Review ! Golden Princess 10-24-04 "Motley Crewsers" return. Chapter 1

We were a group of strangers. We all met here on these boards. If we are not all friends now, then we are all at least aquaintances. At my count there were 44 souls, most of whom had opportunity to meet on board at two meetings.

Gregg and Barb (CRUISAYEAR)

Kirk and Wanda (captkirk)

Jill and her friend La Ronda

Kitty and her sister Chris

Lana and her friend Annie (Missybud)

Betty and Angee

Jane and Ward (jnwfla)

Carolyn and Hubby (cjskids)

Andy and Lynn (spaceguy)

Sharon and daughter Joanne

Liz (liz4x4granny)

Robyn and daughter Sharon (mmbug1)

Charlene and Troy (tstephen)

Dr. Ann, our veternarian

John and Angie

(shannamaniac)*

(pro100)*

(mdcruiser)*

(inoterma)*

(petfamily)*

(jezebel)*

(msbond)*

* indicates people who communicated with us all on the roll call board, but I did not meet.

Hopefully I got this right, if not, my apologies.

San Juan............Many of us came in a day early. We had pre arranged a dinner meeting at the Empress Hotel, in which is Sonny's restaurant. A huge deck which juts way out over the beach, so you are literally over the water, on the peak of a point. This affords an incredible view of the lights and skyline of the city. Nice place, food only so-so IMHO and priced a little high, but wow, what a view. Thanks to (Missybud) aka Lana, for setting this up.

As a reference, the Empress Hotel is a short walk from Hotel Intercontinental, highly regarded by Lana and Jill and others who stayed there.

Barb and I were at the Radisson Ambassador Plaza. Got it for $82 on priceline. Nice clean room in a nice area at a nice price. Casino inside very popular with the locals. Beautiful pool area on the roof with a great view. Interior restaurants overpriced. They advertised a continental breakfast in the nice eating area inside next to the pool area for $7.95pp When we went up there we were told it was free for Ambassador members. A sign on one of the tables with food on it said all others would pay the above stated price. We told the girl at the desk that would be fine, but she said we could not eat there ! ? So we went back down to the lobby, and out the door to the right, and down a block and a half and ate breakfast at Danny's Restaurant where I had pancakes, sausage, and eggs, a huge glass of fresh squeezed orange juice, in neat, clean, colorful surroundings and it cost me 6 bucks !

In the lobby of the Radisson is the "Sunshine Tours" desk. They offer several tour packages. El Yunque rain forest, and a city tour being two of them. We hooked up with our friends Kirk and Wanda and took the city tour at $40pp and were taken by Rupert Cosme (787) 410-3858 in his clean and air-conditioned Chevy Van, for a really wonderful tour which lasted half the day. Rupert dropped us off back at the Radisson, where they had stored our luggage for us. Anyone looking to do a tour would do well with Rupert. A great guy who used to live in New York. Extremely informative and knowledgable about Puerto Rico and the San Juan area.

We wanted to pick up some wine to take aboard the cruise and Rupert took us to the "Pueblo Supermarket" where they had a huge selection at very reasonable prices. Left with most of a case.

Oh, the taxi from the airport to the Radisson was $16 for 4 people.

Now its 4pm and were off to the ship.....see chapter two.

C'mon Gregg, we want more!!!

Ok Lana, here's chapter two, and I wish I had not written anything about Chapters in the heading of the post as it was my intention to put everything in one place and not make a new post every time. This is my first attempt at this review thing, so bear with me.

Sunday afternoon, we are off to the ship. From the Radisson to the pier the taxi cost $24 for 6 people. Since it was nearly 4 in the afternoon the embarcation terminal was a ghost town. Porters latched on to our luggage as soon as we got out of the taxi and we saw it in our cabin less than an hour later. Took less than ten minutes in the terminal and we were walking on board.

