Hits and Misses on MSC Meraviglia

Posted on September 27, 2024 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Meraviglia in Cozumel

There are always things people really like about any individual cruise and things they could do without or feel could have been done better. Some things are likely seen as either good or bad by pretty much everyone onboard, whereas with other things some people may not care or may even feel exactly the opposite of my opinion.

HITS

The boarding process on MSC Meraviglia was easy and efficient. For the first time that I’d seen since covid they let people into the terminal before the ship actually started boarding. We were allowed wait until the ship was ready to board in those multitudes of chairs in the terminal where people used to go pre-covid, but have just walked past the rows and rows of empty chairs after waiting sometimes for hours outside since. Other than priority boarding, of which they had just one group rather than the many seen on some ships, people were given boarding group numbers as they checked in, again like the good old pre-covid days.

room full of chairs on the Meraviglia

The ship was nice, clean, spacious, well cared for, and had mostly tasteful décor.

Carousel Theater show

Most of the shows were entertaining to watch.

Meriviglia’s take on pecan pie – a normal on-menu dessert

For anyone not on a special diet they had mostly good food. They were pretty lacking in accommodating with things like gluten and dairy free options though.

cloudy sky in the dome

dome show

dome portraying a stained-glass ceiling

One of the highlights of the ship is the dome over the galleria, or promenade area. Patterns change throughout the day portraying anything from fancy ceilings to sunny skies. Several times throughout the day there’s a dome show on that ceiling. Some were patterns of light and color where others were a sequential show.

balcony cabin

The cabin was nice, and the bed had a comfortable mattress.

There were lots of different things to do onboard.

waterslides

The ship had fun waterslides where you go down on tubes, of which there were options for singles or doubles.

The crew was friendly and helpful.

MISSES

The muster drill was a crowded cluster. Instead of watching the safety video individually and going down to your muster station to get your card scanned on your own, they had everyone go to their cabin at the same time to watch the video, then call a number given at the end to prove they’d watched it – after which they announced the code so anybody could call whether they’d actually seen it or not. Then they called several decks at a time to all go down to their muster stations together for card scanning. They started with the highest decks, so those people were all on the way back up as they called lower decks to go down. This made for a huge pile-up on the stairs as elevators were not allowed and none of the crew stairways were open like they used to be back in the days of the in-person muster drill. That jam-packed stairway is a great way to spread all the germs not having the in-person muster drill is supposed to prevent as well as just being an annoyingly slow pile-up of people. Plus they kept repeatedly announcing that it was mandatory to go there as if people weren’t bothering to do it rather than being stuck on a crowded stairway unable to get through. The way all of the other ships we’ve been on since covid have done muster where you just watch the video on your own and wander through your muster station at will sometime during the boarding hours works far better.

no kleen-x in the bathroom or anywhere else

This was the second ship we’ve sailed on that had no kleen-x box in the room. The other was a different cruise line and also a newer ship.

gluten and dairy free tapioca dessert with fruit sauce

There was no gluten free food made onboard so their only option was removing sauces and things from meals or thawing frozen pre-packaged items. Getting something as simple as a pre-packaged croissant took forever from the buffet because they had to go all the way down to the dining room to use a microwave to thaw it out. Also the only gluten-free dessert offered in the dining room was cake (from the freezer of course) that was covered in whipped cream frosting so useless if dairy is an issue as well – and their so-called sorbet from the dining room contained dairy so it wasn’t even real sorbet. They did have actual sorbet for sale at the gelato shop, but would not serve that in the dining room even though they had nothing else to offer. The only dessert they ever came up with that was both gluten and dairy free was some sort of tapioca thing that was almost edible when served with a fruit sauce, but pretty bland and tasteless by itself. Of course dessert should be tasty and enjoyable, not just almost edible.

The cabin came with neither washcloths nor bathrobes so we had to ask for both at the start of the cruise and they stopped including fresh washcloths with the room cleanings a couple days before the cruise ended.

not quite dry laundry hanging on the wall with magnets and clothesline

There was no self-serve guest laundry so we had to hand wash in the cabin sink because we’re too cheap to pay the exorbitant prices cruise ships want for doing people’s laundry and we were on too long of a cruise to pack enough clean clothes to last the whole time.

MSC’s website and app leave much to be desired. Things that should work online and in the app don’t so people end up in long barely moving lines onboard for stuff that could have been taken care of in a few seconds if either the website or app worked as it should.

casino

Lines are a constant for just about everything. For example on most ships you can go into the theater ahead of time, find a seat, and wait for the show to start. On this ship people stand in line outside the theater until nearly time for the show to start even though most shows required reservations in advance. Getting on or off the ship often involves a slow-moving line too. There were also those long lines to get reservations for a lot of things that should have been done through the app, but it didn’t work. MSC is not very good with lines. Even the always long line at the customer service desk barely moves – and most of the movement it does get comes from the screener removing people that can get the help they need elsewhere.

Looking at the backside of the Houdini show from seats behind the stage in the Carousel Theater

Worst of all was the line to shows at the Carousel Theater because the doorway to that theater was at the back of the casino so the wait for those shows was inside of the smokey casino – and you had to get there pretty early if you wanted a seat where you could see the front of the stage. The first time we went to a show there we ended up behind the stage where we just saw the backside of everyone in the show. There were also seats going way out to the sides of the small round stage where views probably weren’t the best either. The view was excellent from the few available seats front and center which meant being at the front of that really long line to get them.

sorry, there’s no reservations available

There are no free eateries other than the dining room, buffet, and pool grill & ice cream. All of the specialty eateries require reservations even though some of them could handle a whole lot more people if they did walk-ins and filled tables as people left instead of reserved seatings a couple hours apart. Even if you are looking into a totally empty restaurant you can’t get in without a reservation, which you can’t get on the spot. We had dinner at the Mexican place one evening and there was only one other occupied table the whole time we were there, yet nobody who stopped by the door was allowed in. We also were not allowed in when trying to eat there another time when the place was completely empty other than the people who worked there, yet their reservation system said it was full.

