Which island(s) would you do land or sea excursions?

We're going on our first 7 day cruise, with RC, in February. Our stops are St. Thomas, St. Kitts, St. Maarten, Martinique & Barbados. I'm curious to hear from veteran cruisers as to which of these island would be better for which activities. Leave St. Kitts off the list. We stayed there for a week last year and did pretty much everything on the island, so we're going to take the catamaran to Nevis and hopefully stop at Sunshine's for some killer bees.

I've been looking through the excursions that RC offers and also doing some research about the islands. It would seem that not booking through RC could be beneficial to us. We are divers and are considering diving in one location. So far, I'm leaning toward St. Thomas for the diving. Which island would be best to take an island tour? How about ziplining? I have to assume that any or all stops would have good snorkeling.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Everyone has different likes and opinions, so you may not agree with mine. That said, here goes:

ST. THOMAS: I always prefer to disembark as quickly as possible, taxi to Red Hook and take the ferry to St. John. St. Thomas, while a favorite of many cruisers, is a little more developed and touristy than is my preference. St. John is 75% protected parkland. Don't be afraid to venture away from the popular Trunk Bay. You can find interesting ruins, amazing views and easy trails leading to beaches where you find few (if any) other people. LOVE IT!

BARBADOS: I would definitely go WATER excursion here. (Although there is a reasonably priced zip line excursion, I believe. I've not done done it, but others can report.) Again, Barbados is a modern and developed port of call. I have found the beaches to be crawling with vendors, trying to get me to BUY stuff. I would do a catamaran excursion. Or...you might consider visiting Harrison Caves. Pretty interesting and the excursion ends with a nice tour of the island.

ST. MAARTEN: Toss up. I've done both water and land excursions here. There are positives to either option.

MARTINIQUE: Have not visited yet, so will leave to others to comment.

Enjoy!!!

Do an island tour of St Maarten. That way you get to visit two different countries on one island. Be sure and spend time at the beach in front of the airport and watch the planes come in. You will be amazed, trust me. There is a great outdoor bar there. My avatar shows a pic I took there last year.

We're going on our first 7 day cruise, with RC, in February. Our stops are St. Thomas, St. Kitts, St. Maarten, Martinique & Barbados. I'm curious to hear from veteran cruisers as to which of these island would be better for which activities. Leave St. Kitts off the list. We stayed there for a week last year and did pretty much everything on the island, so we're going to take the catamaran to Nevis and hopefully stop at Sunshine's for some killer bees.

 

I've been looking through the excursions that RC offers and also doing some research about the islands. It would seem that not booking through RC could be beneficial to us. We are divers and are considering diving in one location. So far, I'm leaning toward St. Thomas for the diving. Which island would be best to take an island tour? How about ziplining? I have to assume that any or all stops would have good snorkeling.

 

Any advice would be appreciated.

Barbados: Swim with the sea turtles!!! I've done it twice and it is awesome...

St. Martin: Island Tour with Bernard's... I'm not a fan of island tours but I really enjoyed this one. We substituted the beach time for a stop at the Butterfly Farm which was fun.

Barbados: Swim with the Turtles - book with El Tigre. Best excursion we have ever done. Catamarans, snorkeling, lunch on board and a wonderful crew that just wanted to make us happy. They were not stingy with their pours at the "bar".

I was thinking about the island tour on St. Maarten and I was looking at the turtle swim in Barbados. Your suggestions back up what I was thinking.

I didn't know a trip to St. John was possible from St. Thomas. I'll have to look into it.

Thanks for your suggestions.

I was thinking about the island tour on St. Maarten and I was looking at the turtle swim in Barbados. Your suggestions back up what I was thinking.

 

I didn't know a trip to St. John was possible from St. Thomas. I'll have to look into it.

 

Thanks for your suggestions.

I usually do DIY excursions, but we took the St John excursion from RCL. It was very convenient and left via ferry boat beside the ship. The cost as about the same as if we had done it ourselves. . . and it was a lot less trouble.

We took a tour on Martinique, to St. Pierre and Balata Gardens. It was very good. It's important to have a good guide on Martinique, unless one speaks French.

I second cruiseapril on taking a tour in Martinique. They really don't seem to be too cruise friendly to English speakers. We pretty much found that we had to take a ship tour, too, because there really wasn't much offered locally. We've been there twice and found the whole story of St. Pierre to be very interesting.

I definitely would not book a ship's tour in any of those ports (except maybe St Thomas if you plan to go to St John and wish to use their transportation instead of doing it on your own).

There are plenty of reliable private tour guides that will give you a better experience for less money. You can find information on them in the Ports of Call Forum for each of those ports, and reviews on TripAdvisor.

If you've never done St. Maarten, consider Bernard's Tour. You get a comprehensive tour of both sides of the island, time at Orient Beach and time at Maho Beach to see the planes, and time in the French capital of Marigot. At the end, you can elect to be dropped off in the Dutch Capital Philipsburg for more beach/shopping (you can walk back to the ship, or take the water taxi) instead of being taken back to the ship.

Also look at Resort For A Day website- used this in St.Maarten and Barbados- wonderful!!!!

We'll be doing a B2B in January on Jewel and have done 17 Southern cruises from San Juan. Here's some things we've done over the years and would recommend:

St Thomas - shopping paradise, for a relaxing day book a daysail, we like High Pockets, or head over to St John and the better beaches. This is you're best island for diving and snorkeling.

Martinique – We did a taxi tour of the island, found an English speaking taxi driver right at the port. The cost was around $40pp.We went to a Rum factory, stopped at the church everyone goes to, traveled through the rainforest and saw Mt Pele.

