Pre Cruise Hotel – San Juan Puerto Rico

I took a friend’s recommendation and stayed at the Hilton Caribe. The location was perfect as it was close to both the airport and the cruise terminal. The grounds were beautiful – a protected lagoon on one side and the surf on the other. I was looking forward to relaxing and recovering from my overnight flight on the hammocks, but the rain chased us inside. We were misled by the restaurant staff and overpaid for a buffet style brunch rather than dining a la carte.   The updated room in the main tower was very nice, with ample space on the balcony. The balcony overlooked the roof of the lower level, which was a bit of an eyesore. The beds were firm with feather pillows. We enjoyed the rainbow and beach with the lagoon.

 

 

 

Celebrity Summit

 

The ship, which holds 2158 passengers is over 10 years old and showing signs of rust, etc on the balcony but was overall in great shape. There was an ice bar in the “martini bar” and a specialty coffees.  There were restaurants dedicated to only those in the Aqua class, and although we did upgrade to Concierge level to have a better pick of balcony cabins at the time of our late booking, the reviews had not persuaded me to go for the Aqua. Seems the only perk to having a Concierge class is to have a better pick of state rooms available and that they deliver canapé’s to your room each night – but only upon request, and only if you happen to receive the order slip and happen to put it outside your door by a specific time each night. Our balcony was spacious and we had plenty of closet space. The shower also, was larger than I’ve seen on other normal balcony staterooms on Royal Caribbean and Princess. The location of our stateroom was great, just aft – directly under the buffet near the elevators. We had no noise issues and our balcony was completely private with complete coverage above. We did not catch any of the entertainment, as we were part of an organized singles group which had activities nightly. I enjoyed the port intensive itinerary with only one sea day and appreciated the relaxed formal night, which is not “evening chic” (no more tuxedos and formal wear). I have to admit that I expected more from the food – as Celebrity is known for “Top Chef” but there was only one night that was “Top Chef” inspired, and the food that evening was delicious. We also experienced a night of specialty dining at the Normandie – we all had the lobster which was prepared tableside and was fabulous.

 

 

Tortola – BVI

 

We opted for a shore excursion with the cruise line – we “escaped” to Jost Van Dyke and made our way down White Bay beach to the Soggy Dollar where we enjoyed the local drink “The Painkiller” which consists of dark rum, pineapple and orange juices and coconut with nutmeg. Many of us felt we had gone to heaven and we may just want to go back to this place and stay a week.

 

http://www.soggydollar.com/soggy-dollar-bar/

 

Martinique

The island of Martinique is French and the reviews indicated that the locals prefer to speak French. I looked for a cruise sponsored shore excursion, knowing how little tolerance the French have for non French speakers. We booked the “Snorkel and Beach” excursion which took us near the famous bat cave. The “beach” was pointed out to us, and if we were strong swimmers we could have taken advantage – but otherwise, we bobbed up and down in the water. Several people were stung by jelly fish and sea creatures. The ride back was a lot more fun when the rum was flowing and the music blasting. We met some fellow cruisers and had a good laugh.

Dominique

This lush island is where Disney filmed the Pirates of the Caribbean. It was absolutely beautiful as we took an exhilarating ride on a ribbed boat in search of whales and dolphins. We were not disappointed as we were able to get up close to sperm whales (3 sightings of 2 separate whales). Our guides were knowledgeable and it was nice to be on a small boat. We were able to take a swim at one of the sites where Disney had filmed. The water was perfect.

 

St. Kitts

The island of St. Kitts offers fabulous views of the Caribbean on one side and the Atlantic on the other. We opted to spend the day at Reggae Beach Bar on Cockleshell beach. We had arranged for Liz Pierra tours for transportation and she also arranged to reserve our beach chairs. The beach has many crushed shells and a lot of sea weed. We enjoyed an aloe massage on the beach and a lobster sandwich with superior service.

http://www.reggaebeachbar.com/

St. Thomas

The famous Megans’ Bay was closed during our trip ,but that allowed us to experience the best beach to date – Coki Beach.   We set up in front of Uncle Buddy’s – renting an umbrella and lounge chair for the day. We experienced issues though because he doesn’t take credit cards. There is a lot of completion on the beach – the people who know your taxi driver end up “taking good care of you” throughout the day. Be prepared with cash.. there are 2 vendors who will run a tab on a credit card. The beach has white sand, crystal clear beautiful water and it’s not totally overrun with tourists. You can feed the oversized angel fish and don’t need a snorkel to see them.

 

Bacardi Factory Tour

We had some time before our flight and took the popular Bicardi Rum Factory Tour.  It’s an interesting tour – but it was a bit odd to be drinking so early in the morning before such a long journey home.