Excursions - Southern Caribbean

[RoxyJeter22]

We will be cruising the Southern Caribbean in December on the Serenade of the Seas stopping at Grenada, Dominica, Antique, St. Croix, & St. Thomas. I'd love to hear about any GREAT excursions people really enjoyed at these islands! We prefer the beach, snorkeling, or more adventurous activates (nothing crazy, it is vacation :)) But we also just love getting off the ship and taking a taxi to the beach for a few hours vs paying for an excursion on every island. Can anyone give me some advice on what islands we might be able to do that?

Thanks in advance for all your opinions and advice! :D

[subtchr]

We will be cruising the Southern Caribbean in December on the Serenade of the Seas stopping at Grenada, Dominica, Antique, St. Croix, & St. Thomas. I'd love to hear about any GREAT excursions people really enjoyed at these islands! We prefer the beach, snorkeling, or more adventurous activates (nothing crazy, it is vacation :)) But we also just love getting off the ship and taking a taxi to the beach for a few hours vs paying for an excursion on every island. Can anyone give me some advice on what islands we might be able to do that?

Thanks in advance for all your opinions and advice! :D

 

Those were the exact ports we visited on the Serenade last December. There is a LONG pictorial review linked in my signature, covering all the excursions we did, if you would like to see pics. But here is a quick rundown:

 

Grenada - We had planned to just get a taxi to Grand Anse Beach, but decided to go with a ship's excursion to snorkel and then to the beach. Bad decision - it wasn't horrible or anything, just a reminder of why we generally avoid ship's excursions, with too many people and not enough time anywhere. The weather was iffy, too, so I am sure that contributed. Grand Anse is pretty, though!

 

Dominica - Our favorite stop of the trip, we did a LONG hike with Donaldson Magloire of Nature Isle Explorers (sometimes I can't get that link to work, so just google it if it doesn't). He took us to Middleham Falls (that's the LONG hike, but worth it!), Titou Gorge, and Trafalgar Falls. See my review for lots of pics.

 

St. Croix - We took the shuttle to Sandcastle Resort and had a WONDERFUL relaxing beach day.

 

St. Thomas - We did the Water Island Bike tour through the ship, as that is the only way to book it. The biking is not too strenuous, and the island is beautiful!

 

Antigua - Our second-favorite, I highly recommend Eli's Eco Tour. A wonderful mix of beautiful sights and fun activities, not to mention a delicious home-cooked lunch. Again, lots of photos in my review.

 

We did a guided tour of San Juan before our flight, which was great.

 

The cruise compasses are also linked in my signature, if you are interested.

 

We loved the Serenade and the southern route!

[Judi Kozar]

In Aruba try Jolly Roger Pirate Tour......go online to look it up. An all day wooden pirate ship with drinks and lunch included with stops at various snorkling spots. Big rope swing into the ocean for the adventurers, deck for sun bathing, snorkling gear. Run by a husband and wife (Carla)! They are fantastic. Their website includes pictures.

 

I hired the "banana bus" to transport us from pier to Pirate ship.....thru Carla. It was worth the money and such a blast!

 

Enjoy!

[Host Kewlguy]

You can find much more information about the islands you will be visiting in the "Ports of Call" section of this web site under the subtitle of "Caribbean". Each island you mentioned has it's own forum. You can follow the link below.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=587

[cruiseguy1016]

In Aruba try Jolly Roger Pirate Tour......go online to look it up. An all day wooden pirate ship with drinks and lunch included with stops at various snorkling spots. Big rope swing into the ocean for the adventurers, deck for sun bathing, snorkling gear. Run by a husband and wife (Carla)! They are fantastic. Their website includes pictures.

 

I hired the "banana bus" to transport us from pier to Pirate ship.....thru Carla. It was worth the money and such a blast!

 

Enjoy!

 

:rolleyes: Maybe on their next cruise. They won't be in Aruba on this one.

[cb at sea]

For easy beach days, check out either a guidebook or that country's website....beaches are quite easy and inexpensive to do on your own without excursions!

[Sequim88]

In addition to Port of Call area check around at TripAdvisor.com . Some of the destination experts for locations are locals and probably personally know some of the excursion operators.

 

Only island on that list in common with our So. Carib. was Dominica. We split up with my more active brothers and their wives doing the Champagne Bubbles Hot Spring Snorkel thing and they had a great time. My mobility imparied wife and I along with my aging parents did the Caribe Cooking tour which was interesting and very tastey but unless you are in to cooking would be boring - IMHO it is over priced for what you get. But the setting in the mountains was spectacular and view to sea was beautiful.

