jean87510

I think it's a troll. Why not Google answer rather then ask people on cruise critic? He is just trying to get reactions.

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We were actually the only 2 booked for the snorkel adventure, so instead of taking just us back after the 2 snorkel stops, they let us have longer and have lunch with them. Of course this wouldn't have happened with it being more than the 2 of us. We liked Anse Chastanet, and the beach is nice, but you can't use the lounges, unless you pay, and the snorkeling was nice, but if I were to do it again, I would go with the Sugar beach day . Sugar beach was better snorkeling and the lunch is so nice! So it is supposed to be 3- 3 1/2 hrs, but it ended up being 5 hrs I think. We didn't know that until we got there though. We had 2 hrs at the first stop and the rest was sugar and the trip back.

I think there are only 4 on our trip but Spencer is charging me for the whole day instead of 3 1/2 hours because we are going the full 6-7 hours with Anse Chastenet and Jalousie. It's fine though. Anse Chastenet's best snorkeling is to the left of the beach along the rocks/cliffs (I don't know how to describe it). I actually like it better than Jalousie (sugar beach) because of the variety and less people. We probably won't use the loungers as we are there to snorkel but I think the resort is ok with you using the bathrooms (at least we always use them when we are there) at Anse. We usually just end up throwing our towels down somewhere with our backpacks. Husband and I can't sit still too long so chair rentals are useless for us. Just reading your description makes me want to go even more. April cannot come soon enough!

I know I am not the only one with this issue. I have a cruise booked that leaves on 4/14/18 from the Celebrity Summit. Flight was changed to leave on the 13th at 11pm and arrive at 455am. I checked multiple carriers/flights and notice quite a few flights are doing the same or close to the same schedule (305am arrival, 230am arrival...etc... ) My question is for anyone who has done this before. I cannot change my flight. What on earth do people do or go to for 6-7 hours before cruise starts with all of their luggage. The restaurant we used to leave our luggage at isn't open until 7am. Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions as to where and what to do?

Hi -- When you see this on the Celebrity web page,what would you think?

 

then the total --

I was able to get an agent at Celebrity to explain this to me. The two items in the image directly above here had nothing to do with each other. I had foolishly assumed that they were part of the same offer. Two free perks were ONE thing, or the starting price was something completely different. The same with the top picture.

 

The banner and the price directly below it were not related -- go figure! The super-low California resident rate was at the bottom, and the free perks were just a different idea.

 

You can have a hamburger with free lettuce and tomato for $1 -- only the bill is $2 - you can get the discounted hamburger for a $1 -- just like we said, only no lettuce and tomato. But, the $2 hamburger has free lettuce and tomato.

 

See you on my next Princess Cruise!

Ok, I will briefly share what happened to me yesterday that is similar to this. I tried changing my stateroom from inside to veranda and got all the way to "pay now" and couldn't. Luckily I did it on my phone and took screenshots of each step. Called Celebrity. They said I couldn't get that great price because it was only for new bookings. The price to upgrade was $50 a person and Celebrity told me it was $150 a person. Wrong. I explained over and over that I had proof and the woman just wouldn't listen to my explanations. I hung up and tried again (since I was at work and really shouldn't be booking or changing cruises at work). The gentleman I talked to said that the pricing I had was not the same as his and they could not upgrade me for $50 a person. I said give me your email and I will send you what I have. he did and I sent the emails. THEN he emails me saying even though it's pretty clear what the price I have is there, I can't get the upgrade - drumroll - ITS FOR NEW BOOKINGS. By this point I was thinking, am I the only one who understands this. I emailed back and said - IF ITS AVAILABLE THROUGH MY CURRENT RESERVATION THEN THE PRICE IS NOT FOR NEW BOOKINGS! IT IS ASKING IF I WANT TO CHANGE MY STATEROOM AND HERE IS THE PRICE IF YOU WANT TO CHANGE!!! Luckily, they did change it and gave me the $50/person price. Sorry, I know I said I would be brief but I wanted to point out that 1. emails work and 2. get screenshots of everything.

I just saw the one video and the one shot. I will stand by my original statement and add that this was a really bizarre occurrence and I think the crew members acted as they could. That's a small portion of what was actually happening on that ship. I saw a video of people cheering that they were finally removed. I really blame carnival for not removing them earlier or putting them in brig. That's where carnival erred. Not kicking some sloppy drunk. I'd kick him too for ruining my vacation.

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Kicking in the real world is a felonious act even for cops. Besides the one getting kicked was the one at the bottom of the pile.

