Stinger-pr's fascinating honeymoon, Fascination cruise review- Oct. 16-23, 2016

[ABCGreys]

Thank you for doing this review! I'm taking this cruise in July with my whole family (Mum, siblings, spouse, kids) and as the Planner in Chief, the pictures of the Fun Times and dinner menus are a great help!

[tomsuelaw]

Mmmmmmmm. S'more Parfait? I haven't seen that on a CCL menu before. It sounds delish!

 

Can't wait!

 

Thanks again! You are doing great!!

[malisainok]

Great reveiw. Can't wait to see/read more. We're going on this same cruise April 23, 2017. :)

[Stinger-pr]

Thank you for the great review. Going on this cruise in March. Can't wait to read and see more of your pictures :D

 

You'll love your cruise and the islands. Thanks for your words and for sticking around.

 

Thank you for doing this review! I'm taking this cruise in July with my whole family (Mum, siblings, spouse, kids) and as the Planner in Chief, the pictures of the Fun Times and dinner menus are a great help!

I'm just paying it forward. When I was planning my previous cruises I read some reviews and those that had the Fun Times and the menus helped a lot in planning some things ahead of time. July is an awesome (although expensive) time to cruise the Eastern/Southern Caribbean!

[Stinger-pr]

Mmmmmmmm. S'more Parfait? I haven't seen that on a CCL menu before. It sounds delish!

 

Can't wait!

 

Thanks again! You are doing great!!

 

When I cruised on the Liberty in 2015 with my DD they already had the American Table menus (but still had table cloths every night) and the S'more Parfait was on that dessert menu as well. We shared one and it was delicious!!

 

Great reveiw. Can't wait to see/read more. We're going on this same cruise April 23, 2017. :)

 

You'll love the trip. Thanks for sticking around!

[Stinger-pr]

Day 5: St. Lucia!!

Today’s Fun Times

[Stinger-pr]

Day 5: St. Lucia continued

 

Today I got up too late to see the sunrise but I still went topside to get some pictures of the ship coming into Castries, only to find that we were already creeping sideways and almost at the dock. It was a bit cloudy and since last two trips it had rained just as the ship was coming into the bay, I feared it would happen again today. But the sun pushed its way through the clouds and the weather got much, much better. After taking some pictures of the bay and the shops below, I went back to the room to get ready for our day here and to colletct DW for breakfast.

The omelet station: my got-to place for breakfast.

Here’s a view of Point Seraphine terminal and shops. This is usually where the ship docks when in Castries.

This is a shot of La Place Carenage. This is the alternate terminal they sometimes use while in Castries. Out of the last three cruises I’ve taken, two have docked at Point Serafine, one at La Place Carenage. Every time we have been the only ship in port that day.

The view of the dock here is not as pretty as Point Seraphine as you can see form this 2014 picture. You dock right alongside one of Castries busiest street:

[Stinger-pr]

Day 5: St. Lucia continued

 

More from Castries bay:

 

 

Later on, this would be our pick-up point for Spencer’s speedboat:

 

BTW, they were already getting the boat ready for our arrival a little further out:

After breakfast we took our “gangway picture” and exited the ship towards the Point Seraphine cruise terminal building to meet up with Spencer Ambrose’s crew for our tour. Point Seraphine is still a work in progress since they keep adding shops. It’s the newer, nicer terminal. Place Carenage is the old terminal with just one, much smaller building. Anyway, we were able to easily find Spencer’s daughter Shequana (or She She as she said we could call her). She greeted us, told us where to wait for the rest of the persons on the tour and collected our money. She would later in the day recognize and remember me from my visit last year and even remembered and asked about my daughter and told me to send her regards. BTW, I later told DD about it and she was so surprised and happy that Shequana remembered her a year later! Very, very classy… That’s one of the reasons I keep doing business with these guys. A few minutes later we were escorted to a waiting speed boat.

No, not THAT boat…

This one here:

[Stinger-pr]

Day 5: St. Lucia continued

 

Unfortunately Spencer himself was not able to join us but the driver was very friendly, informative, funny and was always asking if everyone was OK or if someone needed something. After slowly getting out of the dock area we were giving a short safety briefing and a brief talk on what was in store today. Once out of the bay we were told to hang on to our hats and that was the cue to spool up the engines and off we went.

