Negative things to

[1160451]

Just to make it clear i was joking in my last post about moaning about moaners hence the smiley face.

[Lovemychoos]

How many of these threads are there! :eek:

 

My thoughts exactly Mike…………… at the present time there appear to be 3, all started by the same poster.

[daiB]

My thoughts exactly Mike…………… at the present time there appear to be 3, all started by the same poster.

 

Is that a moan? :)

[Lovemychoos]

Is that a moan? :)

 

Hardly - there is a huge difference between a 'moan' and an 'observation of fact' :-)

Edited December 14, 2013 by Lovemychoos

[Spikey M]

Not all moaning is bad. For example - if someone were to start 3 threads about the exact same thing, moaning would be more than fair.

Edited December 14, 2013 by Spikey M

[daiB]

hardly - there is a huge difference between a 'moan' and an 'observation of fact' :-)

 

:) :) :)

[bIGBUCK69]

I didn't mean to post3 times ,don't know how that happened I'm a novice at this and cruising ,my sincere apologies ha ha

[1160451]

Hi big buck , I once posted four times on the same subject, I kept pressing the button.......anyway see you on the Azura 24 jan, so are we, say hello when you see us dancing. We are always dancing there are four of us, a bit noisy but what the hell.

Take it easy.......

[lodge172]

We have just returned from the Caribbean on Azura and had a fantastic time. Most of the ports were wonderful. Do some research on where you want to go, the local taxis are much better value than the excursions. I am sure you will love it.

[bIGBUCK69]

Thanks for sharing Lodge 173 we are thinking about using the local transport,but am a bit scared if we were late and missed the ship. So we may just book excursions this time and to be on the safe side .Any advice gratefully received.

[Travellingtaff]

Thanks for sharing Lodge 173 we are thinking about using the local transport,but am a bit scared if we were late and missed the ship. So we may just book excursions this time and to be on the safe side .Any advice gratefully received.

 

We are doing our first P&O cruise to the Caribbean on Ventura in January.

This is our 3rd cruise to the Caribbean, also been on cruises to the Far East, Alaska and South America and have never booked a ship's tour yet.

We have always been back in plenty of time, but you do get to hear of people being left behind and there are examples on You-tube, but these is very rare.

As far as the Caribbean ports are concerned there are taxis and mini-buses waiting outside the port, which you can share with other cruise passengers. Quite often, if a particular mini-bus needs 2/3 more people to fill it you can negotiate a cheaper rate.

Also, as a general rule of thumb, the further you walk away from the ship, the better the deal you will get. We found this particularly true in St Vincent and

Antigua.

[bIGBUCK69]

Thanks for your info would you be able t recommend any trips.We love the beaches but would like to see some of the other aspects of the carribean.

[Travellingtaff]

Thanks for your info would you be able t recommend any trips.We love the beaches but would like to see some of the other aspects of the carribean.

 

Depends what you like doing really. We get bored sitting on the beach for hours on end so we tend to have a good look around wherever we find ourselves.

 

Not sure which of the two Azura routes you are doing, but Tortola, St Maarten and St Lucia are common to both routes so I'll concentrate on those. This will be our first time to St Kitts, Bonaire and Curacao, so no experience as yet.

 

In Tortola it’s easy to walk around the town, we visited the Governor’s House; not much to see so we took an open bus/truck type of thing, which did an island tour, including a stop at Brewer’s Bay for swimming/eating. Then we cut across the island with beautiful views of the ship in the port below. Lots of these vehicles to-ing and fro-ing, from the port area, they leave as soon as they are reasonably full. This year we intend taking the ferry to Virgin Gorda on our own.

 

At St Maarten we caught a service bus to Marigot, which is the capital of the French side. (Hadn’t planned it, just saw the bus and jumped on!) The bus stops on demand so you don’t need to know about bus stops. Marigot is a nice place to visit. It has a small harbour, marina and plenty of shops and places to eat. If you just want to swim there’s a beach in Philpsburg, on the Dutch side, where the ship docks.

 

On our first time in St Lucia we took a tour with one of the mini buses waiting outside the port building. Drove down the coast to the Pitons , then inland to the Soufriere Volcano. This is probably the “signature tour” for first time visitors.

