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Thanks for the promo code folks! I didn't dare cancel & rebook my HMC cabana, as they have been sold out for quite some time now & I didn't want to risk not getting it back. But I did cancel & rebook another excursion & saved some moola for 4 people.

 

good idea, if there are no cabana's left I wouldn't risk cancelling and rebooking and possibly losing it! Have a great time!

Can I take advantage of this if the excursions are already booked and paid for or would I have to cancel and re-book? I have a cabanna as one of my excursions and sure don't want to mess that up with canceling and re-booking.

You'll have to cancel and rebook using the code. Are there other cabanas available in case yours get snatched up before you can rebook?

Darn :( This one didn't work for me...

 

Anyone have any others?

 

We don't sale until August so I am hoping to get one before then :)

Try BGT002 for 10% or 20% off,. Some people were able to use that code on excursions within the next few months.

I just used BGD001 and it took 10% off of my excursions!!!

The code was posted in another thread yesterday. I have 6 people in my party so this code added up!! I booked one excursion for 6 last night, then booked another excursion this morning - saved almost $100!!!!! I wasn't planning on booking those excursions until after final payment but who know when that code will expire! Luckily, I had already researched and knew what excursions I wanted through the ship vs. what excursions I booked on my own.

Great code though, I was looking forever last year on my other cruise and every code tht someone published it didn't apply. This is the first time I've seen a code work for me!

Yes, Serenity TVL DOES do a half day , 3.5-4 hour tour of the volcano and Pitons - I just spoke with and emailed them today - they need a minimum of 6 to do this tour. It is a possibility - check with your roll call to try to gather up 6 people. It is right on their home page, about 2/3 of the way down with a big orange star and the words $35US Special, followed by the tour info - it is called the Volcano and Piton Delight. It is not listed on their Land Tour page. It is on the homepage: w w w dot serenitytvl dot com

Here is the email received today:

"Hello Chris,

Thank you for making Serenity Vacations and Tours your choice of ambassador services during your stay in St.Lucia. We require a minimum of 6 persons to make this tour possible. As of now we have no one booked but if you would like you can book this tentatively and we will let you know closer to the date if this is possible. I have attached a booking form which has to be completed and resent. After the form has been resent a confirmation will be sent. You can also fax it at 1 410 782 0137 or call us toll free number 1 866 766 0794. Let me know if you have any further questions.

Kind regards

Acacia"

It also included the booking form.

 

 

Perhaps you should recheck their website, again, it is on the homepage, not their Land or Sea Tour page. Good luck finding other tours.

Thanks for the info, but we are looking for a 1/2 day sea tour to the Pitons. Someone directed me to Serenity but we are not interested in a 1/2 day land tour. There are 6 people in our party.

What time does this tour get you back to the ship? I don't want to have to worry about being late and a couple people mentioned the tour ran long. Thanks!

People are saying it's a 6-1/2 to 7 hour tour. Our ship is in port from 8am-5pm so I assume by the time you round everyone up and on the road it's 9am.

Upon return, you are probably pulling into the port area at the end of the day at 4:00pm, 15 minutes to 1/2 hour before you need to be on the ship. Cutting it close for sure, providing there are no delays all day.

I haven't heard any non-Carnival tours miss the ship, but I don't want to be sitting in the back of a van worrying on the return trip.

LondonTowner-

 

When we were on Cosol's Tour last November, my friend's 80 year old father came along. He had a little bit of difficulty getting out of the water taxi when we reached the beach because the driver does not pull up to the dock, and you esentially had to get out of the boat directly into knee deep water filled with small rocks. On the return trip, the water taxi did pull alongside the dock but it was a 3-4 foot drop. We were part of a large group so there were several strong guys assisting him.

 

btw - he skipped the walking part of the volcano tour opting to sit in the shade. The tour involves walking down a long set of wooden stairs and then back up again.

 

Cosol has 2 guys on each boat/water taxi so they would probably assist you.

Why didn't the driver pull up to the dock?? Are the boats that arrive at the beach not allowed to use the dock?? I will also be traveling with my senior dad and all of these land and sea tours just don't seem to work well for those less mobile.

