Mrs_Tiki

We did that flight 5 years ago. I would suggest noise-cancelling headphones (these especially important if you are on overnight PPT-LAX return flight!).

Also food and snacks. I am not one to usually do this and thought reports of bad inflight meals were exaggerated, but it really was atrocious!

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We were on one of the first departures from Antigua in November, and it was a mess! (Due to Antigua authorities, not SD!). My DH (Tiki_Man) included a detailed account in his review found in the thread "SD1 Nov 20 Review".

Key points include:

1. Be sure your transportation drops you at the correct pier. That's where our problems began.

2. Have cash on hand for $30 pp departure tax if you have been on island for more than 24 hours prior to departure.

3. Be prepared to give up your passport. (On our sailing, Antiguan authorities collected passports, processed them en masse, and delivered to the ship, reversing the process upon disembarkation.)

Also, traffic was very thick along the narrow downtown streets, allow plenty of time and patience to get there.

My hope for you is that they have all of this figured out by now. But on a more positive note, my stress began to melt away as soon as I stepped onboard and was handed a glass of bubbly!

Bon voyage!

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Did one of the other captains retire? Or did they just add another?

I understand that Captain Remi left SD to captain a private yacht.

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Fear not, Jim! I saw Jack onboard.

I think that after putting a child through college in KY and grad school on TN, TikiMan got caught up in the purist semantics of a KY bourbon vs. TN whiskey!

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Good evening all. Tiki here stealing Mrs Tiki account

Anguilla was a GO and it was outstanding. A lot of Irma damage but recovering. Shoal Bay is an amazing beach. 20 min cab for $22 Per couple. Dont miss it

St Kitts is at South Friars Bay also known as Carombola Beach Club. So so but very easy.

Splash will be at Nevis with a new location so stay tuned

SD2 came along side this morning to swap a crew member for wine and other provisions. Obviously our little group needs the wine to tolerate the ankle biters. Got a really wonderful pic of SD2 alongside with a rainbow positioned over the funnel. It was perfect

The crew onSD 1 are fantastic. We are having dinner with Capt Lund tonight. Can’t say enough about their hard work

Kids - Just not enough bandwidth at the moment to comment. Not SD fault and really not the kids fault. As far as the parents, well that is another story. Oh well. Wine cures most ails and ills

Last. Can not confirm or deny however a certain SD2 passenger with shockingly unruly white hair in white linen shirt seemed to be “humming” along while waving to all on SD1

That is all for now. Cocktails calling. Will check in tomorrow from Nevis

Tiki

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Disclaimer: my phone has the international plan, so DH will be posting soon under my screen name with details, but just to foreshadow his comments, a few teasers:

Adults on SD1 stage mutiny against ankle biters;

Possible Ho Hum sighting; and

Mrs. Tiki consumption requires wine transfer from SD2.

Stay tuned...,

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It is my understanding that Captain Remi is leaving SeaDream. Lois is devastated.[emoji43][emoji33][emoji102]

As is Mrs. Tiki! Does anyone know which Captain is on SDI for the Caribbean season?

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Our itinerary from SD for November 20 shows St. John, Antigua as the port.

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Good news. I am not seeing a round trip from Antigua, nor St Martin, on 11/19 on their web site. And I am sure that this would be SDI because SD II isn't scheduled into San Juan until after that date. Perhaps I am missing something, but nevertheless, good news.

 

 

 

I guess that after the conference call of yesterday, they are finalizing their plans for an announcement on Monday.

Sorry, I had the date wrong. Sailing date is November 20 on SeaDream 1. (Our travel was to have commenced on Nov 19 with an overnight on St. Martin.). Mea culpa!

SD website is still showing sailing in and out of Marigot.

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SD just called to let us know that Nov 19 cruise will be round-trip from Antigua rather than St. Martin. Same ports of call. We feel fortunate that we should be able to easily change our tickets to fly there direct 2 days prior to the cruise. Now if we can just find a place to stay, we'll be set!

Hope others have the same luck!

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Our TA told us on Monday that SeaDream was to have a big conference call yesterday that would lead to decisions regarding upcoming itineraries. When he checked in with them today, they told him they would have information this coming Monday. Stay tuned....

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I just discovered an advisory posted on SeaDream.com on Thursday 9/21 that indicates they are planning to operate upcoming Caribbean cruises "as designed." That is hard for me to imagine, given that our November 20 cruise is scheduled to depart from Marigot, visiting the islands most affected (St. Barth and Anguilla).

 

This reminds me of our experience last year when the ship we were to sail on Thanksgiving week had to be dry-docked after a fire. Rather than canceling several cruises right away, SeaDream waited until the last minute to cancel the next cruise each time, and we were left wondering if we would actually cruise until just a few weeks before.

 

La Samanna sustained heavy damage and cancelled our reservation for the night before, and Delta is giving us until October 31 to reschedule our flights.

 

All that said, I realize that our troubles are inconsequential compared to those living on the islands!

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I just discovered an advisory posted on SeaDream.com on Thursday 9/21 that indicates they are planning to operate upcoming Caribbean cruises "as designed." That is hard for me to imagine, given that our November 20 cruise is scheduled to depart from Marigot, visiting the islands most affected (St. Barth and Anguilla).

This reminds me of our experience last year when the ship we were to sail on Thanksgiving week had to be dry-docked after a fire. Rather than canceling several cruises right away, SeaDream waited until the last minute to cancel the next cruise each time, and we were left wondering if we would actually cruise until just a few weeks before.

La Samanna sustained heavy damage and cancelled our reservation for the night before, and Delta is giving us until October 31 to reschedule our flights.

All that said, I realize that our troubles are inconsequential compared to those living on the islands!

