Miss Vickie

We like the Doubletree in the Condado. It's a Hilton Honors hotel.

What is wrong with their email it does not connect

Who h as accurate address ??

Levibaron@bumpiingtours.com

We've cruised out San Juan 15 times, with 4 more cruises booked. It's our favorite port of embarkation. We've heard the horror stories, but never encountered any problems.

I couldn't agree more. We lucked out and got in on a tour with him through a group on our roll call. Honestly, we could have just ridden around on the bus all day and listened to him talk. We are very interested in government, politics, economics and history. He knows so much about the Caribbean and Grenada. One person asked him why there were so many Chinese grocery stores on Grenada and that began the whole discussion. He is involved in the politics on the island. He lectures on history at the schools and promotes tourism as well. After Hurricane Ivan caused massive destruction, many of the youth chose to abandon the island (he showed us many empty homes) in search of better opportunity. He has been working to change their minds and promote tourism as a way for Grenada to thrive. He is way more to Grenada than just a tour guide and we felt extremely lucky to have had such a highly regarded, knowledgeable host share his love of his island with us.

We've known Mandoo for years, have taken multiple trips with him, including his Seven Sisters hike, my favorite. We enjoy listening to him, too, and admire his perspectives and his work on the island.

Yep, Puerto Rico is an hour ahead of EST, but all the ports are in the same time zone, don't need to reset I until you get home.

I believe that the Jewel sailing out of San Juan does not change time at all on any of her current itineraries. She stays in the same time zone as San Juan.

This is correct. All the islands, including Puerto Rico, are on Caribbean Time, there are no time changes.

Thanks! Do you have a preference on which one?

Calabaza is our fAvorite, Silvermoon is a close second.

Great info.

Anyone take part in a Nevis tour with Welcome Tours?

We're on Jewel in January, too, and have booked a Nevis tour with Beulah.

DH and I will be in San Juan for a couple of days pre-cruise in January and we were considering spending a day wandering around Old San Juan. I'm just wondering how many hills we would have to hike up and down - I have a knee that doesn't always like hills or stairs and I hate to ruin it before we even get on the ship. I've considered taking a tour of OSJ but we really like the freedom to go where we want to and stop and take pictures when we want to. Plus we're probably going to take a tour to El Yunque on the other pre-cruise day and I hate to spend money on 2 tours. :)

 

Any suggestions on how to do OSJ without ruining a knee? We are ages 65 and 56 and in pretty good shape, I just have a bum knee.

From the port to El Moro it's up hill. You can catch a taxi or the free trolley, start at El Moro and walk down hill back to the port area.

Loved your pictures! Thank you for sharing!

Glad you enjoyed, I love OSJ! We're there every year.

My pictures are on flickr - link in my signature.

When our son and his partner went on their first cruise together they went to see the LA at the start of the cruise, and she signed his partner up for C&A and gave him our son's status (diamond) and associated perks, effective immediately. His partner had no previous documented cruises on Royal.

I believe Serenity Tours goes to that beach hotel. That is why I posted a question on this forum about them. They seem to provide boat transfers. The only downside I saw is you do not see the Pitons. Hope you get more responses with information as I am curious too.

Why book with serenity when you can book with island divers, which is based at Ti Kaye and also offers boat transfers? We've used them many times, always have a great day.

Hello all:

 

We want to do a cruise with the turtles, but we are not really interested in a loud party atmosphere. We are active and in our mid-late 40s. We looking for something peaceful and active. It is our honeymoon, so intimate and romantic is more our style this trip.

 

I tried to book Calabaza, but they are already full on the date we will be in Barbados.

 

Thanks for any suggestions!

Silvermoon was not a part boat, we enjoyed it.

Have read great things on trip advisor, but has anyone actually been on either of there catamaran trips?

We were on Calabazza last January, loved it so much that we came home and immediately rebooked for next January. We've done Silver Moon and Tiami previously, too. We did not care for Tiami. It was too crowded, a party atmosphere we weren't looking for, not a lot of personal attention from the crew, there were drinks but no snacks or lunch. On Silver Moon, we took the 25-passenger trip. It was good, not overly crowded, the crew was attentive, it was a lunch cruise, with pretty good food. Calabaza was terrific! 12 passengers, awesome crew, yummy food starting when you boarded, most comfortable boat, and Gina contacted us after the trip, with a link to pictures taken during the day and recipes for all the food. It was fun, but not wild.

