HarpHarp

Wonderful news.

I am Getting published rates from any taxi companies I reach out to. $10pp each way not even a lower price for kids. Any suggestions most appreciated.

The Safari buses are quite cheap & stop somewhere in the havensight mall area. Here is a description of the service. It's important to know that the bus runs a sort of circular route on the east end, so give yourself PLENTY of time to return to the ship. How long is your port stop?

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g147404-s303/St-Thomas:Caribbean:Public.Transportation.html

This program is simply Carnival's way of getting into Cuba before the other mass marketed cruise lines. Of course ,they will go the DR and a few other countries for a while until they line up the "volunteer" / "exchange program" permits necessary for entry into Cuba.

 

Genius marketing / capitalism play by CCL!

Interesting. I'd be all over a cruise like that, especially if it was split between several days in Cuba and another stop or 2.

I know someone who spent may years of his retirement volunteering overseas using his business experience helping startups in various impoverished countries.

I'm retired & have many skills from 3 careers, including chemistry, teaching, literacy & information science/ librarianship. My DH is a professional woodworker. At my age, I wouldn't care to stay in more Spartan accommodations, but having the ship to stay on would make this attractive.

Try calling the taxi companies to see what kind of arrangements they will make for a group that size. I am betting you could arrange for a beach run & pick up cheaper than the $150 or so in the published rates. Here is a list.

http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/st/sttaxi.shtml#.VXSMizqlHIU

The safari & public buses are not terribly consistent with schedules. A problem for getting back to the ship in a timely manor. You could do that going to the beach, but have an alternative or getting back. It's an experience traveling with the locals. Just watch the time.

Avoid going to Magen's Bay. There is a charge to get in. There will be many taxis/ vans waiting for you when you get off & on't be afraid to negotiate if you haven't pre arranged something.

Frenchman's reef is closest to Havensight When I lived there we would walk to the hotel go through the hotel to get to the beach. Don't know if you can do that now & the walk is not an easy one in hot weather. Bolongo & Bluebeards are the next closest. Sapphire is my favorite.

Thanks everyone for your input. What I'm really looking was a cruise in Feb, for my birthday, the guy from NCL keeps pushing the Apr date. But looks like NCL doesn't go where we want to go, when we want to go. Cozumel, Costa Maya, Belize City and Roatan Bay Islands, the western Caribbean. Already been to all the islands in the eastern Caribbean.

 

Oh well, will keep looking

 

Ed

:o:rolleyes:

How about the Star out of Tampa Feb 7-14? It's a smaller ship, but I've been on her twice & loved both cruises. Those ports are great & the Mayan Ruins tour in Costa Maya is still one of our favorite excursions.

$1600 is the exemption for St Thomas, but alcoholic beverages are limited in quantity, 4 L

Call the store to find out what arrangements they can make for shipping a couple of cases. There are state regs to consider also,

I'm in. Think I'll post it on the NCL FB page too:D

Khorlock, They're cheaper that Stabucks. I think most are in the $2.50-3.50 range.

VI law does require car seats for 2 and under. Those older can ride in the back seat & use seat belts. How well this is enforced is another question.

If you are not bringing a car seat or stroller/ seat combo with you on the plane, e-mail the vi taxi assoc. to inquire about arranging a taxi w car seat. I'd bet some enterprising taxi drivers do this for the many young cruise ship passengers:)

For Questions – Email contact@vitaxi.com**

I lived on St Thomas for several years & the taxi drivers I knew were the best. Make sure the license plate has TX on it, otherwise it may be someone just trying to pick up a few extra $$ to replenish his rum supply:eek:

PS: Go to Sapphire or Linqvist rather than Magen's, & if you think your 3 year old would like Coki & Coral world would be great too.

We have excursions to both The Baths and Blue Lagoon on our cruise in a couple of weeks. My question is, what do you take with you and where do you keep it? Like if you bring money, camera, etc. I don't feel real comfortable just leaving my stuff by a chair in a tote bag or when we go in the water. We want to be able to take pictures so we need to bring our camera. Any suggestions would be awesome. Thanks!

The Baths have lockers.

the last time someone asked this question on here, it was suggested that they wrap valuables up in a disposable diaper, which I thought was brilliant:eek:

Teens do behave oddly and can make it challenging. But I have seen similar waste at the buffet, by any age, with piles of food on plates, left on the table. Sometimes people make a plate that is more than they can truly eat, instead of taking a little, and going back for more, they pile it up and waste what they don't eat.

