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Live from Summit 11/24/12-12/1/12


gmros

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Hi all! It's me again with another "Live from" post from the Summit. You can find my previous post of my April 2012 trip here. But I'll use this thread more like a photo trip log and Q&A.

 

If you have any questions or requests regarding Summit, Conrad Condado Hotel and/or the itinerary, please post them here and I'll try my best to find out the answers for you while I'm still in PR or on the ship.

 

11/22 Arrive in San Juan, staying at Conrad Condado Plaza

11/23 Arecibo (caves) tour

11/24 Sailaway

11/25 St. Croix

11/26 St. Kitts

11/27 Dominica

11/28 Grenada

11/29 Sea day

11/30 St. Thomas

12/01 Disembarkation

 

I usually begin my daily posts with highlights of the day including tips, followed by food porn, then end with answers to questions and requests - all backed with photos :).

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Hi all! It's me again with another "Live from" post from the Summit. You can find my previous post of my April 2012 trip here. But I'll use this thread more like a photo trip log and Q&A.

 

If you have any questions or requests regarding Summit, Conrad Condado Hotel and/or the itinerary, please post them here and I'll try my best to find out the answers for you while I'm still in PR or on the ship.

 

 

I usually begin my daily posts with highlights of the day including tips, followed by food porn, then end with answers to questions and requests - all backed with photos :).

We are on the Summit on Dec 8. Planning to stay for 3 nights at Caribe Hilton prior to cruise. How was the Conrad? Always open to a nice Conrad - have had good experience with them - particularly in Asia. Thanks. Have a great cruise.

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We are on the Summit on Dec 8. Planning to stay for 3 nights at Caribe Hilton prior to cruise. How was the Conrad? Always open to a nice Conrad - have had good experience with them - particularly in Asia. Thanks. Have a great cruise.

 

Hi judatt! The Conrad is nice, modern and clean. The staff are friendly too. I will post a review and photos tonight.

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Have fun! We are also on the 12/8 so looking forward to hearing any comments. Never been to st croix and have nothing planned there so would really love to hear your observations. Was planning on getting off the ship and just wandering but after reading on here, doesn't sound like there's much within wandering distance.

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NOVEMBER 22: NEW YORK TO SAN JUAN

 

Flight - Delta

We were able to book a flight on Delta from JFK to SJU for $256.40 pp, not a bad price compared to our other SJU flights. Flight was on time from take off to landing. We checked in at Terminal 3, not my favorite terminal. We got a shuttle to Terminal 4 where our plane was. There were small monitors in every seat with some complimentary entertainment like TV, games, some movies, etc.

 

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TV Channels

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In flight, they provided complimentary drinks (soda, juice, coffee, water), small snack pack and earphones. At least they provided free snacks. We flew US Air before to PR and all that was complimentary were the drinks. This also reminded of the 7-hour leg to Hawaii on United, we were only offered complimentary drinks as well. Their earphones are bad, bring your own.

 

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In-flight Internet - Gogo

Don't bother getting this before or during flight. No signal coz the plane goes too far out of continental US or their coverage area.

 

Taxi - from SJU to Condado

Taxi stand was right outside the baggage claim area. It was pretty quick to get a taxi. We paid $15 + $1 per luggage.

 

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PR Accommodation - Conrad Condado Plaza

We booked the hotel through Hotwire for $98/night base price. The hotel was modern and pretty clean. There were 2 towers: Ocean and Lagoon. The Ocean tower faces the ocean, the Lagoon tower faces the bay. They have 2 pools, a jacuzzi and a small beach (public) oceanside; 1 pool and jacuzzi bayside.

 

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Lobby

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Front Desk

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We were in room 774 in the Lagoon tower and had a view of the lagoon. The room was pretty clean except the chair.

 

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Have fun! We are also on the 12/8 so looking forward to hearing any comments. Never been to st croix and have nothing planned there so would really love to hear your observations. Was planning on getting off the ship and just wandering but after reading on here, doesn't sound like there's much within wandering distance.

