Aquaticdreams

Thanks all. Looks like it’s going to be champagne and maybe sangria for the room and off we’ll go to the bar for margaritas! Cheers!

We’ll be sailing on the Equinox in January on a southern Caribbean cruise. We plan on bringing the four bottles of wine on board that they allow (2 each). Do you know if you can bring premade mixed drinks like margaritas that come in the wine size bottles? Has anyone done that? We wanted to bring a combination of that sort of thing and champagne to enjoy in the room as we’re not big wine drinkers. 

Has anyone done the Celebrity “Best of Martinique” excursion? Did you think it was a good tour? I looked at the Karambole tour but this one includes more so I’m wondering if the Celebrity one is worth the extra cost. Any feedback on the Celebrity tour?

Best of Martinique (7 hours)

Saint Pierre ruins

Volcano museum

Depaz rum distillery

Balata Gardens & lunch at the restaurant

Drive through: Tropical rainforest 

Drive by: Le Carbet

Hi all,

We’re sailing on Celebrity in January to celebrate our 25th anniversary. We want to do a vow renewal while on board. Celebrity charges $600 plus extra for the photos (another $400-$2000 package). I have a hard time swallowing that price for a 15 - 20 minute ceremony. It will be just the two of us so there won’t be any extra readings, socializing, gathering for cake or anything like that. So I’m thinking about doing something on our own. I’ve heard some people have a family member or friend officiate but we won’t be traveling with anyone so that’s not an option for us. Has anyone done an informal renewal with just the two of you? What did you do? Any ideas for creative ways to make it a special renewal celebration? Thanks!

I was interested in this excursion too. I wrote to Celebrity to ask for clarification about the location of the swimming spot and if the catamaran actually docks in Marigot Bay for a swim or just passes by it. The description they gave just says “secluded beach” but it doesn’t sound to me like its near the Pitons. This was their answer:

”The first swimming stop is at Pigeon Island and during the sail down to the Pitons lunch is served. On the return there is another swimming stop at a secluded beach before circling within Marigot Bay and then proceeding to the Castries (cruise ship pier).”

We did a tour on a previous cruise with Spenser Ambros that stopped at Sugar beach/Jalousie. Its a beautiful beach if you want to swim right by the pitons. There may be others but this is the only one I’m familiar with. You may want to ask Celebrity to be more specific. Maybe you’ll get a clearer answer than I did!

Hi Moonarino. I wrote to Celebrity to get more information about this excursion. They said the “safari rigged 4x4” is a Costumed Land Rover and provided me with this more detailed itinerary. I don’t think the “West Coast Beach “ is the name of the actual beach which is what I had asked for. I would still love to get feedback from anyone who’s taken this tour. 

I’m looking for excursions for Antigua. This one looks like fun. Has anyone done this excursion? Would you recommend it or not?

I’m so surprised to hear this. We took a tour with him in 2018. It was outstanding and our absolute favorite day on that cruise. We’re taking another southern Caribbean cruise this winter and I almost booked him again. Now I’m not so sure and I think I’ll look at other options. Any suggestions for other tour companies are welcomed.

I can vouch for Nutridge too. It’s small, intimate, and authentic. It’s not like the big productions of the other ones you mentioned. It really depends on what kind of experience or performance you’re looking for. We just loved our intimate evening at Nutridge where we were treated like Ohana! 

Thanks. I would rent a car on a land vacation because I think it would be more fun to stop wherever we want. We definitely don’t mind mountain driving and long days, we love that sort of thing. But for a cruise I would be more comfortable taking a tour just because of the distance from Lahaina and wanting to make sure we get back to the ship on time. I agree $329 is pretty steep. If Princess doesn’t end up offering one from Lahaina I’ll look for a private tour that picks up at the port and fits our 7:00 AM - 6:00 PM port schedule (less of course due to tenders). I don’t know if there are any options for that but suggestions for private tours are welcomed!

