SeaDream 1, San Juan, April 16-23 review.

[Jim Avery]

As many will remember from these boards, Lois & I were on the infamous kiddie trip in March of 2005. This gave us pause in our plans to sail on SeaDream and subsequently we did other things. After a period of time, good memories tend to override less good ones. So, into the breach one more time. In a word: Great!

To make life even better, we scored some first class tickets at a price only $400 each over the cheapest coach available to us. I'll take that deal any time for a longer flight like to San Juan. The only glitch with the plan so far is the tickets were on Delta. Dum de dum dum. We bought insurance and were told if it is a strike, no problem. If Delta goes bankrupt, tough cookies. Boy are we feeling good now, expensive trip, expensive flight, weak insurance. I didnt dare brag about the good first class prices on the posts for fear of divine retribution. Only the day before departure did they agree to terms. Yahoo, lets party!

The flight was great, on time and our bag arrived in SJU. (More on bags later). There is a great deal of difference in the front seats and we agree this is a perfect way to start a SeaDream holiday. The last time Lois & I were in the San Juan airport, it was an open air affair with Bacardi bars on every corner. It has changed into a modern, efficient airport that could be anywhere. Taxi into Old San Juan took approximately 25 minutes. Piece of cake.

We stayed overnight at the Sheraton Old San Juan as we particularly wanted to see some of the old town. The hotel is ok but is very well located. Rooms are pricey and very average. Food ok but pricey. In fact all of San Juan is fairly pricey and their economy seems to be booming. The only bargains we (Lois) found were in the jewelry stores. It is truly amazing how in any city, she naturally gravitates to those type stores. When I speak of "we" finding bargains, I am using the Royal "We" as my function is limited to carrying the bag holding the credit cards.

The hotel sold us a "partial harborview" room and it was partial but it was the right partial as next morning, precisely at 7:00am, our window was filled with SD1 as she docked across the street at a new terminal. Thats right, across the street and maybe 1/2 block down. We have had cabs drop us farther from the ship than this hotel. Location alone makes it worth the tariff.

While waiting to board at 2:00 pm, we walked more of Old San Juan and made it to El Morro, the fortress guarding the entry to San Juan harbor. Recommend this walking tour to anyone as Old San Juan is very pretty and has some wonderful old neighborhoods, churches, museums to rival some European cities. The fortress of El Morro is very well maintained and has some spectacular sea views. But now, it is time to get ready for the show.

The new terminal is functional and air conditioned. There are limited seats and SeaDream had no water or other stuff available that we had seen in the past. Possible regulations restrictions but nice for those who arrive early because of flights and have no other place to go. Embarcation on these ships, for those who have only been on larger ships, will spoil you forever. Took the usual 2 minutes. As luck would have it, we were first up the gangway. Coming down as we were heading up was Christophe Rey, the handsome Frenchman many of you remember from the Top of The Yacht which he ran apparently effortlessly and with great style. Christophe greeted us as if we were favorite family and it certainly got our cruise off to a great start. He has been aboard for all our SD cruises and has been promoted to Provisions Master aboard. This keeps him out of the spotlight for passengers but we saw him a few times. Congratulations Christophe.

Onboard, we were met, as usual with the wonderful cold towels and champagne. Home again. There were quite a few new faces as could be expected and several old friends have been promoted. Donatas Budraitis is Maitre d' Hotel, Tomasz Jadczyk is Hotel Manager (and Caviar Splash specialist), Clive Carrington is a very personable and capable Activities Director and, as usual Valter Berg is Master of SD 1. Full compliments to the entire staff for showing all a very good time.

We were assigned cabin 214 and the charming and efficient Maribel attended to us. Our cabin was spotless, comfortable and, as we were on 2 deck, awash with the pleasant sounds of the sea when underway at night. Great sleeping here.

One small difference noted could probably be mentioned here. Since the "Norwalk" outbreak last fall, staff have extra duties which include cleaning the ship inside and out almost continually. The ship is truly spotless everywhere. Rails are polished time and again and the carpets are vacuumed often. Bulkheads are washed down and all this takes time. It makes the service sometimes appear a bit slower but never anything but pleasant smiles and the desire to make all things right. I mention it only as it takes up extra time for the staff but then again, we met a couple from that cruise aboard on the complimentary cruise given to those passengers and I am glad they are doing what they can to prevent that from ever recurring. While on this subject, the passengers affected said that SeaDream did everything right to handle the situation and took care of all arrangements and costs. Their words, "this is how businesses should treat their customers". Glad to hear that when the chips were down, SeaDream came through.

