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Who are we: Two computer professionals in our early 40’s from the Toronto area.
We had booked off the week of May 15th for vacation since May 14th was our
anniversary and we were looking for somewhere special to go. I had looked at
the Outer Islands of the Bahamas, St John, USVI, a sailing resort in Antigua,
Barbados and possibly St Maarten. In March, we figured we better make up our
minds soon or there would be nothing left. I suggested a cruise as a great
sampler of Caribbean islands. I had cruised twice before, both times with
Costa, and loved every minute of it. In years past, I could never get my
husband on a cruise. Friends who had had bad experiences cruising were filling
his head with many negatives. Always watching your watch to make sure you don’t
miss the boat! Being told when, where and who to eat dinner with. Plus even
what to wear. Well, we did finally decide on the cruise, or should I say he
finally gave in.
We booked through a travel agent at Cruise Holidays. They have several
franchises in the Toronto area and only sell cruises, so they know their stuff.
(I had used them on my last cruise 4 yrs ago.) I had figured we could afford
the top inside cabins, Cat K, on decks 5-6-7. When my TA called, they had a
special for Canadians where we would get a guaranteed Cat K for less than the
early booking price of the lowest category – Q. We took it. We also let the
cruise line book our airfare, only because it was to San Juan, which is not easy
or cheap from Toronto. With a guarantee, you don’t get your cabin assignment
until the last minute and my husband was a little suspicious thinking we were
sharing the closet with the brooms and mops.
A week before sailing, we got all our documents. We had been upgraded 4
categories to Cat F on deck 8, Cabin #8564. We were told this had an obstructed
view and I must admit I was wondering what we were really going to get. (It
turned out fine, as I will explain later.) Our flights were with US Airways
leaving Toronto at 7:35am and flying to Philly with an hour until our flight to
San Juan. We were excited about arriving in SJ just after two. We figured we
could drop off our stuff on the ship and be checking out old Sand Juan by
3:30pm. Nope. I’ll explain later. The only bad part of the air package was the
flight home included a four-hour layover in Philly. Yuck! We tried paying
extra to get better flights but our TA said nothing was better. There’s not
much flying Toronto to San Juan out of season.
Day One
There were 4 buses to transport everyone. We were in the front seat on bus two
but he passed the first bus so we ended up being the first people to check in.
Empty terminal so it went fast but I was a little disappointed. No one to take
our picture. (They were taking them – I guess we were too early.
My husband’s first impression of Royal Caribbean is not a good one. We are told
when coming on board, to move our dining assignment, we have to ask at the
Purser’s desk for the Maitre ‘D. We do this at 5pm only to be told he was
available between 2-4pm but not again until 5:45pm. But that’s when we’re
suppose to be in the dining room for the early seating. (Times are adjusted the
first night because of the Muster Drill.) We go to the table they point to and
wait until he shows at 5:45pm. By then, there is a huge line, everyone pushing.
But after standing 45 minutes I am first…only to find out that he is the M.D.
for the upstairs dining room, not the downstairs dining room, which we are
assigned to. Great! The Purser’s desk sends us to the wrong place. The M.D.
says he will put us on his wait list (way way down at the bottom) and will talk
to the other MD. I asked what happened to the wait list for first come first
serve in the order the cruise was booked. “oh, that!
one is thrown out once we’re on the ship and we start again.” Not good news.
Anyway, we go to our assign table. One reason we don’t want the early seating
is because of the kids. (We don’t have any – enough said.) Monarch sets is up
nice in the dining room with all the kids at tables together in the back corner.
Great idea as not to disturb the rest of the dining room but guess where our
table is? Yup, right in the middle of it all. If we have to stay here I think
we’ll be eating in the Windjammer Café.
Our cabin is small but well laid out. Our window is just that, a window
(approx. 3”x2”) not a porthole. Only the top part is obstructed with the
lifeboats. Great little room. Not on Deck 7 where the people walking on the
Promenade deck can look in your cabin if your drapes are not always drawn and
not on Deck 6 which is below the walking/jogging track on Deck 7. The only
thing I didn’t like about Deck 8 is everything seemed to be on Deck 1,2,3 or 4.
