Thomson Dream 4th March 12 - gala night & trips info please

[Hobscheshire]

Hi

My husband and I are on the Thomson Dream on 4 March for a week, on the Latin Gems cruise. Does anyone know which night will be the Captain's gala evening, or is it different each trip? It's my 40th that week so wondering whether it will be on the same day.

 

Also, we are stopping at Aruba, Margarita Island, Grenada, St Lucia and Curacao. Any recommendations of the best Thomson trips for these islands would be appreciated. Also, is it easy to get to the best beaches on your own once at the ports, if so, please could someone recommend which beaches are best on the islands and info regarding how to get there/prices info etc.

 

Sorry if I am asking for lots of info but we are cruise first-timers!

 

Thanks!

 

Helen

[kruzseeka]

Hi

My husband and I are on the Thomson Dream on 4 March for a week, on the Latin Gems cruise. Does anyone know which night will be the Captain's gala evening, or is it different each trip? It's my 40th that week so wondering whether it will be on the same day.

 

Also, we are stopping at Aruba, Margarita Island, Grenada, St Lucia and Curacao. Any recommendations of the best Thomson trips for these islands would be appreciated. Also, is it easy to get to the best beaches on your own once at the ports, if so, please could someone recommend which beaches are best on the islands and info regarding how to get there/prices info etc.

 

Sorry if I am asking for lots of info but we are cruise first-timers!

 

 

 

Thanks!

 

Helen

 

 

Hello Helen - and welcome! :)

 

Gala night is usually the sea day so I think that will be the Monday 5th.

 

Here iis a review I did from last year (different itinerary but does include three of your ports).

 

http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1348787&highlight=curacao

 

And here is a bit I did on St Lucia and Grenada from other reviews:

 

Castries, St Lucia

Here, we took a local taxi to Pigeon Island at $25 each way for four of us (plus tips). Pigeon Island in the north of St Lucia (not an island) is a National Park and we had to pay $5 each to go in. There are facilities there and a restaurant (or cafe - not sure as we didn't go in) plus ruins from its colonial past and a museum. It is a lovely park-land with numerous trails to explore. We headed up a steady climb (in parts, quite steep) to Fort Rodney at the top where we had fabulous views right down to the south of the island where we could pick out the dual peaks of the Pitons.

Whilst there we spotted the 'Brig Unicorn' pirate ship which was carrying fellow passengers on the pirate adventure tour (£39). As we were admiring the very tranquil view a local appeared brandishing a large (plastic!) canon from which he proceeded to fire upon the pirate ship. After some returned fire he surrended waving his white shirt tied to a post. He told us he'd mislaid his flag!!!! We later spotted it lying beside a real canon in the ruined fort beside a can or two! Say no more!

We walked back down to the small beach at the bottom of the hill near the entrance to the park and had a swim and used the very clean public changing rooms in the toilet block at the back of the beach. We met our table companions swimming in the sea. They had been on the pirate ship so their trip had also included some beach time at Rodney Bay. The sea here was probably the warmest and clearest of all those we visited.

Our taxi driver arrived as arranged exactly on time. We had agreed for him to return two hours after dropping us off but it was a lovely spot and in hind-sight we could easily have spent longer looking around the National Park.

We returned to Castries via a detour from our driver to show us the very colourful Gros Islet community (we thought he was saying 'Rosie Lee' in our ignorance) where apparently there are fabulous beach parties and barbeques each Friday night - attended by many tourists from the nearby luxury hotels. It was lovely to be taken off the main routes amongst the brightly painted houses.

We then walked from the docks into Castries soaking up our first taste of the local atmosphere but there wasn't much to hold us there for very long although there was a market.

 

St George’s, Grenada

The spice island – and it really is! There is a good mall at the port (with quite strict security – bags scanned and pass through the X-ray each time you go back to the ship) but there is a post office here and lots of tourist souvenir shops although I think you can get better deals at the markets stalls outside of the terminal where there were many shops selling the usual tourist gear – beach bags, wraps, hats, gifts etc., etc..

