beachlover98

My adult son and I visited Gibraltar in October 2015 on a Croisieres de France cruise. We LOVED this port of call. It was very easy to do without an excursion. It's so small and we just walked everywhere we wanted to go. If you wanted to go further, I'm sure cabs, etc. would be easy enough. Depends on how much time you have in port. The highlight was taking the cable car to the top of The Rock. The views were stunning and the Barbary macaques were very entertaining.

What cruise lines go from Florida to there? Do tell in case I decide to do that as well. I wouldn't mind a 10 day cruise. I know 11-12 days straight on vacation is pretty much my limit at this point. I just get tired and want to go home. But...I would still consider it.

 

Again, really enjoyed your review! My search turns up quite a few mainstream cruise lines that would sail from Miami or Ft. Lauderdale and hit both Barbados and St. Lucia in addition to a wide variety of other southern Caribbean ports. There are a couple premium cruise lines also. The mainstream lines I found and the length of cruise: Princess 10 nights, Oceania 10 & 12 nights, Celebrity 10 & 14 nights, Royal Caribbean 11 nights, Holland America 11, 12 & 14 nights and looks like Norwegian starts with some next fall at 10 nights.

 

For me, I prefer just sailing from San Juan to get to the southern Caribbean. I almost always cruise in the winter, generally January, so weather out of Florida is not always that great. Second, I love San Juan. And third, I generally don't love sea days so would prefer fewer. I'd rather be in port doing whatever activity, land or sea!

 

On another note, you mentioned in your review the stray cats in Old San Juan. In the 9 or 10 times I've cruised from San Juan and stayed in Old San Juan pre-cruise, we've always enjoyed the local colony of cats. I don't know anything about it being illegal to pet them, never heard of that, and we've always interacted with them. Many are extremely friendly. We're animal lovers (dogs and cats) so we've enjoyed the cats there. They're taken care of by a local organization called Save A Gato.

 

From their website:

"Save A Gato manages the colony of cats on the Paseo del Morro and the rest of Old San Juan. We manage them through T/N/R. This stands for trap, neuter, and release. Cats are first trapped, then with the help of local vets we are able to neuter, vaccinate, and de-worm the cats. The cats are then returned healthy to the Paseo to lounge and sunbathe on the rocks.

​

Save a Gato also offers the option to adopt cats while they are going through the T/N/R process. Please visit our album on Facebook for adoptable pets and also at Petfinder. As we are not a shelter, the cats that are not successful in our adoption program are returned to their original colonies and are lovingly monitored by our volunteers and residents."

 

My teenage son and I have cruised together many times, several times from San Juan. During our last pre-cruise stay in Old San Juan we actually spent a couple days volunteering with this organization. They have a building, "the casita", in Old San Juan (sort of near El Morro) where they house cats and kittens that are recovering from spays and neuters or are getting other health care. We spent our time at that facility cleaning cages and caring for the cats. It was very rewarding and they were extremely appreciative of the help. I think they're very short of volunteers. My son had also done a good bit of fundraising prior to our visit and so we were able to give them a nice donation to help with their programs. They do really take good care of the cats. Most that we've seen around Old San Juan and the Paseo del Morro are really healthy.

 

Maybe too much information, sorry, but just thought maybe you were curious about the cats hanging around! Here's a link to their website if you, or anyone else, may be interested: http://www.saveagato.com/

Great review, I'm dying to go to St. Lucia and Barbados, I'm always looking to see if they offer those islands on a cruise that sails from Miami or Ft. Laud since we live so close. But I might just have to spring for airfare to San Juan and cruise out of there if nothing shows up soon. ;) The countdown you mentioned answering another poster is similar to mine for our next cruise... what ship are you on? We're going on Allure 11/13!!! :):)

Not sure if you're limiting yourself to a specific cruise line or only looking at summer months, but there are tons of cruises from Florida that go to St. Lucia and Barbados. None of them are only 7 days, of course, because of how far south they are. There are always sea days at the beginning and end so are usually 10+ day cruises.

