docsdrillers

At the suggestion of one of our fellow roll callees,Nik we decided to join him on this excursion.

Nik had sailed with owner Diana twice before and assured us of a glorious day.

Diana was a wonderful host always looking out for our needs and she owns a wonderful mono hull sailboat called the Random Wind....

It was a beautiful day with a couple of stops for swimming not snorkeling.

Sometimes an excursion is still a nice day as we had but can be ruined a tad by expectations.By this i mean that several of us on this charter expected to get in some great snorkeling but were left disappointed in that regard.

Diana's crusty Captain,Trevor anchored us a fair way away from the reef that we were supposed to snorkel beside...however the current was so strong that after 15 minutes i made virtually no headway and veered back...Two brave young souls did make it there but saw very little as they had to get to the other side of the reef and were unable to do so.

I asked the Captain if he could ferry those wanting to snorkel using the motorized dinghy but he refused as he was the only one on deck since Diana was below cooking up lunch.

If you go on this excursion expecting a great sailing day in the sun with wonderful hosts and a couple opportunities to swim in the warm waters then you won't be disappointed since after all it was a lovely day out on the open seas....just don't go if you expect to snorkel.

Also a word of caution for those prone to seasicknes; it was a relatively calm day yet our daughter fought nausea the whole day while at sea but was fine when in the water...it wasn't choppy but being a sailboat it doesn't travel very quickly..

I was King of the World....until my wife set the record straight:)

A glorious day at sea

And then the perfect ending to cap off a day NOT at WORK:)

The Turtle actually had an appointment with me...seems he had some TMJ issues to discuss....now i can write off the trip:)

LOL!!!! :D:D Batten down the hatches and get out of the way because I am was in turtle heaven. :) I think, Doc, that you were close enough to actually give this turtle a kiss on the cheek and I think I saw you try but I arrived just in time to save that poor turtle. :D:D

For those of you who don't know Peggy that well i'll just tell you that she has a son who is just turning pro in MMA (mixed martial arts)...and after our Elegance tour i know where he got his skills from.

I was tagged team in the Octagon by the Peters clan and there were no rules:)

You'd think those country bumpkins had never seen a turtle before.

this is just before the referee says go:)

But since i'm used to having the odds stacked against me and of course i know "Turtle Speak" i was not to be deterred.

Thanks so much, Debi! Docs got some great info...and he has some great photos and one we call the "money shot". You'll know when you see it! :)

We mulled over several options for this day but since we had visited St Kitts before we opted for a relaxing beach day...we knew we had a stretch of 5 straight ports of call with private tours booked at each port.

I contacted the resort a few months before our sail date and was told to get back in touch about one month before sailing.

We were offered several options; a day rate of $35/pp which included use of the facilities but without towels,a day room rate at the hotel part and for a bit more a day room rate at the Marriott Timeshare.

There were 5 of us in our group with a possibility of another couple joining us last minute...that would be Peggy and Pete:)

We opted for the Timeshare day rate for 2 reasons.One we are Marriott timeshare owners and knew what type of luxuirious room we were getting and secondly that room comes with a washer and dryer which my wife loved and allowed her to do some basic washing of the dirty clothes accumulated on our 3 day precruise days in San Juan and our first 2 cruise days.

The room was a 2 bedroom villa at about 1400 SQ ft...the timehare rooms are closer to the pools and ocean and oceanbar/restaurant(food was great here,big portions and very reasonably priced) so that was a big plus too.

The cost for 5 of us came out to 41/pp and included the much nicer room at a better location on the property and came with 10 beach towels...had the other couple joined us we were told no extra charge would apply....that indeed would be a bargain:)

It was really nice to have a quick shower and dress up in non swim clothing before departing the resort.

The cab ride is approximately 10-15 minutes at a cost of 3/pp.

The resort was practically empty and getting cabanas and chairs at the beach or pools was no problem at all....they are now in low season right through the end of the hurricane season.

The beach is spectacular...it is pure white sand and spotless...the water too had a nice sandy bottom with no pebbles or anything on the bottom..it almost felt man made.

Although the beach is on the Atlantic side the hotel built a breakwater and the waves were extremely calm and the snorkeling along the rocks was terrific.

All in all a beautiful resort with very friendly and courteous staff and we had a vey nice relaxing day from 930 am to 5 pm...all for 41/pp plus food and cab fare...very reasonable indeed.

Amit

Peggy covered all the basics and it was indeed an incredible day.

I'm just going to copy my TA review as it sets the record straight for all those that contact Calabazza and are sent elsewhere when they are full.

I believe Calley and his company at Elegance deserve to have the truth known.

An Exceptional day With elegance and her crew in Barbados” Reviewed 15 May 2014 NEW

There were 5 of us from the Jewel of the Seas.

