Southern Caribbean - Carnival. Tips?

My wife and I, along with 2 friends, are sailing on Carnival Fascination in May. We will sail out of Puerto Rico and hit St Thomas, St Maarten, St Lucia, St Kitts, and Barbados.

Anyone been on this ship or to those stops before?

Any advice or tips would be great. Which excursions are a must? Which islands are good to forgo an excursion? What sites, outside of the Carnival site are good to check out? Anything worthwhile in PR to check out on our own(well have time to kill, if we choose.)

We're all 35-40. My wife and I typically like hikes with a rainforest/waterfall nearby. Anything that fits that?

3/4 of us like to enjoy some drinks as well. Any tips on that front?

Thanks for anything you can help with?

Went on that same itinerary a year and a half ago on the Valor. Had an awesome time! Here is a link to the review I did on that cruise. Feel free to ask me any questions.

The boatyard in Barbados is a beautiful beach. Also there are locals that walk around and offered to take people to snorkel with the turtles. Five of us went and we paid $20 each, we got out there before the excursions from the ship and the excursion from carnival was like $90. Look up COSUL tours for St. Lucia. Was an amazing day and they run a very good tour! Check out my review and see what you think.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2050756

Went on that same itinerary a year and a half ago on the Valor. Had an awesome time! Here is a link to the review I did on that cruise. Feel free to ask me any questions.

 

The boatyard in Barbados is a beautiful beach. Also there are locals that walk around and offered to take people to snorkel with the turtles. Five of us went and we paid $20 each, we got out there before the excursions from the ship and the excursion from carnival was like $90. Look up COSUL tours for St. Lucia. Was an amazing day and they run a very good tour! Check out my review and see what you think.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2050756

That is awesome man, thanks. I haven't even finished reading through everything but it's a great read. Very informative. I'm at the Cosol Tours part in St Lucia and that sounds awesome. Definitely something were going to do. Thank you!

We did this trip on the Liberty last year and the best most rewarding excursion I did was climb the Piton. Spencer will give you a boat tour and stop at the famous beach if time permits, which he did for us. He even went out of his way to come back and pick up my wife and do a partial refund of the excursion and bring her to the famous beach, when she could not finish the climb. I have no problem recommending him. Do a search for more info.

Spencer Ambrose

Climb the Gros Piton

The Gros Piton, recognized as a World Heritage Site, is one of St. Lucia's most distinguished landmarks. This 2619 foot volcanic plug is known for its majestic beauty and is accessible by foot which allows its hikers to take on a strenuous but exhilarating one of a kind climbing adventure!

We did this on the Victory a few years ago.

In San Juan, wander around Old San Juan...lots of history and plaza and architecture, etc. And there are the two forts. I would say that in Old San Juan alone, you need to give yourself two days minimum to see everything...there is so much to do there, from the big must see items (the forts, the city gate, some of the plazas, the governor's mansion, casa blanca (the home of Ponce de Leon's family), the art galleries and museums, etc. Then, if you can, stay an extra day after the cruise (or even another day before the cruise, to go to the rainforest and hiking there.

In Barbados, we went to Crane beach (hired a private excursion to do that), which is a famous beach, having been featured on Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous as well as being in the movie "Superman." You have to pay a resort fee if you go in the main entrance, but there is a public entrance where you walk over a stone path to get to it for free.

St. Lucia, you will probably want to go and do something around the peaks...forget what they're called, but undoubtedly there are some active excursions for this area as well.

St. Martin is your beach day. There's Orient Beach as well as Maho Beach (that's the one that the airplanes land almost literally right on top of you).

Cosol's tour in St. Lucia ... I can't even emphasize them enough. 😆

As amazing as that itinerary was, it was by far the highlight of our trip!

Be sure to use insect repellant with Deet to keep you from the Zika virus. If you NOT pregnant it will make you feel like you have the flu for about a week. If your pregnant talk to your Dr. before traveling to the Caribbean.

Cosol in St. Lucia was excellent! We went a banana plantation, made a stop were we got to sample local fruits and breads, and went to the Pitons (take water shoes as the beach was very rocky).

St. Maarteen look into Benards Tours, we have done his almost every time we have been there and loved it. They normally take you to both the Dutch and French sides, Maho (plans it when a big plane is due in) and Orient Beaches with time at both. Caution at Orient if anyone is offended by nudity, the nude beach (Club O as we call it) butts up to the beach he takes you to. He allows some shopping time too at the end.

St. Thomas we go to Magens Bay, if you go there be sure to have a Bushwacker!

Cosol in St. Lucia was excellent! We went a banana plantation, made a stop were we got to sample local fruits and breads, and went to the Pitons (take water shoes as the beach was very rocky)

Don't forget the mud baths in volcanic ash and the waterfall ... hopefully they still do that. :)

That is awesome man, thanks. I haven't even finished reading through everything but it's a great read. Very informative. I'm at the Cosol Tours part in St Lucia and that sounds awesome. Definitely something were going to do. Thank you!

Thanks! For some reason my disembarkation posts didn't make it on. But I enjoyed writing it so hope you enjoy the rest!

To comment on what someone else said, they told me that the Spencer tours at St Lucia were great as wel. But I'm definitely partial to Cosol. And if you get Babtist as a driver, you're in for an awesome day.

