Odyssey Caribbean Itinerary Change

[Philandher]

Just as the FCDO has removed it's advisory note against all but essential travel to Guadeloupe, we have now received notice that Seabourn have replaced Guadeloupe and Martinique on 13th November sailing!! This is a double result meaning UK passport holders can travel without any insurance issues.

[WNcruiser]

10 hours ago, Philandher said:

Just as the FCDO has removed it's advisory note against all but essential travel to Guadeloupe, we have now received notice that Seabourn have replaced Guadeloupe and Martinique on 13th November sailing!! This is a double result meaning UK passport holders can travel without any insurance issues.

What was Guadeloupe replaced with? We are supposed to stop there on Ovation next month. 

[Philandher]

50 minutes ago, WNcruiser said:

What was Guadeloupe replaced with? We are supposed to stop there on Ovation next month. 

Roseau, Dominica

[zentraveler]

We are on the Odyssey two week Caribbean cruise November 27 - December 11 and our Guadaloupe and Martinique ports were also taken out of the itinerary. Does anyone know why the change?

[cruiseej]

@zentraveler Port changes in the Caribbean have been taking place pretty regularly since cruising resumed in July. We rarely find out where the exact breakdown is between the local government and the cruise line.

 

In some cases, countries may insist on passengers meeting their entry guidelines, whether they go ashore independently, in a bubble excursion, or not at all. Guradaloupe and Martinique require entering guests to have a PCR test result taken 72 hours prior to arrival or an antigen test taken 48 hours before arrival; perhaps they want Seabourn to perform those tests onboard before arrival and Seabourn has declined to put everyone through another round of testing. Or perhaps there's another reason; we will likely never know. 

 

On our cruise just over a month ago, Grenada was scrapped, and then later replaced by Bequia, a small island in St. Vincent & the Grenadines. We did a good excursion in Bequia and had some time at the beach, so this change was a win for us.

 

We were also supposed to call on Tortola, but all the the British Virgin Islands were closed to cruise ships until just recently. The substitute here was a "marina day" while we anchored off an island. The "marina day" is actually about two hours where they offer banana boat rides for those who enjoy that activity, and one can do a little sea kayaking; for the rest of us, it was simply a sea day. I'm all for sea days, but since we already had one sea day on our 7-day itinerary, the loss of Tortola was a negative.

 

So we made it to three of our originally-scheduled five ports. One had a good substitute; one was wiped out. 

 

The bottom line is that the rules for travel in the Caribbean (as well as most other parts of the world) are ever-changing. And what you know today may be out-of-date by tomorrow. It's likely to continue to be this way for some time in to the future. So if you're focused on specific ports, and the loss of those ports would significantly diminish the vacation experience you're anticipating, this is probably just not the right time to book a cruise. If you're flexible, and to some extent don't care if the itinerary is changed, then it can be a fantastic time to travel.

 

 

[zentraveler]

On 11/2/2021 at 12:52 PM, cruiseej said:

@zentraveler Port changes in the Caribbean have been taking place pretty regularly since cruising resumed in July. We rarely find out where the exact breakdown is between the local government and the cruise line.

 

In some cases, countries may insist on passengers meeting their entry guidelines, whether they go ashore independently, in a bubble excursion, or not at all. Guradaloupe and Martinique require entering guests to have a PCR test result taken 72 hours prior to arrival or an antigen test taken 48 hours before arrival; perhaps they want Seabourn to perform those tests onboard before arrival and Seabourn has declined to put everyone through another round of testing. Or perhaps there's another reason; we will likely never know. 

 

On our cruise just over a month ago, Grenada was scrapped, and then later replaced by Bequia, a small island in St. Vincent & the Grenadines. We did a good excursion in Bequia and had some time at the beach, so this change was a win for us.

 

We were also supposed to call on Tortola, but all the the British Virgin Islands were closed to cruise ships until just recently. The substitute here was a "marina day" while we anchored off an island. The "marina day" is actually about two hours where they offer banana boat rides for those who enjoy that activity, and one can do a little sea kayaking; for the rest of us, it was simply a sea day. I'm all for sea days, but since we already had one sea day on our 7-day itinerary, the loss of Tortola was a negative.

 

So we made it to three of our originally-scheduled five ports. One had a good substitute; one was wiped out. 

