1/17/16-1/31/16 Breakaway Southern Caribbean Review

[TardisDance]

Since I’ve read several reviews on CruiseCritic in the past, I thought I would take my first crack at writing one.

 

Background

 

My DH and I are in our early 30’s and DINKs (dual income, no kids). We knew for our age group, we would be in the minority, especially for a 14 day sailing. Previously, we had been on 2 cruises, both on the Norwegian Breakaway, to Bermuda. Since we are from Upstate, NY, the goal has been to see as many destinations as possible out of NYC before we start flying out to other ports. As this was our third time on the BA, there was less exploration of the ship. We felt like experts and knew exactly where to go. The biggest difference would be the island hopping. On the Bermuda sailings, you are on the island for 2 ½ days. For this sailing, it would be a new island every day, 8 days in a row. All the islands were new to us, so waking up at 7:30 a.m. every day, eat breakfast, shower and go to the next excursion, became the norm to us. Rinse and repeat.

 

Embarkation:

 

We booked bus transportation with Yankee Trails. Not wanting to come back to a car covered in snow, my DH’s parents dropped us off bright and early at 7 a.m. in Rensselaer. The bus had an AT&T Wifi hotspot, so it made passing the 3 ½ hour commute seem quicker. When we made it to the port, the porters immediately unloaded the luggage from the bus, so it was nice not having to roll anything to the main porter check-in point. Prior to the cruise, people within our roll call similar in age had suggested meeting sometime before the official meet and mingle. One of the couples recognized us and introduced themselves in the waiting area. They happened to also be using Yankee Trails and had seen us on the bus. We ended up hanging out with this couple during most evenings throughout the duration of the cruise.

 

Boarding was slightly delayed and were finally able to go on the ship at around 12:40ish. We immediately went to our cabin to drop off our luggage. The room was not ready yet, but we were immediately impressed with our deck 10 mini suite. In the past, we’ve always booked balconies, but as the price dropped after final payment, I made a call to my TA and was able to snag a mini suite as a complementary upgrade. There’s no difference in balcony size, but the cabins have a bigger bathroom with double sinks and a large shower with high pressure water jets. I’m not sure if I would pay for a mini suite outright, but the nicer bathroom was definitely a bonus.

 

Our room steward introduced himself while we passed through the hallway. Knowing that we prefer a softer bed, we requested a mattress pad. Unbeknownst to us, there was change in room stewards later that day, and he would be reassigned to a different deck. There was a lack of communication somewhere, and our new steward never received the memo. We discovered other small issues later on, i.e. our mini fridge was never unlocked, too few hangers, etc. None of these things were a big deal, but throughout the cruise, we noticed a lack of communication/miscommunication between staff. From what we had heard, at the end of the cruise, 100+ staff members were going on their 2 month break. Perhaps some were just ready to check out at this point, or the BA has a hard time with the longer sailings. Maybe it was the fact that 95% of the guests were 65 years+ in age with special needs (walkers, wheelchairs, you name it). In any case, it seemed like the crew was not on their game this time around. In either case, I felt like individuals crew we dealt with tried and they were as polite and courteous as always and tried to make of the best of a bad situation.

 

We went off to Savor for lunch. In an attempt to eat healthy, I ordered salad and poached salmon. My favorite, the open air burger, was on the menu, but since it was going to be 14 days of unhealthy eating, I would at least start the cruise with less artery clogging meals. DH ordered the burger of course. And yes, I was a bit jealous!

 

At 3 p.m., we headed off to the muster drill. We were assigned over at Shanghai’s. As a overall theme to this sailing, we recognized another person from our age group photo exchange and introduced ourselves. Afterwards, we did a bit of wandering and ran into yet another couple we recognized at Shaker’s. At around 6 p.m., we went over to Savor for dinner. Again, to negate a bit of the unhealthy eating, I organized a Cesar salad and for my main course, one of the classic menu items, the turkey lasagna. In my opinion, the meat was a little salty, but I’m not one to like salty food. The portion was a little too large for me, so I was unable to eat the rest and have room for the dessert. If there’s one thing that’s a must have for me, it’s the chocolate volcano cake.

 

During the evening, we met with our roll call members that we exchanged photos with at Maltings for drinks.

 

That's it for tonight. More to come . . .

