Recently off the May 22-29 Breakaway Sailing ~ My thoughts and a few tips

[LisaLisa87]

2 hours ago, HxFx said:

Hello, I was on this cruise as well. It was my first NCL cruise. I thought the specialty restaurants were great; I ate at Ocean Blue, Le Bistro, and Cagney’s. The talent in the shows was excellent; I really enjoyed Burn the Floor and Six but have to admit the Fleetwood Mac tribute show was my favorite. I also really appreciated that you didn’t have to constantly sign receipts if you had the drink (plus) package. The slides were a lot of fun too (still enjoy those in my 50s!).

 

Now the negative; I agree the Garden Café was easy for finding seating but I did not enjoy the food there. Maybe it’s similar to other buffets but I don’t normally eat at them. I felt we had no choice for many lunchtime meals. Carnival definitely has the lunch thing right (I could eat Guy’s Burgers or Blue Cantina for every lunch meal). I could get over that though. My real complaint was the embarkation/debarkation at ports. OP was right about getting on the ship initially; it was quick and efficient. Of course it set me up for false hope! DR was not too bad but as OP mentioned, St. Thomas and GSC were disasters. I’m hoping this is because they were trying out their new facial recognition technology that usually took about 5 tries (for me) to register and not the norm for NCL.

 

For the first hour in St. Thomas there was only one gangway open and the line wrapped up and down the length of the ship (it seems the other gangway opened for a little while in the middle of the day – when there is little traffic). The tendering at GSC was awful getting back. They left us in the sweltering heat waiting to get off the tender and back onto the ship. They would only let 10 people at a time get onto the ship to do the facial recognition. Is there a reason they can’t park the ship in the opposite direction so if there is a wait on the tender you aren’t directly in the afternoon sun?

 

I will say there were others who had it worse as when we got to our room, from our balcony we could see tender boats waiting off the side of the ship for about half an hour before they could even start getting back onto the ship. I’m curious about one thing. When we were waiting for our tender to fill up at GSC, about 5 folks got onto an empty tender and headed back to the boat right away. This had to be some medical issue or not routine right? They went through the Haven entrance but I find it hard to believe they would waste the gas/large boat just to get a few Haven folks back.

 

Getting off the ship when we returned to home port as also took a very, very long time. We waited until we were called (self assist) and there were two lines, also going along the length of the ship. We did realize at one point one line was much faster than the other (the one getting off aft) and one of the crew members let us change to that line. Can’t imagine how long it would have taken if we stay in the line going forward. They should have had a way to opt out of the facial recognition when things got as backed up as they did.

 

I also agree with OP about the chair availability. We are not picky about where we sit and it took us quite a while to find an empty chair anywhere. I’ve only experienced chogging in preferred locations on other ships. Overall we had a good time but if the port embarkation/debarkation was NCL normal, I think I will not sail with them again.

 

Thanks for chiming in, @HxFx! We agree on a lot of points. Getting on and off the ship was definitely a pain point, and I'm not sure whether that's NCL normal or not. This is only our second cruise on NCL, and our first in three years. We didn't realize how lucky we were that our tendering experience returning from GSC was so easy. I would have had a tough time if we'd had to wait an extended period of time on the tender as I struggle with motion sickness.

 

We also did self-assist disembarkation, and we must have been just a bit behind you in line. We came down the aft stairs and were directed to the line heading forward. We could see the other line, but there was no way to join it near the back of the ship. A bunch of people just in front of us were routed to the other line -- I think that was between the casino and O'Sheehan's? They cut off that path right when we got there, but at that point we didn't have far to go. I think it was another 10 minutes or so until we got to the front of the line. Even though we had to wait awhile for the line to start moving at first, and then it moved slowly at times, I thought we had a decent disembarkation. We left our room at 7:35 and we were getting in our car in the parking garage an hour later. So not great, but not terrible.

[HxFx]

2 minutes ago, LisaLisa87 said:

A bunch of people just in front of us were routed to the other line -- I think that was between the casino and O'Sheehan's? They cut off that path right when we got there, but at that point we didn't have far to go.

