MDSue

Hello, We just booked this same itinerary for next September (2018). We have quite a ways to go, but I am so thrilled to find your review. One day in from booking and I already have some great ideas just from reading your posts and looking at your pics. Thanks and keep them coming!

Susan

I guess all good things must come to an end. I'm glad I went when it was free. I suspect that means the cruise lines will have to tack on the extra charge. I thought the facility was beautiful, but I'm not sure I'd be interested if I had to pay. You basically see a mock up of a factory, rather than any actual manufacturing.

Pierces- your Blood moon pictures were fabulous. It was foggy where we were and by the time I got to a good spot to take photographs, I missed the good eclipse photos.

Yours is much more focused than mine, but I thought I'd still share. It's got quite a significant haze around it which made it difficult to focus. I'm definitely going to have to invest in a tripod!

The eclipse was in the western sky and to the east the sun was rising. The flash showed off the morning fog:

I've been away from the boards for a little while and have enjoyed going through all the wonderful pictures from everyone.

I have a special place in my heart for the Blue Angels. I was so glad they made it back to the Naval Academy this year.

This is a great video! I've only seen them in the air and never taking off so I really enjoyed watching. Thanks for sharing

Susan

We (correction, I) :rolleyes: ;) had to get up early to see the Sunrise while coming into Skagway Alaska on a north bound Diamond Princess cruise. I'll get up to see the sunrise then it's back to bed for a couple of hours. To get the idea of what I mean here are the times for today July 12, 2014 - Sunrise: 4:04am - Sunset: 10:10pm. I don't remember what ship it was that followed us into port that morning.

 

Fantastic capture; as much as I'm not a morning person; sometimes it's worth it to get up super early to catch the sunrises.

I really enjoy looking at all the pictures everyone posts here. I took these last week while on vacation (but not a cruise, this time).

Sunrise from Cherry Grove Beach, North Myrtle Beach:

Pre sunrise

 

 

Sunrise

 

 

 

 

 

Post sunrise

 

These are stunning!

The De Palm pier is located in the Palm Beach area of Aruba; about a 20-30 minute ride (or less) from where the ships dock. De Palm Tours has a lot of different tours leaving from this pier; including the sunset sails.

We stayed at a resort right next to the pier and watched the sailboats every evening. I haven't taken the tour personally, but we enjoyed watching them in the distance.

I really enjoyed following along with both of your weeks. You definitely have cruising down to a science- make a plan and then be flexible when necessary. I used to compulsively plan every single port day, and then on my last cruise, we did a lot of "winging it". I always thought that the people who post that they just stayed on the ship because there is "nothing to do" on a particular island didn't do enough research.

I look forward to reading your future reviews!

Susan

p.s. We went to Curacao last year on the Carnival Freedom (it was the only ship that went the week I could cruise). We just walked around all day. If you go back and your knee is up to it, it's worth it to cross the swinging bridge and do some sightseeing on the other side. It is such a beautiful port. I have pictures in my Freedom review.

Someone got a hold of our credit card information and even went so far as to create a false identity to open additional cards and make more charges. It was stopped fairly quickly, but I believe that it was Internet savvy criminals who accessed the information. When you think of the Target store breach and other major businesses, it shows it can happen just about anywhere and any time; even if the card was never lost or stolen.

It is free to set up fraud alerts through the three major credit agencies. We did it when our info was used. It has to be done every year.

Luckily, the fraud didn't cost us any out of pocket money, but it was frustrating just the same.

Thank you so much for posting this - it looks awesome!!! Did you convert your dollars to euros before you went there?

We did not convert dollars to Euros before we went there. I had about 10 euros worth of change leftover from a previous trip to France which came in handy when we stopped at a small, local glaces (ice-cream) shop that did not accept American dollars. Most places did accept either dollars or credit cards, so we didn't have any issues.

Lots of wonderful pictures the last couple of days.

I especially the Memorial Day parades and pictures of the various cemeteries.

Sadly the last couple of years our small community had to stop the parades -- financial problems.

I agree, lots of wonderful pictures. I wish CC had a "like" feature, so we could acknowledge without re-posting.

That is a shame your community had to stop the parades due to financial reasons- seems like it should be a priority :(

Hi Sunny AZ Girl,

I've been away from CC for a few days and was delighted to find your review when I logged in today! You all seem like such a fun group.

I remember you from my recent review.

I'm loving both your commentary and pictures. It is so nice to see the different islands and ship pictures from another perspective and different excursions.

I'd love to know what camera you are using and what photo-hosting site.

I'm looking forward to reading the rest of your review. The resort at St. Kitts looks wonderful. That island is on my list of places to visit; one of the few ports we haven't been to yet.

I really missed them, Grumpus! It is such a great location for an airshow. Our friend has a home and dock right across the river from the Academy. They often fly right over our head!

I am so sorry for the loss of your Ipad. I know I upload all of my pictures to my laptop and have brought it with me on my last few cruises so I can do a live review. I have never locked mine up or even taken the time to really hide it.

I feel bad for your room steward because she probably had nothing to do with the theft, other than possibly leave your room unattended for a brief moment.

It's a good lesson for the rest of us. My son had his brand new watch stolen on our first cruise when he took it off and left it on a table to swim. Unfortunately, not every one on the ships are honest and trustworthy.

I agree, Dileep! We go to see them every year. They've been absent for three straight years- first a schedule conflict, then a near accident right before the show was scheduled caused them to cancel, and then last year- the budget cuts. I was so mad that government squabbling would shut down the airshow.

I was so glad they finally made it back. We have a great location, but I'm usually shooting into the sun which makes it a bear to get decent exposure.

Love all your pictures- We need a "like" function on this page!