Thank you for sharing that news, carpediemde. As of yesterday, SeaDream was telling our TA here in US that they were still assessing the situation for or November 20 departure.

I can't say that I am surprised, and my disappointment at a cancelled cruise is so, so insignificant in comparison with what the residents of St. Maarten and the others islands are enduring!

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I just received 3 new swimsuits ordered online for our upcoming SeaDream II cruise (13 days, but who is counting!?) and can't wait to see what the bartenders come up with to match "Antilles Blue", "Electric Fuchsia" and "Powerful Blue"! Should be fun, and I will report back! Cheers!

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We were in 1602 and had no issues with noise from above. Great cabin with large balcony!

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Hello, my name is Mary, and I am addicted to SeaDream! TrapperZ is correct, the 4-day was indeed a gateway drug. (And if we are hooked after sharing a cabin with our 23-year-old daughter, I can only imagine how much we will like it double occupancy!)

I was spoiled at an early age by sailing on the QE2 with my parents in First Class and Grill Class. SeaDream reminds me of that wonderful service, but on a lovely small ship with a much more casual vibe.

As dear daughter told her boyfriend when he asked how our cruise was, "it's yachting, not cruising". Sign me up!

Thanks to all for the tips, advice, and reassurance when we were unsure about when SD1 would sail again! As you predicted, it was a great cruise, and we are hooked! (Booked again for March 2017!)

I am sure that Mark will have more to say later, but wanted to thank you and let you know our short voyage was brilliant!

Although, Young Miss Tiki did remark, as we were boarding the yacht, "I am sure that this is a form of chicle abuse." Meaning that we have exposed her to a level of travel that will be impossible to attain on a first-year teacher salary. We told her that it's good to have goals!

Mary

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We stayed at the Intercontinental in PPT for one night before our cruise on Paul Gauguin in August 2013. Agree that the grounds, beach and pool were very nice, but our highlight was being upgraded to an overwater bungalow. It was wonderful!

Another nice thing there is the lovely changing facilities in case you want to hang out by the pool after checkout. It was great to have a convenient place to shower before heading to the ship.

One word of caution: we had a post-cruise day room at the Radisson in PPT. Apart from a beautiful black sand beach, we have nothing to recommend about the Radisson.

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Hi Norrie,

We are on your sailing - come and chat on our Roll Call.

With regards to your question, we were on the Star Legend in December and had the Prickly Pear stop on our itinerary. Pretty much the only way people on our cruise made it to The Baths was on the ship tour that included the island tour. Folks who did it agreed that they could have used less tour, as it made the day get long. On our sailing, tenders only went to the beach at Prickly Pear and Levericks (we think that name is right) Marina. Don't know if you could charter a boat from their, but it would be a long taxi ride over to The Baths.

On our sailing, there were tender issues, so that may have caused the limited choices. We also did not have the option to tender to Bitter End Yacht Club. You might want to start a new thread specifically asking about tenders options at Virgin Gorda on WindSurf. Sorry not to have more definitive info.

As to Susanne's comment about large numbers of passengers from the big ships, I think we may have lucked out our week. I checked a website showing port schedules, and according to it, we are the only ship in any of our ports. I hope that's correct! Even in Antigua, where the large ships dock in St. John, there are none showing on the schedule. On March 31, the day you would probably want to go to The Baths, there are no other ships scheduled for Totola (Sophers Hole or Roadtown), Virgin Gorda or St. Thomas, which are the nearest. (I can't believe none in St. Thomas!)

That is all probably too much info, but I am excited for our cruise no have been doing research!

Hi,

 

First time on Windstar. I booked a forward cabin on deck 1 on the Wind Surf for the Yachtsman itinerary in March.

 

After reading about the smoke smell "issue" on deck 1 forward and thinking being so far forward can be an issue with motion, I'm considering moving up to AX category mid section room for an extra $200pp.

 

Those of you who have sailed on Wind Surf - is there more motion on deck 1 vs deck 2, forward vs mid? Any noise heard in the deck 1 room from are down below? Any other advice/experience you can offer is greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you.

Decoydonna,

When do you sail in March? We have a Roll Call (albeit tiny) started for the March 26 sailing. Come join if you are sailing with us!

FWIW, I was concerned about the post about smoke on deck one, but there seemed to be many more folks out there that had not experienced such problems. We are staying put on deck one midships.

acwmom- Thank you!! March 26th-April 2nd. You? 22 years! Congrats :)

DH and I just booked that week, too! I found a Roll Call, but was only the 2nd post. Come join and help make it more lively!

$50? That guy must have seen you coming. We get the paper documents for free. You have a choice. Just let Windstar know what you want.

 

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And that is one of the reasons why I no longer use that travel agency!

Plus when you receive docs in the mail you receive Windstar logo luggage tags, along with disposable paper tags in a logo zipper pouch. I like the cruise docs, which really aren't necessary for boarding, for my scrapbook. At least this was how it was for my October 2015 cruise. It came direct from Windstar, the travel agency should not be involved in the shipment of the docs nor should they require payment. Boo! :mad:

Actually, for our upcoming cruise, Windstar sent the package of documents to the agent, then they sent them on to us via overnight mail. (We made no additional payment to the TA or Windstar.)

We are leaving on the WindSurf in 2 1/2 weeks :) (Feb 27) and received our "E-Documents" from our TA back on Jan 12th. I was not expecting anything else. It states in part:

 

..... "This email delivers your complete Guest Documentation, which includes your tickets

along with vouchers for any hotel reservations and transfers you have booked

through Windstar Cruises. Please print out the entire Guest Documentation for

each guest in your party and bring it with you on your cruise."....

That is a very good point. I should have been more clear that this was my experience and that others' might be different.

We did not purchase hotel or transfers for our trip, so the documents might be more necessary for those with added services.