Which itenerary is better?

[mrar]

My DH and a small group of about 6-10 friends are looking into taking a friend cruise next year since we have generally grown up and moved away from each other. We are in our mid-20's and will be looking to do both adventuresome/exploring things and a relaxing beach day or two - these are the itineraries I am looking at and I don't want to reveal the ships just yet (but you may be able to figure it out ;) ) so based soley on itinerary, what is everyone's opinion?

 

They both go to St. Lucia, Barbados, and St. Maarten (thinking of doing an island tour, catamaran turtle/snorkel adventure and watersporting/drinking at Orient Beach in these islands, respectively)

 

One ship also goes to Antigua and St. Croix. The other goes to St. Kitts and St. Thomas. - obviously the islands in question.

[trish1c]

Six of one, half dozen of the other. There is no wrong choice. Flip a coin. Seriously, there is no wrong answer to this question.

Personally, I'll always pick the one that goes to St. Thomas but that's only because my favorite jewelry store is there. :D That doesn't help you at all.

If you like history there is an AMAZING fort from the 1600s on St. Kitts. In Antigua we took a rainforest hike; our cruise ship billed it as a "moderate" excursion; they lied. It was 1500 ft straight up the side of a dormant volcano with narrow, steep, slippery, treacherous trails. It was not my idea of a fun afternoon but my darling Marine husband loved it.

[paul929207]

I did not like Antigua, so I would vote for St. Kitts & St. Thomas

[eh2zed]

I agree it is essentially a coin toss. IMO a slight advantage to the St. Thomas itinerary.

[Cruise Girl Forever]

Why not look up the excurisions on the islands in question. Since your an active group this could help you decide.

 

I personally would pick St. Kitts and St Thomas

[Wayfairers]

I have never heard anything good about St Croix so I would pick St Kitts and St Thomas.

 

You may want to see how many cruise ships are in each port the day you are there at http://cruisett.com/ports.php?PortID=498&date=3. Click on the month you are traveling then the port. It tells you which ships are in port that day and the potential (if they are sold out) total number of passengers.

[Wayfairers]

I did a bad job providing directions on using the web site. Ignore what I wrote above.

 

Click on Ports heading

Click on your port

Click on your month/year

 

Sorry about that!

[terriberri268]

I would pick st kitts and st Thomas .

The FanTaSea tour in St. Kitts is the best! We saw sea turtles on our way to Nevis. One of my best days ever.

St. Thomas is great, beautiful beaches, good snorkeling, good shopping.

[mrsfuzzmo]

Too bad the choice weren't Antigua and St. Thomas. Then that would be a shoe in. I actually like St. Croix. It's beautiful with great snorkeling and cute towns. I LOVE St. Thomas, but find St. Kitts really, really, really boring. Haven't been to Antigua so would like to form my own opinions on it before I will give a review of whether or not to go there. Like they said, the first three you have are great stops, so you cannot go wrong with either itinerary.

[bqkali]

Definitely take the advice to do some research on what excursions are offered in each port. Then pick the itinerary with the most fun excursions :D

 

I am also an "active" person and just did some research before settling on my Southern Caribbean cruise in February. Here's a head start on some excursion ideas, although you will obviously want to do some research to find what sounds most fun to you.

Antigua - Adventure Eco-Tour (island tour & swimming with turtles) http://www.adventureantigua.com/tour.html#Xtreme

St Kitts - Volcano Hike http://**********************/Stkittsvolcanotour.html (t h e n f o r d g r e y . c o m)

St Croix - Buck Island Snorkel

http://bigbeards.com/

St Thomas - ferry to St John then snorkeling

http://www.**********/general_usvi/interisland_ferry/ ( v i n o w . c o m)

http://www.stjohntraveler.com/activities-attractions/trunk-bay-snorkeling.php

 

You'll find something you want to do at every port...so unfortunately you'll have to prioritize - and then plan the next trip!!

[mrar]

I think we will go with St Thomas and St Kitts. DH and I have been to St Thomas and I know our friends will have lots of options there, I think I'm going to have a spa and beach day at St Johns :). Not sure about St Kitts, considering the Mt Liumiaga(sp) hike. I think the ship for this itinerary fits our group a little more and we can get one of those amazing looking aft wrap cabins! Thanks!

[2theship]

If you want a fun group activity in St. Thomas, check out http://www.viwatersports.com. We've done parasailing with them a couple of times when the ships we were sailing did not offer any parasailing trips. It's a good half-day excursion so you have lots of time for other activities.