For this reason, and other reasons (car sick, windy roads, 7 hours all day in a van) that we are dropping our plans to do a land or land and sea tour and just strictly looking for a 1/2 day Pitons sea tour. Anyone know of any tours that do 1/2 day sea tours to the Pitons? The only one I found was a ship-sponsored tour. I'll sign up for that, just wanted to know if there were any private vendors. And no, Serenity does NOT do a 1/2 day tour, they all are all land and sea full day tours.

I agree. We took the trip to St. John and fell in love with that Island. Trunk Bay was amazing. So quiet and serene with some good snorkeling too. The trip to and from St.Thomas was a breeze also. We enjoyed the people on St. John. So many people that moved from the states live there now. I plan to make a trip just to St. John to spend a solid week soaking up what that Island has to offer. I think it worth the taxi/ferry rides!!!

We did a land vacation on St. John about 20 years ago and fell in love with it too. We've always wanted to return, but ended up raising kids and money was tight. We are looking foward to returning to St. John, however briefly, on our upcoming cruise. We want to take the kids to Cinammon Bay and show them where we stayed, then stop at Trunk Bay and the Cruz Bay for shopping. We loved everything!

What a great little tour! I'm sure this is more informative than the tour we took at Hershey's! :p lol

Too bad we are on an all day sailing trip in Barbados and won't be able to make this tour, will have to remember about it next time we are in Barbados.

If anyone has info on where to buy the chocolate in or around the port, let me know. I'd be sure to pick up some to try, and take some home!

Edit to add: I found the info! Thanks for the person who posted it!!

You can purchase the chocolate bars in the cruise terminal shopping area at Best of Barbados

 

Victory aft wrap 6461

 

We also had the 2 starboard extended balconies - 6451 & 6459. Made for a VERY long space when the dividers were open.

Yay!! THANK YOU for posting this! We have 6459, 6461, and 6463 on our Thanksgiving cruise on the Victory!! CAN'T WAIT!!

We toured with Thenford Grey last week and couldn't have been more pleased. We did see another tour bus that had open windows. Since, we did have some brief showers it was nice to be inside the air conditioned bus. We've been on many tours, on many islands and I don't think we've ever had such a nice bus on a private tour. But the highlight of the tour is Thenford himself. He's so articulate and a really nice person. As in the previous post, he was so informative. If you want a really good tour, in a really nice bus by a real gentleman--pick Thenford.

If you book, do you get him as your tour guide or does he hire others?

I would like to know this as well. Never saw a response. Spencer Ambrose does a land and water or all water tour but I have not received a response back from him. The water tour sounds beautiful and maybe easier to travel than roads on land. Any suggestions?

I found that Herod's also has a land and sea tour:

http://www.herodstours.com/land_sea_safari.html

Any recent reviews?

The only thing I disagree with is the tornado. I have personally experienced huge winds by opening the door with the balcony door open. Blew all loose paper all over the cabin.

 

Congrats on having your favorite cruise ever!

I agree. I disagree with OP.

When you have the balcony door (door leading to your balcony) open and someone opens up the cabin door (entrance door from the hallway) it is definately tornado and close to hurricane force winds that sweep in your cabin. :P

Between Royston and Thenford:

Thenford has an air-conditioned bus and Royston has a van with the windows popped out?>>

I'm trying to determine between the two, my 80-year old parents would enjoy a tour but I'm leaving towards Thenford because it looks like he has a larger bus, larger viewing windows and air-conditioning.

wow looks like your the person to ask about what to do at other ports... Our ship also has a stop in Barbados,St.Kitts,St.Maarten,St.Thomas and San Juan.... What are the must see's or do's at these ports?

This is what we are planning:

San Juan (pre-cruise): Old San Juan and forts, maybe a tour to the rainforest

St. Thomas: Shopping, Sapphire Beach and Paradise Point tour

Barbados: Swim with turtles tour, then beach day (The Boatyard)

St. Lucia: land tour to see the Pitons

St. Kitts: beach day at Friars Beach (Shipwreck) - parents may take the St. Kitts train tour

St. Maarten: Marigot in the morning for shopping and pastries, Maho beach at lunchtime and thereafter to see the planes land

On the return trip back to the beach from the Pitons, does Cosol provide a water taxi back to the ship or does the water taxi take you back to the van, which then you have to drive all the way back to the ship by land?

