Southern Caribbean

[s1kmad3]

Hello Everyone!!

 

I'm once again turning to CC members for some advice & suggestions for our upcoming cruise.

 

We are cruising Apr 30th - May 7 to the Southern Caribbean from San Juan, Puerto Rico on Serenade of the Seas to the following:

 

Charlotte Amalies, St.Thomas

St.Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands

St.John's, Antigua

Castries, St. Lucia

St. George's, Grenada

 

I would appreciate any and all advice/suggestions for which stops do you think would/is the best for the following activities:

 

beach day/water related

hiking

site seeing via motor powered vehicle (ATV,Taxi, bus)

 

It could could be a combination or just one of the activities listed per stop.

 

Thanks everyone all of you here on CC has helped tremendously on my past cruises and for that I'm very thankful!!

[cb at sea]

Sight seeing locations will depend on WHAT you want to see!

 

I love St. Thomas' St. John Island (not to be confused with Antigua's St. John!!) for the beach...it has the most incredibly clear, warm water....it's almost magical! It's hard to even tell you're IN the water, aside from the buoyancy!!!

 

A guidebook would be helpful to see what each island offers...then you can decide if you really want to spend time seeing the "sights" and it will tell you about hiking options....a guidebook can be your best investment.

[sandinmypants]

St. Lucia - hiking the Pitons. Since that area was off limit to us due to the recent hurricane, we went to Pigeon Point (Park Reserve area) and had a beach day (rustic beach) as well as hiking up to the old Fort Rodney.

[flcruzer03]

Be sure & check out the Ports of Call section here on CC too...many of the ports have locals who post & answer questions..very helpful especially when planning private tours on the different islands...

[cds2423]

We just returned last Sun Nov 7 :(, we unfortunately were rerouted because of Hurricane Tomas so we actually got to repeat your itinerary for the most part for 2 weeks.

We had a blast in St. Croix on ATV's with Geckos Island Adventures, they are 2 man ATV's the cost was $125.00 for 2 people and there is also a package available through them that incudes watersports, check out their site, all good feedback on Trip Advisor.

In St Lucia we took a ride in a taxi, we weren't impressed, the driver barely said anything at all, if we ever go back we'd go with an organized tour I think.

St. Thomas is great for a beach & shopping.

No matter what you do, you'll have tons of fun.

[Sequim88]

Not only the ports of call area here but also check out the forums at TripAdvisor.com - sister site of CC (both under the Expedia umbrella). Most places have "Destination Experts" that have in depth knowledge about a location. I got some great info about driving in Puerto Rico from the DEs there.

 

Don't try to find a cruise to Wyoming ( ;) ) but if you ever drive there check out the Wyoming forum and I'll be happy to give some DE advice.

[s1kmad3]

A BIG THANKS to everyone!

 

CB at sea - "what" would be landmarks, historic sites, city stuff

 

Currently browsing PoC section now..

 

Thanks Again!!

[printingchick]

Hello Everyone!!

 

I'm once again turning to CC members for some advice & suggestions for our upcoming cruise.

 

We are cruising Apr 30th - May 7 to the Southern Caribbean from San Juan, Puerto Rico on Serenade of the Seas to the following:

 

Charlotte Amalies, St.Thomas

I highly recommend grabbing a taxi and taking the Red Hook Ferry over to St. John. It's absolutely gorgeous! SO much nicer than St. Thomas.

St.Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands

Have only been here once. We used this port as a beach/relaxation day. We took the $3 transfer van over to Sand Castle Beach Resort. For $5/pp we got a lounge chair on the beach and use of the facilities, including the small beach-front pool.

St.John's, Antigua

My favorite excursion here is a combination kayak, paddle, Great Bird Island excursion. You can book it through several different places. It includes a boat trip over to the breath-taking Great Bird Island, snorkeling and a kayak excursion, all in one! One of the best excursions I've taken in all my cruises.

Castries, St. Lucia

I recommend the combination land/sea excursion. It's available through the ship or privately through various local guides. (I found the local guide prices are comparable with the ship's excursion cost, surprisingly enough.)