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2024
Posted in Meraviglia, MSC, Shipboard Life | Tagged , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Four Women in One Cruise Ship Cabin

Posted on September 20, 2024 by LBcruiseshipblogger

mom & Barbara by the Quantum in Juneau

When my sister casually mentioned that my mother had once sadly said she thought she’d never go on another cruise I decided that a cruise would make the perfect Christmas gift. Sailing along with my sisters as well made 4 of us for the cruise. While two cabins for two would have been nice, the price of the cruise drops for extra people beyond 2 in the same cabin, plus at the time of booking I wasn’t sure whether one of the sisters would be able to come or not so it had to be a cabin for 3 or 4. The other advantage of having everyone in the same cabin is that if you buy a photo package it will cover everyone in the cabin in one package. When sailing with my husband we avoid photographers like the plague, but when sailing with my sisters we’ve always bought a digital photo package. As it turned out the sister I wasn’t sure would come ended up inviting her two daughters as well, but the nieces had their own cabin that they booked for themselves long after the booking for this one was done.

cabin on Quantum of the Seas

There weren’t a whole lot of options for a 4-person ocean view cabin and the balcony cabins were a bit too pricey so I went with the best location available from the couple options we had. Four person cabins on the Quantum of the Seas are scarce to begin with and of course our choices were limited to any that weren’t already booked. We went with one fairly close to a public restroom, which was likely to be a necessity when booking 4 people into a one-bathroom cabin. It was a major reason for choosing that particular cabin. Looking at the deck plan pre-cruise it looked like that bathroom was just a short distance down the hallway from our room.

casino on Quantum

Unfortunately that particular public restroom turned out not to be in a hallway near the elevators like nearly every public restroom on nearly every cruise ship – including this one. No, that restroom was in the casino. A casino which according to both the app and the daily newsletter onboard should have been smoke-free as both proclaimed smoking was not allowed in any indoor areas of the ship, yet in reality that only applied to sailings out of Australia. Unlike Explorer of the Seas, the first Royal Caribbean ship I ever sailed on, which actually was totally smoke-free inside and had been for a couple years when we sailed on it. Luckily the next two decks above us both had normal restrooms near the stairways and elevators which were not too far away so there were still pretty convenient restrooms nearby – and the one in the casino was OK for early mornings when there was nobody in there and the ventilation system had had all night to clear the air.

2 of 4 storage cubbies

The room did have lots of storage space with 4 large cubbies above the beds and couch (which was also a bed). It also had 2 closets and lots of drawers. There was extra bedding stored under the beds even when the couch bed was made up, but we still found room under there for all our luggage. The bathroom had the usual 3 shelves above the counter so space in there was a bit tight for 4 women and nobody had room to store all their products there. Luckily we had all brought our own shampoo and conditioner because there was just that awful all-in-on garbage in the shower. The shower also lacked the usual clothesline that you can pull across so it was a good thing I brought some or we would have had nowhere to hang wet swimsuits. The usual line across the shower never would have held 4, but it would certainly have helped make the extra line less crowded.

it’s sort of a trundle bed except both sides are the same height

Pre-cruise we wondered if the 4-person room would have 2 beds and 2 bunks or 2 beds, 1 bunk, and 1 couch bed, but neither were right. It just had an extra flap that pulled out of the couch turning it into a small double bed. They did at least put 2 separate quilts folded in half something like a sleeping bag for a bit of separation between people, but definitely not what we expected at all. According to our steward that ship did not have any bunks so a different cabin would not have changed that. We decided pre-cruise that mom and Linda got the beds and Barbara and I would have whatever the alternative sleeping places were so we shared the couch bed. She had the couch part and I had the pull-out. Which worked out well because she managed to get in and out without crawling over me even though there wasn’t much space for her to do that. It looked like it might be crowded, but it really wasn’t. Unlike my bedhog dog at home, we each stayed on our own side. It was actually quite comfortable.

teapot with added cups

A teapot in the cabin was a nice surprise, though we had to find our own tea for it from other places like the buffet and promenade café. Like the rest of the things in the room, it was only set for 2 and we had to bring in cups from elsewhere to get any more. Not sure if our steward was new and poorly trained, overworked without enough time to do a thorough job, or just had a hard time finding supplies, but it was difficult to get much more of anything. He did bring bath towels enough for 4, but never enough washcloths, hand towels, or cups. He brought lots of hangers when we asked for extra, but it took a few days to get bathrobes. At least tea and spare cups were easy to find elsewhere on the ship.

Returning to the cabin after it had been cleaned following our first night there we were surprised to see the couch bed had not been folded back up. We initially thought it was because the steward was lazy, or perhaps Barbara said she hadn’t understood something he’d asked her and said it was OK to leave it, but that turned out not to be the case.

the steward left us a different towel animal every day

Apparently now that Royal has gone to one daily cleaning some idiot in corporate in all their “wisdom” thinks it is a good idea to make their guests live in cramped quarters with the bed folded out all the time  leaving less than a foot of space between that and the drawers, no real access to the window, and no couch to sit on because the stewards aren’t supposed to go into the cabin a second time that day. So really throwing away dollars to save pennies because people aren’t so likely to book another cruise on that line if their living arrangement is that cramped just because corporate doesn’t want a steward to take a couple minutes to make them comfortable. Obviously whoever made that decision has never stayed in one of those cabins with more than two people. You can’t even fully open the refrigerator or drawers in the desk or use the desk or the chair under it with the bed out. Not to mention if people don’t know it’s a corporate thing they will just think their steward is lazy and the poor stewards will lose the all the tips they might have otherwise gotten from people with more than two in a cabin.

we left the steward a towel owl along with his tip

Luckily our steward did make the extra effort to put the bed up in the morning and down at night after that first day even though he wasn’t supposed to. We tipped him well for it. People in those cabins may not dish out the big bucks that suite guests pay, but still should get to enjoy the maximum space the cabin they did pay for allows. Hopefully corporate has gotten a significant enough number of complaints in the post-cruise surveys to come to their senses by now.

formal night photo of the 4 of us

Sometimes 3 of the 4 people had somewhere to go and something to do while the 4th one didn’t. Which always resulted in putting that 4th person into WOO-HOO I can take a shower without bothering anyone else mode rather than them feeling left out of whatever the others were doing. Regardless of who the 4th person was we all felt that way and we all took advantage of the empty room whenever the chance arrived.

Other than not wanting to hog the bathroom for showers when others were in the room when that could be avoided we didn’t feel too crowded with the four of us in there, but if the bed had been pulled out all day we sure would have. Even if there was only one or two people in the room it would be crowded with the couch bed set up the whole time.

mirror over the desk

If we all needed to get ready to go to dinner or out into a port or something at the same time we managed without getting into each other’s way too much, though sometimes one person had to move aside for another to go by or to get something from a drawer or closet. Mostly mom & Linda since the closets were in their area as were their drawers, while other than our closet stuff Barbara & I had everything in the drawers by the couch bed or the cubbies above the couch and none of mom or Linda’s things were in our area. It definitely helped for everyone getting ready at once that there were a couple of mirrors out in the room as well as the one in the bathroom.

it never hurts to have extra space to plug stuff in

Some of the older cruise ships just had one outlet and no USB ports, but now they tend to have more. Some definitely have more than others. It still doesn’t hurt to bring something along that gives you more options for charging things, especially when there are multiple people in the room. Quantum had 2 outlets by the desk, which was increased with the addition of my 3-outlet plug, of which one was used to plug in a clock that has 2 USB ports.

The bathroom had a shelf under the sink that didn’t have anything stored on it, which comes in handy for stashing clothes and whatever else might be needed for a quick getaway in the morning without disturbing anyone else too much if you’re the sort of person who tends to wake up earlier than the others and want to go prowl around the ship for awhile. Early mornings are a good time to take ship photos with nobody in them, or to explore the ship undisturbed, or just go out for an early morning walk.