Edited February 17, 2016 by TardisDance

[blueflower1968]

Great review so far, I'm sailing on the Breakaway 2/28-3/6 and looking forward to it [emoji39]

[Clarea]

Enjoying the review so far.:)

[Keith1010]

Enjoying your review so far.

 

Keith

[Cruise-mom]

Great start, looking forward to reading more.

[TardisDance]

Thanks for the encouraging comments. I will post more when I get home tonight about the 1st sea day and highlights on the ports we visited.

[TardisDance]

Day 1 – Sea Day

 

The morning of the first sea day is always very busy for us. The meet and mingle was scheduled for 11 a.m., so coupled with waking up at 8:30, it doesn’t leave a lot of time to do our morning activities. We always try to get a workout in on the sea days to negate some of the calories from the drinks and food. We quickly went to the buffet for breakfast and then off to the gym. The one thing that has always bothered me on the BA is how small the gym is for a ship of its size. It’s not like people don’t use the gym; it was packed every single day. As the cruise progressed, more and more cardio equipment had out of order signs. On one of the days, we couldn’t get any equipment. There were two elliptical machines and a treadmill out of order. These were out of the order for the entire length of the cruise, so my guess is that repairs are only done out of NYC.

 

After our workouts, we stopped at our cabin for showers and then headed to the meet and mingle. Since our roll call had such a large sign up, it was switched from La Cucina to the Spiegel Tent. We have never attended the circus show, so it was actually a brand new thing to see for us. We met up with the group we had drinks with the night before. The officers, including the captain himself, came to the event. They did a brief Q& A and quickly departed, as there was a public Q&A starting at 11:30 in the Atrium. The organizer of our meet and mingle introduced herself and tried to get to the group to socialize. Unfortunately, with a group of this size, I think many were intimidated to be the first to walk around and introduced themselves. We had already had our group formed by mingling the night before, so my DH and I just didn’t feel the need to get up and walk around. The age group, as the rest of the ship, was mostly those well into their retirement. It’s not to say that we can’t hang out and have fun with older folks. We’ve done so on past cruises. It’s just that we have very little in common.

 

Sometime later, we headed over to Tradewinds. I had read on the boards that Sheraton’s is a highly coveted drink and sells out quickly. We had hoped it would be available to sample, but the salesperson said they are no longer allowed to open for sampling. I had never tried it before, but it’s cream and coffee liquor, so how can you go wrong? We bought 2, 1 for ourselves and another for DH’s mother. At 2 for $39, we thought it was a good deal. Throughout the cruise, we checked various ports and it was still a lower price on the ship, even at St. Maarten it was priced higher, so I think we did well.

 

Ports

 

Rather than go into the weeds about the day by day play of what we did on the ship, here’s the highlights of what we did in port. Honestly, we didn't have much time on the ship and were both exhausted by the afternoon. Keep in mind, we visited 8 ports in row, so there was a lot to do and see. Also, just to note, since our TA put us in a group booking, we had been given a lot of OBC. We booked half of tours with NCL because of this. I now regret this because our favorite tours ended up being the private ones. Private tours have to work hard to build their customer base. NCL sponsored ones just have to be able to accept a lot of people.

 

San Juan, Puerto Rico

 

This was the 1st day and shortest of the port days, 3:00 to 10 p.m, at the Old San Juan port. There was a medical emergency, so the captain had announced that he needed to pick-up speed to get to San Juan. However, this didn’t get us off the ship any sooner. Disembarking was a bit of a cluster. There were no announcements until around 3:40 ish. Whenever we have sailed to Bermuda, by the time we woke up, disembarking was well under way. We quickly learned to go down before any announcements, otherwise, you would be stuck in an endless line by the stairs.

 

As soon as we finally got off the ship, we started walking over to Castillo San Cristobal, one of the two famous forts. Since the forts close at 6:00 p.m., we knew there would be simply no time to go to Del Morro. We always try to take as many pictures as possible, so we definitely used up those 2 hours we had on this. Since the ship was literally right there, we decided not to eat any the local food. It was just hard to justify. We loved the old historic charm of the area, we'll be sure to come back in the future. I've already started looking into the Gem cruises that sail out of San Juan. This will possibly be a 2017 adventure :D

Edited February 17, 2016 by TardisDance

[Sauer-kraut]

You got a good deal on that Sheridan's!! I bought a bottle in Austria and it was almost that much for just one bottle.!!