Jodi

Seriously, some of us are from an era where we worked very hard to bring "equality" to many aspects of American life. Because of the strong beliefs I developed in my youth, the "separate but equal" thing just doesn't fly with me.

 

I realize that the DL and DE are free and gifts from RCI, but to me, that's not what matters. What is important to me is that everyone within the class of loyalty receives the same benefits for reaching that level.

 

I hope you can understand that for some of us, it's a matter of principal.

 

I hope you can take that as seriously as I mean it.

 

 

BTW, the vast majority of my cruises have required air flights with most of them being overseas. We have one drive up port in Galveston and there is nothing on the itinerary we care to ever do again, so all of our future sailing will be far, far away.

 

Just wanted to present you with a "serious" reason that some of us have opinions about equality.

I'm from the same era, value equality, and there are still fights to be fought. But free snacks on a cruise ship don't equate to education! I can't even believe you'd imply that legal rights and the right to free food are at all similar. We have a CHOICE as to which ships we sail - no one is making you sail on a ship that doesn't yet have a DL and "only" gives you a diamond event with "substandard" snacks. You and Beer really have to examine your expectations.

We're diamond, choose to sail ships that don't yet have dedicated Diamond lounges, know what to expect, and don't feel like we've been cheated. If it were that important to us we'd choose to sail upgraded ships rather than choosing our cruises for itinerary.

If it were me, I'd simply take a taxi directly to the Synagogue

(now beautifully restored, over the last 20-30 yrs.)

 

Tell your driver you want to be put down in Synagogue Lane

where the main entrance is right before you..

 

 

..and when I was done with the Synagogue and its Museum

I'd ask someone "Which way to BROAD STREET,please?"

and have them point out which direction.

 

Broad Street is our main shopping drag,

and it's no more than two blocks away from the Synagogue in the correct direction!! :)

 

 

_______________________________

Please remember what I said earlier:

Leave your bling and gold chains in the cabin safe!

 

Crime is largely opportunistic.

If you don't provide the opportunity, there will be no crime! :)

 

.

We've visited the Synagogue (and its very interesting cemetary) a number of times. We've walked back from there a couple of times. It's not a bad walk, and we've never felt unsafe.

Really?!:cool: There website indicated that the "main" area is not. One ore question please, how early would you make your RSVP?

My memory may be faulty. I don't remember being too warm, though. There really was only one room. It's a small place. They had just started giving tours when we booked, and we made our reservations as soon as they started taking them, 2 or 3 months before our sailing, I think. We enjoyed it.

I think this tour sounds fascinating but wondering, is it climate controlled (AC)? My DH & kids get cranky when they get hot. :mad: thanks!

Yes, it's air conditioned.

We are booked on a B2B on the JOTS next year in San Juan. What did you do on turn around day? Stay on the ship? Go shopping in OSJ? Go on a ship sponsored excursion?

 

We have been to San Juan 3X - twice before as a port stop and once as an embarkment port, but we've never done a B2B. Looking to see what others have done.:)

We relax on board, watch others leave, play miniature golf while the ship is empty....

Doing B2B's on Jewel in January 2014 and January 2015. Looking forward to reading your report!

We liked sailing with him on Serenade, and our son was staff on Serenade when he was Master, said he really cared about the crew.

Any info on Capt. Stig Nilsen?

There are several companies that offer shipwreck and turtle snorkeling packages:

 

Silver Moon

Shasa

Cool Runnings

Calabaza

Elegance

Why Not

Ocean Adventures

Wasn't Me

Small Cats Cruises

Ocean Mist

Jammin'

Tiami

Good Times Barbados

El Tigre Cruises

Thriller Turtle & Shipwreck Snorkel

Jolly Roger

 

You can also check out these websites:

 

http://barbados.org/sailtour.htm

http://www.funbarbados.com/tours/

http://barbados.org/tours/barbados_sea_tours.htm

 

Cheers, P:)

We've used several of these over the years - Thriller, El Tigre, Silvermoon (2 or 3 times), and Calabaza. Calabaza is our favorite, and we're booked with again for next January.