Emerald Princess Cruise Journal - Southern Caribbean Dec. 9 to 19 with Photos

[AryMay]

We are loving your review and photos. We are sailing the Southern Caribbean on the Emerald in a few weeks so you're giving us a nice hint of what lies ahead. Thanks very much. And by the way, we're from Manitoba Canada (north of Minnesota) and we're having an exceptionally cold winter so we can't wait to get on board. :)

Another day of blizzard conditions here today. Our temp is already at -5º with a wind chill of 31º below zero now...and the forecast low is for -23º with a MUCH lower windchill. We live in the southern part of Minnesota so I can only imagine what you must be experiencing!!!

 

Keep thinking warm thoughts...thank goodness you have a cruise to look forward to! :)

[AryMay]

A cut & paste description of our next stop:

 

Titou Gorge

: One of the most unique areas on the Island and it's also a spot where part of Pirates of the Caribbean 2 was filmed. Like just about all fresh water swimming areas on the Island, the water at Titou Gorge is cold. To enjoy the gorge you would have to take the short swim (about 2 minutes) up a cave like area(opened top, you can see the sky while swimming, you do not swim under water). The swim is about 200 feet and the water is about 15 feet deep at its deepest point. Once you get to the middle of the cave-Like area there is a ledge you can stand on. That’s the only place you will be able to stand before you get to the end of your swim. There is a small waterfall one can swim to, if the water is not flowing too heavy. If you are athletic you can climb the waterfall (4-5 feet) to get to another waterfall but anyone jumping has to be very athletic since you have to jump about 6 feet out into the water on your way down to avoid a ledge in the water. This part is not for everyone and is optional even if you can make the jump. There is 5-7 minutes rocky walk to Titou Gorge. We provide swim belts to all our guests.

Levi timed it so we arrived at Titou Gorge after the ship’s tours had left.

 

 

The walk to the gorge was not difficult. At one point we walked on a bridge across a small creek.

 

 

On the way we saw wild poinsettias…how appropriate for the Christmas season!

 

 

There were steps leading down to a small pool area at the opening to the gorge. Levi required that we all get into the water and go in until the water was chest deep. Anyone who couldn’t do this would not be going any further into the gorge.

 

To say the water was cold was an understatement! I just forced myself to get in quick, but Bob likes to be a little more dramatic.

 

 

I laugh every time I look at this photo…

 

 

The entrance to the gorge.

 

Edited January 21, 2014 by AryMay

[AryMay]

Once inside the gorge you had to swim against the current. There were openings at the top of the gorge which let in small slivers of light but it was still dark enough that I wasn’t able to get good photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the end of the gorge was a small waterfall. Off to the side was a little cave like area where we were able to squeeze together and stand and get out of the water. Those that wanted were able to climb up the waterfall and then jump back into the water. Because there was a ledge at the base of the waterfall, you had to be careful and jump “out” and away or you would hit it. (Levi told us that the ship’s tours do not let people jump.)

Of course Bob and Kent both HAD to give this a try. There was actually a second waterfall that the guys saw when they climbed past the first one, but it wasn’t visible to the rest of us.

 

Here is a video of the jumpers…

 

After they were all done, Levi climbed to the top of the cliff and dived HEAD FIRST into the gorge. I just about had a heart attack watching him!

 

Back at the entrance to the gorge there is a pipe coming out of the side of the hill with natural hot spring water flowing out of it. Bob and some of the others took advantage of this to get warmed up after their chilly swim.

[canadarocks]

Thanks so much for the brilliant photo review! Eagerly waiting for more!! :)

[greenie082756]

Absolutely a wonderful, colorful review. Appreciate the short clips too! Keep it coming! Feel like I'm with you on the cruise. :)

[AryMay]

Absolutely a wonderful, colorful review. Appreciate the short clips too! Keep it coming! Feel like I'm with you on the cruise. :)

 

Thanks so much for the brilliant photo review! Eagerly waiting for more!!

 

Hopefully I'll get a little more cranked out today! Thanks for coming along with me! :)

[AryMay]

While messing around and posting my Titou Gorge video on YouTube, I ran across this video that shows behind the scenes footage of the filming of Pirates of the Caribbean 2. Parts of the movie were filmed in Dominica and the first part of this video shows the scenes in Titou Gorge.

 

Pirates of the Caribbean 2 video link

Edited January 22, 2014 by AryMay

[AryMay]

Driving from one attraction to another gave us a chance to see the island of Dominica. The mountainous areas receive up to 350 inches of rain per year and are covered with dense foliage. Several times we passed through brief sprinkles, but otherwise we had been so fortunate to have great weather.

 

 

 

 

Levi was a good driver, but the switchbacks and hairpin turns were still a bit frightening…especially when they drive on the “wrong” side!

 

 

 

 

Bob was excited when we stopped at this roadside stand…carved masks are a favorite souvenir of his. (Thank you Southwest Airlines for not charging us for our extra bag!!)