St. George's, Grenada

Have not been here, but will be on an upcoming cruise. I'm considering a hike to the Seven Sisters.

 

I would appreciate any and all advice/suggestions for which stops do you think would/is the best for the following activities:

 

beach day/water related

hiking

site seeing via motor powered vehicle (ATV,Taxi, bus)

 

It could could be a combination or just one of the activities listed per stop.

 

Thanks everyone all of you here on CC has helped tremendously on my past cruises and for that I'm very thankful!!

 

Serenade is a wonderful ship and this is a great itinerary. I have this same cruise scheduled for 2012. Be sure to leave a review!!!

[cricketgal]

Hello Everyone!!

 

I'm once again turning to CC members for some advice & suggestions for our upcoming cruise.

 

We are cruising Apr 30th - May 7 to the Southern Caribbean from San Juan, Puerto Rico on Serenade of the Seas to the following:

 

Charlotte Amalies, St.Thomas

St.Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands

St.John's, Antigua

Castries, St. Lucia

St. George's, Grenada

 

I would appreciate any and all advice/suggestions for which stops do you think would/is the best for the following activities:

 

beach day/water related

hiking

site seeing via motor powered vehicle (ATV,Taxi, bus)

 

It could could be a combination or just one of the activities listed per stop.

 

Thanks everyone all of you here on CC has helped tremendously on my past cruises and for that I'm very thankful!!

 

 

We went on Serenade some years back and loved it, she is a beautiful, elegant ship. We also did the mostly the same itinerary as you, which was great also. Those ports that we didn't do on the Serenade we have done on other cruises, so gave our recommendations below.

 

St Thomas

Half Day Champagne Catamaran Cruise to St John (my favourite excursion ever, great fun staff, yummy snacks and drinks, amazing beach, incredible views.)

 

St Croix

Not the best port but we took a taxi over to the town on the other side of the island, which is very picturesque. Long taxi ride though. There is a small beach right near the cruise port but not much else

 

Antigua

We took a taxi to the beach in front of Sandals. All beaches are open to public there. We rented a Sea Doo for around $50 for half an hour. Very nice beach and very friendly locals.

 

St Lucia

Definitely take a boat tour to see the Grand Titons....incredible!

 

Grenada

We did a boat excursion and tour. They picked us up right at the terminal and toured through the harbour to see the town, then took us to a nice beach. The staff were great and even delivered drinks on their foreheads to us while we were swimming. Local vendors can be a bit pushy but not agressive and boat staff help keep them from pestering you for the most part. Party on the boat on the way back to the ship, highly recommend this.:cool::)

[ck93]

At St. Lucia we did a tour with Cosols Tours. We stopped at many places on our way to the Pitons. Once we got there, we went snorkeling at a beach right between both mountairs. Very beautiful! :D

[Bolphin]

We just returned last Sun Nov 7 :(, we unfortunately were rerouted because of Hurricane Tomas so we actually got to repeat your itinerary for the most part for 2 weeks.

We had a blast in St. Croix on ATV's with Geckos Island Adventures, they are 2 man ATV's the cost was $125.00 for 2 people and there is also a package available through them that incudes watersports, check out their site, all good feedback on Trip Advisor.

In St Lucia we took a ride in a taxi, we weren't impressed, the driver barely said anything at all, if we ever go back we'd go with an organized tour I think.

St. Thomas is great for a beach & shopping.

No matter what you do, you'll have tons of fun.

 

 

We did the ATV tour with Geckos when we were in St Criox in Feb and loved it! Did you go up in the mountain to where you could look down on the ship and then come back down through the jungle? That is what we did on ours and it was fantastic. We will be booking something with them again the next time we are in St Croix.

[jennmaybe]

I did the S. Caribbean itinerary last month (on Carnival) and it was awesome!

 

St. Thomas-we did Godfrey tours. It was great! Magen's Bay not our favorite by far, but the overall tour was great!

 

St. Lucia-Herrod's Tours is a must! It's a land/sea tour which also includes a HUGE home-cooked lunch at his mother's house. All the meals were local island favorites.

[NordicPrince]

Hello Everyone!!

 

I'm once again turning to CC members for some advice & suggestions for our upcoming cruise.

