seashinesunshine

Thank you all so much. This sounds like our best option! Are taxis readily available to come back?

Yes, very easy to catch a cab back. There are always a few waiting

Can someone tell me a little more about the area between/around Coki and Coral World. We are a large group with people from aged 11 to 60 and are looking for an area where everyone can spread out and find things that interest them, but still be close by each other with water and land based activities. So far, it looks like this area is the best option. Does anyone have any thoughts on doing this? Taxi fare, and availability. Convenience of bathrooms, food, etc. This is a first visit for this island for all of us and we were looking forward to snorkeling!

 

Thanks so much for your help!

Oh and I believe we paid 8$ pp to ride in an open air bus thing each way. That was almost 4 years ago, but I doubt it has gone up, for sure not much more.

Can someone tell me a little more about the area between/around Coki and Coral World. We are a large group with people from aged 11 to 60 and are looking for an area where everyone can spread out and find things that interest them, but still be close by each other with water and land based activities. So far, it looks like this area is the best option. Does anyone have any thoughts on doing this? Taxi fare, and availability. Convenience of bathrooms, food, etc. This is a first visit for this island for all of us and we were looking forward to snorkeling!

 

Thanks so much for your help!

We did this with a group of 8 ages 13 to early 60's. Everyone had a blast. The oldest and youngest snubaed at Coral World and some of the others toured it, 3 of us went cheap and just stayed on Coki. Even if you don't go to Coral World you can use the bathrooms if you pay a dollar.

The snorkeling is amazing there, very easy from the beach, and even my mom, who DOESN"T get her hair wet was even able to look at and enjoy the fish in the shallower sandy water. Then she tripped over her own feet and her hair got wet. :D (It's not a fashion thing, she just hates water) We were there last in 2011 when the bathrooms were under construction, and I have heard they are great new facilities. We are very much looking forward to going back in Jan. It will be just the 2 of us, but when I asked my hunny what he wanted to do there, and if we should check things out, he said, no we can go back to Coki.

Help planning our St Maarten day ...

 

We're want to spend most of the day lounging on the beach or pool side somewhere and then also some time at Maho to see the planes. We're traveling with 2 15 year old boys.

My husband needs an actual bathroom, not a porta potty/outhouse. Any recommendations? Does Orient Beach have restrooms?

or, we would love an All Inclusive resort, but not finding much.

There are actual bathrooms at the bar on Maho. I think there are enough bars etc on Orient that you could find a real bathroom.

Do any of the beaches have a fresh water shower to rinse the salt water off before changing?

I'm pretty sure there was a shower at the bar on Maho, back in the bathrooms. Not 100% sure though.

I haven't seen this mentioned on this PR board yet, so just wanted to remind everyone to apply bug spray containing DEET while in the Caribbean. including PR!

 

CDC warning about Chikungunya in PR and other Caribbean countries: http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices/watch/chikungunya-caribbean

 

A PR info. site saying that PR officials also warn about Dengue Fever: http://www.puertoricodaytrips.com/dengue-puerto-rico/

 

The CDC site has good tips on how to protect yourself from mosquito bites. Be cautious, but don't let it stop you from having fun!

HI

I think we were on the Victory with you in 2011.

Good advice, we haven't seen many skeetos in the Caribbean, but it depends on when and where you go. They are nasty little guys who spread a lot of stuff.

When we go to some ports we like to find a cabby to take us on our own private tour for a few hours. Does anyone know if they hang around the port and talk prices. Also do you think it is a safe enough port to do this?:confused:

Yes, you will find taxis there, I see no reason to worry about safety. We usually take a cab to a nearby beach, but haven't done an island tour.

What a great thread. I thought I would never get thru it all, but I managed in one sitting. Of all the great pictures on here, my favorite is the couple on the bobsled! That will be me and my hunny in 30 (or so) years.

I had to have something to do today, I'm sitting at a horse show in Valley City ND manning the computer for my husbands photography. I'm getting "lots" of work done. :) I wish there was a way to post pictures bigger than a thumbnail without hosting them on another site. I don't like to put my pictures where just anyone can download them, but I would like to share a few. Just over 100 days til I board the Glory for a b2b! Can't wait!

After Coral World, you can go to Coki for some great snorkeling!

For us the forts and walking tours are not our thing, we want the beach! Carnival offers a beach break for $49, I hate paying Carnival that much money but I am a bit nervous doing it on our own as this is our first time there. Any private tour company that anyone knows about?

