Birdnutty

It's interesting to see, but not much to do after 20 minutes or so. It's really just the sea stars themselves, and they don't do much! It's a wonderful side stop on many of the tour boats.

Does anyone know if one is better than another for children or if they offer a discount for kids? Thanks.

We just got back from one with Aquarius (see thread in this forum) and there was a little 4 year old boy who came along. They loved him! He even got to drive the boat for awhile.

We were stopping in Ocho Rios Jamaica, and I was looking for someplace to go that would be safe, uncrowded and still indicative of a beautiful tropical island. I've had enough experience with Jamaica, both my own and hearing that of others , that I didn't want to go outside the gates. But I just couldn't fathom the idea of staying on the boat. I wanted to avoid some of the crazy spots (like all of them). One perk from our TA was a credit with shore excursions group dot com, so I went perusing their offerings and came up with this fabulous sounding place.

I don't know why I couldn't find any reviews on this little gem, but I' m glad I found it. It combines jungle/gardens with falls viewing, an aviary and falls swimming/climbing. Sounded ideal, so we went with it.

We were picked up at the ship, inside the gates where the taxis are, and driven about 10 minutes away to a beautiful tropical garden/aviary/waterfall site. The Turtle River that flows through it is a smaller version of Dunn's River and its falls, but has all the same characteristics, including the

swimming possibilities but with nobody else around. We were taken on a 70 minute (about) tour by Jordan, a very knowledgeable young man who knew all his flora and fauna very well, shown each of 8 beautiful waterfalls, a photographer followed us around and took pictures of us as well as the property as we went.

After the walk up a slight incline ( with well maintained concrete shallow steps) to the uppermost falls, we came down and went to their aviary where we interacted with the dozen or so tropical parrots and macaw. Our guide whistled as he approached, all the birds clustered at the entrance. He gave us food to hold, put some on our hats and the birds climbed on our arms, our heads, hands, etc. gorgeous birds. All the while, the photographer was snapping pictures and so were we, all on our own cameras. We must have in that aviary for a half hour, playing with the birds. In our past experiences, we were lucky if we got 5 minutes before the guides would be rushing us out to the next stop. This was the last stop, and we were then given about a half hour to go into the river,

climb falls and splash about in the cool pools of sparkling mountain river water. Our only complaint was that the description of the tour said we would have about an hour afterwards for our own exploration, but we were only given 30 minutes (too long in the aviary maybe??) We would have liked more time to spend In the water, as it was so refreshing on a hot humid day. We could only go the first falls, as it was the closest. It would've been fun to investigate the others.

On the large property is also a pretty pool with a swim- up bar (which wasn't operating when we were there, not that we had time anyway). Our van driver was waiting for us when we were done, and drove us back to the ship, or would drop us off to go shopping

downtown if we wished.

The whole property was very well maintained, compared to some of the other island properties I've experienced. The walkways were wide and new, steps were not steep. It was an easy walk. Not wheelchair accessible, however. Bathrooms were clean. All of the falls we viewed had platforms that appeared to be recently built and in excellent shape. And there was nobody there except us and the staff. We felt very safe and protected, there were no people hawking their wares, and no other tourists to trip over on the trails or in the water. It was ideal, and a great way to see the beauty of Jamaica. Highly recommended!!

Has anyone ever used this service? I don't remember running into it before, but at $10 pp fare, it sounds attractive. It runs on Fri, Sat, Sun and Monday only, and caters to cruiseship passengers.

I need to make sure we make it to our early departure (10:30) from FLL, so I'm hoping someone can help.

Thanks!

Is this an issue on the Caribbean Princess as well? Are we likely to need mattress toppers? Are they available on that ship?

We've never sailed Princess before, although we've been on 30+ cruises. We don't know what to expect.

Our most memorable trip to Cozumel, was when we took a private jeep tour with cozumel cruise excursions dot net. We read all of their great trip advisor reviews, and went ahead and booked online.

 

$10 person but included and some other things were included. We paid less than $70 which was a great price.