4 happy cruisers

If we had spent the whole cruise in the cabin it might have felt crowded sometimes, but since we were mostly out and about in the daytime and just in there at night or in between doing other things it all worked out fine. Unless we all needed to get ready to go somewhere together at the same time we were rarely all in there at once during the daytime. Even when we all went out to the ports together we didn’t all return at once. Linda and sometimes Barbara liked to browse the shops after we were done with whatever else we did in port, where mom and I didn’t really care to spend a long time shopping.

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2024
Posted in Alaska, Quantum of the Seas, Royal Caribbean, Shipboard Life, USA | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Kona, Hawaii Taxi Tour

Posted on September 13, 2024 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Noordam in Kona

We came into Kona with no set plans figuring to see what was there and find something to do. I was hoping to find parasailing, but out of a group of 4 nobody else was that interested so we were going to do an island tour first and then see about parasailing when we got back. When we got back we saw the parasail boat on a trailer getting hauled out of the water, apparently done for the day. Either the water got too rough or they just finished all their bookings and didn’t figure on getting more. Anyway whatever the reason the boat left the area on its trailer so that was it for that.

flower in Kona

Some discussion had taken place regarding the hop on hop off bus, but there were guys with signs for van and taxi tours so we ended up with a private taxi tour for just us and another couple we met on the ship.

coffee beans on the bush

The first stop was a place called Kona Joe who has a patent on growing coffee on a trellis like grapes are sometimes done. Our guide said the owner of that farm had previously had vineyards and patented growing coffee that way so nobody else can do it. Apparently it allows for better sun-ripening of the coffee beans. Their website mentions tours of the coffee farm, but we just went into the store and nobody said anything about a tour.

shop at Kona Joe

They did have free samples of coffee and chocolate covered coffee beans for anyone who wanted them. The others said the coffee bean didn’t taste like coffee so I tried one, but they were wrong. It takes longer to chew the bean than the chocolate surrounding it and once the chocolate was gone it did leave a bitter coffee aftertaste, so not particularly something I would enjoy eating much of since I don’t like coffee. The others liked it though.

view from outside the store at Kona Joe

The pure Kona coffee is seriously expensive. At the time we were at that store it ran from the cheapest bag at $36 to the most expensive at $100 – and these are not big bags, just little 8-ouncers.

Kona Kettle Chips store

Next we went to the place that makes Kona Kettle potato chips. It was a little store attached to the factory. They did not do any factory tours, but they did have some free samples for the asking. The chips weren’t as expensive as the coffee, but still somewhat pricey unless you buy the bag of bits, which is the pieces that are too small to go into their regular bags. They still taste the same though.

painted church outside and inside

After that we went to see a painted church. On the outside it looks like an ordinary little church, but the inside is covered in scenes hand painted by the first priest there, Father John Velghe. He was quite talented for someone with no artistic training. It was all done in house paint of which he only had 3 colors available. He created all of the other colors using dyes made from plants. The paintings are still the originals which have never been touched up or restored yet remain colorful and intact.

inside the painted church

There are different scenes all around the church walls. Even the ceiling and columns are painted. The church is called St Benedict’s and was built in 1899. The priest used the scenes for teaching as most Hawaiians of the time had not learned to read.

garden outside of the painted church

On the way to the next stop we saw a sign by the road about a lava tube being open, which was not included in the places we were scheduled to stop. The guide said that was because it was unregistered which means the place holds no responsibility over any accidents that might happen there if someone were to fall or something.

monument at the site of the island’s first Christian funeral

We went on to a beach which was the exact site of the first ever Christian funeral service on the big island (or maybe in all of Hawaii), performed by Captain Cook for a dead member of his crew. However he used a spot sacred to the natives of the area for their own rituals without their permission so they were quite upset about it. They were also curious about the nails holding his ships together and stole one of his small tender boats to check things out.

obelisk at the site of Captain Cook’s death

Cook’s response to that was to kidnap one of their kings to offer up in trade for the boat back. They made the trade to get their king back, but he knew they were angry and he was no longer welcome there. While fleeing back to his ship one of them stabbed him with a knife he’d given them as a gift followed by a blow to the head with a native rock and rope weapon. An obelisk on the other side of the little bay marked the exact spot where he died. He traveled all over the south seas before his death. There are Captain Cook monuments on a lot of islands in the south Pacific.

stand back or you’ll get wet

The bay there was quite rough, with some serious splashing sometimes coming up and out far enough to shower anyone standing too close to the water. The area for people was a raised paved area rather than the beach itself, though not one that juts out into the water like a pier, just on the edge of it. There was nobody out in the water and signs warning of it not being safe.

lava tube

After that stop the driver agreed to go back to the place with the lava tube. He pointed out where to go, but stayed with the taxi and did not come down there with us. Getting there involved walking down a driveway to a coffee farm where coffee beans were in the process of getting turned into coffee. There were piles of beans and some spread out to dry. Many machines looking somewhat like semi-barrel shaped oversized rock tumblers churned away, though there were no people in site. The partially processed coffee beans let off a fairly strong smell of vinegar which when asked the guide said was the sugary coating that grows around the beans fermenting as they are soaked to remove said coating.

coffee bean production by the trail to the lava tube

A pathway past the coffee building led to a ramp with a bright yellow rail down the center, which in turn led to the entrance of the lava tube. As the guide mentioned, it was a fairly short walk through to the other end. You could see one end from the other, but the passage through still would have been fairly dark on uneven ground except for the motion lights that came on in several places along the way whenever anyone passed by them.

inside the lava tube

The lava tube is pretty much a stone tunnel, any active lava having long since passed through and gone someplace else to cool off. It was quite big in circumference though so quite a volume of lava could have flowed through it at once way back at the time of its creation. It did not cost anything to walk through the lava tube. When we got back to the car the driver had tiny samples of rum cake for everyone from a store next to the lava tube parking lot.

lava tube

Next we paid a quick visit to a small grocery store because some people wanted a few supplies. Our guide had mentioned bananas called apple bananas that grew on the island, and how good they were. The other cruisers we were with bought enough for everyone including the guide to each have one and they were quite good. Also as the guide had mentioned that these were smaller than the bananas we buy on the mainland. The perfect size really for making one banana split or adding to a bowl of cereal. A free rum cake sign at a nearby store to that one brought us to another impromptu stop where we got larger free rum cake samples, and one person bought a few things, which is of course why they offer the free samples to get people into their store.

dog on a boogie board

After that we went back to the pier where we watched a couple people with a little dog out boogey boarding with them. The dog sometimes did tricks and jumped from board to board. I thought they might have a collecting tin on the shore since they were entertaining a small crowd, but they didn’t. It was just something they did for fun. Or maybe to train or exercise the dog. All around the pier there are good places for photo ops of the ship, though the sun wasn’t really in a good place for it. We took a few anyway and then boarded a tender back to the ship. Kona is a good place for people with no prior plans. Besides taxi or bus tours, there’s also a little booth on the dock where people can book a lot of other last-minute activities.

