Dress Code - Mandoo

[melgray13]

We are going on the spice tour with Mandoo. For those of you that have gone - what do you suggest for dress code? Is there swimming involved? Can I do flip flops or is a more practical shoe recommended?

 

Thanks!

[jayred1]

No swimming on this tour. You do stop and see a couple waterfalls, a small overlook of the freshwater lake, and a store along with the spice plantation. Most of the time is spent in the vehicle. Not much walking, but I'd still take comfortable shoes (either tennis shoes or flipflops) and you can wear whatever you prefer. Most were in shorts/t-shirts or other casual wear.

 

Mandoo does a great job explaining things, but he is never short for words and opinion (ecology, politics, etc.). Some of that talk grew a bit old by the end of the day, but it was much more informative than taking a tour with someone who didn't share knowledge of the island. He'll point out lots of things you would otherwise miss.

 

I see you're from KC; we're in Olathe. We got back from Celebrity cruise on Saturday. We did Grenada last Tuesday. Enjoyed it, but there was a lot of driving in mountainous terrain. If you are easily carsick you might want to take something for it prior to the ride.

 

Jay

[melgray13]

No swimming on this tour. You do stop and see a couple waterfalls, a small overlook of the freshwater lake, and a store along with the spice plantation. Most of the time is spent in the vehicle. Not much walking, but I'd still take comfortable shoes (either tennis shoes or flipflops) and you can wear whatever you prefer. Most were in shorts/t-shirts or other casual wear.

 

Mandoo does a great job explaining things, but he is never short for words and opinion (ecology, politics, etc.). Some of that talk grew a bit old by the end of the day, but it was much more informative than taking a tour with someone who didn't share knowledge of the island. He'll point out lots of things you would otherwise miss.

 

I see you're from KC; we're in Olathe. We got back from Celebrity cruise on Saturday. We did Grenada last Tuesday. Enjoyed it, but there was a lot of driving in mountainous terrain. If you are easily carsick you might want to take something for it prior to the ride.

 

Jay

 

Hi Jay - Thanks for the information. This makes packing a bit easier.

 

As for Olathe, small world - we were just there this weekend - went to our first "fork and screen" at the AMC - pretty cool.

[jayred1]

Did Fork & Screen for the first time in January after our son bought us tickets. It is a nice setup. I see you're also doing the Summit; are you doing Tobago/Barbados or the other (?/Aruba) stops? Let me know if you've got any other questions as we have done M-class ships all three of our cruises and we've done southern caribbean twice.

 

Jay

[melgray13]

Hi Jay - We're on the Tobago version. If you've got any hot tips let me know. We're excited to finally be trying X.

[jayred1]

Noticed from your profile that you're a little younger than us - we're late 40s but still prefer more active things. Given that, I'll give you a little warning that some Celebrity cruises can be a little lacking of late night energy. It is a very classy cruise line and we had fun all three times; but this last one had an older crowd (and we didn't have a large group like the previous two times). Best bets to find late night fun are the bar/disco at the front of the ship (deck 11) and the martini bar (deck 5).

 

The sail-away party on the pool deck is always fun, too - just make sure you occasionally take a look at San Juan as you sail off, very pretty. We prefer to stand above the stage on deck 11 and watch everyone dancing while we listen to the band, see the city, and enjoy the drinks.

 

I see you leave on Saturday, so I won't get detailed with excursions since you've probably already booked them. We did:

St. Martin: Shopping and watching planes at Maho beach (cool). We did Orient Beach other trip and recommend going there if you haven't been.

Dominica: River Tubing with Antours

Grenada: Spice Tour with Mandoo

Tobogo: Beach time at Mount Irvine - quiet, pretty. Pidgeon Point probably more activity and also looked pretty from a distance.

Barbados: Catamaran/snorkel with sea turtles (Shasa cruise)

 

Back to the ship ... The "marriage game" in the disco is really funny (4 couples, Newlywed Game style). And the pool contests on Friday's sea day are also good. Feel free to sign up, friends did and had a great time.

