Aruba or St. Lucia?

[Bold Spirit]

We have to decide between a cruise that includes Aruba or one that includes St. Lucia, so which would you prefer?

[Arubalisa]

Imo, comparing Aruba and St. Lucia is comparing apples to oranges. St. Lucia is lush and Aruba is arid.

 

St. Lucia is a volcanic island and has some beautiful cove beaches, but Aruba has some long stretches of powder white sand beaches.

 

Are there any activities in particular that you are interested in?

[Arubalisa]

St Lucia

 

Aruba

 

St Lucia

 

Aruba

[Bold Spirit]

I know they are extremely different, but just wanted help choosing between the two. Which has the best shore excursions, safety, etc? I might never be able to go to the one I don't choose so I'm trying to choose carefully. We are late 50's/early 60's and don't do extreme excursions; we enjoy sightseeing mostly.:)

[Stevesan]

I know they are extremely different, but just wanted help choosing between the two. Which has the best shore excursions, safety, etc? I might never be able to go to the one I don't choose so I'm trying to choose carefully. We are late 50's/early 60's and don't do extreme excursions; we enjoy sightseeing mostly.:)

 

Then it's St Lucia for you. St Lucia has far more to offer in the "land tour" category. Book either independently or thru your cruise ship. There are round trip land tours between the cruise port, Castries, and Soufriere. Others combine a catamaran boat trip and land between the two. I've even taken a one way land tour from Castries to Soufriere where the cruise ship picked us up at Soufriere. Most land trips will include an extended visit to a plantation for a tour and lunch.

 

Wikipedia has a descriptive page with photos:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Lucia

[sail7seas]

Very [personal choice, of course, but after being to both a number of times, I opt for Aruba.

 

[Bold Spirit]

Thanks! Wish I could do both!

[sail7seas]

We did both on a 14 day Maasdam cruise in Mayu, 2010. Wew were at all three of the ABC islands and love them all. They're fabulous. We're less enthusiastic about St. Lucia but that is just personal preferences.

 

[phoenix_dream]

I am in your age range, and by far my favorite is Aruba. It has great shopping, casinos, wonderful beaches, and is very safe. One thing that is nice is that you just walk off the ship and you are right in town where there is alot of shopping, and a couple casinos. A quick taxi ride takes you to any number of beautiful beaches and hotels. If you like to explore you can easily rent a car and drive around the island and check it out. I will agree that St. Lucia has more sightseeing per se - it is more lush and tropical. It also has alot of windy, mountain roads that go along with the sightseeing if that bothers you. It also has some nice beaches, but Aruba has the best as far as pure white sand and calm waters IMHO (I can't comment on snorkeling and so on as we mostly just lay on the beach for the most part if we go).

[Bold Spirit]

We've decided on Aruba and hope to visit St. Lucia later! Thanks for all your opinions!!!:)

[sail7seas]

I am in your age range, and by far my favorite is Aruba. It has great shopping, casinos, wonderful beaches, and is very safe. One thing that is nice is that you just walk off the ship and you are right in town where there is alot of shopping, and a couple casinos. A quick taxi ride takes you to any number of beautiful beaches and hotels. If you like to explore you can easily rent a car and drive around the island and check it out. I will agree that St. Lucia has more sightseeing per se - it is more lush and tropical. It also has alot of windy, mountain roads that go along with the sightseeing if that bothers you. It also has some nice beaches, but Aruba has the best as far as pure white sand and calm waters IMHO (I can't comment on snorkeling and so on as we mostly just lay on the beach for the most part if we go).

 

 

St. Lucia suffered bad hurricane damage, not all of which has been repaired, and the roads for sightseeing etc may not be passable yet.

 

We were there in December and the ship did not offer the tour across island as transportation was not possible. We were accustomed to picking up guests who took that tour at the end of the day but this cruise we just sailed away.