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Ideas for Anniv Trip Excursions? St Maarten, St Kitts, St Lucia, St Johns, Barbados

mediaase

By mediaase,
in Royal Caribbean International

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mediaase

mediaase

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We've got a December cruise planned to celebrate our 10th anniversary (woohoo), but I'm having trouble deciding on what excursions to do on each island (St Maarten, St Kitts, St Lucia, St Johns, Barbados). Hoping some of you have ideas for good excursions for couples on these islands...doesn't really matter if it's through Royal Caribbean.

 

We're looking to avoid excursions that have LOTS of people and prefer beaches with lower crowds. We're looking to relax, but we enjoy snorkeling, ATVs, and anything else to keep us awake. ;)

 

If you know of excursions that are great for couples on any of these islands, I'd love to hear about it!

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volunteer cruiser

volunteer cruiser

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Lion Rock Beach Bar and Grill on Cockleshell Beach in St. Kitts is a nice beach with fewer people. The bar menu is limited to beer and lion's rum punch and lunch is a plate of chicken or ribs and sides but the atmosphere is great. They have loungers and make shift umbrellas. If you buy lunch, loungers are included. You also get a nice few of Nevis. They now have a very nice restroom. If I remember I think they only take cash, but prices are good.

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Mrsdigi

Mrsdigi

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We were in st. Lucia in June at sandals. We did the Joe Know tour. From Castries you take a speed boat to the Pitons, you go to the mud baths, waterfall, eat lunch and snorkel, then the rum punch comes out. Absolutely a blast. Pretty sure you can do it while on a cruise, too.

 

 

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ravensbad

ravensbad

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The ports of call forums are a great resource for researching excursions. I have been to 2 of your islands and will be going to a third this December.

 

For St. Maarten we booked an island tour with Bernard's Tours, who is highly recommended and is very well rated. My only complaint was stopping at the beach in the middle of the tour, I wish it had been at the end. There also just wasn't that much interesting stuff to see other than Maho beach. You stop and see a marina, a scenic overlook, a market, Orient beach, and the aforementioned Maho beach. Maho was definitely the best thing on the tour, but the other stops just didn't get me that excited. Don't get me wrong, it was a good tour and a fun day, but it just doesn't compare with St. Kitts for us. You can see my review at Trip Advisor here: https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g147346-d1840452-r333167609-Bernard_s_Tours-St_Maarten_St_Martin.html

 

For St. Kitts we booked an island tour with Royston Tours and it really was the best excursion we did on our cruise. St. Kitts has so much neat historical stuff to see on the island (unlike St. Maarten), it was an awesome day. Again, you can see my Trip Advisor review here: https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g147374-d628726-r333176432-Royston_Tours-St_Kitts_St_Kitts_and_Nevis.html

 

I researched Barbados quite a lot for our upcoming cruise and picking one excursion was difficult. There seems to be a lot of neat stuff to do and see on the island, but there also looks to be multiple options for really good snorkeling. In the end, we decided to go snorkeling with Calabaza but we will definitely have to come back to Barbados a few more times to experience everything the island has to offer.

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reedprincess

reedprincess

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Thanks for these tips! I just read about Sugar Beach resort in St Lucia as well...looks amazing! I've emailed them to see if they offer a day pass.

 

While Sugar Beach does a day pass, it's very limited and really not worth the money at all. Doesn't include watersports, etc.

You can visit the resort yourself without a day pass, especially the beach which is the main draw...ALL beaches in St Lucia are public.

Spencer Ambrose offers a day trip that's excellent for those wanting the beach time without the drive (1.15-1.5 hour drive one way at $90us one way taxi). His Beach Break is speedboat to Sugar Beach and back, with about 5 hours at the beach / resort. Includes lunch and drinks along the way.

Sugar Beach provides free lounge chairs and palapas for shade for day trippers off to one side of the Beach, and if you go with Spencer, you have first pick of those chairs. You can also spread your towel our anywhere you like along the beach - just can't use the hotel's beds or umbrellas without renting then... You can patronize the beach bar and restaurant if you want - super expensive though, ie $18us plus service charge and VAT for cocktails...lol. You can book an awesome couples massage at the spa for something romantic - amazing rainforest setting, private mineral bath for part of the treatment, etc.

