A Frightful Time on The Breeze! Halloween Cruise 2013

[vamartha]

Dreams was $60 per person, it DID include all food and drinks but did not include transportation. Plan on $45 taxi each way - but you can put as many people as the taxi will hold for that amount.

[vamartha]

One of the places that Tony pointed out to us during the drive to Bayahibe was the Chavon River where some scenes from Apocalypse Now were filmed. We crossed a fairly new bridge and from there you could see the area where the film was shot, and several other movies were also filmed there among them a couple of Rambo movies and Jurassic Park.

 

 

A lot of people don’t like the DR and prefer to stay on the ship but I can tell you we were treated wonderfully and it is a beautiful country! The people are friendly and those who chose to stay onboard are really missing out. The port is not located in City Center per se and it disappoints some cruisers who don’t understand that to really get the most out of a port like DR, they do need to book some type of a tour or private excursion – much like they would in a port like Belize. I’m SO glad that I didn’t listen to the naysayers here on CC and I challenge any one of them to contact Tony so that they can get a more realistic and personal view of the country.

 

 

That night we had dinner in Cucina del Capitano, having attended the basketball concert they serve for lunch on both the previous two days! Lunch is an outstanding free Pasta Bar and dinner is quite good for the $12 charge. It is located on Deck 11 Aft and has a good view! The basketball concert is aggravating but sure as heck didn’t ruin either of my lunches!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[vamartha]

Wednesday was a late Port Day – Curacao – 2pm-11pm! It made beach time challenging and in the end I gave up and traded a snorkel day for a walk around port day. I’m glad I did. Curacao is charming! So many little shops to wander through – music almost live on every block – little alleys to take as shortcuts – just loved it! On anyone of those alleys you might find a café tucked away with art that will blow your mind!

 

 

 

 

 

It was in Curacao that we discovered that we missed the Larimar in DR. Larimar, also called "Stefilia's Stone" or Larimor, is a rare blue variety of pectolite found on a one square kilometer on a mountaintop in the Dominican Republic Its coloration varies from white, light-blue, green-blue to deep blue. It almost looks like very washed out Turquoise but it is supposed to look like the sea. (From wiki - In 1974, at the foot of the Bahoruco Range, the coastal province of Barahona, Miguel Méndez and Peace Corps volunteer Norman Rilling rediscover Larimar on a beach. Natives, who believed the stone came from the sea, called the gem Blue Stone. Miguel took his young daughter's name Larissa and the Spanish word for sea (mar) and formed Larimar, by the colors of the water of the Caribbean Sea, where it was found.) Anywho the reason I am wailing on here about Larimar is my last name is Larimer. I know it isn’t the same (like Larimer County Colorado where I’ve never been) but it is close and close is good enough in horseshoes and hand grenades and CC cruise reviews!

 

 

 

 

Soooooo, we realize in Curacao that we didn’t look for any in DR and now we were finding it in most of the stores. To be honest, I’ve never set foot in a jewelry store in the Caribbean – I’m not a big jewelry buyer – most of the stuff I wear I’ve had on my hands or in my ears or around my neck for thirty years. But we took the self-guided (and self composed) Larimar jewelry walking tour! We only picked up one piece but it was pretty large and really beautiful.

 

 

The amazing Infinity Pool at the Renaissance - I checked into renting a room for a day to be able to swim here - it was around $160 I think - glad I didn't do it as walking around was far more interesting!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was the Monarch of the Seas - hard to imagine at one time that was probably the largest cruise ship!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[vamartha]

We wandered up most of the streets on the east side of the Floating Bridge. But they aren’t kidding when they tell you the stores close at 6pm. Tighter than a barn door! Some of the ones in Rif Fort stay open later but I’d have to say the occupancy rate of merchants at Rif Fort isn’t close to 100% - probably more like 35% - 50% – we even found the Rif Fort museum closed. The areas you can go through of the fort are nice – handrails are a bit sparse but it is a beautiful view from the top of the Fort.

