Eastern Caribbean-Port tips for Nassau, St. Thomas, Tortola, Dominica, Barbados

[Joanandjoe]

We've signed up for the Volendam 10 day Eastfarer cruise on 11/6, which goes to Half Moon Cay and the five places listed above. We generally prefer taking privately arranged tours, rather than ship's tours.

 

We'd appreciate suggestions. Beaches are well covered on CC ports of call boards, and are not necessarily good for fair-skinned Joe; so other ideas would be great. Maybe someone can talk us out of staying on the ship in Nassau, and not going onshore at all.

[OCruisers]

Hi again Joanandjoe!!!! So glad you're giving this Eastern a try ... know you were a bit concerned per earlier post. Note: I very much appreciated your posts on your Panama Canal cruise. While we are careful in the sun, it is not as major a factor as it is for your "fair-skinned-boy" and for MANY OF OUR FRIENDS. Your addressing this issue of sun on excursions has be helpful to many! THANKS!

 

NASSAU .... Here's one that is totally covered the whole excursion because folks are either under water or under a canopy the entire excursion.

 

Since I snorkel, probably would not have done this except a new cruise friend's husband was so badly sunburned from deep-sea fishing another place that he could not go. (However, he did make it to the ship's bar with my DH while I went on the excursion with his wife?)

 

This was VERY much better than I ever expected:

 

SEAWORLD EXPLORER

 

Also, in Barbados it has been a while ... BUT we took our children to Harrison's Caves once. It's a very interesting thing to do. If you like PARTY BOATS, you can easily go on The Jolly Roger and never/ever get in the sun -- no lack of seats in "deep-shade".

 

Have fun planning! Happy Sailing!

[Joanandjoe]

Thanks, OCruisers. My Dad's health problems (and my Dad) are still around; but we decided to take a chance and book anyway. Life goes on!

 

HAL offers the Seaworld Explorer for $44. Can you book it on your own and save some $$?

[jame]

In January we were on the Zaandam and went to St.T and Tort. In Tort we did the North Shore and Pussers Landing. Nice tour. Saw lots of livestock on the side of the roads (goats roaming free in the streets - it was great!), free rum drink, shopping stop, etc. The one thing about Tortola is the steep, curvy, narrow, roads. I loved it, but at times it got a bit hairy with on coming traffic.

 

St. Thomas, I would say hop on the ferry and head to St. John. Absolutely amazing!!!

[vjb223]

In St. Thomas we love doing the champagne cat. sail on the Sail Allura , they are great and go to Honeymoon bay at St. John. Lots of fish. The rum punch and banana mango bread is good. Please tell Claire that vicki said hi. This will be our 4th on their boat. Went on another one NOT them and it was awful got a refund. You will love it, big boat, clean, and a excellent friendly crew. vjb223

 

VJB223

[wwinfl91]

If you are going to St Thomas and almost all Eastern carib cruises do and especially if your ship is docked at the Havensight Mall And Cruise Ship Dock, visit St. Thomas Skyride to Paradise Point which is within walking distance.

 

Here is a link to their web site.

 

http://www.paradisepointtramway.com/

 

From here you will great pictures of your ship in dock as well as any other ships that are in port with you. We got pictures of the 8 other ships that were in port with us the last time we were there.

 

There is a nice restaurant and bar where you can get a local beer or drink and enjoy the view and the breeze that usually blows up above the harbor.

 

There is a fee for the ride up, I think $10 a person, but the view and the picture taking opportunities make this worth the cost.

 

There are a lot of other things to do in St Thomas, shopping for great values on liquor is definitely one of them, but another I would recommend would be a trip to St John's which is close to St Thomas. It is totally different than St Thomas and has some great beaches. You can take a ferry that runs every couple of hours if you have time or take one of the many tours that goes there and usually includes some time on a beach.

 

Have a great next cruise.

 

HAL Noordam 3/97 West Carib

Hal Westerdam 12/97 East Carib

HAL Veendam 11/98 East Carib

Hal Zaandam 12/00 South Carib

HAL Veendam 10/01 Panama Canal

RCCL Enchantment 09/02 W.Carib

Costa Atlantica 12/02 E.Carib

HAL Noordam 03/03 S.Carib

Golden Princess 07/03 Med

Celebrity Zenith 12/03 W.Carib

HAL Maasdam 05/04 Canada

Next cruise

Island Princess 11/04 Hawaii

[Joanandjoe]

Thanks. Keep those suggestions coming.

 

Jame, was the Tortola excursion a ship's excursion or a private one? VJB and Wwinfl, did you go to St. John on your own or with a tour? We'll be in port for 15 hours, which would seem to allow enough time for going on our own if that's what we decide to do.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Tours

 

In St Thomas - since you have 15 hours - take a taxi over to Red Hook. There you can get a ferry to St John. Check the schedule so that you don't miss the last ferry back to St Thomas.

 

Dominica - Island tour which includes Emerald Falls - beautiful. Some walking to and from the falls. Local taxis are available for hire. The roads are narrow and winding. Make sure that the driver gets you back in time to visit the venders' booths along the street by the pier.