You are going to love this itinerary! I'm ready to go back. As far as recommendations, here goes:

Puerto Rico: not sure how much time you will have in PR but if you have an extra day or two I recommend the bioluminescent bay kayaking tour in Fajardo. We used Eco Adventures PR for our guides. Also there is a little food truck right behind the stand where their group meets that had the best Empanadas I've ever eaten. The El Yunque rain forest is beautiful. Nice hikes and lots of waterfalls for refreshing dips along the way. There is a group of bars and restaurants near the rainforest in what is called the Kioskos. Great food and coconut mojitos. As far as San Juan itself, as others have said, stroll the city and visit the forts. It makes for a nice day.

St Thomas: easy to do on your own. Grab a shared taxi for $8 pp each way and go to Magens Bay. $4 to get in. Gorgeous water and nice beach. We encountered sea turtles and sting rays while snorkeling here. I also recommend the Bushwacker for a good drink from the bar here.

Barbados: take a taxi to the Boatyard. $5 pp. I believe it was $20 pp to get into the resort. Included chairs, umbrellas, a drink and the taxi back to the port. Look for Snorkeling Wid Neville on the beach. For $20 pp he will take you out on his boat to swim with the turtles and snorkel at the shipwrecks. He also brings along a killer rum punch slushie (I.e. More rum than punch).

St Lucia: I will cast a vote for Spencer Ambrose tours. This was one of the best tours we have ever done.

St Kitts: since you enjoy hiking I would recommend looking in to Poinciana Tours. I believe they do volcano and rain forest hikes. We used them for a custom tour but I think the hiking tours are their specialty.

St Maarten: we booked a taxi and kayak rental through Caribbean Paddling. The driver picked us up and drove us to Cul de Sac on the French side. We picked up our equipment then paddled on our own out to Pinel Island and spent the day. This was an awesome and really affordable excursion. I can't say enough about how beautiful Pinel Island and the surrounding water is. Back at the port grab a Guavaberrycolada before you get back on the ship. Delicious drink!

Have a great trip!

We've done the southern itinerary out of San Juan twice recently. First in May 2013 on Valor and most recently on Liberty this past September. I did reviews of both trips (in my signature). I have a feeling you will LOVE this itinerary, it's our favorite and we've done 2 westerns, an eastern, and a Mexican Riviera. Out of those, this is the most scenic and there is just so much to see and do and the reason we did it again two years later.

The only thing I can recommend is to do some kind of a tour (either through Carnival or a private tour) in St. Lucia since most of the hi-lights and sights of the island are right around Soufriere, like the Pitons. Both times, we booked through Spencer Ambrose. The first was the "Jalousie/Sugar Beach Break", which we loved and this time we booked with them again on the "Land, Sea, and Beach Adventure" to see more of the island and really enjoyed them both times and they have provided the best tours we've had while on cruises. We did a private tour in Barbados this time since we wanted to snorkel/swim with the turtles and also see the east Coast and we were also very happy with our tour there. We just "winged it" at the other islands since we splurged in St. Lucia and Barbados, and it's easy to do.

Have been on the Fascination- on another itinerary.

However, have been to 5 of the ports on your itinerary.

PR- We like walking around Old San Juan. Have been to El Yunque

rain forest- but that requires time and a good driver and guide.

St. T.- We also like Magen's Bay Beach. Beautiful sand.

St. M.- Have been to Orient but the surf was up and it was very crowded.

St. L. Need a good excursion and driver as the roads are narrow and winding.

Barbados- We enjoyed Carlisle Bay Beach near the Boatyard- although we went to Harbour Lights. Great beach.

If one does not have small children in his/her/its party, the best excursion in the entire wonderful world of cruising is the "America's Cup Challenge" in St. Maarten. They run a real match race between real 12 meter yachts, most of which actually competed for the America's Cup. One does not have to know how to sail and they can place everyone in a position that suits their experience/athletic ability/desire to participate.

We have done this three times. We won two and lost one. Try it, you'll like it.

Doc

Thanks! For some reason my disembarkation posts didn't make it on. But I enjoyed writing it so hope you enjoy the rest!

 

To comment on what someone else said, they told me that the Spencer tours at St Lucia were great as wel. But I'm definitely partial to Cosol. And if you get Babtist as a driver, you're in for an awesome day.

Thanks again for the link to your review. It's been very helpful.

Do you remember how long you spent at the waterfall and beach on the Cosol tour? This one seems like the thing to do, although I need to check some things out. First email with them says that they pick us up at 8:20, but our ship docks at 8. I don't know how it egpffects things if we're late, for whatever reason.

Thank you very much. The pics from St Maarten were a trip(the planes!). Can't wait for May now.

Oh, also one more question if you don't mind. If you had to pick one island to NOT take an excursion on, which would that be? As in, which is the best island that has things to do close to the boat that we could do. I know you took some cabs around, but I didn't know if there was one port with a lot to do close, that we could knock out on our own. Thanks again.

We did this trip on the Liberty last year and the best most rewarding excursion I did was climb the Piton. Spencer will give you a boat tour and stop at the famous beach if time permits, which he did for us. He even went out of his way to come back and pick up my wife and do a partial refund of the excursion and bring her to the famous beach, when she could not finish the climb. I have no problem recommending him. Do a search for more info.

 

 

 

Spencer Ambrose

 

Climb the Gros Piton

The Gros Piton, recognized as a World Heritage Site, is one of St. Lucia's most distinguished landmarks. This 2619 foot volcanic plug is known for its majestic beauty and is accessible by foot which allows its hikers to take on a strenuous but exhilarating one of a kind climbing adventure!

This one sounds and looks great(I looked it up). Unfortunately, my wife and friends aren't up for quite that kind of adventure. Despite my wife being small, she's in terrible shape! Lol. It's not like I'm in amazing shape but I keep active and can keep up a bit. Thanks for the suggestion though. It's nice to have options.