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C. Victory Sept. 16 '12 Review with pics


Karpkg

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I will be on her in 27 days and I can hardly wait. Can you please tell how the ship was docked in each port? starboard or port.

 

Looking at my pictures, our cabin is portside aft and we had the view of the water. Looks like we docked starboard for St. Thomas. Our, we entered St. Thomas head first.

 

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Normally I see this picture taken with tons of boats in them, making it a very pretty picture. But it also makes it high season, so being the only ship in all of our port days this cruise more than made up for the scant boats. Still, when you're first timers to St. Thomas, entering the pier and seeing this makes a fantastic first impression to start off the cruise.

 

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Notes: I gather my research using 2 main places- Cruise Critic and TripAdvisor, then Googling islands and such. I had already plans for everything before my sis and Billy joined us.

 

They changed my game plan. These two are scuba divers with 20+ dives each under their belt and they wanted to dive on this trip. My sis also is the "fly by the seat of my pants" kind of gal and wanted to not have everything so scheduled so...I compromised. 3 days I insisted on scheduling prior the cruise- the San Juan bio bay/rainforest, Herod's Tour in St. Lucia, snorkeling in Barbados. The two can choose to use either St. Thomas, St. Kitts or St. Maarten to scuba dive, my family will be on our own on that day.

 

St. Thomas- they chose not to scuba dive so we would wing it when we arrived. There was either going to St. John for the day- but this was our first time so we nixed that. There were the beaches- Megan's, Sapphire or Coki- we chose Coki because we heard of the snorkeling there. And, I wanted to take pics so I wanted a mini island tour. I had info on bus transportation but dropped that to a personal taxi instead. Not enough time to travel using a bus for us.

 

We stepped off the ship found a very helpful pier guy/security guard and he gave us great tips.

 

Tips: This and other islands(Barbados, St. Lucia and one other, couldn't remember) restrict taxi drivers without prior approval from entering the pier or inside the terminal. There's an invisible line they cannot cross- you'd have to go beyond that to where the taxi drivers were and then have these in mind:

 

Have an idea of what you want to do and times. We wanted to see views. Everyone wanted to snorkel. I wanted to buy a camera, especially an underwater camera so a little shopping. I knew what prices Carnival was charging, I knew prices internet tours were doing. (Popular ones via CC were Sunny Liston tours at ~35/pp and Godfrey tours w/beach, shopping and tour at also $35/pp) Know what time you have to be back. Then, negotiate.

 

Leaving the ship

 

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Heading our way out of the pier and down the row of shops to the lion's den. Er, where the taxi drivers were congregated.

 

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We head to Mountain Top and the famous banana daiquiris. Or so it's written. Can't miss it.

 

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These were everywhere. Kids of course wanted a pose with them.

 

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Isn't this Prince Eric from Disney's Little Mermaid?

 

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The view! Magen's Bay

 

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Close up of Magen's Bay Beaches.

 

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This helped.

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A little to the left.

 

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Gotta try a daiquiri. Delicious! Kids had a virgin strawberry daiquiri.

 

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St. Thomas- US Virgin islands so I used credit cards. So far I haven't seen a foreign transaction fee yet on my AmEx or MasterCards. Also used my AT&T phone freely.

 

We hop back into the van just as a tour group arrives. We end up always ahead of a major tour group so we were happy.

 

"Sir Francis Drake's Bench- Sir Francis Drake used what is now called Drake's Seat (on the north side of St. Thomas) to spy for unsuspecting ships, making their way through the channel, to pillage for the Queen of England. He used just this spot to spy on enemy ships of the Spanish Fleet passing through Drake’s Passage, where the Atlantic Ocean joins the Caribbean Sea.

 

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We stopped at this viewing spot and Monica Lewinsky was here. Now, you'd have to have read other reviews to know Monica, the donkey. I forget the story behind the name, but I didn't want to chance taking a picture and having him demand I pay for it so no pics, but the donkey's wearing a blanket and has sunglasses on.

 

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By now everyone's wanting to go to the beach so we skip another viewing spot that looked like it held cage birds and head to Coki Beach.

 

Again we're ahead of everyone else and have the place almost all to ourselves for at least an hour or two.

 

This water was so clear and very calm. She says the locals prefer it to Emerald Beach.

 

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There's Coral World to the right.