OK, back to business. Sailaway was, as usual, on time and wonderful. As we sat at The Top of The Yacht with cocktails and new friends, we watched the Carnival Destiny a few piers away. They were still trying to get aboard as we were on Martinis. This is getting quite long but there is so much to cover on this really good cruise. I'll post for now and add more tomorrow.

All the best,

Jim.

[Archipelago]

I will be there next year . Were you able to have a late check out at the Sheraton ? I am in the Starwood Preferred Guest program so that would be good for me and may be able to get a late check out . My voyage leaves on a Sunday. Thank You !!

[landraceem]

I'd like to reiterate Jim's kudos to the crew of the SDI. We sailed her the week of April 9th out of San Juan. It was an amazing trip and the crew was so attentive and enthusiastic. We really felt like we were living a dream.

 

The only problem we encountered, and I am a native Floridian with many boating hours under my belt, was some really rough seas. We had room 208 and some nights I thought I would roll out of bed. We had one at-sea day where we traveled from Jost Van Dyke to St. Barts in the late afternoon. The seas were so rough I was actually seasick. I noticed some other passengers were too. The only ones handling it well were those with the little patch behind their ears.

 

Luckily the ship's doctor has a variety of pills to cure the seasickness (coupled with a drink by the pool) and the phenagren supplied for the night time bouts truly puts you to sleep.

 

Point is, even if you think you don't need it, bring something for seasickness just in case. It's no skin off your back and will make the trip truly perfect.

[Jim Avery]

Archipelago:

Yes, we asked for and received a one hour late checkout. 1pm from noon. They were very busy so it probably depends on time of year as to if you can get a later checkout.

 

Back to the Caribbean. For those interested in the children issue, there were 8 aboard (as best I could count, they do move about) instead of the reported 4 that SeaDream told us of 7 weeks out. These children all appeared to be from European countries and were all well behaved and were usually invisible. No impact on this cruise for us but we feel we met everyone on board except the parents of kids as they were always entertaining their children. Too bad, there was a very good mix of passengers on board. Dont get me wrong, I love children, they taste just like chicken. Thats a joke for the humor impaired. Back to the passenger mix, Captain Berg told us there were 108 passengers and 95 crew aboard. The majority of passengers were Americans but a good representation from Canada, Australia, England, France, Mexico, etc. The passenger mix is one of our favorite things about SD. Do some math with me. 2 ships x 110 maximum passenger load x 50 weeks per year (2 weeks for maintenance?) = 11,000 passengers total possible in a year out of 7 Billion or so on the planet. Carnival has that aboard on any given day. Are we lucky or what?

First port was St. Croix. A new stop for us so we booked the horseback riding in the "rain forest". Translate to scrubby woods near the beach but only on the beach for a photo op. Lois gets the prize for survival as the Martini fest at the Top of The Yacht last night caused a bit of pain. The lady leading the horse romp gave us detailed biologic information on horse digestive and eliminative systems, through a bull horn no less. Enjoy.

Met new friends on this excursion and the weather was perfect. Had a brisk walk and some local beer and back home to SD1. We had dinner this night with the Chief Engineer. Wonderful meal and the usual perfect service. Had the never ending wine glass and then to Top of The Yacht for pajama party night. Another martini fest but this one caught me.

Morning in St. Barts. At least I think it is morning. We were in St. Barts on the last SD and it is a beautiful island but I booked the snorkel trip. What an ordeal snorkeling while "seasick" from martini overload. Managed to hold together and see some colorful fish and rock formations. Have seen better snorkeling, most notably Chankanaab in Cozumel, but my self induced misery might have clouded my judgement. After the snorkel, my lovely wife took me ashore and into the first bar we saw. After 2 wonderful, icy Carib beers, I declared the war over and felt up to a day of SD fun. Got a great $12 t shirt for $26. Thats St Barts. Back aboard for lunch and spent the afternoon alternating between the Bali beds and the pool. Used the waverunner off the stern platform so it was a complete day at sea. Remarkably, we sensibly went to bed early this night.

