Tropical delights & paradise islands - itinerary

Have just received our ETicket for the above and decided to check through the itinerary to see what other ships were in port on the various days we visited. I am a little confused to say the least, as either Tui/Marella have got it wrong or cruise timetables (and others). The ports of call are correct but not the days we are visiting - for example Tui/Marella say 22 Jan St Lucia whereas cruise timetables say 27 Jan, in fact the whole week is different apart from Barbados...unless I have been sent the incorrect itinerary! Has anyone else picked up on this? We were considering booking a private trip in St Lucia but am now doubting which day we are there!

Anyway any comments from those on the same cruise would be appreciated. Also another question "dress to impress" evening - roughly how many participate (to those that may have been before)?

We had a similar situation in the Caribbean on Discovery last March/April and our eticket didn't tie in with Whatsinport schedules. However the itinerary on the eticket was correct.

We found the dress to impress night well attended and the dress varied from smart casual to dj. In the main though I think men were opting for smart jackets with or without ties.

Just done these two over Christmas. The Tropical Delights itinerary was reversed from the order it was when I originally booked it (12 months ago). So St Lucia became our first port of call on day 1 with Aruba the last and then a sea day back to Barbados. I noticed this a couple of months before departing and double checked by going onto to the TUI excursions site to see what days they had each of the ports down as.

Dress to impress was well attended with many in dj's and suits going through to 'Gallery' for dinner.

Great cruise, I am sure you will enjoy it.

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Although we are not on your cruise, we are having the same issue.

There are:

• The port timetables,
  
• Our E ticket which gives us the latest update ( allegedly) on our itinerary, and
  
• The shore excursions site online.
  

All different from each other, making it almost impossible to book excursions privately as you say. Very confusing.

Who knows where we will wake up each morning, but at least it will be warm.

We are doing the Paradise Islands and Tropical delights in February, but, like Starryuk , we had exactly the same problem of confusion on the Mayan Treasures/Cuban Fusion itinerary, on the Dream, last year.

We had booked private car hire as well as a number of private tours. I explained the confusion about the itineraries to the the local tour operators and they said not to worry, as they would keep the bookings for whichever day the Dream turned up in port. The only hiccup we had was when the ship couldn't get a berth at Cozumel. The Captain said the port authority wouldn't allow the ship to anchor offshore and use tenders because of the strong wind. Fortunately we hadn't booked anything for that day.

On this coming trip we are not pre-booking any tours because we have found in the past that, on these itineraries, there will be plenty of offers of tours on arrival at each port.

Hi Dean+Nicky...glad you enjoyed your recent cruise. Just a couple of questions. Dress to impress - does the captain still do his speech and then everyone piles into the restaurant? Did your ports of call include St Maartens and Tortola - just wondered how these islands were recovering following the aftermath of the hurricanes? ... and any other information that you think might be useful for our forthcoming cruise would be much appreciated. Many thanks

Hi Dean+Nicky...glad you enjoyed your recent cruise. Just a couple of questions. Dress to impress - does the captain still do his speech and then everyone piles into the restaurant? Did your ports of call include St Maartens and Tortola - just wondered how these islands were recovering following the aftermath of the hurricanes? ... and any other information that you think might be useful for our forthcoming cruise would be much appreciated. Many thanks

Yes Captain gives a speech in atrium and introduces some of the key staff. You have an opportunity to meet him and have a photo if you want. Restaurant gets busy straight afterwards as people queue up to get a table. We went as a group of 10 and were told we couldn't reserve a table so we ended up splitting up. I spoke with the restaurant manager and he said reserve through him anytime, so it was nice to have a couple of nights where we all had dinner together. If you are interested in booking the speciality restaurants, they get busy so best to try and book as early into your holiday as possible.