 

We've always ate in the MDR at night and hit the buffet for breakfast and lunch (when on ship), although others have enjoyed breakfast on their veranda (if you have one). If you are in Concierge Class, I recommend you ask your room attendant for crackers/cheese rather than the lame canapies. Stop by the buffet for sushi (if you like it) from 5-9pm and have a some nachos/tacos or burger by the poolside.

 

If you're spending any extra time in San Juan, see Old Town and visit one of the forts (don't spend time at both - too similar). We visited San Juan's brewery (great beer, but expensive food) and Senor Frogs (crowd picks up later in the evening - fun staff).

 

Finally, if you haven't signed up for the roll call on cruise critics, do give it a look and you might find others with similar interests. We did it for the first time and it's a great ice-breaker to meet others that you'll see frequently thoughout the week.

 

Ok, really finally ... HAVE A GREAT TIME NEXT WEEK!!

Jay

[lobster129]

Our tour with Mandoo consisted of two vehicles with Mandoo doing the presentations at the stops. Jay was on the larger coaster bus with Mandoo who was also narrating as the vehicle drove from one stop to another. We were on the smaller van of 12 Summit passengers from our roll call.

 

In comparison to Mandoo, our driver was very quiet and not very knowledgeable (or perhaps a language barrier). For example, when I asked about the hurricane that had devastated Dominica a few years ago...as to if it was a Cat. 4 or 5 and the driver told me it was a 6.5.....PLEASE....the Saffir-Simpson scale only goes to a 5!:confused: There were several other things we asked about that he did not know also....(routine tourist questions)

 

The drive between stops seemed long (took 1 hour to drive 15 miles...really) at one point (spice plantation to crater lake). Unlike Jay, I think I would have preferred Mandoo's chatter about a variety of topics to our driver (but then, sometimes the grass only seems greener on the other ride of the hill) I had arranged our trip for the 12 of us, I was frankly a bit disappointed. I thought we we be doing lots of stops for photos etc along the way and Mandoo would be talking with us at each one. After realizing the mountain roads in Grenada were not much better than in Dominica....there were no safe places to stop along the way! I felt like we were in the van of "are we there yet" passengers....restless and bored. We did not appreciate so many locals having their hands out for a tip all the time...even for a photo with them!:rolleyes:

 

I DO think our vehicles were safe and did include seatbelts. After the accident in Dominica of our fellow passengers the day prior, seat belts were appreciated. We really enjoyed seeing the Mona Monkey at the Crater Lake area and found the spice plantation tour interesting and worthwhile.:)

 

Also, as far as what to wear....the tour we were on was one of the lower physical activity level tours. I am sure Mandoo offers others that you would need more protective shoes than flip flops. Certainly shorts and t-shirts are fine. And a hat and/or sunglasses! And a camera.:)

 

Would I do it again? Only if I was in the vehicle with Mandoo....and selected a route with less driving between stops. I foolishly asked how far...not how long of a drive! That is why we SHARE our experiences on cruise critics!

 

Enjoy your day in Grenada. It is a lovely island.

 

Lobster129

[Debordo]

Melgray13... hopefully you've found your roll call. Our cruisecritic group was huge fun. We met every evening in the Martini Bar for pre-dinner drinks with many of our roll call each evening. Also shared many tours.

 

If you haven't decided what to do on Dominica, I would highly recommend the tubing. It will go down as one of our more exciting fun tours.

 

You may find the Grenada Spice tour a little more quiet tour. As for what to wear, you can do flip flops as there really isn't much walking. The tour was very interesting. As Becky said, our driving did not know the answers to our questions and we could tell many times, his answers were incorrect but we had a lovely day with our roll call friends.

 

Jay! We did the fork and screen at the AMC last November. It was a fun experience and much nicer than our Warren dinner and movie theater we have here in Wichita's Old Town.

 

Debordo