I hate the way they steer you in the opposite direction, instead of allowing you to take the shortest path to your cabin. We had been on Golden's sister the Grand, so we knew the layout. I did appreciate that they did not steer us down long hallways filled with tacky art auction promotions.

MY AFT CABIN, C753.....This was awesome ! Big (approx. 9'x11') balcony. 2 small chairs and a table and 2 reclining chairs. Balcony railing curved to the left allowing lots of viewing angle. A tad noisier when underway due to the wake below, but we found this very soothing, and if it bothered us we just shut the sliding door and it blocked the sound very well. Balcony here is completely private, covered from view from above, and since your in the back, you get a breeze but you don't get blown off the balcony when the ship is clipping along at 23 knots. Just great.

The ship......Spotless, however, for you folks that just have to see a negative, there was a coffee stain on the carpet in front of cabin C693 about 882 feet aft of the forward elevator on Caribe deck starboard.

The food.......At my house we are on a 7 day rotational menu plan also. You only get one choice and I don't get to make it. The chef is pretty but does not call me Sir, pull out my chair for me, or place a crisp linen napkin on my lap. She doesn't ask if I'd like fresh ground pepper on my salad, and if I do she doesn't put it there. And I am forced to use the same silverware for the entire meal, and it is not real silver unless company is coming over.

We seldom if ever have Beef Wellington, Lobster bisque, creme brulee and stuff like that. Appetizers come in a bag marked "Jay's" and I don't get 5 choices of desserts and three more that are "always available". Even when we got out to a fine restaurant around home, when I order cheesecake I have to get out my pocket magnifier and the piece is certainly not large enough to share with four other people.

I never saw meatloaf, hotdogs, tacos, or macaroni and cheese on the menu and that was fine with me. The food at dinner rivaled that of any fine restaurant by me. Horizon court didn't see much of me but when I did go there the selection and quality made it hard not to have eyes bigger than my stomach. And the Pizza up on deck 14 forward...awesome !

See chapter three to follow.

MORE - MORE - I'm loving it! :D

Can't wait to hear more. . .we'll be on the Golden for Christmas. . .I'm counting down the days. . .

CRUISAYEAR, nice style there, Dude! More, More...

Alright, thanks for the encouragement, have to scroll up and see where I was...oh yes, the food. As I was saying, it was fantastic IMHO. Can you believe my favorite is their rolls ? As I learned on the galley tour (which I highly recommend if you have not done one of these) every baked good served on board is made fresh daily, even the loafs they slice and toast for you in the Horizon court. And the soups ! One evening they served a cream of Porcini mushroom that was to die for. Had I not already ordered the entree, I'd have asked for a large bowl and another basket of baguets and butter and went to the show a happy man. Speaking of butter, it is so nice to have it served in big chunks over ice, and not have to dig it out of those little peel off top plastic thingys.

THE SERVICE.....I found it to be impeccable. From our room steward "Jose" to every crew person we dealt with. Waitstaff, Bartenders, Maitre de's, all pleasant and helpful. I always shake their hands, address them by name (they all wear badges) and smile right back at them. Especially our waitstaff.

There are three main dining rooms. Canaletto, deck 6 aft for the traditional fixed seating. Donatello, deck 6 midship for Personal choice, and Bernini, deck 5 midship also for personal choice. We used to do traditional, but switched for the freedom it gives us. We and our friends Kirk and Wanda like to eat between 5:30 and 7. We ate at the Bernini every night, as there was never a line and we always got the table size and location we wanted. We did not sit in the same waiter's area but once. Each wait team we had were great. One team did not seem to click together but it was not a problem. For the fault finders, I had to ask for more water....once. We had wine with dinner each night that we brought with, and yes, they did charge the corkage fee. Sometimes in traditional they don't bother.