The road to Hana is on my bucket list. On our last cruise to Hawaii I was disappointed that Celebrity cancelled the excursion, probably due to cutting it too close to departure time.  This time we’re going on Princess from San Diego. The excursions for our sailing are not posted yet. I see that their cruise from LA docks in Kahului and offers two Hana excursions. Our January cruise will dock in Lahaina and I’m hoping they offer Hana on our trip too. Has anyone done a Princess tour out of Lahaina or any other cruise line for that matter? Does anyone know anything about the San Diego excursions and when they’ll be posted? Thanks.

We cruised to Hawaii from LA the last few days of October through the first two weeks in November. The seas were not rough on our sailing but the first couple days were cooler. Otherwise we had perfect weather and conditions. Maybe others can advise on other times of the year but this was our November experience. I’ve heard the seas can be rougher in the winter so it’s possible our experience may not be the norm but we had no problems with that at all. We’re going again in January from San Diego so we’ll see!

Oops. Just reread the OP. Sounds like they do routinely offer transportation now. I would suggest doing it that way. It was a breeze and they returned us promptly with plenty of time left over.  

We did the Nutridge luau on our last cruise to Hawaii. It was wonderful! It’s a smaller intimate luau that is more authentic than the large more commercial ones with hundreds of people offered through the cruise line so choose based on what experience you want. I coordinated the evening on our roll call. So many people signed up that the entire luau ended up being just us that night. They picked us up at the ship and returned us on time. I was able to arrange the transportation because there were so many of us. They had wanted a minimum number of guests at the time I think. I would suggest you call them to inquire if they still offer pick up and drop off at the ship. I found them to be wonderful and very accommodating to work with. We had such a great time. I would highly recommend it but again this is not a big commercial production. We all felt it was a personal and far better experience! Good luck!

Thanks everyone! Your feedback was helpful and I booked the tour starting in Fairbanks. I’m still hesitant about taking the cruise at all due to the closure in Denali but Princess had a really good promo so I booked it. This will give me a little more time to decide for sure. 

Thanks! These are the two itineraries. It looks like the train ride takes the same route between Denali and Talkeetna (between the two lodges). Is this particular section of the route part of the more scenic area?  It also looks like the one that starts in Anchorage will travel some of the same bus route twice. I could always stay an extra day in either starting city to do an excursion. I’ve done a seven day Alaska cruise before so the main reason I want to do the land tour this time is for the scenic train ride and Denali National Park. Aside from which itinerary to choose I’m disappointed to hear that half of Denali is closed. I’m now questioning if this trip is even worth doing at all. Thanks for any input on this!

Fairbanks starting point itinerary:

8/30 arrive in Fairbanks & overnight stay

8/31 take motorcoach to Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge & overnight stay

9/1 full day at Denali National Park and overnight stay

9/2 take train to Talkeetna then take motorcoach to Mt. McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge. Overnight at the lodge.

9/3 take motorcoach to Anchorage/Whittier and board the ship.

Anchorage starting point itinerary:

8/16 arrive in Anchorage & overnight stay

8/17 take motorcoach to Mt. McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge & overnight stay

8/18 take motorcoach to Talkeetna then take the train to Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge and overnight stay

8/19 full day at Denali National Park and overnight stay

8/20 take motorcoach to Anchorage/Whittier and board the ship

We are planning an 11 day Princess Cruisetour for the end of August doing the land portion first. One leaves from Fairbanks and the other from Anchorage. Is one better than the other and why? Thanks!

Thanks everyone. Given the mixed reviews about Ka’anapali and Kapalua we decided we will go to Ka’anapali for a half day. Hopefully we can go in but if not it sounds like It has a lot to offer regardless of the ocean conditions. We’ll spend the second half in Lahaina. We’re looking forward to a great day! We leave Friday and sail on Sunday. I’ll let you know what the conditions were like this time of year for anyone else sailing soon who might want to know.

Thanks all! Yikes, it sounds like going for a dip may not be in the cards. I’m still open to Kapalua but I think we’ll probably go to Ka’anapali and hope for the best. If it turns out we can’t go in then we’ll just enjoy a walk on the beach and spending some time there. Its Hawaii after all so I’m sure it will be amazing either way! Any ideas on what stretch of Ka’anapali to visit? We’re not interested in Whalers Village because we’ll be doing our shopping in Lahaina so looking for other ideas. Thanks!

