Miss Vickie

Hello folks!

 

I am visiting Antigua soon on a cruise-stop. I want to do this hike as recommended to me by a friend-of-a-friend who actually lives on the island. http://www.antiguanice.com/v2/client.php?id=807&cat=99

 

Has anyone else done this hike? Any advice or things I should know? How would you recommend getting there from port? I assume I can just grab a taxi and tell him or her where the beach starting point is, but is it very far away?

 

Thanks!

Thanks for the link, we may do this next January.

I didn't see the Jewel on there.

 

 

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Oh, believe me, they have them - used them for 2 weeks just recently :)

Does the Jewel have the serve yourself coke machine out by the pool? It is so handy not having to stand in line at the bar.

There are 2, both at the back of the Windjammer, starboard side just before you walk out into the open seating area.

I always take my own hairdryer, did on Adventure, too (and it did blow a fuse once, but on a different ship :rolleyes:).

It was great meeting you too. I did enjoy the Allure a lot. It will be a few more weeks before that review is ready though. I have 2,037 photos to sort through before I can think about writing it. I only had 1,354 from the Jewel cruise, and there were two more ports :D

 

I met some people on the Allure roll call who know your little group from a previous Southern Caribbean cruise :D :eek: Explorergrl and Rickvette were tons of fun to hang around with.

 

The comedian on the last night was pretty funny but I guess by then I was in packing/leaving mode.

 

The comedy duo earlier in the week was, um, interesting. It was kind of funny to have so many random strangers coming up to me the next few days asking me if I was "Karen with a K". (For those wondering, I got dragged up on stage during one of the shows - totally embarrassing but fun, I guess)

Can't wait to see the Allure pics. It's going to take me a while to get through my pictures .

That's funny that you met Trisha and Jay! We've cruised with them a couple of times, and got 9256 one year because they had it booked and then cancelled.

We weren't in the show where you got dragged up on stage, we were in the other show that evening. Sorry I missed that :D

Jodi

Enjoyed meeting both you and Brena, Karen. Hope you enjoyed week #2 on Allure!

Great review, and the pictures are terrific! We actually enjoyed the comedians (we didn't see the guy who did the welcome aboard or late night shows, but did enjoy the others), and saw both production shows the week before, with the departing cast. I wasn't wild about the production shows. We agree wholeheartedly about the MDR. We really enjoyed our dinner in Portofino, though.

We actually stopped going to the top tier party a number of cruises ago, but when they moved it to the Helipad for this cruise, we decided to go. We thought it was a great venue for it!

The senior officers were more visible than we had ever seen them before, both weeks we were on board. They were even at the bottom of the gangway several afternoons greeting people as they returned to the ship. And we had the opportunity to chat with the hotel director several times. Very nice guy.

We're booked back on Jewel for another 2 weeks next January. The way this winter is going, that can't come soon enough!

Jodi

Miss Vicky, how much was your tour for the 7 sisters falls hike? When did you go?

 

James Mommy, did you find a tour company yet?

 

I'm also interested in this hike. The ship offers if for 45.00. I sent an email to Sunsation Tours and Mandoo today.

I'm sorry, I don't remember how much it was, it was several years ago. I am sure I didn't bother comparing the price to the ship excursion. We had used Mandoo two times prior, and knew we would have a good day, and we prefer not to do ship tours.

Agree completely.

I think she could have some good tours. Just need to get her arrangements and communications down.

I'm Ernie's wife, Beulah admitted to me she lost our reservation in the process of transferring calendars, and this is after having had numerous communications with her, including phone calls just 2 weeks before our arrival. So I'm willing to bet she didn't contact Teach until we were on the ferry. Of course, that doesn't explain why she wasn't honest with us when we met her in St. Kitts, why she put us on the ferry without having confirmed anything or why the guy Teach sent to meet us nearly didn't and why he had no info on where we were supposed to be going or when. No way would I trust Beulah to make adequate arrangements for us in the future.

Mandoo has a 7 Sisters falls hike we really enjoyed.

There's been so little information available, I hope this might be helpful to others.

