Just received our documents for our
Diamond cruise out of San Juan 02/15/05
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Yea, Jim! Can I admit to being GREEN with envy????? :D

kudos Jim, enjoy...r/wes

After all the cold weather you've had, Jim, you deserve this cruise!! I'm dancing for you too!

WOO~HOO, Jim!!! Dance til you drop or get to the Diamond and all the way back home.

:banana: :banana: <img border="0" alt="[hula]" title="" src="graemlins/hula.gif" />

Beth

:banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana:

Boogie Down, Jim!

<img border="0" alt="[vhappy]" title="" src="graemlins/icon_vhappy.gif" /> <img border="0" alt="[vhappy]" title="" src="graemlins/icon_vhappy.gif" /> <img border="0" alt="[vhappy]" title="" src="graemlins/icon_vhappy.gif" />

Have a BLAST!!!!!!

Jim: I hope you have a fantastic trip - Joanna

Have a wonderful time on my favorite ship.

Dancing here....green with envy!

Isn't it great to hold those docs in your hands...that is, if they're not frostbitten....you deserve San Juan!

Congrats to you, Jim. I wish you a wonderful time!

Happy Dancing, Jim!

And a doc dance for Jim too ... :)

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Masaki

Happy dancing, Jim!!!! Congrats on receiving docs. Enjoy!!!!

Betty

Woohoo - have a great time, and enjoy the warm weather!! :pass: :pass:

Jim,

Enjoy your cruise! I used to live in Wisconsin so I know how much you are anticipating the warm weather break in the middle of winter!

Ginny

Jim - (slapping myself to wake myself up) - I am so glad you posted. I owe you some port info, don't I? Sorry - but getting back Thursday night - and having to go into work Friday (and sitting here waiting for our first blizzard - now starting here outside of Philly) I wasn't thinking! Here's what I learned from my experiences and from those I talked to onboard.
ST.MARTIN - (this port was flipped with St. Barth's because high winds made it impossible to tender in there.) Luckily - there were only two other ships in port. So after strolling around town and doing a little bauble-shopping, the four of us took a taxi over to the French side of the island to Orient Beach. If you are interested in "beaching" it - here's what I recommend. Most cruise ship passengers get dropped off at the far right side of Orient Beach. We, instead, head to the far left side - to Esmeralda. It is a lovely resort we've stayed at frequently. You can rent chaises with an umbrella for $9 each. Their beach bar/restaurant is absolutely fantastic - with thin made-to-order pizzas...wonderful barbecue ribs (made with guavaberry barbecue sauce!) and more. You can't go wrong!
St. Lucia - we wanted to go to the Pitons, but it is at least a 4-hour tour and two of the four of us have the attention span of fleas and wouldn't last that long. Instead, we rented a mini-bus for $20 each with four others and had a two-hour tour of points closer to the port. We stopped several times to take photos (and were surrounded by local vendors, but once we said no, were left alone), toured a local fishing village which was interesting and more. The jeep tour some people were booked on was cancelled because the jeeps broke down. It was Sunday in St. Lucia so it was a little quite there. Domenica - we took the river tubing ride last year and really enjoyed it. Word of warning: you need some kind of aqua shoe or thick waterproof sandals (or old sneaks) There are a lot of rocks to walk over to get into and out of the tubes. Our friends took the tour to the waterfall and Emerald pond and loved it. They said it was a little tricky climbing up to the falls, but even the 80+ couple who were on the tour negotiated it just fine. We actually stayed on board this day and made pretend it was a sea day (I got a massage). St.Thomas - we took the catamaran tour over to Honeymoon Beach in St. John. Would have been super - but beause we were late docking and clearing customs, we only got to spend about 45 minutes at Honeymoon B. Our friends snorkled, we swam to the beach. They served wonderful Pain Killers (rum punch) and bloody marys and beer and whatever else you would like on the return trip - along wtih fresh sliced fruit and little cakes. The water was surprisingly chilly (until you got used to it). I would have liked to stay longer there.(But the boat had another excursion booked after ours.)
In Antigua, we just got off the boat and walked around. It was not a long stop there.
Hope that helps a little. I will say, overall, we had an absolute blast! Enjoy Captain Jeremy. Hope Kenny Smiles is aboard for your cruise as well.

P.S. - Just realized I left out our favorite port - St. Barth's! This is a beautiful place. We took the St. Barth's Hotel and Beach Break tour. It was terrific. But - and it's a big but - you have to be on the first mini=bus leaving or you won't get any lounge chairs by beach or pool. Then it wouldn't be much fun at all. The hotel is older. The beach is wonderful. The pool is HUGE! (And hardly anyone goes in it.) But the most surprising aspect was our lunch. We were given a set menu to choose from. First a welcome rum punch or fruit punch. Then choice of entree:
club sandwich, chef salad, some kind of steak, some kind of fish, and a mixed island fish specialty plate. Then choice of drink - beer, wine, soda,etc. And choice of dessert - chocolate mousse, some kind of vanilla mousse-thing, vanilla ice cream with mango and passionfruit (I think) ice cream (all three are together) and coffee, cappucino or expresso. And of course a shot glass of vanilla rum. First of all - each entree could feed a MINIMUM of two people! there is no humanly way possible to pick up half of that club sandwich and get it into your mouth. The chef salad had ham, cheese, real chicken, more meat and cheese and enough lettuce to feed four. It overflowed a plate that was at least 14" in diameter. Can you tell we enjoyed lunch? More that worth the $65 or so we paid for the excursion!

Bobbi,

St. Barth's was one of our favorite ports in the Carribean also. Very clean and upscale. Maybe a little too upscale as it can be very expensive depending on where you dine. But there are many nice options!

Glad you enjoyed your cruise.

Ginny

Bobbi.
Thank you for the wonderful information.
Thank you to the rest of you for your comments.

Ginny - yes, St. Barth's can be quite pricey. But I am a big "browser" and got a kick out of seeing some of the stores with their unbelievably high prices (and that was in Euros!!!!)My actual expenditures in St. Barth's consisted of tee shirts for the kids/their spouses and boyfriends and a hat for me! We loved seeing some of the gorgeous villas we drove by. Saw Jimmy Buffet's seaplane (apparently he's the only one on the island who has one) and the future home of David Letterman's new villa up on a bluff overlooking the sea. That's why I thought the $65 a person was such a bargain for the beach/pool/lunch and mini-tour by taxi. We did stop along the Main Street in Gustavia and have drinks. That really wasn't overly priced. Would we love to go back to St. Barth's? Absolutely. Just don't know how much we could afford!!!!! I will say this - everyone we met was very, very friendly.
Jim - don't know what cabin you are in - but we found ours had very, very loud creaking noises at night.

Jim - Enjoy your doc dance. So excited for you!!! <img border="0" alt="[bounce]" title="" src="graemlins/ubbbounce2.gif" /> <img border="0" alt="[bounce]" title="" src="graemlins/ubbbounce2.gif" />

Congratulations!! Keep up the dancing Jim, it won't be long now! :banana: :banana: :banana:

Congratulations Jim! Once you get those docs the cruise seems that much more real, doesn't it? Enjoy!

Thank you, thank you all.
I am sure the "8" of us will have a good time
even if there does not seem to be anyone from LCT or CC going.

Hope the group has a great time! Safe travels and we look forward to hearing *all* about it. Cheers, Anne

Jim,

Just my feelings about the Diamond. I was on her in December for a very short cruise.

I have been sailing with RSSC for a few years.

I enjoyed this ship. Such smooth sailing, great service, wonderful food.

Have a great cruise!

Regards, JPar