If you're not interested in a slightly longer cruise, then I think you'll have no choice but to sail from San Juan on a 7 day cruise to get to those two islands. Either way, they're definitely worth it. San Juan is a great embarkation port, so that's an awesome option also. The cruises from San Juan can sometimes be cheaper as the airfare is usually higher for most to get there vs. Florida ports.

Enjoying your review after stumbling upon it recently. I'm a veteran cruiser, but have never cruised NCL or Carnival. What piqued my interest in reading your review was sailing out of San Juan. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE sailing from San Juan! I've done 9 cruises embarking from there. I've hit all the usual suspects in terms of ports of call including St. Thomas, St. Croix, Tortola, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Maarten, Antigua and St. Kitts but also a few in the southern Caribbean not so common, such as Grenada, Dominica, Aruba, Curacao, St. Vincent and Margarita Island, Venezuela.

I love reading about all your different adventures, and all the research that went into them. I do the same. The planning is part of the fun! We've done every activity imaginable, from swimming, snorkeling, sailing, kayaking, mountain biking, zip lining, swimming with turtles, sea lions and dolphins, lazy beach days, and even hiking to the top of Gros Piton in St. Lucia.

Thanks for posting your review, as I never get tired of hearing other peoples' stories and getting ideas for future cruises! I love all your pictures, too. You can never have too many, right? I thought I took a lot, but maybe not! Only time I took that many was a trip just last year when I spent 6 weeks circumnavigating the globe. It included a 15-night transpacific cruise and a Mediterranean cruise, and we traveled to 12 countries on 4 continents.

One thing I do wish a cruise line would do embarking from San Juan is bring back the 10-12 day cruises. I've done 3 of those, in '07, '09 and '10. Haven't seen those types of itineraries since. Those were the cruises where we were able to hit the ABC islands, St. Vincent and Margarita Island. 8 or 9 ports of call total, it was awesome! Combine that with a 3 night or so pre-cruise stay in San Juan=perfect!

I'll be anxious to hear how you liked Old San Juan. That's my favorite. I ALWAYS stay there for my pre-cruise time. I love the architecture, the cobblestone streets, the culture and THE FOOD! I could go there just to eat!

Hope you enjoyed it as much as I always do.

Cruiserman, congrats on the loss! I agree 100% that if there's no accountability, nothing to shoot for, it's much harder to stick to any eating/exercise plan. I know that's why I'm here!

Diana, sorry you're stuck. At least you're not going in the wrong direction. That's always a positive. I'm sure you'll lose a little before cruise time. I'm envious of your upcoming cruise! :)

I lost 1 lb this week, so slow but sure. I'm down 9 pounds in 7 weeks. I'm gonna have a tough next couple weeks, however. I don't have a cruise upcoming, but I am traveling to Alaska next week. I'm going to visit my sister. Problem is, there are SOOOO many restaurants I LOVE to go to when I visit. I've been to Alaska 25+ times and have found so many favorites, all different than what I have at home here in Minnesota. My plan is to enjoy, not worry about it for the week and just get right back to it when I get home. Over the course of the week we WILL be doing tons of outdoor active things, especially hiking. I love to do that up there. It fits in with my "stay as active as possible" plan that I already have in place, but it's so much fun, and so gorgeous!

Good luck to all and I'll check back in a couple weeks!

Michelle

Diana, good job maintaining your weight loss from two years ago. That can be an accomplishment in itself! We can all attest to that.

Nice losses for the others so far. Always encouraging to see others' success. I, too, lost this week. Somehow I was down 2 whole pounds. Weird when it seems I didn't do anything different than other weeks that I can drop that much. I'll take it though.

Good luck to everyone in the coming week!

Michelle

Belle, so sorry for your loss. You sound like a very strong person. All things considered, you sound like you're doing as well as could be expected. I hope you start feeling better soon!

