Serenade 1/16-1/23

[Miss Vickie]

First some background. This was our 14th cruise overall, and 5th on Serenade (you can tell already, we like this ship). We were sailing with my sister and brother-in-law, and our adult son and his partner. The four of them are also experienced cruisers, and with the exception of our son’s partner, all have previous sailings on Serenade. Four of us are in our 50’s, son and partner are 24 and 23. We prefer active excursions, and almost never book excursions through the ship.

We were also sailing with a large group of new friends we met on our Cruise Critic roll call. We had been chatting with them for many months and were really looking forward to meeting them.

We had a great week, loved our cruise, loved spending time with our family and our new friends. The few issues we had were early in the week, and didn’t put a damper on our vacation.

Pre-cruise: My husband, son and his partner and I left Cleveland early the morning of 1/15, connecting through Newark for our flight to San Juan. The flights were all fine and on-time. We landed before 2:00 pm in a warm, rainy San Juan. Not the sun we had been hoping for, but it wasn’t cold and snowing! My sister and her husband got in about 4:00.

We stayed at El Consulat, on Magdelana in the Condado last year, and had a very good experience for a very reasonable price. We booked 3 rooms at the same hotel as soon as bookings opened in February 2009 for our return visit in January 2010. In January 2009 it was a newly renovated hotel, with nice rooms (small and basic, but clean and comfortable), and a friendly , accommodating staff. The staff is still friendly and accommodating, but the hotel has not been well maintained, unfortunately. Our room had a leak in the wall, a flooded, dirty floor, no pillow cases and no glasses. They couldn’t fix the leak, gave us towels to put on the floor, and never cleaned it as requested. It appeared that they never checked to make sure the room was ready for visitors before they gave us the room. Our son’s room developed a leaky ceiling (the patio on the roof was directly above), soaking the mattress on which they were sleeping, waking them at 1:30 am, necessitating a late-night change in rooms, waking them, us, and sister and brother in law across the hall while the whole problem was resolved. The rates at this hotel are great, but it’s not likely we’ll be staying there again.

Many of the folks on our roll call were doing back to backs starting the week of 1/8, and met for dinner in San Juan for dinner the night of 1/7. Those of us boarding on 1/16 had made similar plans, going to Café del Angels for dinner the night of the 15th (around 25 of us). Good time, good food, service wasn’t very good. One of our group had actually called ahead to make reservations, but they weren’t ready for a group that large. It was fun, though, getting to meet people that night.

Embarkation: We got to the pier about 11:30 Saturday morning, and were on board by 12:15 or so. This year there was a separate line for suite holders and diamond/diamond + C&A members. Especially this early, though, check in is quick and efficient enough that it really doesn’t matter what line you’re in.

Rooms are not available until 1:00, so we went up to the Windjammer for lunch. More on the food, later. After lunch we took our carry-ons to our staterooms, checked out our dining room table, headed to Chops to work out some final details for the reservations we had made on line, and took a quick tour of the spa.

Our roll call group had arranged to meet the folks who were starting the second week of their back to back at 3:00 at the Sky Bar, so that’s where we ended up until it was time to go unpack.

Muster drill was at 8:15 pm, and you no longer have to return to your stateroom to bring your life jackets with you. Sail away was at 8:45. We went to the helicopter pad for sail away, a great vantage point, and surprisingly uncrowded. Sail away from San Juan is lovely – with the city walls and El Moro lit up.