After about 30 minutes of awesome cliffs (some sandstone, some dark volcanic stones), fishing villages and dark aquamarine colored water we caught our first glimpse of the Pitons on our way to the town of Soufriere.

[Stinger-pr]

Day 5: St. Lucia continued

 

At this point the group was split up. Some of us got off the boat at the town of Soufriere to continue on to the land part of our Land, Sea and Beach adventure tour. Others stayed on the boat since they would continue on to other tours or to the beach. Our driver from last year, ironically called Small (and if you ever do this tour you’ll get the irony) was waiting for us in a comfortable, air conditioned van. He and She She gave us a brief history of St. Lucia and the town of Soufriere while we crossed it on our way to the volcano. When I was here last year the road leading to the volcano was a disaster since it was being reconstructed. Where it used to be a narrow passage, now it’s a wide, perfectly paved road. Nice work!! She She got out and paid our fare to enter the volcano (it’s include in the tour price) and since no one was doing the mud baths, we headed straight for the volcano.

A bit further up the road was our destination. Smalls parked the van and when he opened the door the first thing you notice is the pugnant smell of sulfur. For those of you that never dealt with sulfur in Chemistry, it smells like rotten eggs. The visitors area is at the top of of the Caldera (the type of this volcano) and there is a vendor’s area where you can get some local trinkets. This is also where you meet your volcanic guide (still cheesy I know…).

After a brief welcome and explanation, they take you down some stairs to a stream where fresh, cold water coming from the rain forest has been warmed by the subsoil when it travels underground meets hot water (as in over 100 degree F) that comes down from much closer to the heat source and out of the “ruins” of an old bathhouse.

The bath house “ruins” (honestly…this is all that’s left of it)

[Stinger-pr]

Day 5: St. Lucia continued

 

This was the first time I (along with the others in the group) was allowed to actually go down to the stream and touch the water before the hot part, at the hot sprout at the “ruin” and a bit downstream to appreciate the different temperatures. It was quite a surprise and a nice twist to differentiate the stop from previous years. We proceeded to the upper part of the look-out point and we were given the most informative and interesting briefing on the history of the volcano, the whole area, the effects it’s eruption had so many years ago and we were even explained in detail why you could get much closer to the vents and boiling mud some years ago and now you see it from a much more safer distance.

This is a close-up of one of the many boiling mud vents. If I recall, this specific one has been named for a tour guide that used to work in the area before they pulled thet tours away from the caldera itself. I’m not spoiling why they named it, though.

Three trips to this place and this time it was like if it were my first time. It was THAT much more informative! After our volcano tour and just before setting off to the next part, Smalls offered us drinks (water, beer, soda rum punch) before we kept going on the van. As we were getting in the van, the “Welcome to St. Lucia” rains started to show themselves. Thankfully it wasn’t a downpour, it was just a light, passing shower.

We went on our way to Toraille Falls but made a stop that I requested at a spot alongside the road with a great view of Petit Piton and a UNESCO World Heritage Site marker. For some, reason we flew past this without stopping last year but I was not going to miss it this time if we could stop. Turns out that everyone got out and had their picture taken here. Why they don’t constantly stop here bewilders me. But soon after taking some pictures, the shower we had left behind caught up to us so we all hurried to the van. My landscape photos turned out horrible so I won’t post them. Just make sure to ask for this stop on your way down. The background for the photo is amazing. Along the way we also had the opportunity to see some beautiful ocean scenery from the mountain road but be ready to snap the pictures because the openings come and go fast and they don’t stop at all.

We reached the falls but either everyone was anxious to get to the beach or no one was really interested in this stop since only a family from Hershey, PA (hey guys!!) got in the cold water for a few pics. We were unimpressed for three reasons: I’ve been there before (so this may not really apply to you), we got bigger, more imposing falls (like those at El Yunque) at home and this looks too much like an engineered waterfall. There is this chicken-wire-like fence webbing on the rocks behind where the water falls from the top, there are sand bags where you enter the small pond at the bottom of the falls (as if to make steps) and there is a small, makeshift dam a bit downstream in order to create the pond where people bathe at. I’m sorry but this is not “natural” enough for us. The place is still beautiful, though. And it might be your only chance to actually bathe under a waterfall on your whole vacation.

