Just returned from Galaxy Southern Caribbean. Any questions??
 

My husband and I just returned from 8days/7nights on the Galaxy. Making stops in St. Croix, St. Lucia, Barbados, Antigua and St. Thomas. <BR> <BR>Shore excursions included: By Land/Sea in St. Lucia - very good tour of the island. 4x4 Tour of Barbados - great time, best way to see the island. Kayaking in Antigua - very fun, the water is beautiful. <BR> <BR>The ship - very clean, well organized, very cold (air conditioning - ladies, bring a sweater). <BR> <BR>The room - we had a Cat 2 room with veranda - very comfortable. Alot of vibrations when the boat was pulling into or out of port. Our room was on the 10th deck, Aft. Not sure if the rest of the boat felt the movement as much as we did. <BR> <BR>The food - met expectations. Dinners were pretty good - as good as one can expect when their serving 2000 people at once. Lunch buffet was okay. Lots of food, but not that great. Pizza in the afternoon is good - definitely required if you don't have dinner until the late seating (8:30pm). Breakfast buffet was just okay... not always hot. Preferred room service or full breakfast in the Orion Restuarant. <BR> <BR>Feel free to email me directly with any questions.

Laura, My husband, son, and I will leave on the Galaxy on the 17th of March. Did you really have a great time, and did the ship meet your expectations as far as how it looked, service, etc? Debbie <BR> <BR> <BR>

Hi Debbie! <BR>Yes, the cruise definitely met my expectations. The ship was extremely clean. Seemed like every time I looked, someone was either vacuuming or cleaning something. The staff was very nice, always had a smile on their face, saying hello to us. <BR> <BR>Our waiter and assistant waiter were great. My husband and I were at a table for two, so they really only had to pay attention to us. Have mixed feelings about dining alone. In some ways it was nice because we were going on vacation to spend time together, not with others. But it would also have been fun to hear about the other tablemates days on shore/excursions, etc. <BR> <BR>We had late seating, which I think I wouldn't do again. The down time between getting back on board and having dinner at 8:30 didn't appeal to me. Also, we wouldn't get out of dinner until 10 or 10:30. For us, who are early birds, we probably would have been better suited for earl seating. <BR> <BR>I think in the future I'd rather go on a smaller ship, with more time in port to explore, but for the cost I don't think you could pick a better ship. <BR> <BR>Also, if you're planning specific excursions, go directly to the excursion desk on Deck 5 when you get there and sign up. That way you won't chance missing out. <BR> <BR>Have a great time!

Laura, <BR>I forgot to mention dress for dinner. My husband and son are planning to take their tuxedos for formal night. Will there be other men dressed formally or will they be alone? <BR>Debbie <BR>

Laura, <BR> <BR>Thank you so much for the information, I'm so glad you wrote to share! I'll be sailing on the Galaxy 3/31 and I just can't wait. Any feedback on any other excursions or ports? The 4x4 of Barbados sounds wonderful - but are any islands worth just walking around town? I'm not a big excursion fan, but if you know of any besides the 4x4 and kayak that are not to be missed, I'd love to hear about them. How about the crowds? We're in our early 30's and like a mix - what was your experience? <BR> <BR>I'm an early bird too - with the late seating and I'm hoping that we can get squeezed into an early seating one night or two (otherwise I want to go to bed right after dinner) - I'm just nervous that it might be all kids? Any thoughts on that? Thanks again Laura!

Debbie - as for dress for dinner. There were definitely people that wore tuxedos. Probably about 30% or so. The rest just wore suit/tie. For the "informal" night, my husband wore a suit and that was pretty standard. For "casual" night, he work slacks and a short sleeved shirt (golf shirt or button down). <BR> <BR>Marianne - <BR>I personnally wouldn't have missed any of the three excursions we went on - kayaking in Antigua, 4x4 in Barbados or the all-day trip in St. Lucia. <BR> <BR>Just walking around... here are my thoughts, but realize that this is only my opinion: <BR>St. Croix - nothing to see just off the boat. A few shops, but nothing compared to later in the cruise. Heard the Buck Island snorkeling tour was great. Tons of fish to see, its a nature preserve. My husband went scuba diving and really enjoyed it. <BR>St. Lucia - some shopping at the pier. Otherwise you need to take the water taxi into the city of Castries. Didn't spend any time there, just drove through but in my opinion, I wouldn't want to spend my day there. <BR>Barbados - also some shopping at the pier, but you'd need transportation to get just about anywhere. Since the excursions are usually on half days, would recommend doing one in the morning and having the afternoon to either shop or have a cabbie take you around the island or to a specific beach or sight. <BR>Antigua - also some shopping right by the pier, but my suggestion would be to have a cabbie take you to a beach this day (because the beaches are so pretty). We did the kayaking in the am, and walked around the town in the afternoon and went to a local restaurant for lunch. <BR>St. Thomas - more shopping than you can imagine right off the boat (don't even need to go into town). Mostly jewelry, alcohol, etc. None of the excursions on this island appealed to me, but heard the trip to Megan's Bay is really nice. <BR> <BR>Overall recommendation for people that like to be active, either book a morning excursion and then head to a beach or other sight-seeing spot. If you don't like excursions, then head off the boat and find a cab driver to take you on your own personal tour. <BR> <BR>As for dinner - I'm sure you could have your travel agent change you to early seating. Or just find the restaurant mgr when you get onboard. There weren't many kids on our cruise, so I'm not sure if early seating would attract a younger crowd. Our seating was so busy and active, I don't think I'd notice if there were kids there. <BR> <BR>Hope this helps. Sorry to ramble on so long.

I was on the Galaxy in December. I don't think you will have trouble getting main seating for dinner. Everyone was trying to work their way in to late seating. We MUCH prefer the late seating so we can fully enjoy our days. We also love to watch the ship pull out of the ports and watch the sun set into the ocean. Can't do those things if you're at the early seating. <BR>We are beach lovers so on all but St. Lucia we grabbed a taxi and headed for a beach. In St. Lucia we took the 7 hour land/sea excursion which was great. <BR> We also had a table for two, but really got to know the couples at the table next to ours. It seemed like we were at the same table. <BR> We truly enjoyed this cruise. Hope you do too.

was your veranda private? was it unobstructed?