GAPearl Goes Solo on the Splendor! 11/1/14 SJU-MIA Repo Cruise Review.

[gapearl]

Monicia!!! OMG did you notice he sat with Harold? :eek: I have a great picture of us on the first elegant night. :)

 

 

Seems like we were not the only ones to "experience" Harold. Feeling sympathetic for his dinner mates this week. Can't wait to see the picture.

 

It's coming soon. I'm about to start working on St. Croix. :)

 

Great review so far! Looking forward to reading about your adventures.

 

Thanks a bunch!

[gapearl]

Kim!! So glad we met! Ill send u our pic in the next day or two. I'm subscribed of course but I'm depressed our cruise is over :( cant wait to read more though especially since I know some spoilers lol

 

Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk 2

 

Katie!!!! I wish we had met long before the last night! I have video from the spoiler you're thinking about and should be getting to it tomorrow. :D:D:D

 

Love your reviews cant wait for more:)

 

Thanks Athena! Hope you're enjoying!

[gapearl]

I will be on the Splendor in a couple of weeks. Can you tell me who the Piano Bar entertainer is and if he/she were any good?

 

Hi Mike! The piano bar entertainer was Russell Blues. I never made it in there myself, but I know of others from the roll call that went didn't seem to enjoy him and never stayed too long. Hopefully you will have a better piano bar experience when you sail.

 

Just wanted to let you know how excited I was when I logged on to Cruise Critic this morning and saw a new review from you.....thanks for posting a review so quickly!!

 

You're welcome! I still have a few more days before going back to work to get as much of this done as I can. Glad you're back for another one! :)

[gapearl]

I'm guessing by the time you were at the La Concha Halloween party, I was fast asleep. I was up at 4:30 that morning for our 6:20 flight. Ouch! Loved La Concha, though!

 

So, did you get your bags early? Although I pointed out the Priority on the tags, only one was delivered early (somehow it was the only one with an orange sticker on it). But the porter was in the hall and we asked about the others. She arrived in about 15 minutes with our other three bags.

 

Looking forward to being solo in a couple more weeks and having all the closets and drawers to myself again. Not to mention the bed and no snoring cabin-mate! :p

 

Now, if only the price would drop drastically and the solo supplement vanish. Too much to hope for, I think. ;)

 

I was in and out of the La Concha party in a matter of minutes. But yeah you were probably sleep. It was after midnight when I was there.

 

I forgot to mention that my bags didn't arrive until 4:45 pm. Crazy!

 

Girl I hope you had some ear plugs. hahaha

 

Review so far. Your writing style is so vivid!!!! It is as if we are along with you. Great Job!!!

 

Well hey there handsome! lol Glad to have you here again.

[princessa]

We will be on the Splendor in February and am so thrilled that you are posting such a fun review. I must also say that I love your dresses:D. I am a dress person too.

 

Looking forward to the rest of the cruise.:o

[gapearl]

Going on the Splendor for Christmas!! Thanks for sharing your review and pics...they are awesome!! :-)

 

Cool, a Christmas cruise! Have a GREAT time, and thanks!

 

Ooh yes. I was SO against it when we moved here, but eventually gave in. Now we use it to go everywhere. Supermarket, church, kid's school, haircut, you name it. I even experienced "golf cart caravan trick or treating" this year! :o

 

 

I'm from the west coast of the island. Small beach town about 2 hours from San Juan. If you like great seafood and beautiful postcard beaches, you need to put the west coast of the island on your "to do" list. :D

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

Haha does anyone down there NOT have a golf cart? :p The west coast is definitely on my list.

 

The wedding that I am in is onboard the Carnival Dream on embarkation day. The night before the wedding we are having the bachelor/bachelorette parties on Bourbon Street. Lord please help me

 

Yeah I absolutely love New Orleans. I just booked flights yesterday to be in New Orleans for a week for Mardi Gras...that is going to be a blast

 

My friend's bachelorette party was on Bourbon St on Halloween! We drank resurrections, went to Oz (the gay club lol), good times. :D While you're in New Orleans, make it point to go to either Port of Call or Snug Harbor and order a drink called the monsoon. I'm warning you, SIP SLOW. I wish I had followed that advice the first time I had one. :eek:

[gapearl]

Not going to ask you in a public forum who you work for, but I've wondered if you and I fly for the same airline. It would be funny if we have ever flown (or will fly) together.