I was a teen librarian for several years, & challenging is a good word:D I could also see teen boys ordering room service every couple of hours & eating every bite.

On our first cruise they still had the midnight buffet. We were horrified by the stacks of plates all over the hall with largely uneaten food on them and continue to be amazed by some of the people at the buffet who seem to be in a food stacking competition.

Thanks you answer my question. My niece and I just want sea and sand.

Take a taxi to Sapphire beach & arrange for pick up.

If tiny room service orders are overwhelming staff, then they need more staff. I don't mind tipping the person who brings me room service, but I think charging a fee is ridiculous.

I did have an NCL employee tell me that on one of the spring break cruises, some groups of kids, I'm assuming teens, were ordering room service just because it was free & not even eating it, leaving the food just sitting around. Having a charge would at least alert mom or dad that this was going on.

Too many people love "free stuff" but it's amazing how often free translates to worthless. I do think $7.95 is a bit high.

It appears that NCL needs more sensible/big picture people in their "think tank". The backlash from social media may have contributed' date=' but the underlying factor of "How do we physically enforce the no take-out policy?" seems to have been completely neglected.[/quote']

 

Like bureaucrats everywhere, they were looking for the quick fix. As someone who was charged with enforcing these sorts of rules in my job as a librarian, I would agree that the rule was unenforceable. Every staff member has more important things to do than confronting people walking the corridors with plates of food. The reality was the bosses made the customers angry & I'm sure some not so nice conversations took place with guest services or other NCL employees. I'm also wondering if an increase in alcohol fueled messes with the UBP promo caused the perception of a problem. New bosses can look at any little problem as a reflection of them & want to micromanage from their office.

Most people probably would have been able to carry on as they always had. To use my library experience, the kid sitting quietly eating a candy bar probably won't attract my attention. The teen who ordered a pizza delivered to the computer 3 ft from my desk did get noticed, especially since it was an hour before dinner.:D

Try Rainbow foods in Juneau.

(907) 586-6476

http://www.rainbow-foods.org/retailer/store_templates/shell_id_1.asp?storeID=1B442E1B882B4D758BE66A2594DE9E62

They are between the pier & the capitol & also have great gluten free baked goods.

I'm also sure you will have no trouble finding some in Seattle.

Sapphire was always my first choice for a beach day when I lived on St Thomas. Even this winter when I would check the web cam in despair over this horrid winter, it never looked crowded.

Yeah the walk to Morninstar is probably longer than I remember, since we always managed to stop for a daquiri at one of the bars or brunch at the resort.;)

I loved Water Island but with ships docking at Crown Point I think I 'll scratch that off the list for my cruise.

Thank you. Will probably walk there and take a taxi back to the ship

Good plan. You may want to check this out.

http://www.**********/stthomas/attractions_stt/attractions_town2.php This is vinow. Why CC doesn't allow this I don't know

I stayed in Hotel 1829 when I first moved to St Thomas:)

Megen's Bay charges to get in. With 7 people why not go to one of the free beaches?

This is right. Sapphire, Lindbergh Secret Harbor, and Coki are all worth the visit and IMHO just as nice or nicer. Magen's can be VERY crowded. If you are docking at Havensight, Morningstar is a short walk away.

Former St Thomas resident & Irish harper here:D

Emerald beach is a little too close to the airport & may be crowded because of Oasis being docked at Crown point. Morningstar is a short walk from the ship. Sapphire is my favorite beach on St Thomas.

For another very quiet choice, take a quick boat ride to Water Island & stroll to Honeymoon beach. ZQVOL & Blue, what do you think of that idea?

I lived is St Thomas & I'm betting it was either Cardow or Imperial both on Dronnigens Gade. These are long time stores & both of them had jewelers.

Could he have been in one of the craft galleries?

I have St Thomas as part of my itinerary on an upcoming cruise, and would very much like to visit St John, but I'm afraid I'm not a snorkel'er. Would this excursion be worth it just for the beach and the transport? Is the beach even worth visiting just for the beach? I'd appreciate your input on this. :)

Former St Thomas resident here. Trunk Bay is an amazing place , part of the Virgin Islands National Park.

http://www.nps.gov/viis/index.htm

If you have time, this is easy enough to do on your own without the snorkel, Taxi, quick ferry ride & taxi to the park. There are hiking trails and other beaches as well as petroglyphs & sugar mill ruins.