Cruiserman, half a pound sounds good with eating out so much! Good luck in continuing to lose before your cruise. I'm jealous of your cruise in January. I LOVE San Juan. I've done 9 or 10 cruises from there. Great itineraries.

Rose, sorry for your gain, but I totally understand! I agree that it's all worth it. I never worry about what I eat on vacation. I'm on vacation! Life is just too short. Just jump back in when you get home.

I posted a .6 pound loss. Still slow going, but I'm in single digits of what I would like to lose so I suppose something is better than nothing. I'm also coming around to the mindset that since at my age I MUST increase my muscle mass, my weight may just not reach a level as low as I am hoping for. I have to come to terms with that and not worry so much about a number, but how I feel and how my clothes fit. It's hard though, but I'm trying!

Hope everyone has a successful week!

Michelle

Great job Jo, that's an encouraging loss!

Like you guys, Cruiserman and Diana, I stayed the same this week. Boo! I don't have any excuses really. I feel like I continued to eat well and stayed active but for some reason the scale didn't budge. Oh well, at least not a gain. Have a couple days this week traveling with my youngest son on college visits so won't be super conducive to eating well and exercising, but will do my best.

Have a great week everyone!

Michelle

Great losses posted so far. That's awesome!!

I can't say I had quite the same. I did lose 1 lb though, so still going in the right direction for sure. I'm hoping that as I'm getting closer to single digit pounds away from my goal, I'll be seeing more results in my clothes as the fat is (hopefully!) being replaced by muscle. That will mean my weight won't change so dramatically, but I will feel and look better. That's the hope!

Again, good job Cruiserman and Diana. That's fantastic! Keep it going.

Michelle

Happy Birthday Cruiserman! Yeah, after a holiday weekend and a birthday celebration, I would be ok with only a half pound gain too. Life happens!

Rose, have a fabulous time on your cruise!

I'm down 1.8 pounds this week. I've been working really hard to eat well. That means eating well with enough protein to compensate for the extra workouts I'm trying to do. It's been difficult to keep calories in check while still getting all that protein in. Still trying to figure it all out. I don't want it to be so much work planning what I eat every day! I guess anything worthwhile is worth the effort.

Also trying to stay active, active, active! Definitely a key for my middle-age self! :)

Good luck this coming week everyone.

Michelle

Hi all

Losses for everyone so far! Awesome! Congrats Cruiserman, Diana and Jo.

I lost 2.4 lbs this week. I was thrilled, but know it's easiest at the start. I can't keep that pace with only 15-20 to lose, but it's a motivating jump-start! I've been eating pretty well and staying very active. Lots of walking, elliptical and swimming.

I always look forward to a holiday weekend. The weather looks fabulous here in Minnesota and we hope to get in a lot of pool time. It's the eating part that will be a challenge!

Good luck everyone over the long weekend!

Michelle

Been a long time since I've posted here. I check in periodically, though. I'm finding myself at the same point of needing to lose 15-20 pounds to get to my ideal weight and I realize that one of my biggest problems is accountability, so here I am. I'm of "normal" weight, but on the high side of normal and want to be in the middle to be comfortable.

Like some of you, I'm sure, this middle age thing is making the process exponentially harder! I will never give up everything I like to eat, so to compensate, I'm having to exercise that much harder and longer. I have adult children, but still two teenagers at home. That is also difficult. Let's just say "lots of pizza around here". Need to find a way to still indulge at times but do well most of the rest of the time.

I was almost at that "ideal weight" last fall before my oldest son and I embarked on an around the world trip after his college graduation. I only gained 4 pounds over 6 weeks. That trip included 3 weeks worth of cruising plus time in China, India, Dubai/Abu Dhabi, Morocco, Gibraltar, Spain, France, Amsterdam and Iceland. We ate so much and so well. Staying extremely active definitely helped! Problem was coming home, getting through the holidays and not staying active enough.

