Motorcycle Cruise in the Caribbean ... a great time .... well, almost
This is the 3rd post in a series of 4, about our trip.
Post 1:Two Straps ...
Post 2:No Straps needed or possible
About a year ago, the Dittels were visiting us again down on Galveston Island. I'd just recently stumbled across a video of motorcycles riding in the Islands of the Caribbean transported by a 'normal' cruise ship. Years before, I'd had a conversation with someone about riding Indian Motorcycles in Cuba, where I laughed at the idea. Transporting the bikes, customs, security .. you name it, would be a nightmare. But, here I was looking at something even better in my mind, and it had my attention. After investigating it deeper, it became apparent to me that the owner of ETA Motorcycle Cruises, had cracked the code. Apparently, he cracked it over 20 years ago. Now, how the hell had I never heard of this? Everyone I know for the most part, had never heard of it. Well Brother Dick and I decided that week, we were 'in!' . A look at dates made it apparent this was a pretty popular event since a year out, many of the sailings were booked. Basically, they (ETA) block off a few dozen rooms, you book through them at what appears to be a non discounted price, pay some up charges ( $1k?) to cover the bike and done deal. I told my cousin about it and he and his new bride were in! I think he was more excited than I was about this. So, the three of us are booked, there are more slots available so I put it out there on Social Media for others to jump in and ..... crickets. Nothing. Nada. Now, few chimed in that they'd like to go but the timing and/or costs would be an issue. Overall though ... nada from folks. So, it' was to be three couples, three bikes, with another 40 plus folks ( two dozen or so bikes altogether) signed up, on a cruise ship (Celebrity's Reflection) with another two thousand unsuspecting folks.
It seemed like the day of the cruise would never get here. I had other big plans beforehand that got canceled due to some issues I had with my spine, but I was successful in getting back to '100%' before the cruise. Back last October we did an event in Hot Springs and I brought our MN friends bike back with us. Now, I had their Roadmaster loaded up with Sugar B' and it was time. I'd decided to dead head it straight there and mama was going to jump on a plane to meet me there. She wouldn't be driving our dually/trailer combo anyways, so no need to put her through 20 hours of road time. Soon, I'm headed to Florida with big plans to drive straight through; almost. I'd end up pulling into two rest areas for a quick nap (less than 2 hours total) before pulling into Fort Lauderdale. I'd no sooner got the luggage in the room and bikes unloaded when the Dittels rolled up from Miami airport. Hour or so later, Lucy rolled in from the Airport. A quick meeting with the ETA staff and fellow 'cruisers' and we're ready! Off to dinner and sweet dreams... almost time.
Following morning, we get the bikes lined up and we're off behind our two Road Captains, Steve and
Mac. We're just a few miles away. A quick stop at customs outside the terminal area, bike's VINs validated, and we head to the ship. Blood is pumping a lil, and getting excited. Soon via some back gates we find ourselves on the pier next to the ship. Security goes through the bike storage compartments, we're cleared and loading. I have no idea what to expect, but this is a first. Turns out it's no big deal. 
Get your highway pegs up and out of the ways, slowly head up the ramp, turn off the motor at the top, put it in neutral, move forward. We're soon backing in bikes, chocking them and trying to stay out of the way of the rest of the group and they do the same. Finally they are all there, we get briefed on all the do's and don't s .. and ... head to the terminal to connect with the wives. The cruise is on! We're now interspersed with all others boarding and the next two days we'll be on our own, except for dinner. The entire ETA groups is in a section together for dinner. Good times ahead.
We've got 2 days on the open seas before we hit the Islands. We go into full cruiser mode hitting the bars, getting some sun, eating what we choose, and sleeping in. We're getting to know some our fellow bikers on the boat as well. Good times... but... we're here to ride!