I was so happy that the Blue Angels finally returned to the Naval Academy after last year's government spending debacle kept them away. The year before, a near mishap shut down their performances.

Finally, a spectacular return and performance:

And one last pic:

Susan

Bloody Lane, Antietam Battlefield.

 

Wonderful morning to shoot!!!

 

IMG_3899-HDR by sharod1031, on Flickr

 

 

I love your pictures, Sharon! I just visited Antietam two weeks ago- such a beautiful; yet solemn place.

Your images came out fantastic.

Susan

Old San Juan is very safe; including in the evening. Just use common sense as in any major city. My sister and I travel to Old San Juan frequently and have always felt safe walking around, even in the evening. We always stay in the heart of the city.

It's my favorite departure port and a really fun place to visit.

I recently cruised on the Jewel and can come up with only two complaints:

1. The ice-cream in the machines is lame. I really look forward to a delicious cone of ice-cream after a hot day onshore. I got one come the entire trip. It wasn't worth eating and I was bummed.

2. The casino smells horrible- the worst I've ever encountered. Someone at the purser's desk told me the ATM machine was in the casino and it was in the way back. It was the stinkingest (Is that a word?) casino yet. Later, I discovered that there was an ATM right by guests services. I'm not sure why they sent me to the casino. They need some serious ventilation upgrades in there.

As a cruise cheerleader that never finds anything wrong- that felt really good to get that off my chest!

I hate to see your review come to an end because I thoroughly enjoyed it. I definitely agree with your final thoughts that a cruise (or vacation) is what you make it. If you go in expecting to be disappointed or have a bad time, then you probably will.

My sister and I have a rule that there is no such thing as a bad time on a cruise, and so far, that has come true every time. We go with the flow and don't sweat the small stuff.

I've read so many bad reviews about different islands or ships and I have to think these people must have been on a different island or ship, because we always find something fun to see and do.

I also learned to upload my pictures every single day, because I can't stand the thought of losing my memories. (My husband thinks I should just enjoy the experience and quit taking so many pictures, but the photographer in me has to have permanent memories).

I'm looking forward to reading future reviews from you. Have you booked your next cruise yet?

Planning our first trip to Martinique. Our group is looking for a fun beach with a bar & facilities. Any recommendations?

Thanks in advance! ;)

I hope it's not too late to answer since you asked a while back. We just went to Martinique and found the perfect location with everything you are looking for.

When you get off the ship, walk down the dock a little until you come to the waiting area for the ferry. It runs regularly, but if you want to get a good spot and chairs on the beach, grab the first ferry, because the beach gets crowded later in the morning.

The ferry takes you to Pointe du Bout. It costs $10 round trip. Once you get to the other side, walk up the path to the beach (someone will point the way) You will pass by a charming little town with lots of shops and restaurants. At the end of the walkway, go to the left and you will come to a nice little beach at Hotel Bakoua. They have a nice bar that sits over the beach, or you can rent lounge chairs for $20. They reserve the umbrellas for the hotel guests, but the man let us use one anyway since we had already put our stuff there before we knew any better.

Cruisers who arrived later were turned away because there were no loungers left, but you could have still gone to the bar or lay a towel on the beach. There is also a free beach area with no amenities to the right.

We had a fantastic day there and then spent some time shopping in the little town. Just make sure you catch a ferry back in plenty of time. We took the 2 pm ferry back which ran about 20 minutes late. the ferry was completely full with students also riding home from school.

Here are a few pictures. I have a full review and more pictures in my signature under the Jewel:

The beach:

The bar:

English is very limited and the beach is "top" optional. The only topless bather we saw were laying on the beach, though- not at the bar.

Hey everybody! I saw a one brief mention about this web site. I have really relied on these reviews over the years and I'm looking for some more feedback. Have you booked through them? There are some different things there.

I did an sailing/snorkel/turtle excursion through them, but it was many years ago. I really enjoyed it for a number of reasons. I've been on numerous catamaran tours where you just motor to the destination. On our shoretrips excursion, we actually sailed there which was nice. There was only about a dozen of us on the tour and I liked the smallergroup size.

The snorkeling was quite good. The only issue was that there was a lot of other larger tour groups where the turtle are, so I didn't see much of the turtle because of the crowds.

At the end of the excursion, our sailboat pulled up to the beach area near the turtles (Payne's Beach?). They offered to get us a cab back to the dock area or we could just stay at the beach and grab a later cab (at our own expense). We chose the later option and spent a few hours at the beach before heading back.

It was a good experience for us. Only one member of the group was unhappy because he expected to sail back to where we started off. The guide explained that because we were only a three hour tour, that sailing back wasn't doable (and they paid for the cab back unless you decided to stay longer). The rest of us were happy to have the extra beach time.

Have never been to Nelsons Dockyard. Give me some tips on what to see and do there.

We went there as part of a tour and only had about 45 minutes there. I would have liked a little more time, but not necessarily a whole day.

There are historic buildings on nice grounds, with a handful of shops and restaurants, and a pretty marina with lots of boats. I wouldn't have minded having enough time to eat lunch there, but otherwise, you don't need too much time to see everything.

Does anyone know whether there are any tips on taxi's i.e. should I be looking for a certain company or is it fairly safe to use any taxi?

The cabs are well-regulated and safe. There is a taxi stand that will give you a ticket with the price written on it. It is easy to bypass the dispatcher and go straight to a waiting cab, but they are very well organized and will quickly direct you to the first waiting cab.

There is no need to try and take a group cab, because the price is the same no matter how many passengers. They will be lined up and waiting when you get off the ship and at the airport.

It is super easy; probably the most well run system I have used. Most of the drivers speak decent English- always enough to get you where you need to be.