Just off 1/10 Southern Caribbean Wonder cruise: any ?'s

[buttercup3]

Any feedback on the following excursions? We are signed up for these on the 1/24 cruise.

Grenada: Transfers to Aquarium Beach
Martinique: Snorkel at Bat Cave
Antiqua: Zipline Tour
St Kitts: Nature Kayaking

Thank you so much for paying it forward with your info.

We just got off the Jan 10-17 sailing and my brother-in-laws did the zipline tour in Antigua. They loved it! They got to see a lot of the island on the way and said there are a dozen ziplines- some are short and some are longer. They said there are quite a few stairs so be prepared to get a good leg workout!

 

[jenny_nichole]

Do you remember the menus for each night according to your rotation? Do you know if there was availability for the Palo Brunch? We tried to book it and it says no availability.

These were the menus:
Sun: Standard rotational
Mon: Golden Mickeys(Formal night)
Tue: Standard rotational
Wed: Standard rotational
Thurirates
Fri: Captains Gala
Sat: Til We Meet Again

Sorry - I did not check on Palo brunch availability.

 

[jenny_nichole]

We're staying at El Convento this coming weekend too!

jenny, what night was formal night? (I assume it will be the same for all the sailings...)

Formal night is night 2(sea day).

 

[jenny_nichole]

Thank you for being open to questions. We will be taking this trip in a couple of weeks. I have heard people talk about bugs being a problem at some of these ports. As that an issue for you? Do we need insect repellant or bug bands?

We did not notice bugs at any of the ports. I did have a few bites on the top of one of my feet...I'm guessing sand fleas but it wasn't too bothersome and went away quickly. We did not use bug spray, but packed it just in case we needed it.

 

[jenny_nichole]

Do you have any of the Navigators (activity schedules) that you could share? We have a 10 and 12 year old so any kid's activity schedules would also be helpful.
Did you use any of the electrical outlet expanders? We have heard power strips and surge protectors can't be used. We have one where you plug it in to one outlet and get two electrical and two USB outlets out of it; we are wondering if this is acceptable.

Thank you!

I did save the navigators and hope to send them to disneycruiselineblog when I get a chance.

We did use a mulit-port usb charger to charge our electronics and it worked well. Btw, the texting app worked great for our 11 year olds who were in Edge.

We're doing the same, flying out of Boston on Friday. We also have snow in the forecast and I'm really glad we bought Friday tickets. I did that months ago, thinking about the over 100 inches of snow we got last winter.

We're staying at El Convento Friday-Sunday and The Embassy Suites on the night we return.

We also flew in a couple days early b/c we were unsure of what the weather would be at home. We rented a car and went to the rainforest one morning and booked a powerboat tour to the biobay through Bioisland - highly recommend!

We stayed at Embassy Suites San Juan and really enjoyed our stay. It was a short walk to the beach and they provide chairs and umbrellas at the beach. The pool was lovely and the evening manager's reception was great! Nice breakfast in the morning too. VERY close the the airport too.

 

[jenny_nichole]

Hi there! I'm going on the Southern Caribbean cruise next week.

Just curious, you said you were able to change your Palo reservation to accommodate the change in Pirate Night schedule. Were the fireworks originally scheduled for around 10:00, like usual? I'm hoping if they change the schedule on my cruise I'll be able to change my Palo res, since it's for 7:30!

Our pirate night was originally listed on the DCL website for night 3, but when we got onboard we saw that the Navigator app showed Pirate night as night 5. I just assumed that it would be the usual late night time, but it seems that DCL sometimes has Pirate show/fireworks early. So when we saw that it was early, we contacted Palo and they bumped our reservation up to 6pm. We barely had enough time to make it to the fireworks and missed the show.