So, I weighed in this week so will see how it goes. Like many of you, one of my biggest challenges is family get-togethers, eating out, travel, etc. Those things will always happen in life, otherwise it's not worth it. Just need to eat well the other times and stay active!

I continue to wish everyone well on their individual journey and look forward to checking in regularly!

Michelle

Thanks for the info on the "gatos" in Old San Juan...interesting!

 

Also thanks for the compliment on the photos. For the San Juan photos, I was using a Canon SX50. It is considered a "bridge" camera...sort of a hybrid between a point & shoot and a DSLR.

 

 

Almost all of my photos were just taken on the "auto" setting and I certainly don't consider myself a photographer! The selling point on the camera for me was the very, very long zoom (50x). I bought the camera before our Alaskan cruise last summer (which I also covered in the blog) and got lots of great wildlife photos.

 

It is a larger camera so not one that you can stuff into a pocket. I also took an older Canon SD200 that fits in my purse and an underwater Canon D10 which I used for some excursions and snorkeling. Snorkel Photos from Roatan. (It is nice having a camera that can stand up to rain and rougher use!)

 

I will note that although the SX50 does a nice job outdoors, it does not perform near as well in low light which is frustrating. :(

Thanks for the information regarding your camera. I definitely want a camera that takes good outdoor pictures for my trip, but don't want limitations with low light indoors, etc. so I'll definitely have to research more. Thanks for your comments regarding the upsides and downsides that you have found.

Say, I noticed you are also from Minnesota! Isn't it wonderful getting away to the Caribbean? :p

I stumbled across your photo review of Old San Juan and since I LOVE Old San Juan, I couldn't resist looking through all your pictures. It always brings back such fond memories for me! I've sailed from San Juan 9 or 10 times and so always try to do at least a short pre-cruise stay to enjoy the old city.

Your pictures are awesome! Do you mind if I ask what kind of camera you used? I'm cruising from Vancouver to Shanghai this fall with an additional 3-4 weeks traveling through Asia, African and Europe and I'm in the market for a new camera. I'm trying to get some ideas of what I want to check out when I start shopping for a new one.

Also, as an FYI, and I try to let as many people as possible know about this. The many cats you see around the old town are part of a colony of resident cats that live in Old San Juan and are taken care of by a non-profit organization called Save A Gato. They feed them, take care of as many medical needs as possible, have a trap/spay/neuter program and also adopt out as many of the cats as they can. I feel they are a very worthwhile organization and I've been financially supporting them for a while now. They have a location in Old San Juan where they shelter sick and recently spayed/neutered cats. Last year my 14-year-old son, 21-year-old daughter and I actually spent a day during our pre-cruise stay volunteering at the shelter. They were incredibly grateful for our time as they are very short of volunteers. It was such a rewarding experience we volunteered again, the day we disembarked from our cruise, and before we headed to the airport for an evening flight home.

The only reason I bring this up is because so many visitors enjoy the cats of Old San Juan and there are ways to help them, by supporting this organization. Here is a link to their website if anyone is interested: http://www.saveagato.com/ Tell them Michelle, Connor and Alexandra from Minnesota say Hello!

Thanks again for your wonderful picture review of Old San Juan. It was wonderful!

I happened to stumble upon your review and because I LOVE sailing from San Juan, I just had to read!

I have never sailed Carnival but have sailed out of San Juan I believe 9 times, it's definitely my favorite. I've sailed on Celebrity and Royal Caribbean from San Juan on several different itineraries, some 7 nights and several 10-12 nights. I agree with you these itineraries are the best! Lots of ports, and reaching the southern Caribbean is awesome.

Your review was fabulous! Some of the best pictures I've seen. Love the pictures of your family, too. I did one review from my 1/26/13 sailing on the Celebrity Summit out of San Juan, including my pre-cruise stay in OSJ and the highlights of the 7-night cruise. It was a lot of work, but very fun.

I'm sure you'll enjoy many more cruises in the years to come!

Thanks again.

Glad to see others' successes this past week, even if it was only a "stay the same".