 

We are cruising Apr 30th - May 7 to the Southern Caribbean from San Juan, Puerto Rico on Serenade of the Seas to the following:

 

Charlotte Amalies, St.Thomas

St.Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands

St.John's, Antigua

Castries, St. Lucia

St. George's, Grenada

 

I would appreciate any and all advice/suggestions for which stops do you think would/is the best for the following activities:

 

beach day/water related

hiking

site seeing via motor powered vehicle (ATV,Taxi, bus)

 

It could could be a combination or just one of the activities listed per stop.

 

Thanks everyone all of you here on CC has helped tremendously on my past cruises and for that I'm very thankful!!

 

Did B2B in January 2010.

 

Beach day - St. Thomas day - Take the RCI St. John's Beach Excursion - nice ride by boat over to St. John, transport to Trunk Bay 90 minutes on beach (one of top 10 in the world).

 

Alternate - Grenada - Take RCI tour which gives trip to Fort George and then to Magazine Beach

 

Alternate St. Croix - some people take short rise to Sand Castle's Beach short distance from ship. Others take the RCI excursion to Carambola Beach Resort which is a combination of the van trip to the resort and day at pools and beach at Carambola. Not as nice on a less than great day.

 

Hiking - Grenada - Take the Mandoo Tour as recommended by many CC-ers. Hiking to falls.

 

Site - Got to go with COSOL tour along with many CC-ers as posted.

 

Happy cruising.

[s1kmad3]

THANK YOU ALL FOR THE HELP :)

 

cricketgal - Was your tours at St. Lucia & Grenada through RCI or private guide?

[s1kmad3]

Which port would be the best for zip lines? Looking for best bang for your buck...

[erniesband]

In Antigua we highly recommend any of the tours from Adventure Antigua.

http://www.adventureantigua.com

We've done the Eco-Tour 4 times, the Extreme once and the day-sail once, all were very good.

In Grenada, another recommendation for Mandoo. Again we've done all of his tours and all were very good. He offers both sight seeing and active tours, the hike to Seven sisters is excellent.

In St. Lucia we've used Island Divers at Ti Kaye or Frank ( google Frank's Taxi Service St. Lucia) to get to Anse Cochon for some of the best snorkeling we've found.

I'll agree with others that say the ferry from Red Hook to St John is the way to go. We like the snorkeling at Cinnamon Bay.

You'll have a great time on Serenade! It's our favorite ship.

Ernie

[ivansbride1955]

Unless your big into shopping for souvenirs, when you dock in St. Thomas, hop on a water taxi and head over to St. John, then take a cab to Cinnamon Beach. Absolutely the most beautiful beach we have seen anywhere in the Carribean (so far). The bottom is sand, the water is crystal clear and as warm as bath water. Most likely, you will have the entire beach to yourselves, as the tourists all head to Trunk Bay. You won't be disappointed.

[cds2423]

We did the ATV tour with Geckos when we were in St Criox in Feb and loved it! Did you go up in the mountain to where you could look down on the ship and then come back down through the jungle? That is what we did on ours and it was fantastic. We will be booking something with them again the next time we are in St Croix.

 

we did venture up the mountain, the road had been washed out with some heavy rain that had recently fallen, it made for some excitement. We really enjoyed the excursion totally & would do it again as well.

[gypsy mom]

In Antigua last Dec. we took a Segway tour, very fun, and then you can stay at the beach after, it was a quiet beach, but nice, plus a very laid back beach bar there. Fun Day!

 

Had a great time on Cosol's tour in St. Lucia, but the ride back is long.

 

St. Croix, we took the shuttle to Sandcastle Beach, and had a quiet day. Did not like the beach near the ship, very rocky. There were a few local vendors right outside the port area, not pushy at all.

 

The Mandoo tour in Grenada was very good, take the one to the National Park and Spices. We were in Grenada again in April, and went to Grand Anse beach by water taxi, and the locals were pretty pushy. After a few rounds, most left us alone, but one guy was so annoying, we went into the water every time he got near us:(. Next time we go there, I think we will make it a "sea day".