[TardisDance]

I knew the name was off - yes, correction, it's Sheridan's. I can't wait to try it, though it may take a while to get to. We bought way too much rum on this trip. There was almost not enough room in the luggage!

[bobg529]

I knew the name was off - yes, correction, it's Sheridan's. I can't wait to try it, though it may take a while to get to. We bought way too much rum on this trip. There was almost not enough room in the luggage!

 

 

Isn't the phrase "too much rum" an oxymoron? :cool:

[hansolosmom]

Isn't the phrase "too much rum" an oxymoron? :cool:

 

I'm with you on this one. Brought lots back last trip! :D

[hansolosmom]

Thanks for the review - one of these years I'd love to do the 14 day trip

[TardisDance]

Isn't the phrase "too much rum" an oxymoron? :cool:

 

More like I was worried that with the amount we packed, we were going to open our luggage later and find cracked glass and rum scented clothes. I won't cry over spilt milk, but I definitely will over booze :eek:

 

Thankfully that didn't happen! :D

[TardisDance]

Thanks for the review - one of these years I'd love to do the 14 day trip

 

It's definitely nice to see so many ports in one trip. I liked that aspect of it, especially since every island was brand new to us. The only down side is that out of NYC, there's a lot of sea days (5 total - 2 down, 3 on way back), and it can be tough finding things to do with that much down time.

[ennazus]

looking forward to more :)

[TardisDance]

Next up port #2

 

St. Thomas

 

Two words – Tourist Trap! I have heard this many times, but since we were the only ship in port, every couple minutes, we were asked by locals to go on their tour or take a taxi. We politely said no, told them we already reserved a tour and moved on. We had a reservation with Godfrey Tours at 11:00 a.m. Since we docked at Havensight, we were near Paradise Point. It's a tram that goes up to a large overlook of the ships in dock. We contemplated trying it prior to the cruise, but at $21 pp, we thought it was a bit pricey (considering we already booked with Godfrey).

 

Since we had time to kill, we made our way to K-Mart. Why K-Mart? Cheap booze! $8 for a liter of Cruzan rum. Had I been alone, I would not have walked to this location by myself. There was something sketchy and run down about it. We bought 4 bottles and had them packed into a box. No extra charge for the box. This was many of the situations where my DH gracefully designated himself a pack mule and carried the box back to the ship. Every where we went, he also always carried a backpack with water bottles, snacks and sunscreen. In my defense, I did offer to help.

 

Back at the ship, again, we ran into a situation where crew members had a lack of communication/miscommunication. When we went to have our cards scanned, we told security we had alcohol to check in. One problem though – no one was actually there *to* check it in. Security had to radio to find someone. After waiting 10 minutes, they told us we could just walk it up to our cabin. Except at that moment, someone came over and then told us to follow him up to the pool deck to check in the alcohol. We ended up at the towel exchange where he filled out a slip, took our box of rum and gave us a receipt. It would be delivered on the last night. For the rest of the ports, when we purchased booze, we decided not to volunteer the fact that we had any. Surprisingly, security never noticed on the x-ray scans or simply didn’t care. Had we not already had the free UBP, this really could have been a great way to get booze on board. Just saying . . .

 

At about a quarter to 11, we went over by the security gate to wait for someone from Godfrey tours to arrive. Although most reviews were good for this tour, I had seen some negatives about the tour guides never showing up. I was super worried it would happen to us. Luckily that didn't happen. Hajji, our tour guide, showed up at around 10:55 holding a sign. We hopped on an open air bus and promptly left at 11. There was a quick 15 minute stop at a flea market. I noticed A.H. Riise mall near by and mentally kicked myself. I had wanted to stop at the Belgian Chocolate Factory in this mall but ruled it out because of the walking distance. Secondarily, there’s a chocolate flavored rum sold in the liquor store. On Godfrey’s website, there are various times to sign up depending on how long you want to shop. I contemplated going to the mall but didn’t want to run late and miss the bus. Oh well. Maybe next time.

 

Next, Hajji drove up to a lookout point where all the islands in the vicinity could be seen. My DH liked the views for taking pictures but felt that Hajji was a bit too long winded on the island history. At least, I thought it was interesting anyway.

