Here we are again...need a beach

[mitsugirly]

Coming back to St Kitts, (I have to admit, not really one of my favorites but our ship is going there and need to find something to do).

 

We have been to Conkleshell (Reggae) before (didn't have the greatest time there and people upon people sitting on top of each other on the beach with somewhat of a bad/interesting experience) and have also been to South Friars and Carambola.

 

I know that beaches seem to be limited at this stop and the other side of the island is too rough.

 

 

But...I'm not sure which beaches still remain. Is Ship Wreck still there? What about Discovery Beach Bar? Last time we were at Carambola, we walked down that way and loved the private vibe of Discovery but I was thinking that it might not be there anymore? Can anyone confirm if this place is still around?

 

 

Any other suggestions would be nice too. Is there anything else to see/do here? We are not really "tour" people or "historical" people but do like adventures like dune buggies and so on.

 

 

Thanks in advance.

 

[flwinejunkie]

Hi Kim!

 

Can't believe I have a suggestion for you, after you've given me so many suggestions for my cruises.   I love reading your reviews and appreciate you taking the time to share your experiences and pictures with us!

 

I'm spending a week in St. Kitts this fall so starting doing some research.  I found this blog about a trip to St. Kitts and it included a dune buggy tour with Mad Max Dune Buggy.  I haven't done it myself, but it sounds like fun.   https://handluggageonly.co.uk/2018/05/08/your-essential-guide-of-things-to-do-in-st-kitts/

 

I read another post on this board and it mentions Shipwreck and Discovery beach bar are still there.

 

Have a great cruise!  Looking forward to reading your review.

[mitsugirly]

1 hour ago, flwinejunkie said:

Hi Kim!

 

Can't believe I have a suggestion for you, after you've given me so many suggestions for my cruises.   I love reading your reviews and appreciate you taking the time to share your experiences and pictures with us!

 

I'm spending a week in St. Kitts this fall so starting doing some research.  I found this blog about a trip to St. Kitts and it included a dune buggy tour with Mad Max Dune Buggy.  I haven't done it myself, but it sounds like fun.   https://handluggageonly.co.uk/2018/05/08/your-essential-guide-of-things-to-do-in-st-kitts/

 

I read another post on this board and it mentions Shipwreck and Discovery beach bar are still there.

 

Have a great cruise!  Looking forward to reading your review.

 

 

Oh my gosh you are awesome! I looked at that blog and it looked like fun! We had a blast on our last Dune Buggy tour and wouldn't mind doing something like that again. I have emailed them requesting more details and pricing. Hopefully they have a 3 person buggy.

 

 

[pghsteelerfan]

Hey there!  Will you be cruising on Fascination again?  Anyway, from recent reports, both Shipwreck AND Discovery are both open.  I saw it posted that the plans for the resort fell through and both Shipwreck and Discovery are up and running.  Attaching the links to those threads.  Will this be a Spring Break cruise? 

See Stinger-pr's post (Page 3, post #69) - hoping this opens on Page 3.

Another thread that was started in January

Another threa

[mitsugirly]

22 minutes ago, pghsteelerfan said:

Hey there!  Will you be cruising on Fascination again?  Anyway, from recent reports, both Shipwreck AND Discovery are both open.  I saw it posted that the plans for the resort fell through and both Shipwreck and Discovery are up and running.  Attaching the links to those threads.  Will this be a Spring Break cruise? 

 

 

 

Hiya!  Nope, we will be on Freedom of the Seas this time and yes for Spring Break. I can't wait. It's going to be a "graduation" cruise for me too so I had to pick an "upgraded" cabin for the occasion and it had to have at least 1 new port. hehe (Antigua).

 

Glad to hear Discovery and Shipwreck are still there. If I can't find something else, I'll probably head there.

[pghsteelerfan]

18 minutes ago, mitsugirly said:

 

Hiya!  Nope, we will be on Freedom of the Seas this time and yes for Spring Break. I can't wait. It's going to be a "graduation" cruise for me too so I had to pick an "upgraded" cabin for the occasion and it had to have at least 1 new port. hehe (Antigua).

 

Glad to hear Discovery and Shipwreck are still there. If I can't find something else, I'll probably head there.