I am sorry I cannot remember the name of the Maitre de' of the Bernini. He was so nice. Remembered my name on the second night and the rest of the week. Twice he waved us around other people on the way in and said "come with me Mr. Kleinwachter, your table is ready" Saw him quite a few times in other areas of the ship, and he always came up and said hello. He always came to the table mid meal to ask if everything was fine and if there was anything he could do to make things better. I am used to this kind of treatment from people who's palms I have greased, but to be treated in this manner by one who I have not is exceptional. Best in 5 cruises with Princess. Service on the Coral last Christmas time a close second and former first.

THE ENTERTAINMENT...........The people in our group get a 9 on my scale. As far as shows, we saw "The magic and illusion of GAETANO" on Monday night. A Las Vegas show moved to the Princess theater. One night only ! Great show, very well done, smoke, lazers, lighting effects and all that, and a drop dead gorgeous assistant who provided great misdirection.

On Wednesday we saw "Country Roads" starring the Princess singers and dancers. Nice show also with a country music theme. This we had not seen before.

On Friday we saw "Words and Music" broadway show tunes. Nicely done, we'd seen this before but it had been changed and freshend up. It will soon be replaced by a show called "Caribbean Rythm".

Can't go wrong with these, pretty girls and handsome guys who can sing and dance with the best i've seen. There were a couple of comedy shows that we missed but heard were good. There were a large number of people on board from Puerto Rico and their was at least one show each evening in spanish, and a movie every day in spanish.

Skywalkers Disco....went there once after the festivities for "Island Night" and enjoyed it until it seemed to be taken over by the latin crowd and the music stayed spanish. Could appreciate the beat, could not understand the words, could not begin to dance as well as they, so left with most of the rest of the non-latins.

Karaoke at the Explorers Lounge. Enjoyed this several nights. Lots of talented people, but I was not one of them. Our own LaRonda Thomas got up and did a pro rendition of Grand Funk Railroad's "Some kind of wonderful". But the winner for the week was a 75 year old man named Marty in a wheelchair, who brought down the house with his version of Sinatra's "That's life" he had his own disc so he obviously had practice, but he deserved the win.

The Caribbean steel drum band "Excite" who did the pool deck entertainment were very good also.

The Casino didn't get any of my money, but I like to walk through and see if anybody is hitting. One lady paid for her cruise with a $4,600 win on the slots. I heard it only cost her five bucks, and she walked with it. Smart.

MONDAY...St.Thomas...been there done that many times. Even DW is shopped out. So we pre-booked on our own a day of sailing and snorkling with http://www.DaysailFantasy.com after having read good reviews of this on the Ports board. This was the highlight of the week and worth every penny of the $110pp cash price. A beautiful 46 foot former racing yacht with galley, berths, and head. Sleek and spotless, and a bimini rig top for lots of shade. Drinks flowed free and freely all day. Fresh fruit, and home baked nut bread was available. After the first long snorkling stop in Caneel bay, St.John a gourmet lunch of fresh salad, French bread, curried chicken over rice, and then home baked cookies was served. Then more alcohol, another beautiful bay and more snorkling (all equipment provided) then more alcohol, and yet another pristine bay of crystal clear, shallow, tropical fish filled water. (Fish food provided) but you could provide your own if you drank to much after lunch. LOL

An awesome day. One which I will always remember. Pam and Brian Heath were wonderful hosts. And to think I was going to spend $120pp to go on the "Champagne sailaway to St.John" offered by the ship on a 60 passenger cattle call catamaran booze cruise. (we have done this before and enjoyed it) But a private sailboat holding only 6 plus 2 crew that makes more than one stop and can go where you tell it to is waaaaaay better. This plan was so popular with our group that Lana rounded up 6 of the wildwomen and Pam arranged for them to accompany us on board http://www.sailwinifred.com This boat every bit as nice as ours and offering all the same amenities at the same price. The weather was perfect, water was warm, and did I mention the alcohol ? Helps you see twice as many fish ! (Brian the first mate is right there in the water with you all, keeping an eye on everyone, and pointing out interesting fish and coral and diving down pointing at things and then coming up to explain what your looking at) And he is sober. (designated diver).