 

[LeslieG]

We just returned from the same cruise...second time doing it....first was in October 2014. Weather was much nicer in January. Temps in the 80's, light breeze at times. We did a private tour in grenada with Sunsation Tours and I cannot say enough good things about it...we went to Annandale Waterfall, Grand Etang Lake, Belmont Plantation and the Goyave Nutmeg factory (all our choice). Our kids (21 and 20) thoroughly enjoyed it and said Carl our driver made the trip outstanding. In Barbados, we snorkeled with the turtles with Action Charters (3 hour tour) and had the most wonderful time...the captain and crew were fantastic and helped everyone find turtles and were especially helpful if you had never snorkled before. Saw a bunch of turtles and then went to the shipwrecks which were again....awesome. Martinique we kinda used as a sleep in/sea day ..... walked around the crafty stalls and went to the few shops us the street. If we didn't have excursions in every other port, we would have booked one to St. Pierre, but didn't want to sit for a long time on a tour again. The men played golf in Antigua and St. Kitts which they really enjoyed. Us girls went to Valley Church Beach for a few hours and shopped in antigua....lots of fun at both. In fact we shared a cab with a woman in our group and her son and spent our time on the beach with them.....what wonderful people they were. In St. Kitts, we decided to do a DCL excursion Scenes of St. Kitts since it was only a 3 hour tour and it was well worth doing it. Then walked around and shoppped a bit at port again.
We stayed at the Sheraton Old San Juan the night before our cruise just for convenience to OSJ since the kids had never been before and wanted to see the forts and the cobblestone streets/sights. Personally, I would stay at either the Caribe Hilton again or at the Marriott Stellaris ...... more scenic and more places to relax and then take a cab to OSJ.

We also did the cruise in October 2014. What did you think about the water temps compared to October? How was Valley Church Beach? I've heard reports there's a drop off as you enter. How was the taxi back and forth?

I did save the navigators and hope to send them to disneycruiselineblog when I get a chance.

We did use a mulit-port usb charger to charge our electronics and it worked well. Btw, the texting app worked great for our 11 year olds who were in Edge.


We also flew in a couple days early b/c we were unsure of what the weather would be at home. We rented a car and went to the rainforest one morning and booked a powerboat tour to the biobay through Bioisland - highly recommend!

We stayed at Embassy Suites San Juan and really enjoyed our stay. It was a short walk to the beach and they provide chairs and umbrellas at the beach. The pool was lovely and the evening manager's reception was great! Nice breakfast in the morning too. VERY close the the airport too.

How was the bio bay? There have been reports it has not been good lately. Also, how was the rain forest? I know they were in the midst of a drought awhile back and wondered how it affected the rain forest. Thanks.

 

[DizMagic]

Was Toy Story stage show still playing? I missed it on my September Alaskan cruise and was hoping to catch before they replace in a few weeks. We are on the 1/31.

 

[Geomom]

Was Toy Story stage show still playing? I missed it on my September Alaskan cruise and was hoping to catch before they replace in a few weeks. We are on the 1/31.

I believe the Toy Story stage show should be playing until Wonder has her dry-dock in the fall. There were casting calls out for actors for the Toy Story show with contracts starting in February.

 

[Birdie dog]

What time can you board? I'm on the 31st cruise and am flying in Saturday. I'd like to get to the ship ASAP (I'm in the first boarding group) and settle in. Also, how was boarding, was it smooth?

 

[Birdie dog]

Oh, and second question. Did you book your Barbados excursion through DCL or privately?

 

[jenny_nichole]

We also did the cruise in October 2014. What did you think about the water temps compared to October? How was Valley Church Beach? I've heard reports there's a drop off as you enter. How was the taxi back and forth?




How was the bio bay? There have been reports it has not been good lately. Also, how was the rain forest? I know they were in the midst of a drought awhile back and wondered how it affected the rain forest. Thanks.

Valley Church beach was very beautiful. There is a drop off as you enter the water...it goes from shallow to deep very quickly. Our spoiled kids complained about the grass/seaweed but I've read that is a problem for a lot of Caribbean beaches right now. The sand is harsh too like bits of shells, but for those who love finding shells, this is the place! (Our daughter was bummed that she wasn't allowed to take any of them home.) The cab ride wasn't bad...about 20 minutes. We were just shocked at the prices...I know I researched it early in the cruise, but $8pp wound up being $90 round trip for our family of 5.

The biobay is not as brilliant as it normally is. The BioIsland guys told us that the glow affect was significantly reduced due to the cold water temps that they are experiencing. Apparently, the bioluminescent dinoflagellates don't like cold water. We did still see the "pixie dust" affect when we swirled our hands or poles in the water. We thought it was very cool and because it was a moonless night when we went, we had an amazing view of the stars. Spotting all of the iguanas in the trees nearby was also a highlight for the kids.