 

I think you should plan to do more than wander around near the pier. We go to St. Croix annually for 7 to 14 days so I can answer any questions you might have. There will be quite a few vendors set up near the pier and there are a few art galleries and shops in F'sted. You could take a cab north to Rainbow Beach which is pretty and has an outdoor restaurant. But there are other things to do as well (Buck Island, island tour, ATV tours, etc.) depending on your interests.

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We're on the 8-Dec sailing.

 

I'm currently trying to narrow down our dive options.

 

Which ports are you diving in? Which operators are you using? If it isn't too much trouble could you update after the dive on the quality of the operator?

 

We have a few recs from our local dive shop, but the main lady we get the recs from hadn't been to some of the ports.

 

Thank you :D

 

Hope you have a great trip!

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Hi gmros,

Thanks for your posts.

I am also on the 12/8 sailing.

If you stop in Michael's Club, could you make note of what kind of live music they have. I hope they still have a vocalist on the piano. On the Century in May they would alternate between the vocalist and the string trio. Was always the last stop for a relaxing night cap before bed.

Enjoy your cruise!

Mark

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Lovestx, I think our biggest problem is we are in st croix on a Sunday. From everything I've read on here and a few different sites, most things are closed then. The fort sounded interesting, closed. Cruzan rum, closed. The sun buggy sounds neat so that's a possibility and I read about the beach just to the left of the port. Snorkeling and diving aren't really an option since DH doesn't swim. Still searching though.

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Lovestx, I think our biggest problem is we are in st croix on a Sunday. From everything I've read on here and a few different sites, most things are closed then. The fort sounded interesting, closed. Cruzan rum, closed. The sun buggy sounds neat so that's a possibility and I read about the beach just to the left of the port. Snorkeling and diving aren't really an option since DH doesn't swim. Still searching though.

 

I would think that many excursions will be availabablet o you even though the Fort and Cruzan Rum will be closed. I would encourage you to consider an island tour or a day at the Buccaneer or a day at Rainbow Beach unless you are more adventuresome and would do Geckosislandtours.com

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NOVEMBER 23: PUERTO RICO

 

We took the Arecibo tour via Natural Wonders PR for $95 pp. We've toured with Asha before and had fun. It was like a private tour coz it was just me and my husband, and Asha was flexible with our requests. Highly recommend Natural Wonders and the Arecibo tour for those who are physically capable, the tour required some hiking.

 

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QUESTIONS/REQUESTS

 

We're on the 8-Dec sailing.

 

I'm currently trying to narrow down our dive options.

 

Which ports are you diving in? Which operators are you using? If it isn't too much trouble could you update after the dive on the quality of the operator?

 

We have a few recs from our local dive shop, but the main lady we get the recs from hadn't been to some of the ports.

 

Thank you :D

 

Hope you have a great trip!

 

I'll post a review of the dive operations we use as we go on.

 

Hi gmros,

Thanks for your posts.

I am also on the 12/8 sailing.

If you stop in Michael's Club, could you make note of what kind of live music they have. I hope they still have a vocalist on the piano. On the Century in May they would alternate between the vocalist and the string trio. Was always the last stop for a relaxing night cap before bed.

Enjoy your cruise!

Mark

 

Hi SeaWatch, I'll let you know when I stop by.

 

Lovestx, I think our biggest problem is we are in st croix on a Sunday. From everything I've read on here and a few different sites, most things are closed then. The fort sounded interesting, closed. Cruzan rum, closed. The sun buggy sounds neat so that's a possibility and I read about the beach just to the left of the port. Snorkeling and diving aren't really an option since DH doesn't swim. Still searching though.

 

I'm sorry I wasn't able to take pictures at the pier as we were rushing coming from our dive trip. But we did try to walk around to look for magnets. From what we've seen, there's really not much at the pier. I agree with , I think it's better to go on a tour.

 

 

UP NEXT: EMBARKATION

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NOVEMBER 24: EMBARKATION

 

We arrived at the cruise terminal around 12:20pm, set foot on the ship around 1:10pm. It actually took us longer this time than our cruise in April when we arrived past 2pm. Oceanview Cafe (buffet) had a lot of people, but we found a table easily. Muster was at 5pm.

 

We had a regular balcony cabin and I found it tiny.

 

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Bed was comfortable, pillows were flat.

 

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