jean87510

Has anyonr ever been successful in convincing thr cab drivers who pick up when you do the ship excursions not regular ferry to take you to a beach other than cinnamon or trunk? We have arranged for a private cab to take to annaburg ruins plus another snorkeling area and we are using red hook ferry that day. Last year we tried and successfully persuaded our cab driver to go to maho and he was really rude to us about it. Luckily we hitched a ride back to the ferry. This is why i am pre-arranged the cab beforehand. Do the cabbies just take cruise ship passengers to 2 beaches? And we even offered to pay this cab driver for a tour. He was so ridiculous. He told us we could walk over to maho from cinnamon. We experienced the same reluctance 6 months prior. If st john didn't have such beautiful beaches i would just stay in st thomas.

Are you renting a car or taking a tour? Do you like snorkeling or just hanging at a beach with food/umbrellas/bar? If you like boat tours, we did an awesome one with Adventure Antigua that has a 360 circumference (sp) tour that you see a lot and is fun. It is expensive but we enjoyed it so much we are going back next year when our cruise stops there.

I can second Beachlimerz. I went to dinner there when I stayed in Antigua and the food was great. Beach is nice. It is in Fort James and close to cruise port. We had stayed right next to Sandals at Antigua Village which is Dickerson Bay beach area and it was about 5 minutes from there. I think it is about 5-10 minutes from cruise port. The people running it are really nice and friendly. BTW - I did see your post about which day pass. Unless you want a pool, I would just hang out at a beach all day with a beach bar/restaurant nearby. Dennis' was really nice with a nice beach (not sure if they rent chairs there though but the beach was beautiful). Beach limerz is nice. Turners...etc... Antigua has a lot of places to go with great food/drink. It just isn' the place I would look for a day pass for.

Going to Montserrat requires half a day at the very least -assuming you don't want to hike a bit, which is also one of the main reasons for going to Montserrat, in that case, a full day. If you can't spare it, I honestly wouldn't go at all... you're going to waste half of your time travelling to/from.

 

A full article I created about Montserrat, hope it's helpful: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/spain/a-visit-to-montserrat-the-holy-mountain-near-barcelona-in-catalonia

Thinking about it, I think it would be better to relax at hotel then grab something to eat and explore the city. Montserrat will wait until we are there for a few more days. Thanks for your help. .

Luggage?...is this a regular port day or is this debarcation?. If this is the end point of your cruise, I doubt seriously you could get off the ship before 7 am at best, and most likely somewhat later.

 

I may have misunderstood what you were asking. If you were just planning to leave the ship at CV on a regular port day, rethink your plan. The fine for leaving early is enormous.

 

 

Hopefully I misunderstood what you said.

 

 

Doug

As I said, we are arriving/disembarking in civitavecchia at 5am. My question was, is it possible to get to train station 2 hours after ship scheduled to arrive (has anyone encountered this - ie 6am arrival making an 8 am train to Rome. ) nowhere did I say I would leave early and risk fines. If not possible, I buy a later train ticket. No problem - it's a vacation.

I am curious about something. Is the prime spot on the Summit (which I have been on a couple of times) around the pool outside or the solarium area (basically anywhere with a lounger)? I don't tend to sit at one spot all day so I don't really watch who comes/goes/never appears...etc... I personally like it up where the theater is because of the beds, the movies, and it is quieter (but that's me). If it gets too windy, sunny, or if I get bored, I move to another area on the ship. My point is, I really have never found a time where I couldn't find a chair at all hours of the day. Are people upset about chair hogs because they tend to grab the best seats around the pool areas? I remember on our cruise in October leaving out of Bayonne, we had a couple of windy days and the solarium area was packed. We did have 2 chairs by the pool and we would sit, get up to go into the pool, sit...etc... After about 2 1/2 hours of doing this, a woman chastised me for "chair hogging":o. I said, we were sitting there, got up to go to the pool, and then are sitting back down. She sat down on the ledge near the steps (we had the lounge chairs near the steps) and continued to complain loudly. Since she was older, I normally would gladly have given up my seat because I don't like to see anyone uncomfortable, but I was really annoyed and stayed another hour ignoring her. The funny thing was there were actually tables available with chairs and areas on the sofas to sit on.

The ship may dock at 5:00 am, but there's no guarantee that passengers will be allowed off that early. Where are you catching your connecting train and at what time?