Good luck and enjoy!

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YogisWifey

YogisWifey

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I also recommend Captain Bob in St. Maarten. My husband and I did their excursion on our honeymoon cruise and I couldn't say enough good things about it! As pp said, it's a small group excursion. On our particular trip we got to snorkel in shallow waters with sea turtles and out in a deeper spot with lots of beautiful fish. Overall, such a great excursion! We were sad the day had to come to an end.

 

 

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avn2525

avn2525

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Calabazza in Barbados! Wonderful catamaran with smaller number of folks. We loved it!!

 

 

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I agree completely with this. This was the best shore excursion we have ever done. I want to cruise to Barbados again just to do this tour. Here is their website.

http://sailcalabaza.com/

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ravensbad

ravensbad

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While Sugar Beach does a day pass, it's very limited and really not worth the money at all. Doesn't include watersports, etc.

You can visit the resort yourself without a day pass, especially the beach which is the main draw...ALL beaches in St Lucia are public.

Spencer Ambrose offers a day trip that's excellent for those wanting the beach time without the drive (1.15-1.5 hour drive one way at $90us one way taxi). His Beach Break is speedboat to Sugar Beach and back, with about 5 hours at the beach / resort. Includes lunch and drinks along the way.

Sugar Beach provides free lounge chairs and palapas for shade for day trippers off to one side of the Beach, and if you go with Spencer, you have first pick of those chairs. You can also spread your towel our anywhere you like along the beach - just can't use the hotel's beds or umbrellas without renting then... You can patronize the beach bar and restaurant if you want - super expensive though, ie $18us plus service charge and VAT for cocktails...lol. You can book an awesome couples massage at the spa for something romantic - amazing rainforest setting, private mineral bath for part of the treatment, etc.

Good luck and enjoy!

 

Somehow I missed they were going to St. Lucia. That is also on our itinerary this December and there are a lot of good options here as well. Lots of highly rated Land and/or Sea tours, beach breaks, etc. We ended up booking the land and sea adventure with Spencer Ambrose tours. It's a little more expensive but it offered the best combination of stuff we wanted to see along with more time at the beach than other tours (around 1 hour with others, 2 hours with Spencer). Plus, you get to ride in a speedboat :D

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kccrzr

kccrzr

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Lots of great suggestions so far! We had a great time at Palm Court Gardens in St Kitts, Calabaza snorkel tour on Barbados and Ambrose tour on St Lucia.

 

Here are some pictures from Palm Court Gardens in St Kitts; we had a great laid back day there:

 

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29455910360_a2b34fd25a.jpg

 

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29456440930_02d157bd3d.jpg

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QueenofEverything

QueenofEverything

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Another vote for Calabazza in Barbados! Hands down the best excursion we have ever done. A beautiful catamaran with a maximum of 12 passengers. 4 very attentive and fun crew. Unlimited beverages (alcholic and non), delicious rum punch and wonderful lunch. 2 snorkel stops, one with turtles. Anchors off the beach for lunch with some free swim time. The crew is what makes this excursion. They also take pictures with their underwater camera while you are snorkeling and they upload them to their website. You can download all you want free.

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dacsmom

dacsmom

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I agree completely with this. This was the best shore excursion we have ever done. I want to cruise to Barbados again just to do this tour. Here is their website.

http://sailcalabaza.com/

Gina only takes 12 people and it was the best excursion. She really pampers you and her banana bread is fantastic. She also gives everyone a link to all the pictures so you can have beautiful memories too.

 

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cruisinreunion

cruisinreunion

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As said earlier, check out the port pages for lots of great suggestions. Only problem will be narrowing it down to just one!

 

We narrowed our choices to Bernard's tour in st Maarten which I believe is 45$ And has wonderful reviews even on trip advisor In st Lucia we booked with Cosol's and I believe it was about 75 each but starts with breakfast, food and drinks all day, go to the mud flats, see pitons, swim at waterfall, banana plantation, on to fishing villages , water holes and straw markets but then ends with swimming and snorkeling.

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