Rare mlshum Posted February 9, 2019 #1 Share Posted February 9, 2019 Hello and welcome to my first cruise review! Over the years I have “lurked” here on Cruise Critic and enjoyed all of your reviews, both for information and to help me pass the time while I’m waiting for my next cruise or suffering “cruise blues” after my cruise. In any case, I thought it was time to “give back” a little for the help you have given me over the years! My name is Michelle and I always sail with my husband of 33 years, Ron. We went on our first cruise in 2010 and have been hooked from day one! All of our cruises have been with Carnival except for one cruise on RC. While we had a wonderful time on that cruise, we found that we missed Carnival, so we came back “home”. We are currently gold status working on platinum….which will probably take many, many years! LOL We are both real estate appraisers and own our own business so when we are away from work, our office is completely shut down. For this reason, we only get to cruise once a year. We used to sail in the fall but last year we went on a cruise in February and found that we really enjoyed the break from winter here in West Virginia. Also, the weather was absolutely gorgeous in the Caribbean in January and February. We enjoyed that break so much that we decided to book again for winter of 2019. I think this will continue to be a trend for us. A little about our cruising “personality”. We are very easy going and it is very difficult to upset us. Everything that happens, even the unexpected and sometimes unwelcome things, just become part of the experience. As Ron would say, “It’s a story to tell!” (There was one instance on this cruise which didn’t go well for me and I was a little upset for a moment, but more about that later.) When unexpected things happen, it’s generally OK and it was this time as well. How bad can it be when I’m on vacation on a beautiful ship and visiting beautiful islands where it’s nice and warm?? September 2018 and it’s finally time to book the yearly cruise! FINALLY! I very much enjoy the planning part of the adventure as well. We booked the Southern Caribbean sailing out of San Juan. Every port, including San Juan, are new ports for us so we were super excited! I began looking at shore excursions right away. We’re both very active “50 somethings” and we like to try lots of different things. We usually try to do a mix of excursions, always being sure to include some snorkeling in at least one port. Some of our favorite excursions that we’ve done in the past were the Amazing Cozumel Race (which we won!), learning to sail an America’s Cup sailboat in Cozumel and cave tubing in Belize. I also started researching flights and hotels. I booked the flight relatively quickly. Charlotte-Douglas is the closest major airport to us. We used to use the local, smaller airports and make a connection in Charlotte or Atlanta. We discovered a few years ago that we could drive just a little further and get a direct flight in Charlotte to wherever we were headed. I booked with American and, as usual, we would arrive the day before our cruise. Even though the Fascination doesn’t sail until 9pm, we were still very nervous about a potential flight delay. Flying in the day before just gave us peace of mind. The next item on the list was the hotel. I quickly learned that the chain hotels in San Juan are VERY EXPENSIVE! Our flight wouldn’t arrive until early evening and we simply needed a clean place to sleep for the night, so we settled on a local hotel called “Coral By the Sea”. It had both very good and very bad reviews on Trip Advisor but at around $120 per night, we decided to take the plunge and see what happened. After all, it’s only one night! Saturday, January 26th The alarm rang at 4:30 am. Usually, that would be way too early for me but I bounded out of bed very easily because I was so excited to get this vacation started. After getting ready very quickly, we threw the luggage in the car and hit the road. We left around 5:30 am. We arrived at the airport and went through security quickly with no problems. Now there was nothing left to do but wait for our flight. The gate where we were waiting was under construction. Major upgrades are underway at Charlotte-Douglas Airport! We boarded the plane around noon and we were on our way! The flight is 3 ½ hours and was very smooth. We landed in Puerto Rico and went to find our luggage. In Puerto Rico, Uber and hotel shuttles are not allowed to pick up at the airport. Only taxis were allowed. You can be dropped off by an Uber or shuttle; just not picked up. After finding our bags, we got in line for a taxi. The line was quite long and our wait from when we stepped in line to getting into the taxi was probably about 45 minutes. We finally got our taxi and headed to the hotel. It was only a few minutes from the airport so it was a very short taxi ride. The driver was a lady from Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic. When we told her that we had visited that area, she told us all about her family and home there. She was a very nice person and we enjoyed talking to her. Upon arriving at Coral By the Sea, we walked into the lobby to find that it was quite crowded. I took the bags to a corner where I would be out of the way and Ron went to check in. I could hear the conversations going on at the front desk. There was a group of about six people traveling together. Apparently, they were supposed to have a reservation for the night but the hotel did not have a record of the reservation and did not have any available rooms. They called another local hotel for the people and they left to go to that hotel. At that point, I started to get just a little nervous. Would they have our reservation??? Ron had the paperwork to prove the reservation (because we always have paperwork for everything!) and I was relieved that they found our reservation with no problem. We got into the smallest elevator I have ever seen and proceeded to the fourth floor. Coral By the Sea is an older establishment in Isla Verde. It was only about three or four blocks to the Isla Verde beach, which is a beautiful beach with white, powdery sand. We got to our room and I started looking around to be certain that we were actually planning to spend the night there. Although the hotel and the room were scratched, dated, and quite small, it seemed clean. Since we would be there less than twenty- four hours and it was all part of the adventure, we decided to stay. We dropped our bags and headed out to look at the beach. The side road we walked down to get to the beach was fairly dirty and smelly, but the beach was beautiful. We didn’t take time to swim or hang out at the beach. By the time we got to the hotel, checked in and walked to the beach, it was almost six and starting to get dark. We hadn’t had anything to eat since we ate a bagel in the Charlotte airport that morning, so we were ready to find dinner. Here are a few photos of Coral By the Sea: Here is the side road looking toward the beach... ....and here are a couple of photos of our room. This was our first trip to Puerto Rico so we had to find some authentic Puerto Rican food! The hotel had a restaurant attached called Plato’s. The menu looked pretty good and it seemed busy, so we decided to go there. The server’s name was Oscar. He was very nice and very funny. He advised us to try the mofongo. I ordered the chicken with creole sauce and mofongo and Ron had the bacon wrapped chicken with plantains. The food was very good and we enjoyed the meal. The reviews for the restaurant were good and well deserved. After dinner, we decided to grab a gelato at the other restaurant in the hotel, Piubello Gelato. The gelato was also very good. That restaurant also served breakfast and lunch but we did not eat a meal there. After we finished eating, we went back to our room to switch luggage tags and relax a bit. We turned in pretty early as we were both tired from leaving so early and traveling all day. Sometime during the night, I woke up to the sound of a party going on in the alley below. There was a lot of yelling, laughing and a loud radio. It took me a little while to go back to sleep but I eventually did go back to sleep and slept through to the next morning. Sunday, January 27th – Cruise Day!!!! Finally, finally the day had arrived! After a year’s wait it was time for our cruise! We both got ready and were out of our room around 8:30 to find some breakfast. Since we had only walked one direction on the street the night before (other than our excursion down the alley), we decided to try to other direction to find a place for breakfast. Only a block away, we found Edith’s. There was a man outside Edith’s handing out menus and inviting people to come inside and eat. The menu looked good we decided to take him up on the offer. Both he and the server were very friendly. I ordered French toast. Unfortunately, I don’t remember what Ron ordered. The food was good and there was more than enough. After finishing breakfast, we decided to walk further on down the street to a CVS for a few last minute items. On the way, we passed a Burger King. The sign proudly proclaimed “Casa del Whopper”. I love that! I know only a few words in Spanish and learning to be able to converse somewhat is Spanish is something I would like to do. Breakfast and incidentals taken care of, we went back to the hotel, grabbed our luggage and called an Uber. Within about five minutes, Paublo arrived to take us to the port. He was super nice and told us a little about the things we passed on the way to the port. He said he was born in New York but his mother was a native Puerto Rican and returned to Puerto Rico when he was a child. He had been there ever since. He was a pharmaceutical sales rep during the week and drove with Uber on the weekends to pay for his daughter’s education. I really respect his dedication to his children! It only took about 10 – 15 minutes to arrive at the port. By that time, it was around 10:30. There was quite a lot of activity going on at the port. People