That was probably us! I think they only let about 4 or 5 people after us change lines. I was not stressed about that debarkation as we had a 2PM flight. I'm hoping all the issues were related to the new facial recognition technology and not the norm.

[Brooklyn1119]

On 5/31/2022 at 10:51 AM, acct1975 said:

So happy to see that Splash Academy is open. We're cruising the Breakaway Jun 19th and was curious if it would be open for my son. If you used it, I'd love to hear your thoughts on how it is post COVID.

 

Thanks!

We were on the Breakaway on the cruise before this one, May 14-22 which was the first time open since the pandemic. It was open port days either 7p-10p or 8p-11p. We didn't realize it was open until 2 or 3 days into the cruise, after that we used it for our 5yr old for about 1.5hr every evening and she loved it! kept them busy and she didnt want to leave. Hard to tell how busy it was because you cant see them, they take the kids  upstairs but it sounded busy 

[Brooklyn1119]

23 hours ago, LisaLisa87 said:

It's too late to edit my summary post, but I have one more item to add to my list of negatives:

 

-No Bailey's on the ship, so no BBCs! 😭

I was on the sailing before this one, May 14-22 and they had baileys, I bought it at the bar just outside the garden cafe where they served the fresh squeezed juice and added it to my coffee. For a premium price, it isnt included in the drink package so it cost me $1.95 every morning. BUT baileys wasnt available for purchase in the duty free on the ship OR the Miami airport duty free  (as Canadians heading back to Canada, we really wanted to stock up at the discounted price) so there seems to be a baileys shortage somewhere. 

[LisaLisa87]

2 minutes ago, Brooklyn1119 said:

I was on the sailing before this one, May 14-22 and they had baileys, I bought it at the bar just outside the garden cafe where they served the fresh squeezed juice and added it to my coffee. For a premium price, it isnt included in the drink package so it cost me $1.95 every morning. BUT baileys wasnt available for purchase in the duty free on the ship OR the Miami airport duty free  (as Canadians heading back to Canada, we really wanted to stock up at the discounted price) so there seems to be a baileys shortage somewhere. 

 

A Bailey's shortage? The horror!! 😉

[LisaLisa87]

Day 3: Dominican Republic

 

We were really excited to dock at our first port on Tuesday morning. We had received several emails from NCL over about a 2-month period with adjustments to both our times in port and the port itself. Although itinerary changes are often for the worse, these changes were positive (at least IMO). We were originally supposed to dock at Taino Bay from 7am-4pm, but in the end we docked at Amber Cove from 8am-5pm. We arrived on time, and this was one port where disembarkation was not a big problem. We were off the ship by 8:30 and headed to the meeting point with our independent excursion company.

 

 

We like to do something kind of adventurous in at least one port on every cruise, and it looked like the DR was a good place for that. I had done some research and ended up booking a combo excursion with Country World Adventures (https://countryworldadventures.com/). They picked us up just outside the port gates and drove us to their park, which was about 15 minutes away (it would have been about 45 minutes from Taino Bay). There were 9 or 10 other people from the ship in the large van with us. Once we got there, we were joined by a handful of people who were staying on the island and sorted into groups based on the activities we had booked. We started with ATVs. After a brief orientation, we were given helmets and set off in a single-file line with a guide at the front and another at the back. We rode for about an hour, over dirt and gravel paths, through creek beds (some wet and some dry), up and down a few fairly steep inclines, and even through town for a few minutes! This was the first time on an ATV for all three of us, and we had a blast!

 

 

 

Once we had parked the ATVs, we went back to the open air building that served as home base and prepared for our second activity. DD is an accomplished horseback rider and DH likes to think he is, so I had booked them a private horseback ride. The cost was $25/person more than what the group ride would have cost, which I thought was quite reasonable. They had their orientation, got their gear, and headed out with their guide. The park has a pretty nice pool which happened to be completely deserted at the time, so I spent the next hour or so there. DD and DH said the guide was pretty conservative at first while he sized up their riding ability, but once he saw that they knew what they were doing they took off! They had an amazing time and I was equally happy by the pool -- win win!

