Victory family cruise review June 12, 2011

[tigger77732]

Well I have thought this through and through debating if I should do a review. I have read so many great reviews and was not sure if I could be as creative. I may not be, but I will give it a shot since I will be laid up for a few weeks. I fractured my tailbone and pelvis while hiking in beautiful St. Kitts, but no worries, at least it was near the end of the vacation!

 

So my family and I flew out Friday, June 10 on Jetblue from Tampa. The flight was great. the flight attendant was entertaining to the kids (he did magic tricks) and we arrived in wonderful Puerto Rico on time.

 

The airport was pretty easy to navigate (except that our flight attendant did tell us the wrong belt for luggage) Once we got our luggage, we easily got onto the Alamo shuttle and picked up our SUV. Tip: if you are renting a vehicle, bring your GPS. It was so much easier having a GPS rather than following just signs (in Spanish) We rented a vehicle because we headed out to Rio Grande for 2 days. We stayed at Rio Mar Beach resort and it was beautiful. We won it on Priceline for $100 a night. Great deal!

 

The beach and pool area of the resort

 

'

My kids LOVED finding these all over the resort!

 

After unpacking, we decided to hit the grocery store for a styrofoam cooler, ice and snacks/drinks. The food and drink at the resort is extremely expensive. My hubby and I got our first and last mojitos there for $13 a piece (in small cups no less) Afterwards, we hit the beach and pool until evening. The pool area is really large with several pools (one for adults only) We obviously didn't get to try this one as we had 3 kids in tow! It had an area for water volleyball and a cool waterslide with rushing water! The kids had a blast. We did try the beach, the sand was very soft, but the waves are rather moderate here as this is the Atlantic side. As you can see below, my little one, Joe, was debating to brave the waves or not!

 

 

Everything was beautiful, clean and manicured here at this resort and I must say, the staff was phoenomenal, so very friendly. I would definitely recommend this place. Oh, and as I said, I got it on priceline and didn't realize at the time priceline rooms are for double occupancy (not for 5). After winning my bid, I called the resort and asked for 2 queens and they would not change the reservation as it was a third party reservation. Well, when we arrived, I had my husband get the room keys and told him he may need to get loud if they won't assist with the 2 queens. But all was well, this staff was amazing and accomodated us with no issues.

 

This was one of many rainbows that delighted us in Puerto Rico. It finished off our perfect start to a great vacation.

 

Next up... details on a CC recommended restaurant

[tigger77732]

So after cleaning up from the pool, we decided to go to dinner at a CC recommended restaurant, very close to the resort.

 

We went to Antojitos and would come back for breakfast as well. They were very reasonably priced and had authentic Puerto Rican cuisine. I enjoyed broiled snapper in a garlic sauce with rice and beans. Yummy! My husband had crab stew which he thoroughly enjoyed and my teenage son, Jason, enjoyed their special- Fried whole red snapper with plantains, also with rice and beans. One thing that disappointed me though, I asked for unsweet iced tea and was given snapple. Oh well, the litttle things...

 

We didn't stay long as my little guy was getting over strep and started getting feverish. But I must say, there was a nice couple there who offered medicine for my boy (I already sent my hubby to the store for some-great dad!) I really appreciated the kindness of strangers!

 

My babies...all three

 

My son's dinner, including fish eyes

And a happy boy...he even ate the crunchy eyes!

 

 

 

We retired for the evening as the next day we were off to El Yunque and Luquillo Beach...

[tigger77732]

I woke up early this morning (the sun comes up much too early). So while my family slept, I stepped out onto our wonderful balcony Tip: if you stay here, ask for a corner balcony, it allows a wonderful calm breeze. The view was amazing, I could see El yunque and all the lush greenery. I felt like I was in such a tranquil place.

My views from my balcony

My second rainbow and if you look closely (which I didn't notice until I got home) there is a double rainbow.

Once my family awoke, we went to another CC recommended restaurant. This little place called Isamar Bakery. It's a tiny place with cheap breakfast and the BEST puerto rican sweet bread around. We bought a loaf for our snacking in the rainforest. I wish we bought more becasue it was amazing!

