True Devonian Posted July 20 #26 Share Posted July 20 Was this cruise during term time? If so your girls are very lucky having so much time out of school, they probably didn't want to go back. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Vampiress88 Posted July 20 Author #27 Share Posted July 20 Martinique/sea day Up quite early today and straight in the hot tub for a quick half hour. People watching while everyone else is getting ready to go ashore. We were in Martinique today and were going to take the water taxi across to anse miten. Unfortunately it was Mardi Gras and it said that everything would be closed from 1pm so we didn’t think 4 hours would be enough time to get there and back and have a decent beach day. Luckily for us it meant that the ship would be quiet. Washed my hair and sit down breakfast for 8.30am. We had the usual poached eggs today. Even had a tea as we weren’t going far. And I had a few pains so was glad it was going to be an easy day. On the way out we chose our photos of the girls, as it took us a few looks before knowing which ones we wanted. There was a quiz in Brodies at 10am. Hardly anyone was there but it was a lot about soaps and we didn’t have a clue any of the answers so got a bit bored and decided to head off the ship. We had a walk around and looked at all the Mardi Gras stalls, they were tat stalls. Not much more than we would find at a car boot so really not our things. We got a magnet though and did think we would come back a bit later but we never did. On the way back we wanted a can of grape Fanta. The woman was arguing with some men about prices and then she looked through her cooler and asked if I wanted a sprite instead. I decided to just leave it at that point. It was all a little strange. With nothing else to do we got back on the ship at 11.30am. We went to Brodies and played pool. We were going to go to 6th street diner for lunch but we ended up in the mdr instead. Me and Georgia had the Indian platter to share. Scott had a bacon cheeseburger and Scarlett had ham and egg sandwich. It was all quite nice. As it was pancake day the kids had pancakes which were actually really good. Better than the pancakes I can make. We had some kind of coffee cheesecake. Scott enjoyed it. I thought it was ok. The girls went in the pool in the sky dome for an hour while we sat and had a drink. We could hear fireworks and things from outside but had decided not to bother getting off. Still think we should have gone to the beach but it was too late now. We got dressed and went to Brodies for the quiz. Again we were terrible at this. One day we will get better I’m sure. The kids played pool. They are actually getting really good and can beat me at it but can’t beat Scott. Next quiz was at 5pm so we stayed for that. Afterwards we went back to the cabin and got dressed for dinner. We headed to the club house first though as kids karaoke was on. It was full of a family parents and the two sister with really little ones by the looks of it who sung frozen song. It was cute, we all were very quiet as they hardly sung and clapped when it was over. My two decided to go up as I knew they would, they were only going to do one song each this time. Georgia chose complicated by avril lavigne and Scarlett did the climb by miley Cyrus. I did get a bit cross as that big family with the kids were talking quite loud all way through mine singing and I didn’t like that, it’s just a bit disrespectful. We got to dinner quite late at 7.15 and tonight I had duck starter which is quite unlike me but trying to follow Georgias lead of trying new things and Scott had salad. For mains the girls had gammon and we had beer chicken. They were both really nice, one of the better dinners we have had on here. For desert was sticky toffee pudding and chocolate brownie with sorbet. We were finished around 8.45. We went back to the cabin and played cards on our bed in our pjs. This seems to be what the girls prefer to do at the end of the day. We were in bed by 10. Tomorrow is the last day, we are at St Lucia. bed configuration what we thought looked like a weird moon 5€ magnet Photos £70.00 Punk ipa £5.55 Coke £3.55 Tango £2.70 Punk ipa £5.55 Coke £3.55 Punk ipa £5.55 Coke £3.55 Tango £2.70 Punk ipa £5.55 Punk ipa £5.55 Punk ipa £5.55 Tango £2.70 Tea £2.40 Punk ipa £5.55 Total £130 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Vampiress88 Posted July 20 Author #28 Share Posted July 20 St lucia We were up, showered and had our usual muffins and we’re off the ship by 8am. We were going to reduit beach today as that’s what we had been recommended so as soon as we were in the port we paid at the kiosk for a return to the beach for $80. It was a shared taxi bus and it was very cramped. Took a good 30mins to get there. The man from the photo line the other night was in there, he just doesnt shut up. When we got there this is where things started to go wrong. As soon as we got out of the taxi the people were like follow me now to the best chairs. I said has it got a bar and toilet etc, they said yes yes and we walked down the far left side of the beach from where we got dropped off. We did not like the look of it nor do we like being told what to do. Some others from the ship had also done the same and we wanted to