Stateroom: My husband and I had 1604, an aft cabin on deck 10. Of the 6 aft cabins on deck 10, 4 were booked by members of our cruise critic group, so we had a good time talking balcony to balcony all week. My sister and her husband were in the cabin adjacent to us, and new friends (who were also at our dinner table) were on the other side. Our son and his partner were in an interior cabin on deck 8. We love the aft cabins, and usually book an aft D. Plenty of room in the cabin for us, with lots of storage. The balcony is nearly as deep as the room is long, has 2 lounge chairs, 2 regular chairs, a small table, and plenty of room to walk, relax, lay out all our snorkeling gear to dry. Our stateroom was clean and in great shape. We first sailed this ship in January 2004 (her 16th voyage), and with the occasional freshening, didn’t notice significant wear and tear. The new mattresses were there last time we sailed her, in 2008. This year we had new linens, a new headboard, a great new shower head, and some other new touches that freshened the room. Our stateroom attendant, Felix, was efficient and accommodating. Along with his assistant he kept the room clean and got us whatever we needed. We didn’t see him often, but it was obvious he was present and doing his job. We had him empty the minibar and put in the 12-pack of diet coke we brought aboard.

Ship Overall: She’s in great shape, very well kept. You always see people cleaning the interior, and in port, painting is always going on the hull. In previous years there were frequently collections of empty room service dishes in halls waiting pick up. This wasn’t the case this year. We almost never saw dishes in the hall. They now request that you put your dishes out and call for pick up. They must come pretty quickly; our breakfast dishes were usually gone from the hall very quickly. The champagne bar became our favorite pre- and post-dinner meeting place. Jeremy quickly learned names and favorite drinks.

Food: Main Dining Room: We had early seating. We were at a 10-top at the rear of the dining room, port side. Our head waiter, Emilia, was the very best head waiter we’ve ever had. She was very involved in making sure we were appropriately served, and enjoyed the food and dining room experience. She noticed that we really have this thing for the savory bites, and starting on night 2, there were 2 large plates of them on the table when we got there every night. Our waiter, Sunil, was on his first week back from vacation and worked the first night on a severe sleep deficit. Not his best night, but he picked it up as the week went on. Not a lot to say about our assistant waiter. Tell you one thing about the waiters that impresses me. The waiter at an adjacent table, Noel, had been our waiter several years ago. He saw us and recognized us, and I remembered him, as well. Okay, back to this year, and our table. The wait staff paid particular attention to the kids (a 10 year old and a 9 year old), got them served quickly (after the first night, and a quick talk with the head waiter) and all went smoothly. Our bar waiter, Michael, was wonderful, having favorite drinks on the table quickly and making sure our after-dinner shooters were there for us, and catching us up on the nights missed due to specialty restaurant reservations. New shooter glasses this year, much nicer than the old loving cup glasses. The food was, in general, quite good, with no complaints. Specialty Restaurants: We ate at Chops one night. Most of us ordered the lobster carpaccio, only one of us really enjoyed it. The steak and rack of lamb were excellent, as were all the sides. A couple of us had the apple pie, which was excellent, and everyone else had the mud pie – also to die for. Windjammer: I always get the same thing when I eat there – fresh fruit, a couple of pieces of bread and some salmon for breakfast, and a salad for lunch. The pineapple wasn’t ripe enough this week, but everything else was good. The salad bar is always fresh and good, and the other salads changed throughout the week. I know the omelet station was slow, but the omelets looked good. The breakfast and lunch food availability doesn’t change a lot from day to day, but since I wasn’t looking for a great deal of variety, that wasn’t a issue. We always found a table outside, one of the great things about the Radiance class ships. Seaview Café: My husband and son’s favorite late-dining snacking opportunity! My husband thinks it’s the best food on the ship.

Entertainment: We saw the welcome aboard show, both production shows, and both guest entertainers. We listened to the music in the Centrum occasionally, and saw the flair bartending show (fun, but he really kept doing the same tricks over and over). We didn’t spend any time in the Schooner Bar, the Safari Club, or listening to the pool band. Judy Kolbe was extremely entertaining. The other guest entertainer, Kenny James, was a 17-week star search winner, and was very good. We’ve seen Stage to Screen and Vibeolgy, the production shows, previously, but they’ve had some updating, and the singers and dancers were quite a bit better than we’ve seen in the past. We skipped all the game shows and quest this time around. Zig Zag, the lounge band, was a pretty good classic rock band.