Here we took a local taxi for a 2.5 – 3 hr trip. There were loads to choose from of varying duration and itineraries. We went to Allandale Falls and Great Etang Park (and lake) plus a brief stop to see the Grand Anse Beach on our way back. Our driver tried to point out plants and things of interest but unfortunately he wasn’t the best at giving information which was a little disappointing but that didn’t detract from the lush vegetation and colourful island which we greatly enjoyed seeing. One note of caution though - I think this was the trip where our taxi didn't have seat belts and given the rather precipitous roads with incredible gradients and hair-pin bends, this wasn't too good. Perhaps we should have declined - but didn't. It might be worth just asking, when negotiating a taxi trip, whether seat belts are fitted and insisting on a taxi which has them.

The traditional dress is really bright and you see women with fruit baskets on their heads – obviously for photo opportunities - and if you give them a dollar they are quite happy for you to snap away but they are on the look-out for those with cameras and do approach you for money. Still, it’s a way for them to make a bit of money and in the context of our holiday cost, a dollar is insignificant. At the Falls there were young men jumping off the high rocks and will say you can watch for nothing but will want $10 to take a photograph – and they are a bit persistent calling after you – but not threatening. You have to walk down to the Falls along a rocky path which can be a bit hazardous if wet (likely to be from spray) so it’s as well to take care and it may not be suitable for those with walking difficulties.

There are also stalls at both the Falls and the Park selling necklaces of spices to hang in your kitchen. These are made from fresh seeds so take them out of the plastic bag they will give you to put them in and hang them in your cabin until you are ready to pack as they will ‘sweat’ and go mouldy if you keep them wrapped up. I was a bit worried whether they would be confiscated coming back (I thought they would be less likely to be damaged in my hand luggage) but didn’t know whether they’d come under the restrictions for food products you couldn’t bring back. As it happened my hand luggage was subject to a fairly thorough search at La Romana including a close look at my spices but they let me through ok. They cost about $5 for 2 or perhaps even cheaper at the market in St George’s so they were very cheap and a lovely reminder of our holiday each time we walk into the kitchen!

On returning to the ship we then got a local taxi for the 10 minute trip to Grand Anse beach ($5 each), a lovely sweep of soft sand where we enjoyed another cooling dip. We went back via the water taxi at $4 each which takes you back round the Destiny to a jetty close to the berth.

 

Don't worry about asking lots of questions - we've all been there - it's a bit of a mystery before you go the first time but rest assured once you have checked in at the airport everything is organised - just follow instructions and it will all fit into place. Once on board there will be information on excursions (although you can access that and even book on-line before you go if you wish) and information about the ship. You will soon feel at home and get into the swing of things - and probably end up as addicted to cruising as so many of us on here! ;)

 

Have a wonderful birthday Helen - I'm sure it will be very memorable! :)

[Hobscheshire]

Hi, Thanks, that's great info, much appreciated! Looks like we will be having a few late nights then as my 40th's the after day gala night by the sounds of it. Oh well I am sure we will cope! All sounds fantastic, can't wait to go! 5 weeks to go yet so may well be asking more questions along the way but thanks again for your helpful response :D

[Marieswede]

It's my 50th on the ninth so lots of party's that week. I'm so excited now...

 

We have booked the Rhum runner excursion in Grenada, the rest we will DIY.

 

Marie

[Hobscheshire]

Great, sounds like there will be plenty of celebrations that week then! Fab, can't wait either! :D

[mad major]

Hi My wife and i will be on this cruise, its our 41st on March 13th, we were supposed to do it last year on our 40th, but family issues delayed it until this year.

 

Maybe we can all meet up for anniversary drinks:D

[mad major]

considering booking a 3 hour morning tour with Bully in Aruba. $45 per hour for Taxi holds 5 anyone want to share?

regards

Richard

[Marieswede]

I'm sure you can find someone, we have booked horse riding . Lat time we were there we went round the Island with a random taxi and just made our own trip up. Antigua is so nice.