 

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To the left of the beach

 

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The beach seems small and even smaller when the crowds start coming. I overheard someone say it's probably the length of a football field.

 

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The snorkeling area is best near the rocks to the right. Marie says to avoid the left because the currents can take you to the rocks there and if you're not a strong swimmer...and there's a blow hole there she said to avoid.

 

I have an underwater camera pouch so I place my sister's camera in that and this worked well.

 

Shot of the beach from the water. You rent the chairs and umbrellas but there are areas of shade.

 

Tip: We brought a flat sheet and it worked really well. Easy to shake the sand off, lightweight to carry and virtually no space. I would bring only 1 towel for the 4 of us and mostly the air dried us off. We used a shady spot and voila! Free!

 

Pic facing the beach looking right

 

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Looking left toward Coral World area.

 

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DS wearing his rented snorkel gear. They came with a dog biscuit that we used to feed the fishes.

 

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Tip: Bring diluted vinegar in a spray bottle.

 

I normally do this when we go to Florida beaches due to jelly fishes, and they had them here. And they sting! Locals said it was the start of jellyfish season. (Jellyfish on the left in next pic)

 

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Another jellyfish just above the fish going after the dog biscuit. It's pretty translucent. This and the baby ones were the hardest to avoid.

 

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My sis, looking at the picture. "Drat! We should have held our stomachs in." Me, whimpering inside. "I AM." :rolleyes:

 

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We ordered food around 11:30 AM, anticipating it may take long and again avoiding lunch rush. DH gets the jerk chicken rice and beans combination and salad,

 

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Me and sis share the conch fritters with sauce, rice and beans w/salad.

 

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Kids get burgers and fries.

 

The food was very tasty. Expensive. Next time I'll bring my can Cokes from the ship. Snorkeling equipment was around $50 for the 4 of us, lunch, drinks and alcohol drinks and tip were around $100. At least we saved in not renting chairs or umbrellas.

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hello great review

what does the diluted vinegar do?

 

White distilled vinegar (acetic acid) neutralizes the protein venom of the jellyfish tentacles. Takes the stinging pain away. For us we head down to the beaches of Florida for our vacations/summers and see jellyfishes commonly. My daughter first encountered them at 3 yrs old when they touched her legs and she was hysterically screaming crying; I didn't have any and at least 2 moms came running up with their own spray bottle mixtures. Within seconds of squirting that stuff she had calmed down. I carry them with me now. Not this time, I didn't think of it.

 

On me for this excursion the stinging was mild and produced welts that went away and one blister that took a few days. The locals here advise rinsing off with the sea water or using sand to rub the venom off. They said all the nearby restaurants had vinegar but I didn't use any. Other people talk about "peeing" on the area, but um, no thank you. :rolleyes:

 

 

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no need to hold stomach in you look GREAT for having kids or no kids. whats your secret?

 

Thanks! No secret! I don't help my hubby though, I tend to give him my leftovers and he's dieting. :p

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White distilled vinegar (acetic acid) neutralizes the protein venom of the jellyfish tentacles. Takes the stinging pain away. For us we head down to the beaches of Florida for our vacations/summers and see jellyfishes commonly. My daughter first encountered them at 3 yrs old when they touched her legs and she was hysterically screaming crying; I didn't have any and at least 2 moms came running up with their own spray bottle mixtures. Within seconds of squirting that stuff she had calmed down. I carry them with me now. Not this time, I didn't think of it.

 

On me for this excursion the stinging was mild and produced welts that went away and one blister that took a few days. The locals here advise rinsing off with the sea water or using sand to rub the venom off. They said all the nearby restaurants had vinegar but I didn't use any. Other people talk about "peeing" on the area, but um, no thank you. :rolleyes:

 

 

 

 

That is the famous "friends" episode where joey or phoebe I think had to pee on monica on the beach because of a jellyfish.... pretty funny. Thanks for the tip about white vinegar.

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Saw the official looking Carnival guy again blocking the way and women who were uncertain and listening to him. I said quite loudly “He’s trying to sell you lanyards, he’s not Carnival, don’t bother!” And they gasped and said “Oh!” and squeezed around him. I don’t think he was too happy with me by then.

 

 

Lol!!! This review is fantastic!!! Nice remembrance of ours in Feb. 09! Makes me wish we had done more in San Juan but we flew in the day of disembarkation.

