TenForward

Thanks for this! We'll be there this Sunday. We arrive at 9AM so I'm thinking it's unlikely we can catch that one and will have to depart at 11:15. Our ship departs at 4:00 so can we even take the 3:00 return? Anyone know if NCL sticks to same schedule all the time or do they adjust for their ships schedule while in port?

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You should definitely check out the Ports of Call forum - lots of helpful info there on what do on each island. I'm sailing this Friday on the Getaway to most of those same islands - I've been to all before except St. Maarten. In Tortola we are booked for Jost Van Dyke Escape (which we've done before but weather sent us to an alternate beach). In St. Maarten we'll be hitting Little Bay Beach near the Belair Hotel and then the Sky Explorer & Flying Dutchman. @Mitsugirly Did a great review of Taino Bay with all the pools, shops & lazy river and that's our plan for that day as well. Will report back in a little over 10 days on how things went. Enjoy your cruise! (why don't my @'s create a link like I see on others)

Ok, thanks. I wasn't sure... I thought I read somewhere that this was going to be fleetwide...eventually anyway.

Thanks for posting your review. I'll be on the Getaway in 18 days... I was on her for NYE 2022 and interested in seeing what's changed. My husband's go-to daytime drink is the Painkiller (I like it too).

Sounds like you can't but I'll be able to confirm for certain in 18 days -- on the Getaway at least 🙂 To me, it would make the most sense to have smoking in Spice H2O as it's the back of the ship and, particularly while the ship is moving, the smoke would stream off the back over the ocean.

I was visiting family who lived in the "path of totality" during the 2017 eclipse and remember that too -- very dark, no birds & definitely crickets! Sudden switch back to birds and no crickets once the moon moved off.

Thank you! That is the La Princessa walk so I'm glad to hear if we continue on we can enter El Morro from there. We've been there several times but not via the walkway. Umbrella Street - if it's still there was - was down around the Old Gate. We'll be checking that out on our way back.

We may change it up a bit but this takes us along the la Princessa walkway, through the original Old Gate, up to El Morro, down to the Bascilica, toward umbrella street (if it's still there) and to a few shops we want to hit. I understand from someone in another thread you can in fact enter El Morrow directly from the waterfront walkway if you were to continue vs. going through the Old Gate. (hope my reply isn't too late, didn't see you had asked this question).

Thank you for posting! We'll be there in a few weeks and I've plotted out a similar walk. It wasn't clear if there was access to el Morro from the waterfront walk "Princessa" .... sounds like you were able to do that? We were thinking of going through the Old Gate and walk to the fort that way, enjoying the cobblestone streets there and back again to the ship. Did you notice if Umbrella Street is still there?

Looks like a Painkiller.... Counting down the days (34!) until I can get mine!

On your same cruise and I paid $289 as well. Sounds like we got in before a price increase. Nice!

I will say there was a strange bug going around in January that year that both my husband and I got as well as several friends. It was kind of flu like, yet different. But it wasn't Covid. We got Covid day 1 of the shut-down. That original strain was not mild... I remember us both breathing like fish out of water -- lips puckered up into an "O"... very strange. I remember that letter... We had 2 cruises cancelled -- one in April 2020 (finally took in July 2022) and the 2nd from February 2021 which we finally took in October 2022. Now looking forward to yet another in just 37 days! 😄

How long will you be there? El Yunque National Rain forest is less than an hour away. Dorado (northern coast) is also not far - perhaps the hotels offer a day pass to enjoy the beach? DH and I spent many years vacationing on the west coast (Rincon) but unless you're there for at least an overnight it would be too far. One of our favorite things to do was rent a car and drive through the mountain towns... stopping for food along the way. Roads can be narrow and steep - not for the faint-of-heart. Watch for goats & horses!

Fish on hallway carpets always swim toward the front!

Very easy at MCT in NY. (Side note: we've never had dogs sniff our trunk - maybe that's done on random days). The first time we parked there I literally said "so small" -- it was not what I was expecting. We parked and rolled/carried our luggage to the elevator (about 200 feet away) before seeing the porter and giving to him. The next time we parked there we knew better and dropped our luggage with a porter up there in the lot before driving into a spot -- again, maybe 200 feet away... unless you're lucky and get a closer spot. Will be doing the same for our cruise in April.

I remember this being a one-time fee per person, not per day. Am I remembering wrong?

I'm so happy to hear this! My husband dives and the rest of us snorkel -- at least a little. Really looking forward to it! It is. My husband and I actually did this same excursion 8 years ago but the weather was such they wouldn't stop at JVD and took us to an alternate beach (and far inferior in my view). Looking forward to making it this time.

Hendo's Hideaway maybe? That's where we're planning to spend our day. Looks lovely and is a little quieter than Soggy Dollar I've heard. We're bringing our snorkel gear. Thank you!

Where's the amazing breakfast on Jost? Heading there in April...we have the early morning "Escape to Jost Van Dyke" excursion.

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SkyView Explorer and Flying Dutchman? We're going to try that on our April trip.

DH and I are the same and for that alone I think you will really enjoy having your vibe passes and the peace and quiet is a major benefit. Our first time in Vibe (Escape) we were often the only 2 for hours at a time. I'm not one to do shots at the bar but the fabulous staff got everyone to do a Cheeseburger shot at "shot o'clock" (4:00) and by golly it tasted exactly like a cheeseburger! Lol! See you in 57 days!

I've been following your reviews for years and really appreciate your thorough reports and pictures. I read through this one on Taino Bay a couple of months ago and it was so very helpful in planning our trip (April on the Getaway!). Just wanted to take a moment to thank you for always taking time to provide such helpful information.

Anyone have info on Belair Beach Resort? Family of 4 adults considering a day pass there. It looks like a nice quiet resort on a beautiful beach.