Ports:

Tortola - another off and on rainy day. We had chartered Patouche for 23 of us. The Baths were red-flagged that day, and 17 folks decided not to go, so we ended up with 6 people on a 48’ cat stocked for 23 people. They were great! We went to an alternate snorkeling spot (Cooper’s Island). The snorkeling was terrific – saw a turtle, an octopus, a small ray, and plenty of fish and coral. The crew was great, told us lots of interesting stories about the surrounding islands. Rather than make a second snorkeling stop, we chose to go over and explore Salt Island. Snacks consisted of granola bars, and there were basically unlimited liquid refreshments (rum punch after snorkeling). We really enjoyed our day, and will book with them next year again and hope to be able to go to the Baths. But if the weather isn’t good enough, we know they’ll show us a good time, anyhow. Folks who took the ferry were able to get to the Bath, by the way. Don’t know if it was a timing issue, but I do know that sailing on the cat was quite a bit rougher than we’ve had on a cat before, and sailing conditions probably factored into their decision. (http://www.patouche.com).

St. Maarten: We walked into Phillipsburg, did some shopping in the morning, grabbed a Windjammer lunch, and then took a cab over to Orient Beach for an hour and a half (first beach time for the guys and they wanted to see the world-famous Orient Beach).

Antigua: Our favorite port. We sailed Ocean Nomad, one of Eli Fuller’s excursions. Ocean Nomad is a hand-made traditional Caribbean sailboat, built on the island of Carriacou. We’ve done Eli’s Eco Tour (4 times), his Xtreme Circumnav, and this was our first time on the sailboat. Eli and his crew member, Jason, showed us a great day. We went to two snorkeling spots (more octopi, a lobster, new, recovering coral), sailed, had a great lunch, relaxed and enjoyed our day on the water. This is definitely another do-not-miss opportunity. We spent the day in the waters between Antigua and Montserrat. The volcano on Montserrat had some activity that day – we could see the iconoclastic flow, the clouds of ash, and could even hear the explosions a couple of times. Very interesting. I’d definitely do this one again! (www.sailing-antigua.com, if you’re interested, there’s also a lot of stuff on there about the building of the boat. Also can be found at http://www.adventureantigua.com.)

St. Lucia: We docked on the Carenage side – a first. We’ve always been on the Pt. Seraphine side before. The shopping on the Pt. Seraphine side is better – no Piton shop on the Carenage side. We love snorkeling at Anse Cochon, so this is what we did. We booked with Frank (franktax@hotmail.com). We’ve used him before and enjoyed it. He did a great job for us again this time. He supplied a cooler of drinks and a case of Piton. Our driver stayed with us on the beach, and was able to watch our stuff by our beach chairs when we went to the beach-side restaurant for lunch. If you do this, the excursion boats come in there – it’s a great snorkeling location. They stay to the right side of the bay – it’s easy to avoid them by sticking to the left side of the bay. Lots of interesting fish, squid, cool stuff.

Grenada:We booked a rainforest hike to Seven Sisters Falls with Mandoo (http://www.grenadatours.com). We’ve been on two of his tours before, and this was equally as good. The drive to the hike includes a short stop to see the monkeys at Grand Etang National Park. The first part of the hike is through a plantation, where Mandoo tells you about the various trees and fruits. We got to taste guava straight from the tree. The rainforest part of the hike is relatively rigorous, but worth it. Very muddy in places, closed toe hiking sandals like Keens are perfect. The falls are beautiful and there is a guy there who dives off the falls. We were first in Grenada shortly after hurricane Ivan devastated the island, and it’s exciting to see how much recovery and re-growth there has been. This whole excursion is about 4 hours long, giving you a time to relax in the afternoon, do some shopping in the spice market not far from the ship.