I’m just nitpicking, I know. But I know there are other falls on the island that maybe can be better used as a stop on the tour. We actually pass in front of the entrance to other falls on the way to Toraille. Another thing I noticed was that the shacks located at the entrance get more desolate every year. In 2014 at least one of them had a BBQ going with chicken and other stuff to sell. 2015 the food was gone and 2016 ALL the shacks are empty, except for the ticket booth. They do have bathrooms, but they are tiny and at that hour (it wasn’t even 11am) they were somewhat dirty. And then the sky tore open just as we were ready to leave. It was a short shower and we headed to our van just in time to see a HUGE group from (I think) a resort come in. I mean the line of people coming in went from the pond to the front entrance. For those of you who’ve been there, you have an Idea how long that line was and how many people were there.

[Stinger-pr]

Day 5: St. Lucia continued

 

Once the rian shower let up we got back to our van and continued on to the banana plantation. We got a quick lecture about the role of the banana in St. Lucian economy, how they are grown and harvested, etc. Unfortunately we had to do this from inside the van on the side of the road… Darn rain!

You can see the water drops from the van window in the picture.

One thing that I could not get over was that Small and She She said a few times they could not get a hold of their vendor to buy some bananas for us to try. Come on, really??? There are bananas being sold in Soufriere and all over St. Lucia. We even passed a few roadside vendors on our way up to the volcano and to the falls. It’s your biggest export! And you couldn’t get a hold of ONE vendor to buy a bunch of bananas? Do your vendor’s bananas have Golden Tickets or something?? Although it may sound like I was mad, in the end I really didn’t care much since I didn’t come to eat free bananas. I’m just saying; if you’re not going to have them available, don’t even say you couldn’t find some because in St. Lucia, it doesn’t make any sense.

We reached the pier at Soufriere to find the boat was missing. We waited around for a few minutes until our ride arrived and the rain sprinkle that was going on let up as if on cue. We got to the boat and on our way to the beach part of the tour.

The beach is just a 5 minute ride into nearby Anse de Piton where the Sugar Beach resort is located. It’s an amazing setting since the beach is just between both Piton mountains.

[Stinger-pr]

Day 5: St. Lucia continued

 

The beach is “divided” into two areas. If standing on the pier looking at the beach, the right, sandy part is where the resort property lies. You can roam and use any part of the beach on this side but if you want a lounger on this area you’ll have to fork out a whopping $50US per chair. They are padded and very, very nice but they are really for resort guests and that’s why they’re so expensive.

Over on the left side, there are more simple loungers that are free to use but are very limited and are on a first-come-first-seated basis. All loungers are under the shade in this part so if you want to catch some sun you’ll have to get your towel and walk over to the resort side. The shore on the left side, specifically when entering the water is rocky. Very…rocky… So if you have sensitive feet, bring water shoes. This is also the area where you go to snorkel since there’s an area marked by buoys that’s actually part of the marine reserve. No boats are allowed in this part.

[Stinger-pr]

A few minutes after we arrived at the beach the rains we had left behind caught up to us again (or were they new ones?) and this time it was pouring for a few minutes. BTW, notice that fruit filled kayak? More on it later.

I decided this would be my beer break.

Funny thing is that the trees covering the shaded area are so dense that we hardly felt a drop on us. As fast as the rains came, they went into the distance and from that point on, we had nothing but great weather for the rest of the afternoon. A few minutes after the rains left we noticed that Spencer’s crew was setting up the “buffet” for lunch.

They serve some pretty tasty stuff. They had rice (seasoned), jerked (or BBQ) chicken, some green salad and well as potato salad, fried ripe plantains and some root vegetables and I forget what else. They also had BBQ and hot sauce (yeah, I had to put it in there somewhere) for you to sprinkle on your food if you want. It’s Creole, Caribbean seasoning all around. Very tasty even for us, who eat things like these all the time. Of course, the drinks I mentioned earlier were also available at all times. You choose what and how much to eat. They brought enough food for everyone and no one was left out. At one point they were running low on water or soda and they sent someone out to get more.