We’re trying to decide between Kaanapali and Kapalua Bay beach for a half day in Maui during the first week in November. I can’t swim so I’ve been reading a lot about them to see which one has better conditions. The debate is all over the map. Some say Kaanapali can be dangerous with a difficult entry, hard shore break, and drop off. Others say it’s nice and calm. Same thing for Kapalua. Some say it’s too far north and has dangerously strong waves and currents. Others say it’s calm and shallow. I know each beach is nice for different reasons (i.e. Ka’anapali is livelier, etc.) so we will enjoy either one. We’re not looking to snorkel either, just nice easy swimming. My only deciding factor at this point is which beach is calmer?? And maybe if there’s a particular section of the beach that’s good/bad. Any ideas? Thanks!

7 hours ago, cb at sea said:

There is no way you'll see all Maui has to offer in a short day...Maui requires at least a week, if not longer!  We spend 10 days there on a land vacation, and still didn't see everything....but we were able to touch on quite a lot!

 

Read up on it, see what interests you most...and do that.  Then, go back on a land vacation and spend some time there!  It's worth it!

 

Yes that’s exactly the problem! There’s just too much I want to see. My dream had always been to do the Road to Hana and I would have been thrilled with just that. But the ship’s excursion was cancelled 😥 so I’m trying to narrow down a plan b from a long list of second choices. I’m sure we’ll love whatever we end up deciding to do.

Thanks for the tip on Tours for Locals. I’ll check them out. 

This info on Ka’anapali is interesting. I can’t swim so I’ve been reading to find out if Ka’anapali or Kapalua beach has calmer waters. There are conflicting articles about this. Some say a particular beach is calm and another says it’s dangerous. Our Maui day in port will be November 3. Not sure what to expect that time of year.

On 8/7/2019 at 6:48 AM, bigsky said:

Enjoy! I’m going back last minute trip for my birthday in a few weeks and in January for our annual winter trip. 🐳🌺🌈🤙🏖

Aloha... ask any ?’s

Happy birthday and have a great trip!

On 8/4/2019 at 7:56 AM, bigsky said:

Were you looking to do an excursion thru the ship? 

The ship’s excursions for Maui don’t look all that great. I was hoping to find a short private tour if I could do it early enough to leave time for the beach and Lahaina. My husband would be happy with just the beach and shops but I’d like to see some of the island too. I kind of feel like we’ll miss the beauty of the island if that’s all we do. As far as the ship tours there is a two hour trilogy catamaran sail that might at least let us see the coastal scenery. But even that starts late and goes to 12:30. So far I haven’t figured out the best way to spend the day. (Thanks for the info on Iao Valley. It sounds like it’s not feasible).

Thanks, this is very helpful. I’m still trying to find out how long the wait would likely be to even get on the tender in the morning. If there’s time to do a short tour in addition to spending a little time at the beach and Lahaina is there anything you could recommend? I would really like to see Iao valley or the west Maui mountains but I know there wouldn’t be enough time to do all that. So I need to identify something else that would allow us see some of the beauty of the island in a shorter period of time. Thanks for any suggestions!

This will be our first trip to Hawaii. We’re considering taking a private tour in Maui and I need to figure out what time I could actually schedule it for. We will be arriving in Lahaina at 8:00 AM. I assume people who are taking a Celebrity excursion will be the first to tender out. I’m wondering if anyone who has experience tendering at this port can advise how long it should realistically take to tender out and get over to Lahaina. I’m also trying to figure out the rest of the day. We’re in port until 6:00 PM so I think we should be back on board by 5:30 at the very latest. What time would we need to be back to Lahaina in order to get a tender back on time? Lastly, another option is we might want to spend a few hours at either Ka’anapali or Kapalua beach and a few hours shopping in Lahaina. How much travel time would we need to allow for cabs to and from the beach? It would be ideal to do a short tour, go to the beach, and shop but I don’t know if it’s realistic with tender and transportation time factored in. Thanks!