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We could not get off so join us in the Caribbean


uktog
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Thanks to those who joined along with us on the transatlantic. Now we are in Miami and looking forward to 16 nights sunshine (we hope) in the Caribbean. 
Well it was to be 5 nights shopping in Miami and 11 nights cruising to Cuba but we all know what happened there! 
We are really excited to be back in the Caribbean where we did our first ever cruise 22 years ago. Been there on NCL and Celebrity but never Azamara. It’s something we’ve always wanted to do and will have some new ports along the way. 
So as they say buckle up and hitch a ride on our two cruises. 
Our posts this time will concentrate on how we spent time ashore plus any specific big ship vs small ship observations in that part of the world. 

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4 hours ago, excitedofharpenden said:

Have a super time. You been to Virgin Gorda before?  Go to the Baths. It's a very interesting landscape and a lovely beach too. Bath and Turtle Rendezvous Bar by the water, walking distance from tender dock. 👍

 

Phil 

Another vote, it's a fantastic area....and you do NOT need to scramble through the very narrow gaps and scanty rope 'bridges' to get there. Simply go down the 'exit' route, much more joint friendly....that said, we did it and thoroughly enjoyed the experience but it is difficult if you are not relatively supple (we are early 60's).

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1 minute ago, hamrag said:

Another vote, it's a fantastic area....and you do NOT need to scramble through the very narrow gaps and scanty rope 'bridges' to get there. Simply go down the 'exit' route, much more joint friendly....that said, we did it and thoroughly enjoyed the experience but it is difficult if you are not relatively supple (we are early 60's).

Good advice. We did the scramble and goodness knows how I kept the contents of my backpack dry!

 

Phil

 

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Thank you for all the suggestions about what to do in Virgin Gorda. It is a new port for us and one we are very much looking forward to however as I have stupidly pulled a muscle at the moment in the back of my leg scrambling is probably not an option. I was really frustrated about this yesterday so everyone’s posts were extremely timely and have given me some options to think about in the coming days.  Thank you. 
 

Embarkation day was a busy day. The officers and crew had a rotten start to the day when Miami immigration decided a curved ball was to be thrown at Azamara in terms of the resources that would not be available to clear the ship and its crew and passengers. I know some people were very frustrated about the delay in disembarking and I really hope no one had such a tight flight connection that they missed it however on the ground I don’t think the ship could have done any more to help us leave and go through the processes in a timely manner. 
 

All I will say is that I think my dear husband wished that I had not been allowed off the ship at all as we took the opportunity to go 1st to the bayside mall area and then up to the  Brickell centre which unfortunately for him had an Apple Store I’m saying no more but I have my Christmas present. And I have also got the cutest trainers and other gear  for my grandson so that’s everyone sorted. 
 

We had a room move to do yesterday and it’s the first time that we have totally left the ship people to do all the moving it worked like a dream so our advice would be if you are having a room move even if what housekeeping are telling you seems a strange request follow it to the letter. In the past we have tried to do some of this ourselves and to be honest now  we have done it this other way we realise we were creating work both for us and housekeeping. All we did was put our few valuables into our locked case (passports were with us for immigration) and organised items on the surface but did not pack them up that was the advice from the assistant chief housekeeper everything went to the new room and was put in the most appropriate place. 
 

We knew our departure was going to be delayed to 6 pm however it was nearer 7 pm before we sailed out of Miami as Captain Johannes said around 6 pm he still had a lot of turkeys on the shore to bring on board. He was not being disrespectful to possible guests more it was clear there was a lot of provisions coming on for Thanksgiving. I know that wines that had run out during the transatlantic and even earlier also came on board so this cruise I will be able to post an update on what wines are actually available both on the ultimate package which we have upgraded to again and the winds of the day. 
 

Cruise Critic is 10 today Day 2 a good time as we have a sea day. They often cannot do this timing but on this cruise it works. 
 

