HarpHarp

We are staying in a Category M9 which is a Spa Mini Suite Balcony - I did attempt a Haven Suite but it was a little too much money for a 3 day cruise when we expect to spend a lot of time out of the suite, we will be in the Thermal spa though as it looks amazing! :)

Take many pictures of the spa. I'm in a spa balcony in 3 weeks:D

You might try a private local co. like these 2

http://www.patouche.com/

http://mystiquecharters.com/bvi-excursions-yacht-charters/index.php?id=12&gclid=Cj0KEQjwtaexBRCohZOAoOPL88oBEiQAr96eSOAs_X4LJFDsOmslfIRGW0HFrb9QKVUcFQq1lnIj2i0aAlGk8P8HAQ

Or a multi island firm

https://www.cruisingexcursions.com/search-port.php?port=442

& last but not least, if you have a passport, you can do this from St Thomas.

http://www.stthomascruiseshiptour.com/tours.html

Jost Van Dyke¡ is a separate island and the Soggy Dollar is usually accessed by swimming to it from a boat. The party bus would be a great way to see lovely Tortola but you need to take a boat if you want to go to the Soggy Dollar

Well everyone is different. :) I great enjoy the Breakway. Including being a bottom feeder in a cheap inside.

I've been on both the Breakaway & the Breeze. The open plan Ocean Plaza area of the Breeze made it seem less crowded than the BA, but the music volume was so loud that you could hear music from 3 venues at the same time. The hot tub area outside the nightclub was deserted during the day. What a terrific spot.

on the BA, I found the spa & the public sun deck on 17 opposite Vibe, to be quiet & I loved the waterfront during the day. Fat Cats & the theater never seemed to be crowded, but I wish they used those areas for daytime activities.

I like the activities on the mega ships, but at times some venues seem very crowded & the atrium on the BA should only occasionally be used for activities.

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Well, duh. Everyone knows that ;)

Hope everyone gets on board as scheduled!

There were many people with just BC & DL on our Breakaway cruise. This has to be one of the lowest risk cruises for getting stuck because you don't have a passport. 99% of the time, if something happened on board, you would end up in a U.S. port & your first stop is in the U.S.

Just make sure you both have proper insurance & give yourself plenty of time to reboard in Nassau.

LounVal,

The owner/operator of Phantasea Botanical Gardens gave me a list when I asked for tour operators who would take us take us to the gardens on our private tour.

We will be in St Thomas 2 weeks before you so I will be happy to send you the list with my suggestion if you e-mail me.:D

Which beaches? I used to live in St T. & have my favorites.

Who goes to Margaritaville in Canada? That's your first mistake. ;) Seriously though, these restaurants are franchised and they can be all over the place with quality and service. Besides, unless you visited that location several times and had the exact same experience each time, there's no way to know if that's the norm there.

The same people who are standing in line at Starbucks when there is a Tim Horton's across the street.:D

Thanks! I'm definitely leaning towards Sapphire, but how will I know what beach is the best for that day? It sounds like the drivers will suggest where their families are vendors. Who would be best to ask?

Snorkeling is not good at Magens. Sapphire can get a bit rough in winter. If your sail in was smooth, it should be ok. Check the web cam if you have internet access.

http://www.sapphireinthesun.com/

Secret Harbor is another good beach for snorkeling but is small. It is likely to be calm & clear

Curious to hear from anyone who has taken the red hook ferry to St John, would it be possible to make it over to St John by 9:30am if your "dock" time is 8am? My only experience is on Carnival in other ports and it seems like we were out pretty quick. We are on Norwegian this time so I'm not sure how quickly they deboard.

 

Thanks

My experience has been that the debark on NCL is much quicker that Carnival.

If you are ready to go by 8 you should be able to make the 9am ferry & will be at Cruz Bay at about 9:15. The taxi line may be the hold up, but it usually moves very quickly & the safari taxis fill up quickly to popular destinations lke Red Hook.

:cool::D:)

An then check out the spa :cool: Correct, spa buddy??

There are 5 ships in port that day with well over 16,000 passengers.

As a former St Thomas resident, I would, and will, avoid Coki. Sapphire is my favorite beach for a little bit of everything, but we are stopping at Secret Harbour after the botanical gardens & tour.

f you want more info, e-mail me. See you on board!

Just finished the Hoffman book.

This was in my book freebies e-mail today:)

Second Chances: (Southern Comfort Series Book 1) A Free Romance Novel

by Bria Marche

Second Chances: (Southern Comfort Series Book 1) A Free Romance Novel

5.0 stars – 1 Review

Kindle Price: FREE!

Here’s the set-up:

Life sails along smoothly on beautiful St. Thomas for Abby Melrose Bellavance, or so she thinks. That is, until her husband Remy steals her trust fund and disappears for parts unknown.

Are those rubber playground style tiles a new thing?

Must be, they installed them in our gym here at home on the last refurbishment.

I'm glad to hear that -- I just got one delivered yesterday (the expandable memory card to 128 gb and the ability to download from prime was what got me to get it instead of an ipad mini). I plan on loading it up before my 12/20 -- and before people ask why I need movies on a cruise -- I'm a solo traveler and I love watching tv/movies in my cabin when I am getting ready to go to dinner and before I go to bed. I haven't tried it outside yet, so I didn't realize that was one of the improvements :)

Yeah my first generation Fire started having charging problems last week & with the >$50 price of the new one & finding one available locally, made it a no-brainer. I'm hard pressed to tell the difference between the book screens on my paperwhite & the fire even outside or with my Ott light on.

