Just back from Serenade 11-day Southern Caribbean

[FionaMG]

And just to finish off for today, here is the Day 7 Compass.

 

 

 

 

 

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[mysticlady2]

We did not use the outdoor seating area (we preferred to be inside closer to the food! :D) but we passed through it several times and there seemed to be tables available. However we were never in there at peak meal times so that may be significant. We thought it felt a bit chilly there on sea days when the ship was moving.

 

DH enjoyed the whirlpools. He preferred the one in the Solarium when the ship was moving because he always went late afternoon (while I was in the gym) by which time it was a bit too chilly for the outdoor one. They did get a bit crowded apparently as there are only two, one indoors and one outdoors.

 

The coffee card turned up for the first time on the Compass on Day 3 at $31, which I believe is the normal on-board selling price. We tried the espresso the first night and found it to be very bitter (we are espresso drinkers at home so we do feel qualified to make comparisons) so we didn't go back, but it might be fine in a beverage with milk. I suggest you try it first rather than buying the card only to discover you don't care for the coffee.

 

Other drink offers that made an appearance were a wine package offering 3 or 5 bottles, which I can't find a price for but which says "Enjoy over 25% savings on the best wines Tuscany has to offer", and the 10-drinks card, which made its first appearance on day 4 for $75 plus 18% gratuity.

 

No need to book for the theatre. Shows were generally at 6.30 and 8.30, with a few exceptions and there were always plenty of empty seats.

 

Lobster night was the second-last night, which coincided with the second formal night. The lobster tails were small but tender and flavourful and our waiter brought out a couple of extra ones for our table to share.

 

We didn't do the next cruise offer because we simply do not yet know when we will next be able to cruise. But the next cruise desk on deck 5 was nicely appointed and had generous opening hours with an appointment system offered but walk-ins also available at quieter times.

 

I didn't notice if they had roast beef sandwiches at the Park Café as we only ate there once (they didn't on that occasion) but I passed through quite a few times to get water and I do remember noticing that they seemed to have quite a nice selection and they also had a soup option and a carved meat option too.

 

Muster drill was done in time for sailaway but it was the old names-on-a-list at the actual muster station system rather than the scanning of seapasses and watching a video in an air-conditioned room that we have seen on Oasis class. This meant it took a bit of time to get everyone ticked off the list and we baked in the Florida sunshine in the meantime.

 

We boarded just as they were announcing that the staterooms were open at 1 pm. Check-in was quick and painless. A member of our roll call posted that she was already on board at 10.45 am, a full 45 minutes before the WJ was due to open!

 

I don't know for sure, but I reckon probably most people did get off at the ports of call, as we were usually back on by 3 pm and the ship always had that "still-quiet" feel about it.

 

Hope this helps. If you think of anything else you want to ask, feel free. I will do my best to answer. :)

 

 

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[FionaMG]

The gym

 

In my younger days I did top-level athletics and I still train and compete in the veteran age groups, so keeping in shape when cruising is really important to me.

 

Since the jogging track on the ship was far too tiny to be of any use to me I did all my workouts in the gym, so I was in there for between an hour and an hour and a half every evening.

 

My usual time for going there was late afternoon to early evening because I have found on previous cruises that this tends to be a quiet time in the gym. “Quiet” on this cruise, however, is an understatement; I don’t think I ever saw any more than about a dozen people in the gym, either when I was using it myself or when I looked in from the wrap-around deck on deck 12. Maybe people went early in the morning, or maybe the demographics of the cruise meant the gym didn’t get much use at all; I don’t know.

 

Anyway, it was a great gym. It was laid out in a very attractive horseshoe shape, accessible from both sides of deck 12 and via a stairway from the spa beneath, on deck 11. At either end of the horseshoe there were weight-training machines and/or benches and free weights. These then gave way to the cardio machines of which there were lots: about a dozen each of treadmills and elliptical trainers, also about a dozen stationary bikes, half recumbent and half upright, two stair climbers and one solitary rowing machine. All the equipment seemed to be in good working order. My two very minor gripes as regards equipment are that a second rowing machine would have been useful and that I would have liked if the treadmill could have been switched from miles to kilometres, like the ones on Oasis and Harmony. (Perhaps they actually could but I never found out due to the lack of staff in the gym, which I will be having a little rant about a couple of paragraphs further on.)