Yes our itinerary included St Maartens and Tortola, I think some of the earlier ones before us changed itineraries. We found St Maartens wasn't too bad. A lot of damaged cars with plastic covering their windows were driving around. We got a taxi to Maho beach which was fine, and bars were open. Having not been before we didn't have anything to complain it to, but the taxi driver said the beach has become smaller and is due to be scraped back to enlarge it again in a few months. We saw a lot more damage on Tortola. There was only one beach open/accessible which was other side of the island, but it was a nice scenic journey across the hills. Not for the feint hearted as the roads are very steep. Saw a lot of houses with not walls and roofs, some still had furniture inside! Everyone was really friendly and very upbeat. The beach facilities were basic but beds available. Bars were tents and drinks sold out of cooler boxes. A bit more expensive than other islands but given the damage they are just trying to recover and make a living.

We had a great holiday. We mainly did our own thing at each port. The taxis were more expensive than we anticipated at between 10 and 20 dollars per person regardless of how many go, and dependent on distance. Most ports have taxis offering to do a tour of local sights etc. But equally they left us alone if we said we weren't interested.

The ship was kept clean and tidy and mostly the service was excellent. We found the service in the Italian (Gallery 47) wasn't great at times, slow to bring out meals, but once escalated to head waiter they pull out all the stops. We never had a problem with getting so drinks although some people on the forums said they had to wait long times. The drinks measures are big if you are having shorts, as nice at it sounds sometimes we found we needed a separate tonic for our gins! Which also wasn't a problem.

I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

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Yes Captain gives a speech in atrium and introduces some of the key staff. You have an opportunity to meet him and have a photo if you want. Restaurant gets busy straight afterwards as people queue up to get a table. We went as a group of 10 and were told we couldn't reserve a table so we ended up splitting up. I spoke with the restaurant manager and he said reserve through him anytime, so it was nice to have a couple of nights where we all had dinner together. If you are interested in booking the speciality restaurants, they get busy so best to try and book as early into your holiday as possible.

 

Yes our itinerary included St Maartens and Tortola, I think some of the earlier ones before us changed itineraries. We found St Maartens wasn't too bad. A lot of damaged cars with plastic covering their windows were driving around. We got a taxi to Maho beach which was fine, and bars were open. Having not been before we didn't have anything to complain it to, but the taxi driver said the beach has become smaller and is due to be scraped back to enlarge it again in a few months. We saw a lot more damage on Tortola. There was only one beach open/accessible which was other side of the island, but it was a nice scenic journey across the hills. Not for the feint hearted as the roads are very steep. Saw a lot of houses with not walls and roofs, some still had furniture inside! Everyone was really friendly and very upbeat. The beach facilities were basic but beds available. Bars were tents and drinks sold out of cooler boxes. A bit more expensive than other islands but given the damage they are just trying to recover and make a living.

 

We had a great holiday. We mainly did our own thing at each port. The taxis were more expensive than we anticipated at between 10 and 20 dollars per person regardless of how many go, and dependent on distance. Most ports have taxis offering to do a tour of local sights etc. But equally they left us alone if we said we weren't interested.

 

The ship was kept clean and tidy and mostly the service was excellent. We found the service in the Italian (Gallery 47) wasn't great at times, slow to bring out meals, but once escalated to head waiter they pull out all the stops. We never had a problem with getting so drinks although some people on the forums said they had to wait long times. The drinks measures are big if you are having shorts, as nice at it sounds sometimes we found we needed a separate tonic for our gins! Which also wasn't a problem.

 

I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

 

 

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I was on the same cruise. One of the best I've been on. Staff and Entertainments teams were 1st class. Loved every moment of it. (especially Bob-Scratch-it)

I was on the same cruise. One of the best I've been on. Staff and Entertainments teams were 1st class. Loved every moment of it. (especially Bob-Scratch-it)

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Many thanks Dean+Nicky for such an informative reply. We are not too bothered about captains speech/photos so will try & get in restaurants before the rush! Just 1 more question, what day is dress to impress as normally sea day?

Hi Longislandtea, one of my favourite tipples[emoji2] , was the Tortola call a tender port as stated? We have been many times and always docked.

 

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Hello.... No tender in Tortola. The people there are amazing. Be prepared for a lot of damage caused by the storms.

Hello.... No tender in Tortola. The people there are amazing. Be prepared for a lot of damage caused by the storms.

Thanks for that(y) We are looking forward to our return but with a little trepidation.