I lost .5 lb. Not much, but better than nothing I guess. Just want to keep moving in the right direction.

Jo, I'm jealous of your cruise to Cuba. It's definitely on my list of places to see someday! You've been before? Sounds like a great cruise. Enjoy, no matter your weight!

Hope everyone has a great week coming up. I'm dreading Super Bowl Sunday. :( It'll just have to be one day I take off this week. I enjoy preparing (and eating!) food for the game too much!

Michelle

Posted on this thread some time ago but have been away for a while. I do check in on occasion, though, just to see what people are up to! I didn't do a cruise this winter, instead did an all-inclusive in the Dominican Republic with my 16-year-old daughter. Just got home a couple of weeks ago. We had a fabulous time!! Missed being on a cruise, but she wanted something a little more laid back and this resort was perfect. Had 9 days of perfect weather, plenty of lounging and lots of food and drink.

I have a goal of getting back to what I weighed when I was about 20 years old. I'm 50 now and know it will be harder to get there and to maintain, and I realize I will never LOOK 20 again, but would like to be close to that weight. :rolleyes: It would mean a total of 20-25 pounds to lose. I lost the first 10 pounds between the start of November and Christmas. My vacation set me back a few pounds but am back on track now with my eating and exercise.

I'm not doing anything drastic, just keeping track of my eating and exercising every day. Simply, calories burned exceeding calories consumed. So far so good, down 1 pound this past week.

I do have a trip planned for this fall with my 21-year-old son so definitely want to reach my goal and maintain prior to the trip (and beyond!). I have plenty of time for a slow and steady loss. I have to be prepared, though, for perhaps carrying a little more weight as I know it's important to put on some muscle, also. Key is, how do I feel and how do my clothes feel, not necessarily what the scale says!

In regards to the trip I'm planning, I'm either extremely lucky.....or crazy! I'm traveling with my soon-to-be college graduate son, leaving behind hubby, 3 other kids, 4 dogs and 2 cats for 5 weeks! :eek: We're planning a "circumnavigation" of the globe, starting with a flight from Minnesota to Vancouver to embark on a 15-day transpacific cruise to Shanghai, with stops in Dutch Harbor, AK and several stops in Japan. After spending a few days in China (and seeing the Great Wall), we're hoping to head to New Delhi (Taj Mahal), Dubai (tallest skyscraper in the world), Cairo (pyramids) and then spend another week or 10 days traveling in Europe (maybe France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland). We're hoping to spend a day or two in Reykjavic, Iceland before a nonstop flight home to Minnesota. Not sure how much we'll actually be able to fit in, but we're both very adventurous and love to travel so want to make the most of our time. I'm really looking forward to spending time with my son!

Hope everyone had a good week!

Michelle

I've cruised with hubby many times, but more often I've cruised with just one of my four kids. They each started cruising around age 9 and my "most frequent kid cruisers" are now 15 and 22. We actually did a cruise with the 3 of us this past January and had a blast.

I know every family is different, and our experiences may be vastly different, but in all the cruising with my kids (on Royal Caribbean and Celebrity) they never once did any of the kids/teen clubs. They just personally didn't have an interest and quite frankly, we enjoyed hanging out together anyway. Again, different from many cruisers, we choose port intensive itineraries. Our favorite cruises sail from San Juan, Puerto Rico. 7-day cruises have 5 ports and only 1 sea day so we have plenty of time to be off the ship enjoying our time together. We'd rather be hiking, biking, kayaking, sailing, snorkeling, etc. San Juan is also a great embarkation port to spend a little time pre and/or post cruise.

As you said, you know your kids best, and hope you know whether they do or don't have an interest in the structured clubs/activities. Our experience, anyway, is that you don't have to participate in all of that to have a great cruise vacation!

If anyone is still interested, I booked my day pass to the Sandals Halcyon Beach Resort through a company called "Island Routes". The price for the day pass including transport to and from the cruise ship was $130. I think the day pass would have been $100 if booked directly through the resort and since it was just myself, I think I saved a bit because I believe the taxi would have been higher than the extra $30 I spent.