Day 1 of riding is finally here! We head down early, get the bikes off the boat, line up and we're
off. One thing I wasn't expecting was all the folks watching and taking pics. Most are in shock these bikes just came off the ship and aren't sure what the hell is up! We get our ladies on the bikes, the group fires up the engines and we're off. We've got local police officers leading the group and it helps! We soon realize just how crazy the local traffic is, and we're shooting through it single file. And .. the roads suck! Potholes everywhere and we've diving left and right as needed to miss them. Most of us are on large V Twins and they aren't made for this environment, but we all make it through. On our second stop of the day, we pull into a rocky/grassy area, that will change the course of the cruise for us. I
pull in and get the bike parked, thinking the whole time " HERE WE GO!" I'm expecting several folks to lose control of their bikes based on the angles, etc. When you park in shitty areas, something always seems to happen. I passed an HD that has landed on it's side having trouble getting lined up to park. They got lucky and after hopping around in pain, the rider was good to go. I notice Dittel's Indian Motorcycle squirming around but he pulls it off. As I get off I hear someone talking about another bike having problems; turns out it's my cousin on a Roadmaster. He had to hit the front brake because the bike in front of him unexpectedly stopped. Plop. Back on, and then .. again with over 1000 lbs of bike and passenger. Speaking to him later, he tells me he was wore down when... again it happened. They were slow motion, bike leaning over on the engine guard moments. Nothing damaged but the ego. But, here's where things go sideways. Mike's wife Darlene has Huntingtons disease. Shes terminal. This is a bucket list item for her. For them together. Well, Steve Wallach (ETA Owner) notices something askew and is told she has it. We'd find out that night he's told Michael she cannot ride with the group. WTF? At that moment, our entire cruise vacation has been changed. In that one moment, he fucked it up for all of us, but mostly her. He won't back off and we are forced to 
improvise and make changes. Well, that rest of the day had no surprises, nor would any of them. They ride together all the time; no issues. The grassy area was just an 'oh crap' moment. I don't know how many bikes over the years I've seen go over in gravel parking lots. Grassy parking lots. Shit happens. And it did here. Now because these clowns chose a shitty parking area and yelled and rushed folks to get the bikes parked, we had a problem.
Day 2 we've made it to Barbados. A car had to be rented by Michael for Leanne to drive Darlene. This is the twist in our vaca'. Darlene isn't allowed to ride (I'm still pissed a week later writing about it). So Lucy is rolling towards the rear in a small POS rental, on the "wrong side of the road", keeping it
tight with the bikes. She told me the first half had her nervous, second half wasn't bad until the last few miles when the bikes in front of her broke off but only after slowing down and the pack left her and had her hauling ass through some red lights to catch up. She didn't want to lose us, and then be lost and miss the boat. After that nightmare, she refused to drive another day on the islands. Overall Barbados is beautiful, but the roads sucked almost as much as Antigua. Still, felt like a rock star driving through traffic with a police escort never having to stop for much. She even had the Tridents MC President tell her she was an awesome driver staying tight with us all, impressing him. Kudos' to Lucy!
Day 3 we hit St Lucia. Now we're talking. Before we headed out the ETA guy said it was 5x the Tail of the Dragon. What the hell does that mean? He implied it was dangerous and if anyone had
concerns, they should consider not riding. Huh? Folks had visions of some scary riding, crazy turns, killer 100+ foot drop offs. Yeah, right. Haha. I'll give it this... it was beautiful. We got some nice riding in. But not once, did I scrape a board. The speed compared to the first two days, was painfully slow. If there was any danger at all, we were riding too slow and made the turns more difficult than they were. Still we got into some elevation, some twisties and finally made it to the beach on the other side of the Island. Five times the dragon? Was someone smoking some good stuff? Maybe he meant five times 'longer?" . Who knows.... I think the whole Island is 120KM around it... but ... come on. Still, it was a nice ride and one of the best of the entire week it would turn out. Still, we had to put up with the traffic around the port city as we would on all the islands. When you are in heavy traffic, doesn't feel much like paradise. Get off to the other end of the Island .. .much better. Of all the Islands, this one would be 
my favorite. The other five in my crew, did a Beach Resort day. Due to the drama caused by Steve Wallach, my cousin had him cancel the vehicle he'd located for Darlene, and Michael set up a personal excursion with Celebrity cruise line. Turns out the resort they made it to was over the top in every way and was an awesome day, one of the best of the entire vaca' for them. Now this cost extra money and took away from the what they'd rather have been doing, but .. they made the best of it. Holly got to experience her first all inclusive Beach Resort, they had a blast as a group... and most importantly, Darlene had a great time that day.
Day 4 we hit St Kitts. Money Money everywhere. Huge ships/boats everywhere. Riding aint' bad, we get some nice views .. but... this traffic. But as we will find out everyday, our Road Captains, Road Guards and Police simplify the process. We're seeing some crazy driving and riding throughout the week, but no accidents involving any of us (Well one Road Captain's hard bags got tagged by a vehicle on one of the days .. day one? Could have been worse) As always, we end up at a beach location for some grub and colds ones, then work our way back to the port, to load 'em back up. I still can't get over the 'celebrity status' riding around in this group, locals and tourists gawking and waving. We didn't all make it out that day. Lucy took control of the situation and took Darlene to a Hyatt that day and hung out on their beach. Turns out they were only 4 miles from our beach stop that day; would have been a helluva coincidence if we'd rolled into the same one?