disembarking, people selling souvenir type items, people (like us) dropping off luggage, etc. The porters took our luggage after only a few minutes and we were free to explore Old San Juan! We could see San Cristobal from the dock area so we decided to head there first. It was a nice walk through Old San Juan. There were some really pretty, older buildings painted in pastel colors. In one area there were a number of tables and umbrellas set up outdoors. Some of the streets were brick. We walked up the hill and into the fort. When we paid our admission, the attendant told us that the price of admission, which was only $7, covered admission to both forts…. San Cristobal and El Morro. The forts were build in the 1500’s We began exploring San Cristobal and imagining what it would have been like when it was an active fort. When we got to the top, you could see El Morro in the distance and a beautiful view of the water. On the opposite side you could see the area where the ship was docked. It was a beautiful day with a gorgeous view and we were able to get some great photos. After we finished exploring the San Cristobal, we stopped in the gift shop for our refrigerator magnet. We try to get a refrigerator magnet and a Christmas ornament for every place we visit. They are really nice reminders of our travels and bring back a lot of good memories. We also purchased a print of a pencil drawing. After purchasing our magnet and Christmas ornament, we set off down the back street, along the water to visit El Morro. There were a lot of people out walking and we really enjoyed the trip and the scenery between the two forts. When we arrived at El Morro, we watched the people on the lawn flying kites for a few minutes before going inside. Again, the fort was fascinating. There were stone passages and staircases. There was a lighthouse that was a more recent addition to the fort. We explored there for a while, visited the gift shop for another magnet and a second pencil drawing and headed out to the cemetery. The cemetery was really interesting. The graves appeared to be family graves instead of individual graves. Some were very old, others were more recent. There were multiple impressive statues and it was a beautiful setting. One of the graves had four statues of a woman and three children. I had to wonder if they were depicting actual family members of the deceased. They were beautiful. By that time, it was afternoon and breakfast had long since worn off. We decided to head back to the ship and find some lunch. Check- in was a very easy, fast process. There were only a few people in line and we went through both the check- in and security very quickly. In only a few minutes we were on board. We discovered that our cabin was already available so we went straight to the cabin to drop off our souvenirs and my back pack. It was definitely time for lunch! We headed up to the Lido deck to check out the lunch options. There were a fair number of people already on board but it wasn’t crowded. We both wound up at Guy’s Burgers. It was, as always, very good. After lunch we took a walk around the ship. I hadn’t been on a Fantasy class ship since 2012 and I was surprised at how small it felt. Everything was in great condition and very clean. We spent the next few hours getting our bearings, getting our Bottomless Bubbles stamp and taking just a few minutes to relax after our long walk that day. Since the ship doesn’t sail until 9pm, dinner was open seating at six. Although our bags had arrived before dinner, we didn’t want change clothes because muster drill was after dinner and then sail away. For dinner, we both had the roasted chicken. I had the port of call appetizer. For dessert I had my favorite chocolate melting cake (which I hadn’t eaten in a whole year!) while Ron had the caramel phyllo dessert. Everything was good. We sat beside a couple from Oklahoma. They were on their third cruise and, like us, were already having a great time. Dinner service was a little slow which is understandable on embarkation date with open seating. We left the dining room around 7:30. It was still a little while before muster drill, so we grabbed our Kindles and relaxed on the Promenade Deck while waiting. Muster drill (Station E) was held in the “Putting on the Ritz” lounge in the aft section of the ship. This is where the comedians perform every night. It had been several years since we had a muster inside and it was very comfortable and relaxed. It also went rather quickly. There didn’t seem to be the usual difficulty with rounding up people who were trying to avoid the drill. Instructions were given over the intercom system so it was easy to hear and it progressed rather quickly. This itinerary also embarks and disembarks in Barbados. The people who had boarded in Barbados were not required to attend the muster drill in Puerto Rico. There was a second muster drill for just those from Barbados on Tuesday. It was also held in the Puttin on the Ritz lounge. Finally, it was time to set sail! We went out on deck to watch the lights of Puerto Rico fade into the distance. To be honest, I think I enjoy the sail away during the day a bit more because, of course, there is more to see. Still, this was different and we enjoyed the experience. It was interesting to see El Morro at night and from the water. After sail away, we went to the Palace Theatre for the Welcome Aboard show. It was hosted by the cruise director, Brittany, and was fun. We wandered around the ship afterward, spent some time on deck, got an ice cream and decided to call it a night. Just before we went to bed, I took off my Fitbit. It registered just under ten miles that we had walked that day. I’ll take it! To be continued...….. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mlshum Posted February 10, 2019 Author #2 Share Posted February 10, 2019 Sorry for the jumbled pictures. I’m still learning to do this. Hopefully i’ll Get it figured out when I start with St Thomas info tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrsv41605 Posted February 10, 2019 #3 Share Posted February 10, 2019 I did the same cruise and itinerary last April. Love reading this and reliving the adventure! Thanks for sharing! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michiganredrose Posted February 10, 2019 #4 Share Posted February 10, 2019 On board in 3 weeks. Love reading the reviews to pass the time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mlshum Posted February 10, 2019 Author #5 Share Posted February 10, 2019 1 minute ago, michiganredrose said: On board in 3 weeks. Love reading the reviews to pass the time! Me too! That’s why I finally decided to write one myself. I hope to have the entire review finished this coming week. The Southern Caribbean has been my favorite cruise so far! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michiganredrose Posted February 10, 2019 #6 Share Posted February 10, 2019 2 minutes ago, mlshum said: Me too! That’s why I finally decided to write one myself. I hope to have the entire review finished this coming week. The Southern Caribbean has been my favorite cruise so far! I have done this cruise once before but this is with a completely different group and we haven’t done the fascination. Looking forward to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Upinthehills Posted February 10, 2019 #7 Share Posted February 10, 2019 Good start! Thank you for doing this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grandmarnnurse Posted February 10, 2019 #8 Share Posted February 10, 2019 (edited) Following along, as I’d love to do another cruise out of San Juan. I’ve sailed out of there twice, but a very long time ago. First time was in 1995, when we flew in there day of cruise from St Maarten, where we had just spent a week in a resort, celebrating our 25th Anniversary. The second time was in December 2001, just after 9/11, and was a very different experience. Security was in a frenzy everywhere, and armed military was everywhere—airport and port. We stayed that time at the Intercontinental on the beach, and it was heavenly (but expensive. I paid over$600 for 2 rooms even back then) Our two youngest daughters were with us—in their early 20s—so we wanted them to have a separate room, and a separate cabin on ship. I have some of the best memories of that hotel. Laying in bed with the French doors open to our balcony, listening to the ocean. We are at a beachside restaurant that night too. Next time, I’m thinking of the Sheraton in Old San Juan, to be near port. Can’t wait to read more of your review. Edited February 10, 2019 by grandmarnnurse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mlshum Posted February 10, 2019 Author #9 Share Posted February 10, 2019 Monday, January 28th – St. Thomas St. Thomas! The day dawned beautiful and sunny….perfect weather! We had booked an early shore excursion called “Discover Scuba Diving” and had to meet our guide on the dock at 8:30. Let me take a minute here to share our shore excursion theory. Typically, we book a shore excursion at every port. We consider this our opportunity to explore some place new and we don’t want to miss an opportunity to do something interesting. Most of the time we book through Carnival both for convenience and for peace of mind. When you book a shore excursion through Carnival, they WILL NOT leave you if your excursion is held up. I have been very grateful for this fact twice…..the first time was our very first cruise and then again during this cruise. Although rare, mechanical or other issues beyond our control sometimes arise and it gives us peace of mind knowing that we won’t be left dockside. So….as I was saying, we were on the dock at 8:30 ready to learn to scuba dive. Ron had dived once before and was willing to do it again although it wasn’t his favorite activity, simply because I wanted to try it. I love to snorkel so I thought, why not? We met our boat and crew near the end of the dock. The captain was Juan and the crew consisted of Lexi and Parker. There were some certified divers with us who were going to be diving