Triumph 2/20/2015 Review San Juan to Galveston with six ports

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

J.R. was not quite up for ATVing so he hung out on the ship & met us at the beach later.

 

The ATV tour begins & ends at Rainbow Beach which is a short van ride away. Transportation to Rainbow Beach is included. A taxi back to the ship was $3pp or it is about a mile walk.

 

When we got to Rainbow Beach we each got on an ATV & got brief riding & safety instructions.

 

The ATVs were in good shape & are automatics & very easy to handle. There is a locked container to store your backpacks/bags.

 

 

You need to wear clothes you can get dirty & bring sunglasses, a bandana, sunscreen, a camera & a bottle of water. We brought bug spray just in case & sprayed before we took off.

 

We stopped at a few scenic overlooks.

 

 

 

We started with two guides, one in the front & one in the back but one of their ATVs broke down so they left it & rode double in the lead.

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

The road was a 'little' muddy in places.

 

 

 

 

Our group

 

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

We rode the ATVs back to Rainbow Beach. Gecko teams up with West End Water Sports for the jet ski part of the 2-Fer package.

 

 

Rainbow Beach

 

 

 

The jet skis were also in great shape. I got mine up to over 50MPH! We had to keep the jet skis 100’ apart at all times.

 

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

This looked like fun!

 

 

We ordered nachos & rum punch at Rhythms. Lynn & Mitch's nachos came in a Styrofoam box & ours came in a regular tray. They decided to eat at the bar with us & the waitress told them they couldn't because their nachos were in the Styrofoam box. She was pretty rude!

 

 

 

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[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

 

 

The water felt great & was so clear!!!

 

The day went by so fast & we caught a cab back to the ship. It was $3pp.

J.R. is such a rule breaker! :p

 

Bye St. Croix.

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

Falmouth, Jamaica

 

We booked an All-Inclusive day pass at Jewel Runaway Bay Beach Resort through Resort for a Day. The cost was $90pp & we each had to put down a $45 deposit.

 

http://www.resortforaday.com/product-p/orjafmjr.htm

 

This is what is included with a day pass…

Round trip transfers from port of Ocho Rios or Falmouth

Full access to pristine private beach, waterpark, fresh water pools & hot tub

Lounge chairs & towels

Unlimited dining at choice of 2 restaurants (a grill and buffet)

Breakfast (if you arrive prior to 10:30am)

Lunch and snacks

Unlimited refreshing alcoholic beverages, tropical cocktails and frozen drinks

Unlimited refreshing sodas and juices

2 bars plus a swim-up bar

Most non-motorized water sports including windsurfing, kayaking, Hobie Cat rides, sailing, pool and beach volleyball

WOW - Glass-bottomed boat rides!

Four tennis courts (racquets provided)

Arts & crafts

Supervised children's program!

Children's laser tag

FREE use of internet cafe

 

The bus picked us up at 9:15AM & it is about a 45 minute ride to the resort. We got there at 10AM & had to leave at 2:30.

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

The port of Falmouth

 

 

 

 

 

The day pass included transportation to Jewel Runaway Bay.

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

The grounds at the resort were beautiful & clean. The staff was very welcoming.

 

Looks like trouble!

 

We picked up towels & got settled in at the beach.

 

 

 

[idlenote]

Thank you for a great review, and especially Royston and St. Kitts, after your review we are booked with him in November and really looking forward to it.

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

Thank you for a great review, and especially Royston and St. Kitts, after your review we are booked with him in November and really looking forward to it.

 

Thanks. I think you will love St. Kitts & Royston! It definitely ranks up there as one of my favorite tours I have ever done. He also offers a volcano hike but I have heard it is pretty strenuous.

Eat a big breakfast before you go on your tour though. We got so busy 'seeing & experiencing' everything we had a really late lunch although the yummy coconut cakes tied us over.

I will finish my review of Falmouth & disembarkation that almost didn't happen in Galveston due to the fog when it is raining tomorrow! :D

Enjoy your cruise.

Juli

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

We signed up for the free glass bottom boat ride as soon as we got there. None of the time slots worked for our time frame but they were very accommodating & opened up a slot at noon for the six of us. I have seen nicer looking glass bottom boats but it turned out to be so much better than we anticipated.

 

 

It was really funny seeing this guy out swimming with his horse. He did a back flip off the horses back. Wish I had been able to get a pic of it!

 

 

 

Since they added the noon time slot the six of us had the glass bottom boat to our selves besides the Captain of course.

 

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

The captain was very personable & was a wealth of information about Jamaica.

 

The only picture I have of the 'glass' is one with our feet.

 

 

At one point fish started swarming us & our captain threw some bread out for them. The fish knew who feeds them!

 

We could see the gorgeous reef below us & the fish much better than it looks in these pictures.

 

[crzndeb]

Thank you for a great review, and especially Royston and St. Kitts, after your review we are booked with him in November and really looking forward to it.

 

You will probably be with me then since I booked with him too. We met on the Legend to Australia.

 

Debbie

[katrina_wd]

I was reading your post about the windowless van and thinking how smart it was of you to take the front seat so at least you could see out the windshield! I was seriously thinking it wasn't a very good tour if he doesn't have any windows in the van! Wasn't until a few posts later that I realized what you meant. Hand me another drink........:p

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

You will probably be with me then since I booked with him too. We met on the Legend to Australia.