Day 5 we hit St Martin. This place must be spelled at least 3 different ways (ex Sint Maarten). But 
again, $$$ is obvious everywhere with nicer cars, homes, traffic , big airport and yachts everywhere. A local HD group does the leading/blocking for us and it's fairly uneventful. We ended up near the airport at a local beach club and finally, we find a place where the food rocks, drinks rock, management and servers are great, and the beach is beautiful. But all good things end and we're back to the ship to put the bikes away. Our Island riding is over. Lucy and Darlene have snuck in their third day of beach combing. Helluva' twist for a Biker cruise. What is is Steve Wallach continues to say .. " If you aren't having a great time, it's your own damned fault?" . Well, they did even though fucking up Darlene's vaca was HIS fault.
It's surreal after five days of riding to suddenly have two 'down' days and you get to sleep in. I'd rather be riding more Islands but we've got travel time back to FL. Now, we're having more fun with the other's in our whole bike group as we've gotten to know them better. There are some great folks in our group and I know in my heart we'll see some of them in the future. But my days now are spent finding lounge chairs, shade, new drinks to try and visiting our favorite bars/pubs onboard. And sleeping in. After five days of getting up early and dealing with a regimented schedule, we are in bliss for two days. Hell, on Saturday morning we are scheduled for a tour of the Bridge with the rest of the group and I overslept; whoops. Hey .. the pics of the others there looked good. And so was my sleep!
Monday is finally upon us and we're up early to get the bikes off and get shuffled to customs and the process that is in place for the bikers. I could have stayed on that ship a few more days. I've never done more than 8 days on vaca's the last two decades and this ten dayer wasn't long enough for me; yep .. I had a good time! But I'm soon back on the bike with the group headed back to our original hotel where my Truck/Trailer is. We get the bikes packed, my cuz is headed down Alligator Alley back to the west side of South Florida, Dittels are headed to Miami Airport where they'll get back to MN in a few hours and Lucy is off to Fort Lauderdals' airport. Me, I'm headed to the Alabama coast to see my nephew Paul where's we'll kick it up for the night and the following day I'm back in Texas.
It's wet and chilly as I'm writing this, missing the Caribbean. Missing being on Sugar B' throttling through the Islands. Missing the beautiful beaches and gorgeous blue waters of the area. Hell, I even came to like that cruise ship which I'd never expected.
Will we go back on another ETA Motorcycle Cruise. Most likely not. Been there done it. But never say never. If I found myself in a group of 12+ bikes reserving a trip (CVMA, IIRA, etc) .. maybe. When you read the ETA review I'm doing next ... you may understand that process even better.
Got hundreds and hundreds of pics to go through yet. Hours of video from my GoPro. Hopefully in the next week or so , I can get a short ''video' put together .... For now though, off to write a review of ETA Motorcycle Cruise, LLC.
Post 1:Two Straps ...
Post 2:No Straps needed or possible
About a year ago, the Dittels were visiting us again down on Galveston Island. I'd just recently stumbled across a video of motorcycles riding in the Islands of the Caribbean transported by a 'normal' cruise ship. Years before, I'd had a conversation with someone about riding Indian Motorcycles in Cuba, where I laughed at the idea. Transporting the bikes, customs, security .. you name it, would be a nightmare. But, here I was looking at something even better in my mind, and it had my attention. After investigating it deeper, it became apparent to me that the owner of ETA Motorcycle Cruises, had cracked the code. Apparently, he cracked it over 20 years ago. Now, how the hell had I never heard of this? Everyone I know for the most part, had never heard of it. Well Brother Dick and I decided that week, we were 'in!' . A look at dates made it apparent this was a pretty popular event since a year out, many of the sailings were booked. Basically, they (ETA) block off a few dozen rooms, you book through them at what appears to be a non discounted price, pay some up charges ( $1k?) to cover the bike and done deal. I told my cousin about it and he and his new bride were in! I think he was more excited than I was about this. So, the three of us are booked, there are more slots available so I put it out there on Social Media for others to jump in and ..... crickets. Nothing. Nada. Now, few chimed in that they'd like to go but the timing and/or costs would be an issue. Overall though ... nada from folks. So, it' was to be three couples, three bikes, with another 40 plus folks ( two dozen or so bikes altogether) signed up, on a cruise ship (Celebrity's Reflection) with another two thousand unsuspecting folks.
