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First Cruise to the Caribbeans


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We are going on our first cruise to the Caribbeans. We will be going to Princess Cays (Bahamas), St Thomas, St Kitts, St Lucia, Antigua, and St Maarten. We are in our 60s - enjoy sightseeing, cultural stuff, walking. Couple of questions, appreciate your feedback.

1) any good ideas for excursions that we can do ourselves (trying to avoid higher cost of ship excursions)

2) Caribbeans mean beaches and swimming. Do you bring a backpack with clothes to change into at the beach?

3) are towels, chairs, ... available at the beaches? What are your suggested beaches - trying for quieter beaches.

4) if you go snorkeling, where can we we safely keep our cellphones, wallets, ....

Thank you much. Feedback for us newbies would be great.

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We are going on our first cruise to the Caribbeans. We will be going to Princess Cays (Bahamas), St Thomas, St Kitts, St Lucia, Antigua, and St Maarten. We are in our 60s - enjoy sightseeing, cultural stuff, walking. Couple of questions, appreciate your feedback.

 

1) any good ideas for excursions that we can do ourselves (trying to avoid higher cost of ship excursions)

 

2) Caribbeans mean beaches and swimming. Do you bring a backpack with clothes to change into at the beach?

 

3) are towels, chairs, ... available at the beaches? What are your suggested beaches - trying for quieter beaches.

 

4) if you go snorkeling, where can we we safely keep our cellphones, wallets, ....

 

Thank you much. Feedback for us newbies would be great.

 

 

 

We are going to these same ports on the Caribbean Princess May 1. I am interested in finding out the answers to your questions too. I also wonder how warm the water will be for snorkeling.

 

 

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Of the ports listed, I have only been to Princess Cay but can at least give you feedback on it. Princess Cay (along with other Bahamas ports) are really more in the Atlantic than the Caribbean, and will likely have colder water. I was there in February with my husband and I think water temps were listed in the low 70's. Many find this too cold, but we were fine. It was brisk when first getting in, but once in it was good. Several other cruisers were enjoying the water too. By May it should probably be mid 70's or better, but some people will still find it chilly. It won't be bath-water warm.

 

I'm pretty sure your other ports are more consistent temperatures year round. You should be able to easily find temperatures with a google search, but likely it will be warm water.

 

The rest of my answers are below, specifically for Princess Cay:

 

We are going on our first cruise to the Caribbeans. We will be going to Princess Cays (Bahamas), St Thomas, St Kitts, St Lucia, Antigua, and St Maarten. We are in our 60s - enjoy sightseeing, cultural stuff, walking. Couple of questions, appreciate your feedback.

1) any good ideas for excursions that we can do ourselves (trying to avoid higher cost of ship excursions) This should be a nice beach day with minimal costs (if you want it to be). We sailed Carnival, but Princess should be similar. It is a tender port and when you get off the tender ship if you go to the left that will be the main lounging/swimming area. If you cross the foot bridge to the right there is a smaller, quieter area - but it still has restrooms and a picnic area. We also had a local vendor with two or three tables of goods. The busy side had more vendors, bar(s), a straw market, and a playground. Carnival did not use the food trucks, but I think Princess does. We took bottled water with us in our bag and did not purchase any drinks (there is also lemonade and tea at the picnic stations). We experienced a lot of flies at the picnic area, so I would likely wait until back on ship to eat.

2) Caribbeans mean beaches and swimming. Do you bring a backpack with clothes to change into at the beach? I wore a cover-up over my swim suit and my husband might have worn shorts over his swim trunks plus a t-shirt, and just let the sun dry us on the beach.

3) are towels, chairs, ... available at the beaches? What are your suggested beaches - trying for quieter beaches. Chairs are provided at PC, the ship should provide towels for you to take off the ship (but be sure to bring them back). If you like walking, I think there might be a light house and possibly a grave yard on the island within walking distance. There should be threads about it in the private islands board.

4) if you go snorkeling, where can we we safely keep our cellphones, wallets, ....

Thank you much. Feedback for us newbies would be great. PC has a very rocky/uneven entrance into the water so I would recommend water shoes, but they also have really nice snorkeling. We only took the essentials off ship with us and left them in our bag while we were in the water. If you are concerned you can take turns in the water or there are several types of locking bags.

 

We are going to these same ports on the Caribbean Princess May 1. I am interested in finding out the answers to your questions too. I also wonder how warm the water will be for snorkeling.

See above for water temps.

 

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Enjoy your cruise!

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We are going on our first cruise to the Caribbeans. We will be going to Princess Cays (Bahamas), St Thomas, St Kitts, St Lucia, Antigua, and St Maarten. We are in our 60s - enjoy sightseeing, cultural stuff, walking. Couple of questions, appreciate your feedback.

