Review: Best Time on the Breeze 10/24/15-11/01/15

[BenjiRodney]

More views and possibly a stop by Christopher Columbus?

 

 

 

[BenjiRodney]

Ship back at the Grand Turk Cruise Center.

 

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Edited November 6, 2015 by BenjiRodney

[BenjiRodney]

On the right just past the Grand Turk Sign. Atlantic Humpback spend 4-5 months in the water here every year.

 

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[BenjiRodney]

The time here seemed to come and go really quick. This was a short port call of 7 am - 2 pm, with a 130 pm back on board time. But I am glad that we took a couple of hours and got out of the port area and saw the island. Next Stop La Romana Dominican Republic.

[BenjiRodney]

Coast as we pulled up to the pier in La Romana.

 

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Dancers greeted our arrival into port.

 

[BenjiRodney]

I was really torn about this port, heard and read lots of negatives. We knew that there was nothing at the port and had to have an excursion booked. I did talk to people who took the bus into town and came right back. Said that the vendors were extremely pushy.

 

We decided on Altos de Chavon and Riverboat cruise. Glad we went, by tour guide just kept repeating the same thing over and over and over. We only had about 25 minutes to look around on our own here. I would have like to have had more time.

[BenjiRodney]

It was a nicely landscaped area and reconstructed village.

 

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[BenjiRodney]

The outdoor theater that houses many international concerts, the likes of Elton John and even Madonna is rumored by the tour company to be planning a stop?

 

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[BenjiRodney]

More from Altos de Chavon before we headed down to the river.

 

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[BenjiRodney]

The river cruise portion was okay, it had stormed the day prior. The river was muddy and full of debris. Lot of palm tress lined the shores, saw many types of birds. We even passed a couple of people who came to the river bank, I can assume they were farming?

[BenjiRodney]

 

Water, soda, rum punch and coconuts were served throughout the cruise.

 

[BenjiRodney]

One thing I did not like was trying to board and exit the river boat, we were surrounded by people trying to sell trinkets and cigars. I kept saying no thank you, finally the guy asked again what do you think is a fair price for them, I told him I don't know I don't smoke, and made a dash for the bus.

[BenjiRodney]

I need to clear up a couple of things. There is a another review posted in the Member Review section that stated we had an engine room fire, we did have a small fire Halloween night and if you listened to the announcements from Matt and the Captain they explained that it was in the incinerator room, not the engine room. Also some people may have experienced delays at debark because of 2 reasons, the ship was delayed in getting cleared by US Customs, and Matt had to keep making announcements for people to stop coming down to deck 3.

 

Also the muster drills on the dream class ships are always held in the theater and dining rooms. You have always been told that in the event of an actual emergency, gather your life vest from your cabin and head to your muster station. So this is not new or confusing information as they stated.

 

Sorry for the rants, but I felt I had to clear a few things up.

Edited November 8, 2015 by BenjiRodney

[BenjiRodney]

Uploading more pictures to photobucket now so I can continue.

[BenjiRodney]

Few more River shots.

 

 

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[mymichelle1]

I'm so glad I read your review this far!! We're cruising on Nov. 21st and staying at the Starlite!! I'm so excited!! I haven't book shuttle to port yet so I'll just get the front desk to book my transportation!! So excited!!! How was the Hotel?

[StaciK]

[quote name='kelkel2']I am so excited for this review! Doing this same route in January!! Thanks for taking the time to share with us![/QUOTE]

We are on the same cruise as Kel. Look forward to your review. Glad to see your initial excitement.

[BenjiRodney]

[quote name='mymichelle1']I'm so glad I read your review this far!! We're cruising on Nov. 21st and staying at the Starlite!! I'm so excited!! I haven't book shuttle to port yet so I'll just get the front desk to book my transportation!! So excited!!! How was the Hotel?[/QUOTE]

We enjoyed the hotel, it served the purpose. You are in the middle of all the South Beach Action. When they say check in at 3pm, they mean 3pm. Check out is 11 am. Patty at the front desk called someone named Raul and he said he would have taken us and all or bags to the ship for 30.

[BenjiRodney]

Once we got back to the port in La Romana, I discovered: Michael Jackson alive and well.

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[BenjiRodney]

One thing to know about this port is that it is not like any others. There are no Diamonds Internationals, Effy's, and the other stores that you see in the other ports. In fact Carnival does not even hand out a port guide here. There is a regular duty free store selling a selection of goods, liquors, perfumes, candies and local items.

[BenjiRodney]

We set sail promptly at 4pm for Aruba. I was looking forward to this stop. Even though we were not due in until 130pm, I liked the fact that we had a 10 pm departure. For Aruba we booked the Best of Aruba Island tour, as we would get to see the rock formations, the Natural Bridge, the California Lighthouse and the resorts. This was an excellent tour. We had plenty of time at each stop to take pictures and look around. I did not feel that we were rushed at all.

[BenjiRodney]

The first stop were these rock formations that you could climb up one side and down the other. You could see the cruise ships from up there as well. I was surprised at how many cactus there were over the island. It was tropical and desert as the same time.

[IMG][URL=http://s1087.photobucket.com/user/roger25375/media/IMG_2709_zpsen5wxljw.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j474/roger25375/IMG_2709_zpsen5wxljw.jpg[/IMG][/URL][/IMG]

[BenjiRodney]

[IMG][URL=http://s1087.photobucket.com/user/roger25375/media/IMG_2732_zpsmv4jug3k.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j474/roger25375/IMG_2732_zpsmv4jug3k.jpg[/IMG][/URL][/IMG]

[kelkel2]

[quote name='BenjiRodney']One thing to know about this port is that it is not like any others. There are no Diamonds Internationals, Effy's, and the other stores that you see in the other ports. In fact Carnival does not even hand out a port guide here. There is a regular duty free store selling a selection of goods, liquors, perfumes, candies and local items.[/QUOTE]

Do you recall if they were selling cigars? I don't really want to make a trip into town for them, but my brother in law's favorite cigars are made in the area and I would like to purchase them for him.

[BenjiRodney]

[quote name='kelkel2']Do you recall if they were selling cigars? I don't really want to make a trip into town for them, but my brother in law's favorite cigars are made in the area and I would like to purchase them for him.[/QUOTE]


Yes there were cigars at the duty free store. You could even watch them roll them.


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