 

"Early to bed, early to rise, makes a woman healthy, wealthy and wise!"

^^^^I love this quote/saying! As a new mom, this couldn't be further from the truth!

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And yes, as gross as it sounds, my DH peed on me when I got stung by a jellyfish big time. It stung so bad, I didn't care what they had to do to get it to stop. The minute he did it quickly subsided. Still had raised welts but didn't sting.

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I wanted to go to Cafe Mallorca but the lack of time made it tough - we did wind up at Punto de Vista and Barrachina's - of course, we had to have a "happy" pina colada at the latter!

 

Love the review so far!

 

Tom, how did you like Punta de Vista. I had the shrimp monfogo. The shrimp was delicious.

I am reliving my trip through her review. How did you like Cosol? We loved spencer ambrose and bernards. Really fun trips.

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Tom, how did you like Punta de Vista. I had the shrimp monfogo. The shrimp was delicious.

I am reliving my trip through her review. How did you like Cosol? We loved spencer ambrose and bernards. Really fun trips.

 

Had the chicken mofongo and thought it was great! The only issue was that I was tasting the garlic sauce for hours afterwards - and Tamie could tell, too - lol!!

 

We really enjoyed Cosol! Unfortunately, we had another newly wed in our van who got car sick - poor kid.

 

Kar - we went to Sapphire Beach and pretty much had the whole beach to ourselves. OK - maybe with 20 neighbors or so. We DID notice that there was quite a bit of jellyfish in the water!

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Had the chicken mofongo and thought it was great! The only issue was that I was tasting the garlic sauce for hours afterwards - and Tamie could tell, too - lol!!

 

We really enjoyed Cosol! Unfortunately, we had another newly wed in our van who got car sick - poor kid.

 

Kar - we went to Sapphire Beach and pretty much had the whole beach to ourselves. OK - maybe with 20 neighbors or so. We DID notice that there was quite a bit of jellyfish in the water!

 

Herfnerd- so glad to see you are back from your cruise. Was anxiously waiting for you to get back on here to write a review! I hope! :)

 

Awesome Review so far! Sailing in almost 100 days! Never thought about jelly fish until now! eeeek!! They are so hard to see in you pictures so now it makes me nervous!! Can't wait for the rest of your review!!

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C. Victory Sept. 16 2012 Story Review with pics

 

Itinerary

 

Friday- Arrival

Hotel- InterContinental Resort at La Isla Verdes (stone’s throw from the airport)

Saturday- Combination El Yunque Rainforest and Bioluminescence Bay Kayaking excursion

Sunday- San Cristobal Fort, Old San Juan, Boarding the ship

Monday- St. Thomas- Taxi- Touring and Coki Beach, snorkeling

Tuesday- Sea Day

Wednesday- Barbados- Calypso Cruise- snorkeling with the turtles, shipwrecks

Thursday- St. Lucia- Herod’s Land/Sea Tour

Friday- St. Kitts- Taxi tour, South Friar’s Beach, snorkeling

Saturday- St. Maarten/St. Martin- Using the bus exploration, Marigot exploring, local beach hangout

Sunday- El Morro Fort, Old San Juan, departure

 

We are a family of 4 with 2 kids, DD age 9.5 and DS age 8. We live in Woodstock, GA, an hour’s drive north of Atlanta. This is our 2nd cruise, and we’ve been choosing to do major vacations during the kids’ fall break to take advantage of the off season prices. My sister flew in from Los Angeles, CA and my hubby’s(DH) childhood friend from Minnesota, so we are a party of 6 for the cruise.

 

Tip: We flew Air Trans, direct flight. I booked the air fare 5 months prior from their website. Tickets were not cheap, but I caught 2 price drops and phoned them in each time. (Can't do this if you book your tickets through a 3rd party, like Travelocity. United Airlines is affiliated with Air Trans so supposedly you can do this with them as well) They credited me toward a future flight(vouchers) up to a year from when I first booked the flight. (ie, they expired May 2013). Flights were dropping within 3 months of the cruise but prime return times were gone, so this method was the best for me, and I was able to use the credit toward Christmas flights to LA anyways.