We've never been to Antigua either.  We were looking at Journey cruise on Glory (12 days) that goes to a lot of the "Saint" islands and 4 would have been new for us (St. Croix, Tortola, Antigua, Guadeloupe) and one almost new (Martinique) since it was 27 years ago.  Hubby ended up sick most of last summer and needed surgery (for diverticulitis), so there went the vacation days, so we didn't book.  This year we must replace our windows so it will be a while before we cruise again.  Friends are going on that same Journey cruise (Feb. 19th, I think), so I can't wait to see their pics.  We were docked with Freedom in St. Thomas in 2010, nice ship!  We're thinking of trying RCI out of San Juan some year to get to some different islands.  Which other islands are on the itinerary?  And CONGRATS on your graduation!!!

 

As for St. Kitts and Shipwreck/Discovery remaining open, that was GREAT news.  St. Kitts only has the three swimmable beaches (Cockleshell, South Friars, and Frigate Bay), so losing one to a resort would have been rough.

Edited February 9, 2019 by pghsteelerfan

[mitsugirly]

36 minutes ago, pghsteelerfan said:

We've never been to Antigua either.  We were looking at Journey cruise on Glory (12 days) that goes to a lot of the "Saint" islands and 4 would have been new for us (St. Croix, Tortola, Antigua, Guadeloupe) and one almost new (Martinique) since it was 27 years ago.  Hubby ended up sick most of last summer and needed surgery (for diverticulitis), so there went the vacation days, so we didn't book.  This year we must replace our windows so it will be a while before we cruise again.  Friends are going on that same Journey cruise (Feb. 19th, I think), so I can't wait to see their pics.  We were docked with Freedom in St. Thomas in 2010, nice ship!  We're thinking of trying RCI out of San Juan some year to get to some different islands.  Which other islands are on the itinerary?  And CONGRATS on your graduation!!!

 

As for St. Kitts and Shipwreck/Discovery remaining open, that was GREAT news.  St. Kitts only has the three swimmable beaches (Cockleshell, South Friars, and Frigate Bay), so losing one to a resort would have been rough.

 

I think I remember you talking about your hubbys surgery and the windows and having to skip cruising at that point. Sorry to hear that.

 

We will be going to St Maarten, St Kitts, St Lucia, Barbados, St John Antigua out of Puerto Rico. I can't wait. This is still my favorite cruising from place ever and the ports are always amazing on these cruises. I'm also excited about trying another RC ship and a new ship for us.

[PORT ROYAL]

On 2/9/2019 at 1:35 PM, mitsugirly said:

Coming back to St Kitts, (I have to admit, not really one of my favorites but our ship is going there and need to find something to do).

 

We have been to Conkleshell (Reggae) before (didn't have the greatest time there and people upon people sitting on top of each other on the beach with somewhat of a bad/interesting experience) and have also been to South Friars and Carambola.

 

I know that beaches seem to be limited at this stop and the other side of the island is too rough.

 

 

But...I'm not sure which beaches still remain. Is Ship Wreck still there? What about Discovery Beach Bar? Last time we were at Carambola, we walked down that way and loved the private vibe of Discovery but I was thinking that it might not be there anymore? Can anyone confirm if this place is still around?

 

 

Any other suggestions would be nice too. Is there anything else to see/do here? We are not really "tour" people or "historical" people but do like adventures like dune buggies and so on.

 

 

Thanks in advance.

 

 

The previous nice known places on St Kitts are now overrun with T'erds.

Genteel cruisers now head for Sunshine's on Nevis.

 

[cruisegal40]

Kim

 

I will be curious  to see where you land.  I've read your many reviews (even if I was not sailing on that ship).  It has been nice to watch your daughter grow up on here.  We are potentially heading to St. K in September and no idea about anything there.

[mitsugirly]

2 hours ago, cruisegal40 said:

Kim

 

I will be curious  to see where you land.  I've read your many reviews (even if I was not sailing on that ship).  It has been nice to watch your daughter grow up on here.  We are potentially heading to St. K in September and no idea about anything there.