 

Afterward, we made our way up to the Great House Botanical garden. The views were amazing. We were able to see Peter Island (among others), Magen’s bay, and the “white house.” This was where President Clinton and his family *tried* to have a peaceful vacation in the 90’s during his presidency, but the photographers discovered their hiding spot. I guess it just comes with the job. My only criticism was that we didn’t have nearly enough time at the botanical garden. It’s a tiny place, but there was a downstairs area I was curious to explore. There were also free rum punch drinks offered and Hajji warned that he would not take anyone who was too intoxicated. I thought this was funny, because it would have been impossible – We only had about 15 minutes to wander by ourselves there. I guess I’m just not that good. And of course, I made the mistake of taking the non-alcoholic punch. I kept wondering why I didn’t taste the rum or feel it. Silly me! Once I realized, I quickly took a cup of the good stuff! Yup, then I tasted the kick!

 

Lastly, we stopped at the Mountain Top. It’s one of the highest points in the area and had some really nice views overlooking the island. Besides the view, there is a large store with various souvenirs. There is a gigantic Cruzan bottle outside the building, and you may purchase their famous banana daiquiri made with Cruzan. Usually a free drink is included with the tour, but Hajji had a special to not have the banana daiquiri for $25 pp, with the drink, it's $35. Since we had the UBP on the ship, we gladly took the discounted price.

 

After the tour, we did some shopping. Prices weren’t overly amazing, but my sister-in-law had made a request to buy her shot glasses as souvenirs. I’m always quality over quantity, so we spent the next hour trying to find something with text that wouldn’t rub off from dish soap. We finally found one then headed back to the ship.

[TardisDance]

Port #3, Tortola

 

Tortola’s port is currently under construction. There’s nothing dangerous, but it was interesting to see. We had our first NCl sponsored excursion here. A disclosure here – My DH and I are hikers and most definitely not beach people, so we had no interest in the Baths (yes, yes, I know it’s supposed to amazing). We were intrigued by the Sage Mountain. Since all the islands were new to us, we were too intimidated to take a taxi and hike Sage ourselves, so I turned to the NCL excursion called “Sage Mountain Hike & Beach.” First off, all day, there were and off rain showers. Views weren’t the best, but you have to make the most of the weather. Second, please remember when NCL rates something as moderate, it’s probably considered easy for anyone who is relatively active. Several on this tour were elderly, so we and another couple headed most of the hike. Later on in our open air bus, most of the elderly folks talked about how challenging it was. I wondered why anyone arthritic or with any mobility issue would even want to sign up with anything described as a “hike,” but hey that’s just my opinion.

 

After the hike, the tour bus took us to Cane Bay Beach. Again, since we are not beach people, we had no interest in lounging on the sand. There were some nice bars/eateries next to the beach, but we had other plans. We started our walk to Callwood Distillery, the oldest rum distillery in the region. For a fee $2 or if a bottle is purchased, you are allowed to take pictures inside the facility. It’s nothing amazing, but it’s a little slice of history. It was just barely lunch time for us, so we didn’t feel the need to pay for a tasting. The inside was neat with its old rum bottles and barrels, but I outside was the most impressive part. Banana trees and all sorts of vegetation that we’ve never seen before in NY state.

 

Once we finished the tour, we embarked on a quest to find Sunny Caribbee and Pussers Pub. Sunny Caribbee is a spice shop and based on reviews, it seemed like a must see place. We asked our tour guide before leaving of its location, and I think we misheard his directions. We eventually found it and bought way too much stuff! FYI, the hot sauce is really good! Soon after, our hunger could no longer be ignored and we went over to Pusser’s for lunch. My DH was intrigued by the deep fried hot dog on the menu. It was described as a hot dog deep fried in batter. However, the menu did not specify the size of the hot dog. Let me just say, it definitely not a normal sized dog! It’s a footlong on a toasted sub roll! At this point, we both looked at the dogs and thought strategically on how we would consume them and live. My DH said we should take the Kobayashi approach and eat the dogs only. We ended up eating a late supper that night.

[TardisDance]

Before I continue reviewing the rest of the ports, I just wanted to take the time and share a couple pictures. I finally got off my butt and uploaded them.

 

Here's a couple pictures of our minisuite, 10828. As you can see, this is from NYC, and we were glad to leave the snow!

