Tropical Traveler

Kudos for your interesting and informative photo trip report.

I followed along with great interest because we’ll be sailing the same itinerary on Ovation in May of 2023. 
 

Many thanks for providing us with a preview of “coming attractions”.

Is it known yet what the itinerary is going to be for the Freedom's repositioning cruise from Ft. Lauderdale to San Juan?

We were on the Jewel's repositioning cruise from Tampa to San Juan in May of 2013. That itinerary was unique and out of the ordinary and we had a great time.

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Harry,

Kudos on your most excellent photo trip report. Its been informative, enlightening and entertaining.

We'll be sailing the same itinerary on Freedom in April of 2018. Even though my cruise is still a long ways off this will be a valuable asset as I endeavor to plan, prepare and pass the time (as the Tom Petty song goes: "The waiting is the hardest part").

Your taking the time and effort required to make a presentation such as this is much appreciated.

Jack

For some reason I'm unable to get the document to open.

Would someone please mention if the Royal will be doing the 10 day Eastern and Southern Caribbean itineraries again starting in Sept. 2015. Many thanks.

Yes. Last sailing in the system is 4/26/16

What is the date of Navigator's first sailing from FLL?

Im curious about the NAV one way repo to the PR Apr 12th.

It might be the 10-11 day cruise to southern Caribbean I wish they would do out of Galveston.

Or maybe It will be a 14 day

Doc, where did you find the NOS repo to PR April 12? I've been speculating about a repo. I missed JOS's repo from Tampa to PR last spring and been kicking myself for that ever since. I so hope NOS does a 9-11 night repo.

I'm also watching and waiting with great interest to see if in fact the NAV does repo to San Juan, and if so I plan to be one of the first in line to book.

We were on the Jewel's repo from Tampa to San Juan in May of last year and had a fantastic time.

.....Taken as a whole it was a great time. The itinerary was nice, with a good mixture of port and sea days. The crew was friendly and attentive and the ship was in excellent shape. I would definitely consider this cruise again, and highly recommend it. .....

As always, another fine presentation Grady. Thank you for taking the time and effort doing something like this requires.

Agreed that this is a really nice 8 day cruise that we'd be very interested in taking, especially if and/or when Anthem takes over the itinerary.

A most excellent photo review of a great cruise, kudos Grady.

Jack

I'm sailing on the repo to San Juan 4 weeks from today. Thanks for serving up this "appetizer". :D

Have a fabulous time. Cheers, bon appetit and Bon Voyage!

Kudos on another excellent presentation Grady.

I'm looking forward with great interest to the photo review of your next cruise. ;)

A most excellent presentation Jeff, thanks for sharing.

We're counting down to sailing on the Jewel's repositioning cruise to San Juan in just under 2 months.

Excellent photos, thanks for sharing.

We're visiting in May on the Jewel's repositioning cruise from Tampa to San Juan and on that day the Freedom will be there too.

Relieved to see that even on a day with two ships calling things still seem to run smoothly.

Kudos for a most excellent presentation and thanks for taking the time and effort.

We have a similar trip (but on a different cruise line) under consideration for this coming fall and, if we do go forward with it, this will help with some of what we would plan to do.

Kudos for another top notch presentation Grady.

The photos from Dominica brought to mind some pleasant memories. We did a similar excursion with a different tour guide in April of this year and had a fantastic time.

Looking forward to the rest of the review. The 10 & 11 night Caribbean itineraries from FLL are very enticing.

.....Our next cruise scheduled is 11 Days on the Legend going to Antigua, St Lucia, Barbados, Aruba, Bonaire and Grenada. Of course I will start researching the ports this weekend for a cruise that is 13 months away. If anyone has suggestions on things to do on these islands, I would love to hear them. :D

 

Lisa

Some tours/excursions that we've really enjoyed on previous visits to some of the ports of call you'll be going to:

Antigua - Eli's Eco Tour and Creole Cruises Lobster Lunch Cruise.

St. Lucia - Cosol's Tour.

Barbados - Silver Moon Catamaran.

And by the way, what type of camera do you use?

Jack

Thursday, November 29th

Welcome to Dominica! This island is a gem in the Caribbean. A bunch of us from CC all booked the Roseau Valley Treasures Tour with Bumpiing Tours...that would be Levi. Our van was driven by Levi and included my new buddies: Kay & Mike, Kathy & Steve, Sandi & Rich, and Martine. There were 13 of us in this van.

 

Our first stop was at Champagne Reef to go snorkeling. Champagne Reef gets its name from all the bubbles that come out of cracks at the bottom...looks like champagne bubbles. We saw lots of Sergeant Majors, Sea Urchins, an Eel, and other fish I cannot identify without my trusty fish book. We had an hour and a half to snorkel. Walt and I stuck to the rocks by the shore and saw amazing coral and schools of fish. One word of advice is to wear water shoes. The beach is rocky, not sandy.

 

Our second stop was Titou Gorge and it is an adventurous drive to get there. Scenes from Pirates of the Caribbean 2 were filmed there, so that's why I wanted to go. The water is cold! I mean 60 degrees cold. You have the option to jump in or take the stairs. We all decided to go with the stairs. Levi told us that once you get in to get in to your neck quickly. That did help me acclimate to the temperature much quicker than I thought it would take. You swim through the caves to the waterfalls. The current from the falls was strong, so Levi threw us the life preserver ring and pull us one or two at a time to the other side. A few of the group jumped off the falls and ledges. Levi free climbed up to the top and made a huge splash from 20 feet up. I decided not to tempt fate or injury and did not jump. The gorge was incredible.

 

Stop number three was Trafalgar Falls. We hiked up to the platform to see the falls and then hiked down to the hot pools below. At the platform we saw 2 spectacular waterfalls! Walt and I hiked down to the pools with the group, but decided to turn around and go back instead of exploring them. I am a notorious klutz, and felt like I would probably fall if we continued on. Back at the parking area I bought a sandwich for Walt and I to share while we waited.

 

On the tour there were 2 stops with restrooms, a few shopping opportunities, and water, soda, and beer (Kabuli) were provided. This is a 5-6 hour excursion and food was not provided. We brought snacks, but they were locked in the van when we can back early from the falls...that's why I bought a sandwich.

 

Walt and I highly recommend booking a tour with Levi. He was incredible and tour was one of the best we have ever taken. .....

Thanks for your most excellent photo review!

I completely agree what a gem of the Caribbean Dominica is and what an outstanding tour Levi's Roseau Valley Treasures is. We did it in April of this year and were also fortunate enough to have had Levi himself as our guide. Had a fantastic time, easily the best tour we have had the pleasure of taking on any of our previous cruises.

The itineraries of these 10 & 11 night Caribbean cruises are superb. It's great that Royal Caribbean is offering them again.

Jack

We rented a car and toured El Yunque on our own.

 

If you are interested to learn more about we did in El Yunque, you can read our review with lots more photos (beginning at post #182) at this link: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1038334&page=10 .....

Kudos and thanks for your most excellent photos and review.

We plan to stay on a few extra days in Puerto Rico at the conclusion of our repositioning cruise from Tampa to San Juan on Jewel next May to visit the Vieques Bio Bay and spend a day in El Yunque.

Seeing and reading about your experiences in those places is very helpful and informative.