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cruisenshop

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About Me

  • Location
    Pittsburgh
  • Interests
    cooking, travel, reading, shopping, gardening
  • Favorite Cruise Line(s)
    AMA waterways
  • Favorite Cruise Destination Or Port of Call
    hawaii or tahiti

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Cool Cruiser (2/15)

  1. Budget ( and Avis) in FLL are terrible. In January the shuttles to/from/at Port Everglades were not running. They don’t answer the phone. We had to Uber to the location. There were at least a hundred people waiting in line to get cars and then it started raining. They ran out of cars. We never got a car and had to Uber. I do not recommend. Rent at your own risk.
  2. We emailed with Pepper and decided on the stops that worked best for our party. The tour was 8 hours. We decided on Trafalgar falls, Titou gorge, emerald pool as the main stops. Stopped at other places as well. We did get to the falls before others. So no crowds until we were leaving. The only place that had any crowd was getting into Titou Gorge. We loved it but you should understand what you are getting into. the deep water and moving current. Not for everybody. Water shoes necessary. Water bag for your phone required. We did not have any so we could not take our phones. Also the roads in Dominica are steep and not great. If you are prone to motion sickness take Dramamine. Two in our party were queasy on and off as we did not expect the ride to be as curvy as it was. Our lunch was with at a roadside place locals near Trafalgar falls. Beautiful views. It was a plate lunch pick your protein. No menus that I can recall. Chicken, shrimp or pork maybe? I had shrimp. With Rice beans veggies. Delicious. I’m a foodie. Honestly was so good.even the vegetarian in our party thought it was delicious. Great local beer. Kubuli. They also had some other local drinks that our party tried. the only thing I’d do different is ask pepper not to stop for a bathroom break at his rental duplex. It wasted time and we really did not need the stop at that time.
  3. Barry quoted us $50 Us per person ( but we were a party of six) I don’t know what he’d charge for more or less passengers. Email him, he’s responsive. Antigua is one of our favorites and we enjoy the trip to Shirley Heights, Dockyard and other stops for scenic views. We like history, architecture, art, food, drink, beaches. It’s really personal choice. You can tell Barry what you want to do and he can suggest stops. In our case this was our first trip to Darkwood Beach. We added it for something new and we were not disappointed. My profile pic was taken on Darkwood beach. It made me want to plan a separate trip to Anitigua. Tour guides/docents are at the entrance at Nielsen’s dockyard and work for tips, you don’t reserve. I’ve been there twice this year and had excellent guides both times. We tipped generously. Darkwood Beach was magnificent - clean, not crowded, you can rent chairs - we loved it so much we asked to stay longer and Barry obliged. He’s a gentleman and did not ask for more money but we did tip him generously.
  4. Barry picked us up at the port at 830 he drove us through town, and toward Nelson’s Dockyard noting various churches and cricket fields on the way. That took at least a half hour. He’s very knowledgeable and interesting . It wasn’t boring at all. His knowledge of culture, history and politics there was incredible. He dropped us at Nelson’s Dockyard and our party got a docent and did a tour, went to the bakery for a pineapple pastry. Maybe 45 minutes to an hour there? It’s fabulous there. Could stay much longer but we’ve been there before. Since it’s private you decide how much time you need. Then he took us to a lookout near by for photos (we had never been there before in previous trips to Antigua) then we drove to Shirley Heights. We took photos there and walked around -30 minutes? Then we drove through the rainforest and stopped at a stand where he had arranged for us to taste black pineapple. then he took us to darkwood beach and we were there for 1.5 hours. Magnificent we did not stop to eat per se - he had beverages in the van and between the pastries, pineapple and snacks we had in our bags we didn’t need more food. There was food at the beach and at Nelson’s Dockyard- including a fresh fruit stand. Since it’s private you decide where to go/how much time. This tour was SO much better than Lawrence’s tour. We got to do what we wanted when we wanted. Barry is a gem - it was our favorite day on our ten day cruise! I think our timing was 830-230. Again , you can work with Barry to organize the trip that’s right for your party of six.
