GizFriend

My husband and I did a tour with Royston in late April.  We had done his tour in 2014, and wanted to do it again.  We had another great tour, and it was only the two of us with Royston.  We loved seeing the island - especially Brimstone Hill Fortress.  As mentioned, it is not luxury.  No air conditioning (but open windows make it easy to take pictures), and we drove on bumpy trails.  We stopped to see a windmill ruin covered by a tree - what an amazing thing!  It was another excellent day with Royston, and I highly recommend it.

We visited Barbados in late February on the Celebrity Summit. We signed up for the Calabaza catamaran excursion months in advance that was organized by someone on our roll call. There were eleven people on the boat with a crew of three, the owner Gina, her son Danny, and Fabian. They were all wonderful. It was a short ten minute drive or so in a van from the cruise pier to the marina. The Calabaza is a beautiful catamaran with a covered seating area, easy to negotiate ladder into and out of the water, plenty of room for everyone to spread out, two heads, and she sailed well, too. Our first stop was Carlisle Bay (I think) where we snorkeled with the sea turtles. The fishermen used to dump the fish waste there, and the sea turtles got accustomed to coming there to feed. Now the tour boats come and feed them. It was so fun to see sea turtles (even petted one's shell). The next stop was a short distance away where we swam over a couple wrecks to see fish. Fabian was our guide in the water at both stops. After snorkeling, we sailed up the west coast to a beach. We anchored near the beach, and were served a delicious lunch. Actually the eating started with banana bread upon boarding, drinks and appetizers after snorkeling, and continuing to the amazing buffet Gina prepared in the ship's galley. It was all delicious. The rum punch was amazing and free flowing. We had time to swim after lunch (we even swam to the beach and walked a bit), and then we sailed back to the marina. It was a fantastic excursion. I had a great time with the other guests and the crew. The van took us back, and we were able to get off in Bridgetown. We walked around a bit, and stopped in a shopping area with local crafts and artwork. It was an easy walk back to the ship. Later Gina sent an email with photos from our trip that she has taken of us and recipes for the delicious food and drinks. That was a very nice, thoughtful, and much appreciated touch. I would highly recommend the Calabaza.

My husband and I visited St. Maarten on the Celebrity Summit in late February. We had visited St. Maarten once before on a cruise ship, and has taken an island tour with Bernard. It was an excellent tour, but we were looking for something different. After researching Trip Advisor and Cruise Critic, I read about Captain Bob Cass (listed under Soualiga Destinations). Captain Bob offers a tour that makes several snorkeling and beach stops, includes lunch at a French beach, and hopefully will also make it to the beach to watch the planes land - all on a power boat that will allow us to cover more ground (or sea in this case). It sounded great, and I signed us up months in advance. On the morning of the tour, the only problem we had was taking the directions to walk 15 minutes literally. I guess we do walk fast, because we went about twice too far. We eventually asked for directions, and were sent back the way we had come. No problem - we were there with time to spare. There were a lot of people, so we were divided into two groups. Luckily, we were with Captain Bob (but I am sure the other boat and crew were great, too). Captain Bob and his son Brett took care of us (maybe 12 of us) in the new Scarab boat. The boat had three 300 horsepower engines so we could really move fast. We went up the coast, through Simpson Bay Lagoon, past Marigot, and out to Tintamarre Island. We went snorkeling there to see sea turtles. We saw several sea turtles, some nestled in the sea grass and one with a missing back flipper. It's a marine sanctuary, so no one feeds or touches them. After snorkeling, we went to Grand Case, a town and beach on the French side that is supposed to have the best dining in the Caribbean. We anchored about 75 feet (not sure how far) out from the beach, and we jumped in and swam to shore. We had the choice of barbecued ribs, chicken, or mahi mahi. While waiting for lunch to be ready, we could use the beach chairs, go in the water, buy drinks from the very reasonably priced bar (I recommend the guavaberry colada), and use the rest room. There are no bathroom facilities on the boat, so one must plan accordingly and use the rest room when available. Everyone chose either ribs or fish. The ribs were excellent, and the fish looked great, too. Being a French restaurant, the food was presented with garnishes and flair. We all ate at a large table in the covered, open air restaurant with a view of the gorgeous beach. After lunch, we had a little beach time. Then it was back on board for the quick trip across the bay to Creole Rock for more snorkeling. Just as I was heading back into the boat, I saw a spotted eagle ray. It was very exciting, and others got to see it, too. We zoomed (really zoomed) to Maho Beach at the end of the airport runway. We made it in time to see the Air France jumbo jet from Paris land. We also saw a couple other jets and smaller planes. We have been on the beach, and it was lots of fun to see it from the water. We then went "around the corner" to Mullet Bay with time for a swim. We got back in plenty of time for us to poke around Philipsburg a bit. It was a great day with good snorkeling, great food, and excellent crew. Bob and Brett both had a great sense of humor and dry wit. Some shade would have been very appreciated, but the Bimini was late and was supposed to have been installed a couple days before (Bob was actually on the phone about it, so it definitely is coming and will be nice). The only other issue was that getting in the boat from the water was awkward. The "ladder" was a post with four cross pieces for steps. Then there were no handholds - I just grabbed the engine pipe thing and the cleat. It was OK, but real handholds would be much better. It was a great adventure, and my husband kept talking about it for days. I would recommend this tour for a great day on the water in St. Maarten/St. Martin.

Hi all. Went to WW and meeting this morning. Scale at home showed about 1/2 down, but WI was down 2 pounds! Woo hoo! I'm down 28.4 total and want to lose about 75 total. Cruising in October so probably can't get all the way but will do my best.

Congrats to everyone on this week's losses and your great attitudes and encouraging posts. Just like the meetings, it helps to have support.

I have been mowing the lawn (takes me 2+ hours), but now I like the exercise and the activity points!

I wish you all a great and successful weekend!

I had a .2 lb. loss last week, and it's disappointing. But, it's still a loss and you're still down. And you WILL get to your goal (and so will I someday).

Enjoy your weekend!

Good job everyone on great WIs and exercising this week! Congratulations albean86 on upcoming wedding! I had weigh in today. Down 2.6 this week and 26.4 total. I got my 25 pound charm today. I know it looks like a metal washer, but I was thrilled. Now onto 30 pounds. I track religiously, eat healthy food, and exercise every day. Hope everyone has a good rest-of-the- week and enjoy the weekend!!

Hi. I joined WW in February 2012. So far, down 23.8 pounds. Really want to get the 25 pound charm, but have had a slow week. Hopefully upcoming week will be better. We're going on a 15 night cruise in October. Really hoping to be down a total of 50 pounds by then (or more). Ultimately I think I want to lose 75 pounds to be way down in my healthy range, but 30 more would put me in the high end of the range. It's my first time, and I like the plan. The food is tasty. Now I'm heading down to the treamill (rainy, yucky day here). Good luck to all of you! It's nice to know other cruising people are doing this, too.

Thanks. It's helpful to hear a current opinion. Glad you had fun. We still haven't decided what to do yet, but still have over 7 months!

We're going on a Panama Canal cruise on Celebrity Infinity in Ocotber 2012. I've read the boards, but have not seen recent postings about My Friend Mario tours. His tour from Colon that goes to the Miraflores locks and Panama City sounds more interesting than the ship tours. But I'd like recent feedback. We are doing a full transit, so not considering the ferry tour through the canal. We would really like to see and learn more about the canal and the locks. I can't find any tour that goes to both Gatun and Miraflores locks. Does anyone know of any?