Sea Day: We wandered around, went to the Backstage tour, played mini-golf, bought a few pictures, used my final free spins in the casino (the only time I was in there all cruise), kept busy enough that we didn’t have time to pack until after our final dinner. Our son and his partner booked a cruise for next year (coming back to Serenade along with us). We spent time talking with our new friends, and seeing who was coming back next January; we’ll have a good group again next year, and will be having dinner with people who we met on this cruise who are coming back next year.

Events ‘n stuff: The meet and mingle was 5:00 pm on night 2, Tortola. We had had about 120 people sign up, maybe half attended. They gave each person one of the pad and pencil things, and raffled off a bunch of stuff. Cruise Director Dennis Charles talked about the changes that Cruise Critic members had suggested that RCCL had implemented, and how important we all were…. First formal night was St. Maarten, second night, which was also the Captain’s Reception. The Platinum/Diamond/D+ reception was the 2nd formal night (Grenada), and was very well attended. We only went to the Diamond/D+ breakfast once. They set aside the overflow area of the MDR for that, the biggest advantage is the free specialty (non-alcoholic) coffees – everything else is the same as the regular MDR breakfast. They weren’t expecting as many people as they had (and the room wasn’t full), and it was staffed by only 1 waiter and 2 assistant waiters, from what we recall.

Disembarkation: We met for breakfast in the Windjammer, and stayed there nearly until it was time to disembark. We didn’t bother with the diamond lounge, spent about 10 minutes in the Schooner lounge. Disembarkation was actually easier and less painful than it has been in the past. Hard though, to leave. We got a tour driver to take us to El Morro for a couple of hours before we had to go back to the airport, already counting down the days to our return next January.

Flight home: We were booked on a direct non-stop back to Cleveland. They ended up boarding us and leaving early to make up for a strong headwind (good reason to make sure you give yourself plenty of time at the airport – doesn’t happen often, but you don’t want to miss the plane if it does!). Back home now, and it’s time to go back to work.

Glad to answer any questions.

[Desert Cruizers]

Enjoyed your review, the Serenade and Jewel are th only two we have not been on. We love the Sea View Cafe also, I have been looking over S Caribbean Cruises recently.

[printingchick]

I'm doing the alternate itinerary in five weeks, but your review was still GREAT and helpful. Thanks so much for posting it. I got my docs today and my tags are already attached to my suit cases! I can't wait!! Thanks for feeding my appetite for Serenade information!!

[Az's Cruising Nana]

I always enjoy reading a Serenade review!!! She is my favorite ship. We are hoping to sail the Southern route on her again next year. Thanks for sharing! :)

 

Sue

[BobbyD]

We are doing the alt. itinerary in June with 2 other couples who haven't cruised before. I can't wait! We are considering taking a Med cruise in June '11 and have toyed with the idea of the Carnival Magic and not the Brilliance because it is much cheaper. These reviews make me second guess the money and lean towards staying with Royal (although I've cruised twice on Carnival)!

[Miss Vickie]

Glad you all enjoyed - I'm happy to answer any questions (we've been to all the islands on the alternate itinerary, too, with the exception of St. Croix). We're booked on the alternate itinerary next year, 1/15/11, but they've changed it up for next year, so we'll be returning to Tortola (where we plan on going out with Patouche again, hopefully to the Baths), and to St. Maarten.

 

Printingchick, enjoy your cruise!

 

Glendale Cruiser, we've already got a bunch of people returning from the group we sailed with this year, and an active roll call for 1/15/2011. How about joining us?

[Vacation Needed]

GREAT review - thanks for sharing!

[yogimax]

Thank you!

[printingchick]

Thanks!!!

[ValerieJo]

We are doing the same route in a few weeks. (Hurry Up March!). Thank you so much for your wonderful review. Can't wait for my first trip on Serenade. Sounds amazing.

[Miss Vickie]

We are doing the same route in a few weeks. (Hurry Up March!). Thank you so much for your wonderful review. Can't wait for my first trip on Serenade. Sounds amazing.

 

She's a great ship with an amazing crew - she consistently gets rated 1st in the fleet, and for very good reason.