[printingchick]

We will be cruising the Southern Caribbean in December on the Serenade of the Seas stopping at Grenada, Dominica, Antique, St. Croix, & St. Thomas. I'd love to hear about any GREAT excursions people really enjoyed at these islands! We prefer the beach, snorkeling, or more adventurous activates (nothing crazy, it is vacation :)) But we also just love getting off the ship and taking a taxi to the beach for a few hours vs paying for an excursion on every island. Can anyone give me some advice on what islands we might be able to do that?

Thanks in advance for all your opinions and advice! :D

 

I LOVE the Southern Caribbean. You have a GREAT itinerary!! I will give you MY two cents.

 

Grenada:

I have not been here, but was scheduled to go on this same ship/itinerary. (Had to cancel due to the economy and a stint of unemployment that lasted FAR longer than I expected!!) I was planning to do the "Seven Sisters" hike.

 

Dominica:

IMMEDIATELY contact Levi from Bumpiing Tours. If you look at the Dominica port of call boards, you will find hundreds, perhaps thousands, of glowing reviews of his company. I cannot recommend him highly enough. His website is: http://www.bumpiingtours.com/ and he offers a number of different tours for cruise ship passengers. You cannot go wrong...trust me!!!

 

St. Croix:

Most of the excursions at this port are on the opposite side of the island from which you dock. My daughter and I used St. Croix as a relaxing-day port. We grabbed a $3.00 cab ride to Sandcastle Beach Resort and spent the day there. I forget what the pass was, but very inexpensive. I believe we got one welcome drink, beach loungers and use of the beachfront pool. After our beach day, we visited the marketplace at the dock for window-shopping.

 

St. Thomas:

We ALWAYS take the ferry over to St. John. If you are a new cruiser, you may want to do that using an excursion. Because I like to explore, not just go to Trunk Bay, I taxi to Red Hook and take the ferry. It's gorgeous over there, very undeveloped and beautiful. On my first visit, I found myself on a beach with only about 5-6 other people. I went snorkeling off the beach and was swimming with the sea turtles! It was like being on a Discovery Channel special! This is the one port I want to return to as part of a land-based vacation some day. Just be aware that, if you go on your own, keep a SHARP eye on the clock and catch the ferry in time to get you back WELL IN ADVANCE of sail time!

 

Antigua:

I recommend Antigua Paddles, http://www.antiguapaddles.com/. This excursion is a combination boat, snorkeling, hiking, kayak excursion and it's GREAT. You get SO MUCH for the cost of the excursion. My experience planted a seed which ultimately resulted in the purchase of a couple of kayaks for my home!!

 

You've chosen a GREAT ship and an UNBELIEVABLE itinerary!!! I envy you! ENJOY!!!

[Host Faith]

I LOVE the Southern Caribbean. You have a GREAT itinerary!! I will give you MY two cents.

 

St. Thomas:

We ALWAYS take the ferry over to St. John. If you are a new cruiser, you may want to do that using an excursion. Because I like to explore, not just go to Trunk Bay, I taxi to Red Hook and take the ferry. It's gorgeous over there, very undeveloped and beautiful. On my first visit, I found myself on a beach with only about 5-6 other people. I went snorkeling off the beach and was swimming with the sea turtles! It was like being on a Discovery Channel special! This is the one port I want to return to as part of a land-based vacation some day. Just be aware that, if you go on your own, keep a SHARP eye on the clock and catch the ferry in time to get you back WELL IN ADVANCE of sail time!

 

 

You've chosen a GREAT ship and an UNBELIEVABLE itinerary!!! I envy you! ENJOY!!!

 

I totally agree with printingchick...please be sure to look into Trunk Bay on St. John. The most unbelievably beautiful beach I've ever seen. Since you like snorkeling, there's an underwater snorkel trail right off the beach. You can see some pics of the beach in my review of the Serenade from this year.

 

In Antigua, we always go with Creole Cruises. They offer a lobster lunch snorkeling cruise. Two spots for snorkeling, plus a fresh-caught grilled lobster lunch on Bird Island. Just a lovely day. I have a review of our time with them in my Serenade review from last year (yes, we are hooked on the Serenade, we LOVE the ship, lol!)

 

If you do a search for either of these options in their respective Ports of Call Boards, you'll find a wealth of information. What a fabulous itinerary! Enjoy your cruise :)

[Arzeena]

If you like something different, the Cooking Caribbean excursion is great! Royal Caribbean offers it in Dominica. (The excursion has a different name that I cannot recall) We loved it!