Justabitoff

Uber is just individual drivers using their own car, so no, there is no guarantee that they would have a car seat. I would definitely bring your own because you have no idea who will come get you when you flag an Uber car. My husband has driven for Uber and that's just how it works.

If her preference is ports, then I think that answers your question: go with Summit. I've never been on the Silhouette, but we just went on the Summit after drydock and we thought it was lovely. No complaints, and I didn't think it looked the least bit rundown. Is it smaller than some other ships? Yes. Not as much to do? I guess so. But you'll be spending all your time at the port, so does it matter that much? The ship will give you enough to do during the evening hours, and the one day at sea is perfect for just lounging at the pool (which is what we did). If you had more Sea Days, then a more activity based ship might be nice, but it doesn't sound like that's what she wants.

Yes you can walk to St-louis cathedral, the fort, the library and the spice market from there !! I didn't find Fort-de-France run down ! !! Not as poor as all the other ports we visit !!

I didn't spend any time in Fort de France except to drive through briefly. We went to the other popular sites on Martinique, like the Balata Gardens (my favorite place on our entire cruise!) and St. Pierre. The people on my cruise who stayed in F-de-F instead of going on a tour did not have anything nice to say about it.

You were able to just get off the ship and walk to the attractions then? Thanks for the info!

There's not a whole lot to do in Fort-de-France. I wouldn't really say there are attractions. You can't walk to the Balata Cathedral from the port, or the Balata Gardens, or see Mt. Pelee, or the zoo, or anything like that. You pretty much have to take a taxi or a tour in order to see the sights. I highly recommend finding a tour of some sort or getting a taxi. Martinique is beautiful, but Fort-de-France is pretty run down.

Thank you for this. I think Escape will be there 7-3 according to the schedule. You were on the Escape too? They changed their schedule?

I was on the Celebrity Summit.

Hello, I'm hoping to see if anyone has done the Baths on their own while sailing with NCL Escape. We will be sailing on May 7 and hoping to do the Baths while in Tortola. It shows that Escape arrives at 7:00am and then leaves at 3:00pm. If anyone has done it, how did you go about it, and did you have enough time getting back for 3:00pm sailaway? Thank you.

We were there last week and you could definitely do it in that timeframe. We were actually in port from 8-5pm, so we took the 9am ferry (a 5 min walk to the left of the pier), arrived at 9:35, and we were at the beach by 10. However, the other ferry service that everyone talks about was NOT working that day (or at all, I can't tell) so we had to be back for the 1:30pm ferry. That means we were there from about 10-1pm, which was very short, but totally doable. We did the Baths section first, then walked through the caves to Devil's Bay. The caves can take awhile if there are a lot of people. Then we had to walk back to the car park to catch that taxi that was waiting. It was really fun, but I wish it was longer. However, it would work perfect for you as we were back on Tortola a little after 2pm, which would give you enough time to get back on board.

We are contemplating doing Brimstone Fortress when we are in St. Kitts in September. Is it doable to go to the fortress on our own and then go over to one of the beaches? Not sure about taxi costs.

 

Or would it be easier to go on an actual "tour" that goes to the fortress and will drop us off at the beach?

 

Thanks!!

I would think it would be easier to go on an actual tour, but it just depends on what you want to do. Our tour with Thenford Grey did not include much time at the beach, only about 1.5 hours, so it was okay (we went to Shipwreck as well) but not a long time. We also went to Romney Manor, which has a botanical garden and some history about the island and that was enjoyable. But again, it just depends on what you're interested in doing.

Brimstone Fortress has amazing views and history, but the main way to get there is with a bus tour. We used Thenford Grey, who you'll see mentioned several times on this forum. We saw a bit of downtown Basseterre, Romney Manor, Brimstone, Timothy Hill (gorgeous views!!) and then went to a beach for about an hour.

I'm not sure what you could do without a bus tour or excursion. You could take a taxi to the Marriott resort or Carambola to sit on the beach, but they're not really "must dos" since you can do that on any island. Things that are unique to St. Kitts you would need a driver for.

I am tempted to take a non-direct flight but am also feeling very uneasy about this option since friends of ours had an unfortunate experience with a connecting flight several years back. When they arrived at their destination their luggage was nowhere to be seen, they still aren't sure where it ended up but it was three days before they got it back. I can only imagine what a nightmare it would be to arrive on ship without any luggage, all our clothes enroute to another city while we sail away. Normally this wouldn't worry me, but after hearing, first hand, of someone caught in this type of situation it really hits home and makes you realize that this could also possibly happen to you. It's a chance I'm not really comfortable taking if at all possible.

We brought our luggage on board the plane instead of checking. Cheaper, and we were able to take a non-direct flight the day before the ship leaves without worrying about losing our luggage. We're efficient packers, and between the suitcase and a backpack each, we had everything we needed. Like most people, I recommend not flying the day your ship leaves unless you have to. Our flight was an hour late taking off because of tarmac traffic.