 

The bottom line is that the rules for travel in the Caribbean (as well as most other parts of the world) are ever-changing. And what you know today may be out-of-date by tomorrow. It's likely to continue to be this way for some time in to the future. So if you're focused on specific ports, and the loss of those ports would significantly diminish the vacation experience you're anticipating, this is probably just not the right time to book a cruise. If you're flexible, and to some extent don't care if the itinerary is changed, then it can be a fantastic time to travel.

 

Thanks @cruiseej. Fortunately we didn't have any particular need to go to those islands and are happy with the take what we get attitude. I was, however, hoping that there would be a bus tour or excursion on St. Maarten that would give an overview of the island since we are spending a week there after the cruise. But no excursions at all on St. Maarten, which is a first! Undoubtedly for reasons you outline. 

 

[Hlitner]

When we were on the Odyssey (last month) we had to accept that every port was restricted to bubble excursions.  As has been previously mentioned, this was apparently because SB had made an agreement with Barbados to maintain a "bubble" throughout the cruise.  In a couple of weeks we are taking a 20 day Princess cruise out of Ft Lauderdale that has many Caribbean ports.  Since that line did not enter into and "deal" with Barbados the passengers are free to go ashore on their own (or on private tours) on nearly all the islands.  At this time the only announced exception is Dominica which does still enforce their own requirement for bubble excursions.  The Enchanted Princess will soon call at Barbados for a port day and we are waiting for somebody to post how that will be handled.  Our assumption is that Barbados will impose a bubble restriction....but that has yet to be confirmed.

 

We find it interesting to compare how each cruise line is handling the various ports since there are certainly some major differrences.

 

Hank

[zentraveler]

1 hour ago, Hlitner said:

When we were on the Odyssey (last month) we had to accept that every port was restricted to bubble excursions.  As has been previously mentioned, this was apparently because SB had made an agreement with Barbados to maintain a "bubble" throughout the cruise.  In a couple of weeks we are taking a 20 day Princess cruise out of Ft Lauderdale that has many Caribbean ports.  Since that line did not enter into and "deal" with Barbados the passengers are free to go ashore on their own (or on private tours) on nearly all the islands.  At this time the only announced exception is Dominica which does still enforce their own requirement for bubble excursions.  The Enchanted Princess will soon call at Barbados for a port day and we are waiting for somebody to post how that will be handled.  Our assumption is that Barbados will impose a bubble restriction....but that has yet to be confirmed.

 

We find it interesting to compare how each cruise line is handling the various ports since there are certainly some major differences.

 

Hank

 

That is what I figured. When you were on the Odyssey were the other islands also requiring bubble excursions? We most often opt for wandering around town on our own or arranging something else. Would be a bit disappointing not to be able to do that, but will of course just be glad to be there. 

[Hlitner]

1 hour ago, zentraveler said:

 

That is what I figured. When you were on the Odyssey were the other islands also requiring bubble excursions? We most often opt for wandering around town on our own or arranging something else. Would be a bit disappointing not to be able to do that, but will of course just be glad to be there. 

Unless Seabourn is able to renegotiate their deal with Barbados (which allows them to homeport at the island, you are going to be forced to use bubble tours to go ashore at any island.  That is a negative, but we truly enjoyed our 2 week cruise despite the restriction.  SB fans know that the line will go to extremes to please their customers and this was the case on the Odyssey.  The highlight of the cruise were the two days we ported at St Kitts (they do this each week).  The ship anchored off South Friar's Bay and tendered everyone (including an area for the crew) ashore at the Carambola Beach Club.  This is a pretty nice facility with a decent beach that is terrific for swimming, wading, and water sports.  SB leased the entire facility where we had plenty of chairs, a terrific beach BBQ lunch, and the much desired "Caviar in the Surf" which is a unique SB experience that brings smiles to every face.   SB also managed to make arrangements so everyone could go ashore at Becqui where they had a bubble area at a local beachfront hotel.   On all the other islands you had to book a SB excursion if you wanted to go ashore.

 

I am not sure we missed much by not being able to go ashore on our own.  DW and I know all these islands (except Becqui) very well and what we saw was sad.  The various islands are still mostly closed so as we drove through places like Antigua the towns were nearly deserted with many places closed.  Even at St Maarten where some other cruise lines are allowed to send their folks ashore on their own, many of the shops/restaurants appeared to be closed.  Perhaps this will change this month as these islands enter into what is normally their high season...but that is questionable.