Last year we took a local shared taxi to Pigeon Island, which we may well do again this year as we liked it so much. http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g147342-d149211-Reviews-Pigeon_Island_National_Park-St_Lucia.html

 

Hope the above is of some interest, we have also done tours on Antigua, St Vincent, Grenada and Barbados, if you are interested.

[sagaris]

Thanks for your info would you be able t recommend any trips.We love the beaches but would like to see some of the other aspects of the carribean.

 

If you are looking for a good tour on St. Lucia, I can recommend Cosol Tours. They really make sure you have a brilliant time and show you all the sights and include unlimited drinks and two stops for food. I think it cost about $50 US dollars each and was worth every penny.

 

If you are calling at Dominica we have booked a tour with Bumpiing tours, they have got very good reveiws on Trip advisor and on Cruise Critic.

 

On our first Caribbean cruise we were, like you, a bit nervous about doing our own thing, but all the islands are geared up for cruise passengers and we have never had a problem regarding getting back in time.

 

Molly

[lodge172]

As everyone says the local taxis are well prepared for cruise passengers don't worry they will get you back in time. If it's your first time l would stick with the beaches it is what the Caribbean is all about l think. Go on a taxi tour at Dominica and St Vincent and also have time to relax on the ship.

We went to a lovely small hotel in St. Kitts and used the pool and sun beds $10 each 20min walk it was beautiful would go back anytime.

[CCFC]

Thanks for sharing Lodge 173 we are thinking about using the local transport,but am a bit scared if we were late and missed the ship. So we may just book excursions this time and to be on the safe side .Any advice gratefully received.

 

Its surprising how many people don't make it back to the ship. On our last cruise we were due to leave Genoa at 6pm and the captain waited until 6:45 then set sail, 5 minutes later a Range Rover came down the pier with its lights flashing and we waved 3 people goodbye. Hardly a stop goes by when the tannoy doesn't come on to ask people from cabin XYZ to contact passenger services to see if they got around showing their cruise card. We tend to opt for the ships excursions for this reason but a lot of people do their own thing without incident.

 

Plenty of videos of people missing the boat (as the saying goes) on YouTube too.

[tartanexile81]

Its surprising how many people don't make it back to the ship. On our last cruise we were due to leave Genoa at 6pm and the captain waited until 6:45 then set sail, 5 minutes later a Range Rover came down the pier with its lights flashing and we waved 3 people goodbye. Hardly a stop goes by when the tannoy doesn't come on to ask people from cabin XYZ to contact passenger services to see if they got around showing their cruise card. We tend to opt for the ships excursions for this reason but a lot of people do their own thing without incident.

 

Plenty of videos of people missing the boat (as the saying goes) on YouTube too.

 

There are regular calls out just before you sail for Mrs X from Cabin XXX but I often wonder if they're late coming back or if it's due to some blip on the computer. There's only been once on all our cruises, when on Oceana, that four ladies really were late in Jamaica and it was clear from the captain's announcements that they weren't onboard. He waited for them (45 minutes late) although he sounded a bit annoyed in the end - and rightly so. Apparently they ALL forgot to change their watches. Believe that is you like. :D. The same captain kept us fully informed, in an appropriate manner during the Costa Concordia disaster and also was fantastic at keeping us informed on two further occasions when the ship was delayed leaving port because of emergencies to passengers. Another positive about P&O. Full marks to Captain Vago.

 

We really don't like excursions so we almost always do our own thing in the ports. We always aim to get back to the ship at least an hour before all aboard time, always take the port agent's phone number in case we need any advice and always have a Plan B of how to get back to the ship. We use this website to research before we go and have some fantastic days visiting places at our own speed and meeting local people.

[hammers]

Just want to say we are going on our very first cruise in Jan on Azura.Joined this site for some info and some advice,can't believe how many negative comments are posted on here about P&o.so have decided to stop reading as its starting to annoy. If you an afford a Caribean cruise then in my opinion you've got nothing to moan about .Be grateful for what you've got lots of people would give anything for these kind of holidays,you moaners should be ashamed of yourselves. Merry Christmas

 

I'm sure you will have a great time. I got back from the Aura on Sunday, my wife and I had a wonderful cruise.