Seadream II Bahamas Jan 16 and General Neutral "C" Discussion...

[Jam16]

Any updates from people onboard?  Hoping to hear that everything is awesome.  They just changed our route (SD1 out of Barbados on 2/19).  The dropped St. Lucia and Guadaloupe (two ports we were really looking forward to) and instead get Dominica (not so excited about that one) and an overnight in South Friars Bay instead of one day in Nevis.  Wondering if these changes make it easier to get onshore, which is a big plus.  Also curious what ports require mid-week testing.  Personally, would prefer to just get onboard and not worry about anything other than whether we should have another round of drinks.  Thanks for any input anyone has! 

[loving life]

Well folks my trip was a total bust.  We had one very nice night at the Brazilian Court in Palm Beach and then worked through all the Covid protocols to get on board the following day, but did so with a full blown gallbladder attack that lasted 18 hours.  We had to get off less than 24 hours later in Nassau, have a brief shore excursion to the local hospital and then fly back to Canada for ERCP and gallbladder removal surgery.

Two years of waiting, dreaming of Bahamian Cays, Covid baloney, and then this.   Sigh... I spent a full week, fully recovered, sitting at my desk thinking about my newly renovated cabin, floating empty without us.  I kind of still can't believe it.  The good news is we're packing our bags, and heading to the Turks on Saturday.    Til next time Seadream...   

[Zimmy]

10 hours ago, loving life said:

Well folks my trip was a total bust.  We had one very nice night at the Brazilian Court in Palm Beach and then worked through all the Covid protocols to get on board the following day, but did so with a full blown gallbladder attack that lasted 18 hours.  We had to get off less than 24 hours later in Nassau, have a brief shore excursion to the local hospital and then fly back to Canada for ERCP and gallbladder removal surgery.

Two years of waiting, dreaming of Bahamian Cays, Covid baloney, and then this.   Sigh... I spent a full week, fully recovered, sitting at my desk thinking about my newly renovated cabin, floating empty without us.  I kind of still can't believe it.  The good news is we're packing our bags, and heading to the Turks on Saturday.    Til next time Seadream...   

I am so happy that you will be going to the Caribbean this week. While not SD, it will make up for a lot. Be well and enjoy your trip.

[cabosal1]

We too had to cancel our SDI trip, though luckily not for medical reasons (flight cancellation), but I agree, 2 long years without SD is way too much. All this snow (12" and frigid) is getting to us so looks like we will be heading to SXM in March (again, if all goes well, fingers double-crossed). We're looking forward to toasting the planes coming in to Maho Beach with a rum punch at Sunset, but still missing our beloved SD.

Til we see you on SD again, you and Mitch have a super, welcome, fabulous time in the Turks next week!   

[JES4845]

On 1/13/2022 at 3:50 PM, BeignetBoy said:

Yes, winters in New Orleans are much less harsh than Chicago.  I have lived in both cities, and the winders here are much more tolerable.

 

Be very glad you opted out of the Jan 30 voyage from Palm Beach to San Juan!  What a humdinger of a truly wild ride all week long.  Worst voyage ever in terms of sea conditions - rock and roll from start to finish - big time.  Only made one of the scheduled stops!  Turks & Caicos (2 stops) nixed right after leaving port because SD couldn’t do the required PCR tests within 3 days of arrival there.  So bad the first day we ended up in Nassau for the rest of the day.  Others dropped due to sea conditions and weather, including mud slides in one Dominican port.  The beach BBQ ended up at the pool deck.

 

The skies were often as sunny and blue as the seas were white caps all around and big swells.  The crew was outstanding as always and the captain tried his best to find new places to go.  Kudos they got us Isla Saona, a national park on the southeast coast of the DR, for champagne and caviar splash plus a lobster lunch YLA on fine white sandy beach with lots of picturesque coconut trees all around.  Even then it rained a bit and it required a pretty long Zodiac ride over and back which others complained about.

 

It was great to be back after two years, especially to see crew we dearly missed - and also some folks we had sailed with before.  We booked some new voyages for 2023 and look forward to others in 2022.  But had we known about the awful sea conditions, we too would have taken a pass - be glad you did!