7am arriving in Rome at 818am. Then leaving rome at 849am to get to Salerno at 1118. Then we will have 6 minutes to get the train to Pompeii :eek: but we are traveling with 1 suitcase each and 1 backpack and both run 10k's so we are not worried about having to move quickly. Then on from Salerno to Pompeii at 1212pm. As long as we get off the boat by at least 6am, we should be ok, correct?

I am also curious. We booked a 7am train on 5/6/17 to Rome. Ship docks at 5am at Civitavecchia We should have plenty of time, correct? We have to make connections to pompeii where we are staying for one night after our cruise. It is our first time in Italy and we don't want to mess anything up.

great information and thank you so much. We are going to give it a try.

various sites (google was not really my friend).

This is our first time in Barcelona and I really want to go to Montserrat; however, our flight arrives at 1215pm and I predict we won't arrive at the hotel until 130pm. I do have a question. Has anyone ever gone in the late afternoon to Montserrat via the train (not interested in a tour - we like doing things on our own)? We are arriving in Barcelona on 11/4/17. Our cruise takes off on 11/5/17 and I don't want to chance it that day. If you have, what is the latest you can get a train/all trains? I have looked at the train schedule websites and cannot find the answer to this.

Another idea is to go to the Dolphin Adventure first and have your tour meet you there. There are so many good ones that include beach time at the end. We were supposed to go with Javin (which I wish we had) and he has a nice rainforest tour. My husband and I are going with Poinciana tours next april to climb Mt. Liamuga and then go to the beach. Good luck in whatever you choose. St. Kitts is such a beautiful place to visit.

Hi! I am trying to plan out our day (myself, husband and 18 year old son) and am having difficulty. Our ideal day would look like this: Swim with dolphins at Dolphin Discovery, visit Brimstone Hill Fortress, Timothy Hill and either Amazing Grace Experience/Beach/Shopping. I can't find a "tour" that offers all of these. I have contacted Beulah Mills several times and only get a generic email back. Can anyone suggest how to go about making this day happen if it is possible???

I would rent a car and do as much as you can. St Kitt is really easy to drive around. My husband and I drove around last year in April 2016 and had a great time. I believe (I could be wrong) you can book the dolphin discovery online and choose your time. Brimstone, you can drive to yourself as well as timothy hill. Amazing grace is near Brimstone. I would visit all of them first, then head to any of the beaches around Carambola (shipwreck...etc...).

It's too far out with a lot of boats around. I paid a couple of guys on the beach $60.for 2 hours to.take 4 of us out in 2015. And they knew where the turtles were. You won't.

I booked that cruise too through the cruiseline. I got an email that said that the cruise was cancelled. The alternative cruises don't have the itenary. I had chosen that cruise because I liked the ports. Do you know if I have to call them or will they get in touch with me ? The cruise is still in my celebrity account.

Ellen

I think you have to call them to schedule the alternate cruises or another one pretty soon (this week?).

there are 2 cruises offered. the October 27, 2017 sailing and the 4/14/18 sailing. Make sure you have your reservation # handy if you booked through the cruise line because they cannot look it up since the sailing is chartered. We got an equal cabin, same price plus $200 onboard credit with the 4/14 sailing which in my opinion, has a better schedule if you like port intensive cruises.

Im on this, booked through celebrity, and didn't get any notification.

So sad to read that they are done. We were just there and were going to do the 3-splash tour but the weather (seas/swells) were not cooperating. Blue Safaris had somewhere waiting for us and said that we would be able to go to Pinel Island due to the conditions - too dangerous. They were will to take us to the other spots but couldn't guarantee how far until we were actually out on the water. The other party of six that was going to join us backed out and they needed at least 5/6 in order for it to be $$$ feasible. Totally understood and did not go. The guy, Ken, filling in for Matt, felt bad but one can't play with Mother Nature. He also said that Blue Safaris sold their boat, went state side and was not returning to the island. It must be extremely bad for Fab & Kirstine b/c this was their life and was running an excellent tour business. We have sailed with them many times in the past. Just totally shocked by this situation. I'm happy to read that they will be refunding your deposit too. For those that felt scammed, I believe that they truly were not. Chaos must have been in full blown swing with their personal family matters when calls weren't being returned or no shows. I can say that when we went to meet up no one came up to us as we waited for about 5/10 minutes. Then Ken who was standing there kept looking at us and asked if we were there for the tour. He wasn't sure and apologized for not as,ing us sooner as we seemed to not look puzzled or concerned which we were not. Well, time to find someone else now. I don't like those that talk trash about others so a larger tour company that does do a great job will not be for us.

