Hey Team,
Please help me fine tune my "plan A" itin for our charter that will begin Aug 15 through Aug 25?
This is my first time back since 2003! My wife and I chartered in BVI about a dozen times BC (before children) and BW (before wife). We got married @ Caneel Bay St. John in 2001, and honeymooned on a TMM monohull.
For my 60th birthday coming up in about a month, my wife insisted we bring our girls (now 14 and 19) to where it all began...
I am pretty confident I know what we want to share with the girls, and we are gonna high-tail it to Anegada by day 3 and spend at least 2 nights.
The planning has been fun! Revisiting a dozen trip logs from as far back as 25 years ago!!
What is VERY different now are the mega-cruise ships which we NEVER saw back in 97-03. I mean, a 200 passenger luxury ship was not uncommon then... but a 4000+ passenger mega is not something I can imagine in Road Town.
SO my goal is to be nowhere near the monstrosity (or the crowds).
According to
https://bviports.org/cruise-schedule/18 AUG - 07:00 dep 15:00
CELEBRITY EQUINOX
317.2 m | 2852 guests
23 AUG - 07:15 dep 18:00
DISNEY FANTASY
339.8 m | 4000 guests
25 AUG - 06:00 dep 13:00
NORWEGIAN SKY
258.6 m | 2480 guests
I do not care about the Norwegian Sky on Aug 25. This is our last day, we will return our charter to Horizon in the morning and hopefully beat the rush hour traffic to EIS for our flight home. If the ship is departing 13:00, you would expect most passengers to be back by noon? (um, what kind of port call is 6am - 1pm? Where will they all go? Not my concern.) #RushHourTraffic in Road Town?
I do not care about Celebrity Equinox on August 18. We will be on our way to Anegada.
But Aug 23 - 4000 passengers from Disney Fantasy, all day.
Oy.
According to
Disney's websiteAND this does not include activities offered by BVI businesses not paying Disney vig.
Besides going back to Anegada, where would you want to be on Aug 23?
My initial "plan A" proposed being on a ball in CGB the night of Aug 22nd, then head over to JVD and make it a dive day (my girls are not yet certified, and this is not the trip for the certifications -- perhaps next year - so they need to do the discover course) -- I spoke with Capt. Colin from JVD Scuba, and he said he will be shorthanded (he told me he will be out of the country that week) so diving JVD Aug 23 is off the table. Um... I think there may be more to this? Looking at Disney's offering on Aug 23, "Follow your guide for an approximately 2-minute walk to your custom-built Newton dive boat." = they probably contracted BVI SCUBA CO which is JVD SCUBA? LOL!
So perhaps I should hire a dive shop not involved with Disney and stay with Plan A?
In theory, there should be plenty of reef for everyone, right?
Do you still think my Plan A to dive on the Day of Disney is the right call, or should we just escape to our own private beach and wait it out with our personal open bar? What else would you do to avoid the 4000?
The rest of the itin is pretty obvious and falling into place with lots of fun sails, conditions permitting.
Except for boatyballs. Is this really a good thing? haha ;-)
Thx!!
Jeremy