Wednesday, we anchored off Falmouth, Antigua, a short walk to Nelson's Dockyard. Nelson's is very interesting in that it transports you back to England in the 1700s but with the opportunity to buy a cold Carib and get a t shirt. Well worth seeing though. The highlight of this stop and possibly the whole trip was the helicopter to Montserrat to see the volcano and associated damage up close and personal. We took a van from the anchorage across the island to Caribbean Helicopters. This is by far the best run business I have come across in the Caribbean. The ground staff and pilot were friendly, capable, and very informative. The weather was perfect as we lifted off in Antigua. The water and reefs simply stunning from 500'. As we approached Montserrat, the pilot brought us up to date on the damage and recovery operations. We flew very close to the cone of the volcano, so close we could smell the vapors and see falling rocks. The pilot said the cone was recently growing rapidly and they feared another eruption. Nice to hear from a seat in a chopper approximately 500 yards from the dome! The devastation is complete on the South end of the island. The remainder of the airport is visible sticking out from under the mountain. The capital city has a large number of houses completely destroyed. A larger number is buried under the mountain but at the same time, there are many hillside homes that appear untouched but are nevertheless abandoned. The new roads scraped into the ash and lava fields show the spirit of the locals. It must have been a lot like kicking an ant heap when the eruption started but now there are efforts to overcome. We understand approximately 4,000 currently live on the island. If you get in the area, take this tour.

Back on board, we enjoyed the SeaDream past passengers party with Captain Berg and his staff. About 20 showed up for the party and had a great time. On to dinner and another great meal. After dinner, Captain Berg steered the ship very close to Montserrat and the entire top of the mountain was glowing red. Lava was flowing down the sides. Had no idea it was this active while we were flying about. We were covered with falling ash but the deck crew had it all clean by morning. Truly and awesome sight.

Will pause for now but three more fun islands to go.

Jim.

[Jim Avery]

Back to another day in paradise. So far the weather has been picture perfect. We understand the week before had some wind, high seas, and rain. Ok so far. Also this trip, we met a new (for us) Activities Director, Clive Carrington. Clive is a gregarious Welshman who embodies the perfect demeanour and engergy level for this job. Clive was always ready to answer questions or organize a pub crawl. Clive is a great addition to the ship. We also learned that former Activities Director, the talented James Cabello is scheduled to be aboard for shorter relief periods. Either way, you cant go wrong with these guys.

Next up was Anguilla or "the eel" in Spanish for its shape. Basically a low flat island, we agreed that it could be one of our favorites. Relatively undeveloped by other islands standards, the locals were very friendly and seemed actually glad to see us, a change from some islands. This island is all about beaches and we took in the best at Shoal Bay East. This is a short cab ride from our anchorage in Sandy Ground which takes a turn through the central town. Look quickly or you will miss it. The beach at Shoal Bay is spectacular with some of the best sand seen yet. There are coral reefs just offshore for snorkeling and to keep the surf down. We rented an umbrella and chairs but never used them, the water was too appealing. A few Caribs and early sunburn later and its time to go home to the ship. Another relaxing afternoon and then an Indian Dinner was our choice as the Chef aboard, Sudesh Kishore had been adding Indian influences to other dishes. We particularly like Indian Cuisine and fully enjoyed this meal. Sudesh is very personable and very available. We spoke with him several times and he was always ready to accomodate. In true SeaDream fashion, we were speaking on deck and I mentioned that we had been ashore for the fish & chips at lunch the day before and could I have some this day for lunch. Sudesh was most apologetic saying there was no more cod ready. Ok so no big deal, I was piling on the pounds anyway but to my surprise, during the Chef's Degustation meal the next night, yep, fish & chips perfectly prepared and delivered to my table as an interim course. These things make it very hard to go back to work.

