Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Southern Caribbean Cruise Excursions
DH and I are going on a cruise with my in laws in May 2013.
The itinerary is listed as follows: Departs From San Juan, Puerto Rico visiting Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, U.S.V.I. >> Bridgetown, Barbados >> Castries, St. Lucia >> Basseterre, St. Kitts >> Philipsburg, St. Maarten
We have not been to any of these ports yet. We do not book excursions through the cruise line and instead book through local companies. We tend to prefer to do more adventurous things- both land and water activities are great. What unique and can?t miss things are there to do at these ports that we can?t just do anywhere? We're considering hiking up Gros Piton in St. Lucia. I don?t have any ideas for any other ports yet though.
DH wants to snorkel or possibly dive at one of these ports. Would one stop be better than the others for this?
Also, we will be landing in San Juan in the early afternoon on Saturday and the cruise does not leave until Sunday evening. In that short amount of time, would you suggest just exploring OSJ? Looking at some of the old architecture will only entertain the group for so long. Nobody has an interest in shopping either. What exactly do you suggest we do there? Is it easiest to get around by taxi and/or walking? Or should we look into a car rental?
I am familiar with cruise critic and will head over there for specific excursions. I just was hoping that a few of you had suggestions and could give me a place to start for each island.
Any and all suggestions are appreciated. Thanks!
Re: Southern Caribbean Cruise Excursions
A group of us spent the day at Saphire Beach (St. Thomas) in May. There are a cuople of bars and good snorkeling. There is a spot to the left side of the beach where you may spot some of the area's sea turtles. We also saw a huge spotted ray while we there. It was a relaxing day, and the water is nice and clear. Would definitely go back again.
this is the carnival victory itinerary correct? i took my mom on that for her birthday in may 2011. fun itinerary! where are you staying in san juan? i didnt quote your pst so i can't see wat you wrote about SJ but i think you asked if you can explore OSJ while you're there. Of course you can. The port is right next to OSJ and you can certainly go and have dinner there and walk around saturday evening.
for st thomas-i've been there about 500000 times adn i'm not a fan, i take the ferry over to st john for the day.
for st martin we did the americas cup sailing and it was really fun. we love to sail so it was perfect for us.
for st lucia we did the 18 zip lines. that was super fun
for st kitts we did a tour of the island with a guide that i had doen the last time iw as there.
did i forget one? let me know if you have questions.
edit: i forgot barbados. we just went to a beach that day but it rained so we left. actually it rained pretty much every day. be preparedSt. Thomas we've always either hung out shopping, did the sailing trip once but there wasn't any wind and my husband did scuba there.
Barbados was my favorite place, we snorkeled with giant turtles and loved it.
As far as San Juan, we hung out around OSJ, about 15-20 minutes walk is their government building they do tours there, it was kind of fun, then there is a fort we did a tour there. They have great authentic places to eat, just look up on yelp.
Hubby and I did this cruise in 2010 (at the time we weren't married), but we LOVED every second of it. I will tell you, we were in our early to mid 20s at the time and each day after the excursions we found ourselves SO tired! We came back to our room and took and nap before dinner each day!!
St. Thomas--we booked this excursion through Carnival and went snorkeling (can't remember where we went), but we sailed out on a catamaran to this beautiful spot with about 20 feet or so deep water and snorkled around for about an hour. On the ride back we had endless rum punch. Talk about what a first day!
Dominica--this was his birthday so I wanted to make it special. We booked this excursion through Carnival as well. We went ATVing through beautiful rainforests here. This was by far the best time I've had in my life, even up to this point. My husband enjoyed every second of this. We were with another young couple during this excursion so that made it fun.
Barbados--this day we decided to book an excursion through one of the local vendors. We went on a tour of the local area (all the hot spots) in a taxi-like car. We were with another young couple here too. The guide dropped us off at a local Barbados restaurant where we tried local food, it was pretty good.
St. Lucia--we also decided on this day to book an excursion through a local vendor. We found that by doing this it is cheaper, but it is kind of book at your own risk becuase the local vendors aren't "backed" by Carnival. Regardless, we had a great time. The excursion consisted of a boat ride to a local volcano site, then we took a boat to the local town of Canaries, then ended up near one of the Sandals Resort sites which had a black sand beach. It was kinda cool.
St. Kitts--we booked this excursion through Carnival. I remember it was titled "Beach Bonanza" because my husband hated the name! We were taken to a secluded, beautiful beach! It was absolutely gorgeous. They had bed-type cabanas that you could rent. There was a restaurant that I remember was kind of pricey. We spent 3 hours at this beach.
St. Maarten--we booked this excursion through a local vendor. He took us to the part of the island called "Orient Bay" and there was another beautful, breath-taking beach here as well. We did some jet-skiing, were there about 2-3 hours.
Each place we also did tons of walking around and some shopping just to see the different cultures of each island. Have fun! This was such a great vacation that I still remember. You guys will have many great memories!