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Trip review Dream in Feb

blossom52

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blossom52

blossom52

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This is the first half of the trip as they only have 8 ports to fill in. We had a fabulous time, the ship is great and so are the crew. The German captain was very entertaining with this stories over the tannoy about his time at sea and his quote of the day, always about half and hour before we left port, wish I had time to do the bridge tour, but was always off the ship at the time you had to put your name down. There was a sunbed shortage on the at sea day,as people do reserve the beds with towels and don't turn up for hours (are we the new Germans?), But there is always somewhere to sit somewhere on the ship. One thing we liked was you put your bags in at the airport and then they just turned up outside your cabin, no hassle at all, same when you leave. We were there for Valentines day and all the ladies got a rose when we entered the dining room a nice touch Hoping to maybe do it again next year for my special birthday.......

 

Tortola

This was our first stop and we were unsure what to do, we decided to just go outside and get a bus thing that took us on a tour of the island, it was $20 each and good value,just went on a drive around stopping to take pictures of pretty bits and the driver told you what you were looking at and passing by just wish I could remember all he said......... A couple with a child went on the ships Dolphin encounter and swim, they said it was very good if expensive at £95 adult and £68 child for about 2 hrs.

 

St Marteen

 

Here we had booked a tour online with Bernards Tours. We did this as I wanted to be sure that I could go to the beach at Mahon and see the planes land. WOW what an experience that was!! We got there about 2ish and stayed for about 1 hr as that's when the big planes get there, we managed to see a 747 land and one take off, it was brilliant, we did have a swim stop at a nice beach earlier in the day, in hindsight I would have preferred to have longer at Mahon beach and time for a swim there. There were soft drinks and rum punch on the bus, Jnr was our driver, he told us a lot about the island, we also drove to the French side and had a little time there for shopping. Got back to the ship at about 3.30ish I think. Very nice day it was $40pp. If you want to get shopping this is the best place I think, we got 500g of Golden Virginia for $40 also the bright shirts were $10 but dearer on all the other islands.

St Kitts

 

Here we had booked a tour with Royston Tours before we went, what a nice guy!! There was another family from the ship as well, it was really nice as there were just the 6 of us (family had 2 boys) we did the usual things Brimstone fort, Batik place etc and went for a swim at a lovely beach. We went to places other tours don't go, he seemed to drive that van everywhere!!! Again drinks supplied and we had a lovely Caribbean wrap thing on the beach.

Antiguia

Here we had already booked with Extreme Adventure, we did the round the island one in the fast boat, quite expensive but worth it, was the highlight tour of the trip. Had a couple of snorkeling stops and lunch on a beach, met a lovely couple from USA on their honeymoon in Antigua. The boat trip was awesome and the crew were brilliant, fabulous day. We did the swim with stingrays thing and it was excellent, got there before the 'cruise hoards' arrived and had them to ourselves. They hear the boats and come to be fed, much better than I had expected it to be.

 

Dominica

Here we did the River Tubing trip from the ship, £42pp which I thought was quite a lot but it was a fun couple of hours, they take you to a river kit you up then you float down, a few small rapids you get very wet but as I said a fun trip.

Barbados

 

Here we went out of the port and hired a car for the day, we drove right around the island, stopped for a swim goodness knows where, up past Holetown some where and watched some fishermen clean their catch, there was a turtle that kept popping his head up, but each time we went in the water we couldn't see him. Drove up to Speightstown and walked along a pier there, would have been nice to have lunch but as it was Sunday everywhere was booked up. Got lost a bit as the road signs are not too good, but it's not too big so no problem. Just up from Bathsheba is a nice place with water spouts, very scenic, Came across a beautiful old plantation house but it wasn't worth going in as it was going to close and not enough time to see it. Good place to hire a car as the driving is easy, roads empty as it's a Sunday and the ship doesn't leave till 20.00. Might be best to hire the car online before you arrive as they don't have many there.The company was Stoutes I think.

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bobbingabout

bobbingabout

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Hi there - thanks for the post - interesting as we will be on the same cruise soon! A couple of questions...

1) How much time before the ship leaves each port do you have to be back on board?

2) On the first day do you get any time to do anything in Barbados?

2) On the last day is it possible to leave the ship in the morning and then make your own way to the airport? What happens with your luggage? How do you "check out" of the ship?

 

Thanks for your help :)

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kruzseeka

kruzseeka

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Hi there - thanks for the post - interesting as we will be on the same cruise soon! A couple of questions...

1) How much time before the ship leaves each port do you have to be back on board?

2) On the first day do you get any time to do anything in Barbados?

2) On the last day is it possible to leave the ship in the morning and then make your own way to the airport? What happens with your luggage? How do you "check out" of the ship?

 

Thanks for your help :)

 

1) Usually have to be back on board half an hour before sailing - but I just have a feeling it may be one hour on embarkation day when you start your holiday - probably because you will have to go through the registration procedure on that day which isn't necessary on other days.

 

2) It will depend on when your flight gets in. Ours is one of the first in the afternoon. I'm hoping we may be on board by about 3.30 - in which case we will have a wander off for a couple of hours (muster drill time permitting!) Bridgetown is close to the port so you can walk in there in 15/20 minutes or so. Provided you are back by the specified time for passengers for the sailing time - there's no reason why you shouldn't get off the ship.

 

3) You have to leave your hold luggage outside of your cabin by a certain time on your last night - it's often about 2 am. Obviously you then need to make sure you have whatever you need for your last day in your hand luggage. Thomson then take care of transporting your luggage to the airport (I believe this is the case - at other base ports e.g. Palma you have to identify your case dockside and make sure it's put on the coach to the airport than check it in yourself - but I understand from others that this procedure is by-passed at Barbados and that you next see your cases at the destination airport! Perhaps someone will confirm this for us.)

 

You will be given a sheet of very clear instructions the day before departure - whatever the specific details it's all very slick.

 

Yes you can leave the ship in the morning of your last day. You are given a time for your coach transfer to the airport which is probably going to be mid-afternoon- ish as the flights home leave early evening. You can even do a Thomson trip (see excursions on the Thomson site) in the morning, lunch is included and then they take you directly to the airport. I don't suppose there is any reason why you can't make your own way to the airport but personally I'd just stick with the Thomson transportation. You can have the morning off the ship, return for some lunch on board then get the Thomson coach.

 

You 'check out' of the ship exactly the same way you do every day when you leave and return to the ship. You present your ship's card which is scanned and logs you in or out on their computer system. On your last day you can come and go as you would on any other day until you finally leave for the last time - and for most people that's when they leave the ship for the airport coaches. As far as Thomson is concerned as long as you're not still apparently on board when they come to sail at the end of the day - they're really not bothered about your movements during the day at all. They provide transport ot the airport, but again it's up to you whether you use it or not - they don't check lists.

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carol53

carol53

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How bizarre -

Your first half was so informative I was waiting in anticipation for the second half. We're doing the same cruises b2b on 1st April.

 

Thanks in advance for all your comments.

 

Carol

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