Dusie

How about Carnival's Glory out of Miami? All sailings in October and November ( except for Thanksgiving week) are under $500 per person for 7 days. Lots of other options, too. Just an idea after a quick search.

We have done this on our own 5 or 6 times. It's really easy. Take a cab to the red hook ferry terminal. Then get your tickets and wait for the ferry to load up. Take the ferry to St John. You will arrive in Cruz bay. There are a lot of cute little shops and a few restaurants there. There is the office for the National park service a couple of hundred feet left of the terminal (with your back to the bay). they have info and maps of all the beaches. There are jitneys (open air buses) that will take you to any beach that you want. It's very easy to get a ride back. at every beaches parking lot they will have some jitneys ready for your ride back to Cruz bay. We always take the second to last ferry that will get us back to Red Hook on time. We leave extra time to find a cab. They are sometimes about 12 Passenger mini buses and they like to have them full before they leave and may do a few drop offs to resorts or retaurants along the way. Each time you get a price for transportation, know it is per person. On St. Thomas all fares are fixed, so you can't negotiate. There is a website for Red Hook ferry on line that posts the schedule and prices. Have fun!

My husband and son dropped my DIL and me off at the port with all the bags. Then they returned the car and were scooted up to the front of the line as they really needed to get more cas for the people picking up. They were told there was a free shuttle to the port but when they checked it out found they would have to wait until the shuttle filled up. So they grabbed a taxi for the short ride to the port and tipped well. It's so cute that two grown men were so excited they couldn't wait to get back to the ship.

Cruisett.com

You could try Trip Advisor and click on things to do and Barbados. You could check out Silver Moon. We've done tours with them twice in 2012 and 2014. they had different boats each time.

Our cruise got moved forward two legs because our son told us he was getting married in Cancun. So we left home for Mexico, stayed 6 days, and flew back only as far as Ft. Lauderdale for 2 days. Then we sailed 20 days. It was available as BTB 10 days with different itineraries. So we were gone 28 days total. It was wonderful.

We loved snorkeling on Klein Bonaire (little Bonaire). You can just take the water taxi (cheaper than a ships excursion). In Grenada we did a private excusion snorkeling with underwater statues. Very cool. In Dominica we did a private excusion, river tubing. The scenery was amazing.

We did both as a B2B, February to March 2014 on the Emerald. It was our best cruise ever. The Barbados/St Lucia/Antigua leg is fantastic because they are our favorite ports and the Dominica/ Bonaire leg because we got to check those two "never been to" islands off our bucket list. My goal is to see as many Caribbean ports as I can before I kick it. St. Thomas is the same for both legs and we went to St. John to the beaches both legs. I don't think you can go wrong either way. Pick one an do the other next time!

I have accordian folders with patters and excursion information in them, sail and sign cards, and flags from every island/country we've sailed to.

I start packing about twice as many day ahead as the length of the cruise.

My husband and son dropped my DIL and me off at the port with all the luggage. After we checked our large bags with the porters, my husband and son took the car to the return site. They were guided to the front of the line quickly, because so many people were waiting to pick their car up. They were offered a free shuttle ride back to the port, but because it was so close and they were excited to get on board, the grabbed a taxi. The shuttle would have been a wait while it filled up. It was all very quick and convienient.

We ususally dont take 7 day cruises, because we enjoy longer ones. We had our son and DIL with us and they couldn't do a 10+ day cruise because of work. Since early morning and Monday flights were $150 less per person, staying over and taking an early Monday flight saved us a lot of money, even after a $125 hotel room.

My husband and I did a 20 day immediately following our son's wedding in Mexico, for a total of 28 days. it was glorious being someplace warm in one of the worst winters in Wisconsin history. My adult daughter took care of my dogs while we were cruising so I could totally relax and enjoy. It's just too bad, that our travel budget took such a hit, that we have to wait until 2016 for the next one.

For four reasons:

1. One time arranging, paying for and suffering through air transportation not two.

2. Short cruises tend to be "party 'til you drop." Not my style.

3. Studies show the average time to relax and get into "vacation mode" is two and a half days. The cruise is half over by then.

4. Four and five day cruises have limited itineraries.

My husband and I went to a wedding at an AI in Mexico followed by 20 days on the Emerald Princess. We were stumped about what to do with our dogs for 28 days. We asked the lady who teaches our obedience classes as the Humane society and she recommended a young lady who used to be an animal control officer there. We Contacted her and asked for references and found out that her references included most of the board of directors at the humane society. They had used her services in the past with great satisfaction. We pay her $40 a day for three Australian shepherds. One very geriatric 14 year old girl and our 8 month old boy and my daughters 3 year old. She earned every penny!

This February my husband and I flew into Miami (after our son's wedding in Cancun) and needed to get to Ft. lauderdale to sail on the Emerald Princess. We did some research and couldn't find any shuttles to do it and taxi was way too expensive. I stumbled upon a thread here on Cruise critic where someone took the tri-rail. So we decided to give it a try. It was about a $10 taxi ride to the station from our hotel. We bought the ticket at the kiosk right there at the station. They were only $3.75 each. It was an easy transfer onto the train and there was a lot of racks for your luggage, and our car even had a restroom. In the middle of the day on a week day the train was less than 25% full. We took another $10 cab ride to our hotel in Ft. Lauderdale. We couldn't believe how smoothly it went. We did hear from the locals that it does not run on time very often, but we had practically to whole day to do it. Just one option for your consideration. Have a great cruise.

Have a great time and please come back and let us know how everything went. We love to live vicariously through other's experiences, at least until we can cruise again.

I just got off the Emerald on March 19. We had Gravity, Captain Phillips, and Girl on Fire (Hunger Games 2).

My name is Susan and I am on the Emerald on February 27. Just as a point of procedure the only place you are allowed to ask about sharing excursion tours is your Roll Call. Please come over and join us. I am also in charge of the meet and greet on Feb. 28 at Skywalker's at 10:00 am, and would love to have you join us. You can ask people if they are interested in your excursion, or confirm plans there, too. Hope to see you there!

14 days, Emerald Princess, 20 days long and our very first B2B!!!

Hi,

My husband has been using a cpap for 8 years and we have cruised many times since then. He does not fill the water section when on a cruise to the Caribbean. He finds that the air there is very humid. He did check with his doctor before the cruise and he told him that regular water will work just fine for short periods of time. Had he needed to use distilled water we knew that the ship will supply it for a small fee. Happy cruising!