Review (LONG): Empress OTS 11 nt Southern Caribbean

Charles wrote:
In article , Ermalee
wrote:


Doris, back in the last century (around the late 60's) I had pink hair.
Then green, and finally blond.


That must have been a sight! Any pictures Erm :-)


Maybe 'way back in the hall closet in a big box.

Ermalee ---not yet for publication

"Ermalee" wrote in message
. ..
Charles wrote:
In article , Ermalee
wrote:


Doris, back in the last century (around the late 60's) I had pink hair.
Then green, and finally blond.


That must have been a sight! Any pictures Erm :-)


Maybe 'way back in the hall closet in a big box.

Ermalee ---not yet for publication

Now you know why Momma liked me best! vbg

--Jean

Babie wrote:

Here's some info about my cruise.

Thanks for the post. We'll be on Celebrity Galaxy's Southern
Caribbean cruise to many of the same ports in a few months. The
only port we've already been to is St. Marteen (which we enjoyed
much more than you did) so I am looking forward to it.

Bill

On Dec 23, 9:37*pm, Bill wrote:
Babie wrote:

Here's some info about my cruise.

Thanks for the post. We'll be on Celebrity Galaxy's Southern
Caribbean cruise to many of the same ports in a few months. The
only port we've already been to is St. Marteen (which we enjoyed
much more than you did) so I am looking forward to it.

Bill

Hi great review i did the same cruise this past feb . It was great and
i had a great time love the ports !!I I did it solo and it was one of
the best deal"s i ever got .around $1600 if i can remmber right with
non stop from round Newark air in winter . Love the Empress sorry to
be seeing her go .
Ken G.............

Ken G.............

On Dec 21 2007, 6:15 pm, "Tom K" wrote:
If you go back to St. Maarten, take a taxi to Cul de Sac, and then take the
little boat across toPinelIsland. You won't be disappointed. The Vikings
were just there... we had a great day. Next time Charles wants us to go to
Orient Beach, so we'll do that and see how it compares.

--Tom

"Babie" wrote in message

. ..

Here's some info about my cruise.

Info about me:

10th cruise, 1st RCI cruise, 1st cruise in Southern Caribbean and 1st
cruise longer than 7 days (although I've done B2B a couple times)

Getting there.

I had what seemed like the flight from hell that would make my trip NUTS!
I flew from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Phoenix, AZ.
Then from Phoenix to Las Vegas, NV. After a short delay in Vegas I then
flew to Philadelphia, PA. THEN finally boarded my
flight to San Juan. There was some mechanical problems on the plane so we
sat there for about 1 1/2 hours before taking off.

Upon arrival in San Juan, due to the plane delays, a friend and I shared a
cab straight to the ship. What I got to see of
San Juan was really great. I've made a mental note to be sure to return
for a few days so I can enjoy it a little more.

Once onboard the ship, our staterooms were ready. We boarded between 2 and
3 pm local time. There were no lines at check in so
all went very smooth.

The ship and my stateroom were what I expected, so I wasn't disappointed
in the least. Now, I'm not saying that I was impressed
or surprised in any way. I had no initial feeling one way or the other
about the ship or my stateroom.

I'll stop here and give a little information about my experience on the
ship and with the crew. As well as the other passengers.

For starters. IF the ship has stabilizers, they were never used. I've
never been docked on a ship where they had to assist you
off because the ship was rocking so badly WHILE DOCKED in calm waters. The
gangway literally moved 3 to 4 feet back and forth
So if you were a slow walker, injured in any way, or elderly, you had to
have some assistance WALKING off the ship. If I had
to compare the experience with anything, I'd say it was worse than
entering a tender when the boat isn't docked.
(This was only a problem in St. Maarten)

The crew were fantastic! For that matter so were the rest of the guests. I
won't say that I met and talked to everyone, but
I came close! I only ran into 2 problems at all, and that was with 2 crew
members that cleaned the area near the Windjammer.
That was nothing more than dirty looks every time they saw me. (I have
bright pink hair and tend to talk a lot and generally
stand out in any crowd, so I can understand dirty looks)

On the second day at 9am was our scheduled Meet & Mingle. Since RCI (Or
Cruise Critic) scheduled it so early and only an hour
before docking in St. Maarten, I was surprised that about 45 people showed
up! It was a great chance to meet those I'd been
talking to online.

I'm a late night person. On most of my cruises, I stay up until sunrise.
This was hard to do with so many ports, but since the
guests were a bit older and the disco very slow, I had no problem
sleeping. I did manage to meet quite a few other people around
my age that liked to hang out and talk. So that was nice.

I participated in The Quest. If you've never gone to or seen the Quest,
you MUST participate! There were 14 teams,
and we came in 3rd. I was very surprised how involved the crowd got! And
it was crowded! I was also surprised at some of
the "quests" we were sent on! Several of which the CD had to tell the
camera man to turn off the video camera!

My thoughts on the ports:

St. Maarten - I was not impressed at all. To give theislandsome credit,
I did have a terrible headache before even
leaving the ship. Once I grabbed the water taxi to the town proper (or
whatever) I was feeling horrible. But it was the first
port on the itinerary and I'd never been to any of the ports before. So
the lady I had met on Cruise Critic and I walked
around a bit. We each put a $5 bill in a quarter slot machine at the
casino right at the water taxi pier (neither of us even
won 2 quarters lol) We then walked down the first street there (sorry, I
didn't get the name) It was really dirty and crowded.
I normally love crowds, but because of my headache, I was miserable. I was
annoyed at how narrow the streets and sidewalks were.
We walked a couple blocked until we say a small market area (between the
boardwalk and the first street). I walked through it for
about 10 minutes. I bought a shot glass (I collect those at every place I
visit) and some bottled sodas for the ship. After about
45 minutes to an hour after leaving the ship I told my friend that I was
going back to the ship. I would have liked to have
checked out Orient beach and some other things, but my headache was
getting worse. Although I disliked my first trip to St. Maarten,
I'm more than willing to give it a second chance. If for no other reason
than a chance to check out a beach and some local beer.

St. Kitts - Again, I wasn't very impressed. No headache this time, but I
just couldn't find anything to do near the pier
except shop. And once you've seen 1 Diamonds International, you've seen
them all. So I grabbed a shot glass and headed
back to the ship after browsing for about an hour.

Antigua - I really loved Antigua. But then I didn't do anything. I walked
around the pier area, shopped a bit and walked
into a cute little bar. I sat down and ordered a beer. (I love trying
local beers when I travel) I started talking to the man
next to me and it turned out he was a local. We sat and chatted for about
3 hours. He bought all the rest of my drinks for me, and
it was a really great day. (He was a straight man, so no, don't think
that! I talk to everyone!)

St. Lucia - Another port I liked a lot. And another that I did nothing in.

"hlind" wrote in message
...

What is taxi fare to Cul de Sac? Any problem getting a taxi back to
the ship later in the day? Helen

Arrange with the driver to return for you at a specific time.

--Tom