at the same spot and Parker would be working with them. Lexi was going to instruct the new divers. We rode about 30 minutes enjoying a fun ride through some beautiful scenery to the dive site. The dive site was off the coast of Buck Island. Apparently, Buck Island is protected and you cannot go on to shore. The dive site was over a shipwreck that had broken into three pieces. Lexi told us that the shipwreck had been in one piece until Hurricane Irma picked it up and moved it. It broke into three pieces and settled in different locations at that time. She also said the waves were so huge during that hurricane that they actually came over Buck Island. I have trouble imagining that type of storm and waves of that size! Here are a couple of pictures of Buck Island as we were anchored at our dive site: When we arrived at the dive site, we were divided into two groups. One group would snorkel while the other group tried scuba diving, and then they would switch. We were in the first group to scuba and were informed that we would be jumping off the boat. The water was about 45 feet deep. The description on the Carnival website of the shore excursion had said “pool like”. I incorrectly assumed that this meant we would be wading in from shallow water and learning in shallow water. After Lexi went over all the necessary skills, she jumped in and waited in the water for the participants to also jump in. There were 11 of us who had never dived before…..except for Ron who had dived once. The captain was “helping” people into the water. He told one lady that if she didn’t jump, he would push her. As I was watching this process, I got more and more nervous. Finally, it was my turn to jump. I was the last person into the water. I didn’t know that I had to hold the regulator in my mouth with my hand when I jumped off the boat. When I hit the water, the regulator popped out of my mouth and I swallowed about a gallon of sea water. I finally broke the surface, coughing and panicking. The weights and tank were very heavy (understandably so!) and the inflatable vest was pushing my chin upwards. It was really uncomfortable. Lexi was with me as I was trying to get the water coughed up and I finally was able to swim to the end of the boat where I could hold onto a rope. By that time, my throat was burning, my mask had taken in some water so my eyes were burning, and my heart was racing. I was so upset and scared! I was trying to calm down but not having much success. Lexi took each person down separately to do our “skills”. Ron went first. He had dived once before and was familiar with the routine. After he did his skill check, it was my turn. I was completely terrified by that point and even though I tried to focus, I was having a hard time. Lexi took me down to about 15 feet to do my skills check. I tried to do the skills but all of the information had left me by that time and I simply couldn’t do it. I then started getting dizzy and my head was pounding so that I could feel my heartbeat in my head, so I motioned to her that I needed to go to the surface. When we got back up, I told her that I just wasn’t going to be able to do it. I swam back to the boat, climbed aboard and got out of the vest and tank. I was so embarrassed! I felt like a total failure! I wanted to cry because I was so disappointed. Everyone else was able to pass the skills test and down they went. I felt so horrible about myself. Finally, I grabbed my snorkel and mask and set out to snorkel in the area for a while and try to calm down. Although I am obviously a total failure as a scuba diver, I am a pretty good snorkeler so I did enjoy that time alone and was able to calm back down. The water was crystal clear and very beautiful. The best thing was I saw a turtle! It was the first time I had seen a turtle while snorkeling. That made up for a lot of the trauma from my earlier failure. Although the shipwreck and the divers were about 45 feet down, I could still see them. The fish were plentiful. Ron had taken the underwater camera with him when he dived and he tried to get a few pictures but was having difficulty with the camera. I swam around the entire time everyone was diving. Finally, after everyone got back on the boat, I climbed back on and we started back to land. Lexi briefly stopped to check on me and told me that she felt that I would have been able to do it if I had been learning in a pool, like she did, and hadn’t had such a bad experience with jumping off the boat. I know she was trying to make me feel better and I appreciated it but at that point, I knew that I never EVER wanted to try to scuba diva again! Here are a couple of pictures Ron took while diving. The first is me when I jumped back in (still wearing their mask) and the second is his selfie: As I said in the beginning of my review, we typically have a good time regardless of what happens, and rarely have any complaints at all. This was no exception. I felt like the failure was mine, Ron had a good dive and I enjoyed snorkeling so I was not going to complain. As we were traveling back, the captain informed us that it was customary to tip 20% of the cost of the tour, which figured out to $50 per person. That seemed really high to me! While that may be true, the statement didn’t set very well. It probably bothered me worse than it did anyone else because I was feeling like such a failure anyway. We always tip over and above anyway, but I didn’t appreciate being told what amount we were to tip and in such a forceful manner. When we finally got back to land, we found a restroom to dried off, put on cover-ups and went to Havensight Mall to find our refrigerator magnet and Christmas ornament. We also got a t-shirt from the dive shop for Ron. Havensight Mall was nice and calm. We were the only ship in port that day so it wasn’t crowded at all. We wandered in and out of the shops and traded taking photos of us standing by the “St Thomas” sign with some other tourists. After a couple of hours, we decided to head back to the ship to find some lunch. Here are some St. Thomas pictures: Back on the ship, we went to Blue Iguana for lunch. I was completely exhausted from stress and swimming, and I was ready to go back to the cabin to rest a little while after we finished eating. I took a short nap and felt much better afterwards. By the time I woke up it was nearly time to leave port. We went up on deck for a little while to watch St. Thomas fall away in the distance behind us and read a little while. Since we had early seating for dinner, we decided to go back to the cabin to shower and get dressed for dinner. This was our first night for assigned seating. We were in the Imagination Dining Room. The servers for the week were Luckson, Chamroy and Patricia. Service that first night was very slow, which I’m sure was partially because it was the first night of that cruise. We both ordered veal parmesan, which was really good, and I again had Chocolate Melting Cake (my favorite!) for dessert. We had intended to go see the comedian at 7:30 but we weren’t out of dinner quickly enough and we missed the first comedian. HASBRO was going on in the Palace Theatre and since we had seen that a couple of times, we just decided to hang around and wait for the second comedian to start. Each of these comedians would be doing shows for two nights, then there would be a night with no comedians and finally two nights with two different comedians. All of the comedians were funny and we had a good time. We prefer the early shows so we didn’t attend any of the later shows. After the show, we went to the piano bar for an hour or so and finally decided to call it a night. I would like to visit St. Thomas again in the future to hopefully have a better visit. It is a beautiful island and I really did enjoy snorkeling but I had a really hard time with feeling so bad about myself for my failure as a diver, which is certainly NOT a reflection on the island itself. I sometimes have trouble forgiving myself when I would be totally forgiving of anyone else! LOL The next time I visit I will choose a different activity! Tuesday, January 29th – Day at Sea This cruise has only one day at sea, and it is the second day of the cruise while we are traveling between St. Thomas and Barbados. Because it was a restful day at sea, we slept in a little bit. After we awakened and showered, we went up to the Lido deck for breakfast. In the past, we have had breakfast in the main dining rooms from time to time but we didn’t do that this time. Sea Days would have been the most likely time to eat in the main dining room but this Sea Day was also the Green Eggs and Ham Breakfast for the kids. Breakfast on the Lido was pretty standard issue…..bacon, sausage, potatoes, eggs, etc. I’m not usually a big breakfast eater so I got a couple of things and grabbed an apple for later. Afterward, the day was ours to do with as we pleased. We walked around the ship a while and took some photos that we had not taken on the first day. We visited the shops and listened to some live music on the Lido deck. At that point we decided to try some “insanely hard” trivia in the Passage to India lounge. One of the things we have really enjoyed on our cruises are the trivia games. Ron jokes that he may be “the most trivial person on the ship” and we have a “solid gold plastic ship on a stick” from every cruise to prove it. LOL In the case of Insanely Hard trivia, it was simply a matter of wild guesses. We guessed more wrong that we guessed right. It was a lot of fun and, obviously, we didn’t win on that one. The second game was Scattergories. We stayed around to play that one, too. It was a lot of fun but, again, no “solid gold plastic piece of ship” for me. After our trivia games, we headed back up to Lido for lunch. I had a nice salad and a slice of pizza. Ron had the buffet. There were lots of different types of cakes to choose from on this cruise. Most of them were really good. I think my favorite was the lemon meringue cake. There was a strawberry cake that he liked a lot. On this day, they were holding the “Chocolate Extravaganza”. We