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

Yeah I never have and never will post which one on here. Shoot me a quick inbox and let's figure this out finally! :) gapearlcruiser@yahoo.com.

 

We will be on the Splendor in February and am so thrilled that you are posting such a fun review. I must also say that I love your dresses:D. I am a dress person too.

 

Looking forward to the rest of the cruise.:o

 

Awesome! You'll have a great cruise I'm sure. I love dressing up on cruises because I never dress up at home. i pretty much bought a new wardrobe for this one lol. :o Stay tuned to see them all.

Edited November 13, 2014 by gapearl

[092306]

I love this review, you are too funny! Now I have to go and read your others! Thanks for posting your experiences and glad you had such a great time!

[hlb76]

YAY another GA Pearl review. I was going through with drawls!

 

I flew through Atalanta last month and thought of you. Was hoping to run into you but no such luck. Maybe one day we will cross paths.. And I know I will be Yelling -- GA PEARL :D

[wrigley80]

My friend's bachelorette party was on Bourbon St on Halloween! We drank resurrections, went to Oz (the gay club lol), good times. :D While you're in New Orleans, make it point to go to either Port of Call or Snug Harbor and order a drink called the monsoon. I'm warning you, SIP SLOW. I wish I had followed that advice the first time I had one. :eek:

 

 

Oh yeah we are going to Port of Call on Friday night with some friends for dinner. They are friends who live in New Orleans and we met them in April when we did the repositioning cruise.

And you are so right the MONSOON is a strong drink but oh so yummy.

 

What is Snug Harbor??

[wrigley80]

I love Puerto Rico so much! My Puerto Rican friends are like girl deep down you're really a boricua. lol Like you I'm crew and try to layover there as much as I can. I was hoping to see Arecibo as well this trip but that would have been pushing it. Next time I head down there for a few days, I'll be heading to Aguadilla, or even better Culebra! :D I hope my pictures have inspired a few people to explore the island outside of San Juan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Awww that's so nice you're going with your dad again! You two seem to have so much fun together. I'm wishing him a speedy recovery with his health.

 

 

Thank you Kim. There isn't really a speedy recovery with what my dad is going through but it's the hand were dealt and we have to deal with it. My dad is my best friend so we are going to go now while we still can and enjoy every minute together [emoji4]

[gapearl]

 

 

 

 

 

[gapearl]

Sunday, November 2

Cruise Day 2- St. Croix, US Virgin Islands

 

We made it into port today at 7:30 am. I was up early after sleeping very well last night. The forecast had been calling for rain, and unfortunately they were right. Thankfully it came early and was gone fast. I wasn't hungry and skipped breakfast and was off the ship at 8:30 am. There were a few vendors selling tshirts, jewelry and sundresses, but no real brick and mortar gift shops.

 

 

 

 

Looks like there are a couple of small beach areas right off the port.

 

 

 

[gapearl]

Some shots from around the port area.

 

 

 

 

 

[gapearl]

Early on in our group page, I noticed there were a lot of solo cruisers. I never really plan excursions more than a month or two out, but everyone was getting things set up already in January. I had a lightbulb moment and thought why not get all the solos together for an excursion and suggested a catamaran with snorkeling at our first port stop. There was an immediate interest from the solo travelers, as well as the non-solo travelers. I'm traveling with 3 friends, can we come too? Ummm, perhaps you should review the meaning of the word solo. :o The catamaran I found for a private charter only held 15 people and we were up to about 10 people pretty quickly, so I basically said only solos for now and if there's space closer to sailing I'll let you know then. Over the next few months, several solos started cancelling the cruise and no new solos had joined the group, so in the end we were able to invite a few others to join us.

 

I had a few hiccups when planning this. The first company I had booked (and I won't say their name here) were very poor communicators. I called their office three times for information and to make arrangements, got three different people, and was told something different each time. I would send the owner an email and he would respond with two short sentences. I was prepared to give a deposit to hold our boat and they never ran my card. It just felt like they weren't excited to have our business so I started looking for another company. The gang agreed on Jolly Roger and we had a perfect day with him! Captain Mike was and his crew were amazing. He said this was the first time Carnival has come to St. Croix in 4 years.