Now off to El yunque with our trusty GPS>>>:D

[VickiD59]

Keep it coming, you're doing great so far! Gotta love a rainbow.. or two :)

[tigger77732]

After one wrong turn (not sure how that happened, cuz we have a GPS) we made it to El Yunque. I liked the fact that you basicallly drive on one road through the rainforest with many pulloffs to view the land, waterfalls or walk trails. We first came across La Coca Falls. Everyone seemed to be viewing it, but no one was in it or on it. My husband, the adventurer, decided to climb it with my older son. Once they climbed it, everyone else became adventurous and followed suit. My daughter, 7, and I also decided to climb it. It was pretty cool.

Afterwards, we headed to the Yokahu Tower. There is a little gift shop here (of course) and you can climb the tower (I believe 85 steps) for a wonderful view of the rainforest. It was breathtaking. Bring some quarters for the the pay per view binoculars.

Next we drove to the La Mina Falls trailhead. Be sure to pack lots of water, fruit and snacks. This is where we fueled up with fruit and bread. Tip: a little warning-it is quite a hike especially taking little ones along. I am in fairly good shape (well, not anymore after the fall), but it was a moderate hike. As we came back, it was a lot of up hill walking and I was pooped (it is a cement trail, so thats good) But at the end of the trail, there is a reward! The beautiful La Mina falls. It is also breathtaking and exhilerating. If you can brave the cold water, you can take a dip in the pool and make one of those movie moments by going under the falls!

After the long walk back to our vehicle, we decided we were ready to go to the beach. So we headed to Luquillo Beach. Here is where I screwed up, see I left my book at home that had all my tips. Tip: DON"T DO THIS! So, we found the beach, but I wasn't sure of the best part (apparently there are less desirable portions of the beach). I knew it was East, but what we couldn't locate was the paid parking. So we drove up and down the road that runs the length of the beach near the condos. It was busy and mostly filled with locals. What a way to spend a Saturday! But it was beautiful! We found a spot to parallel park on the road and unloaded. The waves weren't too bad, so the kids could enjoy it! There was some good snorkeling as well. My daughter of course made some friends and what I loved about this cruise is that she really connected with children of so many nationalities and cultures. She learned to communicate with Spanish speaking kids and enjoyed a friend with a British accent. It's always nice to see your children learning while on a vacation!

After a while we decided to look for the Kiosks. We had to leave the beach area and drive a little west. Of course as we drove west, we found the park and paid parking. It is cleaner and a little nicer here. Oh well! Tip: when on route 3 look for the signs that say Luquillo and Kiosks. So we went to the kiosks. Again, since I forgot my tip book, I couldn't remember the recommended kiosk. There are a ton of them! I also recommend sticking to the sidewalk as there were some wreckless people. We saw one guy going 50+ on his motorcycle down the strip where families would be walking. Anyway, we decided to find a kiosk and come back to you fellow CC'ers and give you a recommendation!

We chose Kiosk #45-Tropicala! OOOOHHHH, was it awesome food. And the bartender, co-owner, Giovanni, was so personable and nice! You must try his house sangria. As I watched him make this, he must have put 5-6 different liquors in this drink. It was Yummy! My son and I had these fried pitas stuffed with octopus and conch. I can't remember what the name was of this particular meal. And Giovanni made me an awesome mojito for half the price of the resorts mojito (and it was larger) I thouroughly enjoyed this Kiosk and definitely recommend it. After dinner, we walked a bit, but were pretty tired from the entire day, so we turned in early to get prepared for boarding Victory... more to come

(for some reason I can't load pics today, I keep getting errors, so I'll keep trying)

[Prairie_Gal]

I am really enjoying your review! We are thinking of heading to El Yunque post-cruise in January. Thanks for the tips.

[librarymom]

I'll be on the Victory in a month, so I'm looking forward to hearing more from you. However, I broke my pelvis years ago and I know how awful that is, so I'm impressed with your positive attitude. Stay well.