 

By the way, speaking of St Maarten I will do something that is very rare for me and strongly recommend one particular excursion.  It is a tour where each couple (or single) gets their own small powered boat (like a miniature Zodiac).  You go out as a group (with a guide boat) and drive around part of the island and eventually get to stop off Happy Beach for some beach time (you need to get off your boat and into the water to swim ashore).  We loved every minute of this tour and would do it again...even if we did have freedom on the island.    The real challenge of that tour was for those of us who did go ashore to swim back out to the boats and somehow climb back aboard.  Watching a bunch of older SB passengers trying to get on their boats was worth the price of the tour 🙂  If anyone is wondering how they could go to Happy Beach and still maintain the bubble, that particular beach is generally near empty and unknown to most visitors to the island.  When we have rented a condo on St Maarten, DW and I would sometimes go to Happy Beach and you actually had to hike in (through a jungle trail) from another nearby beach.  It is also a beach used by some nudists (we are talking completely nude) but none were there during our tour.

 

Hank 

 

Hank

[cruiseej]

19 hours ago, zentraveler said:

But no excursions at all on St. Maarten, which is a first! Undoubtedly for reasons you outline.

 

Sint Maarten has recently removed their arrival testing requirement, and Barbados last month reduced their arrival testing requirement, so that gives at least a ray of hope that by the end of this month, Barbados might relax and allow passengers to go ashore on other islands independently.  If the ship calls in Sint Maarten and you cannot go ashore on your own, and there are no excursions, then it's as if you aren't really there since you can't get off the ship! We have a similar situation with our cruise in February on a port call to St. Barth's. The hope -- clearly by us, as well as Seabourn in scheduling the port call -- is that they will be able to at least offer excursions when you get there. I think on some of these islands, the tour operators have been shut down with very limited tourism, but that might change this month as the islands enter their normal high season for travel. Please let us know the outcome of your call in Sint Maarten!

 

2 hours ago, Hlitner said:

SB also managed to make arrangements so everyone could go ashore at Becqui where they had a bubble area at a local beachfront hotel. 

 

There were also a couple excursions on Bequia. We did a catamaran trip with snorkeling, which allowed us to see more of the island than just the beach. Not spectacular, but definitely worthwhile.

 

I'm not sure what Seabourn's plans are for Bequia once the hotel re-opens this month; I don't see how they can segregate the beach are for Seabourn guests once the hotel is open. 

 

2 hours ago, Hlitner said:

By the way, speaking of St Maarten I will do something that is very rare for me and strongly recommend one particular excursion.  It is a tour where each couple (or single) gets their own small powered boat (like a miniature Zodiac).  You go out as a group (with a guide boat) and drive around part of the island and eventually get to stop off Happy Beach for some beach time (you need to get off your boat and into the water to swim ashore).  We loved every minute of this tour and would do it again...even if we did have freedom on the island.

 

Hank, do you remember the name of the local company which offered that tour? We're going back to the Odyssey in February (after several of our friends decided it sounded like we had too much fun on our September cruise for them not to book a trip!), and we start in Sint Maarten. I don't know if we'll have time, but if we could book this excursion on our own before we board the ship, it sounds like a lot of fun. 

 

[WNcruiser]

42 minutes ago, cruiseej said:

 

Hank, do you remember the name of the local company which offered that tour? We're going back to the Odyssey in February (after several of our friends decided it sounded like we had too much fun on our September cruise for them not to book a trip!), and we start in Sint Maarten. I don't know if we'll have time, but if we could book this excursion on our own before we board the ship, it sounds like a lot of fun. 

 

Hopefully he doesn’t mind me answering. We also took this tour and really enjoyed it. 
 

https://www.rhinotours.com

[Hlitner]

1 hour ago, cruiseej said:

 

Sint Maarten has recently removed their arrival testing requirement, and Barbados last month reduced their arrival testing requirement, so that gives at least a ray of hope that by the end of this month, Barbados might relax and allow passengers to go ashore on other islands independently.  If the ship calls in Sint Maarten and you cannot go ashore on your own, and there are no excursions, then it's as if you aren't really there since you can't get off the ship! We have a similar situation with our cruise in February on a port call to St. Barth's. The hope -- clearly by us, as well as Seabourn in scheduling the port call -- is that they will be able to at least offer excursions when you get there. I think on some of these islands, the tour operators have been shut down with very limited tourism, but that might change this month as the islands enter their normal high season for travel. Please let us know the outcome of your call in Sint Maarten!