Would also like to mention that Pam and Brian arranged for there favorite driver Wally to pick us all up at the pier in his clean and cool 15 passenger van, take us on a tour of the area before bringing us to the Red Hook yacht harbor where we boarded the Fantasy, and delivered us all back to the ship when our day was done, 10 steps from the gangway. Easy, perfect.

TOMORROW......St.Kitts....

Thanks!

Ahhh...that tandem sail on St. Thomas was WONDERFULL! We were the wildgirls on the Winifred, as lovely a wooden yawl, ya'll will ever sail on. Capt. Sharon and 1st mate Tommy were very accomodating. We had our own "Gracie Allen" in our group who was 78 years old and she snorkled like a pro with all of us. What a woman! Sharon and Tommy kept a special (discrete) eye on her while we were in the water. The Winifred would have appreciated more of a breeze that day inorder to show 'her stuff'.

So Gregg, just how much of St. Kitt's do you remember...LOL?! Looking forward to "Turtle Beach Revisited".

ST.KITTS REVISITED ! Good title Lana, think I'll use it. Yes you are right we could have used some more breeze. It was funny having to run the auxillary engine in short spurts to catch the next gust of wind. So calm in the island and reef protected waters of the bay between St.Thomas and St.John, yet when you looked way out to sea there were big whitecaps indicating plenty of wind out there.

Anyway Lana, our boat had a hard time keeping up with yours because with all the jabbering women on your boat you had a lot more hot air in your sails.

TUESDAY..St.Kitts.....many changes noted here since we were last there two years ago. Before, we tendered in. Now, big concrete and steel mooring platforms had been mounted in the bottom of the bay near shore, to which they attach the huge cables from the ship. Not a full pier but a short one which extends far enough out into the water to allow a ship that draws 27 feet to line up her forward deck 4 gangway to the end of the pier. Allowing us to just walk ashore. Bow and stern being attached to afore mentioned moorings.

The original plan for the day had been to ride the so called "Cane train" Called by the ships tours "St. Kitts scenic train ride" $89pp. We had pre-booked this shorex on-line before learning of the changes to our itinerary which allowed us four additional hours at St.Kitts. Now having plenty of time to go to the beach, I cancelled our four tickets at the tours desk the day before. This tour has received mixed reviews anyway, so we were not sorry. Next visit we'll check it out, sounds like they need to work out some bugs in this new attraction.

So, were off to Turtle Beach having saved $180 bucks per couple.

There are mini-vans waiting at the pier, ready to whisk you off to wherever you decide to go. Told a driver where we were heading, he told us it would be $5 pp each way, and off we went on the incredibly scenic 25 min. ride out. Upon arrival the driver asked when we would like to return. We agreed on 2:30. (we left the dock about 8:30) We started to dig for our money, and the driver said not to worry about it, he'd collect it on the way back) very trusting considering taxis are coming and going to the beach all day.

I am disrespecting my employer, so more later.....

Thank you for the wonderful review. . .makes my wait for Christmas on the Golden a little bit easier. . .

Much had changed at Turtle beach also since our last visit. The quaint little beach bar building, with it's large covered deck area, had tripled in size. You used to walk off of it towards the water and loungers and chairs were right there on the sand. The retaining wall/breakwater has been extended to make room for an even larger deck, so the area where once you would have been in your lounger steps from the bar has been eliminated. Now you take two or three steps down concrete stairs and onto the steps up to the long wooden pier that juts out into the bay about 75 feet. Motorboats tie up to it.