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2024
Posted in Holland America, Noordam, Pacific Ocean & Islands, Ports of Call, USA | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Sky Suite on Enchanted Princess

Posted on September 6, 2024 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Enchanted Princess in Saint Thomas

The biggest and most expensive suites available on Enchanted Princess are the Sky Suites, of which there are only 2. These are the only lodgings on deck 18, the sky deck. The sky deck consists of front and back portions at either end of the ship that are not connected through the middle. The sky suites are in the front portion, which also contains a hot tub on either side that is above the adults only retreat pool, but part of the retreat area. In front of that is the pay-extra-for-access sanctuary. The extensive balcony extending across 3 sides of each sky suite has a private entrance to the retreat area. S10 is a standard sky suite. S309 is accessible and slightly larger.

living room

Including the balcony these suites have over 1700 square feet, with over 1500 of that space inside. Booking a suite always comes with some perks above what you get with standard staterooms like priority boarding and tender, a special line for suite and elite guests only at guest services, complimentary champagne on arrival, reserved seating in the theater, dining options not available to other guests, and concierge service with access to the concierge lounge. The sky suite has additional perks and benefits over and above what the others get.

dining room

Other suite benefits, some of which are exclusive to sky suites include pre-cruise shoreside concierge, suite experience manager, complimentary access to The Enclave (thermal suite), reserved bungalow on Princess Cay if the cruise includes a port stop there,  two full bar set-ups, complimentary wine tasting, private shopping concierge, telescope in the suite, complimentary ultimate balcony breakfast and dinner, lots of balcony furniture, and a two-bedroom suite that sleeps up to 5 people.

sky suite balcony table

The extensive balcony provides a 270 degree view as you move from one area of the balcony to the another. One end of it overlooks the lido deck, facing the movie screen. There are loungers in that area for private movie watching. The balcony has multiple groupings of furniture, one of which is a table and chairs for private al fresco dining.

relaxation area facing the outdoor TV

Other areas have places for relaxing. The end with the private entrance to the retreat area is set up for ultimate relaxation with padded loungers, a pod, and even an outdoor TV.

central area

The center of the suite has dining room and living room areas. The dining room has a table and chairs as well as wet and dry bars. The living room has a couch, table and chairs. It also has a desk and a TV as well as the telescope and a sliding door out to the balcony.

bedroom

There is a bedroom on either side of the central area. The main difference is a fancier bathroom in the one considered the master bedroom, though the bathroom in the other bedroom is bigger and fancier than what is found in most of the ship’s other accommodations.

bedroom

The master bedroom is somewhat larger than the other bedroom so it’s not just the bathroom that is bigger. The extra-large master bathroom includes a bathtub and separate stand-alone shower. These bathrooms have more products than standard cabins. The shower has 3 separate containers for shampoo, conditioner, and shower gel instead of only 2 with shampoo and conditioner combined. In addition to the usual liquid soap and hand lotion at the sink there are also some spa products.

master bathroom

The master bedroom has two closets and a desk. Each bedroom has its own TV.

bathtub

The smaller bedroom has one closet and a desk. It’s bathroom just has a shower, no tub, but is still bigger than bathrooms found in most staterooms onboard. Each bedroom is more spacious than some entire cabins.

wet bar

This suite has more space than a lot of people’s homes. It’s quite a luxurious place to spend a cruise, but you have to spend a lot of money if you want to stay there.

Sky suites video from Princess’ website

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Butchart Gardens

Posted on September 2, 2024 by LBcruiseshipblogger

sign near the entry

Cruises from Seattle to Alaska generally make a stop at Victoria on the way back to fulfill the required foreign port. Most of these are late evening stops from around 6 or 7 pm until Midnight. Quantum of the Seas was scheduled for a bit earlier stop at 5 pm. On previous stops in Victoria we either just went out and walked around town on our own or stayed on the ship, but on Quantum we had booked an excursion to Butchart Gardens. It was a windy, stormy day, but there was a Norwegian ship docked in Victoria when our ship passed by, circled round, and passed by again. A wave splashed over top of the pilot boat as it pulled up to the ship. The pilot made it onboard, but together with the captain decided not to take the ship into port. I had not realized prior that ships ever didn’t make it into Victoria. Quantum is bigger than most ships that go to Alaska, and considering all the things we didn’t do on our cruise it may be too big for that area. Just to make things confusing to people not from the area, Victoria is on Vancouver Island, but Vancouver, the other nearby Canadian cruise port is not. There is also a lesser-known city called Vancouver in Washington State – all named after Captain Vancouver who explored the pacific northwest in the 1790’s.

map of Butchart Gardens

Later we went to Butchart Gardens on our own, taking the Coho ferry across the Strait of Juan de Fuca from Port Angeles to Victoria. We found a hotel right across the street from the ferry dock so did not have to go far with luggage after walking onto the ferry. There are actually 3 hotels just across from the dock and quite a few others in the surrounding area. Victoria’s inner harbour where the ferry stops is right in the heart of the touristy part of town, unlike the cruise ship port which is at Ogden Point on the outskirts of the harbour (spelled the Canadian way).

boar fountain with foal and donkey statues

Butchart Gardens is quite a ways from town, but it is not hard to get there even if you are there without a car. Tour busses are an option, but they cost quite a lot more than the city bus and don’t have as much freedom on the times you can come and go. Taxis are also an option, but the price is quite high for them. The city bus is a good option. It runs about every half hour through a lot of the day. Later in the evening it goes to more like every 40, then 50 minutes. The bus schedule for the garden is somewhat seasonal reflecting the garden’s hours since it stays open later in the summer. There’s also a bus stop close to the nearby butterfly garden if someone should want to go there as well. The bus has a stop right in Butchart Gardens near the entrance. It is bus 75 that stops in the garden, but when the bus is running at times when the garden is closed it skips that stop. It’s a short walk from the bus stop to the entry gates. There’s a ticket booth where people can buy tickets and get maps of the garden. People with pre-purchased tickets can skip that line and go straight to the entry scanners. You can buy tickets at the Visitor’s center in Victoria or online.

sunken garden

In the garden there are pathways leading to a variety of different gardens. The oldest is the sunken garden, built in a former limestone quarry shortly after the mine shut down. The garden now covers 55 acres. It began through the ideas of Jennie Butchart, wife of the owner of the former mine. The gardens are still owned and operated by the family, descendants of the original owner. They no longer live on the premises though. The former estate house is now the dining room that serves afternoon tea in a portion of it and houses offices in the rest. Besides the dining room, food is also available at another restaurant, a coffee shop, and a gelateria so people can spend the day there without going hungry.  Advance reservations are advised for afternoon tea, which can be made online.

fountain at the sunken garden

The sunken garden is the largest of all the gardens there. Most of it is on low ground since all the original rock was mined away, but there’s a lookout in the middle on a pillar of limestone that was not of sufficient quality for them to mine it. At the far end there’s a fountain, which changes if you watch it long enough. It gets taller and shorter and has sprays that twist around each other. When in season there are rhododendrons there among many other plants. A group of garden workers were replacing the flowers in one of the beds while we were there, something they do as needed all around the garden to keep it always looking nice.

