Sept. 17 2006; 11 Night Southern Caribbean Cruise

[mruhaak]

That's too bad. I hope there is not a lot sick on this cruise. After all that planning that would be awful:(

[45640]

Just backkkkkkkk.............:(

 

Yesterday three hours snorkeling and beef tenderloin.... today ham and cheese and calling clients back.... (Now, that is a reality check)..:rolleyes:

 

Sorry I wasn't able to connect MizDaisy and dobe, iluvcruiisn, crazyforcruisin..

 

Weirdest thing was I met Dobe picking up our luggage this morning and her cabin was catecorner from ours.... a big too bad on that one:o ... but there will be other cruises....

 

Wasa lot of fun but shy on adult activities I thought for an 11 day... Entertainment SUPURB.... Grax=cious hosts in all but St Lucia. St Kitts tried to bend over for us....

 

Julie and Dick:cool:

[cindi0511]

We had a great time, too. With three little ones between the five adults, I did miss out on some stuff, but the ventriloquist was hilarious!!!!! It was the only show I got to see outside of the Walt Theater, but he had me crying I was laughing so hard. My whole family is still making comments at the most inopportune times about him. :D St. Kitts was gorgeous, and the Eli's Eco Tour we took was phenomenal! What a fantastic excursion! Even the kids loved it.

 

We got some local pork on the way back to the ship in St. Lucia (our guide was an off-duty policeman), and it was out of this world. We can't believe the cruise is over already, but we were so impressed with the crew and overall experience.

 

Now if only they'll go to Alaska in 2008 ...

 

Sorry we missed the roll call -- weird things happening right before we left, and I didn't make it back to the boards in time. Would have been so nice to meet you all!

[MizDaisy]

There weren't very many of us at the Meet and Greet, and oddly enough, it was all people who had cruised DCL together before! And I even had Mardi Gras beads for all of us, so we'd be recognized.

 

Was a truly great cruise. I think on the whole, quite possibly the best out of six so far. It just seemed that the food was better, the entertainment more varied....

 

We weren't too impressed with Barbados, but loved the others. Well, except St Lucia, maybe. Been burned on private excursions there twice now. Learned my lesson and will only book with the cruiseline if I ever go back.

[cindi0511]

We did a private tour on St. Lucia through http://www.*****/. We were upset at the beginning because we had booked to be with Frank after hearing of his lively interaction and stories of the island. We had Manero (sp???), a local policeman who fills in for Frank when he overbooks himself. I think we got the best end of that deal. This guy was really cool: a class act and a great driver. :) He was well worth his tip at the end, especially when he stopped for some roasted pork that was out of this world.

 

On Barbados, we booked with Glory Tours, and while our agreed upon itinerary did NOT work out as planned, Ricky was a great driver and we had a good time there.

 

Interestingly enough, the only DCL excursion we did was on St. Kitts, and it was crazy. Way too little time to see anything at Batik if you wanted to purchase stuff, and we had Dr. Elvis as our driver who had a much better opinion of himself and his, um, draw for ladies than any of the island's ladies had of him.:rolleyes: Still, he was OK, but I'd try to get my own driver the next time so we wouldn't be so hurried. Definitely not enough shops open on that island, but that was the luck of the day of the stop, I guess.

 

MizDaisy, what happened that burned you, if you don't mind? Just for future reference, as I'd LOVE to go back.

[Iluvcruizin]

Sounds like Frank really screwed up this cruise. Friends of ours had a tour booked with Frank and were told he was overbooked and he bumped them to another driver. They were very unhappy with the driver. Said he kept stopping to talk to his friends and even took them and showed them where he lived. They were very uncomfortable being in a foreign country just themselves and this driver. They actually asked to be taken back to the ship early. We did the zip line. That was really fun. The place doing the zip line is new and still getting things in place but had very friendly people who kept apologizing for being behind schedule. Since it was a DCL excursion and Capt. Henry had been part of the first group we knew we wouldn't be left. Still trying to get back to the real world. My son gets married this weekend and hopefully after that things will slow down and I will be able to catch up on the wash and get all my stuff put away.

 

Carol

[cindi0511]

My son gets married this weekend and hopefully after that things will slow down and I will be able to catch up on the wash and get all my stuff put away.

 

Carol

 

Oh my word, Carol! And I thought I was busy with two kids and home schooling! HA! Best wishes to your son and very soon to be daughter-in-law. Here's hoping everything goes off without a hitch this weekend!

[MizDaisy]

We arranged for a Dolphin and Whale watching excursion with Hackshaw's. Their boat was late getting there, which is understandable sometimes, but then we found out that their own dock is only seconds from the ferry dock. The driver and his assistant weren't too incredibly friendly and some of our time was wasted when they took us to their office for me to sign a release form.

Once we were out in the ocean, they basically stopped the engine and sat. They kept watching the water, as if any dolphins were supposed to find US. We'd seen a pod of dolphins and a whale from the ship, so we had been really hopeful that we'd see more. After at least an hour or more of just sitting there, they asked us what we wanted to do. Duh. We want to try to find some dolphins. The website and the e-mails I'd had with the owner had guaranteed dolphin no matter what.....possibly not whales, but at least dolphins.

Anyway, we finally had them take us to Soufriere...the old capital. We'd had a bad experience in December of '04 with our private snorkel boat...he took us to the same spots that all the other ships' excursions were at, which was not why I hired them.....and that time, the driver took us to see the old town, so I had them take us again (two different boat operators). We toured the little town, shopped a little, took some cool pictures.... and then we had them take us to a snorkel spot. Good thing we'd brought our gear!

But that's twice now that we didn't get what we'd been promised, and what we'd paid for.

 

In Barbados and St Kitts, we hired taxi vans to take us to the highlights and to lunch and beaches, and those tours worked out great. We had all the time we wanted at each stop...plus the drivers knew of other interesting places to stop along the way. It gave us a chance to really get a good feel for the islands.

 

Usually my family and I only snorkel at each island, so all I ever get to see are fish. That's why this was such a great opportunity for me.

[gatour]

We had a great time on this cruise. I would say it is in the top 5 of the 18 or 19 cruises I have been on.

 

We did book a tour through Disney for St Lucia and thought it was decent. The guide was informative. It was basically a driving tour to look the Pitons, a plantation and swim in a waterfall. Overall I though St Lucia is one of the prettiest island I have been on, and am contemplating going back for week to lay on the beach etc.