What do you like about Antigua?

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 Antigua? What sets it apart from the options above, and which Itinerary would you choose?

Thanks for your opinion! :D

Can't help you with Antigua, as the same questions brought me to this section as going there later this year for the first time.

From your selection I would be torn between 2 and 3, 3 appeals more but more ports on 2, and then 1 as St Thomas, although great is on a lot of itineraries that don't go as far into the West Indies/Southern Caribbean.

It really depends, have you been to any of them before? That is the biggie for me and I also like more port days than sea days. I love the beach too, but hard getting the other half there as we live in Central Florida so doesn't understand why we go to the beach on vacation when we have beautiful beaches at home (plus a pool, we rarely use):D

The beaches in Antigua are lovely (365 of them) but we aren't at all fond of the beaches in St. Lucia.

#3 would be our choice in a heartbeat! :)

Can't help you with Antigua, as the same questions brought me to this section as going there later this year for the first time.

 

From your selection I would be torn between 2 and 3, 3 appeals more but more ports on 2, and then 1 as St Thomas, although great is on a lot of itineraries that don't go as far into the West Indies/Southern Caribbean.

 

It really depends, have you been to any of them before? That is the biggie for me and I also like more port days than sea days. I love the beach too, but hard getting the other half there as we live in Central Florida so doesn't understand why we go to the beach on vacation when we have beautiful beaches at home (plus a pool, we rarely use):D

2 and 3 are the ones I am mainly torn between. We have never been to any of the ports listed above, which is why this decision is a difficult one! We are port people too! However, the difference between 2 and 3 is one extra sea day, which might be good and bad. We are planning on go on RCIs Adventure of the Seas, which goes for a 64 million dollar renovation this fall, so it may be nice to enjoy the ship... such a hard decision... I hope you enjoy Antigua! Who knows we may end up there, too!

The beaches in Antigua are lovely (365 of them) but we aren't at all fond of the beaches in St. Lucia.

#3 would be our choice in a heartbeat! :)

What do you like about #3? Is it relatively easy to find a beach for the day, with a nice bar, chairs, and umbrellas? Expensive? We are mainly beach people, shopping is a plus, too!

If I had the opportunity to visit Bonaire again, I would in a second. Curacao is also a beautiful island. That would be my pick without question.

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 Antigua? What sets it apart from the options above, and which Itinerary would you choose?

 

Thanks for your opinion! :D

We just did your "Itinerary Two" in June, our 12th cruise & by far my favorite ever!!! We loved everyone of these islands in the Southern Caribbean. Our favorite was St. Lucia & Antigua. St. Lucia was amazing with the Pitons & Antigua,Valley Church Beach had the most beautiful blue water I've ever seen. Timothy Hill Overlook in St. Kitts was breathtaking! We are planning to fly to Antigua & St. Lucia for more time to explore both these beautiful islands. Pics below are views from St. Kitts, Valley Church Beach Antigua, & Pitons in St. Lucia.

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 Antigua? What sets it apart from the options above, and which Itinerary would you choose?

 

Thanks for your opinion! :D

We are going on itinerary 2 in March. I can't wait!

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 Antigua? What sets it apart from the options above, and which Itinerary would you choose?

 

Thanks for your opinion! :D

We did #2 on Adventure of the Seas this past July. It gives a good combination of beach, historical sites, natural sites, and shopping. Try to spend a couple of days in Puerto Rico before the cruise. We spent one day in Old San Juan and another at El Yunque. If your flight home leaves late, the ship will have tours in PR available that will drop you off at the airport.

St. Maarten I'd say is the most "modern" of the ports. We got to see Maho Beach and drove around the island by rental car. It was probably the best island to rent a car on, but I probably wouldn't do it again. It's not like driving in the states and the extra stress for the driver isn't what you want on a vacation. i did it so my daughter could see Maho Beach when the 747 came in. Because we were there on Sunday, there wasn't much open. It was also raining for half our stay. I'd definitely like to go back though.

St. Kitts has the Brimstone Fortress and Romney Manor. Quite a few other excursions on that island, but don't buy an excursion that is run by Caribbean Journey Masters. The bus likely won't have AC. We did Dickenson Bay by taxi in Antigua. It was nice but I'd recommend going to a beach with better food services. In St. Lucia we did RCI's "sampler" tour and it was very nice and a great value. Barbados is pretty; reminded me of Hawaii. We did the Harrison's Cave tour which was well run. I'd like to visit the old Jewish synagogue and museum there next time.

#2 itinerary has one sea day at the end of the trip. After all the port stops it was a nice change of pace. I thought the ship was great and I'm sure that after the renovation it will be even better.

The people there are so awesome!