Shore Excursions

I am a first time Southern Caribbean cruiser and am wondering if anyone had suggestions on which excursion to take in each port. Most of the excursions do not have many reviews and then some of them are mixed. I am sailing on the Adventure of the Seas out od San Juan on March 8th 2015. Ports of call are Bridgetown Barbados, Castries St Lucia, St John's Antigua, Philipsburgh St Maarten, and St Croix. Any ideas would be appreciated!!!

I am a first time Southern Caribbean cruiser and am wondering if anyone had suggestions on which excursion to take in each port. Most of the excursions do not have many reviews and then some of them are mixed. I am sailing on the Adventure of the Seas out od San Juan on March 8th 2015. Ports of call are Bridgetown Barbados, Castries St Lucia, St John's Antigua, Philipsburgh St Maarten, and St Croix. Any ideas would be appreciated!!!

We did this cruise on Jewel of the Seas in May 2013.

In St. Lucia, please look into Cosol Tours. They are a highly rated private tour company, and an excellent value for the money.

We also recommend Bernard's Tours in St. Maarten, and Lawrence of Antigua.

You can google them, and check them out on Trip Advisor, and on the message boards for each port of call here on cruise critis.

I see you have been on many cruises do you not go on any excursions sponsored by the cruise line. I have been on a few cruises and have only done cruise sponsored excursions?

You should read up on your ports..get a guidebook, either at a library, or buy one. It's the best investment into your vacation you can make.

I see you have been on many cruises do you not go on any excursions sponsored by the cruise line. I have been on a few cruises and have only done cruise sponsored excursions?

We almost never take cruise line sponsored excursions. In the Caribbean, there are plenty of reputable private tour guides. Their livelihood depends upon keeping you safe and getting you back to the ship on time. WE minimize the risk by selecting excursions that are highly recommended here on CC, or on Trip Advisor. We take morning tours that return to the ship with two hours or so to spare, just in case.

We would only take cruise sponsored excursions if it were something exclusive which could not be booked independently, or if it were an all-day tour that returned to the ship too close to all-aboard time.

The three tours I mentioned are excellent. They combine an overview of the island with beach time, so you get a full experience. Cosol tours includes beverages and snacks.

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

http://www.lawrenceofantigua.com/index.php

http://www.bernardstours.com/tours.html

Thanks so much I will check them out

I am a first time Southern Caribbean cruiser and am wondering if anyone had suggestions on which excursion to take in each port. Most of the excursions do not have many reviews and then some of them are mixed. I am sailing on the Adventure of the Seas out od San Juan on March 8th 2015. Ports of call are Bridgetown Barbados, Castries St Lucia, St John's Antigua, Philipsburgh St Maarten, and St Croix. Any ideas would be appreciated!!!

We sailed on Explorer repo in November and selected these excursions through the cruise line.

Antigua--- Scenic Antigua and Beach, enjoyed, no complaints.

St. Lucia---Cruise to St. Lucia Pitons, loved this excursion and if were ever go back to St. Lucia, would do this same excursion again.

Barbados-Barbados Beach Break, enjoyed, not many people on the beach they took us to and I would book this again.

St. Croix--did not do much, just walked around in town and wished we took an excursion.

Booked on our own.

St. Martin---Bernards Tours (Tour 2), we have used them before, very pleased with their tours and booked them again for next week.

You'll enjoy the Southern Caribbean, it's one of our favorites.

In Barbados, we took a ship's island tour one time and on the second visit went to the beach on Carlisle Bay. Both good days.

In St. Maarten, we went to Orient Beach, but it was kind of crowded and the surf was high- so next time we will go to Marigot and find a smaller, calmer beach nearby.

I also recommend Bernard's Tour in St Martin

Marianne

I see you have been on many cruises do you not go on any excursions sponsored by the cruise line. I have been on a few cruises and have only done cruise sponsored excursions?

We booked ship's excursions on our first cruise. +1 for DonnaK's answers. We rarely book thru the ship now and then if they are the only choice for the activity we want to do.

I strongly suggest you join the roll call for your cruise. Fellow cruisers often look for additional members to book independent tours with them to reduce overall cost.

