Ten caribbean ports, what to do?

We are going on a B2B in jan - feb 2015 and would like to get some tips about what to do and where to go. We are looking for both tours and stuff to do on our own.

We are from Sweden = we are coming from a cold, snowy winter and are hunting for the summer :D. We really like nice beaches and we doesn´t need that much to enjoy our stay. One of our best caribbean days was on Cozumel, took a cab to the other side of the island an spent the day at Punta Morena. A beach a with a simple resturant and not that many tourists.

With other words, big buses and a tour guide that holds up a sign for everyone to follow aren´t what we are looking for.

Aruba: We spent two weeks there last winter and we have seen the things that the island has to offer. We will walk or take the local bus to the beach.

Bonaire: We don´t have any plans for this island yet.

Grenada: We don´t have any plans for this island yet.

Barbados: Last time I was there we took a cab to a beach and then I walked back to the ship. I WON´T do that again, some neighborhoods can be kind of "the wrong place to be walking around in.."

St. Lucia: We have been talking about a helicopter tour, but we found it to be a bit pricey at 220USD per person.

Antigua x 2: We don´t have any plans for this island yet.

Br Virgin Islands: I have been here before, didn´t see that much of the island since I visited a "facebook-friend". This time we are thinking about going to the Baths.

St: Kitts: Have been here before and did a bad tour. I have seen the fort and it wasn´t that special, we have old forts where I live. But I do wan´t to go back to this spot:

Would renting a car be bad in this island?

Dominica: I have been there before and did a tour with Bumpiing tours, loved it and have booked the same tour again.

St. Maarten: I have been there before, did a tour. Have been to Maho beach, it was nice but I don´t feel the need to go back.

Grenada - this is a spice island, so whatever tour you do should have something to do with seeing the spices and chocolate that is grown locally.

http://www.viator.com/tours/Grenada/Grenada-Spice-Garden-Tour/d967-5631SPGDN

St Lucia: So much to see! The Pitons, the ONLY drive through volcano in the world, the botanical garden and snorkeling. Then there are the banana plantations, banana catsup, and so much more!

http://www.realstluciatours.com/Cruise_Excursions_62B5.html

Barbados: The tour I liked best was the photography tour:

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/shore-excursions/excursion/45

and I'm not a photographer - my husband is, but we saw more of Barbados this way than with any other tour.

I very highly recommend Cosol Tours on St. Lucia. It is an excellent value for the money! Plenty of snacks and beverages (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) are included.

http://www.cosol-tours.com/tours.html

Have you read a guidebook on your ports? That would surely help you narrow down what you want to do!

Most things are quite cheap and easy to do on your own...but get a guidebook...find out all there is to do in your ports....then, we can help you decide HOW to do what you want!

How about swimming with the sea turtles in Barbados? We loved it.

Hi Kim, Lindy from the Feb 6 roll call.

In Bonaire, I must recommend Achie Tours, they were wonderful! You can find them on the web. Very knowledgeable guide, open to every question, showed us the life of that island (we even had a wild donkey poke his head into the door of the bus to look at us!). The standard tour is half a day, but if you want to snorkel, email them and set up something else.

I recommend you get away from the port area in Grenada. We did not, and the vendors and commercial activity are very aggressive. Grande Anse beach was horrible, with vendors selling chairs and drinks, and prostitutes selling themselves. I would book a tour away from the port if I had to do it again.

St Kitts is a very small island, and you've seen the fort, and the road that leads to it. No need to see it again. Our friend took a train that goes down the spine of the island, and he enjoyed that. This island does have a rain forest on the slope of the large mountain, and we had an interesting guided walk there, but it's nothing dramatic. If I went again, I'd book a catamaran trip, or just get a taxi to take me to the beach the ship's crew goes to and enjoy that.

We had a very fine time on Antigua by taking the local bus across the island to Nelson's Dockyard. The Dockyard is interesting, but the bus trip was the highlight for us. You get a real feeling for the life of the people who live there as you travel along on that bus. I can give you exact directions if you are interested. You can email me at (no spaces) lwilliams at the learning domain dot com

The port forums here have lots of suggestions.

Our experience:

Aruba- We liked the Radisson at Palm Beach. It has a day pass, pool, and lots of amenities. Some prefer Eagle beach.

Bonaire- Very good snorkeling.

Barbados- Enjoyed spending the day at Carlisle Bay- there are several day pass places there.