The only downside to booking the way I did was I paid at the time of booking and unless I cancelled prior to the ship's sail date, it would have been nonrefundable.

So what did you end up doing? We are also looking for something different. Will do a beach day if we can't come up with anything else, probably Ti Kaye :confused:

I ended up getting a day pass to Sandals Halcyon Beach Resort. I tried getting a day pass to the Rendezvous (also an all-inclusive couples-only resort) but they wouldn't sell to just one person. Was kind of surprised as I'd heard from various places (including cruise critic message boards) of various people getting passes without necessarily being a "couple". Anyhow, Sandals obviously has a different policy as they were happy to have me!

I had a positively lovely day. Except for one passing shower, the weather was perfect. The grounds at the resort are very beautiful and are immaculate! Included was a great lunch and drinks all day so that was really nice. There were plenty of loungers around the beautiful pools and on the beach. I spent my day lounging by the pool, walking the beach, eating and drinking and soaking up the sun! It was a great day. I wondered if I was gonna feel "out of place" being alone and not part of a couple like most everyone else around, but it was fine. I pretty much kept to myself (my choice) and had the most relaxing day.

If I ever visit St. Lucia again on a solo cruise I would definitely consider going back. I ended up booking it through a company that provided the day pass along with RT transport for a fee. Considering it was just myself, it worked out cheaper than paying the RT taxi for just one. Someone met me right at the pier, then pulled up in a BMW and whisked me off to the resort. He was back to pick me up right at the designated time to return to the ship. Very nice, and very convenient!

Good luck with whatever you decide to do!

HI all!

 

I'm back from my lovely cruise around Cuba.

 

Welcome to the new posters & congrats to the losers. The gainers will have another chance on Thursday.;)

 

I hope the swelling in my feet goes down by then, I had a hard time putting my boots on today because of it.

 

Have a good week & sure hope the cold/snow machine gets turned off soon!

 

~ Jo ~ :)

I love your comment about the cold/snow machine hopefully getting turned off soon! I live in Minnesota and this is one of the worst winters I can remember. :eek: I was lucky enough to sail from San Juan both in December and January so I know shouldn't complain as much but this winter has just been brutal!

I've been away from these threads for a couple months. I did a pretty good job prior to my cruise in December, but then vacationing for 10 days, then 3 weeks over the Christmas holidays then another 11 days vacation got me WAY off track. I'm only up a few pounds through the whole thing but my exercise routine is almost non-existent. I've determined that exercise is what helps me stay in shape the most.

I also found that accountability is the key for me. I most definitely exercised a lot more when I knew I was checking in each week, so I'm hoping to start up again. I think I was setting a weekly goal of logging 50 miles (walking, hiking, stairmaster, etc.). It was a tough goal sometimes but realistic with some dedication so I'm gonna try it again.

I won't be doing any big trip until later this year, maybe over new year's, but still need to get back into my exercise routine as soon as possible.

Congrats to all those who've been sticking with it and seeing results!

Michelle

btw - Jo, that cruise around Cuba sounds fabulous! Would love it if I was able to do a trip like that sometime, but sadly probably not.

Booked a private tour in St. Lucia and got email saying I should look for their representative at La Place Carenage. I had found info on the internet a few weeks ago that looked like Adventure of the Seas docked at Pt. Seraphine so I called the tour company today and asked if they could pick up there. I then called Royal Caribbean to confirm where we dock and they told me La Place Carenage. It took me forever on the phone to get them to understand what information I was trying to get as to which dock, so I'm not super confident in their answer.

Now I'm not sure if I should call the tour co. back and change back to La Place Carenage since that's what the Royal Caribbean rep. thinks?

Hi all,

As usual, congrats to those who lost this week and encouragement to those who didn't.