 

 

 

 

 

After DD and DH got back from their ride and changed clothes, it was time for lunch. Lunch and water were included in the price, but DH and I paid extra for a couple of beers. They also served us complimentary sour orange juice (from trees on the property) while we were eating, and it was amazing. Lunch was freshly prepared and very good. When we were finished, we all got back in the van and headed back to the ship. I think it was around 2pm. Since a lot of people were still off the ship, we decided it would be a good time to hit the pool deck. We were actually able to find lounge chairs on deck 15 pretty easily AND got to spend some time in the pool with just a handful of other people.

 

We had a 5:15pm reservation at Teppanyaki, so we left the pool deck a little after 4pm to get cleaned up. Dinner was great. Our table mates were fun and our chef was funny and engaging. So at this point we were 3 for 3 with specialty dining... positive experiences all around. Burn the Floor was in the Breakaway Theater again, so we ended up spending some time playing games at O'Sheehan's with DD, and then DH and I hit Shaker's again before collapsing into bed. All in all, a fantastic day!

 

[HxFx]

36 minutes ago, LisaLisa87 said:

We arrived on time, and this was one port where disembarkation was not a big problem. We were off the ship by 8:30 and headed to the meeting point with our independent excursion company.

I agree, probably why St. Thomas was so surprising. I think they were just scanning the ship cards that morning - no facial recognition. We also ended up doing an independent excursion (Waterfalls with Iguana Mama - great time). We had booked something with the ship but when they changed the port our excursion got cancelled and we couldn't get it back. We had a great time and it was nice to have lunch in port.

Edited June 1, 2022 by HxFx

[LisaLisa87]

[LisaLisa87]

47 minutes ago, HxFx said:

I agree, probably why St. Thomas was so surprising. I think they were just scanning the ship cards that morning - no facial recognition. We also ended up doing an independent excursion (Waterfalls with Iguana Mama - great time). We had booked something with the ship but when they changed the port our excursion got cancelled and we couldn't get it back. We had a great time and it was nice to have lunch in port.

 

I'd love to hear more about your excursion with Iguana Mama if you'd care to share. I reached out to them as well, but they were fully booked. They and Country World seem to be the top choices in that part of the DR.

[wil e coyote]

3 hours ago, pfanny37 said:

We are sailing the Breakaway for our second time in a week and a half.

We are on that sailing too! 

Based on some other reviews, both the climbing wall and the mini golf are gone. 😞 Not that we have kids with us on the cruise, but we might have liked to use them!

[HxFx]

31 minutes ago, LisaLisa87 said:

 

I'd love to hear more about your excursion with Iguana Mama if you'd care to share. I reached out to them as well, but they were fully booked. They and Country World seem to be the top choices in that part of the DR.

No problem! The main thing I was interested in doing in DR were the waterfalls so was disappointed when our excursion was cancelled and no longer available. I searched TripAdvisor for recommendations and Iguana Mama had great reviews. Our original booking included zip lines but the excursion available was only the waterfalls. I have to say, I’m glad we ended up with just the waterfalls as that enabled us to do more of those and we have done zip lining many times (to include on GSC on Saturday).

 

Like you we had to walk outside the port gates to catch our van but there were lots of folks from different outfits to help direct (they all seemed to be helping each other). The van was very comfortable and they offered us water right away (and often). The drive was about 15-20 minutes. It turns out that some were scheduled to do the zip lines and after separating met up with us down the way. Iguana Mama was very clear on the instructions of where to go and when. Getting fit for our equipment (helmet/vest) was easy.

 

There were lots of groups there that created a few waits but the guide was entertaining and the rest from the climb was welcome for many. Surprisingly, the tree canopy provided ample cooling. The longest wait was at the first high jump but it was so much fun watching others jump in (or back out!) that the time went by fast. On that note, all of the “scarier” jumps/slides have options to take a ladder down. We, of course, never used those! The water was very cool, and refreshing. I definitely recommend wearing proper closed toe shoes or hardy water shoes. Some folks just had those flimsy water shoes (i.e. for wearing inside fins) and regretted it.

