trtllovr

Since you have 6.5 hours for the excursion it sounds worth it. I'm trying to do the same (except going to cinnamon bay on St. John) and NCL only gives us a 4 hour excursion so it leaves very little time on the island. We did this trip ourselves sans baby a few years ago and we're going to do it again now with a 2 year old but it's worth it! I wish the ship excursion was longer because it would definitely make life easier!

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Screen shot of her glistening in the sun this morning...

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Somebody's arriving right now, can't tell which ship (due to my lack of knowledge of hull art)

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Someone on Facebook mentioned the fireworks, might be related to the Super Bowl?!

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Can always rent a boat for the day and see it all yourself. I wouldn't recommend doing it unless your confident driving a boat though and have some expirience. We are getting one and plan on hitting all the beaches on St. John as well as the East to Northeast of St. Thomas.

What company are you doing this through if you don't mind me asking. I was doing some research and found it hard to find a company that didn't charge a lot and it included a captain which we don't need.

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Will they provide bed bumpers for the couch bed in the balcony staterooms? I need to figure out if I have to bring my own or get my toddler a crib. Unless you can turn the couch around and face it to the wall but others have said the couch is attached to the wall.

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I'm sailing the getaway in a month with a toddler in a gty balcony. This is a stretch but for anyone who has already been on the ship do you know if the couch moves to turn it around against the wall? I'd like to use it as a bed and trying to avoid filling up the stateroom with a crib.

I was wondering the same thing!

Was the price just for the transportation and access to the beach? Did you have to pay anything additional for a chair? Assume you brought your own towel?

 

Thanks!

 

Also, how much was beer?

The price included the transportation to the beach and access to the beach.

Chair rentals were $5 each. Yes we brought our ship towels.

Beer was $5 each (if i'm remembering correctly) or 3 for $12, we always got the 3 for $12.

I'm an instructor and was lucky enough to be able to teach classes last week on the Indy. I do not work for them and just did it for fun. I had to jump through hoops to get my class in the compass but it was successful and had good numbers. They also had a licensed employee that taught in the afternoon 2 days per week (I taught 4 mornings). The review I got on the onboard Zumba instructor was not fabulous but I never saw her in action so I cannot say. I would love to do more cruising Zumba classes but money does not allow. If you know an instructor ask if they can go with you, seriously!

Which Jamaica port is this near?

Falmouth port

Is this excursion only available on Royal Caribbean? The unknown must have been alittle scary?! How far from the cruise pier? Could you take a taxi there?

I honestly don't know but I have seen other posts about posters being on different lines and going to this beach so it is possible.

It was about 10-15 minute ride from pier.

Not too sure on the taxi either. I never saw any pulling up while we were there except for ones scheduled by the cruiseline.

Of course the unknown is a bit unsettling but once I saw the beach it was all good!

And regarding the trash issue from the first poster yes, I remember there was lots of trash washed up down the beach where you walk, in fact my father and I named those different parts "flip flop beach, bottle beach, etc" but it was purely comical and didn't seem to etch any additional memories in my mind, to each their own!

The beach around noon. The Allure was in port with us that day as well so it got a bit busier than this but it was never annoyingly busy. Lots of trees for shade, not a piece of trash in sight, they were even raking the beach while we were playing in the sand.

Snorkeling: The water was roped off with buoys so you couldn't go out too far. Nothing grand regarding snorkeling in that area, a couple patches of turtle grass but that's it. A member of our party spotted a large flounder but nothing else to write home about. Along the left side of the beach (looking out at the water) were more turtle grass beds with what seemed like pretty good snorkeling beyond that but it was very shallow and I never saw anyone venturing out.

The beach and water. Note the sign on the far right. Directly behind the sign is a local with a table of goods set up. We never saw anyone go over to him, nor did we pay any attention to him, but he was there all day.

On the other side of the beach you could walk for what seemed like forever without another person in sight. It was just virgin beach and water.

Lifeguards chair and beach. The lifeguard literally watched the water while dancing and singing all day. He was such a nice guy. He loved interacting with my 16 month old daughter.

