Just Back from South Caribbean - Excursion Ideas

[Luv the Sun]

We just returned from a wonderful seven day seven port cruise in the South Caribbean (on Carnival's Victory)! If you're interested in excursions in the South Caribbean, this is what we did:

St. Thomas: Megan's Bay is gorgious! As we'd been there before, we decided to taxi and ferry over to St. John (on our own) to see Trunk Bay. The total cost was about $45 per person + tips (much less than Carnival's $79 per person and we could stay as long as we liked). Beautiful and worth the trip over!

Dominica: We booked a tour through the internet with COLT'S TAXI SERVICE. We were treated to Trafalgar Falls, Emerald Pool, Sulpher Springs and a black sandy beach. This was about a 4 to 5 hour tour and cost us $25 each (+ tip)! Contact www.coltstaxiservice.com/about.html if you're interested. Donald was our tour guide.

Barbados: We booked the 5 Star Catamaran and Turtle Encounter through Carnival. We saw dozens of turtles (I took tons of great underwater pictures!!!) and then visited a beautiful soft sandy beach. $99 (+ tips) per person for 5 1/2 hours.

St. Lucia: I booked an island excursion through COSOL TOURS. This was a very informative tour with lots of fun stops along the way. We were treated to a breakfast of yummy freshly baked local food, home-made bread and cheese for lunch and drinks along the way (including several local rum concoctions near the end of the tour). We water taxied to Jalouise Beach (a gorgious secluded beach between the two Pitons) visited a banana plantation, local towns, botanical gardens, sulphur springs, drive-up volcano, swam below the Toraille Waterfall. This tour gave us a flavor of the island from every possible angle and was SO worth the $65 per person we were charged (remember, this includes food, beverages, water taxi and park fees). Cosol was born and raised on St. Lucia and is very knowledgable. He takes pride in his tour company and it shows. WE HIGHLY RECOMMEND COSOL TOURS!! If you're interested in booking with Cosol, his website is www.cosol-tours.com/tours.html. Make sure to bring him an apple, they don't grow in St. Lucia and he loves them!

Antigua: We booked the Stingray Sensation through Carnival. We bussed to an area where they had stingrays partially fenced in and interacted with 50 or 60 stingrays in about 4' of water. This was a very fun excursion and we took many underwater pictures as well as several of us holding and petting the stingrays. They take your picture and you may purchase them if you'd like, or you can take your own. (We did both.) $71 per person for three hours.

St. Kitts: Alex's Taxi Service. We found Alex on the pier. He charged $5 per person to take us to Cockelshell Beach. We asked him to pick us up in three hours to visit Sunset Beach and then to pick us up again to drop us off at the dock. We were charged $10 each....What a deal. Cockelshell beach has a fun Raggae Bar as well as a resident pig (Wilbur) and monkeys on the hillside. There are shells all over the beach. Watch out for prickley sea urchens if you snorkel in the reef, my husband stepped on one and got four black spikes in his big toe...not fun! You're fine as long as you don't stand up on the reef.

Well, that's our cruise in a nutshell. What a blast! With so many ports and so much going on in each port, we hardly spent any time on the ship. I can say that the lines at the buffet were really long most of the time, but the food in the dining room was great! The ship was clean and festive, our bed was so comfortable that we found ourselves sleeping in and actually needing a wake up call for early excursions. The wait staff was a hoot and we met lots of great fellow cruisers!

Be prepared for a treat if you're planning on taking the Victory to the South Caribbean! This will be a cruise that we'll remember for the rest of our lives!!!

[jms2362]

We just returned from a wonderful seven day seven port cruise in the South Caribbean (on Carnival's Victory)! If you're interested in excursions in the South Caribbean, this is what we did:

St. Thomas: Megan's Bay is gorgious! As we'd been there before, we decided to taxi and ferry over to St. John (on our own) to see Trunk Bay. The total cost was about $45 per person + tips (much less than Carnival's $79 per person and we could stay as long as we liked). Beautiful and worth the trip over!

