Topic: Sea Princess 20.03.10

Hi there,

We are going on our first cruise on 20.03.10 ( my husband, myself and our 2 daughters, 10 and 8yrs ) We are flying from Manchester to Barbados. Can't wait but a getting a bit panicky now as we don't really know anything about cruising! This website has been a great help though. Just wondering if anyone else will be on this cruise. Would love to hear from anyone.

Hi Cal,

Im also new to cruising, going on my very first one on Valentines day, flying from Barbados on the Thomson Destiny with my two boys. I hope you have a wonderful trip! Have you decided on your excursions? Which ports will you be docking in/at? I've heard that most excursions are cheaper if booked with the individual companies. Top find this week has been the swimming with dolphins excursion has been offered at £245 and dolphin discovery offers that almost at 60% discount!!! Worth checking out.

Enjoy your cruise.

QUOTE:

Hi there,

We are going on our first cruise on 20.03.10 ( my husband, myself and our 2 daughters, 10 and 8yrs ) We are flying from Manchester to Barbados. Can't wait but a getting a bit panicky now as we don't really know anything about cruising! This website has been a great help though. Just wondering if anyone else will be on this cruise. Would love to hear from anyone.

Sorry I am not going BUT fret not - she is a lovely warm and friendly ship with American 'can do' touched with British sockets ! You will have a great holiday - just remember that when you arrive it will be HOT so don't arrive in Barbados in denim jeans, jumpers etc. Wear tropical clothes layered t shirts etc. with a coat over it to travel from the UK. Then when you get off the plane into sweltering heat, transfer to the port, check in and get your cards etc. you all will be comfortable and not have to wait for your bags to arrive in your cabin before you can change. This leaves you free and unrestricted by your 'warm' clothes, to start enjoying your holiday immediately !!

Thanks so much for all your help and advice. We will make sure we are all in something cool and we would love to swim with the dolphins, I will have to find out a bit more about that. Our ports are St Lucia, Trinidad, Grenada, Bonaire, Aruba, Montego Bay, Samana, Tortola, St Maarten, Antigua and Dominica

Hi
My husband and I join the ship the following week from Montego Bay. If you look on the Cruise Critic uk web site there is a roll call for your week which may be helpful and lots of reviews on Princess thread.

Their ports of call web site is also extremely useful and gives you excellent reviews of private excursions.

I have already booked tours for Dominica, Bonaire, Antigua and St Maartens. Grenada, Tortola and Grenada we are playing by ear as we feel we need to have some beach time and walking!

We are going to Cape Leverano(?) on the ship tour which is supposed to be a lovely beach and can only be accessed by ship tours.

Really looking forward to going, and have already found that one or two tour companies are getting fully booked, especially when there are 4 or 5 ships in port at the same time.

However, from the reviews you will see that lots of people just grab a taxi or bus and go freelance totally.

This is our first time, so we are just hoping we are doing it the right way. Only time will tell!

Maybe our paths will cross. We are flying from Gatwick.

Hi Cal
Just seen your message on the forum page.
We will already be on board because we go a week
earlier than you joining at Montego Bay.
My wife and myself went on our first cruise
(Sea Princess to the Caribbean) 3 years ago.
We were a little apprehensive but everything went
brilliant and we had a fantastic holiday. Been on 2 more
Princess cruisers since but because we enjoyed the
Sea Princess so much we booked it again for this year again back to the Caribbean although some different islands. Everybody makes you feel so special and there
is lots to do on the ship for all ages.
I'm sure like us you will have a fantastic time and want to keep cruising although i realise with a family its not cheap. All the best Derek

Thanks for your message Derek, just noticed it now. We are starting to get really excited. It's great to hear from someone who has already sailed with Sea Princess and enjoyed it so much. Trouble is, what if we never want to do a 'normal holiday' ever again - We'll have to rob a bank!

Cal,
Dont be tempted to book too many ships excursions unless they have some special trips that are difficult to do on your own. You will find lots of taxis available at every port who will give you a full island tour or simply take you to the nearest beach at prices less than the ships tours. They all take American dollars but have a few low denomination notes to avoid getting change in local dollars.
When you land in Barbados, there is no immigration or waiting for your luggage, as you simply get into the next bus waiting on the tarmac and are taken direct to the ship, which takes about 45mins. Your luggage is offloaded from the plane onto a truck and is ultimately delivered to your cabin but it might be 2-3hours after you arrive so bear this in mind when you are packing your hand luggage i.e if you want to go swimming pack a swimming costume.
Brian

Thanks Brian,

That's a great help and much appreciated.

QUOTE:

We are going on our first cruise on 20.03.10
We are flying from Manchester to Barbados.

Your ship, Madam..



-at Bridgetown!




In the process of docking at Barbados..




Bridgetown again..




Departing St.Johns,Antigua!

.