1) any good ideas for excursions that we can do ourselves (trying to avoid higher cost of ship excursions)

2) Caribbeans mean beaches and swimming. Do you bring a backpack with clothes to change into at the beach?

3) are towels, chairs, ... available at the beaches? What are your suggested beaches - trying for quieter beaches.

4) if you go snorkeling, where can we we safely keep our cellphones, wallets, ....

Thank you much. Feedback for us newbies would be great.

 

We are cruising on Royal Caribbean in June and I have been researching too. We are going to a few of the same islands..St.Kitts - I have seen recommendations for South Friars Beach, Antigua - I found out from another cruiser that you can take a local bus (#17) for about $1.50 a person to Nelson's Dockyard and admission is $8.00 a person. In St. Lucia we booked a highly recommended tour (from a few different sources) from Cosol tours.

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St Thomas,

Take the ferry to St John and a bus to the beach there. It's a national park and they have a great snorkeling trail, complete with signs that identify what you may see. The snorkeling is next to rocks, so it's great for seeing all sorts of fish, coral, and other stuff that I still have no idea what it is, but it was pretty! There's a little area with showers and bathrooms (not sure about food)

 

St Kitts,

We did the train around the island. It was fairly cheap and showed us a lot of the farming area, some of the old ruins of windmills, where the 2 oceans meet. It's narrated and they have drinks and a bathroom on the train. You will see all sorts of natives, from children to elderly walking around and they all wave. It's a couple of hours long and then you can explore the downtown area for shopping afterwards if you like. We went to a little restaurant and filled up on island food. Check out a site such as beyond ships dot com for info on the islands.

St Lucia--we did an ALL DAY tour here the first time. It was exhausting. It was on a bus, so everywhere we stopped, we had to wait for people to unload, take pics, load back up...alot of wasted time. We stopped at a banana plantation, a volcano, the mud baths, and ate lunch at a "restaurant" that really was in someone's house. We did see a lot of the countryside though with some great views of the Pitons. The guide was excellent. We only got to spend about a half hour at a very crowded beach with no chairs. We returned back to the port by boat. The next time we went to St. Lucia, we went deep sea fishing and should not have been out on the water that day. The waves were horrible and it just felt dangerous. The last time we were there, we did a little shopping and relaxed on the ship. We'd seen all of the island the first time. St. Lucia is my least favorite.

Antigua, the first time we caught a cab at the pier with 2 ladies and the driver took us on a short tour, and dropped us at a beach with a restaurant, bathrooms, and wifi. He told us he would be back on time, and he was. It was not crowded, and was a gorgeous beach. He even stopped at a store and let me get some bananas (I love fresh island fruit). The 2nd time we went to Antigua, we did an island tour that took us to all the sights. It was very nice and not crowded and there was wifi on the van.

 

St Maarten--I have nothing bad to say about St M. It has to be one of my favorite places on earth. I even named my dog Maarten. We missed this port in November due to the hurricane, but I'll be there in a couple of weeks and can't wait. Our first time, we did a tour with Bernard's tours on a friend's recommendation. It was very nice, but sort of a hurry up thing, such as in St. Lucia, loading everyone on and off and wasting time. It covers the whole island though, and you will see things you wouldn't see on your own.

There's a very pretty beach near the water taxi pier and the boardwalk with restaurants and shopping. You can rent chairs there. When we were there before, the restaurants mostly didn't take cards. Another time we caught a cab and went to Maho Beach. You have to get there early to get chairs, and it gets crowded. There are (or were) 2 restaurants there and they stay crowded with people getting out of the sun. The bigger planes that day came in the afternoons, so it was a long wait to see any of them, since we got there early. We caught a cab and went back to the beach at the water taxi when it got to be too crowded. One or two planes is plenty. If you want to see both sides of the island, an organized tour is the way to go.

The ONLY excursion out of the ones I mentioned that I booked thru the cruise line was the deep sea fishing one.

I read and write reviews on a website that you can look up excursions on. It's a very well known site and ranks excursions based on reviews. Be sure and look for the award of excellence certificate if you go that route. We've never come close to missing the ship on any private excursion. Sometimes the amount saved isn't that much, but the smaller excursion and the more "personal" service is worth it to us.

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We are going on our first cruise to the Caribbeans. We will be going to Princess Cays (Bahamas), St Thomas, St Kitts, St Lucia, Antigua, and St Maarten. We are in our 60s - enjoy sightseeing, cultural stuff, walking. Couple of questions, appreciate your feedback.

