GAPearl Goes Solo on the Splendor! 11/1/14 SJU-MIA Repo Cruise Review.

[gapearl]

This is a great review, but you already know that by now! All caught up on all three, so ya'll keep it comin!

 

Well thanks! I'm happy you're enjoying it!

 

Aaaargh! went to work and this thread grew like 50 posts since I last checked! Time to catch up! :o

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

Work is always getting in the way of fun, isn't it?

 

Yeah I'll be sure to try and find Snug Harbor. It sounds like a quirky place typical of what you would expect in New Orleans. My review for our cruise on the Dream will definitely cover our pre-cruise days in New Orleans.

 

I can't wait to read it! Don't forget Spirits on Bourbon for a resurrection (don't put the souvenir glass in the dishwasher :() and Tropical Isle for the hand grenades. :o

[gapearl]

This is my first of your reviews I've read (so far ;)) and I'm really enjoying your style of writing. The above quote is EXACTLY how I pictured you in my mind. :)

 

I'd love to travel with you and I think we'd have a ton of fun! :D

 

I'm going on my first cruise in 9 days!

 

Hi Terrie! Congrats on your first cruise! You'll be planning your second as soon as you get home. The Paradise was also my first cruise 7 years ago and here I am talking about #12! Have a great time and I hope you bring back a review! :D

 

You go girl!!! :D he must have loosened up a bit during his second week, because it was like pulling teeth to get him to talk. Twice I asked him how his day in port was, and he said that he just stayed aboard and read. Gave up after that. :eek: Let's never speak of him again.

 

Yeah he did say he stayed on the ship most days. LOL Ok no more. haha

[wrigley80]

Well thanks! I'm happy you're enjoying it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Work is always getting in the way of fun, isn't it?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I can't wait to read it! Don't forget Spirits on Bourbon for a resurrection (don't put the souvenir glass in the dishwasher :() and Tropical Isle for the hand grenades. :o

 

 

Oh yeah hand grenades are must. We are having a pre-cruise meet and greet at Tropical Isle.

[gapearl]

Oh yeah hand grenades are must. We are having a pre-cruise meet and greet at Tropical Isle.

 

Oh that might be dangerous. I'm not responsible for anything I say or post on Facebook after 2! :eek:

 

Ok I've got my Martinique pictures uploaded. I need to upload some videos and resize my pictures and write my story for the day, so I'll be back later. Stay tuned everyone, you don't want to miss this one! :D

[jackdis]

Hi again! So excited to read another one of your great reviews!!!

[cruizin4sho]

While I'm on the topic of land trips, I suggest that everyone travel to another country and immerse yourself in another culture at least once in your life. And by that, I don't mean flying to your favorite cruise port and saying at a resort for a week. Go some place totally new, book a family owned bed & breakfast or guest house, and have them teach you some words in their language. Skip McDonald's and eat at the little hole in the walls. Go to a few museums, order a snack from a food cart, and sit in the local square for some people watching. Participate in a festival. Have a drink with a local and learn about their way of life. I never would have been able to exprience events such as Carnaval de Barranquilla or Semana Santa (Google it) if I only did cruises. Also, because so many Americans are afraid of Colombia and because my review will reach so many thousands of people, let me say that my week in Cartagena was the best trip I have ever taken on land or sea! It's an amazing city full of friendly people and rich culture. Don't pass up a cruise with a stop there, or even better if you're looking for an interesting place for a land trip, consider Cartagena. I'd love to see Carnival add Cartagena as a regular stop on the southern Caribbean Aruba/Curacao route in the future.

 

What up GA Pearl! I love reading your reviews and had to reply to this particular section. I've always thought land vacations to another country would be sort of boring when compared to cruising, but reading this section may have changed my mind. Is there a site where you post reviews of your land vacations? Would love to read them.

[SunshineCruiser24]

I'm absolutely loving your review! Bummer about your camera! Olympus Tough series definitely live up to their name, hope you like the camera!

 

You seem to be an awesome person to travel with!

[blueangel74]

Our waiters serenaded us with That's Amore. After dinner I went to the promenade to take some pictures at all the different backgrounds but I only got to one. They were tearing their equipment down earlier than I've seen on any other cruise. Since my photo shoot ended rather quickly I went to the Punchliner Comedy Club and caught the second half of the 10:45 pm show of Donnell Grey. Monicia joined me for the 11:45 pm show of Jim McCue. He was funny and gave a good show but didn't really tell any jokes, just interacted with the audience and picked on everyone. We were in the front row and were first to get picked on but it was all in good fun.

 

Here it is ladies, my dress and those shoes! I bought this dress in Vegas and remember thinking it would have been fun to wear if I happened to be there with a significant other and on the spur of the moment got married by Elvis. However that wasn't meant to be for this dress, as I've been stuck in Singletown for quite a long time now, so I brought it with me on the cruise. :)

 

 

Monicia and I at the comedy show.