both tried small amounts of several different chocolate desserts. Most of it was pretty good although there was a chocolate jelly like candy that I did not like at all. After lunch, we headed back to Passage to India for another game. The game this time was called “Mind Games” and it was basically a bunch a riddles. We’re usually pretty fair with riddles and this time, it was enough for the win! Ron keeps telling me that eventually we will have to go home without a trophy, and he’s probably right, but not yet! LOL Afterward we settled down in a deck chair for a while to simply read and relax. I always get a couple of new books on my Kindle for each cruise and I really enjoy the time away from work to just relax and read. There was a warm breeze blowing, the ocean was beautiful and the temperature was perfect. It was a wonderful afternoon. After reading for a couple of hours, we went up on the top deck to play some mini golf. It’s usually pretty challenging due to the wind, but it was still a lot of fun. Ron won, as usual. When we finished playing golf, it was time to go back to the room to shower and get dressed for dinner. That night was elegant night. We enjoy dressing up for dinner because we don’t have many opportunities to do so. Our jobs as appraisers dictate casual wear and our church is contemporary, so most people wear very casual clothes to church. Our yearly cruise is my opportunity to wear some of the special things that I love but only feel comfortable wearing in that setting….once a year. When we finished getting dressed, we went to pose for a couple of photos and then went to the dining room. As I said, I enjoy dressing up for dinner. I will dress up somewhat every evening. On my very first cruise, we met three older ladies who were traveling together and we were chatting before a show. The cruise director was playing some games with the crowd and commented to the ladies that “they looked nice enough for it to be elegant night”. One of them responded, “Every night is elegant night!” That has stuck with me! There are people who prefer not to dress up and that’s totally fine but as for me, I think I have mostly adopted their comment as my own. It absolutely does not bother me in the least what anyone else wears to the dining room. I just enjoy doing my own thing. Service was a little faster on this night. We both had prime rib and I had hazelnut cake for dessert. It was really good. After dinner we went to the comedy club and were able to see both of the comedians. We finished the evening in the piano bar and then….off to bed. And here's a picture of the picture we bought from our first elegant night: Wednesday, January 30th – Barbados I had read various reviews here on Cruise Critic for good beaches in Barbados. Rather than doing a shore excursion through Carnival, we decided to do a beach day. It looked like there were lots of good options very close to the port so we would have no trouble getting back in time. We read reviews for several beaches and settled on Harbour Lights. It was close to the port and the price was really good…..$20 for two chairs, an umbrella and a boat ride to snorkel with the turtles. We were off the ship by 8:30 and immediately found a cab. We were pretty lucky with regard to the cab. There were several mini vans that were being filled to go to the local beaches and there were two seats left in one of the those. We grabbed those two seats and were on our way. It was only a few minutes ride to Harbour Lights. Harbour Lights has lots of amenities and we really enjoyed our day there. When you walk in, there is a building with bathrooms upstairs and an office downstairs. When you step out of this building, there are some local vendors selling both items that they have personally created and “touristy” items as well. There is a large deck with picnic tables, a stage and a restaurant and bar “hut”. Everything was clean and well maintained. We put our names down for the next available turtle tour and headed to the beach. There were very few people on the beach so we got the two end chairs on the first row back from the water. You could see the Fascination in the distance. There were a few brief showers on and off that morning and a beautiful rainbow appeared over the ship. It made for some great pictures! Ron decided to relax on the his beach lounger until it was time to swim with the turtles. I went ahead and grabbed my snorkel and mask and headed for the water. There were a few fish but not much to see right there in the immediate beach area. The water was a little chilly when I first entered but I got used to it very quickly. Although there wasn’t much to see, I enjoyed swimming. After a while, I went back to the beach until it was time for the turtle tour. After about 45 minutes, the “Koopa Troopa” pulled up to the beach. I have two sons who were part of the Nintendo generation. I knew exactly what a Koopa Troopa was and I loved the name of the boat. This boat also had a slide from the top deck into the water and a viewing window to see what was under the boat. We boarded the boat and took a quick ride out to our first snorkeling site, which was over a shipwreck. The shipwreck was amazing! It was a ferry and was very large…probably the most impressive shipwreck I’ve visited one our cruises. We really enjoyed snorkeling over the shipwreck but it was pretty crowded when other boats with additional snorkelers showed up just a little after we did. We snorkeled in that area for about 20 minutes before we were called back to the boat to go to the second stop. After only a few minutes, we arrived at the location to swim with the turtles. When we first jumped in, there were no turtles in sight. Ron and I did see a rather large stingray but we were kind of disappointed at the lack of turtles in the area. I was wondering if there would be turtles on this turtle tour?? After a few minutes, Ron finally spotted one in the distance. I had the worst time locating it even though he pointed it out. It took several tries but, finally, I saw it! One of the guys from the boat got on a stand-up paddleboard and went out with some turtle food. The turtle never came very close to us but I was happy that I had finally seen it. I need to stop at this point and tell you about our underwater camera that I mentioned earlier. We had a small, cheap underwater camera that we had purchased for our first cruise in 2010. It had been a pretty good camera but was starting to have problems. Ron managed to get a few pictures while he was scuba diving but it was definitely failing by this time. He managed to get a few photos of the shipwreck but the camera finally gave up and could not be fixed. Later that day he was able to get the camera card out but was never able to get the camera to function again. We’ve had it for nine years so I can’t complain about it at all….it’s just time for a new one. This is why there are so few underwater pictures with this review. The shipwreck portion of our snorkeling on this day would be the last time the camera worked this trip. Ron decided to head back to the boat but I continued to snorkel for a while longer. Several other boats showed up and, again, the water was getting a little crowded. I decided to head back as well. Just as I started back to the boat, I caught movement out of the corner of my right eye. It was a turtle! I headed that direction and as I swam toward it, it swam upward. I was finally within about six feet of it and got a really good look at it. It was beautiful! This would be my favorite snorkeling experience thus far. I was so disappointed that I wasn’t able to get a picture, but so glad I actually got so close. It made my day! Back on the Koopa Troopa we headed back to the beach. It was lunch time and we decided to head up to the snack bar for some lunch. I ordered homemade chicken strips and he had a cheeseburger. We both ordered friends and settled down at a picnic table for lunch. Again, Harbour Lights wasn’t too crowded that day so we had no problem finding a table on which to eat lunch. After lunch, we stopped at some of the vendors there and got our ornament and our magnet. We also bought a piece of original art, which I always enjoy. We have several original pieces that we had purchased from various cruises hanging in our living room. I always prefer something done by a local artist that a commercial piece. We went back to the beach until it was time to head back to the ship. When we got back to the port, we decided to try to get a souvenir stamp on our passports. We were directed to the immigration office. We’ve done this at most ports so I don’t think it is an unusual request. I entered the immigration office and found a woman with her head on the desk asleep. I started backing out of the room but I guess my knock and my movement had awakened her. She was NOT happy to have been disturbed! I told her what we wanted. She was very rude and obviously angry. She informed me that the person who took care of stamping passports was gone and wouldn’t be back for about 30 minutes. We left and headed back to the ship. It wasn’t worth the wait to endure the attitude. Here are a couple of pictures from the ride back: After returning to the ship, we relaxed on deck for a while and then headed to our cabin to get ready for dinner. I had Bajan chicken, which was the port of call choice, and Ron had a sliced beef dish. For dessert I had the Chocolate Melting Cake (again, my favorite!) and Ron had Bitter and Blanc. As usual, everything was very good. Dinner service was much quicker this night and we got out in plenty of time to see the evening show. After dinner, we went to the Palace to see a juggler/comedian. He was very talented and funny. We enjoyed the show. I have no idea how anyone could be coordinated and quick enough to juggle that many things at once. He had taught a juggling class the day before in the Atrium and would teach another one later in the cruise. He juggled all kinds of different items. We had a good time and were glad we had chosen to go watch him. After the show, we headed up on deck to listen to live 80’s music. The band was called “The United” and they were totally nailing the 80’s songs! We had a really good time and enjoyed them quite a bit. It was fun to listen to them play our favorite songs, under the stars in the middle of the ocean. Afterwards, we went to bed. The next day was St. Lucia and our most physically demanding shore excursion on this cruise! To be continued..