Advise for first and possibly only time in Caribbean?

Just booked a no fly Caribbean cruise from UK for Oct 2015. Visiting Antigua, St. Marten, Tortola, St Lucia And Barbados. I have limited mobility don't need a wheelchair but can't walk far and want to make the most of our very limited time at each Island, as we may never be able to go back. With that in mind we would like to experience the Caribbean White beaches etc. but also see something of the islands and get a taster of Caribbean life, markets etc ( even if it's the touristy view), not particularly bothered about 'high end ' shopping. Are there tours which would do both things....we are not very confident doing it ourselves on bus, we prefer to have someone guiding us, but not interested in spending our precious time there being taken to tastings, workshops etc. Got plenty of time to research so what do you think is our best course of action? PS just me and husband, but sociable will be joining roll calls etc so don't object to group bookings or pairing up with others like minded. :rolleyes:

I am not a beach person, but I know that people love the beaches on Antigua and St. Marten.

On Antigua, there is a tourist market right at the cruise port with the town right behind. Booths with trinkets, bags, t-shirts mainly, but also some stores. Downtown is walkable, very uneven sidewalks. You should definitely see Nelson's Dockyard from the hills above. One of the best views in the Caribbean. Take a tour or a taxi.

St. Marten, both the French and the Dutch side have a small town close by. Dutch Philipsburg is cute. It has a beach side promenade and a shopping street parallel to it behind. Take the small ferry that puts you right in the middle. I forgot the price but it was not very expensive.

St. Lucia has a large market near the cruise port. It has a local section with food, brooms and baskets and a tourist section with pareos and similar stuff. It is located between the cruise port and the town. There is also an area with stores right at the pier. When you walk out, you will be pestered by cab drivers who want to give you a tour. Ask how much it is to take you to the market. Alternative: Take a tour.

Barbados is the most British of the islands. Shopping in a big hall right at the pier. Nice downtown with regular shops for the Bajans. You can walk there, but you may want to take one of the cabs. When we were there, they had a dispatcher who organized guests and drivers. Another time, we took a tour with a rum tasting and consequently we were all in a good mood. Bajan rums are excellent. The Atlantic coast on our tour was definitely worth the visit.

Don't display your money and jewelry anywhere. Barbados was shocked by the attack on a British couple. The island had been considered very safe up to then. We never had any problems on any of the islands, mostly very friendly people.

Have fun!

Some brief suggestions –

Antigua –

We took a PRIVATE tour with Lawrence of Antigua. Very nice gentleman and the private version allows you to see the highlights and also personalize the tour to your requests.

We’ve also enjoyed the See Antigua by Sea excursion offered through the cruise line, gorgeous 2-tier catamaran that circumnavigates the island with a snorkel stop and a sail along the beautiful coast and into the harbors. But the island tour with Lawrence is highly recommended as Antigua is beautiful, and the views from Shirley Heights and naval history of Nelson’s Dockyard and other areas well worth the tour. WE stopped for a lunch and beach time at Pigeon Beach I believe but Lawrence can recommend a spot that works for you. He and others offer group tours, we would definitely go private if he’s available. He also has other guides but we would request Lawrence.

St Maarten –

Beautiful beaches along the west coast, many people also go to Orient and Maho beaches but they’re very busy not nearly as nice. We have a favorite catamaran sail here as well, the Golden Eagle. Doesn’t matter if you snorkel or not, it’s a beautiful day on the water and on Tintamarre if that’s still a stop.

There are also guides that you can take here and head for Marigot and perhaps Grand Case to try the excellent cuisine. Nice island for a tour but can be extremely crowded due to the number of ships that dock here. But the French side is beautiful and less busy, we stayed there for a week and loved the island.

Tortola –

Our favorite destination to visit on land vacations, I would highly recommend seeing the island, whether just an island tour or something more. Island tours are offer by drivers at the dock for very reasonable group rates. You can also just hop an $8pp taxi (each way, open-sided safari type) to Cane Garden Bay (busiest beach with several beach bars) or Brewers Bay with just one beach bar) and spend the day there. Smuggler’s is even nicer but not many amenities there.

Other options include a ferry to Virgin Gorda and the Baths, a unique topographical setting of boulders strewn along the beach, you can YouTube this for videos. But there is a natural path down to the beach and maneuvering the boulders may also be difficult for you. There is a catamaran that also goes to the Baths (Patouche) but you still have to taxi to the Top of the Baths and make your way down to the beach. However Spring Bay has a similar topography and is a more leven walk from the road.

Jost Van Dyke is often an excursion offered by the ship and is also accessible via ferry if you’re in port long enough. Basically a very nice beach at White Bay and beach bars like Soggy $ Bar to relax at.

But an island tour with a beach stop would be our recommendation, whether through the ship or on your own with a taxi driver at the dock. Gorgeous island with many photo ops from the mountain tops. Also an old rum distillery in CGB that you may want to see.

St Lucia –

There’s a land tour followed by a catamaran back to port that’s offered and is a nice day. We went to Pigeon Island (now connected to ST Lucia) and enjoyed the White Sand drink and lunch at the little restaurant on the water there. Castries has a straw market, and to the south are the quieter towns and jungle and of course the Pitons.

Barbados –

We enjoyed a day at Brandon’s Beach at the Malibu Beach Club where the old Malibu distillery is. Short bus ride if going through the ship or you can go by taxi and enjoy the beach. The ship excursion just includes a free rum drink and a tour of the distillery. Gorgeous beach and water colors.

We also took a land tour one visit, interesting with the sugar mill history but not as scenic or pretty as Tortola and Antigua which are more jungly and mountainous.

Great itinerary, anything look interesting?

Thanks for the replies so far....some good ideas there to look into..keep 'em coming :)

I will say that Philipsburg, SXM is a very busy shopping city, very much like Charlotte Amalie on St Thomas with many jewelry and trinket stores and of course the duty free stores. It's a nice place to stroll, but not when several ships are in port. So that raises a good point, you will want to check on how many ships are in port with you, especially at SXM as there could be 7 or 8 ships that day!

cruisett dot com is a very accurate source, you can search by port or by your ship. That will tell you what time the other ships arrive and depart, and how many other cruisers you're sharing the island with. That can help you make better decisions when you have 20,000 + others in port with you.

As Floridiana said you can walk to the small shopping area at St John's, Antigua, there isn't a lot to see there however. You will see the Excellence catamaran docked on the right as you walk to the port, that's the cat I mentioned earlier. We thought it was a private cat and walked by it twice!

And many of the islands still have the British customs and history, I would say Tortola and Antigua are very British, and Barbados is too. The west coast of Barbados is gorgeous, we taxied to a beach restaurant once and enjoyed Banks beers and flying fish sandwiches while watching the twinkling lights of the ship off in the distance. The naval history of Antigua is amazing, and Lawrence's tour incorporates much of that with English zharbor and a tour of Nelson's Dockyard. The people of Tortola are very nice.

All of these islands are very safe from a cruiser perspective, just use common sense. There is some crime just as in your home area, but nothing to be concerned about during your time there.