Southern Caribbean Cruise - Would love to do it again!

Cruises: 2-3 cruises

Reviews: 2

Helpful Votes: 86

Review summary

I'll start with Captain Kate. How impressive! She has a great sense of humor and we looked forward to her daily messages with her nautical nuggets and her "Confuscius says". And her riddles made us make sure to listen so we didn't miss anything! She is very visible to the passengers. Great job! The cruise Director Dan France and his team did a great job. Enjoyed the antics of Jenna and Rachel. Great job, team! Our cabin steward, Jason, was fantastic! He kept the cabin top-notch, made us feel good about being there, helped us out with a gift delivery for our friends - overall, he made the experience GREAT! The dining room serving team - that team MADE OUR DAY! I am not very comfortable in the dining room chairs (just not right-sized), and the team made sure that every day, there was a pillow in my chair WHEN I ARRIVED for my comfort. They were all personable, on the ball, and made sure our wish was their command. We made sure that we were able to get this team every evening - and on our next cruise, would ask for them again! The food in the Ocean View Cafe was always good, fresh, and plentiful. After taking the Inside Access tour onboard, I found out just how fresh it all stays! I very much enjoyed the Inside Access tour. It was very informative and the extra insight in to the operations made me have a greater appreciation for what goes on behind the scenes that make our days so easy to enjoy. Our main disappointment was shore excursions, which I have not let affect the scores on the overall cruise. We had issues that could have been prevented and we'd like them addressed. We booked two scuba diving trips, months in advance. At no time were we asked about medications or told that a special doctor would need to provide permission for the dive. This caused the scuba diving trips to be cancelled - and they were the main focus for my husband on this trip. The Buck Island Snorkeling trip at St Croix was also a major disappointment. It was twice as expensive as any of the other snorkeling trips that we did. Most of the time was spent in transportation - NOT snorkeling. In the 4 hour period of time, we were in the water less than one hour. This was a ridiculous cost - $114 for the trip - for very little snorkeling time. Due to the higher price, Thought this trip was going to be something special. HUGE disappointment. (And this trip was booked in place of the Scuba Diving trip that was cancelled.) In St Thomas, we booked the scenic harbor cruise. We were supposed to depart at 9 a.m. When we reached our meeting spot, we were told that the boat had broken down and a substitute would be loaded around 9:45. This trip was NOTHING like the brochure said it would be. There was NO tour. There was NO bar onboard. It turned out to be a taxi to the downtown shopping area, which we could have taken for $4 per person. We were GREATLY disappointed. To be fair, I need to say that although some of the excursions were major disappointments, some were extremely enjoyable and well worth the money. We thoroughly enjoyed the snorkeling trips at Antigua and St Lucia. Our most enjoyable trip of all was the Jolly Roger Pirate Ship in Barbados. The crew was GREAT, the snorkeling and swimming were so much fun, and they provided a great day of entertainment. Best money that we spent on ANY excursion! We would do this one again. (Great rum punch, too!) Every day on this cruise was enjoyable. Hopefully we can work through the issues with the excursions and not have ANY sad events on the next cruise.

Embarkation

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

Onboard Activities

Entertainment

Service and Staff

Ship Quality

Cabin / Stateroom

Ports of call

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

Frederiksted, St. Croix, U.S.V.I.

St. John's, Antigua

Bridgetown, Barbados

Castries, St. Lucia

Philipsburg, St. Maarten

Disembarkation

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