We have used Cool on St. Lucia and Lawrence on Antigua & would recommend both. Many of the islands have great small boat sailing charters. Silver Moon, at Barbados, is an outstanding operation.

Additional recommendations would be based on knowing what you like to do. Additionally, the individual ports boards are packed with tour/activity discussions.

Enjoy!!

We haven't booked a ship excursion in years, and won't unless nothing else works; reason is cost and quality of the tours.

We used Cosol on our first trip to St. Lucia and Spencer Ambrose in December. Both were great. On St. Maarten, the first time we picked up a tour on the dock; was ok, an island tour. This time we used Javen; excellent, very active.

In December we used South Horizons for an island tour and kayak/snorkeling. We were the only ones on the tour; very good. On Barbados we walked to the beach and picked up a snorkel tour there. We rented chairs at Lobster's Alive, which is right beside The Boatyard.

We've never been to St. Croix. On some islands we do pick up tours on the dock; other times we do things on our own--walk around town, to a beach, catch a taxi, etc. I always check out the ports of call boards here, also our roll call and Trip Advisor. So far we've had great luck.

I did this cruise on AOS a few years back and thoroughly enjoyed it.

San Juan - no one's mentioned your starting point. I hope you have time to explore this wonderful city. It's one of my favorite places to go. If you can: Go to Old San Juan. For history there's two forts (choose El Morro first, it gives more of an introduction of the military history), Casa Blance - where Ponce de Leon (?) lived, a huge old church were Ponce is buried, little chapels, cobble stone streets, the walk along the promenade. Shopping, food, charm...it really is lovely. Oh, and if you're there on a weekend there will be many families flying cool kites on the lawn in front of El Morro. And eat a piraguis (shave ice.) Refreshing to cool down with :cool:

Barbados - We did a swim with the turtles and snorkel ship wrecks tour with AOS. They took us to a beach. Very enjoyable.

My second time in Barbados we went with Princess on an inland tour. Went to Orchid World (beautiful), a little fort (don't remember it) and to a 300 year old plantation. The best part was the food and drink demos. The plantation guide made us jerk chicken and crab cakes. We samples rum and she made us rum punch and my very first experience with "Corn and Oils". Beyond enjoyable sitting under an old tree in the shade eating crab cakes and drinking rum. I'm now so hooked on corn and oils that I make my own Falernum (which is 1/2 of the drink.)

St. Maarten - we took a taxi to Marigot. We had late breakfast, strolled about town and shopped. We then took another taxi to Orient Beach. It was very easy and nice.

Antigua - First time we did a history tour visiting the wharf and the fort. We like history so it was good.

Second time we booked private and did a kayak, snorkel and hiking tour. The tour operator was fantastic.

St. Lucia - It is a beautiful island, but my extreme motion sickness gets the best of me on their hairpin roads. We booked privately. Visited overlooks, botanical gardens and waterfalls. Oh, and stopped at Grandma's house to try her fresh baked bread! Don't usually get that personal touch with the ship tours. The only negative was the way back. At Soufrrie (?) we got on a boat to get back and to also snorkel. People already on that boat had been partying since 8 am. It rained. I wanted to get off :(. But we loved our tour up til then.

Second time in St. Lucia we stayed on the boat and got off to shop in port.

St. Croix - I haven't been there.

Enjoy your trip!

I am a first time cruiser on DCL. Our maiden voyage was on Carnival and we booked excursions through the cruise line. Many $$$$. Would like to save a few $$$ so I am looking into just grabbing a taxi to one of the beaches. Any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated!!

I am a first time cruiser on DCL. Our maiden voyage was on Carnival and we booked excursions through the cruise line. Many $$$$. Would like to save a few $$$ so I am looking into just grabbing a taxi to one of the beaches. Any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated!!

It's hard to be specific without knowing the ports. Visit the Ports of Call boards here for each island for suggestions. On most islands, it's easy to find a taxi that will take you to a beach; some places you can take other public transportation or walk to beaches also. Sometimes the ship has an option that is basically just transportation to and from a beach that is not too expensive.

Very important to have a good tour driver in St. Lucia due to those hairpin turns mentioned above.