Next morning we dropped off the visitors for The Baths on Virgin Gorda. As we had done this last trip, we stayed aboard for the trip around the island to the anchorage near The Bitter End. For anyone seeing Virgin Gorda, the Baths are a must and also includes a spectacular set of views from the ride over the mountain to meet the ship. Took the tender to The Bitter End Yacht Club and had a look about then back to the ship and the Bali Beds. This day it rained off and on. The only rain we have ever seen on SeaDream but actually cooling and very pleasant. Tough day but tonight is Foxy's.

Captain Berg anchored the ship in Grand Bay, Jost Van Dyke about 9:00pm and we tendered ashore to Foxy's Bar. The quintessential Caribbean Beach bar was full of boaties and locals as well as a large contingent of SeaDreamers. All had a good time and enjoyed the music. One tip. If you want a Foxy's t shirt, go in the day time. They dont bother selling t shirts at night. Too busy with drinks.

Next morning was repositioning to White Bay Jost Van Dyke for the Beach Party. Grand Finale of the trip is always anticipated and this time was perfect. The weather co operated, the surf was calm, the food outstanding, and the crew, as usual, seems to have as much fun as we do. This is truly an event to enjoy. The champagne and caviar flowed freely creating great photo ops. Take one of the waterproof disposable cameras for this alone. You wont regret it as the pictures say it all.

The location at White Bay is beach bar picture perfect. We manage to go to One Love Bar just next door to "our" beach and down to the Soggy Dollar for what I have determined after extensive research to be the best Painkiller. Nutmeg is ground directly not shaken from a can. Cant go wrong here.

Back home and another relaxing evening and great meal. Have to pack the bag and put it out tonight. Somethings up. Sounds like they are making plans to dump us. Dont like the thought.

Sunday, go home day. Bummer. One gripe I have is the Sunday to Sunday scheduling. Makes going home and trying to adjust to work Monday a real drag. This day went well though with breakfast outdoors and then Immigration clearance. Took just a few minutes and was totally painless compared to other experiences on larger ships. Some exchanging of addresses and hugs goodbye and its suddenly time to turn our home over to others. Sunday in San Juan is empty and our cabbie must be retired NASCAR as we made the airport in 15 minutes! I know I saw 80 on the speedo at one point. Woohoo! Our return flight was very nice and on time. Only one small problem, no bag. Better this way than outbound but they managed to find it and cheerfully delivered it to us at 1:00am Monday. Back to reality. I have to say, this was one great trip in all aspects. Once again we are SeaDreamers and ready to go again.

All the best.

Jim & Lois.

[luvtojump]

Jim,

That was a great review. I was reliving my latest SD experience with your every word.

Many thanks,

Lisa

[DisneyJen]

Thanks for the review Jim! Sounds like you had a wonderful week ... makes me sad that we will be sailing Seabourn instead of SeaDream this December.

[ctbjr1309]

Wonderful review, Jim. I was aware of the children issue that you experienced previously and had been holding my breath awaiting your review. Glad it worked out great.

 

Thanks for the good news that James will be returning at least for short periods of relief. That is great to hear.

 

I too concur with your reaction to the Sunday/Sunday scheduling. I have been noting my displeasure on guest questionnaires ever since they implemented this odd scheduling but as you can see our complaints seem to have fallen on deaf ears.

 

Originally, I believe that the concept of this Sunday scheduling was to allow couples to get married on Saturday and then get to the ship for Sunday departure. I don't know about anybody else out there but the number of people I have met who have taken advantage of this scheduling pales in comparison to the number of us who don't like it one bit. Of course, we keep coming back so it's not annoying enough to send us to the competition but it does take away from the experience to start back at work the very next day.

[Archipelago]

Thank You Jim for the reply and the review !! I didn't realize that all of the voyages started on Sunday but to solve the work problem when I get to Barcelona ; I'm just going to take the rest of the week until Friday or Saturday and go to Madrid !!!!:D That's the advantage of being self-employed , but the disadvantage is that I can't go often and neither can I go when I want to sometimes!!:(

[zqvol]

Great review Jim, now if I can just get FT to bite the bullet and get us back on board.

[vandrefalk]

Great review, Jim! Brought back memories of our Nov 04 cruise on SD1 -- had lunch in the Sheraton that time and were very excited to see SD across the way!

Glad to know Christophe is doing well! We thoroughly enjoyed having him at Top of the Yacht.