 

The centre section of the gym contained an aerobics floor, which was used for spinning classes, boot camp, stretching etc. and doubled as a seminar venue too. There were plenty of mats here, more free weights, steps with adjustable heights and four massive gym balls. I would have liked there to be a couple of smaller gym balls as the ones that were provided were all far too big for me to use but that is another very minor gripe.

 

There were always plenty of towels and sanitising wipes to clean off the machines after you used them, which was good, but the only water available was from a water fountain, which I was not terribly keen on. I would have preferred bottled water and energy drinks to be available for sale in the gym and this was not the case, which kind of surprised me, since it’s an opportunity for more revenue. I suppose they might have been available downstairs in the spa but I always went straight up to the entrance on deck 12, bypassing the spa.

 

Unfortunately, the one thing that shocked me in the gym was the lack of RCI staff, which I truly can’t understand, given how “in-your-face” they are about passenger safety. A gym is an accident waiting to happen even when the people using it are all regular gym-goers who are conscientious about following the safety rules. (And there were no safety rules posted in the gym on Serenade!)

 

A gym on a cruise ship is even more liable to become an accident site, since there are bound to be people in there who only go to a gym at home sporadically, as well as some who come across it when they are wandering around and decide to “try it out” simply because it is there and is included in their cruise fare. I have actually seen, on two separate cruises, people in flip-flops or open sandals, and in one case a long, flowing dress, trying out the treadmills. One of those occasions was on an MSC ship and the on-duty instructor was at the treadmill in the blink of an eye to chase the people away; the other was on Oasis and there was not a single member of RC staff, let alone a qualified instructor, anywhere in sight. Kudos to MSC and shame on you RCI!

 

On this cruise, there were two instructors/personal trainers assigned to the gym. Obviously they couldn’t both be there constantly for the whole time the gym was open but I only ever saw one and when she was there she was either assisting people who wanted a foot analysis or sitting at the desk, hunched over her mobile phone and looking anything but approachable. She would also disappear for long periods of time. I saw one couple approach the desk obviously looking for assistance; the instructor was nowhere to be seen and had still not returned half an hour later when I finished my workout. I never once saw her even walk around the gym just to make sure everyone using it was alright or if anyone needed any assistance with anything. This, again, is something that the instructor on the MSC ship did constantly.

 

I would like to think that RC would go back to the “good old days” when there were always instructors on hand in the gym (I remember there being some about 10 or 11 years ago on Explorer) before their hand is forced by an all-too-foreseeable accident. If they have to cut staffing costs, the gym is not the place to do it.

 

Anyway I will get off my soap box now. Apologies for the rant but I really needed to get that off my chest. To make up for it, here is the schedule of fitness activities that were offered in the gym.

 

Fitness Schedule

 

 

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Edited December 24, 2017 by FionaMG
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[Terre]

Boarding

 

The reason for hanging out at the hotel pool on the last morning was that we had decided to arrive at the port in time for the cabins opening up on the ship, so we wouldn’t have to be dragging our carry-ons around, so it was just a bit after midday when we asked the front desk agent to call a taxi for us.

 

The taxi arrived a few minutes later for the short drive to the port. I think it cost $15 plus tip.

 

Serenade was the only cruise ship sailing from Port Everglades that day and the whole boarding process was quick and easy. We had timed it perfectly because we heard the announcement saying the cabins were open just as we set foot on the ship.

 

Cabin

We headed straight to our cabin to drop off our carry-ons. We were in cabin 3550, a standard ocean view on deck 3. This is our normal choice of cabin as we are really only ever in there to shower and sleep. It was absolutely fine and everything looked spruce and fresh, as we expected since the ship was only three weeks out of dry dock.

 

We found the location to be very convenient. It was about half-way between the forward and centre elevators - especially great for me going to the gym on the 12th floor - and just a short walk up one set of stairs to the Centrum and the main dining room.

