Double Deuce
Note... This was an email I sent to a friend. Decided to copy it here.
Loved the small ship experience and the service offered.
What we liked...
Small ship. No lines,
Free wine at lunch and dinner with bottomless wine bottles. They kept coming around and pouring as long as you sat there . We kept emptying our glasses as long as they kept pouring.
A cocktail party virtually every night. Our bar bill was around $40 and had a buzz the whole time.
As you wish dining. Never a wait. Plenty of tables for 2 (or 4 if you were dining with others). Food served was as good as, if not better than the specialty restaurants (more on that later).
Theatre was a cabaret rather than an auditorium. Had 5 powerful singers and the cruise director was also very talented. Pleasantly surprised by the quality of the shows.
We went into small ports and except for St Lucia, we tendered. Never waited to get into a boat (except once and it was only 4 - 5 minutes)
Ports of calls were (in order of the cruise)
San Juan Picked up the boat here. We flew in to San Juan a day early. Stayed at the La Concha Resort. Had to book through Azamara as they provided transfers and air. Resort was ok. Nice view of the parking lot from our window
Virgin Gorda - got off boat for an hour as it was raining and not a beach day)
St Barths - more rain, Walked the town and went shopping
Marigot, St Martin Went to beach. Nice beach but the natives selling stuff were a pain in the ass. You couldn't relax as an army of them would bother you every couple of minutes. Would never go back.
Nevis, Pinneys Beach was within walking distance. Stopped for a beer at the the Double Deuce. Beer $2, Diet Coke $3.
Also town was nice. People really friendly and welcoming.
St Lucia Took catamaran with some friends. Weather cloudy but boat ride was nice. Stopped for swimming. Candi bought a huge Conch shell from man in a boat. Lots of rum.
Moreau (The Grenadines) This island has a population of about 200. They use the beach here sort of as their private island. They bring everything from the boat including china for bar b que. Amazing. We took another Catamaran to neighboring Union Island. Again very nice.
Ended in Barbados Took bus tour around island before the airport. Then flew home.
Dining room and lido food were excellent!
No hordes of bar maids asking you if you wanted a drink every 5 minutes. When you entered a room, someone would approach you and politely ask and if you declined, you were left alone... Priceless.
The cruise critic party was posted in the dailies so a quarter of the participants were crashers but it didn't seem to bother them at all. Nice finger foods and drinks were included. If they didn't have what you wanted on the tray, they would make up whatever your little heart desired. That was the theme of the whole cruise. We met a few people from CC and hung out with a couple of the couples throughout the trip. One couple was from Ohio and another from near Toronto. Since the ship is small, you constantly bump into people you know so you're never alone.
They honored your elite status with celebrity and included free internet and laundry.
Because it was a small ship , we went into ports the big ships couldn't get into so we were the only boat in the port (except St. Lucia... we shared the port with a Regent ship that had no Air Conditioning so they gave the cruise away and invited the passengers back for anther one) . No hordes of other tourists
What we didn't like
Transfers were unorganized. Had to ask until I found someone at the airport in PR for our transfer to the hotel. We and three other couples waited over an hour until our van arrived for a 15 minute ride. When we tried to check in at the hotel, the rooms weren't ready for another two hours or so. I guess it's because it;s P.R..
The hotel was nice but the weather didn't cooperate so we were anxious to get on board. The transfer wouldn't take place until 1 PM. We decided to share a cab ($20 total) and left for the ship around 10:30. We were one of the first to go on board. We couldn't go to our stateroom until 1 PM but they took our carry on luggage and dropped it off in the stateroom for us. A really nice touch.
We went up to the 'lido' deck for lunch. I got to get the first slice of steamship roast beef at the carving station for the entire trip. What a great honor!
Specialty restaurants were not good. Big disappointment. Although it only cost $15 per head, the quality of the food was below that of the main dining room if you can imagine that. Our new friends were upgraded to a suite and were entitled to eat in the (2) specialty restaurants for free but after a couple of visits, they chose to eat with us downstairs. Balcony stateroom was a tad smaller than the bigger ships but no problem at all for us. The small ship was a pleasure as you were close to everything. Never had to wait a long time for the elevator and even though the stairs were like 3/4 size, it didn't matter. Small ship cruising is where it's at.
Other entertainment. No place to dance after dinner except at the crows nest to a DJ. I really like the 3 and 4 pc. bands they usually have on other ships so you can listen to live music even if you don't feel like dancing.
The piano player was good but extremely boring. His act was more like a music appreciation class with no interaction with the audience. Average attendance was around 10 people and a couple of them were always sleeping. They had a harpist in the nice cozy room who played before and during dinner next to the dining room that was nice if you wanted a drink or glass of wine before dinner.
First night seas were a little bumpy. Don't think I would take a small ship across the ocean.
If you liked trivia games and the like they scheduled two or three each day but because of the size of the ship there may only be a half dozen or so participants. Since we had no sea days, it wasn't an issue. We were busy every day. Also got to relax.
This was one of our better cruises.