 

Don't forget to look for the blue cows and the pool tables!

[mslaabs]

Glad you all enjoyed - I'm happy to answer any questions (we've been to all the islands on the alternate itinerary, too, with the exception of St. Croix).

 

Enjoyed the review, thanks. We are doing the alternate itinerary in May, which does include St. Lucia. Was there any beaches within walking distance of the port area? I'm not sure if we want to book an excursion here or not. If we don't take an excursion was there much to do in the port area (shopping/bars/beach)?

 

Sheila

[newcruiser80]

LOVED your reply! My partner and I will be on the same itinerary in March. I'm crossing my fingers that the JS category will drop in price, but we'll see. Glad you and yours had a wonderful time.

 

I'm really surprised that your first formal night was day 3?! St. Maarten? Every post I've read about this itinerary claims that it's always on day 2 - Tortola. Are you sure the first formal was day 3? Thanks for confirming :cool:

 

PS - your DH has great taste, as I'm eagerly awaiting my first trip to the seaview! mmmm

[swanny70]

Thanks for the review! We will be on Serenade during Easter week (a bunch of teachers & spouses!) and can't wait. We are celebrating our 40th birthdays!

[erniesband]

I'm Jodi's other half, she just had the port wrong for the 1st formal night, it's day 2 Tortola.

As for St. Lucia - there's is nothing near the port but some shopping. The best beaches are not close by. We like Anse Cochon , not easy to get to. Most cruisers going to the beach end up at Rodney Bay. You'll probably find better info on the St. Lucia board. You don't need a ship's excursion, plenty of taxis to get you to the beach on your own.

OK, Chops was better than the Seaview but for the late night munchies it's really good!

Ernie

[Miss Vickie]

I hate to disagree with my husband, but, Rodney Bay isn't a long taxi ride from port, it's just not within walking distance. No beaches within walking distance.

 

If you're in port with Adventure (and you likely will be, from what I can tell), you'll port on the Carenage side of the harbor - a small mall, and a flee-market type shopping experience. Some people love it, for me not so much. Better shopping - a nice mall, including a Piton store, on the Pt. Seraphine side, where Adventure docks when she's in St. Lucia, and Serenade docks when Adventure isn't. There may be a water taxi that will take you from one side to another.

 

St. Lucia is the prettiest island on the itinerary, though, and one that is really worth an excursion of some sort to see, especially if you've never been there before. If there were one island where I would skip an excursion it would be St. Maarten - there's a beach near where you dock, lots of shopping, and if you want to go to another beach (like Orient) it's easy to grab a cab.

 

And yeah, I goofed on the island from formal night - on the old itinerary it WAS St. Maarten. On this new one, it's Tortola, night 2.

[Kikkycat]

Thank you very much! I don't know whether your review helped to relieve my antsyness or made it worse, but that's my problem :p and I loved reading what you had to say. We leave for San Juan the day after tomorrow to do this very itinerary!

[Miss Vickie]

Thank you very much! I don't know whether your review helped to relieve my antsyness or made it worse, but that's my problem :p and I loved reading what you had to say. We leave for San Juan the day after tomorrow to do this very itinerary!

 

Have a great time, wish we were returning with you!

[Choozin Croozin]

Thanks for the awesome review and the tips on what to do (and who to go with) in all the ports. We are doing a b2b next March and am really excited. I have been to a lot of the islands but it has been about 15 years. When I was in Grenada there was this really cool open air (flea market type) spice market where you could buy all these natural spices from locals. You made reference to it and so I am assuming that it still exists?

 

Did I read that you also did the other itinerary? Did you do a review on that trip also? I would like to hear what you did in those ports as well. BTW, I am originally from Chesterland then Willoughby if you know where that is.

[redhead621]

Thanks so much for taking the time to share. I am leaving tomorrow for my 1st B2B on the Serenade and enjoyed my "pre vacation" through you review.

