Just back from our Golden Christmas 12/19-12/26

[DoreenD]

Absolutely loved our cruise. . .did not want to come home. . .left 88 degrees and sunshine in San Juan to come home to 8 inches of snow and 5 degrees. Brrrrr. I caught a cold on the plane ride home so I didn't get to write out my review yet. I did manage to keep the Patters and Shore guides for all of the ports we visited (St Thomas, St Kitts, Grenada, Isla Margarita (which we LOVED), and Aruba). So. . .if you have any questions ask away. . .I wouldn't expect to go to Caracas if you are on this Golden itinerary. The captain sent us each a letter explaining that there is some ongoing dispute with the ship and the port master. However, we went on the La Restinga Lagoon tour in IDM and absolutely loved it! We only had from 7:00 AM until 11:30 AM on this island and truly wished we had more time. We did not encounter any anti-American sentiment or security issues.

 

Grenada was just beautiful, but so sad. . .roofs torn off every church, home, business. . .Entire forest of nutmeg trees all knocked down. We did take a tour with Mandoo booked on our own and really enjoyed our tour of the island. Loved our visit to the Douglas spice plantation. We bought some spices. . .nutmeg, cinnamon, bay leaf, cocoa balls. Please, if you go to Grenada, get off the ship and spend a little money. These people were so friendly and smiling in the face of their adversity. My husband wants to try to get Ty Pennington and Exteme Makeover to go to Grenada and help these people to rebuild. Many homes had only the bathroom still standing. It was very surreal to see that the rest of the home was gone, except for the shower stall and toilet. Many homes and businesses still had downed power lines. I just can't believe that the country of Grenada has not received more help.

 

Anyway. . .I am going to get my notes together for a more formal review. But, this is a start. . .

[sun&sea]

Glad you had a good time on your cruise. I did this itinerary in November with my girlfriend, and will be repeating it at the end of February with DH! Didn't make it to Grenada last time.

 

Looking forward to your "complete" review soon!

 

Janet

[Coolmama_1]

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Grenada was just beautiful, but so sad. . .roofs torn off every church, home, business. . .Entire forest of nutmeg trees all knocked down. We did take a tour with Mandoo booked on our own and really enjoyed our tour of the island. Loved our visit to the Douglas spice plantation. We bought some spices. . .nutmeg, cinnamon, bay leaf, cocoa balls. Please, if you go to Grenada, get off the ship and spend a little money. These people were so friendly and smiling in the face of their adversity. My husband wants to try to get Ty Pennington and Exteme Makeover to go to Grenada and help these people to rebuild. Many homes had only the bathroom still standing. It was very surreal to see that the rest of the home was gone, except for the shower stall and toilet. Many homes and businesses still had downed power lines. I just can't believe that the country of Grenada has not received more help.

 

Anyway. . .I am going to get my notes together for a more formal review. But, this is a start. . .

Well said. It would be cool to see EM go to Grenada. I agree about spending money and had no trouble what so ever "stimulating the economy":D