Photo Review: Celebrity Summit 2/1/14 Southern Caribbean

[HeatherC430]

This was my third trip to Dominica. On our last trip we visited the Emerald Pool on an island tour and my DH & I loved it. We knew whichever tour we chose would include another stop at the Emerald Pool. I decided on River Tubing since we’ve never done that on any tour yet. We found a combo tour offered by AnTours. We paid $57 per person for this tour. I prepaid this tour via paypal (while all the other tours I paid cash the day of the tour). The tour was scheduled to last for 6 hours (9:30-3:30). The tour description given to us is below.

 

As usual, we disembarked the ship approximately 30 minutes before the meeting time since we were told to meet outside of the tourist information office. We didn’t realize that it was literally right outside the pier – across the street. There I found our tour representative right outside – 30 minutes early when we arrived! Bonus points for not only being on time – but EARLY! I love that! He told us to walk around and wait until the meeting time - which we did. There was another couple that joined us (Sam & Nick). They held us there in the van waiting to leave until about 9:45. Apparently they were waiting for another couple (that had already paid) and didn’t show. There were mentions through the day of the other couple meeting up with us – but IMO, if you can’t be there on time when you’re supposed to be, it shouldn’t hold up the rest of the group!

 

Emerald Pool & River Tubing & Mero beach - The tour leaves from the pier at 9.30am and it goes directly to the Emerald Pool where you spend one hour in the rainforest to visit and possibly swim in the Emerald Pool. There are souvenir outlets in the parking lot so we allow some time to browse around the outlets after visiting the Pool. By 12.15pm you are at the river to take the tube ride downriver lasting approximately 50 minutes to one hour. At the landing site, we serve refreshments and then you are taken back to the pier for drop off at the latest 2.30pm. Optional stop at Mero beach at the end of the tour.

Inside the tourist office while we waited

Edited February 11, 2014 by HeatherC430

[HeatherC430]

 

Pineapple growing along side the road during our drive to the Emerald Pool

 

[HeatherC430]

 

 

[HeatherC430]

 

 

 

[HeatherC430]

 

 

 

 

 

[HeatherC430]

 

There was only us & another guy in the pool at this point. Below was everyone else just watching. While the water was very cold initially, you got used to the temperature quickly. It was so freshing. How can you not go into what some call the fountain of youth?

 

 

My DH taking a jump into the fountain of youth...

 

 

 

[HeatherC430]

 

 

 

On the walk back out of the Emerald Pool. There's a sign that says its a 15 minute walk to/from the pool. The next few photos are walking through the rainforest going back to the area where they have the drink/snack bar, restrooms & vendors setup.

 

 

The view from above the Emerald Pool. As you can tell by the photo, it got very crowded as we were leaving. It appears we got there at a good time!

 

 

[HeatherC430]

Back at the snack shop. I thought it was funny my DH was getting the local beer "Kubuli" and the sign for it's right above him.

 

[tutuwahineLV]

Great review. Thanks for sharing your pic's. Love the first rainbow pic from St Croix...cause its a double rainbow! don't know if you noticed that or not.....

 

Glad you had such a great trip, sorry you had to go back home to the never-ending winter.

 

Tutu

[drarill]

Excellent review and pictures! Thanks for sharing your cruise with us!:):)

[HeatherC430]

Weird...I posted a few things yesterday & now they're no longer on the thread. Oh well...I'll repost.

 

Our next stop we were told was to visit - I can't remember if the driver called this guy "Mr. Nice Guy" or "Mr. Good Guy" or something else similar to these? The gist was that this guy was going to have some of the local fruit and other things for us to taste. We were told that we could sample anything that we wanted at no cost to us, but that tips were appreciated. He had fresh pineapple, cocoa beans, and a few other things. Specifically, he had this coconut that was marinated and what tasted like cinnamon and other spices. He gave you a fork full of that in your hand with a cocoa bean and told you to eat it all at once. It was surprisingly really good. We eat had a few samples of that. The guy did a full presentation on each thing that he showed and explained to you. There was also a press that he showed how you extracted from the sugarcane and had those who were there incorporated into the presentation. In addition to our group, there were people from other tours there as well. There was also a snack bar of sorts where you could buy more of the local Kubuli beer – which we did. Here are a few pictures from this stop.

