St Barts port cancelled

[ronrick1943]

20 hours ago, cruiseluv said:

Jackie, we were in St Kitts with Regent on the Explorer on Feb 2018 and took an excursion that did exactly that. Dont know if it was the same place you went to, IMO it was ok, nothing extraordinary.

We like St Barts because we like Gustavia , just to walk around, I dont need an excursion there. If I'm to believe Regent, many prior guests disagree with me. 

Sorry mistake.

[ronrick1943]

We're on that cruise and haven't hear a think from Regent.

[Travelcat2]

My views of St. Barts is a bit different that other posters.  We have been there a few times (guessing 3 or 4) and would be happy to miss it.  The last time we visited there was after the devastation of the island and we took a bus tour of the island.  It was interesting and we felt badly for the residents of that island.

 

However, we really find the place boring (as we do most Caribbean ports).  It is nice to look at the yachts docked there and the island is okay to tour but the shopping left us scratching our heads ...... wondering why we were there.  If we wanted French products, we can get them online (and, sometimes at a better price).

 

St. Kitts, on the other hand, was different than other Caribbean ports.  There have veterinary and medical schools there which we find extremely interesting (a friend of a friend went to vet school school in St. Kitts).  Also, one of my rings lost a small diamond and we looked at several places on different islands to find a replacement with no luck...... until we arrived in St. Kitts.  They replaced the diamond for $100 and we were quite happy.  So, if any posters that will be forced to stop in St. Kitts and need a diamond replaced, this may be the place to go too.

[cruiseluv]

1 hour ago, ronrick1943 said:

We're on that cruise and haven't hear a think from Regent.

 

Ronrick, are you on my cruise 11/4/2019 Navigator?

[ronrick1943]

5 hours ago, cruiseluv said:

 

Ronrick, are you on my cruise 11/4/2019 Navigator?

Oops!😧Really a mistake-no we're on the one in 2020 April, which is why we didn't get a notice (Splendor).

[Brownie54]

Ronrick, we are on Splendor with you beginning April 1, 2020, and we did get a notice from Regent about this change through our TA. I believe we got it on Monday.

[TrulyBlonde]

15 hours ago, hypercafe said:

Just got the trips for Silversea's referbished Silver Shadow and St Bart's is in most of their Caribbean trips so I guess the island has no problem with ships stopping there. 

SeaDream also stops there. I love St Barths and would be upset to miss it. 

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I can totally imagine St. Bart's wanting to discourage cruise ships.  We stopped there a couple of years ago, and I was very unimpressed, although admittedly I did a water excursion, so didn't see much of the island.  It felt very much like a luxury destination for the "rich and famous".  I'm sure it's a wonderful place for a real visit, but I don't see much value there for the day cruiser.

[SWFLAOK]

On 5/15/2019 at 9:05 AM, TrulyBlonde said:

SeaDream also stops there. I love St Barths and would be upset to miss it. 

We stopped at St Barths on SeaDream in March 2018. We had no excursions available to us since the cruise was only half full, and we had a large group that had booked a private excursion for birdwatchinng. But we totally enjoyed our time in St Barths. We had a day and a half since we had another port cancelled due to high swells.  On the first afternoon, our cruise director and activities director took us on a walk through Gustavia up to Fort Karl and the down to Shell Beach. We were all on our own after that. We walked the beach and found many shells, others went into the sea and jumped the waves, and some went to Shellona for drinks and lunch. On our way back to the dock, we stopped in a few shops, then at a bar (where we found our cruise and activities directors), and then at a car rental place to make a reservation for the next day.

The next morning, we picked up our car and drove the entire island. We spent a week of our honeymoon back in 1992 on St. Barths and were interested to see what was still there after the hurricane. Gustavia was nearly completely recovered by March 2018, but other areas were still working on it. There were many hotels, including the one we stayed at, were planning to open within the next few months. Roads and beaches were all accessible and open. The Anse de Flamands area still had a lot of hurricane damage, but we had a wonderful lunch at La Langouste, and there small hotel was in great shape. We saw no evidence of poverty or crime, and saw that jobs were plentiful and everyone was working hard to get back to tourism instead of construction as a way of life. We really enjoyed our day's drive.

I would much rather stop at St Barths than St Kitts. We vacationed  on St Kitts in the mid 90's and stayed at the Golden Lemon. It was a beautiful place, but the owners were trying to sell it and move to Nevis because of the crime. We experienced several young men trying to force their way into the restaurant one evening, and the owners needing help from employees to run them off. In Basseterre, a young man made overt sexual gestures toward me from about 6 feet away, and we were able to get the attention of a policeman standing nearby to run him off. The other end of the island was already overcrowded with tourists looking for cheap all-inclusives. We have no desire to stop at St Kitts again.

