We were inspired by Samantha Brown's Carnival cruise so away we go! - Page 28 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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I'm back with another update
Its taken me nearly 3 months to do this TR and for that I'm sorry! I think I didn't realize how busy I would be!
I'm hoping with only two more updates to go after this that I can get this finished by next weekend
Thursday April 1st (April Fools day) Tortola/Virgin Gorda
Dock at 7am until 330pm
We arrived in Tortola, BVI around 7am this day. We had our alarms set to get up as we arrived. When I looked out the window we were already docked. IT WAS BEAUTIFUL!! It was so picturesque and I was really impressed. It was very similar to the US virgin islands. the water and the island looked similar.
We had an excursion that started at 9am I believe. I cannot remember the time exactly.
We had room service today as was per our usual. We didn't need to get showered and get ready because this was a beach excursion. I had packed the beach bag somewhat the night before. I wore my bathing suit under my clothes as did everyone else. We headed down around 830 for this excursion.
On today's excursion we would be heading by a speed boat over to Virgin Gorda from Tortola. Here at Virgin Gorda we would be exploring The Baths!
We got down to the dock and at this point another ship had pulled up next to us as well.
This was the sign that welcomed us
We were soon directed to right off the dock to the left. There were many people standing with excursion signs. We soon found ours and stood in the back of the line.
We took several pictures while we waited
Our ship is on the left
Here is where you waited for excursions
This actually turned out to be the front of the line in the end and we were soon escorted back onto the dock where we were loaded on a speed boat.
There was a huge air conditioned inside and we decided to sit here by the window. It was comfy with seats. i was a little nervous about sitting inside but I figured since it was air conditioned it should be fine. There was also a top deck you could sit on as well.
We took some pictures from inside this speed boat.
The ride over was actually very smooth. It took about 40 mins total from the time we boarded until we unloaded. I believe it was nearing 10am at this point.
We unloaded from the boat and they directed us down a dock to board a open air bus that would transport us to The Baths.
Here is a picture of the water next to the dock
We soon loaded our open air bus and headed to The Baths. This was another 15 min or so ride.
Here I am with Eric's dad....we choose to ride in the back
Eric took a bunch of pictures on our ride over
We soon arrived at 1030am or so. When we got off the bus she gathered us all together. The tourguide said there were two paths on the way down IF YOU PLAN DO THIS AT ONE POINT PAY ATTENTION!! She told us that one path was longer and more strenious and the other was a lot less strenious. She said once you go through the caves you can only go out the hardest path back because its hard to get back through. This was VERY TRUE!! I would NOT wear flip flops on this tour if I were you! I wore some outdoor sandals. She said we had two hours at the beach. We absolutely had to be back at 1230 in order to get back to the boat by 1pm. We had a free drink we could redeem at this club/resturant before or after we went down to the beach.
At that point people set off down the trails. Since it was so crowded we took pictures first
After ot died down some we started down the path
This path is downhilll mostly and very rocky with sand....FYI.....so be careful if one of you guys do this in the future. No one fell but I saw several slip.
Once you get down to the bottom which is about a 10 minute walk. There are restrooms and a beach bar. ITS LOVELY!!!!! I thought it was so quiant!!! I quickly bought a bottle of water because it was becoming very HOT!
We headed down to the baths and found a spot to put our things. This place was already very crowded but it was easy to find a spot!
The current was very strong, dont let the pictures fool you The waves would easily push you right into a rock which happened several times to all of us. Once you got past the waves it was a lot smoother. Eric and his dad swam out and only because they are strong swimmers.
Eric decided to jump off the rocks and sliced his hand and foot really good but he said it was completely worth it! He's not very smart about things like that sometimes
We then laid on the beach for a few minutes in the sun while we rested. After this point we decided to brave the caves. WOW was it crowded. because of this we did not make it very far. I will warn you if you have an extreme fear of closed in spaces be careful!!!!
Its very tight and confined.
But its also very gorgeous!
Eric and his dad decided to swim out at this point right here and we stayed and waited to see if there was another way to the other side simply because of this line
there was no out se we decided to take a few pictures and head back out..
Once we got back out we laid out in the sun for about 40 minutes or so. We then quickly gathered our things and headed out for our free drink back at the top. This time it was steady climb and much easier to get out! However Eric's parents thought it was hard....
Once at the top we got our free drinks...here is a view of the resturant and pool area
We were then loaded on the bus and headed back to the dock. I took this picture of Eric which is hilarious because we couldnt stand there for long because people were rushing to get good seats on the speed boat
Here is just another pic from the dock
We decided to sit on the top this time...BAD IDEA! We loaded nearly last and sat on the top deck to get some good pics on the way back
But it was so hot around 1pm and the sun was scorching!
THEN we had this delay because some of our group decided they would stay on the beach instead of join the group. this was a 30 minute delay!!!!!!
I had to cover up in my beach towel because it was burning me!
Once we got going we were so late getting back to our ship...Here are a few pics of the ride
The ride back was so draining that I fell asleep
But, once we got back it was 2pm. We all got on the ship and headed back to the room. I decided I was starving and wanted to stay on the ship. they wanted to head off for the last hour and tour Tortola's port.
I stayed in the room and ordered a BLT and a fruit bowl which was extra yummy!!! I took a shower and a got changed.
They wandered off the ship and just explored the touristy area off teh ship
They were back on the ship about 15 minutes before sail time. Eric brought me a photo ablum back which I !!
We decided to take pics from the balcolny before we set sail at 330pm...
We soon set sail and we took pics on our way out...
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We were finally out to sea and it was around 430pm. We decided to get frappacinos from the coffee bar while we explored the ship
This was the lobby area of the ship
We then lounged around some more....had some sushi before dinner and then changed and headed to dinner that night...
We had a show that night and eric tried to take a few pictures of the waiters dancing which was HIlarious!!!!
We had his parents take this picture after dinner
We went to the show that night but I cannot remember what it was...we then headed back to the room for some shut eye since it had been a long day and this was waiting for us
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
This update was amazing. We love crusing, but always feel that the islands in the caribbean start to look the same. HOWEVER, this post of Tortola and The Baths were so unique. Almost looks like Hawaii or the South Pacific. What exactly is the "story" behind the Baths and those caves? So different.
And you both look lovely as ever for your pre-dinner pics
Excited to hear about you day at sea................those are the best!
Crissy, wonderful updates. Actually come to think of it, that was the same beach we went to in Antigua and the same restaurant you had your beer in that we ate lunch in. Glad to hear the beer was good. The beach pictures look beautiful, and I lovethe Polka Dot dress on you. Cute bikini too. Wowzers, Tortola and The Baths in the BVI look awesome. Thanks for the heads ups
in your updates. I would love to see those someday. Sorry to hear you were getting burnt on the boat ride back. Looking foward to your next update. More please Crissy.
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The waves would easily push you right into a rock which happened several times to all of us. Once you got past the waves it was a lot smoother. Eric and his dad swam out and only because they are strong swimmers. 
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