iowaposhlife

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

We had 3 families in our group we booked David's Fun Tours for a tour of the island. This tour was the highlight of our vacation for everyone in our group. Dave was amazing. Air conditioned bus for just our group of 12. He tailor the trip to whatever we wanted to do. No shopping to meals that we didn't want to do. He was so informative, pulling over multiple times to pick fruits and leaves and explain different foliage to our group which sounds like it would be boring for a group of teenagers but he was so much fun. He stayed with us while we enjoyed the better part of the day at Megan's Bay Beach. Had a cooler full of water for us. My daughter fed random roadside goats he had bananas for. We of course wanted to hit up a few touristy places for photos and souvenirs. That is where his professionalism really shined. We watched countless drivers struggle with parking and turning around one driver repeatedly hit a planter box trying to turn his van around....Not David. He literally took us everywhere we even went through the projects. Which was an eye opener. He is very proud of his island and it showed the entire trip. He made us all want to move there! I think if we didn't have a ship to catch we still may be riding around with David! We felt safe at all times and can't wait to go back again. Could not recommend him enough.

Nassau, Bahamas

Blue Lagoon Beach Day This was also booked through NCL. We didn't arrive into Nassau until noon all aboard 7pm. I would like to add that the largest ships from each of the major lines were also in Nassau the same day, 6 mega ships all at once. Let's let that sink in for a min. Luckily we knew this a head of time. With our late arrival we knew things would be crowded no matter what we did. Blue Lagoon seemed like a decent choice. We took a double deck boat to the Blue Lagoon when we arrived there were very few chairs left had to go all the way to the end of the beach to find anywhere to sit. The free floats were all gone. Staff instructed us to grab one when you see a person who is not using it. Each person in our group was told that when asked where the floats were. So apparently that is their policy. We were provided with a lunch which was actually decent food more than I was expecting. There was not a lot of places for purchasing a drink. Staff was down right rude everywhere we went. My daughter and husband went on the inflatables and seemed to have fun. The teenagers hated this excursion. They had hoped to snorkel, but the backside of the lagoon was closed due to high surf and dangerous conditions. Even though the place was totally full with all of the ships in port many of the stands and activities were not open. Very strange. When it was time to leave the last departure time was for our cruise ship. We were all standing in line on the dock while staff members were screaming at people to form three lines they were checking to see what ships people were on all the while music is blaring so people can't hear the instructions given. Keep in mind there is no boat to pick us up anywhere in sight. We stood on the dock getting screamed at for close to 40 mins. Many of the passengers didn't speak English very well and didn't understand why staff was screaming at them. They were separating groups trying to form these lines. It was so strange, as only two boats finally showed arrived 25 mins late and then there were no lines people were are just herded onto one boat. We were lucky and got seated on the first boat. They filled both the top and the bottom of the boat so full that not only were all of the seats taken there was no room to put another person standing on that boat. It was horrible. We left and not sure what happened to the other boat or the people that couldn't get on to the 2nd boat. Thank God we booked through NCL or I am certain we would not have made it on that boat and not made it back in time to our ship. We made it back exactly at all aboard. We should have been back 1.5 hours earlier. As soon as we walked onto ship they pushed away, clearly waiting for our group. I would give this zero stars but it moves my over all rating of my trip down and as terrible as The Blue Lagoon was it didn't ruin my trip. I just want others to not be disappointed.

Tortola, British Virgin Islands

Escape to Jost Van Dyke we booked through NCL. Our time was 7:00-12:00 There was a long catamaran ride to the island. We sat on the top level with the captain. She was very nice. Originally from Australia. She chatted us a lot telling us all about the many islands along the way and was very knowledgeable. Not sure what the people on the lower deck did. She had two deck hands so perhaps they provided a bit of a tour as well. We were dropped off at the beach where we were able to find chairs easily since it was early am. Since it was so early not much was open, it was also pretty cold that early in the day. We were picked back up at noon just as the vendors were opening for the day. My son really wanted to snorkel, but boats arriving rather than dropping off people to swim ashore would drop anchor so there literally was no where to swim or snorkel. These were private boats not ones doing tours they dropped people off then went way out or off into the corner so guests could enjoy the beach. Not sure if the vendors and folks running the stands there could do anything about that, certainly not our tour operator's fault but for that reason alone I am not sure I would go back due to the inconsiderate parking of boats. I can only imagine how full it would have been had we stayed there past noon! The water was beautiful and calm and the shops and food stands looked wonderful we just didn't get to experience it due to the timing of our port.

Norwegian Bliss

If you can book one of the balconies with a kick out. Check the deck plans and ask for those rooms.