 

Sharon

[s1kmad3]

Thanks for all the help everybody!!!

[subtchr]

We are single-digit dancing here, only 9 days until we cruise on Serenade!

 

We have a couple slight itinerary differences, and we have never been on the southern route, but here is what we have planned:

 

St. Thomas - RCL's Water Island Bike Tour - we don't usually do ship excursions, but this sounded low-key and fun to us. We love to snorkel, but DH had recent inner ear surgery, so while he can do some, we will not be able to spend as long doing that as we would like, so we looked for some different types of things to do.

 

St. Croix - on our own, probably some time on the beach by the dock, and time on the ship. With a port-intensive itinerary, we want to make sure we have time to relax!

 

Antigua - Eli's Eco Tour through Adventure Antigua - great reviews here on CC and on TripAdvisor. Really excited for this one!

 

Dominica (the one stop different from your itinerary) - Dominica Most Captivating Tour through Nature Isle Explorers (can't get a link to work, but the website is www dot explore dca dot com, no space between explore and dca - no idea why CC blocks that!), also has great reviews. Hiking to waterfalls, etc. - sounds like great fun!

 

Grenada - right now we are just planning on a taxi to Grand Anse Beach. I have read that if you walk down the beach a ways (it's very long), you can avoid the worst of the pushy vendors! If we have lots of energy we might look into another ship excursion here, but we'll see how we feel.

 

I always take tons of pictures and do a review, so look for that in a few weeks!

 

Sue

[Host Faith]

Hello Everyone!!

 

I'm once again turning to CC members for some advice & suggestions for our upcoming cruise.

 

We are cruising Apr 30th - May 7 to the Southern Caribbean from San Juan, Puerto Rico on Serenade of the Seas to the following:

 

Charlotte Amalies, St.Thomas

St.Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands

St.John's, Antigua

Castries, St. Lucia

St. George's, Grenada

 

I would appreciate any and all advice/suggestions for which stops do you think would/is the best for the following activities:

 

beach day/water related

hiking

site seeing via motor powered vehicle (ATV,Taxi, bus)

 

It could could be a combination or just one of the activities listed per stop.

 

Thanks everyone all of you here on CC has helped tremendously on my past cruises and for that I'm very thankful!!

 

 

Hi there! We sailed the Serenade back in August. It's now my favorite ship :). Our ports were a little different than yours, however here's what we did on the islands you will visit:

 

St.Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands- spent the day at a public beach about a 5 minute walk from the pier. You can actually see this beach and the umbrellas while you disembark the ship and walk the pier. Chairs were $5 each. We spent the whole day here, the water was the perfect temperature.

 

St.John's, Antigua- I can't recommend them highly enough- Creole Cruises Lobster Lunch Excursion. We've gone with Creole twice in the past year or so, and each time was our favorite day of the cruise. Boating, snorkeling, and a grilled lobster lunch on Bird Island. You also have the option of taking a hike to the top of the island for great views of the Atlantic and Caribbean.

 

Castries, St. Lucia- West Coast Island Tour with Spencer Ambrose. Spencer takes you to many of the major sites in St. Lucia for a full-day tour. He is a wonderful host.

 

I have details and photos about each of these in my review of the Serenade (link is below).

 

Whatever you choose, happy sailing! :)

[cricketgal]

THANK YOU ALL FOR THE HELP :)

 

cricketgal - Was your tours at St. Lucia & Grenada through RCI or private guide?

 

 

Sorry I took so long to respond. I didn't see your question to me until just now....too busy with the holiday season I guess.

 

It was actually a ship excursion but through Princess. I wouldn't be surprised though if RCCL has the same one. Really lots of fun.:)

[Worn out mailman]

At St. Lucia we did a tour with Cosols Tours. We stopped at many places on our way to the Pitons. Once we got there, we went snorkeling at a beach right between both mountairs. Very beautiful! :D

 

I've been on 5 cruises, and have been on Caribbean land trips 4 times otherwise, and I still assert that my Cosul tour in St. Lucia was the best money I ever spent in the Caribbean. Should you decide to take a tour, I suggest asking specifically for Cosul himself, or his brother Yellow Bird. :)