relaxguy

Can anyone recommend a taxi driver in Dominica? I would like to arrange for one in advance. In my past experience, finding a driver in Roseau has been disorganized, chaotic, and frustrating. The drivers often keep you waiting for a long period of time, while they try to find a full van of passengers. I'm traveling alone and I'm ok with paying for a driver alone or with anyone who wants to share. I just don't want to wait and wait around the dock. I basically want to visit 1-2 places in Dominica. As I have visited numerous times before, I'm not interested in a complete tour of the island.

I'll be on the QM2 leaving from Brooklyn December 22, as well!

Everett, New York City

Anyone planning on going on the excursion to Tortola? It's called "Canopy Zipline Adventure to Tortola & Island Drive". It's billed as a "zipline adventure" (happy to partake!), but I am actually more interested in having a look around Tortola, which I have never visited. Taking the high-speed ferry independently to Tortola from St. Thomas is not all that feasible because of the schedule.

In January, I was on the Summit, and there was "insufficient participation," so the excursion was cancelled. I would love to drum up some enthusiasm for this excursion among this group...so that it won't be cancelled in February!

Everett

Yes, I'm on this cruise, although not with the Pied Piper group. I'm traveling solo.

Friendly New Yorker. Traveling by myself...and enjoy making new friends!

Tom & Ken / I am looking forward to meeting you, as well!

I'll be joining you on this cruise too!

Everett

On the Celebrity Solstice ships the Cruise Director and Activities Director do not ever seem to be particular attuned to giving a priority to ballroom dancing. On one cruise, the CD said, "Because of the demographics of this particular sailing, you might not find quite as many opportunities for dancing." However, I haven't noticed much difference on any of the sailings. It may not make much difference, but it wouldn't hurt to meet the CD and express your concerns. These ships are beautiful, and I do think that many of their passengers would, in fact, be interested in more dancing opportunities. To Celebrity's credit, I did receive a phone call from customer service after completing my last sailing. They seemed to be interested in what I had to say.

BTW, I'm not much of a drinker, but when I'm on a ship, I do make a point of buying at least some soft drinks when they provide dancing. I always wonder whether some bean-counter is figuring out how much additional revenue is generated by ballroom dancers.

Please post how things go dancing-wise on the Eclipse once you get back. Tnx!

Just back from cruising on the Celebrity Eclipse, and overall, the ballroom dance opportunities were a disappointment.

Classes were well attended, but each class was only 30 minutes. Only a few who attended the classes showed up for dancing later.

Evening dancing opportunities, as has been my experience before on Celebrity, were marginalized to an hour or so per night. On this cruise, they scheduled an hour of dj'ed ballroom dancing 7:45-8:45 or 8:00-9:00. This time conflicted with dining times. Few attended. The dj's were friendly, but rather clueless about ballroom dancing. For example, one evening had an event called "Rat Pack Dance party" in the Quasar Lounge. There's lots and lots of danceable music performed by Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, and Sammy Davis Jr. However, this DJ sometimes played tunes better meant for listening...like Sinatra's rendition of "Send in the Clowns" which has a free-flowing tempo unsuited for dancing.

One night, there was an hour or so of big band dance music in the main foyer. Pretty good, but the MC fancied himself a comedian and talked altogether too much.

As a solo traveler, I found it difficult to find a dance partner. A couple of ladies were good sports, but most had practically no knowledge of dancing. (At their request, I coached them "Slow-slow-quick-quick").

The main party band would also occasionally play ballroom dance music. Not bad when they did.

Of course, one of the problems on the Solstice class ships is the absence of appropriate dance venues. The main foyer is tiny and also serves as a backdrop for photographers and as an area for foot traffic. The Quasar Lounge on 4 is more designed for club dancing. The dance floor is smallish but adequate for ballroom. Sky Lounge is quite large, but the dance floor is not. Finally, a small jazz group often plays in the Ensemble Lounge on 5. The Ensemble Lounge is essentially a wide corridor en route to the specialty restaurants. The Ensemble is fully carpeted, and there is no space for dancing. That is a shame, because the jazz group often played very danceable music. There is not a single wooden dance floor on the entire ship.

Based on my experience, I would say that the Solstice class Celebrity ships are not a very good choice for ballroom dance enthusiasts. I found my recent sailing on Princess was much, much better...with live music, to boot! There were more dancers on Princess, although as a solo traveler, I still did not always find unattached dance partners easily.

Nice to hear some responses on this topic! I really enjoy ballroom dancing and don't mind a little swing and salsa, too. It's disappointing to hear that the venues on Celebrity appear to be limited, as otherwise I love these ships. I was recently on Princess, and there was dancing to live music every night. Very nice! I'm not looking to "date and mate"....just have some partners to dance with. Almost all of the enthusiastic dancers on my prior cruises seem to have been couples. A very few of the couples seem to be open to separating briefly to mingle with other dancers on the dance floor, but I hesitate to cross a boundary that might be considered inappropriate.

Has anyone been on the Eclipse lately? I'm sailing 3/17/2012, and I'm wondering what opportunities there will be for ballroom dancing. On a recent Solstice cruise, a few of the (limited) dancing opportunities were not an option if you had late seating in the MDR. What about Eclipse?

Also, I'm a male traveling solo. Any sense of whether I'm likely to find any other solo or otherwise available ballroom dancing partners?

I welcome any info!

Hi relax guy. You should go on a Dancers at Sea cruise (for people who love to dance). I think there are more women than men, so you wouldn't lack dance partners.

 

Lisa

I have been giving some serious consideration to Dancers at Sea for a future cruise. I hear they are fun.

I'm 59, single gay male. I have been on 8 of 10 cruises solo. Few of my friends can be convinced to try a cruise! It has never been a problem making new friends on the ship, although I have found that sometimes it takes a little persistence to have the maitre d' place me at a larger table with other people. The biggest challenge for me: finding women (single or attached) who are interested in dancing. (I enjoy ballroom dancing, swing, salsa.) Heck, I would even learn to follow in dancing, if a guy would ask me to dance!