TradeWinds Cruise Club - British Virgin Islands Tortola

My Tradewinds Luxury Class Cruise in the British Virgin Islands was in May 2017 aboard the 59 foot DreamMaker. The boat embarks on Saturday at 5pm, but I would strongly suggest flying in a day early in case of flight delays.

I sailed as a referral from a fellow TUG (Timeshare Users Group) member. There are three classes of boats: Cruising, Luxury and Flagship. RCI exchangers most likely will get the Cruising Class boats. I sailed on a Luxury Boat; We had air conditioning on during the night. Flagship is the highest level of service.

Breakfast is served around 8am. The captain would review with us the itinerary for the day. After breakfast we would sail for a couple of hours and then drop anchor or tie up to a mooring buoy. We would then have a chance to snorkel or scuba dive. After lunch we would sail some more and then drop anchor/tie up for the night, with another chance to snorkel. I felt the snorkeling was very good. We saw many schools of fish and a lot of brain coral.

On the 59' boat (Luxury Class) there is a lot of space to stretch out and relax. There was storage under the bed, a closet, dresser drawers. There were electrical outlets and lights at the head of the bed. You unpack your suitcases and leave them in the office for the week.

We also went on shore for excursions. We went to the Bath's, The Soggy Dollar Bar, Willy T's, Hiking, and shopping. We also had 2 dinners ashore. Bring your phone or tablet to the restaurants...they will most likely have wifi so you can catch up on emails (if you want).

The British Virgin Islands are beautiful. This is a unique and special way to see the Caribbean. The captain and his 1st mate (cook) took really good care of us. Our beds were made each day, waste basket emptied daily, and our sheets and towels were changed midweek. We had a stand up paddle board, noodles and kayak for our use. Wine and liquor were available at all times.

I would definitely recommend this sailing. Check out the Tradewinds website to see where else they sail. I enjoyed it so much I joined the club!

I've cruised to at least 4 different locations with Tradewinds Cruise Club. It is a vacation you will never forget. Wake up every day in paradise, beautiful breakfast laid out. Go for a swim, snorkel, kayak. Then sail to another beautiful anchorage and explore, dive, hike, fish, swim, etc. The locations you can get to on a boat like this are so different from most vacations. Unlike a land-based vacation or a big cruise ship, you are not sharing a beach with hundreds of other vacationers. In most locations, if the captain sees more than two or three other boats in the anchorage (that'd be like 15 people), he will consider it crowded and move on to another.

You can sit back and let the captain and first mate do all the sailing or they will let you help if that makes you happy. Each evening, the captain makes a pitcher of some exotic concoction to get the cocktail hour started, or you can have whatever you want.

Here are the main attractions for me:

-- the beautiful blue water--> It is peaceful to be surrounded by it constantly-- not just when you look out your window or visit the beach to see it, but living in it 24/7. The blues and turquoise colors, the gentle rocking, the cooling breeze, the sounds of birds and waves -- you get all that all week long. Close your eyes and imagine it for a minute and you'll get the idea.

-- the solitude-->You have 8 - 10 boat-mates you can chat with if you want, but you can always find a quiet corner. And you are unplugged from email, social media, etc, which people really, really need nowadays.

-- the adventure -->You are seeing anchorages that few people on this planet ever see. There is a certain beauty in that. And I always see some or other creature or phenomenon I have never encountered before (fish that glow-in-the-dark, "the flash" at sunset in certain conditions, the Southern Cross constellation at night, for example.)

-- the meals--> Each boat has a first mate whose sole aim is to thrill guests with wonderful cuisine and service. They are flexible about food allergies, dislikes, etc, and the presentation is always incredible. I know someone that takes a picture of each meal for her scrapbook, they look so pretty.

-- the stars at night --> with no lights around, it is literally awe-some to lay on the deck and look upward before retiring for the night.

-- the crews --> WIth only 8-10 guests on board, the captain and first mate have plenty of time to share their knowledge and love of the local area. Their service-oriented nature is great, but more intriguing to me is getting to know these people who have chosen to leave behind their land-based lives (even if only temporarily) and take to the seas for some portion of their lives. They are from all over the world (South Africa, Australia, etc) and they inevitably have done some very interesting stuff on their way to the Carribean.

If you have a chance, you should do this. I even have friends who did not consider themselves to be "water" people -- but they loved it and are asking to come back again.