 

 

Aww thanks for the comments. I'm leaning toward the dune buggys because we had so much fun a few months ago on them in Dominican Republic. But, I'm still waiting on them to give me a price. It might be challenging because they only have 2 seaters. So, we'll see. 

 

If we don't do that, I will probably just head to Discovery. There's just not many choices in St Kitts as far as I can tell. It's not really one of my favorite ports. 

[young_ens]

On 2/16/2019 at 6:19 PM, mitsugirly said:

But, I'm still waiting on them to give me a price. It might be challenging because they only have 2 seaters. So, we'll see.

 

let me know what price they give.  Just looked at it and it does look fun

[mitsugirly]

On 2/21/2019 at 10:32 AM, young_ens said:

 

let me know what price they give.  Just looked at it and it does look fun

 

 

$125 pp

[FirstAnthem]

Hi! We just returned from our cruise last week and had a stop in St Kitts. It was our favorite stop on our cruise! We took a tour with My Islands Tours with Javin. I think you said you don’t usually  like tours, but this one was spectacular! He brings along his pet monkey, Peaches, who brings pure delight to the day. You take a rainforest hike, see some sights, climb on volcanic rocks, have a tailgate picnic, then snorkel for about 1 1/2–2 hours. Then he takes you to a beach for the remainder of your time—I believe we were at Cockleshell beach. It was an amazing day, our kids LOVED all of it! Just in case you had never heard of this tour and wanted something different. Only 9 people on our excursion—felt like we were touring with a friend. 

[smilz]

18 hours ago, FirstAnthem said:

Hi! We just returned from our cruise last week and had a stop in St Kitts. It was our favorite stop on our cruise! We took a tour with My Islands Tours with Javin. I think you said you don’t usually  like tours, but this one was spectacular! He brings along his pet monkey, Peaches, who brings pure delight to the day. You take a rainforest hike, see some sights, climb on volcanic rocks, have a tailgate picnic, then snorkel for about 1 1/2–2 hours. Then he takes you to a beach for the remainder of your time—I believe we were at Cockleshell beach. It was an amazing day, our kids LOVED all of it! Just in case you had never heard of this tour and wanted something different. Only 9 people on our excursion—felt like we were touring with a friend. 

Sounds Awesome! Can you tell us the price and what time you returned to the ship?

[FirstAnthem]

50 minutes ago, smilz said:

Sounds Awesome! Can you tell us the price and what time you returned to the ship?

Sure! The price was $95 for adults and $75 for kids 12 and under. Well worth the high-ish cost. We returned to the ship in plenty of time, I think it was around 3:45. Any other questions just let me know—I could talk about that day forever! 

[mitsugirly]

On 3/2/2019 at 11:59 PM, FirstAnthem said:

Hi! We just returned from our cruise last week and had a stop in St Kitts. It was our favorite stop on our cruise! We took a tour with My Islands Tours with Javin. I think you said you don’t usually  like tours, but this one was spectacular! He brings along his pet monkey, Peaches, who brings pure delight to the day. You take a rainforest hike, see some sights, climb on volcanic rocks, have a tailgate picnic, then snorkel for about 1 1/2–2 hours. Then he takes you to a beach for the remainder of your time—I believe we were at Cockleshell beach. It was an amazing day, our kids LOVED all of it! Just in case you had never heard of this tour and wanted something different. Only 9 people on our excursion—felt like we were touring with a friend. 

 

21 hours ago, FirstAnthem said:

Sure! The price was $95 for adults and $75 for kids 12 and under. Well worth the high-ish cost. We returned to the ship in plenty of time, I think it was around 3:45. Any other questions just let me know—I could talk about that day forever! 

 

 

It sounds pretty awesome...especially the snorkeling part. 😉   Can you tell me where you went snorkeling at? Also, you mentioned you thought you went to Cockleshell beach after, which beach club did they take you to? We've been to Reggae once and really didn't care for it. 

 

How long was the rainforest hike and was it uphill or anything? Do they provide the food and what about drinks?

 

My daughter owns a monkey, Myla...she just turned 2 yesterday hehe...so the monkey part doesn't excite us too much since I'm already grandma to a monkey that drives me nuts. LOL

[mitsugirly]

Ok, I just contacted them. It looks like an amazing tour and just what we're looking for!!! Hopefully they have openings. THANKS SO MUCH FOR THIS INFO!!!

