Carnival Splendor

[PaulaFloyd]

My husband and I are doing the Splendor cruise out of Miami visiting Grand Turk,San Juan, St Kitts and St Maarten. We would like to splurge on one big excursion and take it low budget the rest of the times. Any thoughts/ideas of some must do's or ones to stay away from? This will be our first Caribbean cruise so I am not familiar with any of the Ports.

Thanks!

 

 

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[RHilla619]

Can't speak upon a specific excursion, but if you are beach people don't do an excursion at Grand Turk since the ship drops you off right at the beautiful beach with free loungers. San Juan is just a city, so there might be a good excursion to get away from the city available. St Marteen is a good island to explore, and I don't know much about St Kitts.

 

You'll love the Splendor, especially the aft adults only pool area. I sailed her last August and had a blast!

[poz222]

I love Americas Cup sailing adventure in St Maarten... A mini regatta where you race real Americas cup sailboats!

[christinacruisin]

I agree with the poster about planning your "big excursion" in St. Marteen. I LOVE Grand Turk, but you don't need an excursion there. San Juan doesn't excite me…I've been twice and have stayed on the ship both times and enjoyed it immensely. Not familiar with St. Kitts. I have a friend that did the regatta excursion in St. Marteen and loved it. St. Marteen is beautiful…great beaches, the airport, good shopping. I've not done an excursion there either, as we spent our day shopping for a ring and then hung out at the beach at Great Bay. Lots of places to eat and drink, etc.

 

We were just on the Splendor in Jan. You'll love it. You've got a nice itinerary too. If you have any Splendor questions, just ask. Enjoy your trip!

Edited March 14, 2016 by christinacruisin

[riclop]

Can't speak upon a specific excursion, but if you are beach people don't do an excursion at Grand Turk since the ship drops you off right at the beautiful beach with free loungers. San Juan is just a city, so there might be a good excursion to get away from the city available. St Marteen is a good island to explore, and I don't know much about St Kitts.

 

You'll love the Splendor, especially the aft adults only pool area. I sailed her last August and had a blast!

 

Are they enforcing the rules on the aft pool???

[PaulaFloyd]

Thank you all!

 

 

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[ja_martin]

My husband and I are doing the Splendor cruise out of Miami visiting Grand Turk,San Juan, St Kitts and St Maarten. We would like to splurge on one big excursion and take it low budget the rest of the times. Any thoughts/ideas of some must do's or ones to stay away from? This will be our first Caribbean cruise so I am not familiar with any of the Ports.

Thanks!

 

 

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Just did several weeks on The Splendor. A wonderful ship with a most awesome crew.

 

Grand Turk: You can walk the pier straight to the beach. Water is beautiful. Margaritaville is right there and there is a pool as well as the beach.

 

San Juan: You can walk this port (assuming you are able to) without having to spend money on one of the city tours. A lot of culture here. If you are there in the evening, it can get quite lively, in a good way. Music playing in the streets everywhere. I would never miss a chance to get off the ship here.

 

St. Kitts: I've been there, but I don't remember it well. I know I just walked around, which is what I normally do. I think I would remember if I disliked it, which I don't.

 

St. Martin: You can walk to the beach, or take the water taxi (very cheap). I ruined my last time there by taking a cab to the beach where the airplanes come in. First, the beach is small, crowded, rocky, and the surf was very rough the day we were there. Second, don't go if there are a lot of ships in port. We had 6 ships in and everyone seemed to have the same idea. It was not fun and was a waste of money. I wished I walked to our usual beach because you can get two lounge chairs, an umbrella, two beers and Internet for $15.

 

I'm not big on buying excursions, so I can't comment on what to treat yourself to. Whatever you choose, enjoy yourself. She's my favorite ship. I just got off March 6th and I really miss the ship and crew already.

[sgttami]

The Marriott at St. Kitts was very nice but we bought a day pass for $35 and no one ever asked to see it.

 

We then met others who simply walked on the beach and paid nothing and we met people by the pool who paid nothing either. Next time I'd do that! There was also a restaurant/bar on the property.

 

It was a nice taxi ride ($15) from the ship so we got to see a little bit of the island and there are lots of little shops on the way to and from the ship.

[Buckett]

OP, I was just at 3 of those ports in January. We really enjoyed walking around Old San Juan, spent the day doing that. We turned left and just started walking up the hill to the fort, and spent $5 each to tour it. We really enjoyed it! I don't think you need an excursion at this port, provided you like walking. We made some pit stops along the way, for example at Barrachina, which is one of the places who claim to have invented the Pina Colada. :)

 

At Grand Turk, as others have said, the gorgeous beach is right there so if you like that, you're set. We did a snorkeling excursion through White Sands charter and it was one of the highlights of our cruise. I can recommend that without hesitation. After the excursion, we walked down the beach to Jack's Shack and had a bite to eat and a drink. We got to meet Topher the dog, he is so friendly and cute! We would have like to spend more time there but had to get back to the ship.

 

At St. Maarten we did a tour through Bernard's Tours. If I went again, I would probably try to book a private tour, not part of a big group. It was a nice tour, you get to cover a lot of the island, but it felt rushed.

 

On another cruise back in 2010 I did go to St. Kitts as part of a group cruise, and our excursion there took us to Reggae Beach Bar. That was a lot of fun! Good food, good drinks, and a beautiful beach.