 

 

There were also a couple excursions on Bequia. We did a catamaran trip with snorkeling, which allowed us to see more of the island than just the beach. Not spectacular, but definitely worthwhile.

 

I'm not sure what Seabourn's plans are for Bequia once the hotel re-opens this month; I don't see how they can segregate the beach are for Seabourn guests once the hotel is open. 

 

 

Hank, do you remember the name of the local company which offered that tour? We're going back to the Odyssey in February (after several of our friends decided it sounded like we had too much fun on our September cruise for them not to book a trip!), and we start in Sint Maarten. I don't know if we'll have time, but if we could book this excursion on our own before we board the ship, it sounds like a lot of fun. 

 

I forgot but DW came through in the clutch.  The tour is called "Rhino Safari" and is operated by Rhino Tours   Rhino Safari (rhinotours.com).   I did notice that the tour they show on their web site is only 2 hours long but Seabourn's Excursion was somewhat longer.  I think the difference was that we had more time at Happy Beach.   Their snorkel tour also sounds interesting.  By the way, the tour operator's dock is located behind a restaurant that looked like a good option for anyone looking to grab lunch.   Since their dock is in a pretty busy part of Simpson Bay there are also plenty of other eating options nearby.

 

Hank

P.S.  I must have been posting this around the same time as WNcruiser 🙂

 

[cruiseej]

@Hlitner @WNcruiser Thanks to both of you. That does look like fun.

 

We're staying in a hotel on Great Bay (near the cruise ship dock), but I assume getting taxis to Rhino and back shouldn't be too hard. We might try it in the morning before we board the ship, if the timing works for us.

 

And if they aren't fully booked for cruise ship tours. I just looked found there are SIX ships in Philipsburg the day we depart, including the massive Royal Caribbean Freedom of the Seas (3,634 passengers), Holland America Nieuw Statendam (2,666),  Oceania Sirena (684), Star Legend aka former Seabourn Legend (212), and Star Flyer (170), in addition to the Odyssey.  Ugh.

[zentraveler]

7 hours ago, Hlitner said:

Unless Seabourn is able to renegotiate their deal with Barbados (which allows them to homeport at the island, you are going to be forced to use bubble tours to go ashore at any island.  That is a negative, but we truly enjoyed our 2 week cruise despite the restriction.  SB fans know that the line will go to extremes to please their customers and this was the case on the Odyssey.  The highlight of the cruise were the two days we ported at St Kitts (they do this each week).  The ship anchored off South Friar's Bay and tendered everyone (including an area for the crew) ashore at the Carambola Beach Club.  This is a pretty nice facility with a decent beach that is terrific for swimming, wading, and water sports.  SB leased the entire facility where we had plenty of chairs, a terrific beach BBQ lunch, and the much desired "Caviar in the Surf" which is a unique SB experience that brings smiles to every face.   SB also managed to make arrangements so everyone could go ashore at Becqui where they had a bubble area at a local beachfront hotel.   On all the other islands you had to book a SB excursion if you wanted to go ashore.

 

I am not sure we missed much by not being able to go ashore on our own.  DW and I know all these islands (except Becqui) very well and what we saw was sad.  The various islands are still mostly closed so as we drove through places like Antigua the towns were nearly deserted with many places closed.  Even at St Maarten where some other cruise lines are allowed to send their folks ashore on their own, many of the shops/restaurants appeared to be closed.  Perhaps this will change this month as these islands enter into what is normally their high season...but that is questionable.

 

By the way, speaking of St Maarten I will do something that is very rare for me and strongly recommend one particular excursion.  It is a tour where each couple (or single) gets their own small powered boat (like a miniature Zodiac).  You go out as a group (with a guide boat) and drive around part of the island and eventually get to stop off Happy Beach for some beach time (you need to get off your boat and into the water to swim ashore).  We loved every minute of this tour and would do it again...even if we did have freedom on the island.    The real challenge of that tour was for those of us who did go ashore to swim back out to the boats and somehow climb back aboard.  Watching a bunch of older SB passengers trying to get on their boats was worth the price of the tour 🙂  If anyone is wondering how they could go to Happy Beach and still maintain the bubble, that particular beach is generally near empty and unknown to most visitors to the island.  When we have rented a condo on St Maarten, DW and I would sometimes go to Happy Beach and you actually had to hike in (through a jungle trail) from another nearby beach.  It is also a beach used by some nudists (we are talking completely nude) but none were there during our tour.