We are looking for a reputable tour company on St. Lucia that will provide a land tour just as described, but instead of taking the van back we would like to take a water taxi back to the ship from the Pitons.

I like the new, sturdy beach chairs and umbrellas at Carambola, I don't mind paying more to rent them. I'm just concerned about the price of the food there.

Is Shipwreck an easy walk away if we decided to grab a bite to eat?

On our Liberty cruise out of Miami, we ordered room service breakfast and coffee on the last day. I sat on the balcony and watched people get off, the activity below of moving luggage off the ship, the drug-sniffing dogs, LOTS of activity.

At 8:30am we went up to Lido buffet to wait for our number. I think they were on number 8 and we were number 26. We sat down, grabbed our cellphones and checked email, Facebook, made phone calls, checked the news, ate breakfast, watched the workers move the signs from "BREAKFAST" to "LUNCH" :(, lots of cleaning etc. We sat there until well past 10am when they finally called our number. I looked around at that point and saw there were only 2 other families still there. We went down, found our luggage, stood in line at customs for about 10 minutes, and out the door. It took us less than 1/2 hour to go from the Lido deck where we were sitting to a waiting cab.

We booked this ship too, we are coming from the Liberty 2.0 with upgrades. I hope we like the Victory!!

Thanks to all who shared their story. If I meet him, I'll be prepared.

Me too! Will be there next Thanksgiving week. Keep posting updates on your encounters, some of them are hilarious!

Ok so those that have been to Mr Sanchos, are the water activites-water trampoline, etc- in the water, more on the AI side or pay-as-you-go side? Or just kind of in the middle? May sound petty, but if they are more on one side, I would choose the OTHER side to be on (whether it be the AI side or not) if it meant more quiet.

The water activities were on the pay-as-you go side. We just walked over to the pay-as-you go side but you can still see them from the AI side. I just went over there because my daughter wanted to climb the iceberg and have her picture taken. Even though I didn't have a water activities wristband, I still stood in the area, I just didn't climb anything.

The AI pool is amazing, I LOVE the tile, looks like mermaid scales, shiny and irridescent and a beautiful shade of blue, very inviting. The beds are gorgeous! We spent time under our palapa talking to others on our cruise, swam in the sea, lounged on the loungers, and then spent some time soaking in the pool with the swim-up bar, ordering drinks and food! LOVED the coconut shrimp!!

We would definately go back again!

Gracias! any idea how big? estimate is fine

I don't remember, I was drinking my drinks out of a coconut on the AI side. lol.

I feel the same way! For those who've taken kids, can they get as many smoothies as they want at Mr. Sanchos? I think they can at Nachi.

Yes, kids can order whatever they want, smoothies or any non-alchoholic drink, and eat anything on the menu (except lobster) just like adults, who get to choose any alchoholic (or non-alcoholic) drink. My teen daughter drank smoothies and feasted on coconut shrimp, fish tacos and anything she wanted on the menu, all day at Mr. Sanchos. Since we were all-inclusive, we also got a chance to take a dip in the pool (beautiful), lounge on the beds, and use the snorkel and kayaks. Great deal at Mr. Sanchos and if we ever get back to Cozumel, I'd definately go there again! We were the only ship in port and there were only about 2 other groups of 2-4 people that showed up on the all-inclusive side. We had the place to ourselves. Noticed that the pay your own way side was a little crowded ... and loud "Honey, you want a drink in a coconut!?!?!" Some woman screamed from the pay your own way beach to her husband in the water. lol.

Has anyone rented one of these recently?

 

I have a cruise booked for May and the Cabanas aren't even showing as an excursion. I really wanna book one but can't figure out why they're not showing as an option. Thanks in advance.

They weren't showing on our cruise for the longest time, then about a month ago they were liisted under excursions. We sail next Saturday and they are still available. I assume they aren't popular or no one on our cruise is interested?

"certified" hair braiding. hahahah! :D

Lovin' the review and pics!