Nice boardwalks have been added which go off to the left of the bar building, the covered deck is still there but bigger now with many more nice tables and chairs to sit at. The boardwalk ends at a small bridge which takes you across a creek which empties into the ocean. To the left of the bridge is a feeding platform for the local and famous green monkeys which reside in the jungle just behind the bar and the beach. Asking at the bar, where are the monkeys ? was told they are afraid of the cats and don't come out when they are there. Saw four or five cats lounging around as cats do. Only monkey we saw was a baby one in a diaper tethered to a local who was making a few bucks providing photo op's. My thought was "get rid of the cats" but heard the monkeys can be a nuisance as if they are around, you must watch your drinks, food, belongings constantly. Drunken monkeys can be dangerous.

After crossing the small bridge, you are now on the beach area. To your immediate left is a large awning approx. 10 feet high, supported by large timbers. This is your shade, as in the morning the sun is behind you. Late in the day the sun would be shining into this area, so choose a spot well to the rear, unless you are into roasting and toasting. There are plenty of little tables, beach chairs and loungers here if you arrive early. We were the 3rd through 6th persons there.

Straight out into the water about 100ft is the beginning of the large and long underwater reef which runs horizontal to the beach. Keeps the waves from getting too big and harbors a myriad of stunning tropical fish. Snorkling gear is available for rent at the bar for a nominal fee. Unfortunately for us, storms a few days previous to our arrival had churned up the bottom and made the water very murky. Visibility at the reef was very low. Normally the water here is crystal clear postcard blue and turquois. We were amazed on our last visit at the numbers of fish.

Now apparently there is a price to be paid for the progress at this beach. Last time, and ice filled bucket of 5 "Carib" beers was 7 bucks. Now you get one more beer in the bucket, and it costs $17. This however was not enough money to keep myself and the others in our group from being seriously overserved.

The other price to be paid for this beach becoming more popular for being so out of the way is that there were now people here coming up to sell you stuff. They eventually took no for an answer, but were annoyingly persistant. The only one who provided any entertainment, was the self proclaimed "Music Man" who was hawking copied cd's of island music, and trying to get $15 a copy for them. He sang, he danced, he blasted that boom box. Capt. Kirk from our group got him down to $5 for one copy.

As he worked his way down the ever growing beach population and the music volume decreased with distance, we realized we missed it and noted that the music provided by the bar on the last visit was very faint even though we were very close. Wish I had asked them to turn it up.

Don't let the thought of these vendors prevent you from enjoying this place. There were maybe six total.

One unwelcome visitor I could have done with out was a huge brown pig, at least 600 pounds. You know where 600 lb. pigs go ? Anywhere they want ! This walking barbecue to be had free roam of the beach area. Folks were snapping pictures, and I was told he is a frequent visitor, and local celebrity, but I would rather he was at the bottom of a deep pit, on top of mounds of white hot rocks, and covered with wet ferns. Or, rotating slowly over red hot coals.............

Uh huh Gregg, after all that beer...are you sure that was a "pig"?

Gregg loving every minute of this. Forget work, the honey do list, eating. etc and write more. Please! ;)

Yes Lana, biggest one I ever saw. I was sorry later that I drank so much. I was not very good company.

Before we knew it, time had come to catch our ride back to the ship. Jill and LaRonda, who had joined us around 10:30 decided they would stay awhile longer. So the four of us headed back on our own.

The original plan for leaving at 2:30 was so we would have time to check out Basseterre as we did not see any of it the last trip. Well, we didn't see any of it this time either as we were all so blitzed we were happy to get back to the cabin and wash off the salt crust, and pass out for an hour or two.

The nap was nice, but then I had to deal with the fact that my head was 3x larger than it was before I laid down, and the reality of the fact that tonight was the first formal night. I was in no condition to even be in a condition, let alone have to deal with suits and ties.

We did go to dinner. It was great, and I think we even went to a show, but it hurt to even smile. And here is 5 foot tall, hundred and ten pound wife wanting me to help decide which wine to have with dinner. She can be so cruel at times.

That joke of a mattress in the cabin actually felt good that night. I dreamt the next day was a sea day and I did'nt have to get up until noon. That bubble was burst at 6 am when I woke up in Dominica (pronounced..dough-me-knee-cah) with two hours to get to the Tarzan ride on an island that turned out to be the surprise of the trip. But thats another chapter.