[FirstAnthem]

35 minutes ago, mitsugirly said:

 

 

 

It sounds pretty awesome...especially the snorkeling part. 😉   Can you tell me where you went snorkeling at? Also, you mentioned you thought you went to Cockleshell beach after, which beach club did they take you to? We've been to Reggae once and really didn't care for it. 

 

How long was the rainforest hike and was it uphill or anything? Do they provide the food and what about drinks?

 

My daughter owns a monkey, Myla...she just turned 2 yesterday hehe...so the monkey part doesn't excite us too much since I'm already grandma to a monkey that drives me nuts. LOL

Hi! I’m not sure where we snorkeled actually. I only know that we were the only ones there and it was from a rocky beach area and there was a shipwreck underwater that was really cool. The hike had some uphills yes. We are pretty active so we thought it was easy/fun, but another mom on the hike was like NOPE. She had a bit of a tough time. But it was so COOL. Javin provides the DELICIOUS lunch and dessert and drinks. The lunch is empanadas and the desserts are a selection of pastries all from a local bakery. It was such an incredible day. We were enamored with the monkey—wow you own one? That’s awesome. Oh—the beach I’m pretty sure was Cockleshell. We didn’t go to a restaurant or anything, so I’m not sure about Reggae. We just walked around and went in the water and took it all in. He parks the van right there and brings out the food and drinks again and the rum punch, so you can just do whatever you want. 

[FirstAnthem]

23 minutes ago, mitsugirly said:

Ok, I just contacted them. It looks like an amazing tour and just what we're looking for!!! Hopefully they have openings. THANKS SO MUCH FOR THIS INFO!!!

Oh do you mean Javin’s tour? I hope so because you won’t regret it! 

[FirstAnthem]

Hi again—I just want to make sure I don’t misrepresent the hike. It’s really not bad. There are some uphills, but Javin stops a lot to point things out and teach you things. He quizzes you which is fun. It’s shady and cool and so beautiful. It’s not an intense hike or anything. And on the lava rocks part by the ocean, you ease yourself down a slope onto the rocks—there’s a rope there to assist. It’s not bad. And you do have the choice to opt out of anything you don’t want to do. 

[mitsugirly]

8 minutes ago, FirstAnthem said:

Hi! I’m not sure where we snorkeled actually. I only know that we were the only ones there and it was from a rocky beach area and there was a shipwreck underwater that was really cool. The hike had some uphills yes. We are pretty active so we thought it was easy/fun, but another mom on the hike was like NOPE. She had a bit of a tough time. But it was so COOL. Javin provides the DELICIOUS lunch and dessert and drinks. The lunch is empanadas and the desserts are a selection of pastries all from a local bakery. It was such an incredible day. We were enamored with the monkey—wow you own one? That’s awesome. Oh—the beach I’m pretty sure was Cockleshell. We didn’t go to a restaurant or anything, so I’m not sure about Reggae. We just walked around and went in the water and took it all in. He parks the van right there and brings out the food and drinks again and the rum punch, so you can just do whatever you want. 

 

 

It sounds like a great day. St Kitts is just not one of those islands I get excited about but now...maybe so. Lunch sounds good and I'm glad to hear about the rum punch. That's the first thing the hubby ask me about. 😄  

 

St Kitts is the place we went to and spent the day at Carambola and there was a guy there with a green vervet monkey and my oldest daughter spent the entire day with it and talking to the owner (they talked about buying and having it shipped to her). When we got back to the states, the guy stopped responding and so she took it upon herself to find one in the states and drove almost 1500 miles to get 2 of them. She kept the girl and her friend got the boy. Myla turned 2 years old yesterday. She's so much fun and clings to my daughter like crazy. They take her everywhere...4 wheeling, out in the yard, in the car. She's like another child and doesn't run off ever. 🙂

 

6 minutes ago, FirstAnthem said:

Oh do you mean Javin’s tour? I hope so because you won’t regret it! 

