Katomerikaf

great to see Protégé on board - they were on Celebration over the new year and were FAB !!

A review at last !! Thanks :)

Sounds really good - can't wait !!

I'm in agreement - shorts etc fine in buffet but it's nice to see people making a bit of an effort in the main dining room at night - it's part of a tradition that would be nice to continue I think :)

:D:D:D:D:D

That's made my weekend !!!!!

Hope it's still free in March :)

Any updates on AI drinks yet ?

Is Strongbow included ?

Which beer is included ?:D

Just your boarding pass and your passport is needed.;)

They look to have done a great job !

Hope they were as meticulous with the cabins and rest of the ship inside ;)

I would like to send my uncle a letter for him to receive on arrival in his stateroom when he sets sail from the Med later in the year. How would i do this ?

Have you thought about an apartment? My sister has booked one pre-cruise which looks great, has nearby cafes/restaurants and supermarkets. It is within walking distance of the Cistine Chapel and the Vatican and also the metro system.

She found it by putting Rome apartment Vatican City into her search engine.

That's a shame if they don't have a formal night on Discovery. We too dress up for the evenings but also get to dress up in a posh dress for the formal nights which is really nice especially if everyone else does - not sure that meeting the captain is exactly my cup of tea - just nice to go down for dinner glammed up !!

It is a great experience to dress up for formal nights and we really enjoyed seeing everyone in their finery. We had three formal evenings in January - one for each week and an extra for New Year's Eve.

Although you could eat when you liked in the main dining room on other evenings when it was formal evenings you were given a certain timed sitting.

On the same cruise next year and having been in the Caribbean on celebration earlier this year we saw lots of 'local' trips on offer. We can't recommend Cosol any higher than you have probably seen on reviews etc - one of the highlights of our holiday. One other trip we went on was St Kitts Scenic Railway which was only available through Thomsons - again well worth it.

At all cruise terminals there were local taxis etc (often mini buses-shared with other people)who gave a price for excursions but we didn't go on any other than the above so can't give details about prices etc. However when we were in Road Town I do remember that the main tourist buses were doing tours for around $20 - don't know where to but they were around the island tours and not just to beaches which was $8 (bothUS$).

Local operators did seem to be better value than the ship and once again the money is going to the local people rather than the bigger tour operators.

We did a bit of research before we went and did a lot of going around and about using local buses and vans which gave us a good feel for the different islands!

I too will be devastated if my strongbow isn't included as part of AI on discovery - fingers crossed !!:eek:

We were on Celebration over new year for two weeks and had three formal nights - one on each week and another special one for New Years eve.

It's my understanding that there is one for each weeks cruise.

That just about sums it up from Thomsons!

Whatever holiday we book through them there is always a problem with paperwork. We often get replacement confirmations sent via email even though there doesn't seem to be any changes made. Can't see the point in E tickets either as these are never needed - it just adds up to a ream of paper you think you'd better take with you and never need !!

Has anyone used the local ferry service to go to Bequia from St Vincent for a day trip ?

Just wondered if it was do-able with plenty of time to spend on Bequia and also giving plenty of time to return back to the ship.:)

All drinks were included in the cost !:D

She was my first cruise ship too !!

What a shame !!

We were on Celebration for New Year 2016 and the cruise director was Paul Evans who was fab. We had a great time ;)

no we didn't feel packed in - there were approx. 9 people in our minibus and around the same in another. the last mini bus WAS jam packed - but just with the drinkies !!

Here are my suggestions for the islands I have been to-

St Lucia - Definitely Cosol tours.

St Kitts - The railway - I'm sure this is only bookable through the cruise line.

Barbados - we did the farewell tour on our last day which we really enjoyed and could recommend as we weren't hanging around the ship.

- beaches - do it yourself - the beaches are within walking distance or a short taxi ride or use the public buses.

- everything is shut in Barbados on Sundays apart from places to eat/drink and some tourist shops near the beaches.

Antigua - I would recommend going to Nelson's Dockyard/ShirleyHeights/English Harbour - there are local tours available just outside the cruise dock. We intend on using public buses for this when we go!

St Vincent - we were only here for half a day but went to Fort Charlotte by local bus which even I have to admit was not so easy! We walked back down though and really enjoyed the views that we saw doing this. We walked back via the Botanical Gardens.

I know that there were lots of tour companies and local taxi firms that lots of other people from the cruise ships use and they all seem to offer fairer prices than the excursions offered on board ship. One of the things that struck me was that we left time to look around the town where we had docked on each island and sometimes there really wasn't much to see or do and the towns were fairly small in general.

hope this helps

We are also doing this cruise and looking forward to it!

We went on tropical delights/paradise islands in January and this was our first Caribbean cruise. As pensioncruiser says each port is not the tropical oasis I was expecting - the ports are often the main town and as such they can be incredibly busy/noisy/chaotic! You do sometimes need to travel to get to the best bits of each island.

We like to be fairly independent and used lots of public buses which I looked into before we went and got as much info as possible before we went. we tended to go exploring in the morning so we knew that we would get back in time.

Again I would recommend Cosol tours who were excellent on St Lucia. We did the St Kitts railway with the ship and thoroughly enjoyed it.

In Antigua, St Maartan, Barbados, St Vincent, Aruba, Curacao, Grenada we used local buses and had no problems.

Yes when we went we did everything that was advertised on the website.

Also although no official paperwork they WILL be there to meet you as you come out of the cruise terminal - we were given a time to meet and even though we were a little early Yellowbird, our guide was already there. This is how the company earn their money so they do everything to gain a good reputation and this is why people return to use their services :o

Has anyone heard who will be captain or cruise director Yet ??

It would seem not !!!

However, there doesn't seem to be a medical centre either so who knows what might appear !!