Were on SD2 this past January and will sail again next Jan -- but we'll get back on SD1 one of these days.

Vandrefalk

[Jim Avery]

Thanks for the kind words. Its easy to write a good review when the trip was so good. Sorry I did not go to the computer each day but I took notes instead. No time for computers on board. You might notice, once again I did not get around to reviewing the exercise equipment in the gym. Never got around to it. It is amazing on a ship with no chorus line, no rock climbing wall, no planetarium, no shopping malls that you can go a week and not fit in everything one wants to do. Didnt even work in a massage but always seemed busy or busy at doing the Bali Beds.

ZQVOL, keep at FT. I know she can hold a grudge but it sure was fun. This itinerary was better to our tastes than last time with Nevis and Saba and the duplicated islands are ones we particularly like. We are trying to figure when the next time might be. Half the fun is planning.

Jim.

[frequent traveler]

Oh Jim -

It's not holding a grudge (well maybe it is!) but two consecutive years of disappointment -- don't think I could take another one - especially only 4 months away from departure. The islands you visited sound fascinating --so glad you and Lois enjoyed. Oh Well, maybe when ZQVol's teaching schedule allows us to go on non-holiday weeks . . . .

No mention of the casino or the piano bar -- any late nights there?

Ft

[Jim Avery]

Thanks FT:

Knew I could count on you to remind me. The casino (blackjack tables only) was well attended most nights. Piano bar player was very good. When he sang Sinatra, he sounded like Sinatra, when he sang Stevie Wonder, he sounded like Stevie, etc. Had a great play list. Didnt stay in the Piano Bar much, we foolishly spent our time outdoors at The Top of The Yacht. Champagne was Perrier Jouet and some others I forget but all would meet with your approval. Caviar was plentiful at Captains party, Past passenger shindig, and of course the Beach splash. Did my part at all events.

Jim.

[dr.bill]

Hey Jim,

 

Thanks for the great review which I read with much interest as wifey and I are getting ready for the May Atlantic crossing on SeaDream I. Your trip sounded great. I love Perrier Joulet, hope they still have some. Can't even think of what to ask as this is my first cruise of any kind. Sure sounds fun and also looking forward to Old San Juan beforehand--we're staying at El Convento. Hoping the luggage all makes it.

 

Anybody else making this trip?

[Jim Avery]

Hi dr. bill:

You are definately starting at the top. I know you will have a great trip. We wanted to stay at El Convento but they had a 2 night min. at that time. Walked by it and thought it beautiful. Will stay there next time. Is facing a beautiful square in some of the best area of Old San Juan. Also a short walk to El Morro. Short cab ride or 6 block downhill walk to the dock. What are you going to do with all the weight you will gain on this trip? I generally gain a pound a day. Work hard for it and it is well worth it. My gauge is when I lose the extra weight, I can book the next one.

All the best,

Jim.

[dr.bill]

Hi, Jim. You bring up a timely subject, the weight gain. We resolved after the year-end holidays to lose some of the weight we've packed on over the last few years. Mostly working too hard, eating too well. We did a good job, I 've lost 27 pounds and my wife 20. She's about at her goal weight and I'm only 12 or so over.

 

We promised each other to work out every day on the ship, but we'll see how long that lasts. We love good food and drink. I'll probably outdo your pound a day but at least I've got some practice at losing it. I'm sure I won't want to get back to work and a new a diet--but oh well.

[carlylecat]

What a great morning I had starting it off sailing on sd1 with you through your posts.

 

I too was holding my breath worried you would hit 20 or so after easter kiddies, glad that went well

 

Glad the Sheraton worked for you, it really is the best location for a sd departure, felt your pain as the credit card and bag holder shuffling from store to store in OSJ...

 

Sounds like quite a few new folks in key roles on SD1 from January until now, hotel manager and activities director, Christophe replacing Fabian in procurement, is that due to the upcoming South American itinerary or just normal turnover or am I not remembering the hotel director's name correctly, big burly guy that was tremendous to us on our trip.