[Miss Vickie]

Thanks for the awesome review and the tips on what to do (and who to go with) in all the ports. We are doing a b2b next March and am really excited. I have been to a lot of the islands but it has been about 15 years. When I was in Grenada there was this really cool open air (flea market type) spice market where you could buy all these natural spices from locals. You made reference to it and so I am assuming that it still exists?

 

Did I read that you also did the other itinerary? Did you do a review on that trip also? I would like to hear what you did in those ports as well. BTW' date=' I am originally from Chesterland then Willoughby if you know where that is.[/quote']

 

First, Redhead621, have a great time!

 

Choozin' Cruzin', the spice market in Grenada is still there. It's actually the first time in 3 visits we've been to the spice market. Cool place.

 

I haven't done the other itinerary, specifically, but we have been to all but one of the islands on the other cruises. We have not been to St. Croix, so I'm not much help there (although my sister and brother-in-law were there just this week, snorkeled and Buck Island and said it was very good).

 

We've been to St. Thomas numerous times, usually take the ferry from Red Hook to St. John and snorkel there. Our favorite beach on St. John is Cinammon Beach, there's good snorkeling out by the rock, and there are facilities. If you like to hike, 3/4 of St. John is national forest and there's good hiking. We've also done a daysail we loved on Highpockets, with Capt. Kathleen. http://pws.prserv.net/sailhighpockets/words%20&%20pictures.html There are good reviews on High Pockets on both cruise critic and trip advisor, and we had a great day.

 

We've been to St. Kitts once, and used a guide named Ilva Wallace. She took us all over the island - our favorite stops were Brimstone Fort and Caribelle Batik. I'm considering contacting her for next year for a customized tour. We know we want to return to Brimstone and Caribelle, and I have to do some more research to see what else we want to see. Ilvawallace@yahoo.com, I think, is her e-mail.

 

Dominica - most lovely island we have ever been to, including St. Lucia and Grenada. One of the reasons we're doing the A itinerary rather than the B again next year is to get back to Dominica. We booked with Levi Barron, Bumpiing Tours, for the Roseau Valley Best tour, which includes a strenuous rain forest hike to Middleham Falls, and some other places, less strenuous, plus a snorkeling stop at Champagne Reef. Unfortunately, one of our traveling party injured herself at the end of the Middleham Falls hike and we spent the remainder of the day sampling Dominica's health care system. What experience we did have with Levi was great, and we really loved the Middleham Falls hike. My sister and her husband returned to Dominica this week (they did a B2B on Serenade, first week with us and then stayed on for the alternate itinerary), and booked the same excursion with Levi to do all the stuff they didn't do next year. We plan on doing the same (booking with Levi again) to finish our experience next year. http://www.bumpiingtours.com/

 

The flickr link in my signature has pictures from our cruise last year, including pictures from both Dominica and Grenada, as well as Maho Beach in St. Maarten (a very cool place to go watch large planes land within touching distance). This year's pics will be up - eventually :D

[printingchick]

First, Redhead621, have a great time!

 

Choozin' Cruzin', the spice market in Grenada is still there. It's actually the first time in 3 visits we've been to the spice market. Cool place.

 

I haven't done the other itinerary, specifically, but we have been to all but one of the islands on the other cruises. We have not been to St. Croix, so I'm not much help there (although my sister and brother-in-law were there just this week, snorkeled and Buck Island and said it was very good).

 

We've been to St. Thomas numerous times, usually take the ferry from Red Hook to St. John and snorkel there. Our favorite beach on St. John is Cinammon Beach, there's good snorkeling out by the rock, and there are facilities. If you like to hike, 3/4 of St. John is national forest and there's good hiking. We've also done a daysail we loved on Highpockets, with Capt. Kathleen. http://pws.prserv.net/sailhighpockets/words%20&%20pictures.html There are good reviews on High Pockets on both cruise critic and trip advisor, and we had a great day.