[tigger77732]

Yeah, I broke my pelvis 9 years ago and was in a nursing home for over two weeks until I could go home on a walker. All I remember from the first day (because my husband told me) was the scream that filled the hospital floor when they made me stand. This isn't nearly as bad as that was, but still painful enough! I must stay positive for my kids and my sanity!

Thanks for the encouragement!

[kclvt]

Enjoying your review - can't wait to read he rest. I don' think I have seen a bad review about Victory.....

[tigger77732]

My husband and Coral at La Coca Falls

 

Coral and Mommy climbing the La Coca Falls

 

Now you can get a good idea of how big this waterfall is

 

Yokahu Tower- 85 stairs up

 

La Mina Falls- approx 30-40 minutes to walk there

Beautiful Luquillo Beach

 

Sorry if these pics are bigger, I can no longer upload to CC as I get error messages. I am basically copying these from photobucket

[tigger77732]

The kids with their "special" Pina Coladas

Kiosk #45

Giovanni runs this kiosk with his brother, great guy!

Ok so moving on to June 12, 2011-BOARDING DAY!!!!!

[tigger77732]

So we woke up Sunday morning pretty leisurely. After packing and tidying up, we headed to breakfast. As I said earlier, we went to Antojitos a second time, today for breakfast. I really enjoy this restaurant and its grounds. In the back (where you park) there are some trees, gardens, and lots of flowers. It's pretty peaceful. And I also enjoyed the open outdoor seating. They keep it very comfortable with fans and both dinner and breakfast was very pleasant weather wise.

We had omelets, bacon and this awesome puerto rican sausage (try it). My little guy had pancakes and of course, loved them. Keep in mind, I did notice at all the restaurants, service is slow, not a bad slow, but just a leisurely slow, and heck, I am on vacation, so I didn't mind one bit!

After breakfast we packed the SUV and headed back to the airport. (Rio Grande is about 40 minutes from the airport) We made it to the airport and returned the rental just before noon. It was very effortless. And it was also very easy to hail a taxi anywhere. Everyone is very helpful at getting you to where you need to go and quickly. It cost $20 from the airport to the port plus $1 per bag. Once we got to the port, things were pretty smooth and easy as well. But just another warning: The porters at the pier will not accept less than $2 per bag. I heard of another CC'er who gave $1 per bag but had to be forceful about it. I didn't want to put up a fight so we paid the $10, but I still felt you shouldn't be FORCED to give a certain amount.

Well once we got inside, it was easy and quick to check in and get our sail and sign cards and here is where I thought: We just had 2 wonderful days in Puerto Rico and our vacation is JUST starting! Yippee!

Of course, things went quickly because we were boarding around 1pm and it was still pretty early. So anyone who has done Carnival knows exactly where we headed to: LIDO DECK! Lunch, lunch, lunch! Free, free free! (which sounds great to a family of 5)

My family had the buffet (Italian), but I had the Yankze Wok and it was yummy! I was sad because this would be the only day I had the Wok. It was available daily from 11-3 or 12-3 (I can't remember) but with so many ports, we were normally not back on ship until after 3pm.

Another tip: I ALWAYS forget this, so learn from my mistakes! Bring your swim suit in your carry on. My kids ALWAYS want to jump into the pool when we get on (and I wouldn't mind because we can't go to our rooms until 2:30pm) But I always forget this simple thing

My beautiful little girl-Coral

After we ate and were able to drop our carry on in our rooms at 2:30pm. Yes, with a family of five, we needed to get two rooms. It was nice though, My husband, daughter and I had a balcony and my boys had an interior room right across from us. I surprised the kids with chocolate dipped strawberries and candies. They were happy to see that!

We got off the ship and decided to go to explore a little of San Juan.

Once at the entrance of the pier, cross the street and go up one street. They have signs for the trolley stop. There are two free trolleys-one is a green bus, the other is the open air trolly. Both are free, but the green bus ends at 5:30. The open air trolley ends at, I believe, 7pm.

We took the open air trolley to the closest fort-San Cristobal. There is a small entrance fee to the port. It was $3 per person over 12.

This fort had such amazing views of San Juan.

