First-time cruising--Princess 9/19 so. carib

[rachel0]

Hello,

 

My husband & I will be taking our 1st cruise in Sept on Golden Princess. I'm looking for any tips/advice to make everything go smoothly. OUr ports:

 

san juan (we'll be staying there a few days before the cruise)

barbados

st. lucia

antigua

st. maarten

st. thomas

 

Specifically, I'd like advice on:

 

1) We're planning to scuba and are getting certified as I write. Does anyone what dive operators PRincess uses in any of these ports and whthere i should use princess or tyr to book on my own. I think it will make my husband tense to use a non-princess operator insofar as fear of not getting to the boat on time, but if the boat's operators really suck, maybe there's a way to work around that? I'd love to hear anyone's experiences!

 

2) any favorite places to shop in any of those port--or things that we should look out for?

 

3) is there anything that needs to get done right away upon embarkation?

 

4) any tips to make dis/embarkation smoother or faster?

 

5) any good diving operators in san juan? Or tour operators?

 

That's it--that's a lot. Thank you all!

[rdanderson]

rachel0,

 

We are on the same cruise. We have a roll call started in the roll call section. There are 37 of us so far that have posted. Please join us on that thread.

 

As to your questions, my husband is a diver and right now still prefers to stick with the ship's excursions. I think mainly because he does not have time to research a good dive shop. There are several divers in our group.

 

I have only been to St. Thomas on the list of places that we are going and the shopping is great there.

 

See you on the roll call board.

 

Becky

[rachel0]

Rdanderson:

hi! How neat to see other people who will be on this cruise! I will definitely check out the roll call--I see you've cruised on NCL before, why did you make the change to Princess?

 

Thanks Rachel

[me@sea]

Below are some tips I gathered from CC and others who had cruised on things to do upon embarkation or just general tips:

 

• Make copies of your passport and put them in several places (luggage, carryon, etc.)
  
• Carry-on
  
  • Pack bathing suit/cover-up
    
  • Outfit for dinner
    

  [*]Pack

  • Outlet strip
    
  • Clothespin
    
  • post-it notes and a pen
    
  • plastic grocery bags, ziplock bags
    
  • extension cord
    
  • highlighter
    
  • $1 and $2 bills
    

  [*]Ask room steward:

  • 2 copies of Patter
    
  • soft feather pillows
    
  • write what you want for breakfast on your card and they will bring it
    

  [*]Try

  • Afternoon Tea
    
  • Take the ship tour the first afternoon
    
  • Go to the champagne waterfall
    
  • Try a late night swim or jacuzzi, way aft under the stars,
    
  • Take the ship tour the first afternoon
    
  • Make reservations for dinners and spa appointments
    
  • to catch the sailaway from you main port, with drink in hand if possible (upper deck recommended)
    
  • wake up extra early as the ship is docking into at least one port
    

[CruiseFever]

Below are some tips I gathered from CC and others who had cruised on things to do upon embarkation or just general tips:

 

• Make copies of your passport and put them in several places (luggage, carryon, etc.)
  
• Carry-on
  
  • Pack bathing suit/cover-up
    
  • Outfit for dinner
    

  [*]Pack

  • Outlet strip
    
  • Clothespin
    
  • post-it notes and a pen
    
  • plastic grocery bags, ziplock bags
    
  • extension cord
    
  • highlighter
    
  • $1 and $2 bills
    

  [*]Ask room steward:

  • 2 copies of Patter
    
  • soft feather pillows
    
  • write what you want for breakfast on your card and they will bring it
    

  [*]Try

  • Afternoon Tea
    
  • Take the ship tour the first afternoon
    
  • Go to the champagne waterfall
    
  • Try a late night swim or jacuzzi, way aft under the stars,
    
  • Take the ship tour the first afternoon
    
  • Make reservations for dinners and spa appointments
    
  • to catch the sailaway from you main port, with drink in hand if possible (upper deck recommended)
    
  • wake up extra early as the ship is docking into at least one port
    

 

Thanks for posting this!

[Pam in CA]

One thing you can do upon embarkation is to go to your cabin, put your carry-on in the closet, then go and explore. You'll find embarkation on Princess very fast and efficient. The biggest hold-up is the ship's photographers taking pictures of people as they board. I always go around them and right on board. (I never have and never will buy a boarding photo.)

 

I preferred the shopping in St. Maarten over St. Thomas.

