harryfat1 Posted February 3, 2018 Author #876 Share Posted February 3, 2018 So this is why we are here... The same gal in the green uniform giving us the background of the place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryfat1 Posted February 3, 2018 Author #877 Share Posted February 3, 2018 Zooming in Max zoom in on the ships from the middle of the picture Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryfat1 Posted February 3, 2018 Author #878 Share Posted February 3, 2018 After taking enough pictures outside, time to go back inside the building to use the bathroom and a brief visit to see how the uncle in prison is doing today (aka shopping). I look like this at work as well OK, time to follow Curtis (our driver in the burgundy shirt) back to the van and onto the next stop. See another big load of tourists being dropped off coming the opposite way? I think we just beat the crowd as the parking lot looks a lot more crowded than when we first arrived Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryfat1 Posted February 3, 2018 Author #879 Share Posted February 3, 2018 OK, off to another scenic lookout at the other side of the hill. This area is WINDY. Hold onto your hat and whatever else if you don't want it to fly off to the neighboring island See the wind? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryfat1 Posted February 3, 2018 Author #880 Share Posted February 3, 2018 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryfat1 Posted February 3, 2018 Author #881 Share Posted February 3, 2018 Helicopter in the background Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryfat1 Posted February 3, 2018 Author #882 Share Posted February 3, 2018 Curtis says Antigua hosts a sailing competition in April with many sail boats around the world coming here to compete. I can see why from the gusty wind Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryfat1 Posted February 3, 2018 Author #883 Share Posted February 3, 2018 Info on the Guard House Where there are tourists, there will shops/stalls trying to sell something. Time to visit the uncle in prison again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryfat1 Posted February 4, 2018 Author #884 Share Posted February 4, 2018 More pics of Antigua from the hills: You see the spot right in the middle of the picture? This is what it looks like zoomed in You can see people walking Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryfat1 Posted February 4, 2018 Author #885 Share Posted February 4, 2018 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsPhoenix91 Posted February 4, 2018 #886 Share Posted February 4, 2018 Beautiful pictures! Sent from my SM-N910V using Forums mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruisemeister8 Posted February 4, 2018 #887 Share Posted February 4, 2018 This would be a cool view without the power lines Are you good with photoshop, Harry? Power lines magically disappear, and voila! Beautiful vacation pictures! :D But yes, it's added work, and you've clearly got your hands full with this trip report. It's so exciting to be on day 6, when we would otherwise be dreading the blind audition from the fat lady, yet we've got 3 more days to go! You're really talking me into a 9 day at some point. 7 is just too skimpy now. Loving all your beautiful pics from the top of the hills in Antigua. (No need for photoshop there!) Never seen pics or heard much from this port. (Thanks for the compass that told the story of where we are today. ) So far, it sounds like a unique tour that you went on. Way better than that diversionary story that was posted to click on. (Guilty!) That was horrible to be taken to people's houses. Glad that was canceled. Side story: The memorable bad experience reminded me of an excursion I had gone on in St. Maarten. The way it was led wasn't described correctly in the literature, so I let the excursion desk know about it when I got back to the ship. Long story short, they gave me a credit for the tour which was appreciated. But more telling was when I was back at home. It was several weeks later that I was thinking about that tour and decided to look it up on their site. Sure enough, they had changed the description of the tour! I guess I felt a little satisfaction that speaking up about my experience helped future tourists. Plus it was nice to know that Royal takes action on guest comments. It's similar to the now-defunct tour of houses. Maybe Royal doesn't really know how these excursions operate until the guests tell them! Your trip report, Harry, tells them in a much more detailed fashion. Bravo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryfat1 Posted February 4, 2018 Author #888 Share Posted February 4, 2018 Beautiful pictures! Sent from my SM-N910V using Forums mobile app Hi, Thanks for the compliment. The scenery at the top of the hills in Antigua is very pretty and I was happy the cameras were able to capture the look. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryfat1 Posted February 4, 2018 Author #889 Share Posted February 4, 2018 Are you good with photoshop, Harry? Power lines magically disappear, and voila! Beautiful vacation pictures! :D But yes, it's added work, and you've clearly got your hands full with this trip report. It's so exciting to be on day 6, when we would otherwise be dreading the blind audition from the fat lady, yet we've got 3 more days to go! You're really talking me into a 9 day at some point. 7 is just too skimpy now. Loving all your beautiful pics from the top of the hills in Antigua. (No need for photoshop there!) Never seen pics or heard much from this port. (Thanks for the compass that told the story of where we are today. ) So far, it sounds like a unique tour that you went on. Way better than that diversionary story that was posted to click on. (Guilty!) That was horrible to be taken to people's houses. Glad that was canceled. Side story: The memorable bad experience reminded me of an excursion I had gone on in St. Maarten. The way it was led wasn't described correctly in the literature, so I let the excursion desk know about it when I got back to the ship. Long story short, they gave me a credit for the tour which was appreciated. But more telling was when I was back at home. It was several weeks later that I was thinking about that tour and decided to look it up on their site. Sure enough, they had changed the description of the tour! I guess I felt a