mathed101

If you have been using the spa amenities such as the saunas, showers, and heated chairs, has it been crowded? Does the spa list any daily special sales for massages etc?

Count me in to follow your newly started adventure! 

Bon Voyage, fair winds and smooth seas!

1 hour ago, upwarduk said:

1 Captain’s Club point from the recent survey isn’t going to get you very far!😱

And the  latest Webinar on Ascent didn’t have any PUP points attached to it.

It's only 2 point for classic so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this next one will give me at least 1 more lol! There is another poster on this thread that hasn't sailed yet and earned points for December's webinar so I'm hopeful. No worries if I don't get it but it would be a nice way to get out of preview before my first cruise! 🙂

18 minutes ago, upwarduk said:

I’ve done the same for my husband.

Usually, there is a section to fill in for another Captain’s Club member, but not so on the latest survey, it was specifically for me.

I am hoping that my husband will get one after I signed him up for the Captain's club today. We are new to Celebrity so we are at preview. I am hoping that the next Webinar will have PUPs so we can get into the Classic level for our first Celebrity cruise that we want to book for May.

8 minutes ago, tschwa2 said:

same with me.  Very annoying.  Hopefully yours and mine are just a day late in coming.

 

I received the email too and my husband did not so I clicked on the link provided in the email:

Maybe this will help? It's a standard fill in the blank info so maybe it will get on their radar even if someone is already set up for receiving promotional emails. Can't hurt?

How about Solomon water taxi?

Thanks to both @flagmom and @eos790!

Anybody take a private tour with Israel King Water Taxi?

They have excellent reviews and go to 3 perfect places to snorkel.

www.israelkingwatertaxi.com

We are a group of 6 looking for a boat tour to do some snorkeling at Jalousie Beach and Anse Chastanet Beach and Reef. After reading many reviews it makes sense to find boat transportation instead of getting to these beaches by land. Spencer's tour sounds like it has the right combination but the delivery seems to be inconsistent. 

Dive Fair Helen seems pretty good but we wouldn't leave on the tour until 10:00 am and they don't specifically say where they actually snorkel. Anybody use them?

Has anyone used anyone else for the same type of tour?

Thanks for any and all information!

8 hours ago, eos790 said:

I'm not sure about the OP's tour, but it sounds similar to the one my mom and I took a couple weeks ago with Mr. Lawrence. It cost $50, plus $15 entrance fee to the national park, so $65 per person. Our tour lasted 3 1/2-4 hours, and would have been longer if we had chosen to go to the beach. He will drop you off there for a few hours if you choose, and come back and get you to take you back to the ship. I highly recommend Lawrence of Antigua.

Thanks so much for posting this information!! Do you have any photos of the tour transportation vehicle? Did you pay him in cash? Would you be able to provide any specific information regarding the sights you saw and visited, that is what you actually did at Shirley Heights and Nelson's Dockyard?

On 1/29/2024 at 10:33 PM, flagmom said:

I'm happy to say that Mr. Lawrence Leston is still giving excellent tours of Antigua! We recently spent a half-day touring with him on a small-group tour. There was only one other couple with us, who happened to be from the same ship. We took the tour to Shirley Heights and Nelson's Dockyard, with many other lovely sights along the way. We booked this tour in advance via email, and no pre-payment was required. All emails were answered promptly, and he gave us excellent directions to meet up with him. Even though our ship changed its docking berth at the last minute, he adjusted his location and was right there waiting for us. If you want a friendly, knowledgeable guide who is an excellent driver, you will like Lawrence of Antigua. 

Thanks so much for posting this information!! Do you have any photos of the tour transportation vehicle? Did you pay him in cash? Would you be able to provide any specific information regarding the sights you saw and visited, that is what you actually did at Shirley Heights and Nelson's Dockyard?

@cruisenshop

He dropped us at Nelson’s  Dockyard and  our party got a docent and did a tour, went to the bakery for a pineapple pastry.

Did you have to make a reservation for a docent and tour or did you just get one when you arrived? What were the rates if you recall for the tour?  

Thanks for the information!!