 

We've been to St. Kitts once, and used a guide named Ilva Wallace. She took us all over the island - our favorite stops were Brimstone Fort and Caribelle Batik. I'm considering contacting her for next year for a customized tour. We know we want to return to Brimstone and Caribelle, and I have to do some more research to see what else we want to see. Ilvawallace@yahoo.com, I think, is her e-mail.

 

Dominica - most lovely island we have ever been to, including St. Lucia and Grenada. One of the reasons we're doing the A itinerary rather than the B again next year is to get back to Dominica. We booked with Levi Barron, Bumpiing Tours, for the Roseau Valley Best tour, which includes a strenuous rain forest hike to Middleham Falls, and some other places, less strenuous, plus a snorkeling stop at Champagne Reef. Unfortunately, one of our traveling party injured herself at the end of the Middleham Falls hike and we spent the remainder of the day sampling Dominica's health care system. What experience we did have with Levi was great, and we really loved the Middleham Falls hike. My sister and her husband returned to Dominica this week (they did a B2B on Serenade, first week with us and then stayed on for the alternate itinerary), and booked the same excursion with Levi to do all the stuff they didn't do next year. We plan on doing the same (booking with Levi again) to finish our experience next year. http://www.bumpiingtours.com/

 

The flickr link in my signature has pictures from our cruise last year, including pictures from both Dominica and Grenada, as well as Maho Beach in St. Maarten (a very cool place to go watch large planes land within touching distance). This year's pics will be up - eventually :D

 

Great information! We're doing this itinerary in March (5 weeks, 2 days!!) and I'm so excited. Have been to all these places but St. Kitts and St. Croix on past cruises.

 

We'll be using Levi for the same tour. I'm sure it will be great. I hope no one on our tour gets injured!

 

Like you, I prefer to ferry to St. John when docked in St. Thomas. We enjoy Leinster Bay. Lovely area, also with great snorkeling. Last time we were there, we found ourselves swimming with the sea turtles. Just incredible.

 

Thanks for the information!

[Miss Vickie]

Great information! We're doing this itinerary in March (5 weeks, 2 days!!) and I'm so excited. Have been to all these places but St. Kitts and St. Croix on past cruises.

 

We'll be using Levi for the same tour. I'm sure it will be great. I hope no one on our tour gets injured!

 

Like you, I prefer to ferry to St. John when docked in St. Thomas. We enjoy Leinster Bay. Lovely area, also with great snorkeling. Last time we were there, we found ourselves swimming with the sea turtles. Just incredible.

 

Thanks for the information!

 

I'm sure you'll be fine on Levi's tour - the issue with the person who got hurt was probably 1) her shoes - if you have decent hiking shoes or sandals, it's a much better idea than athletic shoes, and 2) she was trying (successfully) to protect her DSLR when she went down.

 

We've been to Leinster Bay, snorkeled Waterlemon Cay. Yes, it's a great area. However it's pretty remote and isolated. We didn't rent a car, asked the cab to come back for us. He said no need, just walk back to the road (and you know that's a fairly significant walk lugging gear), they come by all the time. Wrong. We ended up having to hitchhike, got a ride to Maho and caught a cab there. It's the only time I've ever been worried about not getting back to our ship on time. If you're going to Leinster, best to rent a car.

[printingchick]

Good to know. We had no problem getting a ride back the last time we were there. Now I'll be concerned!

 

I'm cruising with my 22-year-old daughter. We both have good Teva hiking sandals, so I think we'll be fine!

 

Thanks!!

[Miss Vickie]

Good to know. We had no problem getting a ride back the last time we were there. Now I'll be concerned!

 

I'm cruising with my 22-year-old daughter. We both have good Teva hiking sandals, so I think we'll be fine!

 

Thanks!!

 

Are your Teva's closed toe? I know that's what Levi recommends. The ones I wore on that hike were not, and I did okay, bought a pair of Keen closed-toe hiking sandals that I wore for a 7-Sisters Falls Hike in Grenada this year, and they were definitely better.

 

Have a good time with your daughter!