1) any good ideas for excursions that we can do ourselves (trying to avoid higher cost of ship excursions)

2) Caribbeans mean beaches and swimming. Do you bring a backpack with clothes to change into at the beach?

3) are towels, chairs, ... available at the beaches? What are your suggested beaches - trying for quieter beaches.

4) if you go snorkeling, where can we we safely keep our cellphones, wallets, ....

Thank you much. Feedback for us newbies would be great.

 

 

St. Thomas--just hit the beach or stay on the ship. I didn't like St Thomas as much as I did as St Croix. To me St. Thomas is just a lot of shopping.

St. Kitts--Thenford Grey Tours. Have done both the "group" tour he offers and a privet tour with him. Can not say enough good things about Gray's....I booked my cruise for this coming Nov. and before the TA had the cruise booked I had my privet tour with Grey's already booked.

St. Luca--Go with Cosol Tours. Did the tour last year and loved it...booking again this coming Nov with them.

Antigua---go with Antigua VIP tours. We did a privet tour with them last year and loved it. The driver took us to most of the same places as other tours went (Nelsons Dock Yard and such) but because we were on a privet tour we did not feel rushed or anything. We even ate lunch at the Dock Yard that was very good.

Princess Cays--you can go outside the gate and they have some cab drivers right there that can take you on a tour of the island. Most Cruise ships will not tell you that because they want you to do your outings with them. We didn't find out about the cabs until it was almost time to head back to the ship.

St Maarten--never been to so I can't help ya there.

As for your cell phone, money and such why don't you get a water proof pouch to use.

I always carry my own beach towel incase I forget it on the beach....then I wont be charged 25.00 for the cruise ship.

I also suggest looking at your cruises roll call, you may find that there are a few that would want to do a privet tour with you in some of the ports.

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St Thomas and St Maarten are my two favorite ports. In fact we have a week booked for St Thomas in Sept. Coki Beach and Sapphire beach are beautiful clear calm water where you can see all the beautiful tropical fish swim around you. You can rent chairs there and get snacks. bring a towel. In St Maarten there are many gorgeous beaches, Just google them, We like to rent chairs right by the port in front of all the shopping. Beautiful beach there. I envy you!! Have fun

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Every time we've stopped in St. Thomas we've taken the ferry over to St. John and rented a jeep to drive over to Trunk Bay. Easily one of my favorite places in the Caribbean.

 

As for clothing, I wear my swimsuit with a nice cover-up over it. My husband usually wears a swimsuit with a t-shirt.

 

For wallet, phones, etc. we always use a waterproof pouch designed specifically for wearing in the water. There are lots of them available on Amazon or at other retailers.

 

Hope you have a great cruise!

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Thanks to everyone for all of their feedback. In planning stages now!!

 

Good morning & Greetings from St. Thomas! I live here & am happy to answer any questions. The Virgin Islands are the only places in the Caribbean that were hit by 2 category 5 hurricanes in September. I'm happy to say that we are back OPEN for business. Please come enjoy St. Thomas & St. John with some of the great suggestions on this thread.

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  • 1 month later...

As for excursions, I suggest taking a look at Viator and search for your area. They have lots of excursions, good prices, I have used them several times in Europe and Mexico. For snorkeling and water stuff, I suggest Coki Beach for sure! Excellent snorkeling but you have to find your way there and they dont have lockers for stuff but they do have a snack bar and chair rentals. But I think doing a snorkel excursion might be the way to go because you have a place to store your stuff, you will go to snorkel sites you cant get to unless you are in a boat and they are going to get you back to land in time to sail. Visiting St, John is awesome too, my favorite beach there is Maho but its not great for snorkeling. St. Thomas is great, yes, its got lots of shopping but if you head to the east end you can enjoy many beaches like Saphire. And you are welcome to visit any beach, even if its for a hotel. They are not private .I usually stay at the Elysian which is a nice beach with a activity shack where you can rent water toys like kayak and such.

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We were in St Thomas in November and it is not like it used to be. We ended up talking to the locals and let them share what they have been through. There was very little electric on the island. Meagan’s bay was almost destroyed but they were planting new trees. In previous years we have gone to Trunk Bay as it is just gorgeous.

On a Antigua we hired a cab, negotiate price prior to going, and toured the entire island.

St. Lucia went on a small group tour as the regular bus tours do spend more time loading and unloading than sightseeing. We went to the volcanoes and toured the island.

St Maarten we did tour of island. Enjoy

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  • 2 weeks later...
We were in St Thomas in November and it is not like it used to be. We ended up talking to the locals and let them share what they have been through. There was very little electric on the island. Meagan’s bay was almost destroyed but they were planting new trees. In previous years we have gone to Trunk Bay as it is just gorgeous.