 

Oceanview stateroom 3550, deck 3, starboard:

 

 

 

 

There was, however, one very curious aspect that we have never encountered before on any of our cruises and which we really didn’t like at all, and that was that the toilet was set far too high on the wall. At 5’ 1”, my feet were dangling like a five-year old’s and even DH found it sufficiently uncomfortable that we mostly “went” in the public bathrooms!

 

Anyway, with our carry-ons duly dumped in the cabin, we wasted no time in setting off to find the Windjammer for some lunch.

 

Which brings me on to the highly subjective subject of… food.

 

 

 

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Hahaha! My feet always dangle on the toilet! Great review!

[lmb1988]

Loving your review thank you so much for taking the time to post all the details!

 

We are doing a Southern Caribbean cruise December 2018 with Celebrity, can I ask how you found the weather? I can see from the cruise compasses the temperature is certainly up there, with most days forecast as mostly cloudy. We are coming from the UK so I have everything crossed for a little Caribbean sun!!

 

Did you do any excursions in Aruba?

 

Many thanks [emoji4]

 

 

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[FionaMG]

Loving your review thank you so much for taking the time to post all the details!

 

We are doing a Southern Caribbean cruise December 2018 with Celebrity, can I ask how you found the weather? I can see from the cruise compasses the temperature is certainly up there, with most days forecast as mostly cloudy. We are coming from the UK so I have everything crossed for a little Caribbean sun!!

 

Did you do any excursions in Aruba?

 

Many thanks [emoji4]

 

 

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Hi! Glad you're enjoying it. :)

 

Yes, in fact, it was mostly cloudy but it was certainly warm enough to wear shorts and go to the beach and the sun did usually put in several appearances over the course of the day. If you are fair skinned like me you will definitely need to bring sunscreen.

 

We did have two very nice sunny days, in Barbados and in Aruba, and it is probably not coincidental that these turned out to be my two favourite ports.

 

We did an excursion in every port and we enjoyed all of them. I will be describing them in some detail as I go along. Unfortunately I am back at work now :( so I am having to write my review in stages.

[FionaMG]

Day 8 Compass

 

 

 

 

 

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[FionaMG]

Entertainment

I think it is safe to say that entertainment is as subjective as food.

We did not go to many of the shows on this cruise for two reasons: timing and content. We had late seating dinner at 8 pm. One of the reasons for choosing this dinner time is so we don’t have to rush to get ready in the evening; I like to go to the gym late afternoon/early evening and DH likes to go to the hot tub. On this cruise most of the shows for second seating guests were staged at 6.30 pm, defeating the “no-rushing-necessary” purpose of late seating. The other reason is that with a mostly North-American passenger demographic it was understandable and expected that many of the shows would be geared towards that market. Comedy in English goes way over DH’s head, so we only went to the more visual shows (music and dancing).

However, our tablemates Diana and Irv went to most of the shows and reported that they were very good. Only the impressionist left them unimpressed; Irv said he only recognised two of the personalities being impersonated. They particularly enjoyed a pianist who performed as the headliner one evening; we didn’t go, since he wasn’t actually billed as a pianist in the Compass, so I’m not actually sure which night that was.

I went to the magicians’ show (Kyle and Misty Knight) on my own and found it very enjoyable, although DH would probably have been bored because there was quite a lot of chat between the actual tricks. And we both went to the production shows. We liked the first one, Vibeology, since we knew most of the songs. We didn’t care for the second one, From Stage to Screen because neither of us knew any of the songs. And we both enjoyed the Abba tribute. To be honest, I didn’t think the singers were all that great but the show was very energetic and everyone in the audience sang along very enthusiastically (including a loud and very off-key chap just behind me but he was loving it so much I couldn’t find it in my heart to be annoyed with him). The Love and Marriage Game was also held in the theatre and we enjoyed that. I thought it was nice that they gave all three couples the same prize at the end, since that made the whole thing seem more like a bit of friendly fun rather than a competition.