 

When we finished the walk back to the main area there was a lunch buffet and lots of seating under cover. There were plenty of tables and no long wait for the buffet. Iguana Mama also provided rum drinks (with many available mixers – including diet). There was also a pay bar where you could get beers, etc. The trip back was just as easy (and plenty of water if you wanted). I would definitely recommend them.

[vacation44]

On 5/30/2022 at 8:21 PM, LisaLisa87 said:

Hello! We returned yesterday from the May 22-29 Breakaway sailing, and I thought I’d share my impressions while they’re fresh in my mind. This cruise was a long time coming. It started as an early April 2020 sailing on the Epic over DD’s spring break, when she was 16 and a junior in high school. Not that the past couple of years have gone quickly, but I still find it hard to believe she’ll turn 19 next week! We originally pushed the cruise out a full year, thinking that would be plenty of time. We all know how that turned out! Several more cancellations and reschedules later, we decided a few months ago that it was time. We were a little apprehensive about getting on a ship again, but we figured NCL had had our money for long enough!

 

I’ll provide a quick pre-cruise rundown here and then share my thoughts about the cruise itself in another post.

 

PRE-CRUISE & EMBARKATION DAY

• DH and I would be sailing with DD, as originally planned. If possible, I wanted the cost of this cruise to be right around what we paid for the original cruise, so I booked a balcony room and hoped to be upgraded during the bidding process.
• I bid on 5 categories: the regular (non-spa) club balcony suite and 4 Haven categories. I bid at the low end of Fair for all categories and did not get an upgrade. In retrospect, I wish that I had coughed up the extra $300 for a club balcony suite to begin with. I did try to upgrade when prices dropped, but sadly the cost of the club balcony was about $20 lower than we had paid for our balcony room. Denied!
• We used eMed for our Covid tests. I found the process a little confusing at first, but we got through it without too much difficulty and I added printouts of our negative results to the rest of our cruise documents.
• We live in St. Augustine, FL and drove down the morning of the cruise. I had selected 12:00-12:30pm as our boarding time, and we pulled into the parking garage at the terminal at about 12:10pm. We were onboard by 1:00pm. (More about the embarkation process later.)
• I had hoped to get Vibe passes for the three of us, but they were gone by the time we boarded. A note for upcoming Breakaway cruisers: The passes were at Headliners, but make sure you don’t get in the big line on the left. That is for dining reservations only. I found that out the hard way after waiting in line for about 25 minutes, after two different NCL employees told me that was the correct line. The line you want is to the right, next to the table for beverage packages.
• While we’re talking about Headliners… Don’t get in line there to make dinner reservations unless it’s really short. You can make reservations more quickly using the touch screens outside of the elevator lobbies on every deck, at the podium for any open restaurant, or by calling the number provided in the Freestyle Daily (x050). I called and was able to adjust the times of two of our specialty restaurant reservations after a few minutes on hold.
• You can make reservations for the shows using the touch screens. Once I figured out how the card scanner worked, I was able book both Burn the Floor and Six in just a few minutes.
• I had booked the dining package add-on for DH and me, which gave us two additional dinners for $70.80/person (including tax).
• We ate lunch at Garden Cafe and were pleasantly surprised with the lack of crowding. We were able to get our food easily and had no trouble finding a table. That would prove to be the case pretty much every time we went.
• During lunch, we heard the announcement that the rooms were ready, so we headed toward our room on deck 11. We had that moment when we walked in and looked around -- Where are we going to put all our stuff and how on Earth are we not going to get on each other's last nerve in this confined space?? It passed though, like it always does!

 

I’ll post again tomorrow with my thoughts about the cruise, including our activities in port. Rather than share a detailed recap of each day, I’ll probably focus on the aspects of the cruise we enjoyed the most and least. Until then...

Thank you for taking the time to report back---and with pictures too!