 

Yep! 🙂

[mitsugirly]

1 minute ago, FirstAnthem said:

Hi again—I just want to make sure I don’t misrepresent the hike. It’s really not bad. There are some uphills, but Javin stops a lot to point things out and teach you things. He quizzes you which is fun. It’s shady and cool and so beautiful. It’s not an intense hike or anything. And on the lava rocks part by the ocean, you ease yourself down a slope onto the rocks—there’s a rope there to assist. It’s not bad. And you do have the choice to opt out of anything you don’t want to do. 

 

 

Sounds doable. I just hate going UP hills. Down is fine. 😄  But we are very active all the time so it shouldn't be too bad as long as we stop along the way. My knees aren't what they used to be. lol

[FirstAnthem]

1 hour ago, mitsugirly said:

 

 

It sounds like a great day. St Kitts is just not one of those islands I get excited about but now...maybe so. Lunch sounds good and I'm glad to hear about the rum punch. That's the first thing the hubby ask me about. 😄  

 

St Kitts is the place we went to and spent the day at Carambola and there was a guy there with a green vervet monkey and my oldest daughter spent the entire day with it and talking to the owner (they talked about buying and having it shipped to her). When we got back to the states, the guy stopped responding and so she took it upon herself to find one in the states and drove almost 1500 miles to get 2 of them. She kept the girl and her friend got the boy. Myla turned 2 years old yesterday. She's so much fun and clings to my daughter like crazy. They take her everywhere...4 wheeling, out in the yard, in the car. She's like another child and doesn't run off ever. 🙂

 

 

Yep! 🙂

After going on this tour I want to live in St Kitts hahaha. Javin is really sincere and talks so much about growing up there. It was so beautiful. I could’ve stayed on those lava rocks all day. With regard to the snorkeling, the only other time we snorkeled on a cruise was in Cozumel and we booked a tour through the ship, so we basically spent 30 minutes getting kicked in the face by the flippers of 60 other people! This time I knew we needed something different so we didn’t book anything through the ship. Just having 9 of us in the water was so nice. We aren’t accomplished snorkelers or anything, so I’m not a good judge on whether or not it was “excellent snorkeling”. We saw starfish and fish and the shipwreck was really neat. AND Javin takes photos of you all day, even in the water, and you can download all the photos when you get home for free! We have such a great shot of my husband and son snorkeling together. And the swim out to the shipwreck was far, so it felt great to just kick and kick and kick freely in that beautiful water! 

[FirstAnthem]

Oh, and the rum punch was yummy!! 😊☀️🌴

[mitsugirly]

13 hours ago, FirstAnthem said:

After going on this tour I want to live in St Kitts hahaha. Javin is really sincere and talks so much about growing up there. It was so beautiful. I could’ve stayed on those lava rocks all day. With regard to the snorkeling, the only other time we snorkeled on a cruise was in Cozumel and we booked a tour through the ship, so we basically spent 30 minutes getting kicked in the face by the flippers of 60 other people! This time I knew we needed something different so we didn’t book anything through the ship. Just having 9 of us in the water was so nice. We aren’t accomplished snorkelers or anything, so I’m not a good judge on whether or not it was “excellent snorkeling”. We saw starfish and fish and the shipwreck was really neat. AND Javin takes photos of you all day, even in the water, and you can download all the photos when you get home for free! We have such a great shot of my husband and son snorkeling together. And the swim out to the shipwreck was far, so it felt great to just kick and kick and kick freely in that beautiful water! 

 

We are avid snorkelers (and like to scuba dive as well) but we have had some amazing times and seen some amazing things on even the not so amazing coral reefs snorkels we've had. I've snorkeled places that others have said it's not a place to snorkel and a sandy bottom and found things I've never seen before. So you just never know...

 

I do very long reviews, which include our snorkeling and diving pictures, and have 3 underwater cameras and take my own pictures (check out some of my reviews in my signature line...although the last couple of cruises aren't on there because my signature line has run out of space) and I'm always complaining that I'm always behind the camera taking the pictures that people are gonna think I'm never really there because there's no pictures of me. That will be nice to have this time around. 

 

13 hours ago, FirstAnthem said:

Oh, and the rum punch was yummy!! 😊☀️🌴

 

Awesome! :)