What can I say about this day other than to use the word Perfect..in every way.

The Elegance is a gorgeous Catamaran with a great owner,Calley and shipmate Ashley...they were the consumate hosts always looking out for us both on the boat and in the water.

We were constantly offered drinks...non stop.

The buffet meal was delicious and abundant..everyone found something to eat...and we had 2 desserts too.

When we first looked for a tour our roll call suggested Calabazza which I found out was full.When I asked them for alternative choices I found it odd that I was given several but not the Elegance...puzzling because Elegance was number 2 on TripAdvisor with exceptional reviews.

It seems that the Elegance is their direct rivals because Calley used to work for Calabazza before going on his own.

I'm just posting this so that everyone knows that when Calabazza doesn't mention them it's not because the Elegance isn't worthy.

The Elegance took 9 of us on this tour.When I booked the tour it originally was just the 3 of us and I was assured that once they take a booking they will go out..no minimum required...that was reassuring.

If you want a super duper day with kind,professional hosts then this tour is for you.

thanks,

amit

Visited May 2014

Wonderful review! I was sorry to see it end but am looking forward to reading what docsdrillers thoughts are! ITA about Elegance tours. We used them in Dec 2012 and they were everything you said. We only had 6 of us on our tour. We will book them again next time we port in Antigua.

This intro almost brought me to tears and makes me regret taking those jabs at you........not:)

Peggy it was a real pleasure meeting you and Pete and hopefully we stay in touch and have a chance to do this again someday.

Your zest for life and viewpoints mirror those of mine and your sense of humour although sick like mine was greatly appreciated.

I was also very impressed with your new tech skills with the Pentax WG-3 GPS camera that we both bought...it really was a great investment and was so easy to use both above and below the water.

I loved your review and i don't generally do any of my own...i won't go over anything ship related but will just make some general comments about the other ports of call that we did without you.

This cruise was awesome in every way...the best itinerary possible for Caribbean cruises and a super departure point.

Our family opted for a more relaxing and modern 3 night pre cruise stay at the La Concha hotel...we just wanted to relax after a very harsh winter and this hotel didn't let us down.

We had a beautiful 1 bedroom suite in the new tower with a stunning ocean view..the pool below us overlooked the beach and was an infinity pool which created a neat effect where you felt you could just step into the ocean from the pool.

The beach was incredible with soft white sand and soothing warm water...a bit rough but still fun to wave hop.

We walked down the street to the Ali Baba Turkish Mideast restaurant and coming from an Israeli it was some of the best food i've ever tasted...try the Sangria..you won't regret it.

Despite knowing that the sun is quite strong this time of year and taking the proper precautions we still got burnt.

So we hopped into a cab and went to the Plaza Los Americas for a great dinner at Cheesecake factory. not your authentic Puerto Rican food:).. but we're Canadians and don't get to eat there unless we are on a trip to Florida...

The mall is as modern and impressive as any top mall you'd find any where else in the states...Bought myself 3 shirts with SPF 50 protection and wore those all week while swimming and never got burnt again...a very worthy investment that i would strongly recommend especially for those planning on snorkeling 5 days in a row as we did on our excursions.

Later i'll post mini reviews on our day in St Maarten,St Kitts and the best tour ever with Eli's Eco tours, the Extreme Circum Nav in Antigua.

Amit

Thanks to all of you out there for following along and for all your kind words, comments, and input. And it's not really over yet! Let me explain.

 

Doc and I chatted a bit virtually yesterday and we thought it would be a unique idea for him to add his review of his cruising experience to this thread, since we participated in some excursions with him and his family while others we did not. He could add another perspective and talk about excursions they took which I know were very good and fun. As he has 20+ cruises under his belt, he's a wealth of information and his perspective is similar to mine, I think.

 

I know this will come as a surprise to all of you that he really is not crazy, doesn't wear a straightjacket and books suites instead of a padded cabin. :rolleyes::D I'll also just add here, that his sense of humour can be a lot like mine and is meant "all in good fun".

 

So....as I exit stage left, please welcome Amit aka Docsdrillers I suspect he will start his review sometime today. :)

If you can find another company that use a water taxi then that's fine.However before you rule out spencer Ambrose tours,may I suggest you check to see how many ships will be in port with you that day..If it's only your ship and one other then I feel quite confident that you'll be absolutely fine with Spencer.

Don't be shy about sharing your concerns with him..you should get prompt replies and friendly correspondence.

Ask Peggy but we gave up on Cosol because their email communications were lacking and so was the information provided..it never jived with the questions we asked them.

Amit

Loving your review! Thanks for taking the time to do it.

 

We will be on the Jewel in August with a similar itinerary except we don't go to St. Kitt's but go to St. Croix instead.