St Lucia- We did a tour and feel it is an island where one needs a tour.

Dominica- We did the Layou Valley tour through part of the Rain Forest.

St Maarten- We went to Orient Beach, but another time would go to Marigot or do a nature tour.

From Antigua we took the Caribbean Helicopter tour over to the live volcano on Montserrat into the Exclusion Zone .

On St. Kitts, just past the location of your photo (on the right hand shore below that first hill) is a little beach called "Shipwreck" with a primitive restaurant/bar and beach chairs to rent. Arrange a pickup time with the taxi driver who drops you off and enjoy a lazy day.

In Bonaire,a good snorkel excursion is on Woodwind, a 37-foot trimaran. It's an easy walk down the beach from the pier to where you board the boat .

We are going on a B2B in jan - feb 2015 and would like to get some tips about what to do and where to go. We are looking for both tours and stuff to do on our own.

 

We are from Sweden = we are coming from a cold, snowy winter and are hunting for the summer :D. We really like nice beaches and we doesn´t need that much to enjoy our stay. One of our best caribbean days was on Cozumel, took a cab to the other side of the island an spent the day at Punta Morena. A beach a with a simple resturant and not that many tourists.

With other words, big buses and a tour guide that holds up a sign for everyone to follow aren´t what we are looking for.

 

Aruba: We spent two weeks there last winter and we have seen the things that the island has to offer. We will walk or take the local bus to the beach.

 

Bonaire: We don´t have any plans for this island yet.

 

Grenada: We don´t have any plans for this island yet.

 

Barbados: Last time I was there we took a cab to a beach and then I walked back to the ship. I WON´T do that again, some neighborhoods can be kind of "the wrong place to be walking around in.."

 

St. Lucia: We have been talking about a helicopter tour, but we found it to be a bit pricey at 220USD per person.

 

Antigua x 2: We don´t have any plans for this island yet.

 

Br Virgin Islands: I have been here before, didn´t see that much of the island since I visited a "facebook-friend". This time we are thinking about going to the Baths.

 

St: Kitts: Have been here before and did a bad tour. I have seen the fort and it wasn´t that special, we have old forts where I live. But I do wan´t to go back to this spot:

 

Would renting a car be bad in this island?

 

Dominica: I have been there before and did a tour with Bumpiing tours, loved it and have booked the same tour again.

 

St. Maarten: I have been there before, did a tour. Have been to Maho beach, it was nice but I don´t feel the need to go back.

Rent a car in St. Maarten. It is much more fun to drive the entire island at your leisure without being confined to a tour. Marigot on the French side is quite lovely and there are many good seafood restaurants in Gran Case. There are many nice beaches along the east side of the island. Be sure to drive the island clockwise, otherwise you may face a traffic jam in downtown Philipsburg on the Dutch side trying to get back to the ship.

Thanks for all the replys.

On St. Kitts is it possible to go to this point in a cab, stay there for 15 - 20 min and then get a new cab to "Shipwreck" ?

I want to be able to take pictures from this spot and I will need some time to get everything set up.

I'm not sure you'd find an empty cab there looking for a pickup but you might be able to find a cab stopping there that has room to take you over to Shipwreck. This might be something you could ask a cab driver there. Lots of cab tours stop there for photos and there's a souvenir stand or two.

Totally agreed there won't be any empty taxis waiting at South Peninsula. If you are going to Shipwreck, taxis do make a stop there for about 10-15 mins.

I ran out of time, door bell ran, so I'll repost additional info.

Totally agreed there won't be any empty taxis waiting at South Peninsula in St. Kitts. If you are going to Shipwreck, taxis will make a stop at South Peninsula for about 10-15 mins. If you need more time there, speak to the taxi driver.

If you want a little more of an upscale beach in St. Kitts, we loved Carambola Beach Club. Chairs and an umbrella are $10 each, and the food, service and drinks were very good here.

Since you've been to St Maarten before, beside renting a car, you can always take the $2 bus to Marigot and spend the day there and have lunch at one of the restaurants in Marina Royale. We've had lunch a few times at Tropicana, delicious French food, they open at noon for lunch and are a lit pricey. There are many other places to eat in Marigot. Or, you can take a taxi to Orient Beach and spend the day there and taxis to take you back to the pier at both Marigot or at Orient Beach.

St. Lucia, going in November and it will be our first time there, we're doing a ship excursion tour, *Cruising to the Pitons*.

Have not been to any of the British Islands, but have read and heared the Baths are nice. On your other stops, we'll just go to the beach.

Have a wonderful trip!

Is there any of these port that we NEED to have a tour or something booked in ?

You don't 'need' to have a tour either private or ship sponsored in any of these ports. You can see and do anything on your own. Do your reading ahead of time so you know what you are seeing and doing and be very careful to watch the time. You must be aboard 30 minutes prior to sail away but don't cut it too close, just in case. The Caribbean ports can easily be seen and enjoyed without benefit of organized tours.

That is not to say there aren't some very fun tours and some very well worth it. Your choice.

Have you read a guidebook on your ports? That would surely help you narrow down what you want to do!

 

Most things are quite cheap and easy to do on your own...but get a guidebook...find out all there is to do in your ports....then, we can help you decide HOW to do what you want!

this is the first thing I do. Public libraries have guide books (even though not always the newest edition) so I look through and see what would interest me family. Then I google each port. I would think that each one that has cruise ships visiting will have plenty of tourism sites. Again, I see what would interest my family. Copying and pasting possible sites into a Word doc helps me keep tracking. Also looking up the excursions the cruise line itself offers. Whether or not we intend to do an excursion (most of the time we don't), I can often find interesting places listed.

Br Virgin Islands: I have been here before, didn´t see that much of the island since I visited a "facebook-friend". This time we are thinking about going to the Baths.

I love the BVIs! We really enjoyed our excursion via catamaran to the Baths, including snorkeling and beach time. You may want to check out the Tortola Ports of Call forum: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=290.

A catamaran cruise to the Pitons is a great way to spend some time on St Lucia. I have done the one Princess offers and enjoyed it very much. While we were anchored during the stop at the beach, some locals paddled up to the catamaran in their kayaks, offering to sell us souveniers. Not pushy at all, they accepted a "No Thanks" response and kept on smiling.

A catamaran cruise to the Pitons is a great way to spend some time on St Lucia. I have done the one Princess offers and enjoyed it very much. While we were anchored during the stop at the beach, some locals paddled up to the catamaran in their kayaks, offering to sell us souveniers. Not pushy at all, they accepted a "No Thanks" response and kept on smiling.

We've also taken the catamaran cruise to the Pitons offered by Princess and had a very good time! :)

LuLu

Has anyone done a zipline tour in St Lucia?

Aruba- Eagle Beach is very pretty - took local "bus" - $2 or $3...Parked near dock...Coming home we just waited at bus stop and grabbed the same type transportation back to ship. Very easy.

Barbados- Carlisle Bay - Snorkeling with large turtles...Either from shore (must swim out a bit or take a boat from beach)... or book a private excursion...We used Shasta....Beware that there are many tour boats in the same area over wreck and many turtles. Looked like a mini-city with lots of snorkelers.

Dominica- Loved Beno Nature Tours....Many private tours available online. Beautiful country.

St Maarten- Orient Beach is a must as is Maho Beach (watch planes fly in overhead). Bernards Tours is fabulous.

Hi

We did a private Tuk Tuk tour on Bonaire. It was lovely even though the South Island was a bit windy. After that we just asked the driver to drop us off at a good seafood restaurant.

On Grenada we did a private sailing trip, but I can't remember how much it was (might be a bit pricey).

We did the helicopter tour on St Lucia and it was fantastic. After this we went to a local cafe (not a tourist cafe but rather one that the locals use) and we had such a good laugh there. If I would go to St Lucia again (and knowing how it looks from above :D, I would study the island and see if the roads and scenery are worth hiring a car and exploring the island.

We are golfers (maybe you too?) and we played golf in Barbados which was good fun too.

On St Maarten we hired a car and drove around the island (with a stop in the North to set over to a small island by ferry to relax). The scenery is wonderful on this island.

In Bonaire we where thinking about taking a water taxi to Klein Bonaire, has anyone been there? It got nice reveiws on TripAdvisor. How often does the taxi pick up from Klein Bonaire or is that something that deside with the driver that drops you off?

St Lucia, the zip line are more and more appealing.

Have anyone done the River Tubing on Grenada?

As long as you understand that there's literally no services on Klein Bonaire, it's a nice place to swim, snorkel or sunbathe. Would I want to be dropped off there on a cruise port call? I don't believe there's a scheduled pick-up, so you're totally dependent on whoever drops you off to retrieve you in a timely manner.