 

Pictures of the bathroom and the large shower

 

 

 

From Tortola, the hazy view from Sage Mountain

 

 

And last but not least, the godzilla sized hot dog from Pusser's

 

[TardisDance]

On with the show, next up port #4, St. Maarten!

 

This was by far my favorite island thanks to Benard’s Tours. “Action Jackson” was our tour guide and driver. As coincidence would have it, we met 3 people that were on Yankee Trailways tour bus. We also met a British couple that we ran into throughout the remainder of our cruise. I knew that St. Maarten was divided into a Dutch and French colonies, but I had no idea how the island itself almost resembled a desert with cacti and that it was crawling with iguanas, even in the trees! Jackson took us to an iguana area when he fed them iceburg lettuce. Boy, they love that stuff!

 

The large one in the pack was the alpha male trying to show his harem he's the boss.

 

 

One of the bonuses of this tour was the included Carib beer, soda, and rum punch. Jackson started cracking open the cooler and handing out drinks. At this point, it was still 9-10 in the morning, so we started off slow with water. However, I can’t say the same was true with some of our tour buddies.

 

Next we stopped at Oyster Pond where we saw a man parasailing and a local expert on sea urchins. My DH and I were way too wussy, but the sea urchin guy was dropping sea urchins right in tourist’s hands to touch.

 

After, we went over to an overlook where there were a couple local stands and a sort of cat refuge. It had an interesting view of the mountains and multi-million dollar houses we only wish we could afford. Of course, being a cat lover, I was more interested in coaxing over the cats.

 

Poor baby

 

 

We headed to Marigot and stayed for an hour and looked at the various ware at the vendor tents. There was a fort in Marigot and had we known how much time it would take to see and whether they accepted U.S. dollars, we would have went there. Maybe next time.

 

Next, our tour headed to Maho Beach which I have say, was the highlight of trip. Even though every inch of the beach was packed, it was thrilling to see the airplanes land swooping toward the beach. I had heard due to the Nor’easter, not as many planes landed, but there were certainly no complaints from me!

 

 

After our tour, after getting a little lost as we did in Tortola, we headed to the Guavaberry Emporium and bought some of the prized Guavaberry rum. We looked for the Blue Bitch Bar for lunch but after hearing how loud the music was, we decided against eating there. It was so loud that we couldn’t hear each other talk.

[TardisDance]

Port #5, Dominica

 

I wish I liked this port more, but I just didn't. We could tell it was the least developed of the islands, but that part didn't bother me at all. The real reason, we went on an NCL tour. The tour guide just drove me insane! Yes, I get there are tour guides that have to tell you every little factoid about their country. This lady simply wouldn’t shut up. Every 30 seconds, she had the need to say something. She would start all sentences as, “Ladies and gentleman, in Dominica . . .” It drove me nuts! We saw Trafalgar Falls and the Emerald Pools. They were beautiful, but she just ruined it for me. After 6 hours on a tour, I could only take so much. My DH still thinks it funny how much this lady bothered me. Call it a conflict of personalities, but she just rubbed me the wrong way.

 

The smelly, oil burning bus where I would spend 6 hours of non-stop narration.

 

 

 

The Emerald Pool

 

 

Since were arrived at Dominica on a Sunday, all of the local stores were closed. Tents at the port were open, but every merchant had the same exact merchandise, probably all from China. The same held true later in Martinique and St. Kitts, but it’s the reality of any tourist spots.

[TardisDance]

Port #6, Barbados

 

We choose a private tour – Glory Tours for this port. The port itself is a bit unique – The port is shared between cruise ships and cargo. We went on the free shuttle bus to get to the main security gate. I saw some on the way back to port that walk the entire way back. With the amount of fort lifts and various lifting equipment, I saw this as a safety hazard and dared not to walk it! Not to mention, it was very warm that day, and it’s a long walk!

We walked over to the traffic circle where our tour was designated to meet. Glory Tours tries to offer several different tours to various places around the island. With a small staff, this means one tour shares a van with another tour, and then gets dropped off, the other tour gets dropped off at their point, and then at the end, everyone shares one van. At the beginning in the traffic circle, it seemed like one gigantic headache, but staff seems to know what it’s doing.