Well, I won't reach my goal of logging 800 miles in the 16 weeks leading up to my cruise. I was on pace for the first 10-11 weeks but my mom's hospitalization, a slight ankle sprain and then bronchitis the last 3 weeks brought it to a grinding halt. I rarely get sick so that was a tough one for me. I couldn't exert myself at all if I wanted to avoid a coughing fit. I'm better now and am slowly getting back to the club. I'm not able to do the 60-80 minute stairmaster workouts just yet, but I'm trying hard to build up my wind again.

I leave for my cruise in 9 days so will have to do my best in the little time I have left. It's not like my cruise clothes won't fit or anything, I just wanted to be more fit. After this cruise it'll be 3 weeks of the holidays and then leaving for a cruise on New Year's Day. Yikes. Will definitely have some work to do come mid-January when I get home from that trip! Maybe I'll set another goal of logging miles per week and checking in for accountability. It REALLY helped me stay on track when I checked in every week. There were times I just didn't want to work out but I did because I knew it would keep me on pace and I wanted to reach that weekly goal.

Good luck this upcoming week everyone.

Michelle

Island Routes is the Sandals tour operator around the Caribbean, who books day passes and transport, and all other tours booked through Sandals, regardless of island. They do have a website you can check out for more info.

Alternatively, you can call the resort direct and book that way. The transport will cost more that way of course, but at least it will be direct with the resort.

And yes, as of now, Adventure docks at Pointe Seraphine. There is a water taxi that runs between the two for easy going back and forth if needed. But they should pick you up at PS. You shouldn't have a "washout" day weather wise here, Dec is "dry" season; you may have some passing showers, but a full day of grey is unlikely. And it's still hot, even if it does rain! Check out Island Routes website, see what it has to say there, and double check on the cancellation policies.

Good luck!

Thanks again, reedprincess. If all goes as planned, the way I currently have it set up will work just fine, with everything all paid up and transfers included. And you're right, the chances of an all-day rain aren't likely, but I know there is rain on lots of days. Most days I've spent in St. Lucia have been pretty nice, with some passing showers. I'm just not sure what one does at an all-inclusive if it rains a good part of the day and you don't have a guest room to go to?

At the very least I'll need to contact Island Routes and get the port pick-up location figured out. Surprised that they wouldn't have information on where each ship docks when in port as they definitely know what ship I'm sailing on.

What I thought would be a simple thing has gotten more and more confusing. I'm a veteran cruiser traveling solo for the first time, trying to buy a day pass to a resort in St. Lucia. Got turned down by Rendezvous as I'm not a "couple".

Proceeded to plan B and contacted Sandals via their 800 number to purchase a day pass to the Sandals Halcyon Beach Resort. I was expecting to be quoted $100 (as per numerous cruise critic posts), to be paid at the time I arrive (again, per cc posts). When I inquired about a day pass they transferred me to what I thought was someone at the St. Lucia resort. I thought it was odd they quoted me $130 which includes transfers to/from the pier. I also had to pay up front, although she said their cancellation policy states full refund if cancelled prior to my ship's embarkation date.

When I received the confirmation via email I was surprised to see this is an "excursion" booked through Island Routes Caribbean Adventures. It seems this is a company affiliated with Sandals Resorts somehow and seems to be legit and all but just wanted to know of anyone else's experience with booking a day pass with Sandals. Did they transfer you to this same call center or were you able to book the day pass for the $100 which sounds like their going rate?

Also, on the confirmation it says that the pick up at the pier is at Le Place Carenage however I believe the Adventure of the Seas docks at Point Seraphine. I'm sure I can clear that part up with a phone call. Can't believe I would have to find my own way over to the other pier. Perhaps I would only want that I would not have to pay until I arrive at the resort, with no cancellation penalty. Not that I have intentions of changing my plans, but in the case of illness or a total washout of a day in St. Lucia. Wouldn't be fun at an all-inclusive if it rained all day and I had nowhere indoors to go.

Any experience? reedprincess, maybe you can chime in? Thanks.