It seemed like the day of the cruise would never get here. I had other big plans beforehand that got canceled due to some issues I had with my spine, but I was successful in getting back to '100%' before the cruise. Back last October we did an event in Hot Springs and I brought our MN friends bike back with us. Now, I had their Roadmaster loaded up with Sugar B' and it was time. I'd decided to dead head it straight there and mama was going to jump on a plane to meet me there. She wouldn't be driving our dually/trailer combo anyways, so no need to put her through 20 hours of road time. Soon, I'm headed to Florida with big plans to drive straight through; almost. I'd end up pulling into two rest areas for a quick nap (less than 2 hours total) before pulling into Fort Lauderdale. I'd no sooner got the luggage in the room and bikes unloaded when the Dittels rolled up from Miami airport. Hour or so later, Lucy rolled in from the Airport. A quick meeting with the ETA staff and fellow 'cruisers' and we're ready! Off to dinner and sweet dreams... almost time.
Following morning, we get the bikes lined up and we're off behind our two Road Captains, Steve and
Mac. We're just a few miles away. A quick stop at customs outside the terminal area, bike's VINs validated, and we head to the ship. Blood is pumping a lil, and getting excited. Soon via some back gates we find ourselves on the pier next to the ship. Security goes through the bike storage compartments, we're cleared and loading. I have no idea what to expect, but this is a first. Turns out it's no big deal. 
Get your highway pegs up and out of the ways, slowly head up the ramp, turn off the motor at the top, put it in neutral, move forward. We're soon backing in bikes, chocking them and trying to stay out of the way of the rest of the group and they do the same. Finally they are all there, we get briefed on all the do's and don't s .. and ... head to the terminal to connect with the wives. The cruise is on! We're now interspersed with all others boarding and the next two days we'll be on our own, except for dinner. The entire ETA groups is in a section together for dinner. Good times ahead.We've got 2 days on the open seas before we hit the Islands. We go into full cruiser mode hitting the bars, getting some sun, eating what we choose, and sleeping in. We're getting to know some our fellow bikers on the boat as well. Good times... but... we're here to ride!
Day 1 of riding is finally here! We head down early, get the bikes off the boat, line up and we're
off. One thing I wasn't expecting was all the folks watching and taking pics. Most are in shock these bikes just came off the ship and aren't sure what the hell is up! We get our ladies on the bikes, the group fires up the engines and we're off. We've got local police officers leading the group and it helps! We soon realize just how crazy the local traffic is, and we're shooting through it single file. And .. the roads suck! Potholes everywhere and we've diving left and right as needed to miss them. Most of us are on large V Twins and they aren't made for this environment, but we all make it through. On our second stop of the day, we pull into a rocky/grassy area, that will change the course of the cruise for us. I  |
| Scene of the Crime |
improvise and make changes. Well, that rest of the day had no surprises, nor would any of them. They ride together all the time; no issues. The grassy area was just an 'oh crap' moment. I don't know how many bikes over the years I've seen go over in gravel parking lots. Grassy parking lots. Shit happens. And it did here. Now because these clowns chose a shitty parking area and yelled and rushed folks to get the bikes parked, we had a problem. |
| Michael & Darlene |
Day 2 we've made it to Barbados. A car had to be rented by Michael for Leanne to drive Darlene. This is the twist in our vaca'. Darlene isn't allowed to ride (I'm still pissed a week later writing about it). So Lucy is rolling towards the rear in a small POS rental, on the "wrong side of the road", keeping it
tight with the bikes. She told me the first half had her nervous, second half wasn't bad until the last few miles when the bikes in front of her broke off but only after slowing down and the pack left her and had her hauling ass through some red lights to catch up. She didn't want to lose us, and then be lost and miss the boat. After that nightmare, she refused to drive another day on the islands. Overall Barbados is beautiful, but the roads sucked almost as much as Antigua. Still, felt like a rock star driving through traffic with a police escort never having to stop for much. She even had the Tridents MC President tell her she was an awesome driver staying tight with us all, impressing him. Kudos' to Lucy! Day 3 we hit St Lucia. Now we're talking. Before we headed out the ETA guy said it was 5x the Tail of the Dragon. What the hell does that mean? He implied it was dangerous and if anyone had