 

There were 18 of us but the Jolly Roger can accommodate up to 40 people. Someone suggested I contact the St. Croix Taxi Association and arrange a taxi for us, and that was a brilliant idea. We met in front of the port entrance gate at 9:15 am for a 9:30 am departure to Christinsted. The ship docks in Frederiksted and it's at 25 minute ride there half way across the island. A driver named Alex made arrangements for us. He was in constant communication with me and provided top notch service. We had to have two vans because we were a big group. I received a call from him around 8:30 am that he was already there waiting. Captain Mike also called me before I left the ship to let me know the rain had already passed where he was and it was turning out to be a beautiful day over there.

 

I captured these on the way to Christiansted.

 

 

I just can't escape the elections.

 

 

St. Croix prison.

 

 

In case you need some paint or a toolkit for your stateroom.

 

 

[gapearl]

The Jolly Roger was there waiting for us. Captain Mike's crew includes his wife, Bridget, and another young man, Kevin. The cost for the day was $70 per person. Everyone sent their payment to me through Pay Pal and I made one single payment with my card. I highly suggest doing this if you will be planning an excursion for your roll call. It makes things easier the day of for you and your tour company, and it cuts the risks of having no shows. I know of some other people that were kind enough to plan some great excursions, and there were quite a few no shows. One tour in particular had 13 people not come with no word or anything. This is very rude! If you say you're going to be there, you need to honor your word. After Captain Mike collected our payment, we received a quick safety briefing and were on our way to Buck Island.

 

 

Hey guys, here's our luxury catamaran! LOL

 

 

Just kidding. Here's the real one.

 

 

Did he buy a ticket too? I don't remember his name being on my list.

 

 

 

 

[gapearl]

Captain Mike blowing the ship's horn. haha

 

 

The 45 minute ride was very scenic.

 

 

Local fort.

 

 

 

I don't remember what this is. Maybe a resort? Perhaps someone on the cat with me will remember.

 

 

How awesome would it be to live here?

 

[gapearl]

This was called the mother-in-law walk or something like that. LOL

 

 

 

17 new friends enjoying a perfect day.

 

 

There's Buck Island straight ahead.

 

 

Our first stop was the beach for swimming or laying out, and a couple of beginners received a snorkeling lesson. There were only two other small boats there. It was nice to not be on some crowded beach with a crowded ship excursion. As I was coming into the water, I was a little clumsy and hit my pinky toe on the ladder, and golly did that hurt!

 

 

[gapearl]

Look at that water!

 

 

 

 

The is not photoshopped. The sunlight hit the Swarovski crystals on my nails in just the perfect way!

 

 

 

Back on the boat. That water again!

 

[gapearl]

After 30 minutes we rode around to the other side of Buck Island for some snorkeling. It was mandatory that we wore fins and a reflective vest. The vest could be inflated to help you float if that made you feel more comfortable. Both of our guides swam with life rings, so even if you weren't a strong swimmer, you were able to participate. We were divided into two groups and headed out into the open water. You're not allowed to touch the reefs here, not even by accident. This was hard not to do as we swam through some pretty shallow areas and really hard when I had to stop and adjust my snorkel mask. Bridget would advise us on when we were coming up on a shallow area and tell us to stay flat. There were lots of coral reefs and fish, even though I managed to not capture any good pictures of the fish.

 

 

 

 

That box reminded you to not touch the coral, and there were quite a few of them around.

 

 

[gapearl]

 

 

 

 

[gapearl]

We swam about 45 minutes. This was a really good workout! Once back on the boat we sailed for a little while without the motors. We were offered sodas and water, and Captain Mike made us a strong yet refreshing rum punch. Unfortunately, it was right about here that I realized my camera had sustained a little moisture damage. I purchased a Dica-Pac waterproof camera case from Amazon. My first one worked wonderfully for years with my last camera, but it didn't work so well this time. I had it sealed exactly as I should. No significant amount of water seeped in, just few drops but I guess that was enough. My camera wasn't totally dead but it was on life support. It would turn on and snap with a flash, but I got no picture on the display screen and I could not zoom. Well (insert your favorite 4 letter word here)!!!!! The most important thing is that my memory card was fine and I didn't lose any of my pictures.