You get on and off the ship on Deck 2 and 1. The dining rooms are on Deck 3 and
4. Plus the Shore Excursion Desk and Purser’s desk are on Deck 4. Deck 8 is
closer to Deck 11 for the pool and stuff, but we didn’t spend as much time there
and anyway, I can always push 11 in the elevator. I think I would have been
just as happy on Deck 3 or 4. There is lots of cupboards and closet space. The
only main problem is the one and only electrical outlet, which happens to be in
front of the mirrored cabinet. We have an electric t!
oothbrush and kept having to move it every time we needed something in the
cabinet. The shower is small but great and only once did we NOT flood the
bathroom floor. I guess this is a regular occurrence since there it is a raised
floor with it’s own drain. I spoke to several others who had the same problem.
Became a bit of an annoyance having to push the water to the drain so I could
put down the bath mat.
Sail away isn’t as nice since we’re starting out from the industrial part of the
harbour. I had made plans to meet a fellow cruiser who I met through one of the
Internet cruise forums. She had picked the fountain by the pool. Who knew that
would be the location for the sail away party. We never did meet that night but
I did manage a Caribbean line dance or two and got “lei’d”.
Day Two
Back on the ship, we dumped our snorkeling gear and headed to the Windjammer
Café. My husband wanted to take part in the “snacks”. When he pointed out it
was 4:30pm and dinner wasn’t for another 4 hrs, I joined him too. The hamburger
was just so-so, but the french fries were amazing. Skinny little things with
some kind of spiced coating on them. Missing lunch and having the late
afternoon “snacks” became a daily routine for us.
After eating, we went back to our cabin, where my husband took a nap while I
planned our next day. We couldn’t decide what to do so I went to check out the
short excursions. The Bird Island snorkel trip was still available and I had
heard good things on the Internet about it. I came back to ask my husband what
he thought. We decided to go for it. My mistake was waiting until we went down
for dinner. By then it was sold out so we picked another one. The Catamaran
Snorkel & Sail.
We came down about half an hour before dinner to buy the shore excursion. We
should have given ourselves more time as there were 4 “stations” set up for
formal portraits. We waited a long time in one and got our picture taken before
hurrying into the dinning room to meet our new dinner companions. As we’re
walking to the table, I remind my husband that they did move us to the late
seating so we couldn’t be picky about our tablemates. We had originally
requested, and received, a large table for ten. I told him we had to take what
we got. They turned out to be a pleasant surprise. It was a table for six and
when we arrived only one other couple was there. One thing I should mention.
My husband is Chinese. I’m Caucasian. This couple, Pierre & Dee, were
inter-racial as well. She turned out to be Vietnamese and he’s Caucasian. We
said our hellos. Where are you from? They say Toronto. We say we’re from
Toronto too. Where about? They say Richmond Hill. We choke and s!
ay we’re from Richmond Hill too. Where about? Turns out they live less than a
mile from us. What a coincidence! I knew RCCL tried to match your dinner
partners but this was uncanny. It turned out to be the best part of the cruise.
We sat talking for quite a bit after dinner and finally were politely kicked out
at 11:10pm. (Everyone else was gone by 10:30) We moved out to the couches
right outside of the dining room where we continued to talk until I realized it
was after 1am. We both had busy days planned so we said our good-byes and
headed to bed.
Day Three
Back on the ship, we enjoyed our “snack” before heading back to our cabin where
we enjoyed a Disney movie on the TV. Dinner was casual and the other couple
showed up. It turned out they didn’t want to dress up for formal night so they
went to the Windjammer instead. They were very nice, from the Chicago area.
Everyone enjoyed talking about their day. This time we left the dining room at
a reasonable time. Found a nice lounge to sit in and again sat talking till
almost 1:30am. We have so much in common with Pierre & Dee and plan to continue
to see each other once we return home.