On 1/20/2024 at 12:55 PM, cruisenshop said:

Barry picked us up at the port at 830 he drove us through town, and toward Nelson’s Dockyard noting various churches and cricket fields on the way. That took at least a half hour. He’s very knowledgeable and interesting . It wasn’t boring at all. His knowledge of culture, history and politics there was incredible. He dropped us at Nelson’s  Dockyard and  our party got a docent and did a tour, went to the bakery for a pineapple pastry. Maybe 45 minutes to an hour there? It’s fabulous there. Could stay much longer but we’ve been there before. Since it’s private you decide how much time you need. Then
he took us to a lookout near by  for photos (we had never been there before in previous trips to Antigua) then we drove  to Shirley Heights. We took photos there and  walked around -30 minutes? Then we drove through the rainforest and stopped at a stand where he had arranged for us to taste black pineapple. 
then he took us to darkwood beach and we were there for 1.5 hours. Magnificent 

we did not stop to eat per se - he had beverages in the van and between the pastries, pineapple and snacks we had in our bags we didn’t need more food. There was food at the beach and at Nelson’s Dockyard- including a fresh fruit stand. 

 

Since it’s private you decide where to go/how much time. This tour was SO much better than Lawrence’s tour. We got to do what we wanted when we wanted. Barry is a gem - it was our favorite day on our ten day cruise! 

I think our timing was 830-230. Again , you can work with Barry to organize the trip that’s right for your party of six. 

Thank you so much for your itinerary and time spent at each spot!  Since you had been to Antiqua before, were there any spots that you experienced before that you would recommend that we add to this tour?  How was Darkwood Beach? Was it crowded and were there beach chairs? Any snorkeling? 

I have responded to your Dominica post as well for the same reasons here. If you find the time there are a few others that would like to know about your tour with Peppers.

Hi @cruisenshop,

I have a few questions for you if you don't mind sharing! 

Did you pick the itinerary or did Pepper?

How long was the tour?

How far in advance did you book the tour?

Where did you eat lunch? 

How crowded were the places that you visited and did you feel you had enough time at each?

What would you do differently if anything?

On 1/15/2024 at 10:13 AM, cruisenshop said:

We used Barry at Barry Taxi. vbarryoliver@hotmail.com

He does a private tour of the island (Shirley Heights/ Nelson’s Dockyard/Darkwood Beach.) 
We were a party of six and he worked on our timing - clean van- excellent driver- great tour guide. Highly recommend! 
 

Would you be able to give a little more information about your tour such as timing, order of stops, knowledge of the guide, beach time, and food stop if any? We are a party of 6 and prefer private tours as well. This would be our first visit to Antigua and several of our party are not really sit on the beach all day people. Any information would be wonderful!

On 3/6/2023 at 6:24 PM, martincath said:

Slept on this one - given only spicy/curry as a hard limitation, there's just sooooo many options. Even being a Sunday it doesn't knock too many off the list (although the specific cash only, very local spot I was initially thinking of is unfortunately closed Sundays). So I came back around to the crux of the matter - you've only got a day, two meals (well, three if you skip brekky on the ship), maybe a snack/coffee break, so overwhelming you with options just doesn't seem very sensible!

 

Therefore instead of a scattershot 'bunch of good places all over town' I'm going to give you a rough route to follow with some sightseeing options as well as dining spots - everything connects, so if you're in the mood to walk a lot in smallish chunks, you could do it all on foot... but there are also points where hopping in a cab or a bus to skip the longer walks is a good idea. A few Googlemap links will be embedded for your convenience. The wee boats along False Creek also enable skipping sections if you e.g. like the sound of Granville Island and Chinatown, but don't fancy Mount Pleasant/Broadway corridor - both Aquabus and False Creek Ferries let you hop from the Athlete's Village or Plaza of Nations direct to GI, but FCF are cheaper due to their fare zoning ($5.25 vs $7.25 at the moment).

.......

Apologies for the ridiculous length of the post!!!

WOW!!

Thank you so much for the detailed and in depth route! You always offer a master class for all things Vancouver and I couldn't be more grateful! 

I had to take a break from the details of planning since your post but I am now back at it with Vancouver on my mind and your post was just what I needed to see. 

We are looking at an 8:25 am flight on Monday. I originally said that I wanted to stay near the airport but now I am rethinking that given another post that you responded to about the time it takes to get to the airport in the morning. You said that the timing might not be much different at an airport hotel with a shuttle than staying at a downtown hotel and taking a cab. I am actually looking at Vrbo and Airbnb since we are now a party of 5.

My first two questions for you are, if you don't mind,... what mode of transportation should we consider to get our party of 5 adults to the airport on Monday morning - taking a cab or the skytrain or a shuttle and does your answer differ given a downtown location or near the airport (not the Fairmont or River Rock)?

Third, what time would you suggest that we plan on arriving at the airport?

Thanks so much for your assistance!!

