forward to reading more about your cruise!