sit on these ones just in front of Mahis. This is just left from the car park. Spinnakers was just to the right of the car park. We didn’t want those chairs as they were very cramped and into the sea. Anyway a bloke told us how much it would be for the chairs and an umbrella. This was $30 and he told this young lad in a bright red t-shirt to come put in a umbrella for us as it was just chairs but we really needed shade. After the kids had a swim and play in the water and we still had no umbrella I went to find someone. He was also in a red t-shirt but it had a different logo. He said well we hadn’t paid him we had paid someone from spinnakers. I said I had paid for an umbrella and I wanted one and I would go and find this bloke. Couldn’t find him anywhere but I did bump into some nice lads who wanted to sell me weed. I did ask how much out of curiosity and I shouldn’t have as then they tried to haggle. I just said I had to go. Very strange and a bit unnerving as I was on my own. I sat down on the chair and a bloke then tried to sell me necklaces for the girls. When I said no he just stood there for ages scowling at me I told Scott about the issues with the chairs and that we had paid someone who didn’t even work there and about the weed. We felt quite uneasy at this beach and wondered if we should stay. It was forecast rain and we gave the kids a choice. They said they had had enough of the beach now and were happy to leave. It was such a waste of money and it could have been a nice day had we not have had issues and been made to feel really uncomfortable. We changed our taxi time to 12pm. We got dressed and there was a bloke really shouting and raging. He was walking around with a palm leaf trying to make a rose out of it. He really wasn’t all there, not sure if it was drugs or maybe mental illness, and a bit scary. We walked past the weed men and got into our taxi. Didn’t take long to get back. We were on the ship for 12.30pm. As we had missed the lunch at 6th street the day before we decided to go here as it was quiet. We had popping shrimp and southern fried chicken to start. Both the chicken and the shrimp were nice but it there was a lot of chicken. For the mains me and Scott had patty melts and I only managed half of mine, Scarlett had pancakes with bacon and Georgia had pancakes with banana and chocolate. Caramel freak shake and chocolate milkshake as that was the main thing we came in for but then we were way too full for pudding. It didn’t rain where the ship was so we went and did the mini golf as we hadn’t done that yet. There were 9 holes to do. The kids enjoyed it. It was free and I was glad as it’s not a patch on other crazy golf’s we have done so I wouldn’t have been happy to pay for it. The girls were too hot now and wanted to go in the pool so they jumped in there while we had drinks on the side. We were a bit too full to be swimming with them. It’s a good job they play well together and don’t need us as much anymore. After the pool we had a shower and around 5.30 we took the kids for pizza as we had decided to go out to the keel and cow and the kids wanted to go to the kids club tonight. We took them to kids club at 6pm. There was a quiz on in Brodies for valentines and I wanted to do that. We got some cocktails a passion fruit martini for me and espresso martini for Scott. I didn’t like mine again so he drunk mine also. We got a bit fed up waiting for the quiz and decided to go to the atrium for different cocktails instead. All the while we were trying to get into keel and cow. We could not get in this virtual queue tonight at all. We really should have done better planning. Eventually we changed it to the olive grove as we could get in there it was just a bit of a wait. Scott had a rum cocktail I can’t remember which one but it was quite nice and then we got called for the olive grove around 7.45pm. It was getting too late really. We ordered empanadas and then carbonara. This was really nice on Iona. Didn’t enjoy it on here at all. For pudding it was cheesecake and lemon tart. Again iona is better for these. The first menu for Arvia was better with the prawn starters. We collected the photos from the booth then went to collect the kids around 9.30pm. They had both had a great time with snacks for valentines too. We were in bed for around 10.30ish. Reduit beach $80 to beach $30 umbrella $5 magnet Soda £3.50 Soda £3.50 Milkshake £4.00 Milkshake £7.75 Punk ipa £5.55 Coke £3.55 Tango £2.70 Punk ipa £5.55 Coke £3.55 Punk ipa £5.55 Punk ipa £5.55 Cocktail £7.50 Cocktail £7.50 Cocktail £9.20 Cocktail £7.50 Total £79.85 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Vampiress88 Posted July 20 Author #29 Share Posted July 20 Last full day on the ship today and it’s a sea day. We did our usual, up showered and down for breakfast at 8.20 where we had the same as usual the poached eggs that only P&O seem to get right. They always remind me of little ghosts. We went straight to Brodies and played pool then did the 10am quiz. Back to the cabin to do the packing as the suitcases needed to be outside tonight. We went and got pizza and chips with beers and sat on the balcony while we ate them. Loved doing this, perfect easy lunch on the balcony with the sun and the sea. These seem to be the bits we