 

We went on the Little England tour. After the other tour was dropped off at the Harrison Caves, we made our way to Hunte’s Gardens. The owner, Anthony, a lifelong Barbadian, purchased the property and purchased every plant on the property. The property itself was originally palm trees only, that’s it. Anthony has a big interest in orchids, one of those plants I’ve always wanted to grow indoors and have miserably failed, so it was fascinating to see all the varieties in his collection. We also saw a number of millipedes and same lizards in the plants, so it was interesting to see and take pictures of.

 

One of many beautiful pictures taken from Hunte's Gardens

 

 

Next, our tour brought us to Bathsheda Beach for pictures. There were some interesting boulders near the beach which gave us some great photo opportunities.

 

 

 

After a quick stop at the Morgan Lewis Windmill, we went over to St. Nicolas Abbey. It’s not a religious place by any means but a plantation that produces rum. We looked at historic relics and eventually tried the 5 year and 10 year rums. Strong stuff!

 

Morgan Lewis Windmill

 

 

St. Nicolas Abbey

 

 

After our tour, we walked over to Agapey chocolate and purchased several bars of dark chocolate. I’ve just started trying the rum caramel and coconut. If you love dark chocolate, I’d most definitely recommend.

Edited February 21, 2016 by TardisDance

[Cruise-mom]

Your photos are great, thanks for sharing.

[TardisDance]

Port #7, Martinique

 

For those who don’t know, the January sailings were originally 12 days, but last summer they were converted to 14 days. I don’t know the ins and outs of it, but basically a new law banned cruises to nowhere. Thanks to the wisdom and foreknowledge of CruiseCritic, I booked this sailing just before NCL converted the sailings.

 

Someone at NCL decided that it would be a great idea to drop St. Lucia from the itinerary and add Martinique in its place. This port is primarily French speaking and will only accept Euros. For the most part, we saw that most people choose to stay on the ship that day. If you can’t tell from my review so far, my DH and I travel more for the ports rather than the ship itself. The ship is just a means of transportation for us, so we felt that we had to get out and do something.

 

Since private tours with English speaking guides are almost nonexistent, we booked NCL’s “St. Pierre: A Historic Capitol.” St. Pierre was destroyed by a volcano in 1902. We saw the Balata Cathedral (modeled on a famous one from Paris), a volcano museum, and Depaz rum distillery. This tour was a big disappointment. We’ve seen historic cathedrals before and the volcano museum was tiny and no photography was allowed (not that there was anything worth taking photos of). The highlight of the tour was the Depaz rum distillery. However, it was difficult to follow the tour guide. She had no headset and 60 people from the bus behind her. We were delayed by road work on the way to St. Pierre, so was a 4 hour tour turned into 6. Everyone on the bus was getting hungry. We packed a couple snacks but not enough to keep going for that long. The tour wouldn’t make a rest stop and even if they did, most stands were cash only and only accepted Euros.

 

Panorama of a mansion at the Depaz Rum Distillery. Had I been able to hear the tour guide, I could tell you why it's there.

 

 

The next time we look at Southern Caribbean itineraries, we will skip any with this port. Or as most did on the ship, just stay on board. It didn’t seem worth it.

Edited February 21, 2016 by TardisDance

[TardisDance]

Port #8, St. Kitts

 

Remember on our Tortola review, how I said the Sage Mountain hike wasn’t challenging? Well, I finally got my challenge at St. Kitts, our final port.

We signed up for a private tour with Thenford Grey called the Rainforest Eco Hike. There was also 6 hour volcano hike offered. I wanted to do that, but with it being 6 hours and warnings that it would be strenuous, my DH and I chickened out. We weren’t sure how we would feel with having the UBP for 14 days, so the 4 hour rainforest hike was a compromise.

 

Like Bernards Tours, this was one of my favorite excursions. Only 4 people signed up, myself, my DH, and 2 German women (I believe cousins). It was like being on a personal tour. Our tour guide (I wish I could remember his name), took us to what is basically his backyard (his house is actually right next to rainforest), and he showed us the local flora and explained its medicinal uses. There was this local type of almond tree where he cracked open a pod and we each got to try the nuts.