We were on Martinique last week. The dock Is a long, clean, dedicated cruise ship facility. The industrial port is located elsewhere. There are English-speaking tourist ambassadors and guides dressed in brightly colored uniforms in the port area, and vendors have set up tents immediately adjacent to the pier. A tourist ambassador making announcements on a PA system said all prices were in USD. Walking through, we saw prices in USD and euros, but didn't buy anything, so don't know if all the vendors took dollars. I expect they all spoke at least some English, it feels as if, at least in the port area, they are making a concerted effort to appeal to cruise ship passengers.

If you walk past the tents, there is a parking area with taxis for taxi tours. We were approached by an English-speaking driver named Bob. He had a 7 passenger vehicle, already had 2 passengers, and was looking to fill his van. He offered the 5 of us a tour for 40 euros each. When we explained we had only 170 euros, he agreed to take the balance in dollars. We drove through Fort de France, ended up on a modern freeway, went to a beautiful church, Sacre Couer, made a scenic stop in the rainforest, went to a rum distillery, St. Pierre, and some other scenic spots. It was a an enjoyable tour of about 4 hours, and we were back on board about 1:30. It appeared that many people were back on board by then, or may have even just stayed on board. I wouldn't recommend that; it's a pretty island, the people we met were friendly.

So we can get off the ship after the first leg of the B2b.

Absolutely. They don't hold you hostage :)

Caribbean Dreamer 37. In Martinique and Guadeloupe all transactions are done in Euros. They are ruled by France. We exchanged money on the ship. They gave us Euro 70 for every $100. There were some ATM along the way to town too. But you definetaly need Euros. Regarding the black sand beach in the town of St Pierre we walked on the beach but we did not swim there since we went to the other beach.

We were on Martinique last week, and did a taxi tour with a gentleman named Bob. He quoted the 5 of us a rate of 40 euros per person (10/hr). We only had 170 euros and he took the balance in US dollars. And, he spoke English. We went to a distillery, St. Pierre, a scenic stop in the rain forest and several other kodak picture spots during our tour.. Had a very enjoyable tour.

We are planning on walking to the Agapey Chocolate Factory (8 minutes from the pier per Agapey's website) and then afterwards go to the Mt Gay Rum Factory.

 

Q: How far is it from the Chocolate Factory to the Rum Factory? I'm assuming we catch a cab??

 

And after all, what's better than chocolate washed down with a little rum:D

We did the same, and added a flying fish lunch. We got a cab outside the port port for the day, for 15-20 per person for the day, and he recommended and took us to the restaurant for lunch (there were 5 of us). Using the taxi was well worth it.

I apologize if this is already posted somewhere, as I cant find it. We will be in Antiqua in April and wondering if anyone has done the Eco tour or the Extreme Circumnav tour? What was your experience? And do you know about how much you paid?

Thanks for any info you can provide.

We've done both, multiple times, love them! Eli's tours are our absolute favorites. Prices are on the website, and I believe that there is a discount for booking on line.

Hello, I see many are cruising in January, can you please tell me how St. Croix was and any suggestions, if any, to do for the day. Thanks so much!!

 

 

Pay It Forward. Be kind.

http://www.virginkayaktours.com

We did this tour 1/14/13, and had a great time. We spent almost 2 hours on the water with Bryan who made the time fly with his narrative. He's a very knowledgeable and interesting guide. The Kayaks are new and you have a choice of paddling or foot power. We saw the ship tour heading back in as we headed out, they were out for a 1/2 hour. Bryan made sure we were comfortable and would periodically ask if we were tired and wanted to go on or back. The only thing I regret was I forgot to bring water with me. Taxi cost to Cane Bay was $18 per person round trip. We got to Cane Bay around 9:45 and met Bryan at 10 and came back to Cane Bay around 1PM. We had time for lunch at the restaurant there called Eat, a bit pricey but good. We had the taxi come back for us at 2:30 and got back to the dock by 3.

This must be the product of some joker IT guy inputting something funny into the website. Failing that, it must be the product of some automated mapping/location thing.

 

If anybody's wondering what the heck Cupey is, allow me to expand.

 

San Juan is the Capital City and the seat of government of Puerto Rico. It is divided into some major subdivisions, namely, Old San Juan (the historic district), Santurce (the modern built up area just east of Old San Juan), Hato Rey (midtown or the financial district aka The Golden Mile) and Rio Piedras.