concerns, they should consider not riding. Huh? Folks had visions of some scary riding, crazy turns, killer 100+ foot drop offs. Yeah, right. Haha. I'll give it this... it was beautiful. We got some nice riding in. But not once, did I scrape a board. The speed compared to the first two days, was painfully slow. If there was any danger at all, we were riding too slow and made the turns more difficult than they were. Still we got into some elevation, some twisties and finally made it to the beach on the other side of the Island. Five times the dragon? Was someone smoking some good stuff? Maybe he meant five times 'longer?" . Who knows.... I think the whole Island is 120KM around it... but ... come on. Still, it was a nice ride and one of the best of the entire week it would turn out. Still, we had to put up with the traffic around the port city as we would on all the islands. When you are in heavy traffic, doesn't feel much like paradise. Get off to the other end of the Island .. .much better. Of all the Islands, this one would be 
my favorite. The other five in my crew, did a Beach Resort day. Due to the drama caused by Steve Wallach, my cousin had him cancel the vehicle he'd located for Darlene, and Michael set up a personal excursion with Celebrity cruise line. Turns out the resort they made it to was over the top in every way and was an awesome day, one of the best of the entire vaca' for them. Now this cost extra money and took away from the what they'd rather have been doing, but .. they made the best of it. Holly got to experience her first all inclusive Beach Resort, they had a blast as a group... and most importantly, Darlene had a great time that day.Day 4 we hit St Kitts. Money Money everywhere. Huge ships/boats everywhere. Riding aint' bad, we get some nice views .. but... this traffic. But as we will find out everyday, our Road Captains, Road Guards and Police simplify the process. We're seeing some crazy driving and riding throughout the week, but no accidents involving any of us (Well one Road Captain's hard bags got tagged by a vehicle on one of the days .. day one? Could have been worse) As always, we end up at a beach location for some grub and colds ones, then work our way back to the port, to load 'em back up. I still can't get over the 'celebrity status' riding around in this group, locals and tourists gawking and waving. We didn't all make it out that day. Lucy took control of the situation and took Darlene to a Hyatt that day and hung out on their beach. Turns out they were only 4 miles from our beach stop that day; would have been a helluva coincidence if we'd rolled into the same one?
Day 5 we hit St Martin. This place must be spelled at least 3 different ways (ex Sint Maarten). But 
again, $$$ is obvious everywhere with nicer cars, homes, traffic , big airport and yachts everywhere. A local HD group does the leading/blocking for us and it's fairly uneventful. We ended up near the airport at a local beach club and finally, we find a place where the food rocks, drinks rock, management and servers are great, and the beach is beautiful. But all good things end and we're back to the ship to put the bikes away. Our Island riding is over. Lucy and Darlene have snuck in their third day of beach combing. Helluva' twist for a Biker cruise. What is is Steve Wallach continues to say .. " If you aren't having a great time, it's your own damned fault?" . Well, they did even though fucking up Darlene's vaca was HIS fault.It's surreal after five days of riding to suddenly have two 'down' days and you get to sleep in. I'd rather be riding more Islands but we've got travel time back to FL. Now, we're having more fun with the other's in our whole bike group as we've gotten to know them better. There are some great folks in our group and I know in my heart we'll see some of them in the future. But my days now are spent finding lounge chairs, shade, new drinks to try and visiting our favorite bars/pubs onboard. And sleeping in. After five days of getting up early and dealing with a regimented schedule, we are in bliss for two days. Hell, on Saturday morning we are scheduled for a tour of the Bridge with the rest of the group and I overslept; whoops. Hey .. the pics of the others there looked good. And so was my sleep!
Monday is finally upon us and we're up early to get the bikes off and get shuffled to customs and the process that is in place for the bikers. I could have stayed on that ship a few more days. I've never done more than 8 days on vaca's the last two decades and this ten dayer wasn't long enough for me; yep .. I had a good time! But I'm soon back on the bike with the group headed back to our original hotel where my Truck/Trailer is. We get the bikes packed, my cuz is headed down Alligator Alley back to the west side of South Florida, Dittels are headed to Miami Airport where they'll get back to MN in a few hours and Lucy is off to Fort Lauderdals' airport. Me, I'm headed to the Alabama coast to see my nephew Paul where's we'll kick it up for the night and the following day I'm back in Texas.
It's wet and chilly as I'm writing this, missing the Caribbean. Missing being on Sugar B' throttling through the Islands. Missing the beautiful beaches and gorgeous blue waters of the area. Hell, I even came to like that cruise ship which I'd never expected.
Will we go back on another ETA Motorcycle Cruise. Most likely not. Been there done it. But never say never. If I found myself in a group of 12+ bikes reserving a trip (CVMA, IIRA, etc) .. maybe. When you read the ETA review I'm doing next ... you may understand that process even better.
Got hundreds and hundreds of pics to go through yet. Hours of video from my GoPro. Hopefully in the next week or so , I can get a short ''video' put together .... For now though, off to write a review of ETA Motorcycle Cruise, LLC.
Comments