Edited May 18, 2019 by SWFLAOK
typo

[DavidTheWonderer]

We visited St Barts just once, before the hurricane.  As Wendy said, she did an excursion. I didn't and just walked around the town.  As they saying goes "there is no there there" unless you want very expensive shopping.  At that time Paul McCartney and many more of that ilk had homes there, but somehow my invitation to visit them got lost in the mail.

[papaflamingo]

We are booked on Navigator Oct. 30, 2020. We booked this cruise for a few reasons, mostly the overnight in Havana.  But we also want to go to St. Barts as we've never been there.  So far there has been no itinerary change.  However with the  political rumblings regarding the U.S. again boycotting Cuba, followed by these cancellations of St. Barts, we may need to re-evaluate.  The cruise also overnights in Bermuda and we've never been to Bermuda, but we may have to look at other options if both Havana and St. Barts gets cancelled.  Hope the decision is made soon. 

[cruiseluv]

 Well, if Regent starts cancelling ports just because a subset of passengers wrote in their comment cards they didnt like the excursions,  I would consider Regent's decision making process in this regard flawed. Obviously, they're not considering the many of us that do like the port, and probably factored it into booking the cruise. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[hypercafe]

2 hours ago, papaflamingo said:

We are booked on Navigator Oct. 30, 2020. We booked this cruise for a few reasons, mostly the overnight in Havana.  But we also want to go to St. Barts as we've never been there.  So far there has been no itinerary change.  However with the  political rumblings regarding the U.S. again boycotting Cuba, followed by these cancellations of St. Barts, we may need to re-evaluate.  The cruise also overnights in Bermuda and we've never been to Bermuda, but we may have to look at other options if both Havana and St. Barts gets cancelled.  Hope the decision is made soon. 

We are on the same trip booked for about the same reason. We have been to all the ports except Havana however a great advantage here is we stop in StGeorge Bermuda. Very few ships call there any more as they are too big to get through the harbor cut. It's far far nicer that the dock yard. St Bart's is a very nice port so we would hate to miss it. This is a long way off so we'll see. I was stationed in Cuba for a year in the Navy and always wanted to go back so not going there is a deal breaker for me.

[Travelcat2]

38 minutes ago, cruiseluv said:

 Well, if Regent starts cancelling ports just because a subset of passengers wrote in their comment cards they didnt like the excursions,  I would consider Regent's decision making process in this regard flawed. Obviously, they're not considering the many of us that do like the port, and probably factored it into booking the cruise. 

 

 

Maria, I don't think that a lot of passengers do not like St. Barts. - I'm just not into it and, as you can see on this thread, I'm a very tiny minority.  Hopefully Regent will assume visiting the island (and I don't see anything wrong with their excursions ....... isn't that the place where there is a sailboat that races with passengers working on the boat?). 

 

In any case, it would be nice if information was shared with passengers so they wouldn't have to speculate.

[cruiseluv]

2 minutes ago, Travelcat2 said:

 

 

In any case, it would be nice if information was shared with passengers so they wouldn't have to speculate.

 

Jackie, the information was shared by Regent in the letter forwarded to us telling us about the cancellation. Regent said it was done at the behest of some past passengers that didnt like the choice of excursions there.

[Travelcat2]

2 minutes ago, cruiseluv said:

 

Jackie, the information was shared by Regent in the letter forwarded to us telling us about the cancellation. Regent said it was done at the behest of some past passengers that didnt like the choice of excursions there.

 

 

Wow - that is definitely surprising!  If excursions alone were the issue, Regent would not stop in Bermuda over and over and over again (we have done all of the excursions and would be happy if we never went to Bermuda again...... it is lovely but once or twice is enough)

 

Not sure what is going on but hope that Regent continues to communicate as it does make a difference (even when we don’t care for the answers).

[cruiseluv]

12 minutes ago, Travelcat2 said:

 

 

Wow - that is definitely surprising!  If excursions alone were the issue, Regent would not stop in Bermuda over and over and over again (we have done all of the excursions and would be happy if we never went to Bermuda again...... it is lovely but once or twice is enough)

 

Not sure what is going on but hope that Regent continues to communicate as it does make a difference (even when we don’t care for the answers).

LOL, agree about Bermuda, Ive lost track how many times Ive been ! My favorite thing there last month was to take ferry from Dockyard to Hamilton , walked around and had lunch overlooking the water. Will probably do the same in November if weather cooperates. 

[Travelcat2]

3 minutes ago, cruiseluv said:

LOL, agree about Bermuda, Ive lost track how many times Ive been ! My favorite thing there last month was to take ferry from Dockyard to Hamilton , walked around and had lunch overlooking the water. Will probably do the same in November if weather cooperates. 

 

We plan to do their same thing in November (unfortunately, a different cruise than yours).  There is a bus tour that stops in Hamilton and we may take part of the tour and depart in Hamilton and take the ferry back.  