St Martin - shoppers paradise Front Street in Phillipsburg

Orient Beach to people watch.

Maho Beach to watch the planes come in.

Bernard's Tour comes highly recommended

St Kitts - highly recommend a tour by Thenford Grey hits all the highlights

www dot thenfordgrey dot com

If you're looking for something different try Javin's Tour

myislandstours.shutterfly.com He takes you to Black Rock, hiking in the rainforest, snorkeling at a wreck, and the beach.

Barbados - most popular thing is swimming with the turtles, go with

Calabaza - http://www.calabazasailingcruises.com or

Silvermoon - silvermoonbarbados.com

If you like chocolate there's a small factory that gives tours

http://www.agapey.com

For history Glory Tours has some interesting tours.

And don't forget to give yourself some time to explore San Juan. Come in a day early, see Old San Juan, the forts or El Yunque.

I never recommend ship excursions, we do all independent tours and have never had a problem. I would rather help the local economy than RCI's bottom line.

Definitely Bernards Tours in St. Maarten. We had a great time and you can choose a shopping or beach tour. http://www.bernardstours.com/

So many recommendations for Bernard's. It must be a good tour. I'll definitely check them out.

Thanks for all the input. You've all given me a lot of information. This should make it a little easier on choosing our excursions.

I would definitely recommend Beulah's Tours in St. Kitts.

Another recommendation for snorkeling with the sea turtles in Barbados. It remains in my family's top 5 excursions in 30 cruises.

Definitely do NOT go with the ship tour here though. We went with Silvermoon and paid a bit extra for the one that only allows up to 12 passengers (on a HUGE catamaran).

The staff was wonderful, and there was soooo much room to spread out (in the shade AND the sun). We sailed by, what much have been, one of the ship excursions. There were about 100 people on a catamaran smaller than ours, standing shoulder to shoulder. It looked like you end up wherever you end up (be that in the shade or sun) and you're pretty much stuck there...literally touching shoulders with the person next to you *yuck*

Another recommendation for Bernard's! Loved Tour II. We also did the Champagne Cat St. John Half Day Snorkel & Sail at Honeymoon Beach and loved it :) It's for snorkeling though, not diving.

One thing I would do, is check and see how many boats will be in some of the ports at the same time as you. Use http://www.cruisecal.com and take a look. St. Maarten can get pretty busy. When we went, there were 5 other ships in port with us. Rather than deal with traffic, we opted for a boat tour of the island thru Capt Bob. (Trip Advisor is your friend) and had a fantastic time! One of the best excursions we've ever done. There's a nice thread on thru St. Maarten forum with more info.

Another thumbs up for Sail Calabaza on Barbados. We had a super day with them.... plenty to eat and drink and a fabulous experience with the turtles....

jeditden, good suggestion about checking to see how many ships will be in port when we're there. I'll check the website.

So far it looks like we're going with Calabaza to swim with the turtles in Barbados. The catamaran to Nevis, from St. Kitts. And a tour with Bernard's in St. Maarten. Martinique and St. Thomas are still up in the air. 2 from our group will probably be doing the dolphin swim. My husband and I may go diving in St. Thomas. I'm still not sure. I've done the dolphin swim in the Bahamas, so I don't feel the need to do it again. And if we dive, we should still have a few hours to see some of St. Thomas.

Take the ferry from Red Hook in St Thomas and dive in St John...amazing!! We always do that :D

jeditden, good suggestion about checking to see how many ships will be in port when we're there. I'll check the website.

 

So far it looks like we're going with Calabaza to swim with the turtles in Barbados. The catamaran to Nevis, from St. Kitts. And a tour with Bernard's in St. Maarten. Martinique and St. Thomas are still up in the air. 2 from our group will probably be doing the dolphin swim. My husband and I may go diving in St. Thomas. I'm still not sure. I've done the dolphin swim in the Bahamas, so I don't feel the need to do it again. And if we dive, we should still have a few hours to see some of St. Thomas.

Have you already contacted Gina at Calabaza and made your reservation? If not, I suggest that you do it soon as they sell out far in advance. Our party of 12 thoroughly enjoyed our day with Gina.

I definitely would not book a ship's tour in any of those ports (except maybe St Thomas if you plan to go to St John and wish to use their transportation instead of doing it on your own).

 

There are plenty of reliable private tour guides that will give you a better experience for less money. You can find information on them in the Ports of Call Forum for each of those ports, and reviews on TripAdvisor.

 

If you've never done St. Maarten, consider Bernard's Tour. You get a comprehensive tour of both sides of the island, time at Orient Beach and time at Maho Beach to see the planes, and time in the French capital of Marigot. At the end, you can elect to be dropped off in the Dutch Capital Philipsburg for more beach/shopping (you can walk back to the ship, or take the water taxi) instead of being taken back to the ship.

Donna, Is Bernard's tour a private tour guide?? And could we find his information in the forums section??

We are sailing the Jewel of the Seas in November and St. Maarten as well as Barbados and St. Kitts/Nevis, Dominica, Tortola. We have read up a lot and also heard that booking private tours off the ship are always more economical so I'm trying to scope out things to do in each port.

Karen&Roy, thanks for the diving tip.

Marys350, yes, my brother has been in contact with them. I think he’s already reserved our spot.

tpadul, Bernard’s is a private tour. http://www.bernardstours.com/

We did get our Calabaza trip booked. The Bernard's trip can be private or not. We chose the private for our excursion.