We're back! Grenadine's

[budaman]

It went much too quickly, but we had an awesome voyage! Was it perfect.... no, but pretty close.

 

Will do a complete review, but it will probably take a while to peice everything together & post photos....hopefully, by the end of the week

 

If you have any specific questions, fire away & I will attempt to answer while things are still fresh.

 

Mike

[timandnancy]

Were there towns and shops and things to do in the ports?

Or would you say this is mostly a beach itinerary?

Thanks,

Tim

[budaman]

Hi Tim!

Depending on what you call shopping, you can find places to pick up souveniers at all the stops except for possibly Union Island, which is the first stop. Lots of stuff around the pier in Grenada(also easy to pick up a taxi to tour) Same in St. Vincent & Bequai. Forte de France is a large metro area where you spend the first part of the day in Martinique and the afternoon is spent at Grande Anse Beach. Not much there, but there is a cute little shop that has some nice women's clothing at the beach bar where the tenders drop. At Marigot in St. Lucia there are also many types of shops. When you move to Soufriere, there are a few places, but you will also encounter some of the less fortunates that are begging for money....that is the only place we encountered that. Finally, at the stop in Tobago Cayes, there are a few venders selling tshirts, etc. on the beach.

 

We did a few of the ship excursions.....4x4 on Martinique and the Zip Line in St. Lucia. That was a total blast! The 4x4 was good, but not great. We hired a taxi in St. Vincent & went up to the bay where they shot the Port Royal scenes from Pirate's of the Caribbean. Got to see a good portion of the island and the Bay was interesting, but don't know if it was really worth the time it took to get there. Also, we didn't get the most entertaining taxi/guide....with someone that was more entertaining or enthusiastic, could have been much better. We met a gentleman in Grenada named Garfield, that showed us an awesome time there. The dive shop we used there, sent him to pick us up and we asked him if he knew anyone who could show us some of the island after we dove, and he said he would meet us back at the dive shop and show us around. And he did just that! That was our most memorable day of the cruise.

 

Mike

[normca]

We are booked on the Jan 2nd Royal Clipper and would appreciated any info concerning onboard-ie, bar prices and dining and etc.

Also, did you by any chance stay overnight at the Savannah in Barbados?

[budaman]

We haven't unpacked all the daily info sheets to give you accurate info yet. I'll post as much info as I can soon, but it's about Turkey time. As far as hotel, we stayed at the Hilton....it was less expensive than the Savannah. The Hilton & Savannah are only about 2 blocks apart. We walked past the Savannah both street side & beach side and it looked nice. Smaller & older than the Hilton with not as much beach area. It is a little closer to the airport, the Hilton a little closeer to the port. I'll post some picks soon.

 

Mike

[budaman]

Looking out from Ti Sable. A nice little spot on Grande Anse Beach in Martinique.

 

More to come

 

Mike

[westcoastorca]

Hi There;

As to "bar prices and dinning"

 

We did two weeks on the Royal Clipper last winter and quite enjoyed most of the trip.

Bar prices were rather outrageous. No local island beer brands which was silly. Some of us actually want to experience the islands and the only beers available were European brands. In spite of the pre-cruise warnings, when we got on board the only advice was, if you are going to consume your own liquor, please do so in your own cabin. And they will supply ice if you are nice to your steward.

On previous trips to these islands experiencing island cuissene was always a big thing. But this ship is rarely in ports over the dinner hour, and the food on board is quite good, (except for the appys). Except again, no local flavor. If you want the real goat roti best to get in before or after sailing.

 

cheers vincent

[normca]

hope you are still planning on a trip report

[budaman]

Still working on that...am up to boarding:D I can't seem to do it on a small scale....just getting to this point I'm up to 2 pages. It's been crazy at work since we've been back. Have finally sorted pics(down to 400 now) & hope to finish the report & get a link to pics up by this weekend.

 

Mike

[Islandbear]

Love the Grenadines. Planning to go Fall 2010. Tell us more about your trip! Is there still a big market in the middle of St George.

[budaman]

Yes it is an awesome area! I believe the market was still there. Seems like all the ports except Martinique had markets close to the dock. Martinique has a large area where you would expect many vendors, but the day we were there everything was shut down.

 

I posted a full review at this thread:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1103490

 

Enjoy your trip...we're off to Costa Rica next January on the Star Flyer.

 

Mike

[Lotuslips]

Great trip report and I have just one question. Was on the Star Flyer in Tahiti in October and there were snorkel trips to local reefs about 5 times per day in the zodiacs. Was that the case here or just a trip to the beach? I must have my snorkel fix several times a day.

 

Thanks

[budaman]

I don't remember there being any snorkle trips in the Zodiacs. There were only 4 members on the Sports Team in November. I seem to remember there being 6 on the Star Flyer....Meghan & all the Sweedish boys:D On the Clipper, two of the team were always out with us divers and the other two were responsible for the sailboats, windsurfer, kayak & waterski activities so they weren't able to take out snorkelers. I looked through the daily activity sheets that are in the photo album, link in signature, & it looks like it was just snorkeling on your own at the beaches. But, there were quite a few beach stops. Beaches don't make for that good of snorkeling though in my opinion. In fact, I was a bit disappointed in the diving also....I much preferred Tahiti and of course one of my favorite dive destinations, Cozumel.

 

Mike

[JTor]

We were also on this itinerary in February. Recommend strongly. Shopping? - not unless you are a shopaholic, otherwise highly unlikely to find anything you really want to buy. It's either tourist tat (T-shirst, figurines), or more geared to local people (poor quality, inexpensive clothing eg. in downtown Martinique). Marigot Bay in St. Lucia has lovely things but very $$$. This is a beach itinerary with adventure opportunities (zipline in St. Lucia was fantastic). The scenery is great; there was a fair bit of actual sailing, which we enjoyed. The current marine biologist is fantastic and the snorkelling was worthwhile. It's a pretty laid-back trip.

[budaman]

Was Marianno(marine biologist) still aboard in Feb.? He was a blast...even went with us to the Zip Line in St. Lucia. Speaking of St. Lucia....don't know if any of you watched any of The Bachelor....they were doing the St. Lucia scenes when we were there in Nov. It was interesting to see the Clipper in some of the scenes.

 

Also, I wonder how everyone on the Star Flyer fared with the tidal waves from Chile....she should have been somewhere between Easter Island and Tahiti. Wouldn't think on the open sea they would have noticed much.

 

Mike

[DocH2O]

Was Marianno(marine biologist) still aboard in Feb.? He was a blast...even went with us to the Zip Line in St. Lucia. Speaking of St. Lucia....don't know if any of you watched any of The Bachelor....they were doing the St. Lucia scenes when we were there in Nov. It was interesting to see the Clipper in some of the scenes.

 

Also, I wonder how everyone on the Star Flyer fared with the tidal waves from Chile....she should have been somewhere between Easter Island and Tahiti. Wouldn't think on the open sea they would have noticed much.

 

Mike

 

I was in touch with Mariano a couple of weeks ago, and he was still with the Royal Clipper at that time, so I assume he still is. He was a wonderful part of our transatlantic trip - what a sense of humor!

 

Pralientje comments on the impact of the Tsunami on the Flyer in her blog. Basically you are correct - they were in deep water and didn't notice. If you haven't checked her blog out, it is good reading, and now she has pictures as well!! The link is http://pralientje.blogspot.com/