 

[AryMay]

From the Bumpiing Tour website:

 

Trafalgar Falls

: (two waterfalls in the same area) 10 minutes walk one way up a few steps. The walk is not too difficult but can be a bit challenging if one has any major problems with their backs, legs, hips or if one is short in breath due to lungs or heart condition. After the ten minutes walk, you get to a platform where you view the waterfalls and take photos. There is an optional extra two minutes walk where you can soak in the HOT mineral water (natural hot spring). This part of the tour is not for everyone since it’s a bit challenging getting to the hot spring (uneven and slippery). Visitors should take their time walking to and around the hot spring since the area is a bit rocky, slippery and steep. Climbing to the base of the waterfall should be avoided as much as possible because of the danger involved.

This description might be “slightly” misleading. The “few steps” had me huffing and puffing since they were up a steep hill…and more than what I would define as a few. You can see some of the steps in these photos…

 

 

 

The effort to get up to the falls was worth it. There are two beautiful waterfalls side by side that can be viewed from a covered platform.

 

 

 

 

Bob hiked down a short distance to get a closer view, but you can see why the info above said this should be avoided…the terrain was very rocky.

 

[AryMay]

Levi gave us the option of going to the hot springs if we wanted…not all from our group did. The spring was a very short distance from the viewing platform, but not all that easy to get to…just as the tour description stated. The ground was muddy, very steep, and it was easy to lose your footing.

 

The reddish colored rocks are actually minerals deposited as the water flowed down the hill. The minerals also caused the water to be a milky color.

 

 

After our very active day, sitting in the hot water spring was like being in a spa. We stayed for about 10 minutes but I think all of us could have easily stayed much longer.

 

 

 

From the spring, we could see out over a deep valley. While we were sitting there it began to rain. We watched as the rain moved across the ravine…first a light rain and then a downpour. The jungle canopy overhead kept most of the rain from reaching us so all we felt was a light sprinkle. What a magical experience to be sitting there in a hot mineral spring in the middle of a rain forest! One of those special memories that will stay with me.

 

Just as quickly as the rain began…it stopped. (It almost felt like this was an orchestrated attraction that you would experience at Disney World!) A look back at the spring as we were leaving…you can see the steam rising from the hot water.

 

 

[busywendy]

You need to hurry and get these posts done. We leave on this cruise on February 27th and want to get our tours booked! Great job so far! Was the snorkeling at the Champagne Fountain or whatever it's called good? We are mostly interested in seeing colorful fish. What was the best snorkeling on this cruise?

[whataboutport]

I love the Dominica pics! Hopefully one day I can go!

[AryMay]

The day had been full…but we still had a couple more things to see:

 

Botanical Gardens: (There you will see different plants trees and flowers grown on the Island) 5 minutes from Morne Bruce. (drive through)

 

Morne Bruce: (an area where you can see the entire city of Roseau from the top of a hill) 7 minutes drive from the ship. (Great for taking photos) (optional)

 

Although the botanical gardens were nice, it only took a short while to drive through. I believe this was called a “sausage tree”.

 

 

The most interesting thing we saw was this school bus. It had been crushed when a Boabab tree fell on it during Hurricane David which devastated the island in 1979. The tree was left and it continued to grow!

 

 

We are having yet another blizzard and sub zero temps here in Minnesota today…makes these flowers even more beautiful!

 

 

 

The last stop was at Morne Bruce…a spot that overlooked the city of Roseau. There were some small souvenir stands set up here, but they were closing down for the day. It was hard to get a decent photo because we were looking directly into the sun.

 

[melody hounddog]

Wonderful review so far. Thanks for sharing!

[TomCruises]

Apparently you had a nice time!We were aboard the Emerald the entire twenty days before you and the only thing that comes to mind,is that it sucked!I only make mention of this because corporate must have leaped on the crew and staff so that your cruise could be so enjoyable.Your welcome!:)

[AryMay]

You need to hurry and get these posts done. We leave on this cruise on February 27th and want to get our tours booked! Great job so far! Was the snorkeling at the Champagne Fountain or whatever it's called good? We are mostly interested in seeing colorful fish. What was the best snorkeling on this cruise?

 

The snorkeling at Champagne Reef was good...but not near as good as what we saw on our snorkel trip to Klein Bonaire with Woodwind Snorkeling. Bonaire has a protected reef so the coral and sea life was much better there.

 

If you just want to see colorful fish, then you might be happy just snorkeling from the shore at Coki Beach...so many fish that you could just wade into the water and see them without even using snorkel equipment! (Only because they were being fed.)

[AryMay]

I love the Dominica pics! Hopefully one day I can go!

 

It is a beautiful island! I've read that people compare it to Hawaii (which we've never been to...yet.)

[AryMay]

Apparently you had a nice time!We were aboard the Emerald the entire twenty days before you and the only thing that comes to mind,is that it sucked!I only make mention of this because corporate must have leaped on the crew and staff so that your cruise could be so enjoyable.Your welcome!:)

 

Sorry your cruise didn't live up to your expectations. For the most part we are very easy going folks and we had a wonderful time. I don't know that we encountered any staff that weren't pleasant and friendly. Wish we could have stayed for 20 days!! :)

[AryMay]

Levi dropped us off at the ship around 3:00 (tour had started at 9:30 am.) All aboard time was set for 5:30 pm…it was nice to have such a long day in port and not feel rushed.