 

Me with Captain Mike.

 

 

My group at the end of our trip.

 

 

Alex was there at 2:30 pm with our taxis waiting for us upon our return. He even text me a few minutes before letting me know he was there. The taxi was $16 per person round trip. It was a great day and we headed back to the ship with a lot of sunburned but happy people. I must say Buck Island is one the my favorite snorkeling stops ever. My pictures don't do what I saw any justice.

 

We made it back to the ship a little after 3 pm. Once back onboard, I headed straight to Pixels to buy a new camera. I went with the Olympus Tough waterproof camera. It takes nice pictures and I was actually happy I didn't have to deal with that Dica-Pic any more. That was $219 I wasn't planning on spending, but I still had a week to go and couldn't imagine not being able to take any more pictures. I let it charge as I got ready for our first elegant night.

 

A little snack from room service since I hadn't eaten all day, a grilled cheese sandwich and chips.

 

 

These goodies were waiting for me as a treat for platinum members. The fudge was rich, the strawberries were delicious, and the cookies were superb!

 

Edited November 14, 2014 by gapearl

[PathfinderEss]

Enjoying your wonderful review and awesome photo's.

[gapearl]

Tonight was our first elegant night at dinner. I had late dining at 8:15 pm and was at table #333 in the Gold Pearl Restaurant, deck 3 aft. I got lucky and was at a table with some great people! There were two fun ladies from New Jersey, CC member blueangel74 (Monicia) and her sister from Louisiana (both of them were on the catamaran today), a solo man from Atlanta, and then there's Harold, another solo gentleman who was staying on the ship for 3 weeks. Jamman54 mentioned him in his review as they were seated together on his cruise. All I'll say is that he was an "interesting" guy and leave it at that. Our waiter was Channel, pronounced Chanel, as in number 5. I'm sure he gets sick of that joke. This guy was a ninja all week! If you needed anything he was back with it in no time. He wasn't too chatty early on but lightened up a bit as he got to know us. He and his team took good care of us and were very professional.

 

Sorry I forgot to snap a picture of tonight's feature menus.

 

Strawberry bisque.

 

 

Vegetable spring rolls.

 

 

Someone else's escargot. Ick!

 

 

I had the grilled chicken breast off the every day menu and a side of mashed potatoes.

 

 

Tonight was lobster night. Everyone had at least two except me. I'm a picky eater and don't like seafood. :rolleyes:

 

 

For dessert I had the warm chocolate melting cake with two ice creams.

[gapearl]

Our waiters serenaded us with That's Amore. After dinner I went to the promenade to take some pictures at all the different backgrounds but I only got to one. They were tearing their equipment down earlier than I've seen on any other cruise. Since my photo shoot ended rather quickly I went to the Punchliner Comedy Club and caught the second half of the 10:45 pm show of Donnell Grey. Monicia joined me for the 11:45 pm show of Jim McCue. He was funny and gave a good show but didn't really tell any jokes, just interacted with the audience and picked on everyone. We were in the front row and were first to get picked on but it was all in good fun.

 

Here it is ladies, my dress and those shoes! I bought this dress in Vegas and remember thinking it would have been fun to wear if I happened to be there with a significant other and on the spur of the moment got married by Elvis. However that wasn't meant to be for this dress, as I've been stuck in Singletown for quite a long time now, so I brought it with me on the cruise. :)

 

 

Monicia and I at the comedy show.

 

 

After that we headed to the Red Carpet Club. I expected it to be a bit busier than the first night and was a little disappointed that it wasn't. Around midnight the ship was pretty quiet, which is very unusual for Carnival. It was what I'd imagine a Holland America cruise to Alaska to be like in the evening.

 

My brief appearance in the disco.

 

 

The club was a no. The DJ was playing nothing but Sean Paul and it was EMPTY in there. The casino was a no. The craps and blackjack tables were too crowded and I never have any luck at roulette. The casino bar for a couple drinks was definitely a no because if I had to go to the bathroom, that would require going to my cabin and taking off my dress so I could take my spanx off and that was just too much work. Here I was all dressed up with no place to go! I hung out on the lido with new friends Jenna and Steve for a short bit and headed to bed.

 

The platinum gift at the moment is this toiletry bag.

 

 

Selfie before bed.

 

 

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