On a Antigua we hired a cab, negotiate price prior to going, and toured the entire island.

St. Lucia went on a small group tour as the regular bus tours do spend more time loading and unloading than sightseeing. We went to the volcanoes and toured the island.

St Maarten we did tour of island. Enjoy

 

Yes, most of us didn't get our electric back until around Christmas. However, now it is June and most of the island is fully OPEN for business and happy to see us cruisers!

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Yes, most of us didn't get our electric back until around Christmas. However, now it is June and most of the island is fully OPEN for business and happy to see us cruisers!

So glad to hear that your lives are getting back to "normal." We will be visiting your beautiful island in October!

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I'm enjoying this thread. Can anyone offer more details on visiting St. John from St. Thomas?

I'm happy to help. I live on St. Thomas and go over to St. John regularly. Since the September hurricanes, you can only catch the ferry in Red Hook. It goes over every hour from 6 a.m to 10 p.m. to Cruz Bay on St. John and takes about 15 minutes. The distance from the cruise ships to the Red Hook ferry terminal is about 25 minutes by taxi. The ferry cost is $14 each way.

Another choice is to book a tour or charter. Several island companies offer pick-up at the cruise ships, tour of St. Thomas and St. John. A fun one is Sunfari Jeep Adventures with private tours of both islands and all the best hidden spots. Their website is http://www.sunfariVI.com. I do private boat charters with my boat from St. Thomas around St. John too. Its beautiful by water! Hope that helps :)

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Every time we've stopped in St. Thomas we've taken the ferry over to St. John and rented a jeep to drive over to Trunk Bay. Easily one of my favorite places in the Caribbean.

 

 

Can you say more about renting a jeep on St. John?

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I'm happy to help. I live on St. Thomas and go over to St. John regularly. Since the September hurricanes, you can only catch the ferry in Red Hook. It goes over every hour from 6 a.m to 10 p.m. to Cruz Bay on St. John and takes about 15 minutes. The distance from the cruise ships to the Red Hook ferry terminal is about 25 minutes by taxi. The ferry cost is $14 each way.

Another choice is to book a tour or charter. Several island companies offer pick-up at the cruise ships, tour of St. Thomas and St. John. A fun one is Sunfari Jeep Adventures with private tours of both islands and all the best hidden spots. Their website is www.sunfariVI.com. I do private boat charters with my boat from St. Thomas around St. John too. Its beautiful by water! Hope that helps :)

 

Thank you Traveler Trish. I have contacted Sunfari. 2 in our group like to walk a lot and I am trying to get a sense of how we access the walking trails on St. John. The other 2 would want to just ride and look. And yes I know this is odd, but none of us plan to get in the water. What are your thoughts on the walking trails on St. John?

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  • 4 weeks later...

This is my first trip to the Caribbean and will need to be able to access wifi to keep in touch with those at home. I cannot afford Celebrity's price for internet on board. We will be visiting St Thomas, St Croix, Antigua, Barbados, St Lucia and St Maarten. Is wifi easy to access on these islands, or am I better off renting a pocket wifi device? I do not have a data plan here in Canada, but talk and text only through Rogers. Thanks for any advice!

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We are going on our first cruise to the Caribbeans. We will be going to Princess Cays (Bahamas), St Thomas

4) if you go snorkeling, where can we we safely keep our cellphones, wallets, ....

Thank you much. Feedback for us newbies would be great.

 

For St. Thomas, Take a taxi from the boat to Coki Beach (About a 25 minute ride). $9, per person (if you have a group of 4-5 you'll get a taxi right away. Lockers are available at the beach as well as showers/restroom. We wear shorts/t-shirts over our swimwear and put the clothes in the locker when we get there. Take Milk-bone dog biscuits with you and you can hand-feed the tropical fish by the rocks at either end of the beach. Just walk out in the water to about waist depth if you don't want to snorkel and hold a milk bone in the water. Stand still and in a minute you'll be surrounded by sergeant majors, parrot fish, surgeon fish, doctor fish, ribbon fish, and others. Have also seen dolphins swimming further out. Don't forget your waterproof camera for great pics/videos!! This is the same beach the boats charge $49 per person. to go to "coral world" at. IF you get right off the boat and get going, you'll be there for a couple hours before the beach starts to get busy. Wifey and I have been the ONLY people there for a couple hours each time we go. When ready to return to the boat or downtown to shop, just ask the rental people to call a taxi for you. They are happy to do so (especially if you rented a locker from them.) For $40 bucks (tipping the taxi plus the fare) round trip for two versus $49 for one, it's a great excursion. Enjoy your trip!!

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