[HeatherC430]

 

 

 

 

[HeatherC430]

What to say about this River Tubing adventure? Well, our group of four show up and there’s others from several other groups embarking upon this tubing adventure with us. I would say there were about 30 or so total starting off. You were given your life jacket – and helmet if you desired. I would say about half the group passed on the helmets (our group of four being among those). I was expecting more of a lazy river float on my tube with some gentle rapids moving you downstream as you floated. About 5 seconds into being on my raft as I was darting towards rocks and several down tree branches, I had wished I didn’t pass on that helmet! Lol. The tour guides told us after the fact that there was rain in the day prior to our trip so that made the rapids more intense than normally.

 

I really would have been “ok” with the degree of rapids throughout – it really did make it more fun. However, the part that I personally found to be more difficult and I wasn’t aware of prior to the excursion, was this…So after about 5 minutes of floating on my tubing downstream I see the rest of the group out of their tubes and standing – bear in mind that they staggered you as you started off so that everyone wasn’t bumping into each other. So as I approach everyone, my DH yells for me to “hop” out of my tube. At this point, I was pretty settled into my tube and it was very difficult to “hop” out as they instructed. My less than graceful “fall” out of the tube left the current take me downstream much further than I should have all the while desperately trying to hang onto my tube alongside me (as the current is pulling me).

 

While my DH was telling me to stand up, all the while I was dragging my knees/feet along the rocks on the bottom. Finally I get my bearings and stand up. At this point, the current is still rushing past you as you’re holding your tube in waist deep water. Once the rest of the group caught up and they told us to get back into our tubes, my next challenge was being in waste deep water and attempting to gracefully get myself back into the tube as instructed. This whole process continued 5-6 more times throughout the course of the river rapids. Now, there were some points where you were only about knee deep in water where it was alittle easier to get in and out of your tube – it was still challenging (at least for me) nonetheless.

 

I will say that they had several guides on the river in tubes with you and also several others standing in the areas where the rapids were bad and/or by large rocks that they wanted to keep you away from. They did their best to push you back on track or keep you in the area they wanted you to be. There were a few times that I (and others) found themselves stuck up on an area of shallow rocks during which they would come by and knock you lose so the current would continue to take you downstream.

 

During the course of this excursion on the river, I got a few more bruises from hitting my legs on the rocks and a few scrapes as well. I wasn’t the only one either. Also, I was glad I worse my water shoes again for this excursion. As the time on the river progressed, about half (I would say) didn’t make it to the end. Some people fell out of their tubes (you’d see tubes coming down the river without people), others at certain points felt as if they didn’t want to endure anymore of the rapids. It seems as though they had a van following us on the road alongside the river for those who had issues or didn’t want to continue. I did make it to the end with the rest of the group.

 

My photos don’t do the rapids justice when it was the worst of it. I had my water camera lodged into the front of my life jacket while on the rapids and could only manage to bust it out for a couple of photos while we were standing outside of our tube. Please excuse any of the water spots on the photos – this was the best that I could do under the circumstances! Unfortunately, I don’t have any photos of the worst of the rapids. Trust me when I tell you, all your focus had to be on maneuvering the rapids and ensuring you didn’t fall off your tube. One person in the group attempting to use their “go-pro” camera (or something like that) and lost it in the first set of rapids (clearly they didn’t keep it inside their life jacket like I did).

 

This was definitely another “adventure” for the books…Again, sorry for the water spots on the photos but I figured posting these (since they’re the only pictures I have of the trip are better than none at all).

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 13, 2014 by HeatherC430

[HeatherC430]

 

 

 

 

[HeatherC430]

Next stop, Mero beach.

 

Our guide quibbled with the other couple about whether or not their tour included a stop at the beach even though it was clearly labeled on their documents like ours. I think he was trying to get out of stopping there, but eventually agreed that he would.

 

We ended up spending almost an hour at the beach – just enough time to enjoy a dip into the ocean and a few beers. The snack shop was there where you could purchase food & drink. Washrooms were also available. The black sand on the beach was something different than what we were used to, but still nice nonetheless. After the beach we were dropped off back at the port. We walked around for a little bit and then went back onboard the Summit.