[LisaLisa87]

32 minutes ago, HxFx said:

No problem! The main thing I was interested in doing in DR were the waterfalls so was disappointed when our excursion was cancelled and no longer available. I searched TripAdvisor for recommendations and Iguana Mama had great reviews. Our original booking included zip lines but the excursion available was only the waterfalls. I have to say, I’m glad we ended up with just the waterfalls as that enabled us to do more of those and we have done zip lining many times (to include on GSC on Saturday).

 

Like you we had to walk outside the port gates to catch our van but there were lots of folks from different outfits to help direct (they all seemed to be helping each other). The van was very comfortable and they offered us water right away (and often). The drive was about 15-20 minutes. It turns out that some were scheduled to do the zip lines and after separating met up with us down the way. Iguana Mama was very clear on the instructions of where to go and when. Getting fit for our equipment (helmet/vest) was easy.

 

There were lots of groups there that created a few waits but the guide was entertaining and the rest from the climb was welcome for many. Surprisingly, the tree canopy provided ample cooling. The longest wait was at the first high jump but it was so much fun watching others jump in (or back out!) that the time went by fast. On that note, all of the “scarier” jumps/slides have options to take a ladder down. We, of course, never used those! The water was very cool, and refreshing. I definitely recommend wearing proper closed toe shoes or hardy water shoes. Some folks just had those flimsy water shoes (i.e. for wearing inside fins) and regretted it.

 

When we finished the walk back to the main area there was a lunch buffet and lots of seating under cover. There were plenty of tables and no long wait for the buffet. Iguana Mama also provided rum drinks (with many available mixers – including diet). There was also a pay bar where you could get beers, etc. The trip back was just as easy (and plenty of water if you wanted). I would definitely recommend them.

 

Thanks for the detailed report! I'll definitely keep Iguana Mama in mind if we go back to the DR one day. Based on what you've shared, it sounds like we're similar travelers!

 

Edited June 1, 2022 by LisaLisa87

[argyll1881]

They're gone from the Getaway

[argyll1881]

Just now, argyll1881 said:

They're gone from the Getaway

sorry, wrong thread

[RRSeeker]

I was on the same sailing and I agree that getting on and off the boat was a definite problem.  I enjoyed the cruise but found that getting seats in the MDR was an issue with one closed and getting drinks was also a problem at times. There were many good things such as Six and Burning the Floor and some bad with the over crowded pool deck and the early morning short stop in Tortola.

 

While Covid was never really mentioned on the cruise 3 of the 4 from my group tested positive upon return.  I am only one that has not had a positive test so far.   We knew the risk going in so we are not complaining about it but I think there were a lot of people who came home with a Covid souvenir.

 

[LisaLisa87]

9 minutes ago, RRSeeker said:

I was on the same sailing and I agree that getting on and off the boat was a definite problem.  I enjoyed the cruise but found that getting seats in the MDR was an issue with one closed and getting drinks was also a problem at times. There were many good things such as Six and Burning the Floor and some bad with the over crowded pool deck and the early morning short stop in Tortola.

 

While Covid was never really mentioned on the cruise 3 of the 4 from my group tested positive upon return.  I am only one that has not had a positive test so far.   We knew the risk going in so we are not complaining about it but I think there were a lot of people who came home with a Covid souvenir.

 

 

Spoiler alert: DH tested positive for Covid two days after we got home. DD and I are negative so far. 🤞

[RRSeeker]

Just now, LisaLisa87 said:

 

Spoiler alert: DH tested positive for Covid two days after we got home. DD and I are negative so far. 🤞

I hope it stays that way and DH is doing well.  Everyone in my group have cold like symptoms so it is mild so far.  I had Covid in October so I am hoping I have a little extra immunity and will stay negative!

[LisaLisa87]

Day 4: St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands

 

We've been to St. Thomas at least 5 times on cruises and have taken land vacations there twice in the last 18 months, so we decided we'd take it kind of easy that day. We did consider at one point taking the ferry over to St. John, but then the itinerary was changed and we abandoned that idea. The original itinerary called for us to be in port from 11am-7pm, but about 5 weeks out we got the dreaded "itinerary change" email indicating our port times had been changed to 1-9pm.