[bx47]

You will love the golden and this itinerary. Fabulous ship. One of our regrets was not being able to get reservations for Sabatini's. We tried too late to get reservations for the last night. The reason we wanted to go there the last night was we felt that the menu that night, at least for us, was somewhat disappointing. As far as the ports go, we just wanted to go to a beach in each port. St Lucia was the only excursion we did. We booked it when we arrived. It was an all day tour (10 - 4 ) mostly by boat but then on land to see the waterfall and volcano. It included time to swim and snorkle at Anse Chasternet. It was a wonderful day. Worth the $60 pp. We really did very little shopping. St thomas and St Maarten have great prices on liquor. There are many jewelry stores on all the islands but we have used Shivas in St Maarten before and were always very satisfied with both price and quality.

[melissa_bel]

Hi Rachel,

Congratulations on booking your first cruise! You're gonna love it.

 

 

Question 1: Can't answer

 

2) any favorite places to shop in any of those port--or things that we should look out for?

In St-Thomas, a lot of people like the shopping at the Royal Dane Mall, Riise and also Havensight mall which is right near the pier. Popular things to buy: camera, tablecloth and of course, Cruzan rum!

In St-Maarten: bring a bottle of Guavaberry (the island's liquor), box of chocolate from the Belgian chocolate store. On the French side, St-Martin has some upscale shopping, some located at Marina Port-La-Royale (for crafts, it's also a good place for a drink), Act III has REALLY fancy womenswear (Versace, Gaultier... I just went straight, I can't afford that, there's also La Romana (still fancy but a little more affordable). I also recommend renting a car, it's really worth it. Touring the island takes about an hour and you can go anywhere you want!

 

3) is there anything that needs to get done right away upon embarkation?

Make resrvation for the spa, Sabatini's, getting to know the ship.

 

4) any tips to make dis/embarkation smoother or faster?: Embarkation, get your papers ready, that's all. Disembarkation... it's pretty easy, you get color-coded tags to put on your luggage (who will be taken away the night before) and when your color is being called, you can leave the ship. Princess is pretty good at both things.

 

I've never been to Puerto Rico, so I can't answer question #5.

 

Hope that helps!

[rachel0]

Wow--a great list and great tips!! You guys are great--thanks!

Okay, so what I'm hearing is that St. Maarten has terrible diving but great shopping.

 

Also, I keep hearing about the Belgian chocolate shop, but does anybody know the name? My husband and I went to Belgium last summer and there's quite a few good shops but i'm curious to know which one.

[melissa_bel]

But French St-Martin has one of the best beach of the Caribbean: Orient Bay. The place is a dream. The sand is so soft your feet get buried in seconds and the blue is so intense it litterally glows! I'd recommend spending a couple of hours there, visit Marigot (it's a really charming town) and do some quick shopping in Philipsburg (let's face it, apart from that and a couple of bars, Philipsburg is quite bland). Talking about Belgian chocolate, I found some Cote d'Or in one of the stores in St-Maarten... don't remember where. The Belgian Chocolate Shop does it own chocolate and some of them are naughty ;0).

[rdanderson]

Rachel,

 

We are crusing Princess this time because we plan to go to Tahiti May 2005 and thought we would go on Princess this year to see what kind of special we could book on board and get the past passenger rate for the Tahitian Princess.

 

We really liked NCL and will cruise them again but we are trying all the cruiselines to see who we like best. I think we will try Celebrity after Tahati.

 

Becky

[rachel0]

Rachel,

 

We are crusing Princess this time because we plan to go to Tahiti May 2005 and thought we would go on Princess this year to see what kind of special we could book on board and get the past passenger rate for the Tahitian Princess.

 

We really liked NCL and will cruise them again but we are trying all the cruiselines to see who we like best. I think we will try Celebrity after Tahati.

 

Becky

How funny--we were thinking the exact same thing but haven't decided for sure on cruise to Tahiti versus just island hopping. I've always wanted to stay in one of those over-the-water bungalows. Went to Bali in 2001 and couldn't find anything like that so now I'm obsessed.

 

We're trying Princess for our first cruise because my in-laws went to Alaska on Princess and spoke very highly of Princess but Celebrity was my first choice.

[rdanderson]

Rachel,

 

I would love to stay in one of those over-the-water bungalows also. I hope that we can stay at least one night in one. We chose to do the cruise so that we can island hop. If we like it, and I'm sure we will, we may go back for a stay on whatever island we like best in the future. I like cruising because you get to taste everything before you comment to one place.

 

Next year is our 10th anniversary and we wanted to do something special.

 

Becky

[me@sea]

One last tip...bring laundry detergent or quarters to purchase detergent from the vending machine.

 

I had the best conversation in the laundry room one evening. There we were leaning against the machines, sitting on a cupboard and on the floor. With all the luxury found on the ship and there we are, a group of us are chatting in the laundry room - a very interesting experience!

 

Lisa