Follow up to Live from CB 12/5-12 THE PICS!

[Tyskie]

Thanks for taking us along on your trip! Couldn't wait to check cc each morning. Pictures are great !

[LollyMoz]

I was on the CB - same itinerary - last month. Your photos brought back all the fond memories. Thanks for sharing!

[cdamion]

Thanks for posting the pics. They are great! So you prefer Dominica over Grenada? Would you do this itinerary again?

 

I do prefer Dominica over Grenada a little bit. Both islands are similar, but Dominica is a bit more raw. In Grenada, at all of the tourist sights everybody is making a pitch to get your money, which is not a huge deal to me, but it is nice to not have that in Dominica. Grenada does have a very nice beach in Grand Anse beach, which Dominica does not have. They are very close in my eyes. Grenada's tourism infrastructure is a couple of small steps ahead of Dominica.

 

It looks like we will do a similar itinerary next year on CB so my fiancee can go. Starting next year Princess is mixing up the port calls a little bit, so Grenada and Dominica will not be on the same itinerary.

 

The Southern Classic will go to St. Thomas, Tortola, Antigua, Dominica, and Barbados.

 

The Southern Explorer (which I was on) will go to St. Maarten, St. Lucia, Greneda, Bonaire, and Aruba.

 

We are having trouble deciding which to go on.

[cdamion]

Your pictures are amazing.......thanks so much for taking the time to share them on here......would love to do the southern carib cruise sometime......airfare is so much more for us to San Juan than to Fort Lauderdale......maybe some day! Thanks again!

 

If you book far enough ahead, American Airlines has some really good fares from Chicago to San Juan. Never as cheap as going to Florida, but still reasonable.

[cdamion]

Pictures really bring your report to life. I have the same great little camera as you and it really does take some beautiful, detailed pics. (if anyone is looking for a new compact digital)

My favourite of all your pics is the Fountain at Sunset, in San Juan. Do you mind if I save that one to my pics?

 

I share your liking of Dominica. Many on our cruise didn't like it at all as there weren't enough shops or tourist traps, but getting into the heart of the interior and the town was a real treat and very memorable.

 

I will be visiting some of those islands next year so thank you so much for a glimpse of them. Looking forward to the next installment. :D

 

Isn't it sad when you see the ship leaving without you? I felt bereft watching the Grand sail away from FL after my first ever cruise. :(

 

Sure you can save the fountain pic. The name of the fountain is the Raices Fountain.

 

Some people I spoke to did not like Dominica because it wasn't developed enough for them, also because of the lack of beaches. I kind of hope it stays the way it is. It is a refreshing change from some of the other over-developed islands in the Caribbean.

[deminggraham]

Your posts from the ship and these pictures are fabulous. I was supposed to be on the Emerald Princess on 12/8 which stops at the same ports but had to cancel because of illness. Your posts make me anxious to re-book this cruise when I am cleared by my physician to travel. Thank you so much for the wonderful description of thecruise and the beautiful pictures.

[Lin336]

Great review & photos

[CrusinAgain]

I do prefer Dominica over Grenada a little bit. Both islands are similar, but Dominica is a bit more raw. In Grenada, at all of the tourist sights everybody is making a pitch to get your money, which is not a huge deal to me, but it is nice to not have that in Dominica. Grenada does have a very nice beach in Grand Anse beach, which Dominica does not have. They are very close in my eyes. Grenada's tourism infrastructure is a couple of small steps ahead of Dominica.

 

It looks like we will do a similar itinerary next year on CB so my fiancee can go. Starting next year Princess is mixing up the port calls a little bit, so Grenada and Dominica will not be on the same itinerary.

 

The Southern Classic will go to St. Thomas, Tortola, Antigua, Dominica, and Barbados.

 

The Southern Explorer (which I was on) will go to St. Maarten, St. Lucia, Greneda, Bonaire, and Aruba.

 

We are having trouble deciding which to go on.

 

As I have been to all the ports, I do want to see St. Maarten again since it was rainning all day and St. Lucia I was sick and didn't get off the ship and I love Bonaire and Aruba is a good place to gamble. Wished it went to Curacao also instead of Grenada but this sounds like an itinerary to go on for sure on one of our favorite ships. Thanks for the info and glad they are going to St. Maarten and St. Lucia that we didn't get to see while there. The Classic is okay but we are so tired of St. Thomas so if we were to do a B2B we would make that week a relax on the ship week since we have been to those ports thoroughly.

[cdamion]

Thanks for posting the pics. They are great! So you prefer Dominica over Grenada? Would you do this itinerary again?

 

Answering again, but shorter this time - Yes I absolutely would do this itinerary again.

 

This is a great sampling of what the Caribbean has to offer. You get the dry desert-like islands of Aruba and Bonaire. You get the two less developed and lushly green islands of Grenada and Dominica. You get the more developed islands of St. Thomas and the home port of Puerto Rico. I don't know of another 7 day itinerary with so much variety in ports.

