diverrick
Contributor
My wife and I just got back from a week aboard the Carribean Explorer II. It was a pretty good trip. But there were a few snags along the way to make it less than perfect. We started in St. Kitts and floated up through Statia, Saba, then to St Martin diving along the way.
To start with American Airlines SXXXS!!!! They cancelled/delayed every single flight on our trip! What a pain it was, re doing all the hotels, flights Etc.. Its hard to imagine that they can stay in business, operating the way they did. When we got to St. Kitts after a lot longer trip then we had planned getting there, We found out that the boat was broken down(broken generator), and our baggage with most of our dive gear, was lost by AA, (Bad start already), so the company took us to a Marrott Hotel, and told us to hang around until they sorted stuff out. After about three hours of waiting around with no idea of what was going on, they came and took us to the boat. Seems they had fired/removed some of the crew just before we loaded, so we had new Captan (flew down from the Turks and Caicos boat, as it was not running that week) and 2 out fo three deck hands were newbies. The crew did very well considering the short notice they had. Our bags showed uo around 9 PM (at least we had our gear, and could go diving now).
The ship was very clean everywhere, though a bit dated in dacor. (note, you are not allowed to wear ANY foot wear while your abaord, so leave your shoes/flip flops at home, and take lots of bandaids for the bo-bo's your sure to get.) My feet were a wreck by the end of the week from being constantly wet and abraided by the deck roughness.
We did have a few more problems..... as if it weren't enough already. One was that there was no hot water in our room shower, Seems that others rooms had some luke warm water, but no one had hot water. On a good note, the rinse shower on the back of the dive deck had screaming hot water, so it was nice to rinse off after the dive, and get warmed up. This was especially the case when the wind chill was up.
The other problem was the A/C was on high for the whole week. We all started referring to our rooms as meat lockers! This was especially true after returning from a dive. Your teeth were chattering by the time you were at the room. Most folks had to modify the air vents to block the air coming in, but it was still colder than you could imagine. Some customers actually slept in thier clothes!
We had some pretty constant winds so we had to shelter some nights next to sea cliffs as to get some reletively calm seas so we could sleep. We had to repeat a number of dive locations as a result of the rough conditions. The reefs on the trip were in excellent condition, but vis was pretty bad (50/75 feet avg.) On one particular dive, to the Pinnicles,we swam around in the blue looking for the pinnicle, which it's top starts at 100 feet. we never found it due to the poor vis. good work out though, especially against the current! I hit 110 and never saw anything but blue!
The water temps were consistantly 82 degrees, so it was very comfortable diving. I would have to say that I think that Roatan has better reefs than what we saw on this trip. It was good, but we didn't think rose to the level of RTB's reefs. The food was pretty darned good, and they really made an effort to make special dishes for my wife who has special dietary needs.
The crew was doing an excellent job considering it was a new trip for most of them. They had the routine down pretty well by the second day. They did try to fix some of the problems, The generator broke down again on Night 1, and they got it fixed again, but it seems they didn't try too hard to fix the other items. Would I go there again? probably not, Would I go with that company again, elswhere? yes. All in all it was a pretty relaxing week, except for all the little things like delayed/cancelled flights/cold rooms/Etc. that kinda took the edge off of the enjoyment. When you add the last minute change from T&C boat to the CEXII, all the issues with travel, a freezing rooms, break downs onbaord,no hot water, Etc. It leaves alot of room for improvement. Good news is they comp'd most of us with free Nitrox for the week (300.00 Value for two people) and gave us a rain check at the same 2006 price for our previously cancelled trip for future use w/the T&C ship.
And they are supposed to refund the difference in price between what we had originally booked, and what they were charging for the CEXII trip. So far I have not seen that happen. We stayed over until Monday at St. Martin, and rented a car. We really had a good time. Went diving with a local outfit twice, and saw some of the beutiful beaches they have there. Got some great shots of the 747's landing at the airport. If you ever go to St. Martin, you have to stop by the bars at the end of the runway and watch the planes land. Seems it is a pastime for most folks there to do that.
We stayed at the Passahgrahn Hotel. Simple,clean and nice, quiet, and affordable as well. We had some mis-givings when we first arrived, as the hotel, it turns out, is directly on the board walk which was mobbed by the pod people, loud music, street venders and all. But as soon as the ship left, things got REAL QUITE quickly.
So it turned out alright. I will go back to St. Martin, as it is a nice place, though the French side was not very friendly IMHO, they did have some really cool views at the beachs ;-). Be careful though I stopped to enjoy the beach chairs and umbrella at one spot, ordered a Ginger ale, and a beer.... I paid 35.00 US!!!! wow If I had known, I would never sat down.