 

The first picture is inside the snackbar. The rest are of the beach and areas at Mero beach.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 13, 2014 by HeatherC430

[HeatherC430]

 

 

 

 

[HeatherC430]

 

 

 

 

[HeatherC430]

 

 

 

 

[HeatherC430]

Love it! Your excursion sounds like a great time, and since it all turned out okay, you couldn't ask for more Caribbean adventure than that! We got stuck in Jamaica and thank goodness its the ONE excursion we booked through the ship; we were 2 hours late getting back to port due to the tour operators, and had a police escort through Montego Bay during rush hour! :eek: Our group held the Millie departure up by 2.5 hours and we got much applause from the balconies when we finally arrived!

 

Absolutely! The excursion to the tidal pools was literally the highlight of our trip. Luckily, everything turned out ok and we got rescued from the broken down jeep, and made it back to port in plenty of time! I'm not going to lie, there was a point where I had my doubts and was wishing I had taken a ship excursion! :D

[HeatherC430]

Loving all of your pictures and review! We LOVE St. Croix and visit annually. Tan Tan is a total hoot and I'm not surprised that the jeep broke down. They epitomize "Island Time" but take good care of their guests. But that ride is not for the faint of heart. My son and Husband won't go again as they felt they got whiplash from the trip. But the views and the tidal pools in Annaly Bay are worth it.

 

FYI, for others...you can easily find the tidal pools from Carambola resort without a guide. But you will definitely want to wear water shoes and better to go in a group in case someone has a problem. No cell service at Annaly Bay.

 

Thanks again for your help pre-cruise on the St. Croix message boards! I can identify with the "whiplash" feeling. It was indeed a rough ride to the tide pools, but totally worth it!

[HeatherC430]

Great review. Thanks for sharing your pic's. Love the first rainbow pic from St Croix...cause its a double rainbow! don't know if you noticed that or not.....

 

Glad you had such a great trip, sorry you had to go back home to the never-ending winter.

 

Tutu

 

Thanks for bringing the double rainbow to my attention! I didn't realize at the time...or going back through my photos! It was shocking the amount of rainbows we saw on this trip! At LEAST once a day the entire week! :D

[mapleleafvoyage]

Thanks for your great review! It sure looked like a wonderful adventure!

 

I am heading onto the Summit for our 2nd ever cruise in May... to Bermuda. So, I am reading everything Summit right now :D

 

Will you continue with Celebrity? And Royal Caribbean? Or head back to Carnival? Or... are you not "loyal" to any cruise line?

 

We chose Royal (and Celebrity) to go with, we can drive to many of their ports, which is a big plus for us, for now.

 

So happy to have been grabbed the cruise bug...

 

 

.

[HeatherC430]

Once back onboard, we showered and got ready for dinner. But first, we stopped by the Lido pool bar for a drink. In the picture below is a mango daiquiri – my favorite! One thing I noticed that Celebrity did pretty much every time I ordered a frozen/blended drink; they added another shot of rum around or on the top of the drink. Normally on Carnival, you can bank on these frozen beverages containing very little alcohol, however, with this Celebrity technique of drink making, you could taste and feel the alcohol with each drink (which was nice).

 

 

Edited February 13, 2014 by HeatherC430

[maggieq]

I can't wait for more! We are on this ship/itinerary next winter.

(PS--you paid way too much for your taxi in San Juan! That happened to us in 2007...but maybe worth it if you didn't have to stand in that line!) :D

 

Editing to add, we were on the same Breeze cruise last year! Small world!

 

I was just thinking the same. Almost double the price it should have been.

[HeatherC430]

I was just thinking the same. Almost double the price it should have been.

 

Absolutely. I knew that going in. But like I said the "official taxi" line would have taken us AT LEAST an hour if not more if we were to wait. Although the Puerto Rican guy didn't represent that we wouldn't be an official taxi when we agreed to follow him, it worked out fine & we didn't mind paying double to not wait in that line (or go in an unofficial taxi). Keep in mind that we were already later than we should have been (after 4pm) on embarkation day. And while we didn't HAVE to be on the ship until 7pm at the latest - it was already later than I would have liked and didn't want to be any later than we already were. Saving myself at least an hour & the aggrevation of waiting in line was well worth the extra $20 bucks I spent on the ride to the port (IMO).