Seadream 1 in March 2019

[JSADesigns]

Hi All- Heading on Seadream 1 in March. I've been on SD2 twice but this is a first on SD1. I'm going to miss seeing the crew from SD2 but looking forward to meeting another great team. Anyone know what enhancements were made in dry dock before the TA? Also, I'm gluten free and so is the couple we are bringing with us this time. Last time we sailed there were few adjustments for GF. Has anyone sailed recently and have any feedback or advice for getting some yummy GF options? I did make comments on the online reservation form about it. Also, does anyone know if you can do the Baths at VG without doing the excursion from SD. We don't want to have to do the tour around the island afterward? Thank you!

[ctbjr1309]

I'm fairly recently back from 9 days on SD II in the Caribbean.  I noticed and specifically commented on the number of dinner menu items labeled as Gluten Free.  Menus should be consistent across both ships so you should have plenty of GF options.

 

Visiting the Baths at VG shouldn't be a problem.  The ship will stop at Spanish Town around 8 AM and you could just get off with the group going to the Baths and organize your own transportation.  Alternatively, but less conveniently, you could wait until the yacht arrives at North Sound (around 10 AM), go ashore at Leverick Bay and then organize your own transportation to the Baths and back.

 

Have a great trip!

[TrapperZimmy]

When we were on SD2 last summer, I noticed that they added 2 USB charging ports in the rooms.  I am presuming they did this on SD1, as well.  Can anyone confirm this?  That was the only thing I noticed that was different from all previous trips (aside from the new and wonderful chef, that is).  And to second ctbjr's comment, you will not have to sacrifice your dining pleasure by eating GF. 

 

And you will see our favorite waiter, Doramas, on SD1.  Tell him his "Dad" says hello.

[JSADesigns]

Thank you for feedback so far!

 

TZ-I will do that! And thanks for always being so willing to help everyone on this forum! Fun to stay in the loop between much anticipated SD trips. 

[floridaag]

Getting to the Baths in VG is easy.  There are plenty of taxis that can take you.  We ended up walking - granted it was a very long hot walk

[ctbjr1309]

22 hours ago, TrapperZimmy said:

When we were on SD2 last summer, I noticed that they added 2 USB charging ports in the rooms.  I am presuming they did this on SD1, as well.  Can anyone confirm this? 

 

A (reasonably reliable) friend currently on board SD I confirms that the 2 USB ports have been added in the rooms on SD I as well.

[OKCer]

To confirm, will SD let folks off at VG to do the Baths if they are not doing the paid-for excursion? I thought they only let the paying folks get off at 8:00 a.m. while everyone else waited till arrival in North Sound to catch a taxi. We are planning to do the Baths, but have no desire to do the formal excursion as we don't want to be on an organized schedule. 

[JSADesigns]

I think SD relocates to Leverick Bay after dropping the people who want to do the Baths excursion. So I guess we can just ask concierge about our options. Not sure how far the taxi ride from Baths to Leverick Bay if we have to meet the ship back over there. Oh my just looked at the map. They are on opposite sides of the island from each other. I guess that's why the excursion has that long open air truck ride around the island following the Baths. I'll just have to ask on board probably.

 

Thanks cbtjr: So for the USB ports, are they near the bed or across room by the mirrors? 

 

 

[ctbjr1309]

1 hour ago, OKCer said:

To confirm, will SD let folks off at VG to do the Baths if they are not doing the paid-for excursion? I thought they only let the paying folks get off at 8:00 a.m. while everyone else waited till arrival in North Sound to catch a taxi. We are planning to do the Baths, but have no desire to do the formal excursion as we don't want to be on an organized schedule. 

 

I have never tried to get off the ship at Spanish Town but based on my experience with Seadream I can't imagine that they wouldn't let you off the ship there even if not participating in the excursion.  I'd just confirm with the Activities person on board the ship at least a day ahead of time.