 

Up until the 1960s, Rio Piedras was a municipality all to its own until it got merged with San Juan. Rio Piedras itself had some subdivisions, one of which was Hato Rey (Spanish for The King's Ranch), and then El Casco or Downtown Rio Piedras, where the University of Puerto Rico's main campus sits. The suburbs of the then municipality of Rio Piedras where and are still known as Cupey, with the low lying areas designated as Cupey Bajo (low) and the hills known as Cupey Alto (high).

 

The most current claim to fame of that area known as Cupey is that it is the birthplace and home of three-time world boxing champion Felix "Tito" Trinidad. Now, Tito Trinidad is insanely famous on the whole of Puerto Rico, so I wouldn't put it past some techie fan of him of pushing his homestead in the interwebs as THE capital of Puerto Rico - Cupey - above Rio Piedras and the whole of San Juan.

 

And that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Thanks for the explanation! We love coming to San Juan, and I like to learn thing about the area.

Jodi

I don't know where or what Cupey is, but Jewel of the Seas ports at the Pan Am pier.

Enjoying your review! Did they have a pasta demonstration lunch in Portofino whiile you were on board? We did it on Serenade a couple of years ago and enjoyed it, hoping jewel has it, too.

this is completely untrue! There are many cabins that are quad. and of course they would get their money back before the 75 day period. Please fact-check before answering!!

I was thinking it, you said it. Thank you!

Seventeen 17 are now being reported as dead, in St.Vincent! :eek:

 

This is literally Hurricane Damage, but without the winds!

 

 

http://www.caribbeannewsnow.com/topstory-Christmas-storm-death-toll-rises-19214.html

.

That's exactly what I was thinking when I was reading what Levi wrote me.

I've been in touch with Levi, of Bumpiing tours. He had to cancel a day's worth of tours, because roads were impassable to the common tourist sites, but there was no loss of life in Dominica, unlike St. Lucia, where 5 died, and 8 in St. Vincent. They are still doing some clean up in Dominica.

Did you book through the cruise line or independently? I've heard good things about this excursion. . . .

 

Sorry - this is about the Cosol tour. . . forgot to mention that!

We've never booked with Cosol, but this is an independent tour - website http://cosol-tours.com/

We're on the same cruise, just saw you on the roll call. We like active excursions, too, and rarely book ship excursions. There's a recent poster on the roll call looking for someone to share a hiking excursion on Dominica and a catamaran snorkeling excursion on Tortola. We've done bothe the excursions he's looking at and enjoyed them. For St. Kitts, our favorite excursion there so far has been Javin's myiskand tours, which includes both hiking and snorkeling. We're planning on booking with him again next year (doing a hike on Nevis this year with Beulah's Welcome Tours). Javin's website is https://myislandstours.shutterfly.com/?cid=SEGOO.DSA&gclid=CJqt24-RzbsCFWRk7AodiTMAKA?cid=SEGOO.DSA&gclid=CJqt24-RzbsCFWRk7AodiTMAKA. Beulah May still have space on the Nevis hike, too. Her website is http://tourstkittsandnevis.com/?page_id=2. We're doing the Nevis historical and rainforest hike.

Adventure Antigua has a circumnavigation excursion that's a lot of fun. It includes a visit at Stingray City when no one else is there, snorkeling at the Pillars of Hercules, a visit to English Harbor, a brief beach stop, a yummy lunch, and a great crew. The website to check it out is http://www.adventureantigua.com.

Having never cruised before, I am beginning to worry that I may have made an error in booking a kayaking trip independently.

 

We are supposed to be in port (Celebrity Summit 12/22) at 8am. Our excursion starts at 9:15 for kayaking up near Christiansted. We are renting a car at Budget to get there.

 

Does it take a long time to get off the ship? Will the rental car process take forever? I think that we will be fine as long as we can be in the car and on our way no later than 8:40. Is this even possible?:confused:

Did you book with Virgin Kayak? We did this last year and loved it. We got off our ship (Adventure of the Seas) as soon as the announced we could get off and had no problem getting there in time.