 

 

After that we headed to the Red Carpet Club. I expected it to be a bit busier than the first night and was a little disappointed that it wasn't. Around midnight the ship was pretty quiet, which is very unusual for Carnival. It was what I'd imagine a Holland America cruise to Alaska to be like in the evening.

 

My brief appearance in the disco.

 

 

The club was a no. The DJ was playing nothing but Sean Paul and it was EMPTY in there. The casino was a no. The craps and blackjack tables were too crowded and I never have any luck at roulette. The casino bar for a couple drinks was definitely a no because if I had to go to the bathroom, that would require going to my cabin and taking off my dress so I could take my spanx off and that was just too much work. Here I was all dressed up with no place to go! I hung out on the lido with new friends Jenna and Steve for a short bit and headed to bed.

 

The platinum gift at the moment is this toiletry bag.

 

 

Selfie before bed.

 

 

Up next: Comment puis-je aller a la plage?

 

 

That was a great picture of us.

[blueangel74]

I am all caught up on your review. The Jolly Roger looked like a really fun excursion

 

 

Loved being on the Jolly Roger. It was awesome. Would love to do that again if I go back to St. Croix. Thank you Kimberly for putting the excursion together.

 

That was the mushrooms I had in the mdr. Had escargot the night me & my sister went to the steakhouse.

[najnelle]

I just have to say that you are adorable! And the shoes . . . OH EM GEE!!!

I'm not a solo cruiser, but I hope to see you aboard a ship some day.

[INCHARGE]

Kim... I almost choked on my grape when I read how you would have had to come out of your dress to go to the bathroom because of your Spanx! :D too funny.

 

I am loving your hair with the red streaks. Your outfits are to die for, and the white dress is "wearing you!" I just love those new black shoes also, dang they are cute! You said they were tearing your feet up. Lol. But they are cute though!

 

Did you mention something about a video? Ok, when are you going to put it here?

 

The "connection" on the Breeze, still in contact? Just a yes or no will be fine, cuz I'm not nosy. :)

Edited November 15, 2014 by INCHARGE

[gapearl]

 

 

 

 

 

[gapearl]

Monday, November 3

Cruise Day 3- Martinique

 

Bonjour! Better brush up on your French if you're headed here!

 

Martinique is a very new and unique port for Carnival and was a somewhat difficult port to plan. The information on Trip Advisor and other travel sites is rather limited. The reviews are mostly about different beaches with a random cathedral or museum here and there. I was never able to find a tour operator during my cruise research. Some people from the roll call group got a few catamarans together, but I was already planning a catamaran for the day before in St. Croix and wanted to see a little bit of the island. I think a few people were going to rent a van and explore the island on their own together. We asked, and asked, and ASKED John Heald when would Carnival put out their shore excursions for this port. Half were posted less than a month before our sail date and the other half were posted literally a week before the sail date. None of these appealed to me at all. At this point I decided to wing it on my own, walking around town a little and taking the ferry to the beach. I think Carnival has a few other special stops planned for Martinique, so here are the shore excursions that were made available to us.

 

 

[gapearl]

We weren't due into port until 10 am, so I had time to get in a workout and grab a quick bite from the lido breakfast buffet. Yes, I'm one of "those" people that takes selfies in the gym. lol

 

 

Before I left for dinner the night before, I left a $5 bill and a note for my cabin steward Joaquim asking for ice and requested that he please leave me a towel animal monkey at some point during the cruise since I've never had one. How about he had one waiting for me as soon as I got back from the gym! I appreciated him doing that little extra thing for me. He continued to leave me ice all week and we had light conversation in passing several times every day. Joaquim was fabulous!

 

 

I took these from my window as we were pulling into port.

 

 

 

 

This one was taken as soon as I got off the ship. Picturesque, eh?

 

[dperki1]

Early on in our group page, I noticed there were a lot of solo cruisers. I never really plan excursions more than a month or two out, but everyone was getting things set up already in January. I had a lightbulb moment and thought why not get all the solos together for an excursion and suggested a catamaran with snorkeling at our first port stop. There was an immediate interest from the solo travelers, as well as the non-solo travelers. I'm traveling with 3 friends, can we come too? Ummm, perhaps you should review the meaning of the word solo. :o The catamaran I found for a private charter only held 15 people and we were up to about 10 people pretty quickly, so I basically said only solos for now and if there's space closer to sailing I'll let you know then. Over the next few months, several solos started cancelling the cruise and no new solos had joined the group, so in the end we were able to invite a few others to join us.

 

I had a few hiccups when planning this. The first company I had booked (and I won't say their name here) were very poor communicators. I called their office three times for information and to make arrangements, got three different people, and was told something different each time. I would send the owner an email and he would respond with two short sentences. I was prepared to give a deposit to hold our boat and they never ran my card. It just felt like they weren't excited to have our business so I started looking for another company. The gang agreed on Jolly Roger and we had a perfect day with him! Captain Mike was and his crew were amazing. He said this was the first time Carnival has come to St. Croix in 4 years.