[ctbjr1309]

1 hour ago, JSADesigns said:

Thanks cbtjr: So for the USB ports, are they near the bed or across room by the mirrors? 

 

 

They are above the desk.

[SWFLAOK]

On 1/14/2019 at 9:13 AM, floridaag said:

Getting to the Baths in VG is easy.  There are plenty of taxis that can take you.  We ended up walking - granted it was a very long hot walk

If you can afford to take a cruise on Sea Dream, then you can afford to take a taxi to the Baths and a taxi back. Even if you don't mind the walk from Spanish Town (and you'll have a long walk down to the Baths when you get there, and then back up to the road when you're done),  this isn't a road with sidewalks, and the traffic will be close and fast next to you. Leverick Bay to the Baths is definitely not walkable, and is a much longer taxi ride.

[floridaag]

12 hours ago, SWFLAOK said:

If you can afford to take a cruise on Sea Dream, then you can afford to take a taxi to the Baths and a taxi back. Even if you don't mind the walk from Spanish Town (and you'll have a long walk down to the Baths when you get there, and then back up to the road when you're done),  this isn't a road with sidewalks, and the traffic will be close and fast next to you. Leverick Bay to the Baths is definitely not walkable, and is a much longer taxi ride.

 

Not sure why you suggest this had anything to do with expense - we wanted to walk. 

[SWFLAOK]

I didn't want to encourage others to think that walking to the baths was a good alternative. We always find that there are some people on the cruises we've taken that like to save money by "doing their own thing" rather than taking excursions.

[Jim Avery]

4 minutes ago, SWFLAOK said:

I didn't want to encourage others to think that walking to the baths was a good alternative. We always find that there are some people on the cruises we've taken that like to save money by "doing their own thing" rather than taking excursions.

I knew what you meant but then we often "do our own thing" which sometimes is actually cheaper than the ships excursions.  We don't necessarily do it to save a few buck but to avoid crowds or go somewhere "against the grain".  No one on a SD cruise is penny pinching or they would be on Carnival.. Hey, that's supposed to be humor....😎🍸

[Avidcruiser76]

1 hour ago, Jim Avery said:

 No one on a SD cruise is penny pinching or they would be on Carnival.. Hey, that's supposed to be humor....😎🍸

That was actually  quite  good  😉

[SWFLAOK]

We had a large number of people in a bird watcher's club on our SD cruise. They made up more than half of the passengers on board.  And yes, they were penny pinching. All of the onboard excursions were cancelled because there were not enough of us who weren't in the bird watcher's club, and they weren't interested in paying for any excursions. They did a short walk around the port area whenever we docked,  but often just stayed on board looking through their binoculars for bird species. It was really disappointing to have all of our ship excursions cancelled the day before they were scheduled. It was even more disappointing to have to try to get our money back from SD since we had prepaid, and were told on board that they had no record of that. We were very relieved that we had a cruise travel agent to help us with getting a refund for the excursions that SD cancelled.

[Zimmy]

I sympathize. We had that experience in Italy last August. I don't think that there were any large groups on the voyage, but for whatever reason, most passengers did not do excursions. We were extremely disappointed. And it was just the luck of the draw, because on the voyage prior to ours with the same itinerary, all the excursions went.

 

You do not mention the impact on your enjoyment of the voyage of having half the passengers in one group. This kind of soft charter can turn into an unpleasant experience, having nothing to do with the excursions. I hope it worked out OK for you.

[SWFLAOK]

Other than the cancellation of the excursions, it wasn't a big impact on our cruise experience. They birdwatchers were mostly people in their 70's, with many single women. Their club was from the area in Florida where we live, and my husband wore a number of logo t-shirts during the cruise that were from our area. They always started a conversation. We've encountered large groups before, and have had an unpleasant experience with a large family group (with plenty of unsupervised kids) and with a "how to make money" business group who tried to include us in their propaganda when we sat at a table near them. We had no problem like that on SD. We still had a good time.