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What exactly was crew supposed to do instead of kicking someone to get them off of someone? What if they had them in a chokehold and that was the only way to get them off? What would you do? Suppose that person was getting strangled? What then? This was an extreme circumstance. If that was me being pinned by some psychotic drunk i would thank the crew members. Some of these reactions about the crew are ridiculous. I agree they should have all been removed at the first port for being a danger. But since they weren't and it was out of control the crew did the best they could.

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I love both and did sting rays here and horse elsewhere. But, if this is a ship excursion the less crowded one is the horses. The sting rays will be pandemonium. You get in a line and someone holds stingray for you to get picture. I did this with 12 people privately and I can't imagine a cruise excursion.

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I know Coki has it BUT has anyone done it through the cruise line? (Celebrity) Post hurricane information would be great.

Snorkel adventure tour

We just got back from our cruise. We really enjoyed our tour! We did the Speed boat adventure snorkel tour. We were dropped off at Anse Chastanet beach resort. It is a very nice beach and we snorkeled there. then rested under palm trees.

We were picked up on time and taken to Jalousie /sugar beach we were treated royally and Terry even saved us lounges!

We snorkeled there as well, and really enjoyed our time there. On the way back we slowed down to see a bat cave and some fishing villages and photo stops. Thank you so much Spencer and team!

 

Would recommend this tour!

 

I appreciate the feedback. I had originally scheduled the land and sea tour but my husband and I love St Lucia for its snorkeling and really love Anse Chastenet so we changed to the snorkeling tour. Spencer was really patient with my 1000 questions and many emails and he arranged the same as you. Ive been to both areas before and love them. If you are going to snorkel, St. Lucia is definitely up there as a place to do so in the Caribbean as is St. Johns.

I have done it. It was my first time zip lining and I felt safe and I thought they did a good job ensuring safety with the straps and always making sure someone from the company was the first and last ones to use zip line and customers were in between.

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First time booking the Gros Piton climb with Spencer Ambrose.....not a fan! We followed the meeting instructions only to find (by accident) that it had been changed. Even though this company states the tour leaves promptly at a certain time....it doesn't, at least not this day. There was a lot of hurry up and wait going on. We finally boarded a speed boat, only to disembark and board another boat. First stop was for a bag of ice...come on, you're a professional company....have a cooler(s) with ice ready to go before picking up guests. Anyway, we arrived at the 2nd beach drop for the climb. According to our tour guide (not affiliated with Spencer Ambrose), we arrived quite late and time probably did not allow us to climb to the top. Regardless, we made it to the 1/2 way mark, it was a difficult climb, but amazing. We descended and eventually met Spencer Ambrose in the boat who took us to Sugar Beach to join the rest of the guests who had booked the beach day only. Huge let down, beach crowded, not much sun and food so so....and all ice had turned to water......rum punch not the same without ice...lol. Speed boat ride on the way back was over crowded. Guides tried desperately to get us to stand up and dance.....hint, if you want a party boat on the return, put us on a boat where you can actually stand up and party....friggin ridiculous. So there, that's my experience. My advice, if you have an interest in climbing the Pitons, hire a private car so that you get to the Pitons early. If you are doing the beach day only,,,,,,,much better beaches than Sugar Beach.

That's the reason I didn't want to do climb from beach. I think it's longer that way. Spencer actually told me that and said it was my call to do that or another excursion. I mapped it and noted how long it was and figured I'd do it if/when staying in st Lucia. I believe when you approach on land it's about 30 minutes up that you save on walking. Of course the drive there negates the time saved. I would do this one off the ship excursion also

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Ive been to that beach before with Herod and it can get very crowded if everyone there at once. We were there all day and noticed that at times it got quite busy. If you like snorkeling then honestly you just need to place stuff down (towel and bag) on beach where you can see it or ask Spencer or whomever your tour person is where to put the stuff if it's crowded. I understand if you are just there for the beach then you may be disappointed in the amount of chairs. When I wasn't snorkeling, I was walking around taking pictures and just enjoying that gorgeous view and beach. If speed boats and lack of chairs bother anyone, this may not be the excursion for you. If you want great snorkeling and great views then go. As for the food, when I'm snorkeling, I get very hungry so I love their selection. And it's food on a beach. It isn't Le Bec Fin or Chops Steakhouse. Spencer posts the menu on his website. If you don't like it, then eat a big breakfast and bring some protein bars. I believe everyone when they voice complaints or issues and I do appreciate the feedback. What I don't understand is the complaints about the chairs and food. This is all info listed on Spencer's website. If it doesn't sound appealing then don't book the excursion.