  5. We had a great tour of Martinique with Sebastiano! I’d highly recommend him to anyone for a private tour of this beautiful island. His knowledge of history, culture and plants is unmatched. Clean van, excellent driving, wonderful drinks and included pastries from a local bakery! staeggi@gmail.com
  6. We just returned from a cruise which included Domenica. With very few available shore excursions, we settled on Pepper for a private tour for our party of six. Pepper did a great job taking us to all the natural sights we wanted to see and took us to a great spot for lunch. Highly recommend! askpepper@pepperscottage.com
  7. We used Barry at Barry Taxi. vbarryoliver@hotmail.com He does a private tour of the island (Shirley Heights/ Nelson’s Dockyard/Darkwood Beach.) We were a party of six and he worked on our timing - clean van- excellent driver- great tour guide. Highly recommend!
  8. Thank you. I did contact Cristelle, and she has room on her plie et face tour. But it is a group tour and we would rather do something private and go to the rum distillery and Salines beach. That’s why I’m looking for other possible options.
  9. We tried to book a few guides on Trips by Locals but all appear to be booked for 1/1. Looking to do a island tour with waterfalls, springs, maybe the volcanic sand beach. Does anyone have a recommendation? Trip Advisor has a tour - Pepper's Choice - waterfalls, sulphuric spa, volcanic sand beach - it gets very good reviews. Anyone have any experience with this one or other tour providers? We are in Domemica 9-7. Thanks!
  10. We are looking for a private tour for six adults which includes Salines beach and the rum distillery and general sightseeing for 4-6 hours. I see older recommendations here on CC for Vincent Thomas. I see Beyond the Beach and Anoli tours on TripAdvisor. But no TA awards for any. Has anyone had any recent private tour experiences which they would recommend? Thanks!
  11. I didn’t want to repeat the tour. It was fine but on this trip we will be a party of six and I’d rather have a private tour.
  12. We are looking for a morning at Nelson’s Dockyard and a few hours at the beach - We have done Lawrence’s tour, and don’t wish to repeat. Any recommendations for a driver for six adults?
  13. Just be careful and clarify everything you expect with Lawrence. In January asked for a private tour since my parents are older and my father has a hearing disability. I explained before booking what I was looking for. Lawrence agreed that we would be private and I also covered my expectations as to our stops for the day. When we arrived at the tour meeting spot there were four others waiting for his tour. I indicated that our tour was to be private and Lawrence said he’d sit my father in the front so he could hear? I indicated we were to be private and my dad did as well but Lawrence kept insisting it would be the best tour we’d ever been on. No further explanation. We also were told we were waiting for additional participants in the tour. After fifteen minutes went by without anyone showing up, we left. After we started the tour, Lawrence got a call and we had to head back toward the port to meet with another driver who had more people who booked with Lawrence. He apologized to them as he had given them the wrong meeting spot. So our private tour ended up not so private. The other people on the tour were very nice but this was not the trip we booked or expected to have. Our time was not our own and we did not do what we wanted. Yes, Lawrence is a nice gentleman and has a lovely demeanor. Just my experience.
  14. In 2019, We booked and picked up Tahiti Wi-Fi at the airport upon arrival. Service was inconsistent. Sadly, our room location on Wind Spirit (midship?) seemed to block the signal. If I went up to the lounge or elsewhere on the ship it was more reliable. We met others who were using ship Wi-Fi and they also were in the lounge trying to get a stronger signal (trying to close on a house sale!) We had better luck with free Wi-Fi on the islands ( when available) and perfect Wi-Fi during our stay at the Conrad in Bora Bora. Out of our ten days on board I’d say we had decent service half the time on board with Tahiti Wi-Fi and most of the time off the ship. We definitely had better service than those using ship Wi-Fi.
  15. It’s the trenitalia app? Download on arrival in Italy and add your credit card you can literally buy your ticket when you are stepping on the train so easy to use and avoids the terrible lines at all the machines (well there were lines in May!)
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