A while after eating we got our gear and got in the water and it always amazes me how beautiful this place is. Snorkeling in St. Thomas was great with so many fish and all but here you’ll really think you’re in a full blown, huge aquarium. There are fish of all shapes and sizes and so many types of marine plant and coral life and so many colors! I took so many pictures and video here that for the first time EVER I had drained the battery from the Nikon I use underwater and had to get out of the water at one point to get a fresh one (first battery had a full charge!).

I know a few of you have been waiting for these pics so here you go:

This is the bottom right as you enter the water. Notice how rocky it is.

And almost immediately we started seeing these Sergeant Majors

[Stinger-pr]

Day 5: St. Lucia continued

 

A Scrawled Filefish:

A Slippery Dick Wrasse (I swear, that’s what it’s called!!) and a Stripped Parrotfish joined the display:

I think these are Chromis…maybe?

 

Yellow Goatfish:

[Stinger-pr]

Day 5: St. Lucia continued

 

This Vase sponge was huge!

We also saw some nice Feather Duster worms:

Coral formations and Urchins were also everywhere. Although the urchins were mostly far enough down to be of any trouble you do have to be careful though if you snorkel near rocks in shallow water.

Another Vase sponge with one of just the very few Bluehead wrasse we got to see.

[Stinger-pr]

Day 5: St. Lucia continued

 

At one point DW started making signals for me to swim towards her to show me something. She pointed down and I saw a few fish and snapped this picture:

Little did I notice at the time that I had caught a lot of things at the same time. Once I got home and started looking at and working with the pictures I got to se more in detail from left to right I think is a Surgeon fish, a Coney, a Trumpetfish (vertical) and the only eel we got to see; a Goldentail Moray!!!

Funny thing is that DW had seen the eel and though I did as well and that’s why I took the pic. When we got back home and I, excitedly, showed her the pic she was like “uh, huh…I told you. Wasn’t that why you took the pic?” I was like “Suurree…”

A Blue Tang on the right and a small Bi-colored Damselfish (white and brown) on the left:

 

[Stinger-pr]

Day 5: St. Lucia continued

 

This coral formation is stunningly HUGE!

Yellowtail Snapper:

Ummm…someone had a feast from the looks of it.

We saw a lot of French Grunts:

[Stinger-pr]

Day 5: St. Lucia continued

 

All of a sudden….SQUID!!! I had never seen squid on any of my previous trips and only once a few months before the cruise while snorkeling here in Puerto Rico.

We also saw some of these Smooth Trunkfish

I had to work for some of the pictures since I needed to free-dive a few times…with no fins!!

[Stinger-pr]

Day 5: St. Lucia continued

 

A Banded Butterfly fish

Another (bigger) Filefish

[Stinger-pr]

Day 5: St. Lucia continued

 

As we were making our way to shore we saw this Yellow Trumpetfish

All in all we spent about an hour and a half swimming and for both of us it was the best snorkeling we had ever done. We ended up seeing TONS of fish, urchins of different sizes and color, sponges, coral, Caribbean reef squid and that eel, which I actually caught in a photo of while taking a picture of something else. All in all in my opinion, snorkeling doesn’t get any better than this on this itinerary. Although I’ve been told about how good it is in St. John so maybe I’ll have to take a trip there and see what the fuzz is about. We decided to relax in our loungers for whatever time we had left on the beach and even sampled some of the fruit that a guy with a kayak sells (a bit overpriced for our taste). The one thing I’d recommend is a type of sampler he prepares with a little bit of mostly everything he has. He’ll quote you all kinds of numbers but he’ll settle on $10 for the quite loaded plate.

While DW relaxed with what at this time had become “her” fruit, I took a few more pics of the area.

[Stinger-pr]

Day 5: St. Lucia continued

 

Before I forget, there are bathrooms and a fresh water shower to rinse off behind a small gift shop (more like a shack) just behind the loungers.