Whilst  we did not sail out in daylight I hope you can see from these pictures what a beautiful time we had enjoying pre-dinner drinks on the pool deck and on deck 10 soaking in the view of Miami as the lights went down

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So Day 1 sea day was a lovely day - the temperature climbed nicely in the day before slipping back when clouds and a breeze rolled in late afternoon.  We enjoyed a lovely cruise critic get together at 1000 in the library and it was nice to put faces to names.

An interesting piece of information was shared - 2/3 of the passengers on this cruise are new to Azamara.  So inevitably some getting used to the Azamara way.  There are also some children on board. `I have only seen them briefly so do not know how that is shaping up.  

There is one enrichment speaker onboard, DH went to his talk, he was ok but not as engaging as Chuck was last cruise.  I really did nothing but kill another book yesterday but thats what sea days are for.

We are going to have a great itinerary adjustment made by Captain Johannes.  We were due to sail from St Barts to St Marten at 1800 and as he said spin round in circles for hours as the distance between the two is about 90 minutes.  Now we will stay in St Barts overnight and will leave around 0700 for St Marten.  Also given some liberal laws in St Barts although we are anchored and tenders will run to midnight the shops and casino will be open. Noted quite a few gambling at the electronic machines so that will be popular.

We have just pulled into Labadee its a glorious morning and we look forward to comparing the Azamara labadee experience with the Celebrity experience  

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3 hours ago, uktog said:

 

An interesting piece of information was shared - 2/3 of the passengers on this cruise are new to Azamara. 

 

This could make for a very interesting and lively White Night!   We had 450 newbies on Journey in October and really had the best evening ever. Their enthusiasm was infectious. Hope it’s fun.

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4 hours ago, uktog said:

....I really did nothing but kill another book yesterday but thats what sea days are for....

 

We enjoy same, wondering if you can advise re onboard library....do you know if is it well stocked, good selection?

 

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1 hour ago, hamrag said:

 

We enjoy same, wondering if you can advise re onboard library....do you know if is it well stocked, good selection?

 

It is well stocked good wide range of books 

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So our previous experience at Labadee was with Celebrity when we had also rented a cabana with friends. This time we did not do that but because we we are platinum level where given access to barefoot beach as suite guests are as well though you are free to go anywhere in the island you want. 
It all went like clockwork with a lovely welcome drink for everybody as we came ashore and lots of music and dancing that part of the experience very similar to Celebrity. Trams run you to beaches or you can walk. 

we were here about five years ago we think and we noticed this time that much more attention to detail was being given all around the place for example the bay much less stones at the shore line with people raking it away several points of the day making going in and out the water much more pleasant. There were plenty float mats available at no charge. Maybe that’s an Azamara difference I don’t know. 


The obvious major difference is we were the only ship in port and not everyone got off it sounds like about a maximum of 600 went ashore onto an area that can have as many as 12,000 in it. So there was lots of space for everyone and it was a really relaxing day floating around in the water and whilst everybody who went to our beach was in the water there was still plenty room. 
 

Bar service runs just like on the ship and we were able to use our beverage package ashore no problem however they obviously bring a much smaller inventory off the ship so I suppose if you were coming here and were on a package with the specific wish for a drink to be sure for you you could tell the bar staff to set that up in advance. 
 

The buffet food was delicious prepared by the ships chefs there was a range of ribs burgers sausages tuna fish baked potatoes are lovely selection of salads and a small selection of deserts and cookies. Service was by ships staff with a nice shaded seating area 
 

It really was a beautiful day helped by there being so few guests in this resort. The most stressful part of the day was lying on a sun lounge are wondering how you secure the coconuts above me were so not really an issue!!  I believe some of the pay for amenities were running I do know quite a few officers had fun on jet skis for an hour and I believe other guests went to the zip line. 
 

 

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Edited by uktog
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Anne

 

my hotel last year and this year is walking distance to the Brickell Place Mall. It is just lovely walking around and seeing stores that I do not see everywhere. Some interesting places to eat too.

 

i got the turkey line..I love turkey.

 

The beach is  great. Being in a suite I was golf carted to the beach. Heike served some ice cream to all beaches. This time I saw her Facebook pictures and saw she had a some relax time too.