Whichever tablet you have, or which service you use, the key is to download all the books you want before you leave for the cruise. Hopefully you have WiFi in your home, to keep the data charges down. Don't wait until you are on the ship to download the books.

Or you can go to a library near you and use the free wifi. They can also show you the digital services they have & help you download all the books you want. Like queenschick said there may be a waiting list, but there is also the ability to search for available items.

Always a shill for public libraries:D

Well here are a few examples:

 

Feel this Moment---Take Me On , A Ha

 

Bon Bon---Tu vuò fà l'americano, Renata Carosone,

 

Hotel Room Service---Push the Feeling On, Nightcrawlers and Hotel Room,Lord Kossity

 

The Anthem--Calabria 2007, Enur

 

You can google the rest. I guess I'm of the thought that changing one note does not a new song make. Is his and other "dj's" style a new style?

That could be debated. IMHO he is more of a producer/collaborator than artist. Had a very interesting conversation with a songwriter I met on the Breakaway in July while waiting for the next set at Fat Cats.

 

I think it's fine that people like to dance to his catchy beat, but it is not original.

As a musician, I'm hard pressed to name any popular music in the last 100 years that is truly original. There are only so many variations in melody, harmony, tempo & rhythm that are available & sound right to our ear. There are dozens of popular tunes based on folk or classical melodies, or even straight up covers with different lyrics.

Lover's Concerto & Groovy kind of love are both based on classical melodies and Morning has Broken, Scarborough Fair & the Parting Glass (yes Ed Sheeran I'm looking at you) are all very old folk/religious melodies. Jazz is nothing more than sampling & improvisation. I guess electronic sampling is easier, but the source is more identifiable.

The best music combines elements in unusual ways. Who knows if Pitbull will be relevant musically in 10 years. I do see a growth in his music that leads me to believe he may have a very long lasting career. Who would ever think that Lady GaGa would be singing with Tony Bennet. I think NCL needs to build a San Francisco themed ship & have Tony & GaGa be godfather & godmother;)

If you do your reading on the deck, I would opt for an old school type of kindle, paperwhite or voyager. It is almost impossible to read with the tablets outside. The ones that are for reading only, are made in a way that you can adjust if you are outside (and they are significantly lighter).

 

I do second overdrive or axis360, my library allows 50 books on Overdrive, but good books, like the real library often have a wait list, so I already started selecting books that I will hopefully have for my 12/20 sailing. At my library you can have them for 21 days, which is pretty nice when going on a cruise, if I get them the week or two before, they won't disappear until the trip is over.

 

I used to bring 6 or 7 books with me, and this has made a huge difference in the weight of my bags :)

The new 5th generation Kindle fire is much better for reading in sunlight. The book screen is almost as good as my paperwhite. The 1st generation KF was terrible for reading, but I think I will get away with taking the new KF on my cruise next month. Ditto on the weight of the bags. More room for new purchases:D

Retired librarian here:

The Breakaway library is lovely & there is a great display of rockette costumes. However, the selection of books is small & not the greatest.

Tablet, Kindle app & library card from a library with Overdrive would be my suggestion. Most of the time the borrowing limit is 10 book. Amazon also has thousands of free books to download. Not to sound like a shill for Amazon, but the new 5th generation Fire is on sale for $49.99. Try your local Best Buy

So I don't know anything about Cruises, Escape will by my first. Other than a publicity opening one time concert does this actually mean anything?

There is a bit more to it on the Breakaway. There are displays of Rockette costumes & they market the morning stretch class as the Rockette stretch. They use video of some of the ladies on one of the ship channels.

I imagine with Pitbull, they may brand drinks made with his vodka or use some music videos. Maybe he will write a new song for the Escape.

i wonder if anyone who doesn't like pitbulls music has bothered to look beyond and see who he is besides his music? he is very much into charity work and very very big on community. he has been awarded the key to miami for sharing a positive message. does any of that count or is he just the man with the music?

don't discount him. his music is no worse than many other artists but what he gives back is a lot more than some.

 

disclaimer--i'm a grandmother who loves his music. its very upbeat and i have found myself singing timber in public……clutch the pearls

:D I've found that cleaning with Chi Chi Bon Bon playing makes it go ever so much faster.

I think he's been the featured artist on the Today Show concert series at least twice, so he does have music suitable for public consumption.

Getting my pearls out to clutch;)

His music has evolved since he started & he certainly presents a pretty classy, serious business man image when he wants to.

Some titles from his last couple of albums:

Miami Miami

Sexy Beaches

Celebrate

El Party

Chi Chi Bon Bon

Vacaciones

Not to mention Blanco from Fast & The Furious, & the song he did for the World Cup.

I can see why NCL made the choice

I don't care for some of his lyrics, but some of them certainly fit the happy cruising image.

And that would be the Steelers correct? :D

What other team is there?

There are lovely beaches in Isla Verde, but private to the hotel guests. It looks like the Marriot offers a day pass, & also island marketing sells a beach day excursion. Puerto Rico is larger than most of the islands, & the best beaches are some distance from the port.

What is your time frame? If you are there early & depart in late afternoon, take the El Yunque excursion. The rainforest is a different but beautiful trip. If you are thee very late with an evening departure, go to the bioluminescent bay, a unique place.

Are water shoes needed at Sapphire Beach?

 

Thanks

It depends. You can see the beach using this web cam link

http://www.sapphireinthesun.com/

The link at the top of the page shows a drone video. There is a sandy portion of the beach & also rocks and a coral reef. The sand can get very warm and there are sea urchins in some areas. If you have them, wear them.