Rainforest was very nice. It is quite a long walk with lots of stairs/uphill paths. We tried to get there early but took the scenic route thanks to my googlemaps directions that just dropped us "in" the rainforest, not at the hiking entrance or visitor center. We got there around 10-11am and parking spots were difficult to find and there are lots of people on the paths leading to the waterfall. There was also a large tree down in the path that we had to climb over. It was worthwhile, but if we did it again we would try to be there as early as possible to avoid crowds.

 

[jenny_nichole]

Was Toy Story stage show still playing? I missed it on my September Alaskan cruise and was hoping to catch before they replace in a few weeks. We are on the 1/31.

Yes, Toy Story is still playing. Since it gets mixed reviews, we watched a portion of it on youtube before we left and decided that this would be a good night to skip the show and enjoy other things on the ship.

 

[jenny_nichole]

What time can you board? I'm on the 31st cruise and am flying in Saturday. I'd like to get to the ship ASAP (I'm in the first boarding group) and settle in. Also, how was boarding, was it smooth?

Oh, and second question. Did you book your Barbados excursion through DCL or privately?

Our PAT was 11am and that is about the time that we arrived. There was a line outside, but it moved rather quickly. After check in and all, I want to say that we were onboard by 11:45...not certain of that, but sometime between 11:30-12:00. Yes, boarding was very smooth...it felt like it went really fast.

We booked our excursion privately through Calabazza. They are rated #1 on tripadvisor and we thought they lived up to their reputation. We had an amazing time!

 

[linetbo]

I also just returned from the same cruise. I felt very safe in St Kitts. IMO, it's one of the lovelier, safer islands. Again, just my opinion. We took a 10 minute cab ride to Carambola Beach Club, which is a public beach. Rented a chair and umbrella for the day, it was just beautiful! It had a lovely restaurant and bar, nice area to snorkel.
My *one* disappointment with the cruise was that the photos taken onboard are now identified by facial recognition. However, it failed to recognize even one of my photos. I looked through hundreds of unidentified photos and was unable to find any. Luckily, I traveled with a group and was able to purchase some group photos. I was unable to find or purchase any photos of my husband and myself. Many parents were disappointed that they couldn't find particular photos of their children or family. I do hope their system improves or that they go back to the old way of scanning the KTTW card to make identification easier.

We were in the same cruise, mostly new photographers, I bought the whole package and I guess they were in a rush because we have more than 10 photos with damage.

 

[Birdie dog]

Thanks for the info! I like to arrive at the port around 10 though CL is totally sold out (and has been since I booked) so I don't need to worry about upgrading. Now to get there with minimal drama and all my suitcases. (Unlike Copenhagen).

 

[Donald & Daisy Duck]

We also did the cruise in October 2014. What did you think about the water temps compared to October? How was Valley Church Beach? I've heard reports there's a drop off as you enter. How was the taxi back and forth?

Water temp was a bit cooler in January, but not cold....once in it was really pleasant. We liked valley church beach...there are two drop offs where we were....of your an adult, the first was knee deep and the second was a bit higher than waist deep. The sand is mostly she'll bits. We were two people and shared a cab so it was $8.00 each....we hen waited when we wants to lave to share a cab again otherwise for two people ts $32.00....but there was no problem getting a shared ride.

If you go to Barbados, I heard from a really nice woman o. Our cruise that the sand at Carlisle beach was the softest, whitest sand ever

 

[OKW Lover]

Enjoyed reading about this cruise. We were originally booked for it too, but had to cancel. Friends of ours did sail on your same dates and from their FB posts they also enjoyed it. A few questions:

1. What did you think about the balance (imbalance?) of sea days and port days?
2. Did you think the ports were similar or different from each other?
3. Any memorable or forgettable ports?
4. Did you have to pass up any on-board activities you wanted to do in order to see the ports?
5. Did you do any pre- or post-cruise nights in San Juan? What hotel and would you recommend it to others?
6. Did you tour Old San Juan? How was it?

 

[SnowWhite2]

Did I read your post correctly that the pirate's night fireworks were at 8pm? That totally screws up my Palo reservation. First I had the Palo dinner on Tuesday to match pirate night listed on the DCL site. Then it was changed to Thursday so I have a Palo dinner that night. Now, the fireworks are early and our dinner is at 7. Off to change it again.

 

[JeanfromBNA]

Thanks for your update! I was looking for a trip report. We leave on the 31st. Can't wait!