Can I just say that my dog "Motley J. Crew" (the coonhound with the pun name) would have loved this thread... he always wanted to be a Motley Crewser but his people person aka "moi" never took him on the QE2 much to his doggie chagrin:(

Caroline,

If you can teach Motley to open beer cans and wine bottles without a corkage fee, we will gladly take him along as a "service dog". Do want you to know that he may be a bit overworked though...LOL!

Ok Caroline and Missy, we now have a mascot ! Missy, did you see on the cruise that there was a German Shepard guide dog pulling his person around ? Never saw that before on a ship. I was not fooled though when I saw him at the Horizon court holding a platter in his mouth.

If it's Wednesday this must be Dominica. The replacement for blown away Grenada. Another day, another tropical paradise.

Go ahead all-inclusive fans, sit on the same beach every day and suck down those foo-foo drinks with the umbrellas in them. No matter how many you drink, you'll still be in the same place the next day.

It's bright and early on another sun drenched, humid day in the Caribbean, different island.

Breakfast is on the balcony. Not enough time to go up to the HC or down to the Bernini. 8am and were stepping on to a 26 passenger bus for a 35 minute ride up into the mountains. We are told by the driver that all these pointy hills are not mountains but inactive volcano's. My favorite kind. We are climbing higher and higher, and it keeps getting cooler. The underpowered bus struggles with the steep grades. The driver turns off the air-conditioning, saying it steals power from the engine. We open all the windows. The AC is no longer needed. It was near ninety when we left the pier, now it is maybe 75.

All the better to take pictures through the open windows. Narrow road on the edge of the mountain. Big gaps between the primevel looking trees allow views of huge, stunningly green verdant valleys. We are in a tunnel of trees of which there seems to be no end, until we get to the next switchback turn. The driver blows the horn madly, alerting any oncoming traffic of our presense behind the blind curve because they can't see ship. I am thinking this is good because there are no guard rails, and if this pooch goes over the side, it is a loooong way down and the primitive native indians would be able to ad the contents of this bus to a stew. Little would they know or care that my bowels would have spoiled their gravy after the first flip of this smoke belching bus.

The sun is beating down into the valleys below, and we can see that it is turning last nights rain into wispy cloud which hangs a thousand feet over the forest floor. Those clouds are rising though, and when they attain enough mass they will redeposit their moisture as this afternoons rain and start the cycle anew.

If we had gotten to the top and turned around and went back down I would have considered the $110pp I paid for this trip to be worth it for the views alone. Outside the window it looked like Jurassic Park. I just knew the driver was going to turn around and it would be that guy that played Newmann on Sienfeld's show and he'd be cackling through a drooling grin.

I was waiting for the head and neck of a Brontosaurus to poke out of the ferns next to the road, but all I saw was that bird that was on the front of my Froot Loops box when I was a kid. Or I think I did. Might have been a "Carib" beer 6.5% flashback.

Bus is really groaning now. Were on the last uphill switchback, driver says we are almost there, and If we all enjoyed the hairy but scenic trip up, wait till we go back down. YEEEEHAAAA.

He did stop several times for photo op's. At one there was a very non aggressive vendor with a pick up truck that had a box on the back with flip up sides that displayed his wares. Curious things made out of coconuts and what not. Big smile on his face. Probably because the air around his truck smelled suspiciously like he had been smoking some of the local flora. Or is it fauna ?

Here it is ahead, there is the parking area carved out of the jungle. There's the hand carved sign. "Rainforest Aerial Tram" !