 

It's good that we didn't have time-sensitive plans, because it took forever to get off the ship. I think we got to port pretty much on time, but it took a long time to dock and then for the ship to be cleared. We watched from our balcony, and there was a long delay before anyone disembarked, and then passengers began to trickle off the ship in 2s and 3s. We tried to get in line at one point, but after walking for about 10 minutes and not reaching the end, we gave up and went back to the room for an hour. The next time we tried, there was still a line but it was much shorter. I think it was around 2:30pm when we finally got off the ship. [Incidentally, we heard that the reason the aft gangway wasn't used for the first part of the day is because that end of the ship was not correctly secured to the dock and had to be re-secured. I have no idea if that's true or is even plausible!]

 

DD really wanted to spend some time shopping in Charlotte Amalie, so we decided to start there since we had learned from our recent visits that many of the shops close at 5 or 6pm. We took one of the open air safari taxis since otherwise it's a long, hot walk. We spent a little over an hour shopping, and then DD was ready to head back to the ship. We stayed with her until she made it through the security checkpoint, and then DH and I got in another taxi and headed to Magens Bay.

 

My favorite shop

 

DD's favorite shop

 

We've been to six or seven beaches on St. Thomas at this point, but Magens is still our favorite. For anyone who's looking to try a different beach, consider Lindquist Beach, Secret Harbour, or Brewers Bay. Both Secret Harbour and Brewers have decent snorkeling from shore. Many people love Sapphire Beach too, but it's not our favorite. We got to Magens at around 4:30 and walked way down the beach to where it was less crowded. We stayed for about an hour and a half, in the water most of the time, and then showered and headed back toward the entrance to catch a taxi. There were long lines to get back on the ship when we got there at around 6:30.

 

It was overcast, but still a nice day.

 

The water was super calm and crystal clear.

 

Quick selfie before we go

 

We went to the room to clean up and decided to try O'Sheehan's for dinner. There was no wait and service was good. We all thought the food was decent but not great. I love the fact that it's an alternative *free* place to eat and I would have been happy to eat there a second time, but we never got around to it. That was the night we went to see the magician/comedian in the Breakaway Theater. I'll just reiterate that I did not care for him and leave it at that. We turned in early because we would be arriving in Tortola at the crack of dawn and we were excited for our first visit to the British Virgin Islands!

 

Edited June 1, 2022 by LisaLisa87

[HxFx]

9 minutes ago, LisaLisa87 said:

Both Secret Harbour and Brewers have decent snorkeling from shore.

We had a shore dive scheduled with the dive shop at Secret Harbour so sucked it up in that long line. We did arrive a little late but it wasn't a big deal. We were told no dive master was available and don't know if that made a difference because we ended up doing a self-guided dive.  We had intended to have a guide to show us the best places. From a snorkeling POV it was probably pretty good but not the most exciting for a dive. I'm sure part of that is we have never done a self guided dive (other than our AOW training). We were a bit distracted! We did previously do a shore dive at Coki Beach and it was great (guided!)

[LisaLisa87]

26 minutes ago, HxFx said:

We had a shore dive scheduled with the dive shop at Secret Harbour so sucked it up in that long line. We did arrive a little late but it wasn't a big deal. We were told no dive master was available and don't know if that made a difference because we ended up doing a self-guided dive.  We had intended to have a guide to show us the best places. From a snorkeling POV it was probably pretty good but not the most exciting for a dive. I'm sure part of that is we have never done a self guided dive (other than our AOW training). We were a bit distracted! We did previously do a shore dive at Coki Beach and it was great (guided!)

 

I'm sure having a guide would have helped. How frustrating that you had booked in advance and there wasn't one available! We had a guide when we snorkeled at both Secret Harbour and Brewers (the stops were part of a half day island tour), and he knew exactly where to take us. What did you think of Coki Beach? We've almost gone several times, but have never made it over there.

[LisaLisa87]

[dwr777]

Thanks so much for posting this, I’m on the Breakaway next month, so this has been very helpful. Looking forward to more.