[CrusinAgain]

CB Leaving me Behind by cdamion, on Flickr

 

I sincerely hope you all have enjoyed the "live from" reports and these pics. These are just a few of nearly 2000 I took. They will show up some time down the road when I turn them into slide shows. I also have several pics of the CB that I will post in a separate thread in the next day or so for those interested in the ship, but not necessarily all of the ports.

 

Would you please post a link in this thread when you do that in case I don't get a chance to go to the main Princess forum? I did post a link in your live thread to this thread.

 

Who was the piano player at Crooners now that Martin Kaye is gone who we didn't get to see but read he drew quite a crowd.

[CrusinAgain]

Pictures really bring your report to life. I have the same great little camera as you and it really does take some beautiful, detailed pics.

 

Okay I must have missed what camera the both of you have. Would you mind stating again what it is?

 

Okay I found the info: Its a Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS5. Will have to check into that one.

[cdamion]

Would you please post a link in this thread when you do that in case I don't get a chance to go to the main Princess forum? I did post a link in your live thread to this thread.

 

Who was the piano player at Crooners now that Martin Kaye is gone who we didn't get to see but read he drew quite a crowd.

 

I will post a link in this thread when I post them. It will be either later tonight, or tomorrow.

 

The piano player at Crooners is Chris Turner. He did keep the venue full. I only spent a very little bit of time there as I was usually in the Wheelhouse.

[cdamion]

As I have been to all the ports, I do want to see St. Maarten again since it was rainning all day and St. Lucia I was sick and didn't get off the ship and I love Bonaire and Aruba is a good place to gamble. Wished it went to Curacao also instead of Grenada but this sounds like an itinerary to go on for sure on one of our favorite ships. Thanks for the info and glad they are going to St. Maarten and St. Lucia that we didn't get to see while there. The Classic is okay but we are so tired of St. Thomas so if we were to do a B2B we would make that week a relax on the ship week since we have been to those ports thoroughly.

 

All of the cruise lines really over-do St. Thomas. Not sure why. I believe we are going to do the explorer too. I have not been to St. Lucia and have always wanted to see it. I did get into the Crystal Casino across from the ship in Aruba. While it took all of my money, it was nice inside. They were serving nice rum punches to the gamblers too.

[u2cruiser]

Okay I must have missed what camera the both of you have. Would you mind stating again what it is?

 

Okay I found the info: Its a Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS5. Will have to check into that one.

 

We bought ours for Santorini and the pictures are absolutely stunning. I think it must be difficult to take a bad picture on Santorini though ;)

I mainly use it on automatic as it seems to do the job as well as when I mess around with different modes.

 

Here's one of St Vincent, looking across to Young Island, and sorry, my camera is actually Lumix DMC TZ7.

[snrlnd]

Excellent!!!

[spingal]

Day 5 - Grenada (Part 6)

 

Finally, after another long day, the sun set ending the day in Grenada

 

Untitled by cdamion, on Flickr

 

Grenada Sunset by cdamion, on Flickr

 

The picture of the ship at sunset is spectacular! You should enter it in the Princess photo contest! :D

[cdamion]

The picture of the ship at sunset is spectacular! You should enter it in the Princess photo contest! :D

 

Princess photo contest? There is a photo contest?

[RickEk]

Princess photo contest? There is a photo contest?

 

Absolutely!... Here's a link. You can win a free cruise for you and your honey! http://www.princess.com/newsletter/html/winter2010/?

 

(EDIT) OH NO!... I actually read the link and the contest ended yesterday 12/15/2010 There should be another one soon...:o

[CrusinAgain]

All of the cruise lines really over-do St. Thomas. Not sure why. I believe we are going to do the explorer too. I have not been to St. Lucia and have always wanted to see it. I did get into the Crystal Casino across from the ship in Aruba. While it took all of my money, it was nice inside. They were serving nice rum punches to the gamblers too.

 

We never tried the ones close to port but went down to the high rises and tried several within walking distance of the Raadison while my daughter and her husband used their beach facilities. All of them were nice inside and did entertain us for quite awhile for about $20 each. I'll have to remember the rum punches at the Crystal next time. The others were soft drinks.

[CrusinAgain]

We bought ours for Santorini and the pictures are absolutely stunning. I think it must be difficult to take a bad picture on Santorini though ;)

I mainly use it on automatic as it seems to do the job as well as when I mess around with different modes.

 

Here's one of St Vincent, looking across to Young Island, and sorry, my camera is actually Lumix DMC TZ7.

 

Very nice pic. I also always use automatic. Thanks for sharing that. St. Vincent is one port we have not visited out of our many cruises to the Caribbean.

[kendon]

Thank you for all the time spent on your live report and photos...I enjoyed it all SO much having been on the same cruise just weeks before. Enjoy the holidays!