Gregg, I think you have paused mid-stream so to speak. Cocktail hour? At any rate I have a lightly different perspective on the trip. Thanks to Missybud aka Lana, our accommodations at the Intercontinental were spectacular. I was a late arrival and missed the dinner Sat nite. Opted to shop in St. Thomas and took the tram to hilltop to view the sights. In St. Kitts the wee lass, Ann (the veternarian and my roomie), and I took an open-air taxi to the rain forest and were guided by a very well informed islander and his adorable 8-year old son (off from school for the elections). There was much celebrating with the red shirts and the orange shirts representing the two parties. Dominica was again a rain forest trip as Gregg said up into the mountains on these incredible switch-back roads. We were in a small van which did struggle at times, but pulled through. Isla Marguarita was a short stop so shopping was the order of the day; however, there was an absolutely gorgeous beach for swimming if one chose to do so. But in my mind the best of the best was the open Land Rover jeep tour off road on the desert side of Aruba (thanks again to Lana for selecting this one). It was an amazing journey. I'm sure Gregg will expand the adventure in his next chapter. I'm not a late diner and didn't care for the late seating (8:30). Much prefer to eat where and when I please. Our poor server was beside himself without a helper, and if he had one they came from someplace else and weren't used to the process. We never saw the Maitre'd nor did he appear in our part of the diningroom until Fri nite when a table full of non-Enlgish speaking Italians showed up that one night for dinner. He was then all over them with the wine, removing tablewear and generally smoozing them. Didn't make our table feel great, to say the least. Ralphie, our room steward, did a very fine job but without much enthusiasm. We (Ann and I), too, had an aft cabin with a balcony adjoing Lana and Anne, the wee lass. We opened the adjoing balcony door which made for some convenient conversation during cocktail hour. However, to sum it up for me...sorry Gregg, but I have found that cruising (this was my first) is not for me, and I do prefer to go to one place and park myself, foo-foo drinks aside. We really didn't have a chance to see but one tiny little speck of each island, and there was so much we missed. An all-inclusive on Aruba has my name tag on it, Liz

It's true Liz, cruising is not for everyone. Each person has a different perception, expectations, and expieriences.

I certainly would not rule out a week long stay at many of the places we have visited. For me, cruising is a good way to discover which ones you would like to return to, to get more than a taste of the island, it's people and culture. We will be spending more time in some of these places in the near future as we are considering retirement options.

First impressions are very important, and it sounds like yours was less than stellar. I wish I had known of your groups problems in your dining room. I would have arranged for you all to dine with us, because traditional diners may come to the PC dining rooms, but not the other way around. Realize that your experience in traditional was an exception rather than the norm. Did anyone in your group make their issues known to the staff ?

Anyway, as it could anywhere, on a cruise, ship happens !

Cruisayear

A thorougly informative and highly amusing review. Thank you so much for taking the time to share it with us.

We are on the Golden 9th Jan for 2 weeks and am really looking forward to it.

See ya later

Jayne

The Cleavers' were able to advise the maitre d' one afternoon at lunch. Mentioned the disparity of service this trip and mentioned we had Sebastien for the last two. The Maitre d' then replied that it was hard to compare when you have had The Best! And this is true. Sebastien made every dinner a Grand Event!!! My heart did go out to our Server, he was really a nice fellow. Food was still WONDERFULL!!! I feel like I am on the Starship Enterprise at home. I put something plastic in the m-wave, push a few buttons, and Voila!...mediocrity for dinner...LOL.

I could sure put up with 15 nights on the Island sailing to/from Hawaii, being waited on hand and foot. Probably would have to hire some house staff on return home due to being so spoiled!

Here we are at the tram. There's several buildings here. One, a souvenier booth. You make your choice at a counter from about 15 offerings. Another houses staff rooms and Bar serving soft and hard drinks, next to which is the staircase and platforms for getting on the trams. The building in the back has clean restrooms, and outside of that is a picnic like area with round wooden tables and bench seats. Over the tables are umbrella like thatched covers.

The staff puts you in groups of eight. Each tram holds 9. The ninth person is in the single seat in the rear of the tram and that person is your guide.