 

Hank 

 

Hank

 

Great info - thank you. We are not really beach people (I burn too easily) but the boat trip around the island sounds fun. And sad not to miss much by not walking into town, but at least we get to be there.

[Hlitner]

42 minutes ago, zentraveler said:

 

Great info - thank you. We are not really beach people (I burn too easily) but the boat trip around the island sounds fun. And sad not to miss much by not walking into town, but at least we get to be there.

Even if you are not beach people you should go ashore at Carambola Beach for the party.  Folks like yourselves should think about getting ashore before noon so you can enjoy the Caviar in the Surf "event" and enjoy the BBQ lunch (which is in a large indoor tented structure.

 

Hank

[zentraveler]

54 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

Even if you are not beach people you should go ashore at Carambola Beach for the party.  Folks like yourselves should think about getting ashore before noon so you can enjoy the Caviar in the Surf "event" and enjoy the BBQ lunch (which is in a large indoor tented structure.

 

Hank

 

Oh we definitely won't miss that!! I was happy to read your post indicating that there might be a shelter there?  I love being on the beach for a meal or to wade in the water or hang out a bit, but activities that last hours with nothing but sunshine are hard. Shade trees, umbrellas, buildings ... all fine as some retreat!

[cruiseej]

Plenty of umbrellas on the beach there! And the lunch is in a covered pavilion.

[J18ktleo]

On 11/16/2021 at 4:12 PM, cruiseej said:

@Hlitner @WNcruiser Thanks to both of you. That does look like fun.

 

We're staying in a hotel on Great Bay (near the cruise ship dock), but I assume getting taxis to Rhino and back shouldn't be too hard. We might try it in the morning before we board the ship, if the timing works for us.

 

And if they aren't fully booked for cruise ship tours. I just looked found there are SIX ships in Philipsburg the day we depart, including the massive Royal Caribbean Freedom of the Seas (3,634 passengers), Holland America Nieuw Statendam (2,666),  Oceania Sirena (684), Star Legend aka former Seabourn Legend (212), and Star Flyer (170), in addition to the Odyssey.  Ugh.

Hi, hoping for some answers!

We are on the Star Legend in late Jan out of St. Maarten (it's now around 300 passengers!) and will be flying into the island, staying for two nights then boarding the ship. 

I looked at Rhino tours as we did something like that a couple of years ago on the other side of the island and it was awesome however they didn't respond to my email about booking for 12 persons and thinking it might be safer to just stay at our resort instead of wandering around.

 

Question...we have booked a ship sponsored tour in Bequira and St Georges, Grenada and all the info I read is pertaining to flying in and requiring negative tests. 

Since we're on a ships sponsored tour will the same requirements be in place?

Would not be happy to have to get 2 PCR tests on the ship since it looks like the islands are requiring PCR instead of Antigen tests?

 

Any info is appreciated...

[cruiseej]

@J18ktleo You should check with your cruise line to be certain. On Seabourn, we didn't have to know or do anything about each country's entry requirements just for going ashore on ship bubble excursions. 

[Philandher]

Just as an update, St Kitts & Nevis and Dominica are the only stops where you aren't allowed to go ashore independently.

[rkacruiser]

On 11/16/2021 at 8:54 PM, Hlitner said:

Even if you are not beach people you should go ashore at Carambola Beach for the party. 

 

Does the tender take the guests to a pier?  How does one reach this port?  

[Hlitner]

Just now, rkacruiser said:

 

Does the tender take the guests to a pier?  How does one reach this port?  

Yes, they actually have a very nice private pier.  They use ship tenders which go back and forth all day.

 

Hank

[rkacruiser]

On 11/29/2021 at 4:33 PM, Hlitner said:

Yes, they actually have a very nice private pier.  They use ship tenders which go back and forth all day.

 

Hank

 

Thank you for your reply.  This is good information for me as I do my planning for another cruise.  

[Navis]

Just received note this morning that our March itinerary on the Odyssey has made identical changes … replacing Guadeloupe and Martinique with additional stops in St Lucia and Dominica.

 

This was expected so not surprised and I also appreciate that Seabourn made the effort to find us interesting second ports on different parts of the same islands we visited earlier in the cruise. The falls and hot springs excursion in Roseau looks interesting 😀

[cruiseej]

Yes, our late February cruise lost Martinique, which was replaced by Rodney Bay, St. Lucia. Too bad, as we've never been to Martinique, but have been to St. Lucia a number of times. C'est la vie.