The whole time we were there, other groups came and went. Some came to the same area where we were at, other continued on towards the resort. But even with the limited amount of chairs available, it never really felt crowded and everyone was being very courteous and mindful of others. It really was a very relaxing atmosphere. Now remember, we were the only cruise ship in town so your millage could vary depending if other ships are around. The free loungers could really be all spoken for when you arrive or during your time there.

On my previous trips we had been recalled back to the boat around 2pm to start make our way back to port but I kinnda worried when 2pm came and went and the boat that was supposed to pick us up wasn’t even near the pier. We ended up getting on the boat around 3pm which would make it ok time wise IF nothing happened on the way. Turns out they were waiting on a couple that went on the Piton hiking excursion and were running very late. They finally got everyone together and we were on our way.

On the way back we made a few stops at various points of interest, including an offshore stop to see Soufriere from the distance.

Another of the stops was at the “bat cave” like they like to call it, the “ Bat Crack”. It’s basically a large crack on the face of a cliff where a huge chunk of the bat population of St. Lucia lives. They get you very, very close to the crack so you can peek inside and you could see, hear and (unfortunately) smell then all the way on the boat. If you’ve never smelled guano, you will here…jaja.

[Stinger-pr]

Day 5: St. Lucia continued

 

The sights as we were leaving the Pitons behind were gorgeous!!

We got to see some unique and unusual features that either left you thinking “how did that happen” like this:

(The fish in the rock formation)

…Or make you squint your eyes, use your imagination and still go like “Darn…I still don’t see it”

(Do you see a “pirate ship” in the rocks??)

There were all kinds of resort along the way including the Jade Mountain resort (sound familiar to any “the Bachelor” fans??) where each night will run you for at least US$1,500!!

We also stopped to see the fishing village of Anse la Raye where every single Friday, most of the island gathers for a culinary fest and party that supposedly last until the next morning. NICE!!!

[Stinger-pr]

Day 5: St. Lucia continued

 

Quck side note: Since I had take pictures from this part of the excursion, this time I enjoyed it more looking out of both eyes rather than from the camera’s viewfinders. But I have already posted some pictures from this part here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=44327887&postcount=22

Here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=44328197&postcount=23

And here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=47969163&postcount=62

We then navigated into Marigot bay for a quick “cruise” around this, small but beautiful bay. We were told different facts about the area, including that, due to its location, shape and geographical traits, it is often used as a safe harbor during storms and hurricanes.

Upon exiting Marigot bay we came upon our last photo-op of the tour. In what is another one of those “squint-until-you-see-it” features, were show a rock formation that some described as a lady’s heeled slipper or a dinosaur’s neck and head drinking water. Either way, this is supposedly where a scene of Pirates of the Caribbean’s first movie (a very short scene with hanging skeletons) was filmed. Now, I am a fan of the movie and while this might’ve been the location they used, it was so changed for the movie that it’s a bit hard to recognize. Still, it’s a nice rock formation where there’s usually kid doing dives into the water for show and if you so desire, for tips.

We finally arrived at Castries Bay around 3:40pm (which is the latest they’ve arrived of my three trips), we exchanged goodbyes and started or walk back to the ship, still with time to spare since it’s a short walk from the small pier to the ship. You have to go back trough the terminal and past the shops (which we browsed for a few minutes) before making your way to the gangways.

[Stinger-pr]

Day 5: St. Lucia continued

 

One thing I want to say about this tour and the staff that runs it: It might bear Spencer’s name but even if he’s nowhere to be seen, they work their butts off to make you feel good and they treat everyone like family. There was not a long face, a rude remark or a bad mood from anyone on the crew. That kept the mood up the whole day. The next time we come to St. Lucia, we’ll probably just make it a beach-and-snorkel day but one thing’s for sure; we will be using Spencer’s crew when that time comes (2018 maybe??)

Another shot of La Place Carenage terminal entrance just in case She She needs a new shot (wink, wink).

Back on the ship we were mad hungry so we decided to skip eating on Lido and went to the room to get ready early for dinner (I still went and got me a cup of that darn ice cream and some sail away pictures anyway…lol). We were at a table, menu on hand by 6pm with no waiting in line whatsoever.