little satisfaction that speaking up about my experience helped future tourists. Plus it was nice to know that Royal takes action on guest comments. It's similar to the now-defunct tour of houses. Maybe Royal doesn't really know how these excursions operate until the guests tell them! Your trip report, Harry, tells them in a much more detailed fashion. Bravo. Hey, Somebody is still out there! It was getting pretty lonely here for couple days in talking to myself. Appreciate the feedback. I was starting to get the feeling that people are not interested in Antigua harbor but maybe there will be some interest at the beach later today as the beach is a very pretty blue color. Good point on that the island is not on most RCI ship’s itinerary, minus the southern Caribbean routes. Our sailing is somewhat similar to the current Freedom 8 day sailing, plus the additional stop at Antigua, except we were going in reverse order. After the previous cruise of only 6 days on the Freedom, I didn’t want to do another short cruise. It just happened this one worked out in terms of timing and cost. You can do a 9 day from FLL going down to the ABC islands. I have photo editing software but I don’t really use it. First of all, given the volume of pictures I have, even if I just spend 3 minutes per picture trying to tinker with it would take me days/weeks to do it. Second, my main focus here is to do a trip report so people know what to expect when they sign up for the same tour later on. Don’t want them to come back and say, hey, you didn’t tell me about the power poles. As I’m not trying to win a photo contest but to report what’s out there, pretty or not. I really think Royal should start displaying the cruisers feedback on the tours as people are just booking some of these tours blindly based on the brief description on the web site. At least on Trip Advisor when I book the independent tours, I see some reviews on those. On day 10, we booked a Royal based tour of Miami after we got off the ship. I would like to leave some comments on that for future RCI cruisers but there's no way for me to do so. The thing about doing a tour after the cruise is that you can't go back to the ship's tour desk and give them feedback as you are already kicked off the ship... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryfat1 Posted February 4, 2018 Author #890 Share Posted February 4, 2018 OK, so after enough time at the hills, we are taken to the next stop - the Nelson dockyard. This is one of the top name places to visit on the island. Curtis dropped us off at the front entrance and then the local guide took over to walk us to couple spots to explain the brief history of the place before we are allowed to freely roam the place. I want to say we were given 45 to 60 minutes here in total? Follow the guide in green. Wonder if all the government related tour guides wear green at both facilities as part of the uniform? Taxi guys One way in and one way out from the Dockyard. Can't get lost. Perfect for prison/slave camp as this was used for that purpose in the old days. A bit dark but the local guide was explaining the history of the place Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryfat1 Posted February 4, 2018 Author #891 Share Posted February 4, 2018 Lots of tourists walking around the area Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryfat1 Posted February 4, 2018 Author #892 Share Posted February 4, 2018 The guide explaining how the flip the ships over on its sides in the old days to clean the barnacles from the underside of the ships in the old days. They use ropes to help turn the ships on its side to do the work but the workers were not motivated as they were more or less prisoners of the place. Tie the ropes here Many fancy ships/yachts in the harbor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VPIcruiser Posted February 4, 2018 #893 Share Posted February 4, 2018 I am enjoying your photos and commentary. We have been to Antigua a few times on southern Caribbean cruises. It's a beautiful island. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryfat1 Posted February 4, 2018 Author #894 Share Posted February 4, 2018 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bunnyette Posted February 4, 2018 #895 Share Posted February 4, 2018 Just so you don't feel lonely, I'm enjoying your review, I want to take my niece & nephew on a cruise...celebrity might be too boring but RCI would work, they are pre-teens 12 & 14. Sent from my iPad using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryfat1 Posted February 5, 2018 Author #896 Share Posted February 5, 2018 I am enjoying your photos and commentary. We have been to Antigua a few times on southern Caribbean cruises. It's a beautiful island. Hi, Thanks for the kind words. I agree that Antigua is very pretty island. I have one more beach section to share. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryfat1 Posted February 5, 2018 Author #897 Share Posted February 5, 2018 Just so you don't feel lonely, I'm enjoying your review, I want to take my niece & nephew on a cruise...celebrity might be too boring but RCI would work, they are pre-teens 12 & 14. Sent from my iPad using Forums Hi, Thanks for the compliment/company in keeping me from being lonely. Sometimes when you write one of these long reviews, it's like sending a message in a bottle. Takes awhile to get a response on the other end. I agree that your family should find more activities to do for the young teens at RCI compared to Celebrity. What you can do is look at a sample daily schedule on the Celebrity boards and compare it to a sample copy here for RCI and see what would they do each sea day. Then you have a basis to make your decision. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryfat1 Posted February 5, 2018 Author #898 Share Posted February 5, 2018 Some more pictures of the Nelson Dockyard and then we are done with this stop Old school red phone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryfat1 Posted February 5, 2018 Author #899 Share Posted February 5, 2018 Of course we had to visit the uncle in prison to see how he's doing (gift shop stop) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoopslover Posted February 5, 2018 #900 Share Posted February 5, 2018 Still reading every night. Great pictures and I am enjoying all of up. Keep up the great review. Donna Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now