Day Four
Back on the ship, we had our “snack” and then back to our cabin for a nap. I
still couldn’t decide what to do at our next port – St Lucia. My husband & I had
spent a week there 2 years ago and we were hoping they would have been offering
a snorkeling trip to Anse Chastenate, the best reef on the island. (That's where
we stayed in 1998). But no snorkeling trip of any kind was offered. I guess
they figured it was too far away. 90-min car drive. I think it's only 45-60 mins
by boat. We decided to just take it easy and go to the beach.
Dinner was another pleasant evening with friends and ended up going to bed after
2am.
Day Five
Dinner was another pleasant evening with new friends.
Day Six
Tonight was the second formal night and we took the advice of one of the
photographers and arrived early and had our picture taken at all of the
“stations”. Better chance of getting one we like. We were pleasantly surprised
to find our other dining couple, Becky & Scott did come to this formal. They
were also celebrating an anniversary and received the traditional cake for
dessert. (We received ours at the first formal night.)
Day Seven
Dee mentioned that she had packed in the morning and I realized that we should
do that too. Luggage has to be out in the hallway between 8pm and midnight.
Our dinner started at 8:30 and I didn’t want to ruin our last night packing. So
we went back to the cabin where my husband had a nap while I packed. We had
only taken 2 suitcases and two small carry-ons. We had spare room coming down
but all of a sudden I was having trouble making everything fit. No, we didn’t
buy anything, except for fridge magnets, which we collect from all over the
world. It finally fit and we put the luggage out just before heading for
dinner. Besides the two suitcases, I included one of the carry-ons. Saw no
reason to haul it around on the trip back. I’m glad we packed early since we
didn’t get back to our room until almost 2am.
Day Eight
Everyone left the ship according to their flight. P & D had a late flight so
they were taking a San Juan tour and left before us. I should mention that they
bought their cruise only 3 weeks before sailing and they ended up with better
flights. While we had a 4-hr layover in Philly, they got to spend the 4 hours
touring San Juan. My TA explained that it was just the luck of the draw when
they called. Ya, okay. Next time I’ll book my own flights.
Our flight was finally called and we left the ship. We were told to find our
luggage and then go outside to catch the bus to the airport. When we got
outside, we were asked who our airline was. We said US Airways and were
directed to a long line at the end of the parking lot. We put our luggage with
the rest and while we’re standing there, this woman comes up and asks “Where are
you flying to?” We say Toronto. “Ohhhhh! You can’t put your luggage here.
They won’t take International flights.” First we heard of it. We then had to
carry our luggage all the way back over to the bus and take it with us to the
airport. Also worth noting is the fact that there is no RCCL staff at the
airport to help with check in. For example, we lined up at US Airways counter
only to find out that we had to put our luggage through the scanner looking for
plant material, etc. Finally got that figured out and checked in. The wait at
the airport was uneventful. The new part of the San Jua!
n airport is quiet nice and air conditioned too.
We arrived at Philly and set in for the 4 four layover. First we checked our
one carry-on luggage into a locker and set out to visit the stores. Funny, we
actually bought more here at the airport then on the entire cruise. We started
to head back to the assigned gate only to hear that the gate had changed. We
settled in for the hour wait. And wait we did. No plane. Delayed 20 minutes,
40 minutes, an hour. Some problem all along the eastern seaboard. We ended up
flying one hour and 45 minutes later.
Flight home was short and sweet. Immigration was quick and painless. The ride
home tiring. Thank goodness the Monday was a holiday for people in Ontario. It
took us that day just to relax and recoup before heading off the work on
Tuesday.
Good points: Well laid out ship so it was easy to get around. Cabins are small
but everything fits. Great itinerary with Barbados and St Maarten our
favourites
Our flight to Philly was uneventful. First time with US Air and it was okay.
Sitting at the gate in Philly looked promising with the plane already there.
Almost everyone was heading either to the Monarch of Carnival’s Inspiration (?)
and were very excited. Then things started to turn for the worse. US Airways
announces that the plane we see at the gate is broken and not going anywhere.
Neither are we.