even the trash cans have little gardens on top

All of the gardens have multiple flower beds. There are flowers everywhere. Even the trash cans have little gardens on top.

rose carousel

Not far from the sunken garden there’s an indoor carousel. It’s called the Rose Carousel, though it is not in the rose garden. There’s a small fee to ride the carousel. It has hand-carved animals, not all of which are horses. People can choose to ride all sorts of exotic animals on the carousel from big cats to ostriches, a camel, or even an orca among many others. The guy running it said the orca got the most attention though we did not see anyone ride it while we were there. The carousel is near to a pond with a fountain that said it was the fireworks viewing area.

wall lizard

We saw lots of little lizards in the garden. They are cute, but also a non-native invasive species called common wall lizards native to the sunnier regions of southern Europe. When a 60-s era roadside zoo closed down they turned a few lizards loose. Descendants of those lizards now number over half a million. Since these lizards eat bees they can be detrimental to anything requiring bees for pollination. Although some of the area’s animals will eat the lizards, they don’t catch enough of them to curb the population. The garden did have a lot of wild bees so at least the lizards haven’t eaten all of the bees.

dragon fountain

Near to each other on the map, but down separate pathways there’s a dragon fountain and a sturgeon fountain. As the names indicate, one has a dragon in it and the other several fish, though all of them are statues. There were some actual fish in a small pond in the show greenhouse near the entrance. The greenhouse is also home to some giant begonias and other flowers. People can look in through a viewing window, but not go inside.

rose in the rose garden

The rose garden is near the sturgeon fountain and the Dining Room Restaurant. It has many different types of roses, all with little signs saying the name of the rose, who that rose variety is attributed to, and the year it first came out.

the most memorable rose name sign, but unfortunately not in bloom so we didn’t see what Rosie the Riveter rose actually looked like

Not all of them bloom at the same time so only some of the plants had blooms on them. There were also other plants like delphiniums filling in space between roses in some of the gardens.

star pond

The Italian Garden is quite small, occupying a former tennis court behind the Dining Room Restaurant and next to the star pond, a large shallow star-shaped man-made pond.

bridge in the Japanese Garden

The Japanese Garden sits beyond the star pond and is the second biggest of the gardens. It has many pathways and pools winding through mostly shady areas. There’s a little rock garden and lots of interesting little details.

trees in the Japanese garden

On a hot sunny day the Japanese Garden is the place to be since it has a lot of shade.

stepping stones

It also has a pond with stepping stones.

boar scarer fountain

Other interesting features in the Japanese Garden include little bridges, archways, and a funny little bamboo fountain called a boar scarer where water flows into a bit of bamboo until it slaps down on a rock, then pops back up for another go. It does make a noise, but it’s hard to picture that actually scaring a boar since it would probably just get used to it.

cove with boat dock

The back side of the Japanese garden has a gate out to a little cove where people who come to the garden by boat can dock.

tiny teapot Christmas ornaments in the gift shop

Up near the entry area there’s a small waterwheel and a gift shop. There’s also a visitor center and the coffee shop. The gift shop has all sorts of garden themed items as well as ornaments and teacups. It also has some clothing items like hats, shirts, and socks. Quite an array of wall art is available there as well.

 

well at the rose garden

Although it’s not in town, Butchart Gardens is one of Victoria’s biggest attractions.

pond

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Kona, Hawaii Cruise Port

Posted on August 30, 2024 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Noordam in Kona

The city of Kona is on the big island of Hawaii. It sits on the island’s west coast, which is the drier side of the island receiving about 18 inches of rain annually while Hilo on the rainy side of the island gets about 130. The Kona district spans about 2/3 of the island’s west coast. The area includes lots of things including beaches, resorts, coffee farms, shops, restaurants, and historical landmarks. Popular things to do in Kona include snorkeling, diving, sailing, fishing, and wildlife watching for dolphins, rays, and sea turtles. Kona is well known for the coffee grown on its hillsides. Pure Kona coffee is quite pricey.

view of a tender near the dock in Kona from another tender

Kona is a great port for people who haven’t booked anything ahead of time. It’s a tender port. Right at the pier where the tenders come in there’s a booth where people can book all sorts of activities. They have a variety of land and boat tours, including a glass bottom boat or snorkeling.

Kona by the tender pier

The beach right next to the pier is open for swimming and snorkeling with ropes and buoys separating where boats can go and where people can swim so anyone who just wants a beach day doesn’t need to go far at all. There were some pretty good waves going the day we were there, but that didn’t stop people from swimming and snorkeling at that beach.

dog on a boogie board

A couple people even had a little dog riding on a boogie board. It would sometimes jump from one person’s board to the other. They attracted a bit of a crowd to watch, but seemed to be doing it for their own enjoyment rather than as a show because there weren’t any tip jars or other means of collection that would have been there if they’d been buskers.

sunrise on the Noordam

Besides the things that can be booked on the dock, there’s also a hop on hop off bus and options for last minute van or taxi tours. The sign at the booth included parasailing, but the guy at the window said that actually books through the hotel next door.

glass bottom boat in Kona seen through the back window of a tender

People can book a variety of things through outside sources before the cruise, and of course there are shore excursions through the ship as well. Our ship offered a zodiac wildlife tour, Atlantis submarine, zodiac snorkel tour, a couple food tours, a glass bottom boat, coffee farm, and highlights of Kona.

tender platforms on the Noordam

The water was a bit choppy on the day of our visit. Since Kona is a tender port the ship anchors a bit offshore and people are brought to the pier in small boats called tenders. They used the tenders from the ship on this port, which double as lifeboats, but are taller than the ones that are only used as lifeboats and have dual engines rather than just one. The tenders bobbed up and down semi violently at the ship, but not so much at the dock on land. One group on the little dock at the side of the ship got wet feet while waiting to board the tender when a big wave swamped the platform. Lucky for us we were already on the tender and stayed dry. It’s a pretty short ride from the ship to the shore at that port.

we saw dolphins from our balcony

We saw dolphins from the tender on the way back and also from our balcony on the ship in the morning while we were watching them drop the tenders into the water before tender service began. The ones on the way back followed behind the tender. The ones in the morning swam around the area next to the ship for awhile, then went straight for it, dived down under and disappeared, presumably going underneath the ship and out on the other side.

