ST. Thomas to Ft. Lauderdale

[RDH377]

Good morning all:

 

I am thinking of the Caribbean Getaway II on 12/16/09. I tried using a virtuoso TA but her idea of doing her job was sending me brochures I have seen a dozen times and sending me a "bargain" price that I beat with 1 phone call so I am trying this on my own. Anyway, on to question # 1. I was thinking of flying in to St. Thomas 2 or 3 nights prior to sailing and relaxing for a day or two. Everything I am reading on-line seems to suggest the hotels are all awful. In addition, many of the reviews are almost 1 year old. So, any suggestions on a good hotel? All I am looking for is clean, comfortable, and with decent food. I will wait on good service for when I am onboard. :) Oh, and I would prefer to avoid spending the $500 a night that it appears the Ritz wants.

 

Thank you in advance for your answers.

[LaPaloma]

Good morning all:

 

I am thinking of the Caribbean Getaway II on 12/16/09. I tried using a virtuoso TA but her idea of doing her job was sending me brochures I have seen a dozen times and sending me a "bargain" price that I beat with 1 phone call so I am trying this on my own. Anyway, on to question # 1. I was thinking of flying in to St. Thomas 2 or 3 nights prior to sailing and relaxing for a day or two. Everything I am reading on-line seems to suggest the hotels are all awful. In addition, many of the reviews are almost 1 year old. So, any suggestions on a good hotel? All I am looking for is clean, comfortable, and with decent food. I will wait on good service for when I am onboard. :) Oh, and I would prefer to avoid spending the $500 a night that it appears the Ritz wants.

 

Thank you in advance for your answers.

The Marriott Frenchmans Reef isn't bad--we have stayed there several times--the ocean view rooms are nice--food is good--great location! Last trip price was not out of sight! Don

[SantaAna,CA]

I am an expert on using this site! I never book a hotel without it. I am on the sailing 12/9 to 12/21, St. Thomas to Ft. Lauderdale. On my first voyage with Seabourn, I went with my sister and brother in law and we stayed at the cutest place called Secret Harbour. I am coming in a few days early and staying there again. And believe me, I looked at every room on St. Thomas. You can get a beachfront studio (that has a full kitchen) for half that of the Ritz Carlton.

 

If you like B&Bs, although I've never stayed there, there is one called Bellavista on St. Thomas that has very high marks on TripAdvisor.

 

Give the site a try, people give very honest reports of the hotels (good and bad), and they also post their own pictures. Hope to see you!

 

Jane

[RDH377]

Thank you both for the info. BTW, I did check tripadvisor. It is one of the sites I use as well. I will definitely check into both places. Now to see what ridiculous singles supplement Seabourn is going to try to stick me with. That will make or break my vacation thoughts as I have already checked out the airfares and they are very reasonable.

[Constance331]

Now to see what ridiculous singles supplement Seabourn is going to try to stick me with.

 

I feel your pain.:) As a matter of fact, there are quite a few of us here who do.

 

Good luck - let us know how you make out.

[SantaAna,CA]

Actually, Seabourn is very reasonable if you hit the right itinerary at the right time. (Always ask for a guaranty, run of ship). I've never paid more than 125% with them (and you're right, this makes a big difference in choosing where to go). I hope you can snag one of these low fares. I was also impressed with the low airfare.

 

By the way, I travel solo too....hope to meet you in December!

 

Jane :)

[RDH377]

'Fraid that will not be happening (me being on this cruise I mean). One of the reasons I looked into this, despite the fact that Seabourn is more formal than it's unnamed :) counterpart, is the excellent price I saw on the website. "Starting from" approx. $300 per day sounded about right to me. Bear in mind I have rarely travelled for pleasure and readily profess my ignorance of how these types of vacations work. However, when I called Seabourn, not only did I find the person I spoke with to be unclear, but the price he tried to quote me was approximately 240% of this, the website price. The explanation I received when I asked how this number was arrived at was almost incomprehensible and the numbers did not add up. I admit I gave up rather quickly since even if he was able to give me a line by line breakdown of his figure it would still have been way above anything I want to spend. Plus of course, the idea of a vacation is to relax and the aggravation of arguing about it is simply not worth it to me. I will of course keep an eye on things and maybe try again, but as of now I am turning my attention to looking into a culinary vacation since I like to cook (and eat) and would appreciate improving my skills.

 

Bon voyage!

[wripro]

RDH377,

 

Before you abandon Seabourn please let me suggest that instead of trying to navigate the reservation on your own that you contact a good travel agent who is familiar with Seabourn and who can find out exactly what the best rate is for you. It is really the most sensible way to go about this and you won't have to worry about people double talking you.

[Naveron]

II tried using a virtuoso TA but her idea of doing her job was sending me brochures I have seen a dozen times and sending me a "bargain" price that I beat with 1 phone call so I am trying this on my own.

 

Everything I am reading on-line seems to suggest the hotels are all awful. In addition, many of the reviews are almost 1 year old. So, any suggestions on a good hotel? .

 

Okay, what will help you first is a less negative attitude -it's working against you. Rethink not using the travel agent for a cruise, if you didn't like Virtuoso, try someone else -- someone who specializes in cruises.

 

Second, the hotels in St. Thomas are not all awful. It's a great place for a short pre cruise stay. If you like good food, you could stay at the Marriott or the Morningstar, as it is in a reasonably central location and has a very good restaurant (Blue, I believe) on site.