 

There were 18 of us but the Jolly Roger can accommodate up to 40 people. Someone suggested I contact the St. Croix Taxi Association and arrange a taxi for us, and that was a brilliant idea. We met in front of the port entrance gate at 9:15 am for a 9:30 am departure to Christinsted. The ship docks in Frederiksted and it's at 25 minute ride there half way across the island. A driver named Alex made arrangements for us. He was in constant communication with me and provided top notch service. We had to have two vans because we were a big group. I received a call from him around 8:30 am that he was already there waiting. Captain Mike also called me before I left the ship to let me know the rain had already passed where he was and it was turning out to be a beautiful day over there.

 

I captured these on the way to Christiansted.

 

 

I just can't escape the elections.

 

 

St. Croix prison.

 

 

In case you need some paint or a toolkit for your stateroom.

 

 

 

Kimberly,

 

Thank-you so much for arranging this tour...it was awesome and was a great day, I sat next to you on the boat going to Buck Island (Denise)...beautiful day.

[gapearl]

I took my time getting off the ship and left around 11:30 am. One thing that was of concern for everyone is that this is a French speaking island with not many English speakers. You'll be fine in the immediate port area. Look for the people wearing red to assist you in perfect English. I asked one how do I get to the beach en francais and she was pretty impressed, definitely not expecting that. I took French for 3 years forever ago in high school and reviewed some common words and phrases before the cruise. Personally I don't think anyone should ever go to another country without knowing just a few basic things in the local language to get by and be polite. There are tons of free apps out there to help you. I made it a point to not say hello or thank you all day, but bonjour and merci.

 

The ladies in red dresses are right there to greet you and answer any questions.

 

 

 

 

I think get a picture like this at every island.

 

 

 

[gapearl]

Martinique doesn't have tour operators waiting outside the port like you'll find upon arrival at other islands. If they did have something for a couple hours, I definitely would have taken it. I walked around town for about an hour, just checking things out and seeing what Martinique was all about.

 

There are several different Martinique signs with different colors and backgrounds where you can take your picture. I must have taken three or four different ones. The man taking this for me was shocked a woman could travel by herself. Where's your family? At home. Where are your girlfriends? At work. Where's your husband or boyfriend? Don't have either. Well let me stop. Yes, please do that. :rolleyes:

 

 

 

 

 

More people in red with Martinique information.

 

Edited November 15, 2014 by gapearl

[gapearl]

 

 

 

There were a few gift shops and a lot of boutiques with some really cute stuff. I was in my swimsuit and didn't feel like trying anything on. If I didn't have beach plans, I could have stayed down here all day shopping. I escaped with only a cute shirt for 10 euros. Speaking of euros, all the vendors in the immediate port area accepted dollars and some of the places in town took dollars as well. I had no idea how much money I would need here and what I might would want to buy, so I changed $200, which only gave me 135 euros. Ahhh, gotta love the US dollar and our wonderful exchange rate.

 

 

 

[gapearl]

Restaurant menus in French and English.

 

 

 

The ferry ran about very 30 minutes over to Pointe Du Bout. It was 7 euros or $10 for a round trip ticket and was a 20 minute ride across the harbor.

 

 

Here comes the ferry.

 

 

 

We're almost there!

 

[gapearl]

Some resort.

 

 

Great picture of the Splendor with Martinique in the background.

 

 

Upon my arrival, I noticed there was a restaurant, a few small shops and an ice cream shop, but that was about it.

 

 

 

When you exit the ferry, keep straight ahead about three minutes and you'll see this sign.

 

 

Et voia! La plage!

 

[gapearl]

Down to the left is a resort with beach chairs. I'm not sure how much they were as I never went down that way. Keep to the right for the free beach. Walk far down all the way to the end. The first couple of sandy areas look nice, but there's practically no sand there and you'll be laying on mostly rock. There were lots of little rocks in the water also. Get ready for a boatload (pun intended :p) of beach pictures coming your way. The views were breathtaking beautiful!

 

 

 

 

 

[gapearl]

 

 

 

 

[gapearl]

I stayed at the beach about two hours and that was long enough. The ferries were scheduled to return every 45 minutes past the hour. I showed up at 3:30 pm and there was one already there getting ready to load up. I don't know if it was a late 2:45 pm ferry or an early 3:45 pm one. Regardless I'm just glad I got there when I did.

 

Google translate, help!!!

 

 

 

 

Back to the ferry I go.

 

 

 

[KPfromCT]

These pictures are AMAZING!!!

Wish Carnival made this one of their regular stops.

Looks beautiful:D:D

[gapearl]

Bring some euros in coins, just in case.

 

 

This was cute but it wasn't operating today. I'm not sure if it's functional at all or just a decoration.

 

 

 

There was a band dressed as Carnival dancers that walked through the port area and eventually made their way to the Splendor. They were a nice little welcome back treat for those who were able to enjoy their music.

 

 

Can you see them in the crowd?

 

 

Here's a video of them.