 

I have always arranged independent tours when we cruise and the Bumpiing Tour was definitely one of the best! Although there are other Bumpiing guides, we were very lucky to have spent the day with Levi! We paid Levi for the tour, said our goodbyes and headed back to the ship.

 

 

 

(I had to get one photo of Levi's awesome hair!)

 

 

[AryMay]

We were tired and desperately needing showers and decided dressing for the MDR was just too much effort!

 

After cleaning up and taking a quick rest, we watched the sail away from our balcony (AKA the Terrace Pool!) and then headed to dinner in the Horizon Court. (Madras Curry themed menu)

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Disco…Blame it on the Boogie” was the evening entertainment in the Princess Theater.

 

 

After the performance we walked around the ship and stopped in at Club Fusion to watch karaoke. The club was almost empty but we waited around and listened to a couple of the singers. They were so bad…and we were so tired…we called it a night. Arrival at Grenada the next morning was scheduled for 7 am and we needed to be onshore bright and early for our tour…or so I thought.

[AryMay]

Saturday, December 14 – Grenada

 

It was hard to get up to such an early alarm, but the Emerald Princess was scheduled to dock in Grenada at 7 am and we needed to go onshore to meet Clement Baptiste, our guide for the day. I was the one that had done the research and booked all of the tours for this cruise and I carefully copied all of the correspondence and placed it in a folder…with plastic protector sheets and everything!

 

A couple of weeks before we left, I emailed all of the tour guides just to confirm our bookings and for some reason, I didn’t make a copy of my last email with Clement. He had stated that we should meet him inside the welcome center at 8:00 am…not 7 am as we had discussed in previous emails. That meant we were an hour early…and could have slept later and had a more leisurely breakfast.

 

 

 

 

When we couldn’t locate Clement at 7 am we started asking other guides and they led us outside through the parking lot to a small building with a covered deck…and there he was hanging around with the other guides. Oops…I felt just a little silly when I realized it was my mistake.

 

Clement was gracious enough and offered us chairs to wait until others from the tour arrived. Laurel and I decided to wonder back through the welcome center to get some photos and ran into a couple that had shared our tour in Dominica. They were looking for something to do and since our tour was not full, they decided to join us.

 

Clement’s tour was billed as a “historical tour.” The following is his description:

Thank you for choosing C.B.Historical tours,serving you will be my pleasure.This will be our North east tour.But recently we have added a section of the North west to it,which means we travel up the west coast and then cut across the island to the North east.

On this tour we visit the nutmeg station,there you will learn the processing of the nutmegs our number one spice on the island,we then cut across the island passing through the spice plantation,where you will see how the spices grow on the trees,on to the rainforest,visiting the

waterfalls,reterning to the ship by (12:45)pm.The highlight of the tour is a comprenshive account of our island history,from our discovery up to the U.S.led invasion of the island in(1983.)

 

As he drove Clement would point out the sites on the island and also give us a running account of the history of Grenada. He had been an employee of one of the high ranking communist officials during the time Grenada had been under Marxist rule so was able to give a firsthand account of the U.S. invasion in 1983 that lead to their freedom.

 

[Vexorg]

IWe did Champagne reef (albeit as a boat snorkel, one of the Princess excursions) in Dominica as well. I didn't get to snorkel in Bonaire (my companion didn't really feel like snorkeling by then) but thought Champagne Reef was very nice for snorkeling. We also did Trunk Bay on St. John, and that had lots of fish, but the coral wasn't as nice. I really need to get back to Dominica at some point, it didn't feel like we got to see much, although I do think it was one of the best places to get souvenirs on the cruise (I got a really nice little handcrafted bowl from a local craftsman near the dock.)

[laketahoe1]

Apparently you had a nice time!We were aboard the Emerald the entire twenty days before you and the only thing that comes to mind,is that it sucked!I only make mention of this because corporate must have leaped on the crew and staff so that your cruise could be so enjoyable.Your welcome!:)

 

 

20 days and it sucked? Really??? It's all what you make it. No nasty crew member, bad weather, rough seas, a bad meal or anything else is going to ruin it! I can't wait to sail on the 7th!

[bigguy6]

Apparently you had a nice time!We were aboard the Emerald the entire twenty days before you and the only thing that comes to mind,is that it sucked!I only make mention of this because corporate must have leaped on the crew and staff so that your cruise could be so enjoyable.Your welcome!:)

 

Tom

It would be helpful if you could elaborate on the problems you encountered in your time on the Emerald.

[bigguy6]

Arymay

 

Thanks for the running review with photos. Could you elaborate more on your on board experiences. i.e quality of the food, experiences in the buffets etc.

Also if you have then, and can post then, download any Patters and/or menus. Again thanks much for taking the time to write and post your review, it is much appreciated.