SpaceCowboy9

In Animal House Tim Matheson is wearing a plaid table cloth

Toga!!!
 

If it's a plaid toga, that would be frowned upon on White Night

Love St Kitts, but I'm not going to travel there for at least a couple of years, if ever.  Places like Bermuda, Turks, St Kitts messed up cruising with their silly protocols, well after the science was known.  No, I will go to places like St Martin & Aruba who made an attempt to follow the science.  Planing a trip to Grenada soon, they dropped their requirements early.

On 2/12/2023 at 5:49 PM, fletchers5 said:

can I ask why it would be hard for a taxi to go to brewers beach?

 

If you are adventurous, you could take the dollar bus to brewers beach - we've done it.  You would pick it up out front of the Pueblo grocery store (just outside Havensight)

going that direction, you would take it all the way to the university (end of the line) and a 10 minute walk to the beach

brewers is real chill - hardly anyone there, there is a restroom, but no chair rentals - the day we went, there was a guy with a cart selling drinks

not the best snorkeling, but turtles run through there and I followed a sting ray around for about a half hour.

Can't help you with Curacao, but Aruba has great beaches and also great for snorkeling.

If you want beach & snorkeling from shore try Arashi Beach

For a snorkeling tour, we went with https://arubawatersportscenter.com/ the tour we took had two stops, including one wreck, good snacks, rum punch/drinks - I thought it was a good value.

On 3/1/2023 at 7:47 AM, cadberry said:

should we summit the form again?

I would -- for Princess, I got word back in less than a week - but bring proof of that on your cruise, I got onboard and had to show them copies of emails from Princess saying I was in the program.

let everyone know what cruise line so you can get specific help.

We've done both, but not through a cruise ship.  The Topper's tour is a pretty good tour, lot of tasting, we had a cooking demonstration, and we got to see some of the bottling.
We like going to the bakery, lots to choose from.  If you go out the back, there is seating on the bay with great views while enjoying your pastries.   (we do like Chez Fernand in Marigot better)

It should be easy to get a taxi - you could arrange a pick up with whoever dropped you off or someone at Topper's could call one for you if necessary.

We've only done the Legacy Tour - thinking about doing the tasting, anyone know if it's worth it?
We like hanging out in the bar area, it's just lovely there, with the breeze....

Remember, you can take the ferry across the bay -- 50 cents each way -- a cab from there is pretty cheap.

https://www.bacardi.com/us/en/casa-bacardi/plan-your-visit/

we did Bernard's twice last year: March & November
We always go with them - great tour at a great value
I looked through my text confirmations for our November trip and we also paid through Junglebee.

Last summer, we went with https://arubawatersportscenter.com
Catamaran with two stops (The Antilla Ship Wreck & Boca Catalina Bay)
good snacks and Rum Punch - I thought it was a good value

St Martin: Bernard Tours - https://bernardstours.com/

St Lucia - do something that includes the Pitons - we did Hackshaw Boat Charters - included snorkeling at a couple of spots (found on trip advisor)

Barbados - Mount Gay Rum - you can walk there from the cruise port, we did their rum tasting & Rihanna's childhood home is right near there (I'm not a fan, but when in Barbados...)

have fun, sounds like a great itinerary!

Bernard's is great!  I've been to the island eight times and toured with them all but one.  They have great tours at a good value.

Driving in PR is as safe as any major city in the U.S. - so yes, it can get a little crazy at times, but no worse than L.A. or Miami or D.C.  Once you get out of San Juan it's easy.  If you get onto any secondary roads, they can have some potholes, if you stay on the main roads, it shouldn't be a problem.

It's an easy drive out to El Yunque, maybe an hour and 20 minutes.  Mid day, the traffic should not be bad and coming back most people will be leaving San Juan.  Leaving at 10:00 pm should give you more than enough cushion.

I only rented from the Airport, so I can't help you there.

It's easily doable, if you can rent a car.  Good Luck!

Yea, I'm skipping Grand Turk for the next couple of years for all of their silly rules.

If you do rent a car, go clockwise around the island.  Another post mentioned the traffic, it's usually not bad, but it can get bad.  If you go clockwise, you'll hit the areas that could have the worst traffic first.  We were visiting once (non-cruise) during a regatta.  The drawbridges were up for an extended time.  The traffic was at a standstill.  We turned around and did something else.  You may not have that option when trying to get back to the cruise port.

We took the dollar bus over to Red Hook, I think it cost $4/per person round trip.  You can pick it up at the Rainbow (across the street from the Pueblo Grocery).

Does anyone know if the taxis are running from the ferry building over to bacardi?  We were in San Juan in August (2022), we got across the bay via the ferry, but no taxis were running.  Later we found, bacardi was by appointment only and you had to get your own transportation.

We did a snorkel trip through Captain Alan (https://captainalan.com/)  I think we found them through trip advisor. Curtis was our captain, he was a great guide.  The tour we did had three stops and we did see some turtles off Tintamarre Island.  We would go with them again, thought it was a good value.

If you have a jeep, stay on the rough side of the island (which is the eastern side of the island) - that would be the gold mill & natural pools/natural bridge & it would be easy to hit the California lighthouse (You may even be able to do some off-road)

There's a cut through that has a shorter walk (easy, flat, safe) - see the google map link below.  If you zoom in, you'll see the crosswalk (most drivers will stop for you at the crosswalk - you just have to watch out for the tourists).

There are some restaurants inside Super Food that are good value (we ate at Jack's Cafe a few times when we stayed on the island last summer - Super Food has all the snacks, booze, etc. you'd need for the beach).

The palapas (umbrella structures) towards the northern end are first come/first served and free for use, you would need to rent chairs.  The rest are part of the resort - not sure if they rent to the public - we had our own chairs.

If you have any questions, we'll try to answer them.

https://goo.gl/maps/m2GUz57ZacxptnwS6

A bakery, well a place to buy pastries, just opened at Maho beach.  Next to the Sunset Beach Bar.

Chez Fernand la French Bakery is in Marigot, it's just up the street from where Serafina's was.  Been a couple of times -- good stuff.

We always love going to Parrotville/Parotte Ville Bird Sanctuary.  It's one thing we really like doing that is not on their regular tours.

If you are cheap, like me, you could take the bus.

https://arubus.com/routes-schedules-new/

Took the bus to Arashi and other places in May.  Everything is running.  Take cash/change.  It was $2.60 per person each leg of the journey.  Going from Oranjestad to Arashi, round trip, should be total $5.20/person.  Love their bus service.

https://arubus.com/routes-schedules-new/

Grand Case is a nice beach to hang out at and lots of food/bar options