Ok so back again to give my review of SSU....Now I should preface this by saying that when I was younger, THE breakfast event to go to was Insomnia. When the crowd started getting rough, I stopped going and for a while did nothing on Carni Sunday morning. Then along came Vale and at first I never had to worry about getting tickets as I was always taken care of by my then bf. However, last year my friends and I had to make arrangements ourselves, and I was surprised and a bit put off by the whole secret service antics behind securing tickets for this fete. I mean not even Lara is like that and da's an ULTRA all inclusive! Anyhow we went to Vale a couple years and it was fun but I never really got what was SO FANTASTIC about this fete...Maybe that's because I never got hose down by de wall, I wasn't drunk out my mind and I limed more on the park grounds than the road (the road vibes are way better). In any event, last year I was not happy about the long wait to get drinks, which got worse as the morning wore on, and then to add insult to injury they ran out of alcohol, and only had cheap vodka and some other stuff I didn't drink. My crew had to resort to collecting drinks 6 at a time and saving them in a lil pool on the ground in between all of us just to ensure we had. And then a man went and wine his way through our "mini cooler" so all de alcohol went down on de floor with him....Food also dwindled too early in my opinion and the traffic to leave once it was over....oh gyad oh! If allyuh thinking Beach House is bad....that was just a mess! So although the fete vibe was fun, these little things did dampen my zeal to return.
Our crew this year was in excess of 30 people, many of whom were traveling in from abroad and we wanted to all do a fete together so people could meet before mas...we also wanted the foreigners to experience different types of fetes, so a breakfast party had to be included, but I knew right away there was no way we were getting tickets for everyone to go to Vale. So a couple people suggested SSU and one friend knew someone on the committee that they could have organized tickets through. Now this friend was a die hard Vale-ite and it took some convincing to get her to give up her precious Vale to try something new. Tickets were $700 for singles and $600 each for a couples ticket (male/female or 2 females), so we tried to arrange everyone into couples to get the cheaper price, booked since December, collected money from everyone and paid in due course. So right away I liked the fact that no spy business was needed to secure entry!
Sunday come now and we reach de fete. We initially drove past looking for a park and we saw one set ah people standing up outside so we wondering if de fete is outside instead...it was real odd...there was this big blow up archway that blocked the view of the fete from the roadway, so you had to walk around this (and collect your cup) to get inside, so we couldn't really tell how de vibes was looking till we reach in. The fete in set up along a long roadway, with a drinks tent and a food tent on your right as you entered, then lots more food and drinks tents in people's yards. At first I was unimpressed that the regular bars had no Johnny, until I realized there was a special bar with Johnny Green and Black...HOORAY! Tossed out the 1919 and hit de Green right through with Coconut water :)
We grabbed breakfast first off and there was a huge variety to choose from. There was sada with about 6 different types of fillings, bake and shark, gourment doubles, accra, eggs and bacon with toast, waffles and pancakes, pelau, corn soup and other lunchtime foods if you wanted something heavier, huge strawberries and other fruit with a chocolate fountain...REAL FOOD!!! The drinks weren't bad either - various rums (1919, El Dorado, Black Label, Malibu and Single Barrel I think), Henessy, Smirnoff vodka, Johnny, shots, A martini bar, typical chasers and energy drinks, coffee and tea. I liked the fact that the bars were distributed throughout the venue so you were never far from one. The toilets were all located more towards the front of the fete, but I thought they should have been a bit off to the side as you had to walk past (as in right next to) some to get into the fete (and in the morning sun porta potty doh smell sweet). There was also a stage with bands, I think Dil E Nidan was performing when we got there, and Roy Cape came on later on, but in between the DJs had us going.
People were real enjoying themselves from the get go, although I didn't really like the fact that everything was happening on this one long roadway, so if you wanted to get to the stage area you had to walk up through everyone. I thought this fete would be even better if the feting part was just spaced out a tiny bit more. We never really had an issue for space in spite of this, even though there were alot of people there. There were a couple platforms that were set up as well and they gave a good view and good breeze once the sun came out. I believe there was some sort of VIP platform as well, although I'm not 100% sure of this. Now little did we know that this fete involved water and foam.....cause we were stationed on a platform right in front one of the foam cannons and at first it gives off this nice breeze so we say wha! fan and ting! NEXT thing yuh know all de girls skating off de platform cause water and foam start. That was hilarious.....doh mine after all de talk we talk about not getting wet we well jump up in de foam when we saw how much fun the guys were having....People just got 10 times happier once de foam and water start, it was utter jamishness and real good vibes :) I have some pics attached from the first foam session :) We got in on the second one and it was fun!! Plenty winery went on in de sun and foam and water.