Dominica: We booked a tour through the internet with COLT'S TAXI SERVICE. We were treated to Trafalgar Falls, Emerald Pool, Sulpher Springs and a black sandy beach. This was about a 4 to 5 hour tour and cost us $25 each (+ tip)! Contact www.coltstaxiservice.com/about.html if you're interested. Donald was our tour guide.

Barbados: We booked the 5 Star Catamaran and Turtle Encounter through Carnival. We saw dozens of turtles (I took tons of great underwater pictures!!!) and then visited a beautiful soft sandy beach. $99 (+ tips) per person for 5 1/2 hours.

St. Lucia: I booked an island excursion through COSOL TOURS. This was a very informative tour with lots of fun stops along the way. We were treated to a breakfast of yummy freshly baked local food, home-made bread and cheese for lunch and drinks along the way (including several local rum concoctions near the end of the tour). We water taxied to Jalouise Beach (a gorgious secluded beach between the two Pitons) visited a banana plantation, local towns, botanical gardens, sulphur springs, drive-up volcano, swam below the Toraille Waterfall. This tour gave us a flavor of the island from every possible angle and was SO worth the $65 per person we were charged (remember, this includes food, beverages, water taxi and park fees). Cosol was born and raised on St. Lucia and is very knowledgable. He takes pride in his tour company and it shows. WE HIGHLY RECOMMEND COSOL TOURS!! If you're interested in booking with Cosol, his website is www.cosol-tours.com/tours.html. Make sure to bring him an apple, they don't grow in St. Lucia and he loves them!

Antigua: We booked the Stingray Sensation through Carnival. We bussed to an area where they had stingrays partially fenced in and interacted with 50 or 60 stingrays in about 4' of water. This was a very fun excursion and we took many underwater pictures as well as several of us holding and petting the stingrays. They take your picture and you may purchase them if you'd like, or you can take your own. (We did both.) $71 per person for three hours.

St. Kitts: Alex's Taxi Service. We found Alex on the pier. He charged $5 per person to take us to Cockelshell Beach. We asked him to pick us up in three hours to visit Sunset Beach and then to pick us up again to drop us off at the dock. We were charged $10 each....What a deal. Cockelshell beach has a fun Raggae Bar as well as a resident pig (Wilbur) and monkeys on the hillside. There are shells all over the beach. Watch out for prickley sea urchens if you snorkel in the reef, my husband stepped on one and got four black spikes in his big toe...not fun! You're fine as long as you don't stand up on the reef.

Well, that's our cruise in a nutshell. What a blast! With so many ports and so much going on in each port, we hardly spent any time on the ship. I can say that the lines at the buffet were really long most of the time, but the food in the dining room was great! The ship was clean and festive, our bed was so comfortable that we found ourselves sleeping in and actually needing a wake up call for early excursions. The wait staff was a hoot and we met lots of great fellow cruisers!

Be prepared for a treat if you're planning on taking the Victory to the South Caribbean! This will be a cruise that we'll remember for the rest of our lives!!!

When you got to St John Island from ferry, how did you get to trunk bay from there? Rent a car?

[Luv the Sun]

When you got to St John Island from ferry, how did you get to trunk bay from there? Rent a car?

 

No, we just used another taxi. It was pretty cheap and not far enough to need to rent a car. Plus, we were trying to beat Carnival's tour price just to see how much we'd save.

[swartz]

Does the COSOL TOURS take you to Jalouise Beach? if not were did u get the water taxi? It doenst say the beach is part of the tour on the website?

[swartz]

I called COSOL TOURS twice and sent 2 emails. No response. I want to book a tour for my cruise coming up in april

[mdecook01]

What tour operator did you use for your trip from St. Thomas to St. John? I will be there at the end of October. Looking for an independent company from RCI.

[jms2362]

What tour operator did you use for your trip from St. Thomas to St. John? I will be there at the end of October. Looking for an independent company from RCI.

 

We just did this and went to Red Hook ferry to St John. We walked out of the pier area and got a taxi there. We returned on the ferry to downtown. It was very easy. When we got to St Johjn's we took a taxi van with others at the ferry to the beach. Had a great day and the snorkeling is great. There are lockers, showers and rental of equipment.