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Ocean Cay Lighthouse Climb

Posted on August 23, 2024 by LBcruiseshipblogger

view of the ship and lighthouse shadow from the top of the lighthouse

At just $10 per person ($9 if booked online pre-cruise), the lighthouse climb on Ocean Cay is the cheapest cruise-ship excursion I’ve ever seen – at least with that as the intentional price. We did once book one for $6.95 on Holland America, but that was because whoever put it on the website put the decimal point in the wrong place on an excursion intended to sell for $69.50. The website allowed the booking at that price and they did honor it onboard after expressing great surprise that we had found it so cheap. It’s not likely it stayed at that price on the website for very long. Unlike the lighthouse climb where $9 or $10 is the actual price, or at least it was at the time of our cruise.

guide pointing out interesting things at the top of the lighthouse

Sometimes an excursion that costs a lot turns out not to be worth nearly that much, but the lighthouse climb on MSC’s private island Ocean Cay, which we booked as an excursion on the Meraviglia was well worth the $10 per person it cost. The views alone would have been worth that, but we had an excellent guide. The quality of the guide can definitely make or break an excursion.

day and night at the Ocean Cay lighthouse

The red-and-white lighthouse stands 100 feet high, the tallest in the Bahamas according to our guide. It’s not solid. The outside somewhat resembles netting only a whole lot more solid. It’s laced with thousands of LED lights as well as spotlights at the top and bottom which produce quite a colorful lighthouse show after dark. What it does not have is an actual navigational light at the top. Apparently it is just for looks rather than function.

lighthouse show

There’s a bar next to the bottom of the lighthouse, which is a popular hangout for island visitors as well as a handy place to wait for the excursion to start. It has lots of tables and other places to sit, some sheltered and some out in the sun.

getting ready to climb the lighthouse

Once the group gathered at the bottom of the lighthouse the guide had people leave excess belongings like backpacks and beach bags on a handy ledge as they were too bulky for the climb, and safe there as the lighthouse is gated off and people are only allowed inside the fence for the tour. Next she asked if anyone was afraid of heights and made sure the guy that said yes was next to her for the whole way up. He did not have any problems along the way so either he handled his fears well or wasn’t bothered by the climb. Or just said he was scared so he could go first.

stairway up and down

A spiral staircase winds up the center of the lighthouse with 165 steps to the top. Along the way there are a couple platforms that circle around the inside of the lighthouse with 2 viewpoint openings each so people only have to walk up a third of the steps before stopping for a bit. Of course everyone whips out their phones or cameras at the stops. The guide gave us plenty of time for people to take all the photos they wanted from each viewpoint. She even took photos of everyone who wanted one of themselves along with the view.

viewpoint window

At each stop the guide gave people time to take their own photos, then took photos of anyone who wanted them, then spent a bit of time sharing information about the lighthouse, Ocean Cay, or neighboring islands and cays. Cay, quay, or key are usually all pronounced key. Keys and cays are small coral-based islands where a quay is a manmade wharf.

view from the lighthouse

Even from the foot of the lighthouse there’s some pretty spectacular views of the ship, island, and sea. The view only gets better the farther up you go. You can see more and more of the island until the whole thing comes into view. From the top you can see quite a distance in all directions. The guide pointed out which way to the nearest islands, the closest occupied one being Bimini. There’s a beach on the island called Bimini Beach because the next thing after it across over 20 miles of ocean is Bimini.

Lighthouse Beach

Ocean Cay was once an industrial sand mine, which created the island through dredging. MSC purchased the island in 2015. They cleaned up the industrial waste and planted grass and trees on what was a bare pile of sand. The surrounding waters have been classified as a marine reserve so fishing is not allowed in the area, nor is removing shells or rocks or anything else from the beach. They recycle everything on the island including food waste, which is used for fertilizer.

island view from the top

The biggest structure on the island is apartments for the workers who live there. Most of the cruise ship private islands we’ve been to are mainly staffed by crew from the ship, but this one had over 100 residents, all of whom work for MSC. The guide said she was lucky enough to have a private apartment, which meant she could have family come to visit sometimes. Workers who share apartments with another worker aren’t allowed to do that. She said plans were in the works for more apartments so all of the crew who live and work there will eventually have private residences. She also mentioned them all having homes elsewhere so they must rotate workers somewhat like the crew on the ship does. She said they are well paid and in the event of a hurricane MSC evacuates them off the island. The majority of them are from other islands in the Bahamas, but some come from other countries as well.

ship, dock, and lighthouse show

She said MSC had planted coral on a nearby tiny islet called Brown Cay, where they take snorkel excursions, but there wasn’t any coral at any of the beaches where we went on Ocean Cay. Perhaps offspring of the coral planted at the nearby islet will settle there in the future, which would in turn attract more fish and greatly improve the snorkeling from the small populations of tiny juvenile fish that are mainly what live there now.

guide at a viewpoint on the way up

The guide did say there is a turtle nesting site on the island, and that they put the baby turtles into the island’s lagoon to eat the jellyfish that like to congregate there. Whether either the turtles or jellyfish stick around long I can’t say because she didn’t mention it.

posing between spotlights at the top

The views get better with each section of the lighthouse climbed. At the top the viewing platform is open all the way around, other than the backside of spotlights within the otherwise open area every few feet. The view is still fantastic though. You can see the ship, the island, and the open ocean as well as nearby islands.

looking down on a school of fish from the top of the lighthouse

You can also see to the bottom of the water next to the lighthouse. We could see a school of fish just inside the shark fence at the beach closest to the ship, which is called Lighthouse Beach. Those were bigger than any of the fish I had seen at the other beaches we went to on the island. Our guide said they feed those fish so that explains why the big ones hang around there. She said they are friendly and that is the best snorkeling spot on the island so I went out there early the next morning since our ship overnighted there. Those fish will follow you around if you swim into their area. Probably hoping for food, but I didn’t have anything for them. The rest of the area around the lighthouse other than the swimming beach behind the shark net is reef that is not open for swimming or snorkeling. I don’t know if there is any living coral there.

down the stairs

Climbing the lighthouse kind of reminded me of climbing the Leaning Tower of Pisa, which also had a circular stairway, viewpoint stops along the way, and an open area at the top. Both were also an easier climb than the amount of stairs they have makes it sound like they would be. The lighthouse stairway was steeper and narrower – and metal rather than stone. The views were of course quite different, though awesome from either place.

end of the tour at the bottom of the stairs

Once everyone has all the time they want at the top the whole group goes back down together, which is done in one go without stops like on the way up. We hadn’t thought to bring money out to the island as you can buy things there with your key card, but luckily I happened to have a $20 bill in my camera case because the guide deserved a good tip and we were the only ones from the whole group who gave her anything. A lot of people probably don’t think about tips until they come down and then of course it is too late if you haven’t got any money with you. She was thrilled with our tip, saying it was the biggest one anyone had ever given her.