We have stayed in Condado pre and post cruise several times and it is very easy to take the bus to the beach in Condado. It will stop a block or two from the beach, but that's an easy walk. Condado is not much of a nice relaxing beach, I would describe it more as a beach to body surf in. Here is a link to a quick video I shot of Condado so you can see if it is what you are looking for. I hear a lot of very nice things about Isla Verde, not sure how the bus routes are there, but they must have them. Just keep in mind that your beach experience in San Juan will be city beach, not rural beach. Not as quiet.

Given your time frame I would recommend spending the day in the Old City vs finding a beach. There is a lot to see and do there. The traffic is awful, but since the entire area is walkable, traffic won't be a concideration. You can walk to the forts and explore them, give yourself an hour at each one. Then do some shopping. Lots of great stores. I also recommend getting some of the shaved ice cream stuff they sell on the street corners. We very seldom eat in the ports, but that is SO yummy!

If you do want the beach experience, keep in mind Condado seems to be rougher surf. At least that is my experience, we generally cruise in Jan and Feb, so maybe it's better other times of the year. I haven't been to Isla Verde, but do hear good things about it.

I am looking to book this thru Carnival and am a little confused about the snorkeling. Do we have to go out in groups to snorkel? If we are on the island, can't we just go in the water as we wish? Or am I missing something? If I understand it right, we take the boat to the island, then we go off in groups for beginner or advanced snorkeling? So when we are done with our group, what do we do?

Has anyone ever hired a cab for the day and just toured the island on their own? My daughter has a short list of things she'd like to see & would rather do this on our own then with a group. Anyone do this? Would you not recommend this? Why?

 

Thanks -

 

M.

 

 

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We have done this a few times on St Kitts. It is very easy to do, just have a list of what you want to do. When you get off the ship the taxis there are very organized and when you tell them what you want to do, they will find a taxi that will take you to do it. What we have done is decided where we want to go, found a taxi, then asked him to get a few more people who want to do the same and that makes the fare a bit cheaper. When the driver finds out my husband is a photographer he makes stops at things he sees for pictures, both times they did this, it was a nice bonus to the taxi tour.

SeashineSunshine,

 

I see you are from N Dakota. I just wanted you to be aware that the horses in the Caribbean and not nearly as "fluffly" as our Midwestern horses. I am a very sensitive animal person and was a little saddened by the weight of the horses and by the fact they didn't have beautiful green pastures to live in, but sandy pastures. They horses were by no means malnourished or abused. But I just wanted to make you aware so you are so surprised like I was.

Thank you, I have been on a ride in the Caribbean before and made the same observation. It is part of island life, I guess. Can't imagine what a hay bale costs there, but I'm sure it's more than the 2$ we pay. One thing I have noticed there, is how much they love their horses. Even though I have only done one ride, I have been around them there several times and they really do think their horses are special. Not as fluffy like you noticed, but they are loved. They also don't need to bulk up with winter weight like ours do.

Yes you are correct that you can't take luggage on the busses. You will have no problem getting a taxi to pick you up at your hotel in OSJ and bringing you to the Pan Am Pier. The ride may take longer, but they will definetly come and get you. Do you have a hotel booked yet? It can be very difficult and expensive to get a hotel during festival. We have been there a few times during festival and it sure is fun! I would recommend staying in the Condado area and taking busses and taxis into OSJ for the festival.

Have Fun!

When my son was 9 we went there and he picked a "rain stick" as a souvineer. it's a stick that is painted with tree frogs, lizards etc, and when you turn it upside down and then rightside up, you can hear something in there rolling around, sounds like rain. The one he got is painted brightly, but is still retains that natural look of a stick since only the objects are painted. Just make sure that it will fit in your suitcase. I have also seen flute like things that can be fun.

There are a few horseback riding operations in Cayman.

 

Spirit of the West specifically mentions swims. They are located in the Barkers area of West Bay.

 

Cayman Horseback Rides also mentions swims. They are also located in the Barkers area of West Bay.

 

Cayman Horse Riding also offers a swim. And they too are in the Barkers area.

and...

Pampered Ponies is the last operation I known of in the Barkers area. They too offer a swim.

 

 

Off the beaten path is...

Coral Stone Stables offer a swim. They are located in Bodden Town, well east of the pier and away from most cruise ship traffic.

 

 

I can provide the contact, but I'm no rider. I've not heard of an operation named Grand Cayman Tours, but it could be a booking agency. Some small companies prefer such arrangements as the booking agency can take care of front office operations while the small tour provider focuses of providing you a great tour.