If you want to go to St. John with NCL & don't want to snorkel, try the St. John Eco hike & beach (Honeymoon Beach) or the Island tour.

\

 

 

I would be more panicked and embarrassed by the fact that I was getting on the ugliest, most hideous, boxy, top-heavy looking abomination of a ship afloat ... its the AMC PACER of the cruise industry ... people look at it, point, and go .. "god what a horrible looking ship" ...

Hey, I loved my Pacer. It was white with red interior & Indian print seats & a very cool looking car I'll have you know:DI even shipped it to St. Thomas when I moved there. The escaped con who stole it made it very easy for the cops to find on that tiny island.:cool:

I just got off the Getaway this morning. There were people all over the ship with food they obviously got in the buffet or at the coffee shop in the atrium or Carlo's Bake Shop and were taking the food to their cabin throughout the cruise. The reason I could tell this was because my cabin was forward, so I saw many of these people in the forward part of the ship and on the forward stairs and elevators. The buffet is aft, so they had brought the food all that way. No, you cannot get a to-go order from any of the restaurants, but if you are eating at a restaurant and need to leave for an unforeseen reason (child, sickness, want to finish dessert but can't) the waitstaff will send the food to your cabin via room service at no extra charge. It comes wrapped with proper plates, cutlery and napkins. In our case, the dessert we were too full to eat was at our cabin in under 5 minutes of our return to the cabin after dinner. We were allowed to take anything in a bottle that we had paid for (sparkling water, wine, etc) with us from any venue back to our cabin. Those are the facts. To me, I don't see this new policy as a problem. Honestly, there was so much food available to us so much of the time, it was completely overwhelming.

Really, this makes sense. They can't possibly police the buffet, & it makes sense to have a dessert or something sent via room service rather than via sick or inebriated passenger or mom trying to carry screaming child.

This sounds more like an add on offense, like not having your headlights on when it's raining. I could hear it now, as staff member is removing items from lounger. Chair hog runs up with his 3rd plate of food from the buffet, where he spent the last hour. "Sorry sir, this chair has been unoccupied longer than the allotted time, and by the way, you are not permitted to have that food here anyhow. :D

Abandon ship, eh? HaHa. Thanks for this comment. Maybe their reluctance to help had to do with bodily fluids. Dunno.

When people find themselves in emergency situations they often freeze or just keep on with what they are doing. Read The Survivors Club by Ben Sherwood for some very "bad" examples. I don't know if the crew members in this case froze or did what they were instructed to do & called the medical staff. The OP can probably give countless examples from her ER work of well intentioned people who made a situation worse from despite trying to help. She also is highly skilled at analyzing these kinds of situations and could give NCL insight that they can use to evaluate training & procedures.

Now if the Medical staff did not arrive in a timely manner or gave poor care, that is reason for concern. I've seen mishandling of medical problems on other lines, but NCL was always right on.

As far as the Abandon ship clip board, all of the emergency procedures have extensive, thorough checklist that are to be followed. NCL does drill on them frequently & the incident I observed was handled perfectly.

I'm very surprised by this because about a year ago a friend we were traveling with had a heart attack in their cabin and I was amazed at how quickly the emergency crew responded. They were very professional, and worked extremely hard to save our dear friend's life. I've never seen such quick response from a team of doctors, nurses, officers, crew, and whomever else arrived to offer assistance that night. I haven't seen that kind of response in our local hospital...I can't imagine that things have changed that much on the Sky in just a year...

~Joanne

We also had a similar experience with a fellow passenger who collapsed during a bridge tour. Medical & security were there very very quickly, even though I was standing in front of the emergency procedures clipboard rack & had to move out of the way of the officer or get run over. By the way, the first clipboard in the rack is labeled ABANDON SHIP:eek: I know from seeing other problems & going though safety training at work, employees are told not to help in a medical emergency without protective gear.

Nurses are the best. Glad you were there with your ER experience to help.

Holy carp! :eek: And we complain about $20/day at Port of Miami.

Yep $40 a day now:eek:. This is why we used parkrirght the last time. We had great service from them and it is very close to the ship.