Eastern Carribean shore excursions Q's

Hi everyone,

only one month to go until our first cruise and I havent booked any shore excursions yet! Since this is our first cruise we are going to stick to excursions thru HAL but which ones, I have no idea...pls help!!

We are stopping at Puerto Rico, St Barts, Dominica, St Johns, St Thomas and Half Moon Cay.

Which excursions did you like and which were worth the cost? Also, which Islands are best to discover on our own?

Thanks,

Hebaness

you can totally do Puerto Rico on your own.... take the local ferry ($0.50 & right near the dock) across the bay and then a cab to Bacardi factory (free) and then go back - walk to the forts (like $6 or so) and check out Old San Juan.

Half Moon Cay is their private island. If you like beaches... just plan to lounge for the day.

St Thomas/ St John (you can't do excursions at both in one cruise)... St John has great beaches & snorkling - but personally, I'd be too nervous about getting back on time if I went on my own - I'd do an excursion. I did an awesome kayak tour in St Thomas at the Marine Sanctuary several years ago - but it looks like the one offered now is slightly different. If you want to avoid spending big bucks - do the sky ride for great views, a nice drink and some wander/ shopping time.

Sorry - never been to (yet) Dominica or St Barts.

Puerto Rico has a free walking tour as well as a shuttle bus to Old San Juan. St John is my favorite place for snorkling.Megans Bay in St Thomas is a must do for first time cruiser .You can take a shared Van to the beach.On the way back just make sure you leave enough time as the vans usually don't leave until full.Lots of shopping availabe too.HMC we rented a clam shell for 14 pp,but you can get a Cabana if you want to shell out a lot of money.Alot of folks on CC do and think it is worth it.Sorry I haven't been to the other islands.

thanks for your suggestions :)

we absolutely loved the sea-trek helmet dive at corral world on st thomas. you can check it out at the corral world web site or you tube. it is right on coki beach where we spent the remainder of our day. we arranged with the excursion van driver to return for us at a preset time for around $6 each for return to pier. the water and beach is beautiful there and not near as crowded as the more popular beaches.you can rent chairs, umbrellas, and snorkle equipment if you choose. there is also food and beverages available for purchase. this was a highlight of our cruise in november!

don't forget to see el Moro in San Juan (the fortress) and yes, you can do it on your own.:D Most Caribbean ports don't require too many tours unless you want to go scuba diving or whatever.

We have been to Dominica and recommend taking a ship's excursion or a CC recommended private excursion there. We would not take a taxi tour offered right off the ship.

We took the Layou Valley Tour and saw many aspects of Dominica, including the edge of the Rain Forest.

Roseau is an interesting port, but very basic as Dominica is not a developed island. It is a beautiful island with a large Rain Forest, much wildlife, and a Carib Indian Reservation.

HMC the clam shell is not $14pp. It is $14 per clam shell and you get two lounge chairs so in essence, $14 will be good for 2 people. Lovely beach day.

OSJ --- if you only plan to be around the town, just walk around on your own and there are free tours available -- sorry forgot website but tourism board provides a number and you call and you get a free walking tour. Didn't do it so don't how it is. You can also book independent tours to go to the rainforest or rent a car. We found renting a car difficult with the time that we are in port and hard to drop off so we'll do it when we stay there for a week and not just 8 hours.

sorry posted twice by mistake

The rubber river tubing in Dominica is the best and does not take all that much skill or athleticism, but you have to be able to paddle a little bit with your hands. There are guides all up and down the river course to help you along and push you back into the moving water, which was warm and shallow enough so you really didn't have to know how to swim.

It goes through beautiful jungle rain forest country, the rapids were fun and not scary or hard to negotiate, you just float through them and the tubs have a hard wooden flat bottom so you can bounce on the rocks. It was our best shore excursion of the whole Eastern Riviera. Active, but not exerting.

We found walking around old San Juan easy to do on our own but did take the El Yunque rain forest walk in the morning which was interesting and a way to see what the country side of PR is like.

Agree, Half Moon Cay is just a great place to kick back and we did not even need the clam shell - found places in the shade to put our towel and also did a big walk around the island and hiked up hills and saw old ruins of former plantation houses. Great stop for a photos across the limid waters of the ship.

I also would recommend the river tubing excursion in Dominica. Beautiful scenery and the river guides were great. They made sure everyone had a great time! My husband said it was the best HAL excursion ever.

In Puerto Rico we did the Bacardi tour. It was very interesting and the bus ride through town to get there was nice. We didn't have a ton of time there and it was raining so it was great to be inside most of the time.

Have a great cruise!

Suggest you go to the Ports Section of the boards and you will find a ton of information on all the ports you are visiting. As suggested before, San Juan you can do on your own. From the pier area (if you dock on the town side of the bay which we did when on the Maasdam) you can get a free trolley that takes you up to the Fort. Then you can work your way down hill back to the ship visiting the many shops and churches on the way. Here is a link to my photos from our trip on the Maasdam that will show you some of the ports you will be visiting.

http://www.pbase.com/iflyrc5/maasdam_2009

Enjoy your cruise - we are heading to Ft. Lauderdale Saturday to spend 25 days on the Maasdam.:D:D:D

Hi everyone,

 

only one month to go until our first cruise and I havent booked any shore excursions yet! Since this is our first cruise we are going to stick to excursions thru HAL but which ones, I have no idea...pls help!!

 

We are stopping at Puerto Rico, St Barts, Dominica, St Johns, St Thomas and Half Moon Cay.

 

Which excursions did you like and which were worth the cost? Also, which Islands are best to discover on our own?

 

Thanks,

Hebaness

St. Barts ....Take a taxi to St. Jeans Beach. We rented a car. Taxis are very expensive, and we could rent a car for less than a taxi ride.

Dominica.... I agree. The river tubing was great fun. The first time we went we went to Titu Gorge, Champaign Beach and a waterfall. It was very nice, too.

St. Thomas..... We enjoy snorkeling, and the snorkeling at Coki beach was great.

you can totally do Puerto Rico on your own.... take the local ferry ($0.50 & right near the dock) across the bay and then a cab to Bacardi factory (free) and then go back - walk to the forts (like $6 or so) and check out Old San Juan.

 

Half Moon Cay is their private island. If you like beaches... just plan to lounge for the day.

 

St Thomas/ St John (you can't do excursions at both in one cruise)... St John has great beaches & snorkling - but personally, I'd be too nervous about getting back on time if I went on my own - I'd do an excursion. I did an awesome kayak tour in St Thomas at the Marine Sanctuary several years ago - but it looks like the one offered now is slightly different. If you want to avoid spending big bucks - do the sky ride for great views, a nice drink and some wander/ shopping time.

 

 

Sorry - never been to (yet) Dominica or St Barts.

Thanks! I'm going to take your advice about San Juan and do it ourselves. We dock at 3pm so I'm concerned if we were to do any excursion, it would be dark soon.

But I did find out about a cool segway tour for Antigua from someone else who posted on the boards. I'm going to book tomorrow. Very affordable! segwayantigua.com

FWIW I found the ports of call forums on CC a wealth of information about each stop and used them to research my upcoming shore excursions.