One final note: everyone drives like maniacs there, so expect an adventure if you drive. I hope this didn't come off sounding too negitive, but that's the truth about the trip, I hope it wil be useful to others.
To start with American Airlines SXXXS!!!! They cancelled/delayed every single flight on our trip! What a pain it was, re doing all the hotels, flights Etc.. Its hard to imagine that they can stay in business, operating the way they did. When we got to St. Kitts after a lot longer trip then we had planned getting there, We found out that the boat was broken down(broken generator), and our baggage with most of our dive gear, was lost by AA, (Bad start already), so the company took us to a Marrott Hotel, and told us to hang around until they sorted stuff out. After about three hours of waiting around with no idea of what was going on, they came and took us to the boat. Seems they had fired/removed some of the crew just before we loaded, so we had new Captan (flew down from the Turks and Caicos boat, as it was not running that week) and 2 out fo three deck hands were newbies. The crew did very well considering the short notice they had. Our bags showed uo around 9 PM (at least we had our gear, and could go diving now).
The ship was very clean everywhere, though a bit dated in dacor. (note, you are not allowed to wear ANY foot wear while your abaord, so leave your shoes/flip flops at home, and take lots of bandaids for the bo-bo's your sure to get.) My feet were a wreck by the end of the week from being constantly wet and abraided by the deck roughness.
We did have a few more problems..... as if it weren't enough already. One was that there was no hot water in our room shower, Seems that others rooms had some luke warm water, but no one had hot water. On a good note, the rinse shower on the back of the dive deck had screaming hot water, so it was nice to rinse off after the dive, and get warmed up. This was especially the case when the wind chill was up.
The other problem was the A/C was on high for the whole week. We all started referring to our rooms as meat lockers! This was especially true after returning from a dive. Your teeth were chattering by the time you were at the room. Most folks had to modify the air vents to block the air coming in, but it was still colder than you could imagine. Some customers actually slept in thier clothes!
We had some pretty constant winds so we had to shelter some nights next to sea cliffs as to get some reletively calm seas so we could sleep. We had to repeat a number of dive locations as a result of the rough conditions. The reefs on the trip were in excellent condition, but vis was pretty bad (50/75 feet avg.) On one particular dive, to the Pinnicles,we swam around in the blue looking for the pinnicle, which it's top starts at 100 feet. we never found it due to the poor vis. good work out though, especially against the current! I hit 110 and never saw anything but blue!
The water temps were consistantly 82 degrees, so it was very comfortable diving. I would have to say that I think that Roatan has better reefs than what we saw on this trip. It was good, but we didn't think rose to the level of RTB's reefs. The food was pretty darned good, and they really made an effort to make special dishes for my wife who has special dietary needs.
The crew was doing an excellent job considering it was a new trip for most of them. They had the routine down pretty well by the second day. They did try to fix some of the problems, The generator broke down again on Night 1, and they got it fixed again, but it seems they didn't try too hard to fix the other items. Would I go there again? probably not, Would I go with that company again, elswhere? yes. All in all it was a pretty relaxing week, except for all the little things like delayed/cancelled flights/cold rooms/Etc. that kinda took the edge off of the enjoyment. When you add the last minute change from T&C boat to the CEXII, all the issues with travel, a freezing rooms, break downs onbaord,no hot water, Etc. It leaves alot of room for improvement. Good news is they comp'd most of us with free Nitrox for the week (300.00 Value for two people) and gave us a rain check at the same 2006 price for our previously cancelled trip for future use w/the T&C ship.
And they are supposed to refund the difference in price between what we had originally booked, and what they were charging for the CEXII trip. So far I have not seen that happen. We stayed over until Monday at St. Martin, and rented a car. We really had a good time. Went diving with a local outfit twice, and saw some of the beutiful beaches they have there. Got some great shots of the 747's landing at the airport. If you ever go to St. Martin, you have to stop by the bars at the end of the runway and watch the planes land. Seems it is a pastime for most folks there to do that.
We stayed at the Passahgrahn Hotel. Simple,clean and nice, quiet, and affordable as well. We had some mis-givings when we first arrived, as the hotel, it turns out, is directly on the board walk which was mobbed by the pod people, loud music, street venders and all. But as soon as the ship left, things got REAL QUITE quickly.
So it turned out alright. I will go back to St. Martin, as it is a nice place, though the French side was not very friendly IMHO, they did have some really cool views at the beachs ;-). Be careful though I stopped to enjoy the beach chairs and umbrella at one spot, ordered a Ginger ale, and a beer.... I paid 35.00 US!!!! wow If I had known, I would never sat down.
One final note: everyone drives like maniacs there, so expect an adventure if you drive. I hope this didn't come off sounding too negitive, but that's the truth about the trip, I hope it wil be useful to others.