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJSailors Posted February 10, 2019 #10 Share Posted February 10, 2019 I could not see any of the photos in your recent post. That is disappointing as I would like to see the ones from Barbados. Perhaps it is my iPad and others can see them ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mlshum Posted February 10, 2019 Author #11 Share Posted February 10, 2019 4 hours ago, grandmarnnurse said: Following along, as I’d love to do another cruise out of San Juan. I’ve sailed out of there twice, but a very long time ago. First time was in 1995, when we flew in there day of cruise from St Maarten, where we had just spent a week in a resort, celebrating our 25th Anniversary. The second time was in December 2001, just after 9/11, and was a very different experience. Security was in a frenzy everywhere, and armed military was everywhere—airport and port. We stayed that time at the Intercontinental on the beach, and it was heavenly (but expensive. I paid over$600 for 2 rooms even back then) Our two youngest daughters were with us—in their early 20s—so we wanted them to have a separate room, and a separate cabin on ship. I have some of the best memories of that hotel. Laying in bed with the French doors open to our balcony, listening to the ocean. We are at a beachside restaurant that night too. Next time, I’m thinking of the Sheraton in Old San Juan, to be near port. Can’t wait to read more of your review. That sounds fantastic! The next time we visit Puerto Rico, I definitely plan to spend a little more and get a nicer hotel. The Sheraton looked great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mlshum Posted February 10, 2019 Author #12 Share Posted February 10, 2019 7 minutes ago, MJSailors said: I could not see any of the photos in your recent post. That is disappointing as I would like to see the ones from Barbados. Perhaps it is my iPad and others can see them ? Oh no, I’m so sorry! I initially posted them from my desktop and I’m now looking at them on my iPad and I can see them. I’m not sure how to fix them. Any suggestions, anyone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJSailors Posted February 10, 2019 #13 Share Posted February 10, 2019 Now I can see the photos ! Maybe a computer glitch ? Got to love technology ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mlshum Posted February 10, 2019 Author #14 Share Posted February 10, 2019 17 minutes ago, MJSailors said: Now I can see the photos ! Maybe a computer glitch ? Got to love technology ! I’m so glad you can see them! Technology....can’t live with it, can’t live without it! Lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mlshum Posted February 10, 2019 Author #15 Share Posted February 10, 2019 Thursday, January 31st – St. Lucia This was the most ambitious excursion I had ever booked without going through the cruise line. I always read about the ports long before we visit and I try to find out what makes that port special. In this case, it was the Pitons. The more I read, the more I wanted to not only see the Pitons but to hike there. There were no excursions through Carnival to hike Gros Piton so if it was going to happen, I would have to book separately. I did some research on the internet and found Real St. Lucia Tours. I spoke with Janus a couple of times and expressed my concern about getting back to the ship on time. He assured me that they would not let us miss the boat, so we booked the tour. We were out of bed pretty early and up on the Lido for breakfast, much like every other morning. We were supposed to meet our driver at 8:30 just outside the port area. I thought that the drive to the beginning of the trail was 45 minutes and I wanted us to have as much time as possible to complete the hike. What I later learned is that it takes an hour and a half by car…twice as long as I thought! This was going to be a challenge, to say the least! We finished breakfast and left the boat as soon as it docked. It didn’t take long for us to find Alton. He was holding a sign with my name on it. We introduced ourselves and he took us to the car. I got into the back and Ron sat in the front where there is more leg room. Alton was super nice and it was at that time that I learned the drive was going to be an hour and a half. The roads through St. Lucia are very winding and narrow. The mountains are steep and curving. Alton was sounding the horn quite a lot to warn people in the curve that he was coming through. Traffic was slow and congested for the first part of the drive. After we got a little further out of town, it became less congested. If you are a person who gets car sick easily, I would not recommend a trip by car through St. Lucia! I used to get sick as a child but rarely have problems as an adult. I was very grateful for that fact! When we reached the town of Soufriere, traffic again became congested. After we drove through that town, we followed a very narrow gravel road to the nature center where we would begin the hike. At one point we even drove through a stream. Finally, we arrived. It had taken a little longer than Alton originally planned but it was unavoidable due to traffic. Here is a photo of the town of Soufriere: ...and this is where we were headed! We met our guide, Merla, grabbed our water and a snack and started up the mountain. There are basically four stops on the way up the mountain. It is about a 30 - 40 minute hike to each of these four points. The halfway point is actually said to have the best views of Petit Piton. At first, the hike was relatively easy. Merla set a fairly brisk pace and we were keeping up just fine. Within about 10 minutes we started climbing up stacks of large boulders. This was much harder than before, but we were still keeping up just fine. About 30 – 40 minutes after we started hiking, we reached the quarter way point and the first rest stop. We were still doing fine but we realized two things…..we did not have enough time to make it to the top and still be sure to make it back to our ship AND that coming back down was going to be as hard or harder than going up. After a brief discussion, we decided to shoot for the halfway point and turn around there. If we had more time, we would have went on to the top. As it was, we were still enjoying the hike and we were both agreeable with turning at the halfway point. The second quarter of the hike was rockier and more challenging than the first. Some of the rock passages were very steep. It made me feel pretty good that we were able to keep up and continue hiking. I only asked to stop one extra time between the two resting points to catch my breath for just a minute or two. When we reached the halfway point, there were several people there with their guides. The view of Petit Piton was absolutely breathtaking! It was gorgeous! We took pictures of the mountain and I attempted a selfie with the mountain in the background. I have never gotten the hang of selfies so it didn’t turn out well at all. Merla helped us out and took pictures of us with the mountain in the background. We sat down and drank more water. Some others were eating a snack but I really wasn’t hungry because of the physical exertion. I just wanted to sit there a minute and take in the view. Ron and I toyed with the idea of going on to the next stopping point but sound reason prevailed and we knew it was time to head back down in order to get back to the ship in time. The hike back down was very difficult on the knees and back. The rocky areas were very steep and it was necessary to climb down at odd angles. In some cases I even sat and scooted down the rocks. Ron had suffered a bad knee injury many years ago and I was a little worried that he would damage his knee again but he did just fine. I had personally suffered a back injury some year ago but again, I did fine as well. We were right about the time frame….it took longer to go down than to go up. You had to really take your time not to slip on those rocks and to carefully choose your footing. Merla called Alton to come and pick us up and he was waiting at the bottom of the trail when we arrived. The hike itself had taken about three hours. My Fitbit registered at 10,000 steps just as we got back to the base of the mountain. We had traveled approximately 4 miles by that time, including the walking we had done both on the ship and on the dock that morning. We jumped in the car and started back to the ship. When we entered the town of Soufriere on the way back, there were a couple of traffic jams. Alton wound through the narrow streets and found a way around the traffic. I was grateful he was able to do that. Finally, we were back out on the curvy, mountainous roads. Alton stopped a couple of times along the way so we could take photos of both Gros and Petit Piton from a distance. He also pointed out a volcano and we took photos of that. You could smell the sulphur in the air as we drove by. He asked us about our hike up the mountain and we were telling him about the things we had saw and how much we enjoyed the hike. I also laughingly told him about my problems with taking selfies. He pulled over an demonstrated a trick for taking selfies that his six year old son had taught him. Here’s a really terrible photo that he took while he was showing me how to do it! LOL I now understand the mechanics a little better….but that still doesn’t help how messy I looked on most of this trip! Since we were doing something active at every port, I wore a pony tail every day. I look terrible in a pony tail but…who cares?!?!? I’m on vacation! It was relatively slow going on the mountain roads, but we got back to the ship around 3:00 – 3:30 (Not