These were drawings done on the walls of a prison.

Looking down from the fort

 

More pics coming up....

[tigger77732]

 

 

After the fort, it was getting near 5:30 so we decided to head back to the ship for dinner. Well, those plans were interrupted by a pretty big downpour and no trolley. We waited and waited and the rain got worse. Finally, we just decided to just catch a cab. There was another couple who were getting soaked as well that just came from a wedding. They asked to share a cab and of course we accepted. Turns out I shared a cab with the Caribbean sales manager for Bacardi. He gave us his card and told us to call him. I would've called him for a special tour when we returned the following Sunday, but guess what? Bacardi rum factory is closed on Sunday. Oh well...

 

So we got back to the ship, rain soaked with sore feet (I wore dressy wedges at the fort-BIG MISTAKE). We cleaned up and headed to dinner. Tonight was open seating at either dining room. We were sent to the Pacific dining room. Dinner was nice, I had the ribs that everyone says to try. They were wonderful and of course I started with two tiger shrimps. By the end of the cruise, my husband and teen son were in a competition to see who could eat more shrimp. One night my son ordered 10 servings of tiger shrimp and took home the crown! I think my son can officially, out-eat my husband!

 

After dinner, we walked the ship a little and killed time before 9pm muster. I believe, my 4 year old fell asleep and we, unfortunately, had to wake him for the drill. It was nice though, that they excused people with kids before everyone else. My husband, trying to be all proper, actually tried to make us stay, which angered me, as we had two tired kids, but he got told to leave (I chuckled and told him to take advantage of these moments! Sometimes its beneficial to have kids-HeHeHe!) We didn't stay out too late after putting the kidsto bed because we docked at St Thomas at 7am and wanted to be off promptly to go to St John.

 

So next up...St Thomas/St John

[cespo]

thanks for the wonderful review...I can not wait to till Sept till we get to go on the Victory..

[tigger77732]

We, I mean I, awoke early this morning...the sun rises much earlier, which of course wakes only me! We ordered breakfast in cabin this morning, so we could eat, pack and get off the ship ASAP!

 

It went pretty flawlessly and I had all 3 kids and my husband off the ship by @ 7:30am.

 

Now, we have been to St Thomas twice previously. If you want a recommendation of a tour, I would HIGHLY recommend Sunny Liston. We took his tour both times we were there and just ADORE him. He only charged $20 per person in 05 and 07. His rate is $35 per person now, but that is still an amazing bargain. He will take you sightseeing, shopping and to a beach of choice. We love going to Sapphire beach. They have yummy bushwackers there! Oh and he gets everyone singing and laughing. If you love having a fun time...choose Sunny.

 

But since we've seen St Thomas twice, we chose to see St John today. Awesome choice! As many have said on here, you need to be careful of your time. It was pretty easy to get there and the costs that fellow CC'ers posted were completely accurate.

 

The taxi to Red Hook Ferry is $10 per person. We got a taxi @ 7:30am and got to the Ferry by 7:50am. Normally it would take 30-35 minutes, but, due to us getting there so early, there was almost no traffic to the ferry. Once at the ferry dock, you purchase your tickets. It is $4 per person each way. It is smart to just get your return tickets in the morning so there is no need to rush in the afternoon.

 

The ferry ride is nice and takes about 20 minutes to get to ST John.

 

A little island we passed-see the wrecked boat to the left?

If you didn't-here it is (I love my camera!)

The beautiful island of St. John

 

So after the 20 minute ferry ride-we arrived to Paradise. Oh, this place is gorgeous and worth the $210 dollars we spent to get my family of 5 here.

 

Once you get here, you will then need a taxi to get to the beaches. The price of the taxi depends on which beach you go to. A lot of people recommend Trunk Bay. It has a snorkel trail (which many say is overrated) and it costs $4 per person to enter the Beach. I took the other recommendation of Cinnamon Bay and I am soooooo glad I did. It was unbelievable. The taxi to Cinnamon Bay is $7 per person (and the same back to the ferry) But Cinnamon Bay is free and has changing rooms and a concession stand. It also has some water sports to the left of the beach as well. We were the FIRST ones there this morning and probably arrived around 9am. We quickly found a spot and a neat tree to hang our belongings on. Oh, the pictures I will post do not even do this place justice. YOU must go to this beach. Heaven on Earth!