 

Hope this helps. Enjoy your cruise!!

[Anyislandwilldo]

Stay by the beach in Grand Turk, walk down to Jacks Shack for a soft drink, take the free trolley up to the Fort in San Juan. You can do an island excursion in St. Martin for about $40 per person and another island excursion in St. Kitts for about $40 per person. I would spend the money seeing the islands of St. Martin and St. Kitts. Both are very lovely islands. Go to the Caribbean ports of call forum and research all the different excursions people have posted about. Happy Sailing!

[Doggielover68]

If you can only splurge in one place, make it St. Kitts. We went on a private tour (Thenford gray) for $48 per person and it was great. We got to see the main attractions, including Brimstone Hill Fortress which had incredible views, learned a lot about the island and got to have some nice beach time as well.

 

 

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[WChevett]

San Juan really didn't do it for me. I have been twice, first time with my family, we did the fort tour, then it started pouring so we went to a very good restaurant, where they saw us coming and our fabulous very gay waiter ran out with umbrellas to greet us. Had fantastic arroz con pollo. Second time I cruised by myself and just walked around for a few hours, wasn't a whole lot to do, I heard there are a few good bars with good nightlife right off the ship though if that's your thing.

 

Grand Turk, is amazing, I have been 3 times. Definitely do not need an excursion here. There are two main ways you can go about it imo. The first is just go to Margaritaville right off the dock, there is some touristy type shopping right off the boat too. Margaritaville is very overpriced but at the same time, if you are looking to just hang out in the sun and have a good time partying all day, not a bad way to spend the day. The other option is get off the boat, reach the sand, head left and walk about 1/2-1 mile and find Jack's Shack, a fantastic little whole in the wall. THey had amazing food there, gotta try the jerk chicken and/or fried conch. They had a free rum shot coupon online last time I was there, dunno if they still do that. But they set up volleyball nets, I think you can purchase snorkeling stuff from there very cheap, had free chairs and umbrellas, some good rum drinks with their own made rum I believe. The latest time I was there when I went by myself a lot of the performers and crew on the ship were all down there hanging out, so talked with a few of them off duty, that was pretty cool.

 

Cant speak for the other two places though, but that's my experience with those two ports.

[cntrydncr1]

fI would definitely splurge on the America's cup sailing excursion in St Martin. Probably the best one I've ever taken. loads of fun.

[FLSteve11]

If you can only splurge in one place, make it St. Kitts. We went on a private tour (Thenford gray) for $48 per person and it was great. We got to see the main attractions, including Brimstone Hill Fortress which had incredible views, learned a lot about the island and got to have some nice beach time as well.

 

 

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I have to say I'm with you. I really liked St Kitts, and loved the fortress itself, and the views from there. Beautiful place. It's also the one port there is not as much to do right off the ship to really experience it.

 

St Maarten is really nice as well, though so many cruises go there you can easily get back (and may find it crowded). Plus you can walk (in like 15 minutes) to the city and the beach in front of it (or take the water taxi) and spend a day there.

 

Grand Turk is basically the beach. Nice beach, but toured the island and not much outside of it.

 

San Juan you can easily walk around the old city right off the ship and have a lot to do/see.

 

All of them have water activities and such you can do if you want.

[euphscott]

I can't tell if you are in San Juan late into the evening. If you are - the splurge you must do is the bio luminescent bay. It's a good haul from the port by bus - but it's by far the best excursion I have ever done in around 20 cruises.

 

There is a bay on the east side of the island that at night is dark, but you put your paddles in the water and stir up micro flagellates that turn a luminescent blue. The excursion is in kayaks/canoes. The guides take you through a tree lined river that opens up into this stunning bay with nothing but open sky above and around. Stars everywhere, bugs chirping and the soft gentle swish of the paddles gliding through the freshwater.

 

This is one of those things you can only do a few places in the world. And I for one am most thrilled I have had the opportunity to experience it.

 

If you are not there for a late night departure, then I echo the 12 meter regatta experience in Saint Maarten suggestion. It is a rush!

[FLSteve11]

I can't tell if you are in San Juan late into the evening. If you are - the splurge you must do is the bio luminescent bay. It's a good haul from the port by bus - but it's by far the best excursion I have ever done in around 20 cruises.

 

There is a bay on the east side of the island that at night is dark, but you put your paddles in the water and stir up micro flagellates that turn a luminescent blue. The excursion is in kayaks/canoes. The guides take you through a tree lined river that opens up into this stunning bay with nothing but open sky above and around. Stars everywhere, bugs chirping and the soft gentle swish of the paddles gliding through the freshwater.

 

This is one of those things you can only do a few places in the world. And I for one am most thrilled I have had the opportunity to experience it.

 

If you are not there for a late night departure, then I echo the 12 meter regatta experience in Saint Maarten suggestion. It is a rush!

 

Unfortunately the bay closer to San Juan had a big algae bloom towards the end of last year, and it killed off most of the flagellates so there is very little bioluminescence right now. Maybe towards the end of the year it might be better, but wouldn't book it expecting to see it at this point.

[smarks]

I agree with St. Kitts. We just got back a few weeks ago. We did a tour with Thenford Grey. He has a really great tour with a beach at the end. We did the St. Kitts Grand Tour and it was really good. Very professional and on time.