All in all we stayed there for at least five hours, and left just before the fete really came to an end. There was NO TRAFFIC to leave and real kix from all the semi drunk people who were chipping and singing on their way to their rides. While we were leaving we were also getting reports on how great Vale was this year, but I have to say that I would definitely hit SSU next year again even though we heard all good things on Vale. I thought it was decent value for money, no hassle to arrange tickets, venue was cool although I prefer Vale's main fete area layout, and the crowd was about the same age group, although I would have known more people in Vale. But if your concern is to have a ball in a breakfast fete regardless of who around, eat and drink yuh belly full with bonus foam/water, I think SSU is a good option.
Ok I gone for now....will write about/continue on my YUMA experience in a bit...



6 comments:
I absolutely love me some sunny side up :)
One thing I'd like to add. The promoters for SSU had Friday evening limes on the avenue from about a month before carnival, get this: Free Entry (well it was more or less on the road @Sandbar) but Free Drinks, yes Free Frinks. Including Johnny, Smiroff, Henney, the works! I swear I drank out my SSU ticket way before I even stepped foot into the fete. Thumbs up for the Foam Machine, need 2 more next yr.
SSU was my favourite fete! Next time I gotta take advantage (heh heh) of the foam though...
SSU Was incredible...i was only able to make it to one of the Friday limes but that was great as well...my entire crew...tsk tsk tsk...poorest of poor conduct...i think that was the most fun we had at a fete all season...something about partying in foam and water makes ppl go wild lol
I agree about the whole port-a-potty in the hot sun thing...that will never be a good combo. But other than that, i ate and drank my belly full...frolicked in the water(sigh, my locks didnt dry until sunday night tho lol) and chipped my way back to the car...all in all...SSU seeing me next year for sure :)
I WOULD have been at SSU...had TrinidadFeteTickets had the ticket I paid for...however after having to chase them around the mulberry bush and threaten to report them to PayPal for fraud a couple times I have my money back so I am going to leave it alone.
And I will say they gave the Girl Power and Insomnia tickets as paid for...however having to be at your trinidad housing location for them to deliver (especially if they insist on using only the first number you gave them before you reached in the country, and not the most recent, which would be the local trini cell phone you picked up after arriving in the country)...is just backwards and slow. Having no office to walk into at your own convenience if necessary (like when things go HORRIBLY WRONG like they did with the SSU tickets)...backwards and slow.
Will never use TFT again. I give chances on lots of things but the defensive attitude from whoever handles the TFT emails and the lack of apology to me as a paying customer ensures violation of one of few cardinal rules about my life: don't f. with my money. If you see the email they sent is like they trying to convince me all their Trini customers use to that b.s. and still use them all the time and "understand"...but well, your customers are not all Trini and as a Jamaican coming for the first time the hide and seek and suddenly not answering the phones whole day when the tickets are past due and people have other places to be and things to do...eh-eh. You get one time to do mi dat.
But as I said I got the refund so aside from a small mention of the foolishness with this SSU ticket (where the promoter, who's friends with one of my crew's family down there, is blaming TFT and TFT is blaming the promoter and nobody's taking RESPONSIBILITY)...and of course this rant here lol I haven't mentioned it.
I'll probly remove them from my Trinidad Carnival Bible blog post as a resource for tickets though. Would hate for them to inflict that time of wutlissness on some other unsuspecting foreigner.
Make it worse they already had us uncomfortable with them cause they apparently short-billed us $50 US each and instead of sucking up the loss as their error, sent us a bill after we were sure we were paid in full. So they quick to get their cash when it's due them but slow and unapologetic to get people's products to them or their money back when they know they don't have it. smh.
If not for the fact that they did deliver GP and Insomnia tickets, this rant would be a full feature blog post letting the whole wide world know...
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