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It was a gorgeous sea day most folks just chilling on the decks. The LCV party was late afternoon and was well attended. Tonight was Eric’s show it was really good far better than last week maybe because so many of the guests were first timers he got such good spontaneous reactions. This time no issues getting seats and staff were helping late comers find them. It’s ABBA night and it’s really jumping. Unlike on some Azamara ships on Journey the cast are up dancing with everyone which really helps. 
Tonight the sunset was gorgeous though Captain Johannes has promised even better tomorrow let’s see! 

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So we arrived this morning at Saint Barts. This is an island that is very much the playground of the rich and wealthy I am not sure anyone has yet found a souvenir shop as such. It is however a very beautiful island and because of its wealth  it is showing virtually no signs of the devastation from hurricane Irma from two years ago. 
 

To use on-board credit we took a ships one hour tour of the island which cost $49 each. Six of us were in a mini van and the driver did the commentary. In these situations it’s the luck of the draw how good your guide is and unfortunately we felt our driver was more interested in rushing round the island to get back to pick up private tours that you could buy at the dockside.  These can be purchased for €80. They don’t take cards.
 

I also get nervous when a driver is regularly answering his mobile phone and having conversations on narrow single lane roads but maybe that’s just me and there was no real risk of anything going wrong.  We had one stop at a few point for a quick photographs otherwise unfortunately he did not slowdown even to allow photos at other few points or interesting sites along the road.  I was on the wrong side of the minibus anyway so in any event didn’t see a lot on this trip. As I say we were using up on-board credit so I do not feel as letdown as I would have done if this was my own money and I suspect in any event there’s not masses to see on this island. 
 

Returning  to town we walked over to Shell Beach (3rd photo) which is a very easy 15 to 20 minute walk following the harbour and then following the signs which are very clear. 
 

Being an island that was originally owned by Sweden and is now French related (although our driver was at pains to point out they had left the EU many years ago) all street signs are in both Swedish and French which was just a little touch of differences. There are also a lot of very smart yachts  in the harbour  
 

So a pretty island and quite a simple DIY but one that seas day trippers as something to tolerate not quite the welcome and care of other islands. 
 
The other fascinating thing is landing here it’s the third most dangerous airport in the world. The first picture shows the road parallel to the runway and if you are at the roundabout where this picture was taken you can almost touch the wheels on the landing gear. 

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Just to give you an idea of the approach to landing (not my photo!) and also the view up from the road beside the terminal building so you see the last minute drop. The roundabout they clear is at the top of the picture 
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Theres a weather system floating around so not quite a flame sunset but nearly. 
 

We have two bands onboard the Starlight trio that many will know but also a four piece reggae band Vibes who are also good. They are due to play poolside from 8 tonight for dancing under the stars with cherries jubilee _ hope the rain stays off as that’s a nice little addition to the programme. 

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This was our first visit to Saint Maarten after the devastation of hurricane Irma. You can still see an awful lot of buildings downtown that are boarded up locked up business is no longer there et cetera however it was also encouraging to see how many businesses were back up on their feet and how lovely the new board walk is. Lovely to see our two favourite old buildings have survived 


We ignored the water taxi over to the two piers which would have cost $7 per person return or $5 for a single journey. We felt it was probably better to make progress by walking and try and deal with some of the calorie damage that we have inflicted on our bodies over the last few weeks. 

The walk took us about 20 minutes on the way there and because we were pretty tired and hot 40 minutes on the way back. We opted for beach chairs at Antiones place where we have been a few times before in fact it was good to see that they were still in business.  

Two chairs and umbrella and a bucket of five beers came to $20 plus tip which we thought was very fair given that the chairs had the loveliest thick padded cushions and we were on the first line in front of the ocean. 

Tonight we have the colours of the Caribbean evening on board set replacement for the amazing evening it will be interesting to see how this shapes out. Will let you know. 
 

so here you see the beach is fully back in action. We have two carnival vessels  with us today plus Windstar  So not the worst shipping loading we have seen here but pretty busy however with so many more places offering loungers on the beach it’s easier for people to find spots and not be immediately surrounded by others

 

 

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