AOS to St. Lucia, St. Johns & Barbados

[TRadle]

Has anyone done the southern itinerary that includes St. Lucia, St. Johns and Barbados? If so which shore excursions do you recommend and which nights are formal nights. There are two but the itinerary only has one at sea day, and it is the last day. I’d hate to have to put my bags out on a formal night.

 

Thanks.

[Karencruiser43]

I'm leaving on April 23rd for that same cruise and have booked excursions for 40 people. I was in charge of everything. Lucky me! What do you like to do?

[golfer1966]

I wasnt on the AOS, but I was on the Serenade back in March. I am sure the Itn's are the same. The formal nights were Mon and Thurs. We went fishing in St Lucia so I really dont have any comments there. We did do a beach day on Antigua through the ship that was nice. Barbados we did the Tiami 5 Star Snorkel and Turtle Tour. It was very nice. We got to swim with Sea Turtles and snorkeled at a wreck. This tour included lunch and beverages. I am sure there will be more posts for you as well. When in St Thomas we went to Megans Bay and it was ok. We thought it was over rated. Last time we went to Trunk Bay on St John. You take a ferry from St Thomas over there. Its about 20 min and well worth it. Its very nice there. We wish we would have went back there instead of Megans Bay.

 

Good luck and have fun

[texancruzer]

We also did Serenade vs AOS however we did those islands....

 

We loved St. Lucia - did the only RCI cruiseline excursion of the whole trip.... Land and Sea to Soufriere. It was very nice. Took a nice A/C bus down to Soufriere by way of banana plantation, fishing village and the volcano. Then in Soufriere we switched to a large catamaran and sailed back to Castries. We got to see some of the island by land and water. Included lunch (which was very good). Long day tho.

 

On Barbados we hired Cameron Reid (private tour) www.scenicbarbados.com and had a wonderful day !!! He is so professional and obviously loves his island and showing it off. He picked us up at the port and took us all over the island. He will customize your tour if you don't want to do the "tourist" stuff (which we did not) and took us to some out of the way spots. Worked out to $37.50 pp for 6 hrs. of private tour. We also bought his lunch (our choice) and tipped him. I highly recommend Cameron !

 

By St. Johns I am assuming you will dock in St. Thomas and ferry over to St. John. We also did this and went to Trunk Bay. Had planned on taking a taxi tour but loved this beach and really had a relaxing time and just skipped the rest. Also had a wonderful late lunch at Woody's before boarding the ferry to go back to St. T. St. John is still so pristine and drop-dead gorgeous..... I want to go back there soon !

 

The rest of the island we rented cars and did our own thing.

[wrp96]

I did this itinerary on the Serenade last month.

 

In St. Lucia, I highly recommend doing a private tour through Cosol. There were only 4 of us in a private air conditioned van, we stopped at a banana plantation, ate bananas, stopped at the drive-in volcano, ate local cookies, stopped at a botanical gardens and got to swim in a waterfall, got to eat Johnny Cakes and fish cakes with banana ketchup and hot sauce, got to eat local bread, got to stop at Marigot Bay, and if we had wanted we would've also gone to a beach. We also made numerous shopping and photo stops. We were provided all the drinks we wanted included beer and rum punch. We did all this for $40 per person. He will change up the tours if you want to do something different. He has several drivers and multiple vans so if you have multiple groups on the same day he can accommodate them all without over crowding any of them.

 

In Barbados, my best friend (she thought this was the high point of our Serenade cruise which was a great cruise) highly recommends Silver Moon I. You go out on a 40ft luxury catamaran, and they take a maximum of 12 people on the boat, although we only had 10 our day. How crowded places are determines the order, but we swam with the sea turtles first and got to touch them and feed them. Then we anchored off shore in a place where we could swim while lunch cooked. We were fed a huge meal (chicken, fish, macaroni pie, rice and beans, salad, garlic bread). We then went swimming at the site of 2 shipwrecks and when we entered the water we were surrounded by hundreds if not thousands of fish. On the sail back, we were given chocolate chip cookies and our choice of strawberry daiquiris or pina coladas. The cost was expensive but well worth it to us.

[TRadle]

Thanks for all of the responses. We are water people and love to snorkel and spend the day at the beach. We were thinking about the miniboats & hidden beaches on St. Johns

 

We found three we want to do in St. Lucia and are having a tough time deciding. It’s between the coastal cruise to the Pitons in Castries, the beach break at Reduit, or snorkeling along the coast.

 

We’ve been to St. Thomas and St. Maarten several times, so we think we’ll just go to the beaches there or just enjoy the empty ship.

 

I guess I should mention that we fear missing the ship so we want to stick with RC shore excursions. I know, it’s an irrational fear.

[rascalious]

Hitting these islands in Sept. aboard AOS. We are thinking about Accra Beach (Sugar Reef Beach Club) for Barbados. For Antigua: Day-pass at the Allegro Occidental Pineapple Beach Hotel. For St. Lucia: Cosul or Herod's Tour

[TRadle]

Hitting these islands in Sept. aboard AOS. We are thinking about Accra Beach (Sugar Reef Beach Club) for Barbados. For Antigua: Day-pass at the Allegro Occidental Pineapple Beach Hotel. For St. Lucia: Cosul or Herod's Tour

 

Which week are you sailing? We are on Sept.3-10.

[wrp96]

Thanks for all of the responses. We are water people and love to snorkel and spend the day at the beach. We were thinking about the miniboats & hidden beaches on St. Johns

 

We found three we want to do in St. Lucia and are having a tough time deciding. It’s between the coastal cruise to the Pitons in Castries, the beach break at Reduit, or snorkeling along the coast.

