It was raining off and on this day. Just planned some shopping at the port. We did that, got the kids a soda (trying to make good on the aforementioned soda promise), and a quick view of the beautiful island.

We planned the local bus to Maho Beach to watch the planes. I read the taxi was $10 each way/per person. That adds up with 4 people. $2 each way/per person sounds much better. We walked to town/Philipsburg (P-BURG on the bus signs) to catch the bus. As we read, all the stops were on a street within the block on Back St and behind the Courthouse. The buses are Toyota vans. When you want to get off, say “Stop, Please” and pay. Maho is at the end of the route, so it was easy. I seat next to one lady on the way that said the kids should only be $1 each and to call the police if I was charged $2. I was just happy not paying $10 each :). He did charge $2 for the kids there, but our driver on the way back just charged a $1. There were several beautiful vistas on the bus ride of the island and ocean. After arriving, there was a grocery store right where the bus let us off. We went in to find some snacks for the beach. We got aged gouda (new for us and good), some normal cheddar Chex Mix and pringles like we have at home, and sodas (again soda promise)/husband a beer.

We landed early at SJU on embarkation day and took an Uber to town -- Walkway of the Presidents, where we started our tour. We found a park for the kids to play. Explored the walls, Pigeon wall, and the gate. We planned the fortresses and the rainforest after disembarking, but never got to come back.

We only planned to walk around. We walked to Independence Square, nice and cooler with trees; kids enjoyed climbing in the trees, and to an arena, could not see in much, so not too exciting.

Dominica was substituted for St. Lucia. I noticed that this was done the week before too on the webcam, so I had some heads up. We had a very cool sounding tour planned for St. Lucia; though it was nice of Carnival to proactively schedule a replacement. This change was communicated in paperwork that we received when originally boarding.

Upon approaching Dominica, we could see that it was a very beautiful island. I had to go to the top, front of the ship for some mountain pictures after breakfast. I had done a small about amount of research of what Dominica had available to see, but we planned to look at what tours were offered on shore. Not knowing what to bring, we did not bring swimwear. I know that tours offered on shore can be a good and a good value, but I’m normally intimidated by their pushy sales nature and my wondering if they are legit. On this island, they had taxi/transportation vests and logos, which looked official and comforted me. We took a tour of the rainforest, waterfalls, hot spring, and botanical garden tour for $20 pp. It worked well for us because we were the last 4 slots they needed to sell. We debated the swimwear when talking the tour salesperson, but we did not feel that we missed anything without suits. This is a very mountainous island with steep, hairpin turns on the drive. Our tour guide provided a lot of good information about the citizens and the island. Our first stop was the waterfall with an additional $5/person to hike through the rainforest to waterfalls. To be sure we would have enough cash for the tour and tips, I asked if any other stops had an entrance fee. This was the only one. So, we did the 10 minute hike to waterfalls. Rainforest and waterfalls were very beautiful. We did get a glimpse of the waterfalls from the bus that our tour guide pointed out from the road. It started to pour right after we arrived at the covered area to photograph the waterfalls, that was luckily. It was called Trafalgar Falls with a mother and a father falls. We got some pictures, and oldest and husband hiked out on the rocks closer while youngest and I enjoyed the falls from the covered area. This is when oldest landed in the water and soaked one shoe that later lost an inside sole piece – sigh.

Then, we backtracked and stopped at the hot springs. The kids had not seen or smelled volcanic activity before, so this was a cool new for them. We also saw a hummingbird feeding on flowers here. At this stop, one couple took a hot springs soak; this would be all that we would have needed a swimsuit for. They said that there was the hot spring water and cold water both flowing and mixing so that it was not too hot. Next, we went to an overlook point where we could look down the ocean, town, and see our ship. The hotel here had restrooms (but lines); there were also restrooms at the first stop at the rainforest. The final stop was the botanical gardens, which was our plan if we ended up just walking around on our own. It had some large cool trees and one big enough and with “vines” for the kids to swing on. It has some flowers, not as many as other botanical. It also had a school bus crushed by a large tree that fell on it; the tree was then nicknamed “Goliath”. Finally, we returned to the port. A group behind us was requesting a trip to the beach, and they were ready to accommodate a side tour for them.

The tour was good, informative, and a good value.

We planned a walk to Boatyard to snorkel with sea turtles. This was a sad experience; youngest and I (after St. Lucia that also changed) were most looking forward to swimming with sea turtles. However, the day before many little jellyfish came into the bay; they noted that they would be there about a week. I do not know how many times a year this happens. I know jellyfish are not their fault, but I wish they would have been more upfront about them. We all got in the water and swam to the water toys before our boat trip to the turtle and shipwreck snorkel sites. We were not told about the jellyfish until our first boat stop. Our youngest and I are allergic to things like this (mosquitoes, fire ants, etc.) and get whelps. More than a month later, I still have discoloration on my legs from the stings; they were whelps and itchy for the rest of the cruise. Both of us, already stung, skipped the turtles. I definitely would have saved my stinging for the turtles if I knew :(. Youngest was crying in the boat because he was missing the experience. Husband and oldest snorkeled with turtles; husband for the longest and said they were awesome. Our memory card on the underwater camera was full, so we could not even watch them after – grrr. Husband also said the shipwreck site was awesome with so many fish! The rest of us did not go.

The visit to Boatyard included a boat trip for snorkeling, chairs (our slowly disappeared, but fine because we did not sit in them much. We were there once, and he asked), an umbrella, a drink (with a subset of beer and sodas as options), restrooms, showers outside to remove sand, and a shuttle back for $25/pp. This also included wi-fi that husband could use; he was the only one that brought his phone. When you arrive, you put your name on the snorkel trip list and listen for your name to be called on the long speaker. I was not understanding the first announcements from our chairs, so I went to the booth and asked for time estimate to pay close attention then. We did hear it fine. They have space on the boat for stuff, but I don’t recommend bringing too much and leave on your chair (so you have one when you get back ;) ).

We had our drinks with some purchased fries – the fries were okay. We also took a walk down the beach, and the kids, esp. the oldest, enjoyed snorkeling right by the shore where the jellyfish were not.

The shuttle back was not a long wait and worked smoothly. Back at the port terminal, we found a grocery/convenient store for me to look for some Shirley crackers/cookies for my Mom. I saw an ad on a bus stop when we walked earlier and noted that I needed to get them for my Mom, Shirley. We found some other candy get and try later. We decided to take the little train shuttle down the pier back to the ship; earlier we walked, not knowing who was allowed to the use the shuttle. Also of note, this is the only port that took our temperature on entrance, which was a good practice.