 

If you are the casual type cruiser – either dress up after 7pm or go to the Casino earlier in the day. After 7 they do have a dress code and they don’t allow backpacks. Go back to the ship and regroup for the night if you plan a Casino trip. By the time we wandered there, we just didn’t quite feel up to the regroup thing and just chose to hang out on the seawall between Rif Fort and the ship! The view was stunning!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[vamartha]

 

 

 

 

 

Walking across the Floating Bridge

 

[vamartha]

And if we had chosen to rush back to the ship to change, we might have missed the fantastic drum group entertaining us at the bridge to the ship. I wish I had taken a longer video, or one from the front – they played for quite a long time and they were great!

 

 

The video is awful - the drums are amazing! Please pardon the operator error! Video Link

 

 

This looked like something out of Terminator!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cormike1]

Great review Martha! I am really enjoying it. You are right about the DR. We stayed for 2 weeks a couple of times in the Puerta Plata area and did lots of tours around the island. There is a lot of poverty but the people we encountered were very nice! Looking forward to reading more of your reviews. Thanks for posting.

[vamartha]

The use of PVC pipe was an interesting choice!

 

 

 

 

 

[vamartha]

 

 

I really like this cop vehicle!

 

 

 

I'm guessing DH is getting ready for a handful! :eek:

 

 

 

[silvercrikhix]

What a nice review...you two had a great time :D

[vamartha]

 

 

[Georgiagolfer]

Really enjoying your review. The pictures are fantastic, not too many,but really show the experiences.

[vamartha]

I think we visited the Deli and probably called for room service too after we boarded. We utilized room service more on this cruise than we had before – the wait times varied from 20 mins to 50 mins – it seemed to be a lot slower around midnight. I didn’t get anything I didn’t like and the only thing I wasn’t overly impressed with is the cheesecake. I had fresh veggies pretty much every night and DH had mostly sandwiches I think! And we used it for a light breakfast a couple of mornings – ok, ok…, we used it when we remembered to put the little hang thingy on the door! Our intentions were far better than our execution!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Windy56]

Really interesting review, Martha. Thank you for posting. My husband and I will be on our first B2B on February 15th and it will be on the Breeze.

 

We are also interested in doing the day pass at Dreams. How many hours did you spend there? Did you get your same driver to pick you up and return you to the ship? Was it 45 dollars return or one way for the two of you?

 

Really looking forward to reading the rest of your review! Just the right number of photos and amount of text! Love it!

[vamartha]

Really interesting review, Martha. Thank you for posting. My husband and I will be on our first B2B on February 15th and it will be on the Breeze.

 

We are also interested in doing the day pass at Dreams. How many hours did you spend there? Did you get your same driver to pick you up and return you to the ship? Was it 45 dollars return or one way for the two of you?

 

Really looking forward to reading the rest of your review! Just the right number of photos and amount of text! Love it!

 

Thank you! I enjoy writing reviews - just don't get to take enough cruises to write enough of them! :(

 

Dreams was well worth it we thought. We got dropped off about 10ish the best I can remember and we had Tony come back to get us at 3pm although we could have stayed at least a half hour more and not risked the missing the ship. He took us both ways and yes it is $45 going and $45 coming back. Not $45 per person but per taxi ride each way.

I didn't care the cost on this day - I knew it was a day to pamper myself and it would come at a cost and I had worked my patootie off at work earning this one day! We didn't spend anything in Grand Turk other than a few beers and a pair of swim trunks so I sort of considered it a trade off! I've got the brochure from Dreams and also the resort map scanned and as soon as I come across them in my files I'll post them here.

[paradiselivin1]

Thanks, Martha. In two short weeks, it will be our turn & this will keep me going for another 14 days...not that I'm counting. :D So happy that you are taking the time to post ~ have followed several recent reviews & love that you all have different pictures of the ports and places of interest. You rock!