 

We’ve been to St. Thomas and St. Maarten several times, so we think we’ll just go to the beaches there or just enjoy the empty ship.

 

I guess I should mention that we fear missing the ship so we want to stick with RC shore excursions. I know, it’s an irrational fear.

 

It's not an irrational fear to worry about missing the ship. I've been on 2 RCCL excursions that had to have the ship be held for them because we got back after the ship was supposed to leave.

 

That being said, Cosol and Silver Moon (and a lot of the other private excursions) rely on bookings from Cruise Critic. If somebody ever missed the ship because of them, they would be out of business. As they both said, one bad review and their bookings drop.

 

With Cosol, his brother drives another van following, and neither is full. That way if either has vehicle problems, nobody is left waiting. And the Silvermoon was honestly the best maintained boat I've been on (other than the cruise ships) and I've gone on a lot of excursions.

[rascalious]

Which week are you sailing? We are on Sept.3-10.

Sept 17th (Hint: it is in my signature at the bottom)

[bplazo]

In St. Lucia we did Jungle Tours with Shal and that had to be our best excursion. We were his only passangers and he had this old open jeep and for the first hour I did worry if the jeep would break down and I would not get back to the ship in time. However, we were having such a good time I didnt care if we got back or not.

 

We also did the Silver Moon I and it was also wonderfull. I do not swim but it was nice just to sit on the boat.

[TRadle]

Sept 17th (Hint: it is in my signature at the bottom)

 

I don't see any signatures on any postings.

[texancruzer]

You dont have that capability "turned on"

[TRadle]

How would I turn on that option? I also can't do anything with fonts. I use high speed internet and have a really good PC and laptop, so there should not be any technical problems here.

[zantedeschia]

I guess I should mention that we fear missing the ship so we want to stick with RC shore excursions. I know, it’s an irrational fear.

The very first cruise I went on I booked through RCI because I didn't know you could book otherwise. People were left behind in no less than 2 of those ports (Panama and Costa Rica). In CR, the ship sailed almost 2 hours late because excursions were delayed due to the weather (accidents and mudslides) and people still missed the ship. I still book excursions through RCI but it's due to laziness, it's just so easy to click on the menu at the website. I gladly pay extra for that convenience plus the peace of mind of knowing I won't get left behind.

 

Sept 17th (Hint: it is in my signature at the bottom)

Some of us have signatures turned off.

[pcur]

How would I turn on that option? I also can't do anything with fonts. I use high speed internet and have a really good PC and laptop, so there should not be any technical problems here.

 

Go to the top of the web page and click on "user cp" on the upper left. It's the User Control Panel.

 

Click on "options" in the list showing on the left side.

 

Go to Thread Viewing Options and turn on signatures and avatars.

 

I think that's going to allow you to see the goodies after everyone's names.

[TRadle]

Thanks for the tutorial. I'm all set up now.:D

[rascalious]

Thanks for the tutorial. I'm all set up now.:D

Sorry, tradle. I just thought eveybody could see the signatures. Good to know it can be customized.

[rascalious]

The very first cruise I went on I booked through RCI because I didn't know you could book otherwise. People were left behind in no less than 2 of those ports (Panama and Costa Rica). In CR, the ship sailed almost 2 hours late because excursions were delayed due to the weather (accidents and mudslides) and people still missed the ship. I still book excursions through RCI but it's due to laziness, it's just so easy to click on the menu at the website. I gladly pay extra for that convenience plus the peace of mind of knowing I won't get left behind.

 

Some of us have signatures turned off.

I did not realize that some had the signatures turned off. I thought by tradles low posts (read newbie) that she was not noticing the signatures. Sorry, I guess I am still learning, too.

[rascalious]

Oh, tradle, you can turn your signature off with each post by un-checking the "show your signature" box under "additional options" from the "reply to thread" page

Like this:

[TRadle]

Oh, tradle, you can turn your signature off with each post by un-checking the "show your signature" box under "additional options" from the "reply to thread" page

Like this:

 

Check my join date; no newbie here. I have just been away taking land vacations. ;)

 

I'll try and post more for this trip now that I have everything set up right.

[rascalious]

Welcome back to Cruise Critic. I truly did not mean to insult you. Now that I realize your join date is very near mine, it is obvious that you have been away awhile. I lost several hundred posts when the boards were re-done awhile back. This may have happened to you, too.

[zantedeschia]

I did not realize that some had the signatures turned off. I thought by tradles low posts (read newbie) that she was not noticing the signatures. Sorry, I guess I am still learning, too.

Unfortunately (and I'm not criticizing, just commenting) many people don't realize the signatures contribute to the lag. Every time the software has to hit another site to pick up information, that's extra loading and downloading time. Me, I just got tired of scrolling through the messages that had an extra 25 lines of past cruises.

 

Pity we can't use the same excuse to get them to get rid of the ads. :p

[wrp96]

Pity we can't use the same excuse to get them to get rid of the ads. :p

 

And what's worse is today I started noticing that the ads were appearing IN THE MIDDLE of threads, not just at the top.

[TRadle]

Welcome back to Cruise Critic. I truly did not mean to insult you. Now that I realize your join date is very near mine, it is obvious that you have been away awhile. I lost several hundred posts when the boards were re-done awhile back. This may have happened to you, too.

 

I wasn’t insulted, just amused at being considered a newbie. But I never had figured out this board, which is why I really never posted that much.

 

 

Back to shore excursions. Has anyone done the miniboats and hidden beaches on St. Johns?