[cruiseluv]

2 minutes ago, Travelcat2 said:

 

We plan to do their same thing in November (unfortunately, a different cruise than yours).  There is a bus tour that stops in Hamilton and we may take part of the tour and depart in Hamilton and take the ferry back.  

That's a good option!

[wripro]

44 minutes ago, cruiseluv said:

 

Jackie, the information was shared by Regent in the letter forwarded to us telling us about the cancellation. Regent said it was done at the behest of some past passengers that didnt like the choice of excursions there.

I don't like the whole included excursion policy. Does that mean Regent will now eliminate it?

[cruiseluv]

4 hours ago, wripro said:

I don't like the whole included excursion policy. Does that mean Regent will now eliminate it?

 

Sorry, no such luck!

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Well I wish someone would explain to me what's so great about St. Bart's that some other island couldn't provide.  I'm serious, I'd love to know what I missed there.  I did a deep-water snorkel excursion offshore in a boat, and it was just so-so, but that's all I saw.  It's tough when you're somewhere just for a day and you have to choose--I also snorkeled in Bonaire and that was a wonderful time, but I still didn't see anything of the island, other than a walk around by the pier. 

[cruiseluv]

I started this thread not to elicit opinions of St Barths, or to convince anybody that tis a a better island than St Kitts or any of the others. Its fine for you not to like it. I was more looking for comments if anybody had an experience like this, that a port on an established itinerary gets cancelled because some past passengers say they werent happy with excusrions. I think that's a lame reason

Edited May 18, 2019 by cruiseluv

[SWFLAOK]

For many people, it's the upscale ambience of Gustavia, with many ultra wealthy people shopping, drinking and eating. As a quote on the internet that I found accurate, it was described as "the elegance of France meets Sweden" so it's a different atmosphere than other islands in the Caribbean. There's no British or Spanish influence,  and the French influence isn't there in a rude way as we experienced on another French Caribbean island.

We don't look for upscale shopping, since most of our purchases are T-shirts bought by my husband, but many other cruise guests look for that. Gustavia has interesting shops for those who like to shop, or just browse a bit.  We love good food, and a cocktail or glass of wine with a view. We like historical sites, and there's a small museum in Gustavia, as well as the Fort Karl lookout. We love exploring, and walking on the beach with a dip, but not laying in the sun. We love snorkeling  and swimming in crystal clear water. Looking at the Regent website,  where a few cruises still have St Barths as a port, we would choose this as our included excursion:

Sailing the Leeward Coast

Explore St. Bart's pristine natural beauty from a unique perspective during this scenic catamaran cruise along the leeward coast of the island.

Depart the pier aboard your catamaran for the cruise to the Bay of Colombier. Upon arrival, you can swim in the crystal-clear waters and explore the beach. Your captain and hostess will also inform you about the local marine life.

While anchored, the Captain and attentive crew will be serving refreshments. Following close to an hour at anchor, the boat will then begin the return trip to Gustavia.

 

We did a 4 or 5  hour version of this cruise  from Gustavia when we stayed at Le Sereno Hotel on our honeymoon many years ago (it was El Sereno back then, which didn't sound very French). It was a lunch cruise with only 5 guests onboard. The snorkeling was good, in shallow water. The beach was close enough for an easy swim in,  and a good lunch was provided with a delicious Tiramisu for dessert. 

Other than that Regent excursion, we would only do the rental car. From a cruise ship, the only thing to see are the beaches. Staying on land, the food is a big draw, but other than one good lunch (which should be at La Langouste) one day doesn't give you a chance to try the restaurants.

 

The snorkeling in St Barths was not as good as Bonaire, where we stayed for a week at Harbour Village many years ago. It was the best snorkeling we've ever experienced in the Caribbean. We haven't found a cruise itinerary that appeals to us for Bonaire. With the current situation in Venezuela, we would not feel comfortable  going on a land based vacation on Bonaire because of the large number of vacation home owners from Venezuela that we encountered there.  And there is almost nothing to see on Bonaire other than snorkeling or scuba diving. There's a national park to drive through on the north end, and some salt ponds and related ruins on the south end, but the water is the attraction. The food was definitely not as good as the Regent cruise provides.

[SWFLAOK]

1 hour ago, cruiseluv said:

I started this thread not to elicit opinions of St Barths, or to convince anybody that tis a a better island than St Kitts or any of the others. Its fine for you not to like it. I was more looking for comments if anybody had an experience like this, that a port on an established itinerary gets cancelled because some past passengers say they werent happy with excusrions. I think that's a lame reason

I agree that I would be very disappointed if I was told that a port I expected to visit was cancelled because past passengers weren't happy with their excursion choices. I book my cruises based on the ports they have listed as past excursions, and TA reviews of excursions in those port. I've done my research on the ports, and the excursions available in those ports. Things can change for reasons outside of Regents control, but St Barths has only gotten better since the hurricane a few years ago. If others chose something they don't like, that shouldn't change the itinerary of already booked cruises.