exactly sure of the exact time.). There was enough time to buy our magnet and ornament and grab a t-shirt before we sailed at 4:30. We hadn’t had anything to eat since we had breakfast that morning so we went up on the Lido deck and grabbed a Guy’s Burger. I didn’t eat all of mine, knowing that we would have dinner in just a couple of hours, but it was good to eat something and to NOT be in the back of a car for a while. I was definitely ready to take a rest. I was also ready for a shower because we had both worked up quite a sweat on the hike. This was the second elegant night. On this night I wore my favorite cruise dress, which is off the shoulder and burgundy. I have absolutely no other place to wear it but I think it’s my favorite dress. I always feel good when I’m wearing it. We posed for a few pictures before dinner and then headed to the dining room. Again, service was much quicker in the dining room than the first two nights. I forgot to mention the people we met at the table next to us….two super nice couples from South Carolina who were traveling together. Every evening at dinner we traded stories about what we had done each day at the port. It was interesting to hear about some of the other things that were available on the islands. As I heard these things, I kept thinking I would be happy to do this itinerary again sometime! We both ordered the filet mignon and had ice cream for dessert. As much as I love Chocolate Melting Cake, I just wanted something a little simpler that time. After dinner we decided to go to the Palace Theatre for the Divas show. When we got there, they were playing some sort of game with two couples from the audience. The guys had to dress their wives as “divas” and then the guys also walked the runway. By applause, one of the couples was chosen as the winner. The husband was sent to the audience and the wife was taken back stage for a makeover. The show progressed with lots of singing and dancing as is common in most of the Carnival shows. The performers did a great job and, as always, the costumes, dancing and singing were great. During the finale, the lady who had won the “diva” competition was brought out on stage. She was all dressed up and walked the runway as part of the finale. It was a lot of fun and I was glad we had watched the show. After the show, we went to the stage on the Promenade Deck just outside the casino. The United was playing 80’s songs again and Brittany, the cruise director, was hosting an 80’s “name that tune” trivia competition. The 80’s was “my” decade, so I knew all of the songs except one. Everyone was dancing, singing and having a great time. After a while, we headed up to the Lido deck for an ice cream cone before bed. I felt like I had earned the right for a few extra sweet calories that day! Here is a picture of the second elegant night picture that we purchased: Friday, February 1st – St. Kitts Other than the Sea Day, this was our most leisurely morning. We had booked a stand-up paddleboard (SUP) excursion and we didn’t have to meet our transportation until 10am. We awakened at a leisurely pace (for us!) and had our standard breakfast on the Lido deck. Ron remarked that he was surprised at how quickly “cruise life” became a routine. We stopped back by our cabin to grab our belongings, get a couple of towels, and head out for our excursion. I felt that St. Kitts was the prettiest island on this cruise. We drove about 15 minutes until we reached Shipwreck Beach. There we met our guides for the day. One was named Cody and I’m afraid I can’t remember the other guy’s name. They were both very nice. They were from Texas and were living on the island working at Shipwreck Beach while their wives completed veterinary school. We were given life jackets and paddles and taken down to the beach. St. Kitts is known for its black sand beaches. I tried to get a picture of the sand where it glitters in the water but couldn’t get it to turn out. It looks black and dirty on your feet but it is really glittery in the water. The guys put a paddleboard up on a beach lounger and proceeded to demonstrate how to paddeboard. Ron and I had learned previously when visiting Virginia Beach a couple of years ago, so we were really looking forward to doing it again. After he finished with the demonstration, we were all taken into the water, given paddleboards and we headed down the coastline. Let me say at this point that using a SUP is MUCH easier in still water than in waves. It was much harder to balance because you were constantly adjusting your stance. The first time I paddleboarded in Virginia, it was in a secluded bay and there were no waves. This would not be the case today. In addition to waves, we were paddling directly into a strong headwind. I switched between standing and kneeling several times because my legs got tired and shaky from constantly adjusting for balance. We paddled for about 30 minutes down the coast and then turned around. It was much easier coming back because the wind was behind us. When we arrived back at Shipwreck Beach, we rested for a minute, then got our snorkel gear and went to see if we could find anything interesting. Unfortunately, there was very little to see that day. After swimming for a little while, we went back to the beach to dry out and rest a bit. It wasn’t very long before we were notified that our shuttle would be arriving soon. We gathered our stuff, headed up the hill and cleaned the black sand off our feet. While we were waiting for the shuttle, I saw a sign that said “Don’t Fee the Monkeys”. I was really hoping to see a wild monkey but, unfortunately, none were around that day. There was a mongoose in the rocks off to one side, but I was never able to get a close look or a picture. The shuttle arrived and we rode back through St. Kitts to the port area. We had a little more time that day so we spent a few extra minutes in the port area shopping for our magnet and ornament. Ron found a Hawaiian shirt that he really liked so I found a sundress and we decided to wear them to dinner that night. After all, we’re on vacation! As we were headed back to the ship there was a guy holding monkeys. I had hoped to see a wild monkey and these were interesting, but I really didn’t want to hold one, so we kept moving. We made our purchases and headed back to the ship for lunch. I don’t remember what we ate that day but it was a nice, leisurely lunch and day. We consulted the Fun Times and found that they were getting ready to play “Trivial Pursuit” in the Passage to India lounge. Sign me up! Off we went to play. We arrived and one of the entertainment staff (M&M was her nickname) told us to divide into teams. We teamed up with a lady from Illinois named Nancy. We had such a good time laughing and joking with her! We didn’t win the game but it was still a lot of fun. We stuck around afterwards to play 80’s trivia. Although I certainly remember 80’s very well, I couldn’t remember the exact years for many things that happened. Still, it was a lot of fun. After our “trivial” afternoon, we headed back up on deck to play miniature golf. This time, it was my turn to win. By that time, we had left port and it was time to go get showered and dressed for dinner. As we were getting ready for dinner, I happened to notice how bruised and scratched my legs were from hiking and paddleboarding. I was very glad my new dress was long! We donned our purchases from earlier that day and headed to the Imagination dining room. Ron was surprised to see how many other guys were wearing Hawaiian shirts in the dining room that night. We fit right in! That night after dinner there were two new comedians. We went to the 7:30 show and stayed through the 8:30 show. They were both funny and we had a good time. After the show, we headed to the piano bar and hung out there until it was time to head back to our cabin for the night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pghsteelerfan Posted February 10, 2019 #16 Share Posted February 10, 2019 I'm really enjoying reading your review and your pictures. This is, hands down, our favorite Caribbean itinerary that Carnival offers. We did this same cruise on Valor in 2013 and again on Liberty in 2015 (the last cruise we were on). We don't cruise very often, but I enjoy passing the time in between reading reviews. I have gotten some great idea of places to see/things to do through reviews here on Cruise Critic, so I really appreciate the time that goes into them. I'm hoping to do this itinerary again sometime soon. Thank you for taking the time and I'm looking forward to the rest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mlshum Posted February 10, 2019 Author #17 Share Posted February 10, 2019 19 minutes ago, pghsteelerfan said: I'm really enjoying reading your review and your pictures. This is, hands down, our favorite Caribbean itinerary that Carnival offers. We did this same cruise on Valor in 2013 and again on Liberty in 2015 (the last cruise we were on). We don't cruise very often, but I enjoy passing the time in between reading reviews. I have gotten some great idea of places to see/things to do through reviews here on Cruise Critic, so I really appreciate the time that goes into them. I'm hoping to do this itinerary again sometime soon. Thank you for taking the time and I'm looking forward to the rest. Thanks so much for reading along! This is the first time I’ve done a review and I’ve really enjoyed it. It has kind of “extended” my vacation feeling just a little. Lol. Like you, this has been my favorite itinerary so far. We only get to cruise once a year so we try to make it count. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cindik Posted February 11, 2019 #18 Share Posted February 11, 2019 Really enjoying reading your review! We did this cruise December 2018, and have it booked again for 2020. Easily our favorite cruise ever! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mlshum Posted February 11, 2019 Author #19 Share Posted February 11, 2019 18 minutes ago, cindik said: Really enjoying reading your review! We did this cruise December 2018, and have it booked again for 2020. Easily our favorite cruise ever! It’s awesome! I want to go again, too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amanda B70 Posted February 11, 2019 #20 Share Posted February 11, 2019 Thank you for doing this review. My sister and I did this cruise last May. I am currently trying to talk her into repeating it next May since we enjoyed it so much! Next time you are in St. Thomas you should look into a turtle snorkeling trip with St. Thomas Adventure Tours. It is an excellent small group tour that offers personal attention, includes lunch and transportation to and from the port. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mlshum Posted February 11, 2019 Author #21 Share Posted February 11, 2019 44 minutes ago, Amanda B70 said: Thank you for doing this review. My sister and I did this cruise last May. I am currently trying to talk her into repeating it next May since we enjoyed it so much! Next time you are in St. Thomas you should look into a turtle snorkeling trip with St. Thomas Adventure Tours. It is an excellent small group tour that offers personal attention, includes lunch and transportation to and from the port. Thank you! I will definitely check that out. I love snorkeling and I really enjoyed seeing the turtles. Scuba....not so much! Lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaniceB Posted February 11, 2019 #22 Share Posted February 11, 2019 Enjoying your review, I would love to do this cruise one day. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mlshum Posted February 11, 2019 Author #23 Share Posted February 11, 2019 Saturday, February 2nd – St. Maarten Is it possible that this is our last port?!?!?! Where did the time go!?!? On this day, we had decided to do two things, both unique to St. Maarten. The first was a visit to Maho Beach to watch planes land and the second was to ride the new Flying Dutchman zipline. This was the only port during the cruise where other ships were docked. Disney Wonder, Royal Caribbean Freedom of the Seas and Seabourn Odyssey were also in port that day so it was the most crowded port so far. We boarded our bus and set out for Maho Beach around 9am. As we drove through St. Maarten, the driver pointed out interesting places. You could still see hurricane damage from Hurricane Irma which devastated the island in 2017. They are doing a good job of rebuilding but they still have a lot of work ahead of them. The driver also pointed out Skull Island. This is supposedly the island from the movie “King Kong”. I couldn’t find any evidence on the internet to support that but I took a picture anyway! It was out in the ocean….all foggy, mysterious and creepy looking! After about a 30 minute ride, we arrived at Maho Beach. Here are some photos of the St. Maarten countryside: ...and the hurricane damage.... ..and finally, the creepy and mysterious Skull Island! Maho Beach itself isn’t very large. We entered at the Sunset Bar and Grill. Almost as soon as we walked into the covered dining area, we could see a plane coming in from the distance. We ran outside to watch it land and take some pictures. I was really glad we had gotten to see a plane because I had been concerned that there wouldn’t be that many to see. I had no idea that we would be able to see about six land during the short time we were there! We didn’t go swimming, although there were quite a few people swimming and even more sunbathing, but we did walk on the beach and take pictures every time a plane would land. We got some great pictures! The first pictures is the end of the runway, the rest and planes and beach. Our driver had told us to be ready to go at noon and it was about 11:00am by that time. Ron suggested that we order an early lunch. At first I said I thought we should wait because I didn’t think it would take that long at the Flying Dutchman but then agreed because… who knows? I guess you take the opportunities available to you!. I was really, really glad he had suggested ordering lunch. We ordered a pizza and our normal Diet Cokes. It took about 20 minutes before our lunch was ready. It was a beautiful day and the temperature was perfect so we really enjoying sitting on the deck, eating our pizza and running out to take pictures of the planes every time they would come in for a landing. A few minutes before noon, we walked out to meet our shuttle. We climbed back on the shuttle and settled in for another 30 minute ride to the Flying Dutchman. Let me stop here to describe the Flying Dutchman. This is the steepest zipline in the world. It begins at the top of the mountain where the elevation is more than 2800 ft and drops 1050 feet in about 45 seconds. The ride accommodates four riders at a time. You are strapped into a seat harness for the ride down the hill. If you are afraid of heights, you would definitely NOT enjoy this activity! Ron and I had ziplined several times before in Tennessee and in Belize and really enjoyed the experience, so we were looking forward to riding. We arrived at Rainforest Adventures and were told by our driver that the shuttle would return at 2:30 to take us back to the ship. We put our belongings in a locker and started up the hill. You are taken to the top of the hill on a ski lift. It’s a pretty ride and we watched multiple people going down the mountain on the Flying Dutchman. The ride itself takes about 20 minutes to the first drop off point. We exited the ski lift and walked over to a small deck area where they were suiting people for a traditional zipline. We got the harness, helmet and rollers and headed up a short path. At the top of the path there were four zip lines. None of them were particularly impressive as far as ziplines go. I think those first ziplines served to accomplish two tasks…..to sort of prepare you to zipline and to control the number of people waiting at the top of the mountain. The ziplines were fun but rather tame considering what was to come. When we finished with the four ziplines, we walked back down to the deck, removed our gear and boarded another, much shorter ski lift to take us up the mountain to the Flying Dutchman boarding area. Here are a couple of pretty bad photos of the mountain from which we would be jumping. Sorry, I don't have any better pictures! When we arrived at the top of the mountain, we were greeted by a nice lady who gave us a number. Our number was 52. The riders of the zipline were called by number. Four people would have the same number since four people rode at a time. There was extensive decking where you could take in the views from the top of the mountain and watch the people in front of you who were riding the Flying Dutchman. There were benches and a small bar where you could order drinks. It was a very nice waiting area. We arrived at the top of the hill around 2pm. When we got to the top of the mountain, number 42 was boarding the Flying Dutchman. My initial thought was that this would go pretty quickly because it’s a very fast ride to the bottom. I soon learned that it took about 10 minutes for the entire process of loading passengers, running them down the hill and bringing the chairs back to the top, if they continue the process without interruption. There were frequent safety checks including one time when they loaded the chairs with weights and sent them down the mountain. I’m not sure what they were testing but I was very glad that they were being so safety conscious! It was past 2:30 at that time so we had already missed the 2:30 shuttle back to the ship. There were several people from our group both behind and ahead of us, so I wasn’t worried about being left. One of the tour operators made an announcement that the Carnival Fascination visitors would have another 3:30 shuttle. The process of loading passengers continued very slowly. We finally got into the late 40’s and there were still a number of people waiting in line behind us. One couple from our ship told us that they had number 60. Group number 50 was called and there were only two guys in line. After waiting a few minutes, they called group 51. Again, no one showed up. We were more than happy to step up and join their group! Apparently, there were no other people with the number 52 either, so it worked out very well. Finally, we were officially in line to ride and there were only three groups ahead of us! While we were waiting in line, 3:30 came and went. Another announcement was made that Carnival Fascination shuttle would be there at 4pm to pick up passengers. We could hear them shuffling people who were still waiting and moving those who had a Carnival shore excursion to the front of the line so the ship could leave on time. This is the point where I was really REALLY glad we had booked through Carnival! I knew that they would not leave us even if we were late. We had absolutely no control over the amount of time it took to complete the activity and I would have been panicking if we had booked ourselves! Finally, around 3:45, it was our turn! The harnesses were ready. There was a gate in front of the harness that kept you from dropping several hundred feet off the platform. We had to climb up on the gate to get into the chair harness. There was a little hole for your feet. You grasped the top of the gate, put your feet in that hole and stepped up. The attendant then slipped the chair under you and you could sit back. That was a little scary. It appeared to be a simple chain link gate and the view from the gate, while spectacular, was scary. This gate was the only thing between me and a very long fall! We were strapped into the chairs, the gates opened, and we were off! It was an amazing ride! I forgot to hold up my arms for the photo but fortunately, Ron remembered. We were unstrapped at the bottom and we ran to the gift shop to grab our photos and get our belongings from the locker. It was around 4pm. We quickly bought our pictures, got our magnet, grabbed our things and headed outside. We could see the shuttle waiting at the bottom of the steps so we ran down and boarded the shuttle. We had only been on board a few