like the best. After lunch we did the 2pm music bingo quiz and then we needed to make a decision about tomorrow. We were back in Barbados and we really wanted to go to the beach again but we kept thinking that we might be really too hot and sticky and covered in sand and didn’t want to go to the airport feeling grubby. In hindsight we should have just gone. But we didn’t so we finished packing everything up including all the swim suits. Me and Scott fell asleep but managed to wake up in time to take the kids to get prizes for the stickers. I’m going to say now that I don’t think the prizes are for people under 50. Most were tea towels and oven gloves. The kids chose a flash light. They weren’t too impressed. I washed the girls hair and we showered and got ready for dinner in the mdr and down to the dining room for about 7pm. For starters we had spring rolls and prawns on ciabatta. The prawns were nice. For mains we had chicken curry. We didn’t particularly like this one. Pudding was toffee cake, cheesecake and strudel. We were finished by 8pm. We put all our bag outside and turned in for the night with just our carry on luggage left. Punk ipa £5.55 Coke £3.55 Punk ipa £5.55 Discount -£0.36 Punk ipa £5.55 Coke £3.55 Punk ipa £5.55 Discount -£1.10 Punk ipa £5.55 Cooler £3.50 Tango £2.70 Discount -£0.88 Punk ipa £5.55 Discount -£0.42 Coke £3.55 Coke £3.55 Discount -£0.53 Total £50.41 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Vampiress88 Posted July 20 Author #30 Share Posted July 20 Home today. This was going to be a very long day and we hoped we were right in staying on the ship. We also didn’t bother to book a cabin either. We had to be out the room by 8am so we showered and went down for breakfast. Ate our usual. We had to go show the passports to immigration so I did that while they played pool and did the quiz. Today was dragging already as ours was the second to last group that was going at 3pm. So we sort of wandered around and then went for lunch around 12.30pm. Georgia had Indian platter, while the rest of us had cheese burgers. For pudding it was Raspberry Bakewell for us, pineapple for Georgia and jelly for Scarlett. We tried to avoid the upper decks so as not to get hot and sweaty. We then heard that the plane was delayed and we now weren’t leaving the ship till 5pm. Really wish we had gone to the beach instead because then we would have been back at 2pm and wouldn’t have wasted all the day. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Next time we really would have just gone. It looked like it was a really nice day too. We carried on pottering about. We needed to find a plug socket to charge the phone before we got to the airport. We found some in the crows nest. I might have fallen asleep for an hour. Apparently people were coming up to see the sights and hearing me snore. I just couldn’t keep awake. It got to about 4pm and we went to the buffet. Got a quick snack then headed to the theatre to get the coach. The cleaner woman from “how clean is your house” was sat next to us. She’s in her eights now and doesn’t look it. We got on the coach and it was quite a long ride to the airport due to the traffic at that time. The kids fell asleep on the bus and were both catching flies. We got to the airport around 5.45pm. Our plane wasn’t due to leave till around 9pm. We pottered about the airport. Bought some drinks and some sweets for Scott’s work friends. Again this was so boring. The kids played on their phones quite a bit. This really is one of the things I hate with flying is the waiting around inside the airport. When you get off at Southampton you know your just driving home not doing hours in an airport the hours on the plane then even more driving. Urgh. We boarded the plane climbing up those horrible rickety stairs. Had the same seats as on the way here and I was sat next to the same couple. The dinner meal was ok but the breakfast wasn’t great. I didn’t get any photos. We all tried to sleep a bit but didn’t get very far. We were making good time but unfortunately we had to circle the sky for 30 minutes as no place to land when we got to Manchester air space. Then when we did land we couldn’t park anywhere so it was another good hours delay. The baggage was really quick though. We got our bags, collected the car and drove home a slightly different way. Took about 1.5hours. When we got back we did the washing and ended up getting some milk then had pizza for dinner. We were proper shattered by this point. We spent a total of $1201 but I had bought $2000 so this was included in my total holiday and then £42 as we had £730obc to use and we didn’t go very far over. So it was £9184 total for the two weeks. This did include all the dollars I bought though so some will roll over onto the next cruise. It was something on our bucket list but not something I would repeat unless it was a ridiculously amazing deal. £7036.00 P&o Arvia Caribbean £1610.00 On shore spends($2000) £42.00 Spends (£730 obc) £40.00 Petrol £96.00 Car park £360.00 Seat selection £9184.00 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Vampiress88 Posted July 20 Author #31 Share Posted July 20 1 hour ago, True Devonian said: Was this cruise during term time? If so your girls are very lucky having so much time out of school, they probably didn't want to go back. Sort of It was for two weeks but one of the weeks was February half term. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Vampiress88 Posted July 20 Author #32 Share Posted July 20 22 hours ago, Devon born and bred said: Sorry you had a bad day. Looks like the girls still enjoyed themselves, much better than school. Did you manage to get good prices for your cruise as they always seem much more expensive during school holidays. paid £7036 for a balcony cabin. Not sure if this is higher than normal but at the time hubby was happy to book at that price. That was including flights from Manchester which upped the price and for the four of us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Vampiress88 Posted July 20 Author #33 Share Posted July 20 23 hours ago, tesni said: Your girls are lovely and look like they had a great time! 😀 So refreshing to read about the downs as well as the ups. I was onboard for a week in Feb so am reading with interest. I don’t tend to sugar coat things to be honest. I write these down for me to remember as my memory is terrible just as much it is to help others that might wonder what the ship is like etc. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purplesea Posted July 20 #34 Share Posted July 20 Thank you for an informative and interesting read and review of your cruise, and the pictures of your lovely girls. I have enjoyed reading about your adventures and experiences of your cruise. I have sailed on Arvia and in the Caribbean but not on the two combined. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harryjacobs Posted July 20 #35 Share Posted July 20 Before we got into cruising we had 2 weeks at Jolly Beach, Antigua. We loved it. January and the weather was superb. The beach sellers got to know us and never hassled us after we made it clear we wouldn't be buying. We had a day in St John's and saw the crowds coming off the ship all getting hassled and I swore I would never do a Caribbean cruise.it looked hellish. We got approached by hawkers but we just waved our hotel wrist tag and they left us alone. The trouble with a cruise is 1 day isn't enough time to truly enjoy a destination. The 2 weeks we had we explored the whole island and it's many beaches. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zap99 Posted July 21 #36 Share Posted July 21 14 hours ago, Vampiress88 said: I don’t tend to sugar coat things to be honest. I write these down for me to remember as my memory is terrible just as much it is to help others that might wonder what the ship is like etc. Well Vamps, your Children are perfect...smiling, or asleep.🤣 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Vampiress88 Posted July 21 Author #37 Share Posted July 21 Next trip report will be Fjords but thats on Royal Caribbean ship anthem. Suppose I’ll have to put that one in their selection 😂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zap99 Posted July 21 #38 Share Posted July 21 (edited) 40 minutes ago, Vampiress88 said: Next trip report will be Fjords but thats on Royal Caribbean ship anthem. Suppose I’ll have to put that one in their selection 😂 Please tell us when you post it. We are on Anthem in September. Edited July 21 by zap99 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Vampiress88 Posted July 21 Author #39 Share Posted July 21 27 minutes ago, zap99 said: Please tell us when you post it. We are on Anthem in September. Will do. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Sarah1974 Posted July 23 #40 Share Posted July 23 Thanks for your review. A Caribbean cruise is on my bucket list Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neecy1 Posted July 25 #41 Share Posted July 25 Thanks Vamps. Your girls are lovely, always smiling. The same thing happened to us in St Lucia. Got out of the van at Pigeon Island and a pushy man led us to this stoney rubbish part of the beach. My hubby refused to stay there as did a few others. Luckily we didn't get charged extra. We didn't like that beach. Lots of hawkers. And a man selling drinks shouting all the time. 'Call the doctor 911!'. Not very relaxing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fionboard Posted July 25 #42 Share Posted July 25 Reduit Beach was lovely years ago. Ruined now. Best to avoid beaches used by cruise ships. Plenty of nice ones you can do on your own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Vampiress88 Posted July 28 Author #43 Share Posted July 28 On 7/21/2024 at 11:00 AM, zap99 said: Please tell us when you post it. We are on Anthem in September. done it. next adventure is on princess cruises in August so need to get packing soon. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SquishTheWhale Posted July 30 #44 Share Posted July 30 Just read all of this Vamps! Thanks for the lovely report. Your girls are gorgeous as usual. If you do the Caribbean again it might pay to do more tours and activities rather than just beaches- although I know easier said than done with kids! We did things like zip lining in St Kitts, the mud baths and waterfall in St Lucia and a whole island tour in Antigua which was stunning. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Vampiress88 Posted July 30 Author #45 Share Posted July 30 3 hours ago, SquishTheWhale said: Just read all of this Vamps! Thanks for the lovely report. Your girls are gorgeous as usual. If you do the Caribbean again it might pay to do more tours and activities rather than just beaches- although I know easier said than done with kids! We did things like zip lining in St Kitts, the mud baths and waterfall in St Lucia and a whole island tour in Antigua which was stunning. I’ll be honest I wanted to do the mudbath and waterfall but when we asked how long it would take to get there it ended up being longer on a bus than my bladder would allow unfortunately. the zip lines were also considered. Not by me as I don’t have the balls but I asked the kids and hubby if they would like to and it was a No from all of them. Maybe they are chicken same as me. we did beaches mainly cos we have rarely done them so it was something different for us and most of them were ok. was waiting on you to finish your royal Caribbean one. I don’t know which one of us is worse, you starting then making me wait 6 weeks or me not uploading and then doing 5 full ones at once, 😂 I am definitely worst. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SquishTheWhale Posted July 30 #46 Share Posted July 30 33 minutes ago, Vampiress88 said: I’ll be honest I wanted to do the mudbath and waterfall but when we asked how long it would take to get there it ended up being longer on a bus than my bladder would allow unfortunately. the zip lines were also considered. Not by me as I don’t have the balls but I asked the kids and hubby if they would like to and it was a No from all of them. Maybe they are chicken same as me. we did beaches mainly cos we have rarely done them so it was something different for us and most of them were ok. was waiting on you to finish your royal Caribbean one. I don’t know which one of us is worse, you starting then making me wait 6 weeks or me not uploading and then doing 5 full ones at once, 😂 I am definitely worst. Hahaha! My issue is that my husband keeps taking the laptop off with him for the week so I don't have access to the photos, but I will finish I promise! I mean beaches are definitely a great thing to do in the Caribbean but it did sound like you had a little beach fatigue by the end! I'm sure the kids would never get bored of it though. When we did St Lucia we did a speedboat there and back as I also refused to do that bus journey although not sure if there's anyone still offering it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Vampiress88 Posted July 30 Author #47 Share Posted July 30 1 hour ago, SquishTheWhale said: Hahaha! My issue is that my husband keeps taking the laptop off with him for the week so I don't have access to the photos, but I will finish I promise! I mean beaches are definitely a great thing to do in the Caribbean but it did sound like you had a little beach fatigue by the end! I'm sure the kids would never get bored of it though. When we did St Lucia we did a speedboat there and back as I also refused to do that bus journey although not sure if there's anyone still offering it. yes I was surprised that my kids just sat and played in the sand as I worried they would be a bit old for that but they enjoyed it. They want to do a beach again in Florida rather than go to Disney much to my annoyance. I get you on the photos. I had to airdrop all his to my phone to get it all done cos he is useless. I kept meaning to do it then forgot then 18months had past and we had been on so many adventures. Those poor people on the dibb probably thought I was crazy. meant to ask where you were going in October? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SquishTheWhale Posted July 30 #48 Share Posted July 30 (edited) 5 hours ago, Vampiress88 said: yes I was surprised that my kids just sat and played in the sand as I worried they would be a bit old for that but they enjoyed it. They want to do a beach again in Florida rather than go to Disney much to my annoyance. I get you on the photos. I had to airdrop all his to my phone to get it all done cos he is useless. I kept meaning to do it then forgot then 18months had past and we had been on so many adventures. Those poor people on the dibb probably thought I was crazy. meant to ask where you were going in October? We are on Iona doing France and Spain over half term! Although annoyingly we've just dropped La Rochelle in favour of Le Havre which feels like a huge downgrade. Not planning any excursions but hoping the weather permits some city sightseeing and beach time. Think Hiro may be disappointed in the ship with his only other cruise being on Oasis! Edited July 30 by SquishTheWhale Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Vampiress88 Posted July 31 Author #49 Share Posted July 31 17 hours ago, SquishTheWhale said: We are on Iona doing France and Spain over half term! Although annoyingly we've just dropped La Rochelle in favour of Le Havre which feels like a huge downgrade. Not planning any excursions but hoping the weather permits some city sightseeing and beach time. Think Hiro may be disappointed in the ship with his only other cruise being on Oasis! mine prefer p&o for some reason. Maybe it’s what they are used to. yeah we didn’t like Le Havre either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now