We had a great day and got good reviews from everyone in our party. We are so glad we didn't listen to reviews that said to just stay on the ship, we never felt unsafe, even with a baby with us and the facilities were fine, no complaints! We would definitely go back again if given the opportunity.

I had seen a few reviews on this but I wanted to post my own, I just got back from my cruise yesterday, was on Red Stripe Beach on Wednesday.

We purchased our excursion through Royal Caribbean for $24 per person, food not included.

On our way to the beach our shuttle driver said that red stripe is only open when the cruise ships are in town, locals are not allowed in.

This was the drive in to the beach after the gate. It was all "swamp" (wetlands) with dead mangroves in areas. It wasn't the nicest introductions to a beach I've ever seen but I wasn't there for the swamp, I was there for the beach so I didn't care.

Another driveway picture, note the Red Stripe Beach flags lining the sand driveway. At this point our driver told us he gives out free butt and back massages to all of this passengers. Then all of a sudden went over a VERY bumpy part of the road, it was hysterical!

Once at the beach, these are the little gift shop huts.

This is the restaurant. I did not order food so I cannot review anything.

They had music playing most of the day, some island music, other more familiar music. At times it was loud when they had planned activities (water aerobics, line dancing etc) but they would turn it back down over time.

Changing Rooms

Restrooms and shower area. No problem/complaints here mon.

I'm planning to teach on an upcoming cruise in January on rccl's independence of the seas leaving 1/27. So far I have 4-5 AM classes planned (7:30 am is the only time they can give me). I'm teaching them for free and just for fun! JOIN ME!

I got in contact with an NCL rep before the cruise to get permission and be assigned a room and time for my classes on the Epic. I gathered people from my roll call to participate in class, they wouldn't let me advertise on ship. They gave me 4:30 pm time slots because thats when they didn't have any other group x classes going on so it wasn't very convenient, but hey, i was able to teach 3 classes that week so i was happy! They never asked to see my license or for my CPR/aed/first aid certs. I'm hoping to start up classes on my next cruise this winter on the Pearl. We'll see if they bite.

From what I heard some cruise lines do offer classes because their employees are licensed to teach it, so you should check with your ship to see if they offer them. Other than that if you take classes regularly you can try to see about setting up a group sailing with your instructor and other classmates... it's a stretch, but what a joy that would be. Good luck! Have fun!

My wife and I are going to COZ on the Carnival Imagination 10/25 and if any people are up to getting together we can Zumba till we can't Zumba anymore!

Hey Zumbaguy! Have you spoken to your cruise critic roll call about getting a class running on your cruise? I got at least 25 people signed up for my cruise next week, very excited. Good luck with yours!

Now I see that as I write this you are already on your cruise, hope it's great!

I too am a Zumba instructor and I'll be teaching on my upcoming NCL Epic sailing in October. I'm NOT doing it through the ship though, I've gotten together people from my Roll Call who are interested, and I'm volunteering to teach. NCL did give me a fitness room to do it in though which is great. I'm doing it just for the love of Zumba and the need to work out at sea! It would be great if the ships would let us come on and teach for the week of our sailing (and letting us get a free ride) but that's not very common at the moment. Oh well.

Zumba love!

Can you do the $39 beach break with the clear kayak tour instead of the snorkeling? I like the idea of lunch and 2 hours open bar but would rather kayak than snorkel.

Yes, I was thinking the same question as well, especially since you can snorkel on your own but you can't use the kayak on your own... and I wanted the food and bar :)

Hi All, Intriguing thread...

I'm doing my comparisons of A/I's around the island. I have a few questions about UVA.

Do you have to book the excursions to get the unlimited drinks/food?

Also, is there snorkeling right off shore that we can do without being guided? Same for the Kayaks, do you have to be part of the tour to use them?

This place looks great and am trying to find a spot that would fit the likings of 6 adults with mixed likings. Sorry if any of my questions have been asked before, just haven't had enough time to do the extensive research yet.

Thanks!