[LynnAnne]

Enjoying your review!

[vamartha]

Aruba was bright and early on Halloween morning! (Did I mention that this was a Halloween cruise – if not – hang onto your hat about right here!!) Aruba! Aruba! Hot diggety dog – yeah ha! ARUBA!! To be honest I’d not ever dreamed I’d be here! I remember watching all those Miss World Pageants as a little girl and all I could remember that anytime a contestant was from Aruba, she would always introduce herself and then say she was from Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrooooooooooooooba! All long and drawn out – exotic and foreign as heck to a little gal in watching TV in Southwest Virginia in the 60’s!

 

 

Oh – and we have a private snorkeling session scheduled over the reef at Mangel Halto! We’d scheduled almost last minute with Aruba Bob (I don’t recommend that last minute thing – you might get disappointed as Aruba Bob is busy and well worth the booking – more about that in a bit!!) Stuart communicated with us in a fast and efficient manner, handling the booking and giving us instructions to pay a Paypal deposit which we did immediately and thankfully they still had a time slot available. The reviews over on that other review site with the little owl who wears the funny glasses were stunning and they weren’t wrong! We were directed to a specific tree at the bus station for Stuart to pick us up and he was spot on! He had another couple in the van who were there from Texas and staying in a local hotel and off we went to the super secret Batcave, er, um, Aruba Bob Headquarters! Those of you who have been know what I am talking about and those of you who haven’t - what the heck are you waiting for???

 

 

 

 

[vamartha]

Stuart introduced us to Mike who would be our guide for the day and fitted us for booties, vests, equipment, etc. Aruba Bob is located next to Club Arias, a Bed and Breakfast and they share they facilities. There is a restroom, pool bar and other areas you can experience but I dunno know why you’d want to (other than the restroom) when Mangel Halto is right over there a tiny bit west and a tiny bit south! We loaded back up into the van after stowing our valuables and clothing at Aruba Bob’s and went a few miles back down to the Mangel Halto beach. Now, Aruba Bob’s snorkeling excursions include power scooters and when Mike showed us where we were snorkeling to, we were glad! He pointed pretty far out one way and said we are going out there where the waves are breaking over the reef and the he pointed out further the other way and said and then we going to snorkel over the reef way out there to that beach hut/dock looking kinda thingy that we can hardly see so far out over the horizon and we gulp and say – LETS GO!

 

 

 

I’m a fish. Raised on the lake with a boat from the time I could crawl (before really, my Dad hid a boat from his mother during his college days) and in the pool from the time I could walk, I love the water. Swimming is my favorite thing and thirty something years ago I met a man totally frightful of the water. So since many moons ago when I was teenager, water and swimming haven’t really been a part of my current life until I could get him to cruise for the first time – and took him snorkeling! I don’t know if he does it for me or if he really enjoys it but gosh darn, he’s hung in there in almost every port we’ve ever been in! Now, this man can swim and he even learned to water ski but he is never really at home in the water. Hats off to DH for hanging in there and allowing me to see the world from underwater! I sincerely appreciate it and it’s another page in the why he is the Man of My Dreams book!

 

 

We get a small tutorial so they can tell if we really know how to snorkel and then another on the operation of the scooters and then we are off! Underwater paradise awaits! And delivers! Mike took all of these pics – they advise you not to bring a camera and at first I was undecided but once you get the pics that Stuart sends you, you can understand why! In talking about it later we decided that bringing our camera would have been very distracting and our pics wouldn’t have looked as good as Mike’s anyway! I’ll let the pics speak for themselves!

 

 

 

[vamartha]

 

 

 

 

[vamartha]

 

 

 

Sorry about all the fish porn, if you've red my other review, you know I'm all about the fish porn! :p

 

 

[vamartha]

 

 

 

 

[vamartha]

 

 

 

 

[vamartha]

 

 

 

 

[vamartha]