But yes, between getting from the airport to the pier to check in and get your luggage on board, you won't have time to do anything before needing to be back on board so you can do the muster before embarkation.

We don't want to rely on the Red Hook ferries, but they're faster and less choppy? That doesn't make any sense...

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Funny you should mention it, I actually am an insulin dependent type 1 diabetic. ;)

I'll have emergency glucose with me for a low blood sugar, so that's not what I'm thinking about. Just plain old regular people hunger. Since we're allowed to bring food on the cruise, maybe we'll pack some protein bars or something.

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We're planning on going to St. John instead of St. Thomas, but we're not sure how we should get there. The cruise has an excursion that takes you to Cruz Bay and is there for about 6 hours for $39 a person. Then there's taking the ferry. Not sure which would be best? We're thinking about just doing the cruise excursion. Thoughts?

We're doing the Levi Bumpiing tour and I know that they say they don't provide lunch. What's the best thing to bring then to eat while we're out? I imagine we'll get hungry at some point, or do people just hold out until they get back to the ship? We're on the Celebrity Summit if that helps.

My husband and I are taking our first cruise to the Southern Caribbean on Summit in April and we're traveling pretty basic with an Interior Stateroom on the Continental Deck. I believe all our meals are in the Main Dining Room and we're not even paying for a drink package because we're trying to be frugal-ish. But we're thinking about making special reservations at one of the other restaurants on one of the nights (probably our At Sea day).

I believe our options on the remodeled Summit (after it's drydock this month) will only be Tavern Grille and Qsine. I've read reviews for both and they seem equally good, but is the drydock going to play any role in which restaurant I might want to choose? I can't really tell and could use an expert cruisers guidance. Thanks!

Absolutely!

 

We are flying Sun Country on the 9th, departing at 8am. It is a direct flight set to arrive at 2pm. I've been to San Juan before and didn't care to fly in early, so we'll go directly form the airport to the port. Getting excited, 50 days to go!!!

Awesome! What's your email? We can coordinate!

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We are planning on heading to the Baths on our own, and I believe we are on your cruise AND from Minnesota also! Not to be a stalker- saw you posting on our ships roll call :D

 

To Blue- have heard rumors that a Sunday ferry could be a little off, do you think we'd have any problems with that?

Nice to "meet" you! Maybe we could head over there together? What flights are you taking to San Juan?

I emailed Thenford using the contact form and didn't hear anything for a day or two. Then I sent another email to the email address itself. I got back 2 responses, one from each method of contact! The person didn't really answer my question (which tours were available) and instead just said that they could book me and my husband on the Great Tour of St. Kitts. The person didn't respond to my follow-up, but when I did email a couple days after that to say I was interested in the Grand Tour, she (or he?) wrote back right away confirming our reservation... So it was weird, but we're confirmed, so that's that, I guess.

Yes, I know we can go on our own, but what I wanted to know is does the Baths make sense to get around on our own or is a tour better? We're in port for 9 hours. It seems like most people go on their own, so I'm guess I already know the answer, but I just wanted to make sure.

I've had type 1 for 22 years. Are you talking about low-carb desserts? Probably not, I would stick to fruit if you eat low carb. Otherwise, talk to your doctor or diabetes educator about putting you to eat on a sliding scale for your medication -- if you eat more carbs, take more insulin. Test your blood sugar often. Rinse and repeat.

So it looks like we will have to do a cruise excursion and we definitely want to do the Balata Gardens, and then either St. Pierre or Habitation Clement. There isn't a tour that does all 3, so we have to pick between St. Pierre or Clement. We're about equally interested in both, but TripAdvisor makes me a little nervous about St. Pierre and what's actually there to look at.

Yep. I posted on my Roll Call and they answered my question.

The Baths seem simple enough to get to and back on our own, but is getting around the Baths easy enough? Are there tours aside from the cruise ships that we should be looking into?

Trip Advisor has Clay Villa as the #1 attraction but I don't really understand the appeal. Is it really worth going to? It also does some of the other sites on St. Kitts, but I'm having trouble deciding between Clay Villa tour, Thenford Grey, or one of the others like Royston. Also saw one by Greg that's more like a safari. If Clay Villa is worth it I'd go but I don't see it mentioned a lot on the forum.

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I've seen a few people post about what to do after you disembark, but what about before a cruise? How early can you bring your luggage to the cruise ship! We embark at 8pm but arrive the night before. I think we're going to stay at an Airbnb so not sure what to do. Thanks!

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Does anyone have any suggestions for tour guides on Martinique? I emailed the woman at Karambole but it's already booked for our day in port, so I need to find someone else.