I've been emailing spencer all day and he arranged for us to go with another couple who wanted the same thing to go to both beaches and have lunch. It's a full day snorkel excursion instead of 1/2 day and it's $105. I said the 1/2 is fine and he said this way we can get more time at anse chastenet then go over and meet up with everyone at jalousie. I really like this option because it's like herods old tour. Going to bat cave, Dr Doolittle beach...I love st Lucia and snorkeling. I will definitely post when I return in april.

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We had a couple of people on our speedboat that had elected to do Spencer's two-stop snorkeling trip, so you may want to read more about that. Our boat stopped at Anse Chastenet in the morning to drop them off, then they rejoined us later for snorkeling at Jalousie before returning with us on the same boat. I'm not sure how they got from Anse Chastenet to Jalousie nor how long they had for snorkeling at each place, but you might do a search to see if you can find further reviews from people who did the two-stop snorkel trip specifically.

Is that the 3 - 3 1/2 snorkeling trip? Sounds like its longer than that. I love Anse Chastenet and Jalousie beach snorkeling. I may contact Spencer. He just switched me to the Jalousie beach one. I'm sure he won't mind. And do you think that the people who were snorkeling on the 2 stop went longer than 3 hours?

We just did the Land, Sea and Beach tour with Spencer last week and while we had a decent time, it's not a tour I would book again. We were only in port from 8-4 instead of the more typical 8-5, so it felt a bit rushed (not the operator's fault, just something to keep in mind).

 

Our tour started with a speedboat ride straight to the town of Soufrière, which is where the volcano and mud bath portion of the tour happens. We were told that we'd stop at points of interest on the boat ride back, which was true, but we also stopped several times along the way there to drop off people who were doing different tours (like the snorkel only tour, etc.). This took up a fair amount of what theoretically could have been beach time. However, the scenery was beautiful so this ride was fairly enjoyable.

 

Anyway, in Soufrière we loaded into a van and headed to the volcano, dropping people at the mud baths along the way. The volcano "tour" is really just a short walk with a guide along a breezeway built over a section of the volcano - I would say it's a walk of no more than 50 yards, with a couple of sets of stairs. Our guide was knowledgeable but there's really not much to see there, and I felt like our driver was killing time so that the mud bath folks wouldn't be rushed.

 

Anyway, after the volcano we stopped briefly at a waterfall, which was VERY crowded with other tours and really nothing more than a pool about 20' in diameter with a small fall under which no more than one or two people could stand at a time. We didn't want to ride back to the boat wet, so we just browsed the vendor tables outside.

 

At this point we were starting to get hungry, which also contributed to some queasiness from the windy road up and down the mountain. Unfortunately, we had another drive back to the boat plus another wait at the pier for someone plus another short trip in the speedboat before arriving at Sugar (Jalousie) Beach for lunch.

 

The beach was PACKED when we arrived and there are very few chairs for those on tours. We found one near where they were setting up lunch but couldn't do more than drop our stuff on it because of all the hungry people swarming the buffet. Btw, "buffet" is a term that is used loosely here. The woman setting up the food served each person one tiny, dessicated chicken leg/thigh and two slices of leathery fried plantains, then directed us to help ourselves to pasta salad, rice, lentils and a couple of other carby side dishes, none of which were good. Requests for additional chicken were refused (not that anyone would really have wanted more after tasting it). I wasn't expecting a gourmet spread, but this was very meager given that it was a full day tour where there was no opportunity to purchase any additional food. If you have food allergies or dietary restrictions, forget it. Also, the only drinks available aside from water were weak rum punch, beer and sugary sodas.

 

Once we finished lunch, we had about an hour to swim and snorkel. The snorkeling was only okay - some interesting coral and lots of sea urchins, but not too many fish. The swimming area was very small but did have a great view of the Pitons. I'm not one to lie around on a beach but those who wanted to had a hard time finding space.

 

The boat ride back was scenic and informative but at that point we were just ready to be done, not to mention hungry and a bit nauseated. We got back to Castries just about 30 mins before all aboard, so no time to do anything else.

 

Unfortunately for us, this tour also came directly after a truly fabulous catamaran tour in Barbados, so we couldn't help but compare the experiences and Spencer's tour just didn't measure up. We loved what we saw of St. Lucia and plan to go back when we can explore on our own, but we wouldn't do this tour again.

I appreciate your honesty about the waiting part. I don't think my husband will like that so I just contacted Spencer to switch us to the Jalousie beach break as we don't want to miss any time snorkeling in St. Lucia. Having hot mud on us and going in a cold waterfall with lines is definitely less appealing than snorkeling. We love St. Lucia and the snorkeling. I just wish they added Anse Chastenet to this particular excursion.