 

 

 

More to come...

[tigger77732]

We used those branches to hang our stuff on

That rock is where you swim towards for snorkeling-the snorkeling was pretty good

 

The water is so crystal clear here-Heaven on Earth

 

My four year old is a budding photographer...I just love how he captured 3 of us in one photo-all in different acts

 

I enjoyed this one-You will not often see my entire family all in one place! This vacation was very nourishing for this family.

 

Once we got settled in with the kids, my hubby and I took a snorkel trip.The snorkeling wasn't Amazing, but it was very good. We saw quite a few different fish and some vibrant coral. It is sad though how a lot of coral is dying off...please enjoy, but do not touch

 

My show off hubby wanting his 100th snorkel photo taken!

 

More snorkel photos coming...

[tigger77732]

Be careful snorkeling on this itinerary-there are these sea urchins EVERYWHERE!

 

 

This is a look back to the beach from that rock I showed earlier. I guess it was a bit of a swim.

 

After hanging out at the beach until 12:30, we decided to go near the dock to eat lunch (we did bring bananas, cereal and water from the ship for snacks) I read someone ordered room service to bring sandwiches for lunch. If you do this, pack it well. We befriended another family on this cruise and they tried taking sandwiches off the ship and were made to throw it away when getting off the ship.

 

It was easy to get a taxi back to the ferry dock as there was 1-2 taxis waiting in the parking lot. She took us back to the dock and on the way we made some stops for KODAK moments

 

 

I believe this was Caneel Bay

 

Once we got back to the ferry dock, there are some restaurants right there at the dock or there are some others up one street. On the street corner there is an info desk and a great young lady from California who helped us. She had a book with all the restaurant menus to help us decide on where to eat. We chose the Beach Bar-which was pretty pricey for lunch, but delicious. It also faced a little beach so the kids enjoyed playing on the beach while we waited for food.

 

 

I just love all the colors of the Caribbean...

[SweetpeaOne]

Very nice review. Wonderful pictures. Thanks for sharing.

[tigger77732]

My little monkey

This is what is in front of where we sat. There is also seating around the bar and other edge of the porch. It is all outside seating

And me of course with a wonderful Bushwacker! So good, I had two!

After lunch we made the 2pm ferry back. Once back we got the taxi back to the port area. We were back to the port area by 3ish. I am sure you could stay until the 3pm ferry, but I agree with others that recommended the 2pm ferry- taking the 3pm ferry doesn't give you much leeway if there was a flat tire or a lot of traffic (which there is in the afternoon)

So my teenager took the kids back to the cabins to shower and get ice cream. My husband and I shopped a bit. My shopping has dwindled over the years (only so many souvenirs you can collect) but what I always look for are Caribbean spices and sauces. I don't believe I saw any today. Well I did see something, which again, I will recommend (they just didn't have the sauce I was looking for) The spice brand is Sunny Caribbee. You will find some of these sauces, spices and teas in several ports of call. They are yummy. I actually have ordered more from their website over the years. I believed I encountered the store in Antigua in 05

After our wondering around port, we went back and cleaned up and took a little nap before Anytime dining. That nap does everyone good.

Next up...my opinion of some ship things and Anytime dining

[tigger77732]

Thanks sweetpeaone!

[tigger77732]

Here she is!

So, we chose anytime dining for this trip. Normally we do late dining because we don't want to be rushed from port to dinner, but with late dining we deal with grumpy, tired kids...so we thought we'd try out the anytime dining. Well, it is very convenient, but definitely has some drawbacks.

1. The servers are not as personable. Not that they were bad, but it is just not the same feeling you get from having the same server every night.