We woke up to look out the window (I learned to love that window) to find out we
had already docked in St Thomas. We grabbed a quick breakfast at the Windjammer
and then headed ashore. In St Thomas, we went on our own to the neighbouring
island of St John. Two thirds of the island is National Park. Beautiful and very
under developed. Ferry from downtown C.A. doesn't run every hour (the one from
Red Hook does). We managed to have a taxi take us to town. $2.50 each. We then
just caught the 9am ferry to Cruz Bay, St John. The ride was about 45 minutes
(versus 20 minutes from Red Hook). Cost was $7 each one way. We then stopped by
the Park office to get the “scoop” on the best place to snorkel other than at
Trunk Bay. I wanted to avoid all the crowds. We finally got a taxi to take us
to Lennister Bay ($12.50) on the other side of the island near Annaberg
Plantation. We then hiked 20 minutes to Lennister Bay where we set up camp for
the day. We actually should have walked all!
the way around the bay and started our snorkeling trip right at Waterlemon Cay
since this turned out to be the only real place to see anything. There is a bit
of a current so the Park ranger had advised us to snorkel counter clock wise.
The snorkeling was great! We were rewarded with lots of big and beautiful
coral, tons of fish, even a large size turtle. Back on shore we even saw a
small (2-3ft) reef shark swim by. Not too sure how I’d feel if I happened to be
in the water when I saw him.
Since we only had booked an afternoon shore excursion, we had a late start and
enjoyed a relaxing breakfast in the dining room. My husband was surprised to
find out we didn’t get our own table. That we were herded into large tables for
10. I kind of liked meeting new people. One couple sat opposite my husband and
when he said “hello, where are you from?”, they abruptly said “We’re from
Columbia and we don’t speak English!” That was the end of that conversation.
We spent the remainder of the morning visiting the shops just off the pier in
town. My husband bought a nice T-shirt for $9. Not many small sizes to choose
from so his selection was limited. We found it funny that that was the only
T-shirt we bought on an island and it turned out to be our least favourite
island.
herded over 60 people on board. The cost was $39 each and a waste, really. We
powered out to a reef that was 90% dead, with rough waves and current. Not
exactly the best place for beginners. Then they sailed to a private beach (also
where the Jolly Roger boat goes) and are hounded by people selling stuff. Waste
of money. ($78 US = $115) Enough said.
Next was Barbados where we had heard the snorkeling was just okay, so after
Antigua, we decided to go touring ourselves. We hired a taxi for the day. His
name was Barry Young and he was actually the supervisor getting taxis for
everyone else. He first suggested we go with another couple to cut down on costs
but they didn't want to go where we did and visa versa. When I went back to tell
Barry, he said that it would cost $100 by ourselves. That was okay by us so he
ended up taking us himself. We did the Wildlife Nature Reserve, which cost $24
for the two of us. Nice place but we thought a little expensive for what it was.
Plus we didn't get to see the green monkeys. Seems they are wild and are free to
come and go and they normally go from 11am-3pm. We were there around noon. Best
time to see them is between 3-4pm. We then went to the Andromeda Gardens. They
have 2 tours –20 minutes and 45 minutes. We took the shorter one. It was very
pretty. Well laid out with informative signa!
ge. This cost $12 for the two of us. Much better value and they even took AMEX.
We then went to St John Church and then slowly drove down the east and south
coast. I had almost booked us a hotel for a week on the east coast and Barry
said, lucky we didn't. It's now a dump. It sure didn't look like that on the
Internet. Hmmm Anyway, he told us about another hotel that is really good so he
dropped us off there to check it out. It’s called the Causarina (sp?). It
actually is another one I had heard good things about and had looked into. We
walked around the grounds for 15 minutes and decided this is where we'll spend
our next vacation. Nice thing about this cruise. It's a sampler of several
Caribbean islands. In total we were out 6 hours. Could have pushed it to 7 but I
was getting tired.
As planned, we got up late this day and grabbed a quick breakfast at the buffet.
