Port review - St. Thomas, Antigua, Dominica, St. Kitts, San Juan

[yoonny]

This is continuation of my first cruise review here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=440160

St. Thomas – Docked at 7am, off the ship by 8 am, taxi to Charlotte Amalie ($4 pp) by 8:20am. We took 9am ferry over to St. John ($10 pp) which took about 30 minutes. Taxi drivers were not willing to go to Red Hook from Crown Bay so just take from Charlotte Amalie, cost and time wise, it’s about same.

We hiked from Cruz Bay to Caneel Bay (30 minutes) on Lind Point Trail. WARNING: Mosquitoes will eat you alive. Trail is nice and easy but mosquitoes almost ruined our day. Honeymoon beach was nice but knowing that we had to hike back before we can relax, we went to Caneel Bay and took a cab over to Trunk Bay. WOW, this is by far the most gorgeous beach we’ve ever been. We loved soft sand and the crystal clear water. This beach saved us from bad memories of the mosquitoes.

Antigua – We took a taxi and did a tour around the island (3 hrs). I DO NOT recommend a tour of the island. Road conditions are horrible and there isn’t much to see inside the island. We did pass by some beautiful beaches and wished we just took a taxi over to a beach instead of touring the island.

Dominica – We took a taxi over to a Castaways beach (about 20 minutes from the ship, $20 per person). This was a beautiful black sand beach. We stayed for about 4 hours. You can rent beach chairs ($2) and there’s restaurant with $2 beers/drinks. Good times.

St. Kitts – We took a taxi over to Turtle Beach ($10 pp one way). Although the sand and water was not as nice as other islands’, it was fun to lounge and drink, and listen to the music with lots of fellow passengers. Rented snorkel gear ($10) at the beach, but water was little rough and underwater life was so so. We also received aloe body massages from locals.

San Juan, PR – We booked one night at the Ritz. This is truly a wonderful hotel. Beach was better than I expected with soft sand. Room was huge and great marble bathroom with Bulgari products. We took a cab over to Old San Juan for the night. We dined at Tantra (across from Parrot Club). This place has nice atmosphere, good martinis, decent food, and a dancer who could shake her hips. We had fun time. We loved Old San Juan’s architecture and people. There were so many gorgeous people, inside and out. This area is the place to people watch. The city felt like South Beach mixed in with Manhattan. Taxi rides in San Juan cost between $15 and $22 per ride.

Final thoughts:

We did not book any tours from the ship. There will be plenty of taxi/tour people waiting outside for your business. The prices are very negotiable and we found the prices to be almost half of what the cruise tours charges. However, if you want to do water activities (i.e. catamaran, snorkel), I recommend you book on board since I did not really see these offered when we got off the ship.

I guess one of the advantages of cruising is to visit all these places and find out where to return. We are definitely going back to St. John and Old San Juan if money and time permits in the near future. St. John to relax and Old San Juan to dine, drink, party, people watch, etc. Spending less than half a day in these places was way too short.

Please ask if you have any questions.

[cruiseapril]

Thanks for posting the port reviews. Too bad about the mosquitos.

[Andee]

I agree that the roads on Antigua were terrible, but I definitely thought the island was worth seeing. We rented a car and went to Nelson's Dockyard and the Dow's Hill Interpretation Center, both of which we found very interesting. We packed a picnic lunch and ate at Dow's Hill--what a wonderful view!

 

We took Fig Tree Drive back, and thought it was beautiful. Then we visited the history museum and the Cathedral--liked them both.

 

We're not big shoppers or beach people, so it was a great day for us.

[fti]

Taxi rides in San Juan cost between $15 and $22 per ride.

 

Is this the normal price? It seems a bit high - just a gut feeling. But who knows.

 

Thanks.

 

John