2. I also missed being put with other couples or families. I thought I would enjoy eating with just my family, but I realized I really enjoy meeting and socializing with other people. With anytime dining, you are normally with only your family and there are not large tables of 10-12. Although, one night, when I was ill (more about that later) my family did eat with another family by requesting it to the host. So apparently they did accomodate the large request (you just need to meet othr couples or families on your own)

3. The service did not seem to be very organized. There were several nights that the server would forget to ask us about drinks (tea, milk, etc) and several nights where my husband asked for coffee with dessert and it never came

Well about the food...we always enjoy the food. Is it 5 star? No, but there are so many choices to be had, you are bound to find something you enjoy. And do not be afraid to order several appetizers or several entrees. I do it often to just taste different things.

Some of my favorites- fried mozzerella, pumpkin soup, mushroom cream soup, prime rib, ribs, mac and cheese(ask for it from the kids menu-the BEST mac and cheese ever), veal parm, tiger shrimp, crab cakes, and of course LOBSTER! I believe we each had three on Elegant night.

My biggest complaint of food in the MDR is it is NEVER piping hot, but I can live with that!

The only other thing that I was not happy with on this particular cruise was that they provided only a floor cot for my daughter. Every other cruise- the third or fourth person used the couch that converted to a bed and/or the pull down bunk (from the wall). I am not sure if the cot was normal on the Victory or if perhaps they put us into an incorrect room (2 person room) and had to improvise. The reason I did not like it was that the cot took up any remaining floor space. We basically couldnt use the couch during the cruise because there was a cot on the floor in front of it. First, you would have to step on the bed to get to the couch and then your feet would be resting on it. Not very smart. And basically, we had a 12 inch strip to walk from the bathroom to the balcony. Needless to say, the floor space was tight.

But I love, love, love the balcony! And we always bring a bungee to use as a clothesline on the balcony to dry our bathing suits without worrying that they will be blown away. Our particular door on this cruise seemed to be stuck(which was a good thing) and actually stayed open without a bungee. This was nice because, a couple nights we easily kept the door open to hear the ocean and feel a nice breeze.

On sea day, we enjoyed hanging out on LIDO. It was not difficult to find a chair. But I doid have to argue with some guy because he took my towel and I wasn;t going to pay $22 for a towel I did not have. After several minutes of him assuring me he wasn't lying and several minutes of me telling him we had been sitting at this same chair all morning, his daughter approched him with HIS towel. Apparently he was on the wrong deck level. I must say though (which my husband was impressed) he did apologize to me once he knew he was incorrect. That was a breath of fresh air.

My kids did build a bear on deck. It was kinda neat because they have a cart and you pick the stuffed animal and outfits and then they just give you a box with stuffing and you put your bear together at your leisure.

Creating her golden lab

Her finished product!

He decided to do his in the evening

Joe's little monkey!

Dinner tonight was Elegant night. It seems people are getting less and less fancy, but thats ok, I don't mind. Tonight my family got dressed up and did some photos. Our photos actually came out so well, we turned them into Christmas cards. The photo department had a good amount of options for cards and they were pretty inexpensive. I believe it cost $40 for the 8x10 and 30 Christmas cards.

Here is a picture of my husband and I

The background was next to the arcade, possibly the O2 club, I can't remember (for some reason, I didn't take a lot of ship pictures this time around)

The entertainment on the ship was pretty good as well. We enjoyed the shows and the magic performer. I also loved playing bingo! I almost won (1 away) and got beat out by a 9 year old! He won 500 bucks! I bet he was a happy camper!

[tigger77732]

The next port of call was Barbados. There were quite a few things recommended to do here. I heard the caves are pretty neat, but this day, I decided on a beach and a less expensive day.

After a lot of research, I decided on Paynes Bay Beach. From here, you can swim out to where all the catamarans go to take people to swim with Turtles.

