Dec 4 St. Lucia ?Jan 29 Barbados? NCLDawn

[Kim Fontaine]

Here is my question: We were all set to book our usual Dec. Cruise. Our anniversary is the 4th: I started reading boards and realized if we did the cruise in late January there was a good chance we could see Whales in Samana; Now after reviewing both cruises ( No Whales early in Dec) I find Dec. has St. Lucia listed and Jan has Barbados (substituted): Who has been to either to tell me which is a better Port to visit:

We are an older couple ( H:72 W 66) not much into the beach life ; But love the historical tours which many of these small islands have.. Any replies would be appreciated! Thanks

[NCTribeFan]

Just cruised Carnival Victory, which is an all-ports cruise (San Juan, St Thomas, Dominica, Barbados, St Lucia, Antigua, St Kitts).

 

The two stops are very different.

 

Because I had only been to St Thomas, I booked an independent island tour at each stop. I like to get a feel for the island, it's history and it's culture and find that's the best way to do it.

 

All the tours included a beach stop except Dominica (which happened to be my favorite stop on this cruise).

 

While the Barbados tour was interesting and informative, it's much more developed and has beautiful beaches.

 

St Lucia is a mountainous rainforest island. The Pitons are not to be missed.

 

My review is broken down by day, so if you'd like to read just about those two ports, it's easy enough to find those sections.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=997758&highlight=

 

You can also go to the POC boards for those two islands and read some of the threads there about what there is to do.