 

Thanks for sharing, welcome home, time to strat planning the next trip :)

[ctbjr1309]

Sounds like quite a few new folks in key roles on SD1 from January until now, hotel manager and activities director, Christophe replacing Fabian in procurement, is that due to the upcoming South American itinerary or just normal turnover or am I not remembering the hotel director's name correctly, big burly guy that was tremendous to us on our trip.

 

 

I don't think that it is turnover but rather people going on vacation being replaced by others returning to work.

 

I think that the hotel manager to whom you refer is Sean. He is indeed a great guy, like his colleague Tomasz who is currently on board SD1 as hotel manager. Sean was on board as hotel manager while we were on SD1 in Jan. and will be back from holiday fairly soon, I expect.

[carlylecat]

It was Sean I was misremembering, glad he is still aboard

 

Hard concept for me people taking a vacation away from my favorite vacataion experience, I guess work as hard as those people do and you need it...

 

Good to hear James is coming back as well, his music skills were pretty darn good

[AMIcruiser]

:) Just finished Sea Dream 1 (4/23 to 4/30) First time on Sea Dream.

Best cruise experience yet and we've done Radisson & Silverseas. Do

miss the balconies, however. Love the intimacy of the small ship. (Yacht,sorry) There were no children (0) on this cruise, but a few

adults that acted like them. Mostly in good fun though. We're trying

to get a group of friends together for a future Sea Dream cruise.

Thanks to many of you for your insights before we took this cruise. They

were very helpful.

[yara]

We went on SDII over Easter and had some children onboard. They were very well behaved. Hardly saw any of them up at the Top. Clive was great with them and arranged "diving class" in the pool one day and "egghunt" om Easter Eve. I would not recomend to take children because it could get sooo boooring for them if they were on a cruise with no other children.

[frequent traveler]

Thanks FT:

Knew I could count on you to remind me. The casino (blackjack tables only) was well attended most nights. Piano bar player was very good. When he sang Sinatra, he sounded like Sinatra, when he sang Stevie Wonder, he sounded like Stevie, etc. Had a great play list. Didnt stay in the Piano Bar much, we foolishly spent our time outdoors at The Top of The Yacht. Champagne was Perrier Jouet and some others I forget but all would meet with your approval. Caviar was plentiful at Captains party, Past passenger shindig, and of course the Beach splash. Did my part at all events.

Jim.

 

Jim and Lois

Just got back from a business trip to New York. Attended a two and half days seminar on the NCL Dawn -- I felt like I was in prison compared to a SD experience (on this trip many cabins were single occupancy so I was only traveling with 1100 or so of attorneys, marketing, and logistics executives). Though crew members tried valiantly -- no comparison. Food was so bland I actually lost weight!! No Bvlgari toiletries and you actually had to pay for items you took from the mini-fridge.:eek: Locked myself out of the room and had to wait 20 minutes for someone to come up from the bowels of the ship to let me in. Ship was so noisy and crowded and it was only half full!! And with the house champagne being a barely tolerable Spanish brand at $6.50 USD and a Cosmopolitan (made with Smirnoff) being $11.00 USD - I certainly didn't have to worry about a hangover. (My beloved Perrier was not available and Pelligrino was $8.00 USD per liter).

 

Glad to read all your comments and that you had such a great trip - the board has been quiet lately. [Disney Jen and CTBJR - where are you?:confused: ] ZQVol is on his "run away" from job, children, and spouse trip this week on another mass cruise line. Not many options for the Caribbean were available for his break between semesters. And you can tell what a thrilling Saturday night I'm having.

 

Take care and keep us posted on your next cruise.

 

FT

[ctbjr1309]

I was only traveling with 1100 or so attorneys, marketing, and logistics executives. FT

 

Wow. Don't you know how to live it up!!! I thought that I was styling for the last 3 days in South Florida with 200 of my closest lawyer friends. I had no idea how good it could get!

 

Bet you're glad to be home, as am I.

 

Happy Mother's Day to you FT, DisneyJen and all the other Mothers on this board.

[frequent traveler]

Oh yes, I am so glad to be home and pulling weeds from the back yard.

We will be in Orlando the week of August 6 to move DD home from her semester at Disney University and since we missed you last time, (what a zoo Orlando is during spring break) hopefully we can break bread and much wine sometime during this trip.

FT