The tram itself is about 12 feet long and constructed of steel tubing, and is maybe 4 feet wide. It has an open roof of more tubing and this part is covered with clear plastic to keep the rain off.

The tram is attached to a big thick steel cable. The tram moves with the cable.

Ten years in the making, and a sister to the one built by the same company, outside of Limon, Costa Rica (Take that one on the Panama Canal cruises.)

The motors which drive the cable are in the building by the platform. The Pylons which support the cable are built in an F shape as opposed to a T shape like a ski lift. On the way out, you go through the rainforest, supported by the bottom arm of the F. and you are going uphill. At the turn around point about a mile away, the cable goes to the upper arm of the F and you head back, but now due to increased height you return above the forest canopy. I found this to be cool in the extreme ! Now these pylons are like 100 ft. high, so if you are afraid of heights, you have been reminded of this by now and are wishing you were back by the ship, shopping for trinkets and things with parrots painted on them.

The path the pylons take through the jungle and the reason for the F shape, was to lessen the impact of the construction of the tramway on the environment. Dominica is an eco-tourism kind of place, and knowing that this is supporting most of them, they take good care of it and it shows.

The tram stops each time another one is being loaded, so you have lots of motionless hangtime for taking pictures with all twelve of your cameras, like the hopeless photography geek sitting in my seat.

It does not go very fast, and you must keep your arms within the cage, or risk losing them when the tram passes within an inch or two of some of the trees.

The guide keeps up a running commentary about the trees and plants you are seeing and will point out birds and animals when they are visible within the canopy.

At the halfway point is another station like the one from which you left. Here you will be given the option to get off and take a short downhill hiking trip along a carefully constructed path along the jungle floor. A guide will go with you and describe things along the way. They will apply bandages to your hands after you have touched the vicious sawgrass after repeated warnings not to do so.

The purpose of this hike is to arrive at 3 foot wide footbridge supported by steel cables, and it has chainlink fencing attached on the sides to prevent suicides. The bridge spans a deep gorge for a couple of hundred feet. If by this point you are not yet sure you are afraid of heights, you will find out halfway across and look down to the small river, cascading over jagged rocks about 300 ft. below you. The significance of the small puddles of water left behind on the wooden slats of the bridge by the group that crossed before you becomes clear. The bridge sways slightly, and it bounces up and down a little as you walk. I am not afraid of heights, but I found the movement to be unnerving.

Photo op's from the bridge are great. A fantastic view. Then after you have finished your crossing it is just a little farther and you reach another platform where you reboard the tram for the conclusion of your adventure. Once you have returned to the beginning and gotten off the tram you'll be offered a free soft or hard drink, have a little time to use the restrooms or buy a souvenier. Then its back on to your bus for the return trip down the mountain, where you will get to find out if they service the brakes on the bus on a regular interval. When you got to the tram you were about 3000 ft above sea level, and during your ride you went up another 500 ft.

The Golden Princess was to leave port at 2:30 and we got back around 1:15, so we had time to check out the shops and stores near the pier. There is not that many, so that was plenty of time. They are very nice though, as are the locals. We were not hustled by anyone. Another thing I noticed was how clean everything was. Even the route of the bus. No litter. Nice to see this as compared to other islands I've seen.

I took the ship sponsored tram trip at $110pp. No worries if you get back late, the ship will wait for you.

But you can do this on your own. Taxi's and minivans are waiting right there at the pier to take you to the tram or wherever. Did not use them, so I can't say how much they would charge. The cost to get on the tram is $55pp done on your own. Plus whatever your transport costs.

Here is a link to the trams webpage, which has more links to lots of info for Dominica. http://www.natureisland.com/AerialTram.html#TOP

Next installment, Isla de Margerita, off the coast of Venesuela. The substitute for Caracas. (Princess has'nt gone here in years. Don't know why they continue to advertise it.)

Alas, Gregg, wish I had gone with you folks...You make it sound so wonderfull!