 

The rainforest had a lot of these vines that you could go all Tarzan if you wanted to

 

 

Here’s the challenging part - Our guide saw that we were all somewhat young and fit, so he decided we would take the difficult part of the trail. We took an almost all vertical climb up to the top. In order to get up, we held onto tethered ropes. My DH was first up. He’s been on the Adirondack 46ers before and said that these are common on the trails, though he wasn’t expecting this in St. Kitts. I was next up. There were lots of tree roots, so I went slow and steady. My heart was pounding at the end, but I made it without falling to my death. The German women went even slower, but they eventually they made it up to top. One of them slipped on a tree root on the way back, but thankfully, it wasn’t on the climb.

 

When we made it back to the entrance, we went back to the open air bus, and our guide served us local raisin rolls along with homemade ginger beer. The rolls were really good, and I’ve just started to search the web for a recipe. If anyone has a recipe, if you could share it, it would make my day. So yummy! The ginger beer was unlike any ginger beer I’ve had in Bermuda. It wasn’t carbonated but certainly refreshing. It was sweet with ginger and had a slight lemon flavor.

 

Next, we went to Caribelle Batik, the last stop on our tour. This where the fabrics are hand dyed with patterns. We saw a quick demonstration. The shop had many of the fabrics fashioned into dresses, hair ties, pillows, and wall hangings. Since there were all hand crafted, it was all expensive, though I wish now that I had bought something. It was really nice stuff. There wasn’t a lot to see here, but it was nice to have a quick breather after the hike.

 

The Batik demonstration. I just noticed the boy in the picture. I guess he doesn't look too interested, does he?

 

 

 

After the tour, we did some shopping near the port. Let me just say, there is a huge amount of shops. You could really shop ‘til you drop here. The sad part though is that there aren’t a lot of locals with shops. My understanding is that a lot of Chinese decided to come into the area and capitalize on tourists. I bought a crystal necklace and my DH picked out another shot glass for his sister.

 

For the last part of the review, I will share my thoughts on the ship’s entertainment, food, and overall impression of the cruise including the sea days.

[TardisDance]

Sea Days

 

There was not a lot to do on sea days. We had 5 total - 2 at the beginning and 3 at the end. We were tired from all the excursions and slept a lot on the way back. We weren’t really interested in the shows. We tried Rock of Ages on our 1st sailing on the Breakaway, but it was way too loud and the seats were uncomfortable. I went on the waterslides on the 1st sea day coming back, and I was glad I did. The outside temperature quickly got very cold. We tried mini golf, but it very windy on the top deck. I thought my ball was going to go overboard!

 

There was a cake competition in the Atrium on one of the last days, but unfortunately because it was so cold and windy, everyone flocked to this event. One of the design flaws is the fact that there are simply not enough seats to accommodate everyone. The elderly folks on board would camp out the seats for hours, sleeping, reading, drinking tea. My DH and I finally grabbed some chairs, but because of the lacking of seating, two ladies stood directly in front of us and blocked our view completely. I gave them the stink eye a couple times, but they were oblivious. Several kept on stepping on my feet. After a while, I was on my last nerve and just want to trip them. So rude!

 

Outside deck during sunset on last day

 

 

 

Disembarkation

 

This was definitely a huge cluster. Since our Yankee Trails bus wouldn’t be picking us up until 10:30-11:30 a.m., we picked the lavender tags for the last possible disembarkation time. There was an hour delay, so we ignored our color and headed down at 10:15. The stairs were crowded with huge lines. On the way down, there was a group of French Canadians that were blocking the exit to the bus terminal area. They were a part of some type of tour group.

 

Overall Thoughts of the Ship

 

Cabin

 

As mentioned in an earlier post, we were in cabin 10828, a mini-suite. On my last BA this past October, my DH and I made the mistake of booking a balcony toward the aft of the ship on deck 9. We thought we scored big because it was an angled balcony and more square footage. It turns out that the bass from Spice H20 carried even as far down as our deck. With this trip, we made sure to pick a forward cabin. It was incredibly quiet. Once the issues with cabin steward replacement were resolved, our new steward did a decent job, albeit, he was sometime inconsistent, i.e. coffee wasn’t always refilled, no ice on a certain days for turn down service. I know room stewards have a lot of rooms to attend to so no big deal. He was always very courteous and friendly, so I can’t fault him too much. There would be times where we leave the cabin for 10-15 minutes, and the room would already be cleaned. He was like a ninja haha