It started out sketchy. I was planning on taking the city bus to the beach for a cost of .75 per person, but in order to find the bus, you walk through the crowd of taxi vendors. They said the bus can be slow and its mostly locals. I wonder if he is accurate with his description of the bus, but we decided to take the taxi instead. It was $7 per person each way. We got into a large van with another family(we eventually hung out often) and waited, and waited, and waited. We were getting irritated and almost decided to get out. We must have waited almost a half an hour. Finally the taxi driver found one last couple and we were off. He did apologize and said since only one ship was in port, he had to make money. I see his point, but I don't think it is good to make a van full of people with kids wait a half an hour with virtually no air conditioning. Anyway, we dealt with it and we were on our way! The taxi driver was very nice and basically talked and pointed out a lot of things. So we got a mini tour for our money! Always love the bonuses. He even pointed out where Rihanna grew up and her child hood home. (bonus!)

Once we arrived at Payne's, the taxi driver put us into the hands of JC. We rented an umbrella and two chairs ($15 seems to be the going rate) There is a changing room (if thats what you want to call it) It's really a small room constructed with PVC pipe and a curtain and a tarp. JC kept an eye on us and reminded us when it was time to go. We chose that time. There is one little shack for food called the Gazebo. Drinks were reasonable. I think my rum punch was $5 and bottles of soda were $2. For lunch we ordered Barbados's famous flying fish sandwhich ($7 a piece) It was out of this world-so yummy! You must try flying fish while on Barbados.

Beautiful Paynes's Bay beach

 

 

We also met a local named Eddie who wanted to make us a bottle of Aloe straight from the leaf for my son's sunburn. Initially, we wanted $20 and we were like, no way (I have solarcaine in my luggage) Eventually we got him down to $9 and it was pretty neat how he opened the leaf and scraped everything out and into a rum bottle. It was pretty soothing on the burn and my daughters rash (eczema)

Eddie

There were jet skis on the beach and some vendors, but no one was pushy here. My son did convince me to let him do a jet ski and considering where they started at $75 for half an hour I did get him down pretty good(well I think) to $45. He also let my husband and I take a spin with the little kids. WE HAD A BLAST!

My little ones loved it too!

Oh and another thing we really enjoyed here in Barbados was snorkeling and looking for sea glass. We probably found 3-4 pounds of it. Green and amber are the most popular and we found mainly those colors, but we also found some deep blue pieces, jade colored, clear and other shades of blue. My husband mentioned later on during the cruise how much he really enjoyed snorkeling for the glass, it was like a sea hunt!

Finally it was getting close to leaving time and I had not yet looked for turtles. My husband graciously stayed with the kids while my older son and I swam out to the area we last saw some boats (I think there was still a glass bottom tour out at the "turtle spot" At first we didn't see anything and I was beginning to get disappointed...but then...

[Brentonsmom]

Great job on the review--I am really enjoying it. I am considering this cruise for next summer. I see that you flew out of Tampa. I am originally from Brandon and live in north Fl now. The only thing stopping me from booking is the air to San Juan. It is way too expensive to fly out of our city, most people drive to Jacksonville, Tampa, even Atlanta to get better prices on flights. I would be more than willing to drive the 5 hours to Tampa. My parents still live in Brandon so it would work out well. It is too soon to see flights for next June so if you don't mind my asking, can you tell me what your airfare was per person? How soon did you book your air? I am afraid to book this cruise and find out later that the airfare is too much for us. I haven't flown in over 10 years so it's a whole new ball game out there now when it comes to flights, fees and such. I have no clue to costs anymore.:eek:

 

Thank you

Tina

[tigger77732]

Its funny that you voice this concern, because when I was so excited to book this cruise last year, I really didn't think it through before I booked early saver. We may have reconsidered this cruise if I added in the airfare.

But, none the less, we booked our airfare in January of this year, so 5-6 months out. We got $310 per person, which I think was a decent price. Jetblue, which we flew, just announced direct flights to San Juan from Tampa as a big promotion or something. I would definitely fly out of Tampa and check Jet blue rates. The other thing I did was used Kayak. The prices did flucuate quite a bit from $300-$400. Once it went back near 300, I booked, I figured that would be the cheapest rate.

All in all, I am glad I did this itinerary at least once. Would I fly to another destination again? probably not. Especially since Florida has so many ports of call, but I do not regret my choice one bit!

[Funerin]

Great review! Do you remember how much build a bear was. I am doing this cruise in October I'm soooo excited. It's my first cruise.