 

Do you have the name(s) of the 8hr tour companies? We are going to be staying on the island therefore this might just work for us. Thanks :):)

I was researching gb ferries. Leaves out of Simpson bay for anguilla.

We rented a car and had no problems. Easily got around. Went to orient and mullet and walked to maho.

We tried to use Blue safaris in October. They cancelled the night before. Thank God I had wifi on the ship where I could read my emails and found out and was able to rent a car the next day. I should have written about the whole situation on Trip Ad because I was upset and really not a big fan of this company. They told me that the squalls to get to Anquilla were too much. I found out that 1. They were not - the ferry ran that day with no issue. 2. They had ran their 3 island trip without any difficulty that day. I had asked them if my husband and I could go on that and got no response. I was reimbursed which was why I didn't write a bad review on Trip Ad. I just felt as if they didn't feel like going that day or maybe didn't have enough people. I don't trust them again to take me out. I am going to try Billy Bones in April 2018. We actually are going to stay in Anguilla for a few days after that cruise so I will get there finally.:D If Billy turns out to be strike #3 with boat tours in st martin, I will continue to rent cars and go on my own. I should add that there were only 3 ships in that day so perhaps they couldn't get enough people for the tour.

It's called self explore st john. 10 am to 4pm. We did it in april and Oct. Worth it

I'm no t renting a car. When you say far, how far is it?

45 to 50 minutes

The only ones that complain are the ones that need to be by the pool. I guess I don't understand why people need to be by the pool. There is nothing there that isn't on the deck above or other areas that have plenty of loungers. It's not like they can't hear the band :) There are always loungers available it's the people that need to be by the pool that have issues. Others don't have any problems. Where ever you sit it is just a short walk to the pool..... I can see an issue with the Solarium on cold weather cruises, just not enough chairs available.

 

We are from S Florida so thankfully we don't care to be by the pool because we can do that at home every day. But I do understand why some want to lay out, just don't understand the draw of being next to the pool. Noisy and crowded is all I see :)

 

This is why we get a balcony, that's where we spend most of our sea days. I don't want to have to mess with the whole pool area, just not worth it. And I know, that doesn't work for groups or families so we'll leave the chairs for you folks.

 

So I understand why a lot of people want to lay out, even in groups, just don't understand the draw of being packed in next to the pool.

enjoy

Absolutely agree. Plenty of chairs. I've never had a problem finding a chair other than pool area. Only people I can see it would affect are those who actually watch their children in the pool. And if they have to watch them at the pool, they should be in the pool with them.

Thanks Jean. :)

 

Well I figured it out. I'm so flighty about this cruise; I forgot it leaves out of PR and that's on the same basic timezone as Antigua. So there are no worries now. :)

 

In have literally had to write down that we are going from orlando to the airport, not to Canaveral, for the cruise. That was the day I was pricing rental cars with a dropoff at the port. Glad I figured it out lol. I just keep forgetting!

 

 

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you will have a great time. They are really friendly and down to earth. My husband and I were talking to them for a while during lunch about the island and everywhere to see while we were there and they couldn't have been nicer and helpful. You can sense that they love what they do and they love showing off their island. Probably one of my favorite tours in the caribbean besides Aristocat charters in Tortola.

The only place of any note (from the beach) is the top end of Half Moon Bay. Not brilliant but a good variety of fish. There are refreshments available. Chairs were available in the past, but a more recent poster stated not.

 

Best to take extra towels for the sand. Never had a problem with a taxi, but the journey is about 45 minutes. Some posters have suggested a hire car/van, for a group.

If going, rent a car. It is really far from the port. Download google maps to your phone and use that as your GPS. We actually invested in hammocks off of Amazon and they were great. There is a small shack to buy snacks/food (even ice cream) as well as drinks. It is absolutely gorgeous and the best snorkeling spot in Antigua, hands down. There is no where to rent snorkeling equipment so bring your own. We were all over antigua and this was the best beach and snorkeling area BUT it is really remote and far from the port. I really would not do this unless you have a rental car and a good GPS source.