Yes. It's ok. Much better taking a boat tour. Or try rhino reef riders who will take you out to cades bay reef. There and pillars of Hercules and half moon are the best

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Spencer doesn't do the gros Piton hike unless you pay a lot extra as it was getting more difficult for him to get a profit with boat gas prices

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We had our own equipment. Sorry, didn't notice if there was any place to rent gear. The fish were small, but very colorful and plentiful. It was shallow water snorkeling.We enjoyed snorkeling there and would go there again.

There was a reef, farther out,at the point, but we did not swim out that far.[/quote

 

If it isn't too much trouble can you tell where the reef was? TIA

Wow so sorry to read this. Love shipwreck.

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Time will tell how accurate my information is, but I did call St. John today. I spoke with a taxi service who indicated that business is back up to normal as of several weeks ago. He said no reservations are needed and there should be plenty of cabs available as we disembark the ferry. Just passing along information as I collect it. :cool:

Based on past experience, the cabs that are at the ferry dock for the ship "on your own tour" and the red hook ferry will take you to trunk and cinnamon. If you want the other beaches like Maho you can get the cab to take you there but cabs don't stop there. We walked from Maho to Cinnamon one time and hitched a ride another time. The cab drivers every time we go are adamant about us just going to trunk or cinnamon. Very rude about it actually. I have yet to meet a pleasant cab driver at the ferry.

Now, there is a taxi service called Aqua Blu car rentals that will take you around the island but you have to use the red hook ferry for it. We were going to use them in April however, because of the times we are in port and the distance from crown bay to red hook, we realized we would not have enough time. If you are docking in Havensight or have a longer stay in st Thomas (>9 hours) I would give them a call. They were going to take me to Waterlemon or any other beach I wanted to go to, Very reasonable price.

I think you'll be ok up to maybe 6 months before. Yes you pay at time of booking.

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If you want a sun lounger right next to pool or in solarium then yes you may be looking around. If you don't care where you sit there are plenty of open chairs on summit

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If you're on a cruise, I think foregoing Waterlemon is the right thing to do. I love that part of STJ, along with Salt Pond / Rams Head, but it's just a bit of a stretch if you're on a cruise, especially from Crown Bay. I walked to Waterlemon from Cruz Bay, and on the way back lucked out n grabbed a taxi at Trunk back into town. But there was just the one taxi at Trunk instead of the usual half dozen or so.

 

With that said, Honeymoon is the way to go. Beautiful beach where you can rent chairs and other beach things from the onsite concession. Lind Point trail is in great shape. Keep in mind that VI Ecotours is running a dingy "ferry" from Cruz Bay to Honeymoon. I don't really recommend this, as I think the hike is just part of going to Honeymoon, but it's an option.

 

You can read my entire trip report at the link below. Happy to help with any other questions.

 

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g147409-i432-k11110248-STJ_Trip_Report_12_21_27_2017_Hiking_the_North_Shore_Road-St_John_U_S_Virgin_Islands.html

I actually did read your post on ta. We must be related. I do 1/2 marathons and am actually doing the Philly love one in March. I have not been to honeymoon yet so that's what we'll do. Hiking lindpoint was one of the deciding factor. And the beach of course.

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I visited STJ the week of Christmas. Some quick observations:

 

- Leinster Bay Trail. The destruction here was striking to me. The trail has been significantly reshaped, and is covered in all kinds of coral. The canopy of trees is gone. The exposed trail really now runs right along the shoreline, which I guess makes getting into the water easier. This might actually evolve into a new beach at some point. There are 2 shipwrecked boats along the trail.

- Waterlemon. Snorkeling here was a bit disappointing.I can’t say definitively, but I really feel like the coral took a hit and is more sparse than pre-hurricanes. I still saw a turtle, a few rays, and some small colorful fish in the rocks off the island. Visibility was a bit murky, which is not unusual. Conditions were calm though, and the current not bad.

 

- Taxi availability in Cruz Bay was limited. It might be tough to get one out to Annaberg, and you'd have to make arrangements in advance to get back.

Thanks for posting this. I was going to hike the trail to Waterlemon (had a cab set up to take us there) and decided to forego this last week due to our port being changed to crown bay. When/if in the future I stay in st Thomas, I will leave waterlemon for that point in time and Annaberg. I just think with all I am reading it is too much of an endeavor for the limited time we have in port and the post hurricane aftermath. Just out of curiousity, how is the trail from the cruise port to honeymoon beach? Lind point trail? If you have been on it, can you share? Thank you