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The Things We Didn’t Do

Posted on August 16, 2024 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Quantum of the Seas in Juneau

There’s always things on a cruise that you don’t do, whether it’s stuff you aren’t interested in or stuff you just didn’t get around to doing. On Royal Caribbean’s large ships like Quantum of the Seas there’s even more stuff to do or not do than on smaller ships without such a broad range of activities. Since this was a cruise to Alaska we pretty much figured beforehand that nobody would want to use the flowrider, and none of us did. It’s fun on cruises to warm climates and some people on the ship did go on it, but there was just no motivation there for any of us to give it a go. We also never went into the casino when it was open. The ship’s website, app, and even the daily newsletters onboard said that the casino was non-smoking, but all of them neglected to mention that was only for cruises out of Australia. Jennifer mentioned wanting to try the rock-climbing wall, but never got around to actually doing it. The last time I tried one was on the Explorer of the Seas and I wasn’t even halfway up before the arm that I once broke inside the elbow joint started putting up a major protest. I made it to the top out of sheer determination. That whole arm was shaking by the time I came down so I never had the desire to try it again. It’s not damaged enough that anyone else would ever notice, but I haven’t quite got full range of motion with it and there’s some permanent nerve damage and loss of manual dexterity.

random people on the rock-climbing wall

Before the cruise we’d thought we might all try the escape room the website said the ship had, but never saw it listed anywhere in the daily activities. It may be something they sometimes run in the SeaPlex which has a variety of different activities scheduled at various times. The only thing any of us tried there was bumper cars, which was fun. They had laser tag and some other games there sometimes, but we never went to any of that. Whether they never had the escape room that cruise or we just didn’t look at the schedule thoroughly enough to find it I’ll never know.

the frame added to a random pro photo out on the deck in Endicott Arm says Dawes Glacier, but the ship turned around before it got there so we didn’t actually make it that far

Our cruise was scheduled to see Dawes Glacier at the end of Endicott Arm, but the ship turned around long before actually reaching the glacier. They never made any announcements or anything about it so people were left to think the ship was heading toward the glacier until figuring out for themselves that it wasn’t.

Skagway street car

There’s also things not on the ship that end up not happening. Cruise itineraries are never set in stone. They’re subject to getting changed before the cruise ever starts, or last minute due to circumstances like weather. Our original itinerary included a stop at Skagway where we had booked the one and only excursion all 6 of our group planned to do together on the entire cruise. It was a bus tour in vehicles that looked in the photos like large yellow versions of an old-time car. The itinerary got changed shortly before the cruise started due to a landslide covering one of the docks in Skagway. We ended up going to Sitka instead.

Butchart Garden

That wasn’t the only port we ended up not visiting. As we approached Victoria waves washed over top of the pilot boat, though the pilot still managed to make it onboard. Between him and the captain they decided it was not safe to bring the ship into the dock so we missed that port. Four of the six of us had booked a tour to Butchart Gardens, which also included a stop at a butterfly garden so we missed out on that. Up until then I didn’t realize ships ever missed the stop in Victoria. It’s the required non-USA port for most Alaska cruises that are round trip from Seattle. Perhaps our ship was either given a weather exception or sailed far enough into Canadian waters to satisfy the requirement.

butterfly garden

We did get off the ship and do something at our port stops, but fun as it would be, dogsledding was not one of them. It starts with a helicopter ride to a glacier where there’s snow enough for that activity, and anything involving a helicopter is never cheap. Dogsledding is one of the most expensive excursions offered in Alaska. However we have photos that make it look as if we did go dogsledding. One night they had a greenscreen photo stand with a big box where they posed people and then after they get done with those photos you’re suddenly in a dogsled instead of standing behind a box on a ship.

dogsledding without dogs or a sled or even any snow

We didn’t eat at any of the specialty restaurants either, but in the same location as the dogsled photos on a different night they had a booth set up in a giant chair outside of Wonderland and the photos from that day make it look as if we ate there. Especially since it happened to be formal night so we were all dressed up in those pictures.

Wonderland

Ships generally offer so many different options to choose from that most people will not do more things than they do of all the things available, but what you do or don’t do onboard is by choice. Having the itinerary changed before the cruise starts or missing a port is not. Missed ports are usually due to weather, but we have occasionally missed one because someone onboard had a medical emergency. Once a long time ago we missed a port because a ship’s backup generator didn’t pass inspection so it left the embarkation port a day late after waiting for a portable one – which it never needed to use, but rules are rules. The first day after that ship left port we overheard someone ask why we had to miss a port day instead of a sea day. Apparently they had no understanding of travel time or how long it takes to get from one port to another.

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Honolulu Scavenger Hunt

Posted on August 9, 2024 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Noordam in Honolulu

We didn’t have anything in particular we wanted to see or do in Honolulu, and the prices on most tours and activities seemed pretty high there so we booked a scavenger hunt through Vacations to Go. Other than the time we got an excursion in China for $6.95 each I think this was the cheapest excursion we’ve found at $30 for both of us, though more people could have come along without paying any more had we been with more people since one fee covered the whole group.

Aloha Tower

This was a totally online tour with instructions for where to set up the account at Urban Adventures pre-cruise and then to log into it at the port. They had options for either Honolulu or Waikiki, but since a taxi or Uber to Waikiki and back probably would have cost more than what we paid for the tour we picked Honolulu which we could walk to right off the ship.

this sign held the information for the first clue

It started at the Aloha Tower, which is less than a kilometer away from the cruise ship dock. What used to be a shopping center around the tower is mainly a university now, but there are still a few shops and restaurants there. Also an awesome ship view from the end of the wharf by the tower. Last time we went to Honolulu on a cruise we watched a Mexican navy sailing ship come into port. It docked by the Aloha tower and opened up for tours.  It was the exact same ship I had seen in Seattle once before. This time there were a couple Japanese ships docked there. They were not open for tours.

flower

The quest started with logging in by the Aloha tower and then finding information from a sign and then some nearby bricks, which was then each used to solve the puzzle for that place, after which you get a clue as to where to go next. The first one seemed to lead to a nearby dry fountain.

old maritime museum building

Some of the places were easy to find, like the marine center next to the Aloha Tower, which was closed the last time we were there and still is. It just wanted a color from that building to solve the next clue.

clues found here

That resulted in a short walk to a statue, followed by another short walk to the next statue. That one seemed to have impossible clues since the first clue for the location we were currently at spelled out a word that turned out to be the same exact word on a street sign just across the street, yet the site said it was the wrong answer.

Iolani Palace

Then it showed a picture of a building with two full stories topped by a small third story at the center and asked what had been added or removed in the picture compared to the actual building, which had an additional small story with a clock on it. Neither clock nor story were the right answer though, they wanted window. That additional story did have windows, but that’s not really what stood out about it. The answer to the next puzzle said to exit to the rear, which we took to be the rear of the building, but apparently they actually just meant turn around and go across the street – where the sign with the answer to the first puzzle was that their site insisted was wrong.

also Iolani Palace

That took us to the capitol building, but we couldn’t be bothered to look for the statue there and went back to the ship without finishing the quest. I guess we would not make good contestants for the Amazing Race. Then again if it was for money perhaps my husband would have worn better walking shoes and not gotten so cranky about the whole thing. I mainly booked it to get him off the ship and I guess he really meant it when he said he didn’t want to get off there since he got grumpier and grumpier at each stop and said he wasn’t having any fun, which made the whole thing not fun for me either. Not to mention we’d used his phone so I couldn’t finish on my own if he left with that phone.

fence art at the capitol

My advice to anyone trying this quest besides wearing good walking shoes is make sure that the phone you use belongs to someone who actually wants to do the quest, and who also is a good speller because it’s frustrating when you keep telling someone to change a letter and they say it doesn’t matter, yet the site keeps saying the answer is wrong until they finally give up and spell the word correctly. Little things like capitol, not capital because only one of those is a building and it does matter if you want it to accept your answer. It’s a good way to see some things near the ship that you might not otherwise know are there, but best done with people who actually want to do it. As it turned out I would have had more fun by myself where I could have finished the quest.

egret

My whole point in doing the scavenger hunt was just to get off the ship and walk around and see something. We did manage to do that so in that way it was a success. We saw some nice scenery, pretty flowers, interesting architecture, and even a bit of wildlife along the way. Also lots of statues and some interesting buildings we would not have found otherwise.