Apart from the shows, there seemed to be a fair bit going on around the ship both during the day and in the evening. The Schooner Bar often had trivia or other such activities during the day and a pianist at night. We had a carol-singing evening here too, but I thought it was spoiled by being held in an unsuitable venue. We were sitting between two large tables of folks who weren’t interested in the carol singing and the louder the singing got, the higher they raised their voices to talk over it. This event would have been much better if it had been held in the sadly under-used Safari Club, allowing those who wanted to participate to do so and leaving those who simply wanted to chat in the bar peace to enjoy their evening. It was held again in the Centrum on the last evening but we were busy packing so we missed it. :(

 

The Safari Club did host karaoke and ballroom dancing to taped music, and there was a guitarist/singer in the pub. Various performers rotated around the Centrum, which also served as the venue for some games too, such as Battle of the Sexes, Finish the Lyrics, and so on.

On sea days there was always live music up on the pool deck. We watched the men’s belly flop and world’s sexiest man contests but those were the only pool games that we saw taking place. Although pool games did feature on the Compass, the entertainment team could not get enough people interested in taking part on the other days.

One event that I did really enjoy in the Centrum was the crew’s international parade of nations held on the last full day of the cruise. I have seen this parade before on our other cruises, but this was definitely the best one. We managed to get a really good spot on deck 6 to watch from and this turned out to be the deck where the flag-carrying crew members actually started parading from.

Once they were all down on the stage in the Centrum, cruise director Carly B read out the number of crew members from each country and some of them performed traditional dances from their home countries. This was a very enjoyable moment on the last morning of our cruise.

 

International crew parade of nations:

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Edited December 26, 2017 by FionaMG
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[Love2travel4]

Can't wait to read more....after 16 cruises, I have my first RC booked on Serenade in October 2018!

[FionaMG]

Can't wait to read more....after 16 cruises, I have my first RC booked on Serenade in October 2018!

 

Glad you're enjoying it. You're going to have a fabulous time on Serenade, for sure. :)

[Pacificdaze]

I'm enjoying your detailed reports very much. We are sailing on Celebrity Eclipse in March 2018 to the Southern Caribbean, so I am eager to read your Barbados, Curacao and Aruba shore excursions. We have already booked Cosol in St Lucia, and a taxi in Antigua, as my husband is specifically interested in the Sir Viv Richards cricket stadium, which obviously wouldn't appeal to the majority of Americans on organised bus trips. We are Australians, so it's definitely our only visit, and like you, we want to see more of the islands than the view from the port. Thankyou for taking time in your busy life to help others, it's much appreciated.

[JamesEM]

Thanks for your review and photos.

[FionaMG]

I'm enjoying your detailed reports very much. We are sailing on Celebrity Eclipse in March 2018 to the Southern Caribbean, so I am eager to read your Barbados, Curacao and Aruba shore excursions. We have already booked Cosol in St Lucia, and a taxi in Antigua, as my husband is specifically interested in the Sir Viv Richards cricket stadium, which obviously wouldn't appeal to the majority of Americans on organised bus trips. We are Australians, so it's definitely our only visit, and like you, we want to see more of the islands than the view from the port. Thankyou for taking time in your busy life to help others, it's much appreciated.

 

Hi! I'm glad you're enjoying it. I have always found these boards to be very helpful when planning our cruises so I wanted to pay back by helping others too.

 

We actually drove past the cricket ground on our excursion in Antigua; although we didn't stop there, the guide did point it out to us.

 

You will have a great cruise, for sure. :)

[FionaMG]

Thanks for your review and photos.

 

My pleasure. :)

[cruzeluver]

I have really been enjoying your review so far and look forward to the rest. We are booked on Serenade for a Canada and New England cruise next Fall. This will be our first Radiance Class ship (previous Royal cruises have been on Voyager, Freedom and Oasis class), so eagerly soaking it all in! :p Thanks again!!

[FionaMG]

I have really been enjoying your review so far and look forward to the rest. We are booked on Serenade for a Canada and New England cruise next Fall. This will be our first Radiance Class ship (previous Royal cruises have been on Voyager, Freedom and Oasis class), so eagerly soaking it all in! :p Thanks again!!

 

You are very welcome! :)

Serenade is gorgeous and that fall foliage cruise looks amazing. You are going to have a fabulous time, for sure.

[FionaMG]

Ports of call

 

I mentioned earlier on in my review that we had decided it would be a terrible waste to travel so far for our cruise and then only see the immediate port area and perhaps a beach or two at our ports of call, especially since we have fantastic beaches within 10 minutes’ driving time from our home.

 

Bear with me for a moment while I digress and shamelessly plug the Algarve (the southernmost province in mainland Portugal) which has some of the best beaches in the world.

 

Praia da Falésia ("Cliff Beach"), our local beach in the Algarve, Portugal, in early October:

 

 

With this in mind we booked an excursion in each port. Our criteria were that we wanted tours that would not be stupidly expensive and which would let us see a few of the local sights, perhaps tagging on a bit of beach time and, where possible, be half-day tours so we would be back in time to do a bit of souvenir shopping near or at the port. As far as tours by independent operators were concerned we were also looking for ones that did not require us to pay up front, since we did not want the potential hassle of trying to get our money back in the event that we missed a port for any reason.

 

In the end we booked three independent tours (Antigua, St. Lucia and Curacao) and three ship-sponsored ones (Barbados, Aruba and a disembarkation tour with airport drop-off in Fort Lauderdale).

 

We enjoyed all of our excursions and felt they all offered value for money. In the hope that I can be of help to others at the planning stage I will be describing each one in some detail in separate posts.

 

I will not be doing another post about our Antigua Panoramic tour organised by Voyages Antigua, however, as I have already described it in detail in post #24 in response to another poster’s specific question about that port, but here are a few more photos that I took during the tour.

 

 

Antigua Panoramic tour:

 

 

 

 

 

Up next: St. Lucia.

 

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Edited December 27, 2017 by FionaMG
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[FionaMG]

Day 9 Compass:

 

 

 

 

 

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[FionaMG]

Ports of call (continued):

St. Lucia

I touched briefly on our day in St. Lucia back in post 10 but I will describe it now in more detail.

St. Lucia was a bucket list destination for me so I put some considerable research into choosing what to do there. Based on recommendations on these boards and elsewhere, I narrowed it down to Cosol’s island tour by land or Spencer Ambrose’s island tour by speedboat. In the end, our choice was Cosol because we both have some back problems and were concerned that the speedboat ride might aggravate them. As it turned out, this was a lucky decision because towards the end of our tour it began raining heavily and did not let up the rest of the way back to port. We would have been drenched and pretty miserable riding in a speed boat in that.

The Cosol tour was the most expensive of all of our excursions and the only full-day one, but in order to see the main sights (the pitons and the volcano) a half-day tour would not have been feasible. Royal did have a couple of similar tours, but they were more expensive than Cosol’s and did not include as much. Additionally, what really put me off the ship-sponsored ones was the bit of small print in the description that said the tour buses were not air-conditioned. Seriously?! In that heat?!

Cosol had several vans operating that day. Our driver was Bernard (“Fat Man”) and there were six others in the van along with us. And our van was air-conditioned. I cannot imagine how uncomfortable it would have been doing this tour in an un-air-conditioned bus!

Our first stop was at a banana plantation where we were given some information about banana production in St. Lucia and the opportunity to sample some of them. There was a small souvenir kiosk here too, which is where we got the bananas from, so presumably, the tour company has an arrangement with the kiosk owner.

I can’t remember the exact order of our stops but we made a couple of stops at viewpoints – one overlooking the port and one overlooking the emblematic pitons. We were accompanied along the way by “the bar” – a pick-up belonging to Cosol that followed along with the vans and was loaded with chillers full of drinks. We were able to help ourselves to drinks at every stop.

 

 

 

We also stopped for a sort of “brunch” consisting of all sorts of local dishes for us to try. Bernard told us we had to try everything and I took him at his word and did so! It was all very tasty.

 

After that it was time for our beach stop at Jalousie (Sugar) Beach, which we reached by means of a short speedboat ride. We had an hour to spend at the beach. It was very scenic, nestling in between the pitons. There were loungers available for use free of charge on one side of the beach but we were warned not to use the plusher loungers on the other side of the beach, as they belong to the resort and we would be charged a hefty fee for them. Since we were only there for an hour, we didn’t even bother with the free ones; we just put our towels down on the sand.

 

The water was very calm and warm, and it was just a pity that the sun only poked its head through the clouds for a little bit because with sunshine and blue skies the place would have been truly idyllic.

 

 

Following the beach stop it was time to make our way to the mud baths. Only four people from our van wanted to go in the mud baths but what we didn’t realise immediately, because unfortunately Bernard didn’t suggest it to us, was that the rest of us could go up the road a little bit to see the volcano. There is an entrance fee for both of these, which is included in the tour price, so the option should have been offered to us. We only found out by accident because the lady at the booth got a bit annoyed at us for hanging around the entrance to the mud baths without actually going in. By the time we discovered that we could go up to the volcano it was too late to go all the way to the top but the geologist/guide at the entrance to the volcano assured us we were only missing a different view over the crater, so in the end we were fine with that. He gave us a good explanation of the geological features of the volcano, which was very interesting.

 

 

It was as this point that we had our first heavy shower and by the time we reached the next stop on the tour – the waterfall – it was pretty clear that the rain was not going to let up for the rest of the day. Luckily I had brought a couple of plastic rain capes along just in case so we managed to avoid getting completely soaked. Since St. Lucia gets some 200 inches of rain a year, rain capes are definitely an item worth taking along! The waterfall was pretty and there was a pool at the bottom of it that some people on the tour went into, especially the ones who had done the mud baths as they were able to wash the mud off here.

 

 

Our last stop before returning to the ship was for hot bread and cheese at the same place we had had brunch earlier. This was not only tasty but was also very welcome as it was quite a long time since we had eaten the brunch, so most people were hungry by now. It might be worth taking along some granola bars or something to nibble if you do this tour in case you get hungry in between the meals, especially if you go with youngsters who may not be too keen on trying the local foods at the brunch.

 

The rain poured down all the way back to the ship, making me doubly glad we had chosen the land tour rather than the speedboat one. We arrived back at the port about 45 minutes before sailaway. There was quite a decent selection of shops at the port, which we had a quick browse in as we made our way back to the ship.

 

This was an enjoyable excursion and I am glad that we did it, although I have to say a couple of the stops felt a bit rushed. At the beach it seemed we had barely set our towels down and it was already time to leave, and at the waterfall stop one of our van-mates had to choose between getting in the pool himself or taking photos of his family in the pool, as there wasn’t enough time to do both. However, there was a lot packed into the day and with the included food and drink I would definitely say it was good value for money and gave us a good overview of the island.

 

Up next: Barbados

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Edited December 28, 2017 by FionaMG
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[FionaMG]

Day 10 Compass

 

 

 

 

 

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[bobmacliberty]

Thanks for bringing back some nice memories. We loved St. Lucia and Cosol Tours. The island reminded me of Maui...very lush and hilly. We paid a little extra for a private tour that gave us 3 nice benefits:

1. The brunch stop was at Cosol's house (across the street from where the rest of the vans stopped). The view from his balcony is amazing.
   
2. We could adjust timing at any stopped as we pleased.
   
3. We had a cooler in the van and didn't need to wait for a stop to meet the mobile bar. :D
   

I don't remember how much extra the private tour was but I don't think it was a lot and was definitely worth it to me.

[cruiser123!]

What did you do in Barbados?

[FionaMG]

Thanks for bringing back some nice memories. We loved St. Lucia and Cosol Tours. The island reminded me of Maui...very lush and hilly. We paid a little extra for a private tour that gave us 3 nice benefits:

1. The brunch stop was at Cosol's house (across the street from where the rest of the vans stopped). The view from his balcony is amazing.
   
2. We could adjust timing at any stopped as we pleased.
   
3. We had a cooler in the van and didn't need to wait for a stop to meet the mobile bar. :D
   

I don't remember how much extra the private tour was but I don't think it was a lot and was definitely worth it to me.

 

I'm enjoying reliving it too. Helps ward off the post-cruise blues! :D

Your private tour sounds great.

[FionaMG]

What did you do in Barbados?

 

We did a very nice little ship-sponsored tour called "Barbados Coast to Coast". That's the next one I will be describing, but judging from the way work is going today I'm probably not going to have time to do it until tomorrow. :(

[mikentara]

I see in the compass that you had to move your watch forward 1 hour at the beginning of the trip. So, the ship time moved to the local time or the islands, is that correct? Thanks!

 

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