After getting our snorkeling gear together, we went to get a taxi to head to
Renuit Beach, there was no one to share a taxi with. Cost was $12 each way. I
had a problem spending $24 US for 2 hours at the beach. So we did a little
shopping beside the ship, then took the $1 ferry ($4 total) to city centre and
visited the market. (Where we didn’t buy the chocolate sticks everyone kept
talking about after.) Then we were back on the ship for a swim in the pool and
relaxing reading a book for a couple of hours. I wouldn't suggest doing what we
did if you've never been there. St Lucia is very lush and beautiful. Our friends
did the 7 hr sulfur hike and even though it was long and tiring, they enjoyed
seeing the island.
Last stop was St Maarten. Another favourite and possible vacation spot. Here we
rented a taxi but this time Pierre & Dee joined us. The taxi driver wanted $150
all day for 4 of us but we negotiated it down to $130. First we stopped at Dawn
Beach for snorkeling. The beach is very pretty and quiet but the snorkeling was
lousy. Deck chairs were $3 each and she threw in the umbrella. We stayed for
about 1½ hrs. Next we went to Orient Beach. Very big beach with wall to wall
lounge chairs, umbrellas, snack bars, and sport vendors. Here Dee & I went for a
para-sailing ride, (2 for $80 or $45 each). (Tip: Don’t pay the $12 for
professional photos. They shoot a roll of 12 with a stupid little camera with
no zoom. Only 2 pictures of us being pulled back into the boat were any good.
They also hand you the film for developing so it ends up costing a lot more than
$12.) We went together while the guys went and checked out the nude portion of
the beach. One end is normal, middle is !
topless and the far right side is in front of a nudist colony so there was lots
of it. We then had the driver take us to Grand Chase, a small town on the north
shore known for fine restaurants. We went specifically for the outdoor
restaurants selling BBQ lobster, chicken and ribs. We had a feast of lobster
($30), ribs (huge rack for $4), and shrimp kabobs ($4 each) Plus 4 drinks (Code
& iced tea) - cost $47 + $5 for tip. A great value for $52. The other couple had
a smaller lobster ($20), snapper ($5), baby stuffed crabs ($4 or $5 each) plus
ribs and drinks too. Their total was $45. We thoroughly enjoyed this lunch, our
only meal off the ship. We then slowly took the cab back to Phillipsburg leaving
ourselves a 2½ hours for shopping. This was not enough. There are sooo many
stores. We started looking at Tanzinite rings and time just slipped away. We
ended up catching the 2nd last tender back to the ship at 5:20pm.
Today was the last full day of our cruise and we were at sea. I like this
relaxing “holiday” at the end of a busy week. Some itineraries have them at the
beginning or in the middle. The last day is best. Since there was no where to
go, we slept till almost noon. We missed breakfast and only had to wait a few
minutes before lunch was being served in the dining room. After eating, we ran
into Pierre & Dee buying gold chains in the Atrium and ended up spending the
afternoon together. Joe & Pierre played ping-pong at the bow of the ship, only
losing one ball over the wall.
This too turned out to be another long day. It started off with the surprise of
our bill. We hadn’t spend much and was only expecting about $200. Was very
surprised to find out it was almost $500. It seems we had “bought” a painting
at the art auction. I must admit we did register. We were interested in only
one painting but the opening bid was too high. We never once even raised our
number even though Pierre & Dee urged us too. (They had bought two paintings
earlier in the week). Pierre and Dee arrived and we all went to Immigration,
which was, opened 6-8am. (The ship cannot clear Puerto Rico until all non-US
citizens are seen. We had been told there were 2500 people on board. 2,000
Americans. That meant that there were only 500 of us to be checked through.
The line was long but moved quickly. We then went to the dining room for
breakfast. Then it was back to our rooms to get our carry-ons. (You have to be
out of your cabin by 8am). We met Pierre & Dee in th!
e Dancin’ Lounge where we picked a nice couch & 2 chairs combo for our long wait
to disembark. It was actually pleasant with someone to wait with. Too bad
there was no place to get something to drink. Actually my husband sat with P &
D while I spent over an hour trying to get the bill fixed. We had to wait for
the auctioneer to arrive. He did remove the item from the bill but he did make
me feel like I was lying and had changed my mind about buying the painting. I
told him we never even raised our number card once. I don’t think he believed
me.