How many people were in your group? When you say "private", was it really just your people? How many people per jeep? We're traveling in a groups of six, which is an odd number for this kind of thing, since we want to stay together, preferably in the same vehicle. This sounds like a great way to see the island while avoiding the crowds.

Did you see anyone swimming at the beach at the turtle Farm? I hear that the coral is very close to shore and that the snorkeling is great there. I'd love to know all about it.

Does one need to purchase the full pass to gain access to their waterfront?

I'm living vicariously through this review. So complete!

Thanks, and keep it coming!

We have not yet been on the newest ships, but when on all the others including the Epic, we have never had a problem getting seating without reservations if we go early, like 5:30 to 6. And the board listing is frequently wrong, so we learned never to rely on it. Although we've never really used him or her, I'm sure the concierge can really help.

We've only done two, but both failed miserably. The Wheel of Fortune machines (in my limited experience) are unbelievably tight. You did very well!

Enjoying your review. We're thinking of going on the Breakaway soon. This review sure helps. Thanks!

just as an aside - when the ship's officers give you their cards, they really do want you to use them. A remark to the Maitre d earlier in the week may have had better results and given him an opportunity to work toward improvement with his staff. If no results are obtained, NCL really wants you to pursue it to higher authorities until satisfaction is obtained. That all aids in the proper training of their staff.

Other passengers are not as likely to be understanding and patient as you are and are more likely to give flaming reviews without giving the ship a chance to rectify the situation. But I applaud your patience. I, too, am very understanding and forgiving and know how hard it is to do what they are doing and please everyone. But patience does not necessarily help them to supply a better product.

I do believe that they rely on helpful, constructive "suggestions" from objective, rational sources to help them be the best they can.

Waiting for the next chapter....

i just purchased these coupon using the discount code. The name you type in, has to match to the name who will be redeeming the coupon. The last time i used these coupons on the Gem about 2 years ago, the casino host checked ID's

Just used these on the Sun, and yes, they do ask for the room card, making sure the names match. But once your "Gambling card" is issued, it is a separate entity from the room card, and can be used by anyone that knows the passcode for that card. My husband doesn't gamble, so he went down to Casino Services and had them issue him a gambling card (the name escapes me at this moment) They load the credit onto that card, then he handed me the card and I was off!

If the accumulation of points is important to you, make sure you cash out as soon as you use up the promo. You can then put that ticket into the machine under your own card to gain points.

Example: I had my hubby's $50 credit on his card. I only use $10 at a time. SO after I had played enough to use the $10 total in bets, I cashed out. The amount that came out depended, of course, on the amount won on that $10 in bets. Then I pulled his card out of the slot machine and inserted mine. Then I put the voucher with the winnings back into the machine, but under my card, so that accumulated points went primarily to me and were not split over the two cards.

I hope this make sense.

Lots of good info on this thread. Took me awhile to find it again for reference, so I decided to bump it up. No need for many other questions. It's all here!

Yes, many owners lost out on the rental chair/snorkel gear contract but chairs are being provided and it will be quieter on big ship days.

We actually found Sapphire on our own after a visit to Tortola and it immediately became part of our routine.

 

This thread was started by someone else who had little knowledge of the situation at Sapphire and was frustrated by the news. But post # 11 from Beautiful Bill, an original owner at Sapphire, describes the history and everyone is waiting for the next phase.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g147404-i172-k7085636-o10-Shappire_Beach_at_a_Corssroads_Owners_get_it_together-St_Thomas_U_S_Virgin_Islands.html

Thank you so much for posting that thread. It was kind of you. I do not have the time to wander the other sites, don't have as much time as I'd like to be on this one unless I have a cruise to research, and am dismayed to hear of the internal problems Sapphire was having, as it has always been a favorite place for me. I appreciate knowing the facts.

I just read that the Summit still has the daily Elite party when the crowd of Elites is small enough. We have thoroughly enjoyed the intimate daily cocktail hour in Michael's and have met some wonderful people and had the best time...:)

This is our first Celebrity cruise, but we are diamonds on RCCL, so the level transfers over. How does one find out about the cocktail hour (if held?) Is there an invite in your cabin? Do they do it on shorter sailings (4 day) or just longer ones? On such a short cruise, I'm afraid of missing anything. :D

Anyone know what prompted the closings?

How come the dive shop and the (lovely) restrooms are closed? Did they have a storm or something?

If memory serves me right, there's a dive shack on Sapphire beach that rents snorkel stuff. It's between the two resorts.

There are also quite a few LARGE iguanas at Sapphire beach. And Caribbean ducks. We were amazed at how used to people they are, and just stroll around looking for tidbits that people may give them. (Although it's really not good for them. Kinda like giving kids cotton candy all the time). One actually followed me around (an iguana, that is) and kinda freaked me out. Eventually he set his sights on someone with potential handouts, and he left me alone. :)

Looks like taxi, me then sas shuttle is the best deal with minimum aggravation. I checked out Howard's transportation, and he also was $75, if he picked us up before 7:30 AM. That would leave us waiting for over 3 hours at port of Miami with nothing to do.

A rental car from Sixt is about $35 to $40 and allows us the flexibility to stop off and buy supplies between cruises. All the other rental places were a lot more than that. If we weren't going to do a one way, it would be only $22!

But I have all my facts now, so I'm better educated. Thanks for all the help.

I was on that CTN also. I've been checking cc and our roll call. I was wondering what happened also. I don't think it was by of a seizure. It seemed like a passenger couldn't be found. It was very strange.

That's what we thought too. I know the cruiselines are very tightlipped about this kind of negative stuff, so if something bad happened, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the news had been squashed as much as possible.

I just hope nothing bad did happen. But with the amount of stupid things people are capable of doing, anything is possible.

I keep looking to see if anyone posted, but nobody has so far. Weirdest thing..... at 2:30 AM, two announcements were made over the general loudspeaker paging a certain person. Very strange to have announcements at that wee hour of the morning. Next morning, another announcement made - different first name but same last name. Next morning, we were several hours delayed in disembarking in NYC. They kept coming on and saying that it was a little while longer until we were cleared by the authorities. Nobody could leave the ship until after 9:30. That's really late.

We had heard that someone had a seizure in the elevator, but I doubt that would have anything to do with late disembarking.

Anyone have any idea?

We went on the January one also. Muster was at 4:30, I believe. It was cold out, but not too cold to still run across the pool deck to get to the other end if you wanted. And there were some hardy souls in the hot tubs.

We went with our grown kids and had a blast. We had dinner in the MDR (Yes, it was garlic shrimp and lamb, among other things), went to 3 shows in a row, did the casino, which by 11 PM was outrageously smoky. I was surprised that they closed down some of the entertainment, like the singer at the champagne bar and a few other venues at midnight. There were tons of people till there, obviously not ready for bed and wanting to party some more, but unless you stayed up in Spinnaker for the white hot party, there wasn't much going on after 12. I was surprised. Thought for sure that more money was to be made on drinks if the entertainment stayed there. They also closed the shops then, too, which was too bad because I had wanted to go shopping after all the other entertainment was over, but it was gone. :( Word to the wise - shop early!

All in all, a great night and looking forward to doing it again.

Is it true that the taxi rates to the airport are about $15 for the cab? The rate I quoted above for both legs is what Go Shuttle quoted, and that was per person. So yes, if the taxi to FLL is that amount, it is significantly cheaper to do it that way.

I'll have to do a little more research. If I come up with anything exciting, I'll repost.

Hi. After reading many of these threads, and having done a bit of research myself, I've discovered that the main shuttle companies will not do a direct POE to POM run. It appears that there are now restrictions on all kinds of things. Latest investigations revealed that Go can't take you directly, unless you take a private car for $75 By the time you add gratuities, that's close about $90. Or, we can take a shuttle to the airport ($11 plus gratuity), then a shuttle to POM for $25 plus tip. Which comes to almost $90 once again, and is a lot more time, aggravation, moving of luggage, etc. Ouch!

Does anyone know of another way to do this that might be more economical and not too much aggravation?

Which car companies shuttle you from POE to their rental area? Was thinking that might be an option if there are locations not too far from the port. Any recommendations? But then there's the issue of getting to the port from wherever their drop off location is. Sigh.....