 

Seeing Puerto Rico for the first time

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Little tidbit: Did you know the names of the island and the city was interchanged by mistake a hundred years later after the island was named? Puerto Rico means "rich port", and the island was originally named San Juan. (Found this out while visiting the forts):D

 

Like other CC’ers I had bid on Priceline and tried for the Old Sheraton at Old San Juan. We had 2 nights pre-cruise so the 2 night restriction Old Sheraton had wasn’t going to be a deterrent but we ended up with the Intercontinental Resort at the Isla Verdes. This turned out to be a better choice for us because we got to relax at the beach and pool and enjoy the resort atmosphere before the cruise.

 

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Friday- Sept. 14, 2012

When we arrived in San Juan it was in the high 90’s and humid, just a tad hotter than Atlanta at the time. We were an hour earlier than Billy’s flight so we went across the street to the Wendy’s there and had a late lunch.

 

Tip: Go to the Taxi Stand for the taxi. There’s people there with walkie talkies who’ll get you a taxi appropriately sized for your group and luggage. They’ll tell you the fare up front before the taxi arrives (it’s regulated). We were at the B terminal so we loaded up, headed over to D terminal to pick up Billy and away we went. ($18 total- $10 ride, $6 luggage, $2 more for extra passenger past 4 people) not including tip.

Taxi Rates by Zones

 

FYI: Cell Phones, Wifi- Puerto Rico is US Territory. My family and sis have Iphones via AT&T. Our reception was great and we used our phones as if we were in the States. I don't remember what Billy had but he used his phone fine as well. Finding free wi-fi hot spots for my friend was another matter. I heard Starbucks had free wi-fi but I didn't check, and our hotel didn't have free-wifi.

 

My sister had arrived earlier and was already hanging out at the beach. She met us in the lobby and we went up to our room. Hers was the penthouse and ours was several floors lower. We dropped off luggage, changed and headed for the beach. Don’t have pics, but it was funny seeing my sis in the water holding onto her raspberry mojito while bobbing up and down in the water. Came to realize that will be a common sight seeing cruisers in the water neck high just hanging out and sipping on their drinks.

 

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We asked for a place to eat a late dinner at the concierge. We walked out of the resort, turned left and a block later settled into Don Jose’, a local bar and restaurant.

 

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The place was fairly deserted except for a few locals and the owner looked ecstatic and literally danced his way over to us. Tasted their Mofongo for the first time. Loved the chicken! The Mofongo part is the starchy plaintain the shape of an upside down cup with the chicken concoction poured on top; that was so plain it needed the richly flavored chicken to complement it. On its own it was too bland. I noticed too that Puerto Rican meals used more of the starchy plantains than the sweet plaintains I was used to. (sorry, forgot to take a pic of my food) The kids wanted sweet tea and lemonade. They don’t have that but the owner was offering limeade and they settled for that.

 

My sis had the pork and rice.

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Great review! What camera did you use?

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Herfnerd- so glad to see you are back from your cruise. Was anxiously waiting for you to get back on here to write a review! I hope! :)

 

Awesome Review so far! Sailing in almost 100 days! Never thought about jelly fish until now! eeeek!! They are so hard to see in you pictures so now it makes me nervous!! Can't wait for the rest of your review!!

i have some underwater pics of the jellyfish at coki beach. they are pretty easy to spot as the water is so clear. ill try upload them tonight.

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Karpkg, these are beautiful pics and you guys are an even more beautiful family!

 

I miss hanging out with you guys both on and off the boat.

 

So glad we were able to meet.

 

I can't figure out how to message you, but I would love to give you my email addy so we can keep in touch!

 

Say howdy to everyone for me and for my DH.

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Karpkg, these are beautiful pics and you guys are an even more beautiful family!

 

I miss hanging out with you guys both on and off the boat.

 

So glad we were able to meet.

 

I can't figure out how to message you, but I would love to give you my email addy so we can keep in touch!

 

Say howdy to everyone for me and for my DH.

PYROPOODLE!!!!! arms.gif

 

E-mail me, Facebook me, twitter me.....whistling.gif (Isn't there a song out there somewhere?)

 

Yeah, I have some pics of you and your darling hubby I wanted to send to you...I searched all over CC to private message you but it's not like my other forum that I can do that in. So, I'll post my e-mail for a very short time then delete this message because it should end up as an e-mail, I hope.

 

(deleted) :D

 

pferrer- we searched for ya at the meet and beat but you weren't there. :( Are you really in my pics?? which one are you???? :confused::confused:

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