Serenade -- which itinerary??

[erniesband]

I know! I have contemplated trying Celebrity so that I can go back there. I would really love to go on a land vacation there, but right now it is not practical.

 

We're looking at Summit for 2013, goes to all the places Serenade used to. We did Summit back in 2009 because it went to Bonaire, it was nice but not like Serenade. It's getting worked on this year so the improvements may make it nicer. Don't like the Brilliance itineraries for 2013 since we want to do another B2B. And I'm not wild about Guadeloupe twice.

Celebrity has some good deals going if your a Captain's Club member and book before July 29th.

[erniesband]

We're going on Serenade in January and chose the one that visits St. Thomas, St. Lucia, Grenada, St. Croix, and Antigua only because we've never been to Antigua and St. Croix.

 

The other itinerary is great too and since we love Aruba so much, it was hard deciding between the two. We've been to all the ports on this itinerary though.

 

Can't wait for January! :D Enjoy your cruise, whatever you decide. :)

 

Come join our roll call: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1194858

 

Looks like we have a fun group started :D

 

Ernie

[khm1]

We're looking at Summit for 2013, goes to all the places Serenade used to. We did Summit back in 2009 because it went to Bonaire, it was nice but not like Serenade. It's getting worked on this year so the improvements may make it nicer. Don't like the Brilliance itineraries for 2013 since we want to do another B2B. And I'm not wild about Guadeloupe twice.

Celebrity has some good deals going if your a Captain's Club member and book before July 29th.

 

Thanks for the tip! I will look into it. I am one cruise shy of Emerald on RCL. I think that Celebrity will honor your loyalty status on RCL. I am not too sure what kind of advantage this would give me with Celebrity.

[Sequim88]

I emailed MattsMom1 with the following but figured I should post it here too.

___________________

Here's our story for Bernie at St. Kitts...

 

There were six of us - My wife & I and my two brothers and their wives. All low to mid-50's. As we walked fro mthe pier to the "portal" building we saw a guy sitting on the rocks by the water outside the fence with a sign that said "Bernie's". One brother was going to go over and talk to him then waved towards the plaza beyond the portal. As we wen through the portal (where they check people headed back to the ship) there were "official" taxi and tour people there but we saw many independents in the plaza.

 

We went on through and saw Bernie with his sign and went over to talk.He first proposed $30/pp for the whole day in his 18 passenger van. Actually a van he rents from a taxi company. We started to be reluctant and he quickly dropped to $25. My brother, manager of a used car store and excellent nogtiator, pointed to the other independent tour guys and asked what they would tell us if we went over to them and Bernie dropped to $20. A deal was struck! Actually we told him we did not mean to beat him up and would be happy to tip well for a great day.

 

We headed first to Brimstone Hill Fortress where we paid the $6 each entrance and got there well before other tours so had it to ourselves. Specatacular view and great history. Bernie waited with a couple other drivers for the hour or so we were there. Then we headed back south and stopped at the Batik operation. All the while as he was driving he was pointing out interesting things like sugar cane boilers and battle sites or churches.

 

Eventually we headed so Cockleshell Beach at the far south end of the island where he arranged chairs at a discount (in the shade of a tree no less) and we hung out there for three hours drinking beer and admiring the view of Nevis. Really nice beach but the beer was $1/bottle cheaper at the neighboring bar (but the lady there was adamant we would bring her bottles back - we did). Not sure where Bernie hung out but he was waiting at the van when we were done.

 

There is a place on the way back where the island is very narrow and you can see both Atlantic and Caribbean from a sort of pass between the hills. Very beautiful. There was a vendor stand there that bernie stopped at and the guys sells sugar cane sticks. He also had a pet monkey that we posed with and whoich fell in love with my sister-in-law. We now call her the "Monkey Mom". We bought some sugar cane to snack on and headed for the port.

 

Bernie was absolutely excellent. Former school teacher and part-time minister. Very polite and informative. And HUGE - really big guy. My wife is partly paralyzed and uses a cane and every stop he helped her out and back in to the van with ease. He is trying to save up to buy his own van. This one did have a little problem with the air conditoning leaking water but not on us.

 

We ended up tipping $60 altogether so all the way back up to his original price. Well worth it. That was the fullest day the whole cruise and a bargain besides. I think he is pretty popular so if you want to use him (and he is working that day) get of ship early and look for his sign.

 

PS - a second though not in the email...

Be sure to avoid the guys with monkeys in the plaza area of the port. Big time scam. Steer clear of them.

[karena1]

Wow, this sounds fantastic. I look forward to the stop. Thanks for the review.

Bill

 

Dominica was fabulous. We did a private tour with Timothy Pascal and it was wonderful. Went to traflar Falls, botanical gardens, Champagne Reef, he will do whatever you want him to do. Our son/DIL used him twice and now we used him. Will recommend him to anyone.

 

Here is is email. Sometimes he takes a while to email back, but he will get back to you and his time with you is absolutely wonderful. Where tours were going - "time to go", Tim's partner Benjamin was like "I will be waiting for you when you are ready" plus he stopped and showed us stuff you would not get on an "organized tour". Highly recommend him.

 

Timothy Pascal (pastfas@hotmail.com). Tell him Jerry/Karen, Deb/Ron and Chris/Maria recommended him. You will not be sorry. Tell him what you want to see, or tell him you want to spend x amount of time with him and he will give you a price. Awesome.