• What's your approx. date of arrival? (re: seasonal foods; no point suggesting a spot only good for them if you won't be here at the right time!)       September 17
• How big is your group? (some interesting smaller restos won't or can't seat big groups at all; others might easily seat a couple as walk-ins, but demand a reso for big groups; in general the bigger the group, the less spontaneously you can can dine)       4 Adults
• Is your group happy to split up? (if not, please answer all the remaining questions from the standpoint of the most-limiting person for each category!)     Nope
• Any off-the-table categories of food that you already tried and know you dislike? (e.g. specific animals, specific organs, specific flavours like szechuan peppers)        Super spicy foods and anything with curry
• Any particular thing you've always wanted to try, as maybe we have it?     Antelope, elk
• How comfortable are you in skeezy neighbourhoods on foot?   Somewhat comfortable
• Dive bars - hell yeah or heck no?   hell yeah
• Food trucks - yea or nay?   yea
• OK using public transit? If not, willing to budget for cabs or should I stick to 'walkable from the pier' distances?      Ok using public transit and willing to budget for cabs
• Happy to walk a mile? three? twelve? uphill?    1 - 3 miles good
• Happy to arrange Canadian cash? (a few very local spots remain Cash Only; or since Covid will take Interac - the Canada-specific debit network - but not credit cards)    Okay to arrange Canadian cash if the local spot is utterly fantastic....

What a great list of questions! Thanks so much for asking and I am intrigued by what you will come up with given the answers!!

Thank you so much Martincath!

I sort of left the personal choices out of the equation because I am always open to trying new foods etc and really don't want to sway anybody's recommendations. Same thing with budget. Sometimes swanky is swell other times good value is golden! I am not sure which way the pendulum will swing in September but I do know that we love good food and good recommendations based on your experiences! I am so glad that you brought up the First Nations cuisine as I now remember reading about that in preparation for our 2019 cruise leaving from Vancouver - thanks!! Also the descriptions you have used really help me! We like game and Chinese and seafood and... so all of your ideas are really helpful. Chinatown BBQ sounds good too. If you can think of any others please add to it. I am copying everything into a file to share with my family.

6 hours ago, cruiseryyc said:

I would put your luggage in storage at the port, then wander downtown, along the seawall in Stanley Park.  Have dinner and then pick up your luggage (although you might have to pick it up early depending on when they close) and head to the airport hotel.

Thank you! Do you have any suggestions for restaurants? How about any favorite places to go to that are unique to Vancouver? 

I have been looking at flights from Vancouver to Orlando for our arrival in Vancouver from our southbound cruise. I really don't want to end a perfectly awesome two week trip with a red eye flight! So...we will stay over night in the beautiful city at a Holiday Inn Express (hoping to use rewards). There are several to choose from but  the Vancouver Airport Richmond may make sense to stay at for an early morning flight the next day plus they have an airport shuttle. Does anyone have experience with this hotel and the neighborhood? Are there other IHG suggestions?

Last time we disembarked in Vancouver we rented a car and drove up to Whistler for the day/night because we had a later flight so we didn't spend any time in the city. We did stay one night pre cruise at the YWCA which was nice and walking distance to so many restaurants but we arrived later in the day and didn't get to do anything except walk to the restaurant. What would your best plan of action look like starting from the port? Should we store our luggage and explore downtown? Take a taxi to the hotel and explore the area around it if there's anything worthwhile? We will be decompressing after a full two weeks of non stop excursions etc...so what would you suggest for a light day of activity and good local food?

Thanks for the additional places!!

My husband and I sailed on the NA Sunday, December 4th and we had an offer on November 30th. We originally booked stateroom 4168 which has the double sized balcony and is a VB category. The offer we received was for a 7 day Caribbean cruise: Neptune $499 pp or Signature $199 pp. 

We took the Neptune and had the best cruise ever!! Just absolutely loved it!!

I was in the same position as you because I found that the land tour portion of our cruise tour was such an expensive add-on for just a few days in Denali. I booked the cruise only and procured the cabin that I wanted and then set out to find what appealed to me. There are so many resources to help the DIY tour! 

One of the best things that I feel helped me the most was just looking at what others have done on their travels throughout AK. There are so many travel blogs that outline their route. Seeing their pictures etc...and a good map really helped to narrow down places to go and things to do.

Everyone on this forum is super knowledgeable and helpful. Sometimes I just search for a place or an activity and see what comes up. Trip reports always surface and are very informative!  You can do it! I have already saved so much money and we are going to do and see so much more than the cruise line land portion.  

Really great information from all of you!!  Planning is such a big part of the journey for me and preparation is too!!  Thanks so much!

I appreciate the discount card information too!

Adding all of this information to my notes...😊 So excited!!

Thanks so much AKJonesy and AKstafford!!

I appreciate all of the grocery tips too!