Thank you for the information. Yes Grand Cayman Tours is a booking agency, they didn't provide info as to what the stable name is though. This gives me a great start! The rides they offered were 10 and 2. 10 is too early and 2 scares me for getting back to the ship. Hopefully I can find one that is noon. :D

We will be in Grand Cayman on Jan 8th. The Carnival Horse excursion looks like it does not do the swim. We have found a horse excursion that will allow us to swim and it is with Grand Cayman Tours. Has anyone used them before? It looks like they pick people up at the hotels in the area, but will they pick us up at the ship?

Any help and advise is appreciated. Both of us are experienced riders. We would look at another tour company if anyone has suggestions, the swim is a must have. :)

If you are a fine swimmer, then go for whichever you want. But if you aren't, practice first. It doesn't take long to get the hang of the breathing, but complicated by not being a good swimmer, and it could use up your entire excursion. Like others said if you can practice in a pool first, that would be ideal. Even if its a pool in a hotel you are staying in precruise, the day before. I love snorkeling, due to my waterphobias and my lack of ability to swim well, I have a hard time sometimes, but I don't let it stop me. I just know my limits. Cant wait to go again!!

We will be in San Juan until later in the evening and want to have dinner somewhere on shore. We generally tend to avoid any sort of "chain" restaurants, so we're looking for something with a local flavor. It doesn't have to be anything fancy, just something with good food. Cost is not much of a consideration...we're on vacation, after all.

 

Any recommendations?

We really enjoyed Vaca Brava. It is not PR food, but is an Argentinian Steak House. It is very well done, food was excellent. We had Burgers and Fries for about 9 to 10 $. It's located right in the middle of OSJ. They also served food, Family/Platter style. They had various prices for different sized groups, but also a great menu for people who each wanted to order their own dish.

They do have their reasons, also, don't take pictures of military or security. Last cruise, in Barbados my husband appeared to be taking a photo of a security person, I believe his uniform said something about customs. He politely asked him to stop. Which my husband did. He actually had quite a zoom on his lens and hadn't even noticed the guy, so he wasn't taking his photos. The guy told us it is not allowed to take photos of them. Fine by us, I'm sure the have their reasons.

So I've received three calls in ten days from the same PVP . I've told her I have no plans on cruising Carnival for a few years as we've decided we want a change and will be cruising on Princees or Royal, also I book through my cruise specialist TA not Carnival. I asked her to take me off her list and to stop calling and what happens...she call again two days later:eek::eek:

 

I haven't even been on the Carnival website for months. Starting to get a little ticked off .

That's too bad. I used to receive a call every time I went on the site, which I did every day to check my booking to see if the price dropped. I asked mine to stop since I worked overnights, and he did stop, unless I left a message for him to call.

Maybe try calling or emailing Carnival and asking them to take your phone number out of the database? Or maybe you can update your profile and take out the phone number.

You can tell us, which bus-number and which route it took, and above all, where you got into the bus?

I can't remember bus numbers, sorry. There are two bus terminals, one is a 5 min walk to the right after you get off the pier, that is the one we took. We took the bus originally to St James Parish church. There is a very nice old church there that you can tour, it's small but they have guides that tell you about the church etc. Folkestone park is there too, not much of a beach, but great snorkeling. After that we looked at our map and decided to hop on the bus. We took a bus that was to go to some old church. We got there, the bus driver told us this was the stop and we stayed on the bus to ride it back. Somewhere, maybe in Holetown, we had to get off the bus and get on a new one. 75 cents each for each leg of the ride, pretty cheap island tour. I wish I had paid more attention so I could share better how to do it. My advice, go on the bus, and have fun, about 3 hours before your ship leaves, start heading back. I believe the bus ride from that old church at the north end of the island, was about an hour or so by bus to get back.

One more thing to think about. If you are planning on doing wash or taking a shower in between which I always did they can & may turn off the water to the cabins. I got cought in the shower shampoo & soap & the water went off for about a hr. They laughed at me at GS when I told them. Also had wash in when the water was turned off & so I had to start over. I now do it in the afternoon after people are on board. This has happened on the Sensation & Paradise.

Char

Good to know. Thanks for the tip. I was actually planning to wash then, so I will wait for afternoon.

But how would the clean the rooms with no water?

Looking for a hotel for one night pre cruise that is close by to some night life. The hotel does not have to be 5 star as it will be just a place to crash for a few hours

Are you looking in OSJ? If so we loved Da House, very cute nice hotel with reasonable prices.