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The Baths at Virgin Gorda

Posted on August 2, 2024 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Tortola in the wake of the ferry to Virgin Gorda

When visiting Tortola as a cruise port stop the Baths at Virgin Gorda is a popular place to see. It is a unique experience not found in other ports. Virgin Gorda is another of the British Virgin Islands, a short ferry ride away from Tortola.

Baths at Virgin Gorda

At the baths large boulders of volcanic origin haphazardly piled on one another create a labyrinth of sandy trails and seawater pools of varying depths. Small to tiny fish swim about in some of the pools, individually or in schools. Some of the boulders surrounding these pools are as large as 40 feet in diameter.

narrow gap

The name baths seems to refer to all the various pools, but it’s actually short for batholith – a large mass of intrusive igneous rock which means rock originating from magma (molten rock). The boulders there are granite, which is a type of igneous rock.

first pool you get to from the trail down to the baths

This series of small pools and rock caves was created by molten rock seeping into previously existing volcanic rock layers without reaching the surface. Slow cooling formed a hard crystal granite layer which shrank and cracked into blocks. These were exposed when the softer volcanic rock above eroded away. Weathering rounded the corners of the boulders into their current shapes.

sailboats moored outside of the baths

While most people approach the Baths from land, they can be accessed from the sea in calm weather conditions. There are mooring buoys and a dingy dock line available for those who come by private boat. Some people swim in from their boats when the weather and sea conditions allow. Cruise ship passengers from Tortola can either arrive through a ship’s excursion where the ferry leaves right from the cruise port or go into town and take the public ferry to get there on their own. It is best to make ferry reservations in advance.

ferry at the dock in Virgin Gorda

The ferries stop at a small pier on Virgin Gorda that is not near anything. A fleet of open-sided busses waited to take us to the Baths when our ferry arrived. These are the standard transportation to and from the baths and coincide their schedules with the ferries.

open sided bus takes people from the ferry dock to the baths

We went by excursion rather than on our own because when googling the ferry schedule from the ship it only showed one ferry whose times did not coincide with our ship’s schedule to allow enough time to go there. There are actually at least 2 ferries and the other one would have given us plenty of time had we seen its schedule. There may be a third ferry, which at least existed previously according to someone who went there on their own from a cruise ship before, but there were only two ferry schedules posted at the dock at the time of our visit. Or maybe the third ferry is the one that does the ship’s excursions.

view from the shelter at the top of the baths

The Baths are a national park of the British Virgin Islands. At the top of a hill there’s a restroom and a shelter where groups can gather near where the busses stop. Facilities at the top of the baths include a restaurant, bar, pool, and shops as well as great views.

map of the trails at the baths

A sandy trail leads down towards the baths. At the start of the trail a sign shows a map of the one-way loop route to and from the baths. It’s a one-way route to prevent pile-ups of people going one way having to wait for others going the other way to get through narrow gaps, steep stairways, or rope-on-rock crossings while going through the baths. You still have to wait if there are people in front of you, but they are all going the same direction.

excursion group on the trail

Part of the trail is surrounded in vegetation, some of it tall spiny cactus. Other areas offer views of the water.

giant cactus on the trail to the baths

When you come to a fork in the path, the left fork is the easy route straight to the beach at Devil’s Bay. The right fork goes to the Baths. If you go there on a cruise ship excursion they will take the easy path, spend some time on that beach, then go through the baths to another beach. The first beach has no amenities, but the second one does.

sign on the trail

The guide on our excursion allowed us to bail from the group and take the trail directly to the baths. We had no desire to spend time on the beach and preferred to have more time to explore the baths. The pathway down leads to a variety of pools. There are lots of side trails into dead-end pools, all of which are worth exploring.

trail sign

Besides having more time to spend in the baths rather than on a beach, splitting off from the group allowed us to go down the rest of the trail to get there at our own pace rather than the excruciatingly slow pace the excursion group was taking.

pool at the baths

We spent nearly all of the time that the main excursion group spent at the first beach wandering through all sorts of nooks and crannies in the baths rather than just going straight through on the main trail as the excursion group did. We only arrived at the beach a few minutes before the main group got there so we had considerably more time to see a lot more of the baths than we would have staying with the group. They missed so much going straight through without exploring any of the pools and dead-end trails.

little waterfall between two pools

In a narrow gap between two small pools a tiny waterfall switched directions each time a wave went in or out.

stairway on the trail through the baths

Some parts of the path are sandy trails, often uneven and sometimes full of protruding portions of rock. Others areas pass through pools. Some places require climbing up or down stairways, ducking under overhanging rocks, or using a rope to navigate a slippery rock. One steep stairway is best taken going backwards or so the sign next to it recommends.

rope assisted rock crossing

We found one side trail through a very small triangular opening in a rock that led into a pool. A crab scuttled up a rock on the side of that pool. It was much bigger than a beach crab, but not as big as the ones people eat. A circular path brought us back to where we’d started without having to go back through the tiny opening again.

bridge over and through rocks in the baths

There are a lot of different side trails that veer off the main pathway through the baths. Some lead to pools, others to dry sandy caves, but all are worth exploring. After all when going there to see the baths might as well see all of it rather than just hurrying through on the main trail and spending time on the beach when you can go to beaches on any island.

big pool at the baths

Most of the pools through the baths are pretty small, but some of them are kind of big. The bigger ones are generally out in the open rather than surrounded by rocks in a cave.

dry cave at the baths

The last big pool before the exit has some fairly deep areas and an opening into another smaller pool. Parts of these pools are fairly deep, but most people go to the baths with the intention of getting wet. There was some sand at the edge of the pool where some people left their belongings before going for a swim there. An offshoot nearby led to a dry cave.

beach beyond the exit from the baths

The baths exit onto a beach with restrooms and a little beach bar. There are signs at the exit saying that opening is exit only, and other signs saying not to climb on the boulders at the side of the beach.

beach bar

A trail from that beach leads straight back up to the parking area without going back through the baths. It’s a shorter and more direct trail than the long winding one leading down. There are stairways in the steeper parts.

pool with a view

This is a place like no other. It’s well worth seeing. It’s something unique and different that you won’t find at any other port. I’d highly recommend it for anyone who likes quirks of nature and doesn’t have any balance or mobility issues. When visiting the baths water shoes are the ideal footwear. It’s best not to bring or wear anything that can’t get wet because everything probably will. Also bring as little as possible and try to carry everything hands free as you may need your hands for navigating through some areas of the baths.

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Posted in Caribbean, Enchanted Princess, Ports of Call, Princess, Shore Excursions | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments