What do you like about St. Kitts?

I'm having difficulty choosing an itinerary for our cruise next June, 2017, for our son's 21st birthday. We are a family of three and love the typical white sand, blue water beaches. Shopping is a plus and we love just being in a beautiful place! Here are my choices:

All leaving from San Juan...

Itinerary One: St. Thomas / Curacao / Aruba / St. Kitts

Itinerary Two: St. Maarten / St. Kitts / Antigua / St. Lucia / Barbados

Itinerary Three: Bonaire / Curacao / Aruba / St. Maarten

So what do you like about St. Kitts? What sets it apart from the options above, and which Itinerary would you choose?

Thanks for your opinion! :D

We just got back from the RCL Allure of the Seas which went to Nassau, St Thomas and St Kitts.

We loved our tour of St Kitts. We did the Grand Tour through Thenford Gray tours. We were lucky enough to have Thenford as the tour guide for us. He is extremely knowledgable of the history of St Kitts and answered a ton of our questions. Absolutely made for a great tour.

For our first trip to a new port, we always like to take a city tour to see what they have and what we may want to explore further on a future trip.

St Kitts did not enter the tourism industry until 10 years ago when they decided to give up on the Sugar Cane industry.

The entire port area where we were, was created when the soil was dredged to make a port deep enough for such a large ship. Lots of shops were built on that new land to provide shopping for the cruise passengers.

We just got back from the RCL Allure of the Seas which went to Nassau, St Thomas and St Kitts.

 

We loved our tour of St Kitts. We did the Grand Tour through Thenford Gray tours. We were lucky enough to have Thenford as the tour guide for us. He is extremely knowledgable of the history of St Kitts and answered a ton of our questions. Absolutely made for a great tour.

 

For our first trip to a new port, we always like to take a city tour to see what they have and what we may want to explore further on a future trip.

 

St Kitts did not enter the tourism industry until 10 years ago when they decided to give up on the Sugar Cane industry.

 

The entire port area where we were, was created when the soil was dredged to make a port deep enough for such a large ship. Lots of shops were built on that new land to provide shopping for the cruise passengers.

St. Kitts is the ports I'm struggling with the most, in terms of finding a beach area. Did you see / hear about any nice beach areas? I'm assuming you went to timothy hill overlook, that's on our list! Thanks for your input!

Definitely Itinerary Two: St. Maarten / St. Kitts / Antigua / St. Lucia / Barbados. St. Kitts is my least favorite but the other islands make up for it. I went zip-lining (my 1st time) and then a rum tour in case I needed to recover from the 1st tour. Many people go to Nevis for a nice beach day.

Barbados, I went with Sail Calabaza, it was one of the best excursions I have ever been on. Gina takes a max of 12 people and pampers you the whole day. It was a group from our roll call and the day was perfect, the highlight was swimming with sea turtles. She emails each guest all the pictures from the day so all you have to do is enjoy her fabulous cooking, and a beautiful island.

Antigua, I did a ships tour that was a full day of beaches, snorkeling, and sightseeing.

St. Lucia, a private tour with Spencer Ambrose (Land, Sea, and Beach adventure). Wonderful snorkeling in between the Pitons and we went to the drive in volcano. Saw as much of the island as possible in one day, it turned our to be one of my favorite islands.

St. Maarten, lots of choices, great shopping near the port. Bernard's Tours gives you a taste of both the French and Dutch side. Sarafina bakery in Marigot is wonderful.

I spent two extra days in San Juan before the cruise and just explored and ate my way through Old San Juan.

Definitely Itinerary Two: St. Maarten / St. Kitts / Antigua / St. Lucia / Barbados. St. Kitts is my least favorite but the other islands make up for it. I went zip-lining (my 1st time) and then a rum tour in case I needed to recover from the 1st tour. Many people go to Nevis for a nice beach day.

Barbados, I went with Sail Calabaza, it was one of the best excursions I have ever been on. Gina takes a max of 12 people and pampers you the whole day. It was a group from our roll call and the day was perfect, the highlight was swimming with sea turtles. She emails each guest all the pictures from the day so all you have to do is enjoy her fabulous cooking, and a beautiful island.

Antigua, I did a ships tour that was a full day of beaches, snorkeling, and sightseeing.

St. Lucia, a private tour with Spencer Ambrose (Land, Sea, and Beach adventure). Wonderful snorkeling in between the Pitons and we went to the drive in volcano. Saw as much of the island as possible in one day, it turned our to be one of my favorite islands.

St. Maarten, lots of choices, great shopping near the port. Bernard's Tours gives you a taste of both the French and Dutch side. Sarafina bakery in Marigot is wonderful.

I spent two extra days in San Juan before the cruise and just explored and ate my way through Old San Juan.

Sounds like fun! Thanks for your suggestions!