 

We had Spencer's booked in St. Lucia but I had read so many mixed reviews on CC and many negative reviews on Tripadvisor, so we cancelled with him and booked a private excursion with a company called More Than A Cab. They had good reviews on TA.

Hope we made the right decision!

My padded cell/cabin was the highlight of our roll calls cabin crawl..boy were the beds and walls comfy:)

If u don't behave I'm going to tell everyone the cruiselines give u a padded stateroom.:D

Peg wanted to try Snuba diving because she thought that the line going into her mask was for alcohol:)

Thanks doc for finally managing to get out of ur straight jacket and help. But, ya know, I may have to leave work early so I can better monitor ur posts as I knew there was no way you would behave yourself! :p:):D

 

Oh...and I was not drinking rum punch when I made those snorkeling videos! :-)

We had a wonderful day and everything went as planned.

We were a bit concerned about the mixed reviews with Spencer but since we were the only ship in port everything went smoothly....he got everything organized at the pier and all the tours left without a hitch...and as Peggy mentioned he was very accommodating for those that were getting car sick on the ride up and allowed them to join us in the water taxi for our return trip..

It takes roughly 1.5 hours on windy roads to get to Jalousie by vehicles but only 30 minutes by a Speedboat water taxi...

I would 100% recommend the water taxi which gets you to the beach before all the other big groups arrive and no concerns of getting sick with nausea on windy roads.

We also read that Jalousie beach gets more and more crowded as the day progresses and chairs especially in the shade become a scarce commodity.

Our original plan called for the Tet trail to be completed first followed by our day at Jalousie beach.We contemplated doing the day in reverse to make sure we got chairs in the shade but Spencer did an incredible thing just for us.

He sent his daughter ahead to the beach to secure 5 chairs for our group under one of the thatched roofs...that way when we got to the beach after our wonderful hike we had "Reserved" seating...that's what I call being pampered.

Kudos to spencer and his gang.

I actually really enjoyed the snorkelling in a roped off area which is actually a Marine Reserve...make sure you go all the way to the end around the corner for a cave like area teeming with fish.

I had my own fins but decided to use his open style fins with water shoes which is strongly recommended as it is a bit rocky to get into the water if you are barefoot.

All in all we had a super day with great views of the Pitons from above and from below at the beach.

The lunch served was delicious and there were unlimited drinks of pop,bottled water and alcoholic drinks too....and free snorkelling equipment.

Rumour has it that Peggy will need surgery to straighten her arm as it was almost at a 90 degree tilt the whole cruise:)....no wonder her neck didn't hurt.

We ran into Bob and his family who had elected to do one of Spencer's regularly scheduled tours. They had a quick stop at this beach following an island tour in the van. As many have mentioned, the roads in St. Lucia are very windy and long and can cause motion sickness. Bob's wife had an issue and asked Spencer if they could stay there at the beach and just ride back in the boat and he happily accommodated. So...here is a video of the "water taxi" ride leaving the beach. It was even more exhilarating than the ride to the beach. I think he had it on full throttle:

 

http://tinypic.com/usermedia.php?uo=fNkd6hpTbcPWxFpJb0KQmIh4l5k2TGxc#.U3QCMGdOVMs

[The wall walk is exactly as it sounds ..a 360 degree walk around the town with a wondeful view from above the town...great for photo ops.

To put it in perspective for you; if Raleigh had a wall all around the city and you walked around that wall would you have seen all of Raleigh..

quote=ej22ndrow;37273938]We will be stopping in Dubrovnik in early-September 2013. There is so much info on this thread and I'm getting a bit confused.

The Walls completely encircle Old Town correct? So if we walk the Walls do we need to then tour Old Town or will we pretty much have seen it all?

And vice versa, if we do a walking tour of Old Town, will it then be redundant to walk the Walls?

Is one preferred over the other?

Thanks.

Thanks for your prompt reply.We will be there may 12 and are planning on a private tour...we are in port from 1200-2000...is that enough time.

Will the flowers at the gardens be in bloom yet at that time of year?

I believe there will be 5 ships in port that day so we want to get out of the city to avoid what I assume will be a very crowded city of Dubrovnik.

QUOTE=Dubrovniktravelady;37011958]Your alternative sounds lovely, I would not hesitate to spend time visiting Ston and Trsteno. It is difficult to make an alternate suggestions since you have not mentioned when your ship will be here. Weather, traffic and means of transportation, length of time you are in port are the most important factors of an alternative.

We've been to Dubrovnik before and did the walls and the city and are looking for an alternative.

My apologies if this has been covered before but the thread is getting quite long.

We're thinking of doing a tour to Ston and the Botanical gardens in Trsteno.

Are these places worth visting and if not what else would you recommend.