 

Tortola- the dock is in Roadtown. The city has very few shops and boutiques. Make sure to stop at Pussar's Store for a rum punch. Visit a beach and enjoy the sun and blue waters. Taxi drivers will gladly take you around the island and are available at the end of the pier.

 

Nassau- visit Festival Place at the end of the pier where you dock. There are many small shops that will give you a good idea of the crafts on the island. The city is flat and easy to walk. You can also take a horse-drawn carriage around the city or take a small boat to visit Atlantis the resort on Paradise island. Allow yourself more than a few hours to visit Paradise Island.

 

[vjb223]

St. Thomas was a ship tour BUT make sure the champ. cat. boat is the ALLURA or you might be dissapointed. They do the day trip to St. John for snorkeling. I will not do the tour unless it is that boat. vjb

I need tips on Tortola also

 

VJB223

[vjb223]

Nassau, we did the ship tour for snorkeling 2x and enjoyed it. Lots of fish.

 

VJB223

[wwinfl91]

Especially easy to go on your own if you are docked in St Johns at Havensight cruise dock which is the main dock for cruise ships in St Johns. You just walk through the shops and out to the street and the tramway is just across the road. If you are anchored in the harbor and tender into the port you will probably want to take a taxi, probably $10 or so, from downtown to the tram. That was how we ended up doing it when we visited it and then we walked back to town which was downhill.

 

Have a great next cruise.

 

HAL Noordam 3/97 West Carib

Hal Westerdam 12/97 East Carib

HAL Veendam 11/98 East Carib

Hal Zaandam 12/00 South Carib

HAL Veendam 10/01 Panama Canal

RCCL Enchantment 09/02 W.Carib

Costa Atlantica 12/02 E.Carib

HAL Noordam 03/03 S.Carib

Golden Princess 07/03 Med

Celebrity Zenith 12/03 W.Carib

HAL Maasdam 05/04 Canada

Next cruise

Island Princess 11/04 Hawaii

[Joanandjoe]

WWIN, now you really have us confused. The ship docks in St. Thomas, not St. John. Is the tram at St. Thomas or St. John.

 

By the way, Joan is looking into a "people to people" experience in Nassau or elsewhere. Has anyone tried this program?

[wwinfl91]

Sorry about that. Havensight dock is on St Thomas and the Tram up the mountain is right near the gate of the dock area. The pictures of the ships in the harbor and harbor and town are worth finding it if you in St Thomas. If you check out the web site I posted earlier they have a map showing how to get there.

 

Here's the link again.

 

http://www.paradisepointtramway.com/

 

 

Have a great next cruise.

 

HAL Noordam 3/97 West Carib

Hal Westerdam 12/97 East Carib

HAL Veendam 11/98 East Carib

Hal Zaandam 12/00 South Carib

HAL Veendam 10/01 Panama Canal

RCCL Enchantment 09/02 W.Carib

Costa Atlantica 12/02 E.Carib

HAL Noordam 03/03 S.Carib

Golden Princess 07/03 Med

Celebrity Zenith 12/03 W.Carib

HAL Maasdam 05/04 Canada

Next cruise

Island Princess 11/04 Hawaii

[OCruisers]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Joanandjoe:

Thanks, OCruisers. My Dad's health problems (and my Dad) are still around; but we decided to take a chance and book anyway. Life goes on!

 

HAL offers the Seaworld Explorer for $44. Can you book it on your own and save some $$?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

Joanandjoe .... Feel sure you can book this OnOurOwn because we saw an ad for it in one of those "flyers" the locals were handing out. Unfortunately, I have no clue about the cost. The one my friend had booked was through the ship.

 

My aunt and uncle took the Seaworld Explorer after I told them about it (neither can be in the sun)this past March and they really really liked it! She has lots of very good pictures of the fish they saw. They also took the ship's excursion so that's of no help.

 

Know you will find some good things to do in all of your ports!

 

Happy Sailing! OCruisers

[luv2cruise450]

Joan & Joe...if you go to the 'Ports' forum on these CC boards there will be all kinds of helpful info about the various islands that are on your itinerary. For our Oosterdam cruise in November...Tortola, BVI will be a 'new' port for us and I found all kinds of useful info in that forum.

Happy sailing!

 

Victoria III 4/99 (Yangtze River)

Maasdam 5/00 (W.Med) & 11/01

Veendam 10/00

Zaandam 5/01 (Alaska cruisetour)

Millenium 12/01 & 10/03 (transatlantic)

Amsterdam 5/02 (transcanal)

NCL Star 12/02 (Hawaii)

CCL Paradise 3/03

Noordam 4/03 (transatlantic)

NCL Dawn 8/03

Regal Princess Elaine 3/04 (Yangtze River)

 

[Joanandjoe]

Luv 2 cruise, of course we're also checking the Ports of Call boards-we even referred to them in our initial posting. However, for several of the ports the suggestions deal mostly with beaches. We want some non-beach suggestions.

 

We find it useful to have a posting on the cruise line board, for people who may be taking the same itinerary.