[HxFx]

1 hour ago, LisaLisa87 said:

 

I'm sure having a guide would have helped. How frustrating that you had booked in advance and there wasn't one available! We had a guide when we snorkeled at both Secret Harbour and Brewers (the stops were part of a half day island tour), and he knew exactly where to take us. What did you think of Coki Beach? We've almost gone several times, but have never made it over there.

Coki beach was great for diving but where our guide took us would have been too deep for snorkelers (it quickly got to 40 feet). There may have been other areas for snorkeling. The beach is a little short in the sandy area (but I'm from St. Petersburg, Florida originally and still go back for family visits so not sure I'm the best judge). I've read the area is not as safe but we felt fine.

 

We had an early dive and left shortly afterwards (on a cruise then as well). I know food was about to open up so we may have missed the best offerings. Taxi cabs were not as easy to get (one reason we left as soon as a cab came by). There is no resort to call the cab for you (at least when we went in 2018).

[LisaLisa87]

Day 5: Tortola, British Virgin Islands

 

This was the day I had been waiting for. The BVIs have been on my short list for years, so when I was looking at cruise itineraries Tortola was a high priority. Plus, SIX! I've been dying to see that show. The only downside to our day is that we would only be in port from 6am until 1pm. I would love to have received an itinerary change for this one, but no such luck. I don't book many excursions through the cruise line, but for this port I decided it was the way to go.

 

So the big decision was which island to visit. Should we stay on Tortola? Go to Virgin Gorda to see the Baths? Take a catamaran ride to Jost Van Dyke? DH is a huge Kenny Chesney fan, so when I saw the Rebel Yell excursion to White Bay on Jost Van Dyke, I knew that was what we had to do. White Bay is a beautiful cove on the southern coast of Jost Van Dyke with gorgeous aquamarine water and a white sand beach. It is also the home of the famous Soggy Dollar Bar and a frequent stop for Kenny Chesney and his friends. This would be a great opportunity to get to Jost with a minimum of hassle and, more importantly, for DH to check an item off his bucket list.

 

Our group was to meet at 6:45am at the end of the pier, so we left our room at 6:30 and hoped for the best. Luckily the lines were very short, and we were off the ship quickly. The Rebel Yell pulled up to the dock right on time, and our group of about 50 people boarded and off we went. The ride around the western side of Tortola and up to Jost took about an hour. The catamaran was large and stable, so the ride was pretty smooth. When we arrived in the bay, we had to wade through water about thigh high to get to the beach.

 

 

 

 

 

 

\

 

Even though it was only 8am, we found lounge chairs for our things and then headed straight to the Soggy Dollar Bar. The Soggy Dollar is the birthplace of the Painkiller, and we had heard that theirs would spoil us for all other Painkillers. Having now experienced their version, I tend to agree! The setting definitely helped, as did the freshly grated Grenadian nutmeg. We had 3 hours to spend at White Bay, which we thought was the perfect amount of time. Plenty of time to swim, eat lunch, and of course drink a couple more Painkillers!

 

 

 

 

We got the signal to reboard the Rebel Yell at 11:15am, and once we were all situated we headed back to Tortola. We reached the dock right at 12:30pm (all aboard time), walked the short distance to the ship, and were back on the ship with only a short wait. It was an amazing (half) day, and I was very happy that we used almost every minute of the time we had in port!

 

 

 

 

 

I can't remember what we did that afternoon, so it must not have been very memorable. We ate dinner at the Garden Cafe and made sure we were finished in plenty of time to get to the first performance of SIX as soon as seating started (7pm). What an amazing show! Super entertaining from start to finish. The talent was impressive, particularly the actress/singers who played Catherine of Aragon and Jane Seymour. Jane's solo was a showstopper. Absolutely incredible. I would have seen the show a second time if they had offered a matinee performance. After the show, DD headed back to the room and DH and I stopped at Shaker's for a nightcap and then turned in.

 

We were looking forward to a relaxing sea day after three straight days in port. Would we find it???