Riversedge

We were on this cruise also but my husband and I were laughing when we read your review about how our thoughts were exactly the opposite of yours on several points. We thought the new cruise director that we picked up in Barcelona was one of the worst we've had.

Will agree that Captain Timmers was the best Captain we've had on any ship anywhere. So entertaining and approachable. When I was walking the deck he even walked once around with me. We would sail again on any Holland America ship just to have the joy of experiencing him again.

While our food was prepared well, we did not care for the menu choices. They seemed to put grits in place of potatoes on several of the options. Maybe it comes from being a Northern gal, but braised beef on a bed of spinach and cheesy grits is not a good thing. We didn't care for the desserts at all and the honey tart you liked the best we couldn't even finish. It's a good thing we all like different things! Of course we still managed to gain 5 pounds.....

We had an excellent cruise and enjoyed every minute of it. We had issues with the deck chairs above us slamming down and being dragged across the deck waking us every morning at 6:40 a.m. We put up with it the first two weeks because we were arriving in port and had to get up anyways. But at the beginning of the crossing we finally turned in a complaint. The next day they started the process at 8:00 and sent us a bottle of wine with a note of apology. Can't get any better service than that. That's the only complaint we made. Other than asking for ice to be delivered twice a day we didn't need to ask for anything else.

We thought they could have had better lecturers (instead of one of them always forgetting what he was going to say) and it would have been nice to have had some port talks about the ports in Europe rather than just their talks to promote their tours. Since we don't take ship tours we would have liked to have known more about the port before we got off.

We had a bad experience in the Pinnacle Grill and probably won't ever do that again because we felt the same way on the last cruise. If I'm going to pay $50.00 for dinner I expect to be served more than one scallop in the first hour. And I expect ice in my water and to have my glass refilled. Didn't happen although they did bring ice 20 minutes after our request.

There were lots of great memories and we had such perfect weather in all of the ports on our 29 day cruise. So lucky for this time of year. It was a very enjoyable cruise and really appreciated our balcony on this long cruise. We spent a lot of time out there relaxing and watching the ocean.

I think you will love Fanning Island. It was one of our most favorite stops. Be sure to get off early and take some small bills for shopping. They weave fabulous baskets and make knives from bones and sharks teeth. The island people are so glad to see you come and it contributes greatly to their livelihood. Enjoy!

We are sailing on the Liberty of the Seas Oct. 20, 2013, Ingrid's price for a full day 8 hour tour of Nice, St. Paul and Eze is 500 euros for 2 to 4 people and 550 euros for 5 - 7 people.

 

We are 2 people and we are looking for more to join us before committing as the price is more than I wanted to spend.

Did you post this on your ship's roll call board? That would be the best place to find someone to share the tour with you.

We would also like to know which guide you used.

I love it when someone does a review and touches on the good and bad in a positive way. Great job. Love your pictures. Do you mind telling us what kind of camera you used?

Amazing photos, Terry. Our anticipation rate was already high but your pictures made us all the more excited. Thank you for a wonderful post.

Has anyone had Alfredo as a driver? We just found out he will be our driver in February.

That could be it! I didn't know there were two with almost the same name. Thanks for the clarification.

I'm confused. I went to the Carambola website and it said they are located on Davis Bay Beach. Can you walk to South Friars Beach from there?

This sounds like a good option for us since we've done an island tour in the past. Do you have to have a day pass? Check in or just go to the beach? Which way do you walk from the ship pier?

Dave, we're enjoying your posts so much. Thanks so much for all the information. You are increasing our anticipation and excitement of our upcoming cruise!

This is what we plan to do in St. Vincent

 

Wayne [baleine Tours] $85.00 pp. The tour lasts all day. Captain Wayne picks us up at the pier shortly after the ship docks, usually around 8:30-9:00 and brings us back at the end of the day in plenty of time to reboard the ship before sailing. The last stop on the tour is the black sand beach The tour also includes lunch at the Pirates of the Caribbean movie set (which is delicious). Drinks are at your expense at lunch. Rum punch and soda is provided on the boat, complimentary. Wayne takes a minimum of 12 and maximum of 24 passengers. The price per person, includes lunch. You can reach Wayne by telephone #315-608-7118 (New York) at any time, he call's it his Magic Jack number. After lunch and snorkelling we went to another beautiful area for snorkelling where the cliff plunges straight down 100 feet. The water was very clear and coral and fish were abundant.

 

Looking forward to reading your blog!

This is exactly the tour that we wanted to do in St. Vincent. However I have called the number you quoted above and he did not get back to me. No answer from email either. We don't get into port until 10:00 a.m. so maybe this tour would not work for us anyways.

Linda

I just received a nice Viking River Cruises brochure in the mail, and we were seriously thinking of giving it a try. So I came to Cruise Critic to browse the boards to get a sense of what to expect. Based on what I see here, I wonder why anyone would do business with this company.

 

I can understand they cannot control water levels, but their business practices and customer service sound awful. Needless to say, I won't be taking a Viking River Cruise.

I would never rule out a cruise line because someone else had a problem. Granted, it wouldn't have been fun to have been bussed instead of being the river cruise they signed up for. I'm hoping that doesn't happen to us. However, Viking gets HIGH remarks from many, many people on this board. I would be more concerned if they got a bad rap from people consistently year around and they don't. We're looking forward to sailing with them in June.

Haven't taken both, but we toured with Woody last week and had a blast. Would highly recommend him. We saw much of the country, swam at a beautiful beach and thoroughly enjoyed his rum punch!!! One of the most fun tours we've ever had.

Linda

Priceline:

El San Juan Waldorf Astoria

1 night

$110

May 16, 2010

We took the ferry over when we stayed for a week on St. Maarten. When we got there we took a taxi from the pier to Shoal Bay. It was a beautiful beach and we just hung out for the day. The driver came back to get us at the prearranged time. If memory serves me correctly we had to pay a departure tax. I know we needed passports.