Debbie

I want to go too! :D We will be in the Caribbean in November but unfortunately St. Kitts is not one of our eight ports. :(

 

I was reading your post about the windowless van and thinking how smart it was of you to take the front seat so at least you could see out the windshield! I was seriously thinking it wasn't a very good tour if he doesn't have any windows in the van! Wasn't until a few posts later that I realized what you meant. Hand me another drink........:p

Ha-ha! I guess it does sound like that! Royston's 'windowless' van is perfect for sight seeing & taking pictures without the glare.

You need one of the drinks we had on the Excellence in Antigua. They were soooo good but J.R. definitely felt their 'punch'! :p

Juli

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

The pools at the resort

 

 

 

The swim-up bar.

 

 

These beds looked wonderful but you had to reserve them.

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

There were no beach umbrellas at the resort but there was some natural shade.

 

There were no lockers available but we felt pretty secure leaving our bags on the beach. We did take our money/etc. when we went on the glass bottom boat.

 

 

 

 

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

Lunch Time!

 

 

Everything we had was delicious. The cooks at the beach bar did a great job!

 

My taco salad was great!

 

I LOVE palm trees! Wish I had a couple by our pool.

 

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

The bus picked us up at 2:30. We had the bartender fill our Eddie Bauer insulated bottles with rum punch before we left! :D

 

The resort was great & the only negative of the whole day was that we only got to stay 41/2 hours. Of course we knew that when we booked it but the time flew by!

 

The bus dropped us off inside the gated area of the port but the six of us went back out to experience Jamaica a little more.

 

 

Some of my pics were a little fuzzy. Surely it wasn't from the rum punch we were still drinking! :p

 

I 'forced' Lynn to share my drink so I would be able to walk back to the ship!

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

I forgot to add that the new water park at Jewel Runaway Bay Beach Resort was supposed to open in February but had not opened yet when we were there. By the time we did the glass bottom boat, ate lunch & had a little pool & beach time I don’t think we would have had time to really enjoy it anyway but it is open now.

Juli

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

Galveston

We had a little excitement on our last sea day. The Captain made an announcement that afternoon that due to fog in Galveston we might not be able to dock in the morning. Then Paulie V came on & announced that they had plenty of activities planned for us the next day if it became an extra sea day! :)

 

We could hear the fog horn going off all night & I looked out the window about 4AM & the fog was so thick you could cut it with a knife! :eek:

 

The fog lifted a little by morning & the Captain was able to squeeze the ship in to port. I believe we ended up docking around 8ish.

 

Disembarkation was extremely fast & easy.

 

I had booked the Carnival transfers to Houston Hobby for $35 each because I was a little concerned about possible fog delays (imagine that) & there were not a lot of inexpensive transportation options to Hobby. The Carnival transfer ended up being a great option.

 

The bus was ready to take us to the airport within minutes of us going outside & there was little or no traffic so we got there a lot quicker than I expected.

 

For some lucky reason we had TSA pre-screening again so we were through security & waiting at our gate in about 15 minutes.

 

We had a 3:20 flight & Erika & Chris were on our flight. There were a lot of flight delays due to the weather but the time passed quickly with the four of us looking at pics & reminiscing about all the fun we had!

 

We ate at Pappasito's Cantina at Houston Hobby & had the most delicious nachos I think I have ever had! Galveston is not a convenient port for us to cruise from but I would almost go back to Hobby just to get some more nachos!

 

The man at the information desk at the airport was very nice & helpful & offered to take a group picture of us.

 

Lynn & Mitch had a 5ish flight so they booked a tour with Tours by Locals that included transportation to Hobby after their tour. Since we had so many flight delays they got to the airport before we took off & we got to have one more emotional good-bye!

 

The gang doing 'the J.R.' one more time!

 

It was such a great cruise with wonderful friends & we made so many unforgettable memories! Can't wait until October 31st for our next cruise!!!

Juli

[babsee101]

I just love everything about this review Juli! Thanks so much for taking the time to put it together.

 

PS- Everything at Pappasito's is great! I would say it is prolly the most popular restaurant to take visitors from out of town. Next time you make it to the Houston/Galveston area visit a free standing location with the full menu. Also, try one of their yummy margaritas! Okay now I am hungry! lol

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

I just love everything about this review Juli! Thanks so much for taking the time to put it together.

 

PS- Everything at Pappasito's is great! I would say it is prolly the most popular restaurant to take visitors from out of town. Next time you make it to the Houston/Galveston area visit a free standing location with the full menu. Also, try one of their yummy margaritas! Okay now I am hungry! lol

 

Thanks. I keep forgetting how much time a review takes to do but J.R. has a tendency to get his islands mixed up so when we are in cruise research mode (like right now with 8 ports for our Glory cruise in October) I have to show him what we have done before!:p :D

 

Erika & Chris had lunch at Pappasito's but we only had the nachos because we were not very hungry. Our loss! I wouldn't mind at all if somebody wanted to open a Pappasito's franchise in Nashville! :)

Juli

[rzyjzq]

Really enjoyed your review! Thanks for posting and sharing your vacation. You all seem like such a fun group!

Susan

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

Really enjoyed your review! Thanks for posting and sharing your vacation. You all seem like such a fun group!

Susan

 

Thanks Susan. It was a fun bunch!

We met Erika & Chris on this cruise & they live just a few miles from us & we met Lynn & Mitch on our cruise to Hawaii last fall & are cruising with them again in October.

One of my favorite parts of cruising is all the wonderful new friends you make! :):):)