minutes when they left for the port. As soon as they dropped us off at the port, I suppose they headed back to Rainforest Adventures for the last few people who were behind us on the hill. Here are pictures of the pictures we bought of our flight down the hill: We arrived at the port a little after 4pm. Since we knew that there were still people coming behind us, we took time to get a magnet and an ornament from one of the local vendors at the port. It was VERY crowded! We had hoped to get a t-shirt, too, but there just wasn’t time with the crush of people there. We had no idea how long it would take for the shuttle to return so we got our items and headed back to the ship. We boarded just a few minutes before 4:30. The ship didn’t leave St. Maarten right at 4:30 as advertised but they weren’t too much beyond that time. Again, I was sincerely glad we had booked that activity through Carnival because we certainly would have been left behind. I was also really glad Ron had suggested an early lunch at Maho Beach. It was a jam packed day and, I think, it was probably my favorite stop on this cruise. We stopped by the Atrium bar to grab a couple of Diet Coke’s before heading to our room to shower and change for dinner. Like I mentioned earlier in this story, we always like to tip more than what is expected. We always use prepaid gratuities and then give the room steward and wait staff an additional tip at the end of the cruise. These people work really hard and it’s just a tangible way for us to say “thank you”. While Ron was showering, I filled out thank you cards for Punta and Septia, the room stewards, and Luckson, Chamroy and Patricia, the wait staff. I put our extra tips in the card with a note telling them how much we appreciated them. I really do appreciate how hard they work to make our vacation a pleasant experience. (I forgot to mention Punta and Septia earlier. When we arrived on board, we met Septia. She was covering for Punta who, at that time, was sick. We met him later in the week. Both were very friendly but we didn’t have an opportunity to talk to either of them very much.) We headed up to dinner for the last time. I had lasagna with Chocolate Melting Cake for dessert. Ron had the flat iron steak with pie a la mode for dessert. We chatted with our table mates and said goodbye to everyone. It’s hard to believe how quickly time passes once you step on board! After dinner we went to the comedy show one last time and watched both comedians. After that, it was time to head back to the room to pack. We had a relatively late flight so we took a late debarkation. Our bags had to be outside the room by 10:15. We began sorting and packing, trying to decide what we would need for the next morning and what to go ahead and put in the luggage. We finally got it finished and the bags were set outside. We talked a little about going back up on deck to see what else we could find to do but we were both tired so we decided just to hang out in our cabin and rest. We would be traveling all day the next day and would get home quite late. I really don’t know why traveling makes me so tired, but it always does. Sunday, February 3rd – Puerto Rico Well, it happened….our cruise was over. As much as I love our yearly cruises and look forward to them SO MUCH, I am usually ready to get back home and back to normal when it is over. This was no exception. We woke up at our normal time, were easily out of the cabin by 8:30 and headed to the Lido deck for one last breakfast. Since it was such a nice day and the dining area was crowded, we opted to take a table on deck to wait. I was really glad we did! It was in the 70’s in Puerto Rico and I knew we were heading north in just a few hours to where it would be winter again. I wanted to enjoy the perfect temperatures as long as possible! We had a leisurely breakfast and just chatted and read as we waited for our zone number to be called. Our trivia friend, Nancy, had boarded in Barbados and stopped by to say goodbye as she was headed out to explore Old San Juan. It was nice to chat with her for a minute before we left. Our zone number was called and we went downstairs to find our luggage and go through customs. I think this was the fastest this part of the process had ever gone. We found our luggage almost immediately, got in a relatively short line and were outside the terminal in about 10 – 15 minutes. Our airport transfer was waiting. We dropped our luggage and boarded to the short trip to the airport. Here is our traditional "our cruise is over and now we're pouting" picture: The first thing we learned upon arriving at the airport is that you cannot check your luggage earlier than four hours before your flight. Our flight did not leave until 5:46 so we had a long wait ahead of us. At this point, we were both tired and ready to stay put, so we decided to just find an out of the way place to park for a couple of hours. I got us a couple of Diet Coke’s and we settled in for a long wait. Again….our Kindles were much appreciated! While there are a few places to get something to eat there at the airport entrance, we wanted to have lunch later since our flight was late and we wouldn’t be able to find any dinner until we were back in Charlotte. We usually eat dinner around 5:30 to 6pm. Around 1:45, we were finally able to check our luggage and go through security. One of the things that surprised me about the Puerto Rico airport is the number of fried chicken places to get something to eat. Also, there really isn’t a place to sit while you are eating unless you go to one of the restaurants that has its own dining room. We really didn’t want that much to eat so we got some chicken and found a gate area that wasn’t in use at that time and wasn’t crowded. We got up and wandered around several times and finally headed to our own gate to wait for our flight. Our flight was right on time. We boarded without incident. Ron took the window seat and I sat in the middle seat. He was napping shortly after take off. I played a game on my iPad and read a little. I wasn’t able to take a nap but I did manage to pass the time. The flight was 3 ½ hours and we were back in Charlotte around 9pm. We found our luggage and caught the shuttle to long term parking. We were ready to just go home. We drove through a fast food restaurant and hit the road. We made it home in the early morning hours and went immediately to bed. We were back up in about six hours and back in the office for a normal work day. Soo…….that is our story. It was a wonderful cruise and I enjoyed it tremendously. I now have a year long wait ahead of me before the next one. Thanks so much for reading my first review and I hope you enjoyed it! Until next year….I will be lurking here on Cruise Critic! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audcc77 Posted February 12, 2019 #24 Share Posted February 12, 2019 Excellent review !! We've done this itinerary for the 3rd time and were actually on the same sailing with you. We've basically followed the poster pgsteelerfan and did the Valor and the Liberty at about the same times. We also did the Flying Dutchman through Carnival but did the less expensive one for about $100 pp. The difference is we went at 8:30 a.m., rode the sky lift, did the Flying D and that's all, and were back down by 9:30 or 10:00 with nothing else to do but wait for the shuttle until 12:30, so we had to pay our own taxi back to the port. We thought the Flying Dutchman was fun also. Never did zip-lining in my life. Was it worth $100 pp? Maybe, just b/c now I can say I've done it. I didn't realize they had photos in the gift shop. Sitting across the room from me, my husband remarks "Oh, yeah. I knew that." SMH. We found out about the airline not wanting to take the bags any sooner than 4 hours. This is what what did. Through Island Marketing for $58 for 2 people, we got a couple loungers on the beach, umbrella, and lunch included. We got there at 9:00 and left at 1:00-1:30. It cost $20 taxi from port to the resort (7 min drive), but only $5 Uber to get to the airport (5 min drive.). Loved your review. Thanks for writing it. Also, the photos were great ! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mlshum Posted February 12, 2019 Author #25 Share Posted February 12, 2019 29 minutes ago, audcc77 said: Excellent review !! We've done this itinerary for the 3rd time and were actually on the same sailing with you. We've basically followed the poster pgsteelerfan and did the Valor and the Liberty at about the same times. We also did the Flying Dutchman through Carnival but did the less expensive one for about $100 pp. The difference is we went at 8:30 a.m., rode the sky lift, did the Flying D and that's all, and were back down by 9:30 or 10:00 with nothing else to do but wait for the shuttle until 12:30, so we had to pay our own taxi back to the port. We thought the Flying Dutchman was fun also. Never did zip-lining in my life. Was it worth $100 pp? Maybe, just b/c now I can say I've done it. I didn't realize they had photos in the gift shop. Sitting across the room from me, my husband remarks "Oh, yeah. I knew that." SMH. We found out about the airline not wanting to take the bags any sooner than 4 hours. This is what what did. Through Island Marketing for $58 for 2 people, we got a couple loungers on the beach, umbrella, and lunch included. We got there at 9:00 and left at 1:00-1:30. It cost $20 taxi from port to the resort (7 min drive), but only $5 Uber to get to the airport (5 min drive.). Loved your review. Thanks for writing it. Also, the photos were great ! That is so interesting that we were on the same sailing! We loved the itinerary and hope to do it again sometime. I loved the Flying Dutchman. Like you said, now we can say we’ve done it! I’ll remember your advice for alternatives to going straight to the airport the next time we’re there. To be honest, we were tired so sitting and reading wasn’t all bad. Thanks for reading my first attempt at a review! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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