Long Bay?

I am looking for opinions on Long Bay beach. We are a family of Five (3 kids - 12, 15, 17) and would like to just do a day at a beach when in Antigua. The opportunity to do a little snorkeling would be welcome as well.

Let me know your experiences.

Thanks!

Rigger:)

When are you going? We have planned an afternoon there next week with an almost 2 yr. old an a 6 yr. old. I'd be happy to report back to you when we get back, if it's not too late.

When are you going? We have planned an afternoon there next week with an almost 2 yr. old an a 6 yr. old. I'd be happy to report back to you when we get back, if it's not too late.

Can you also let us know your cab fare to Long Beach?

Thanks.:)

cruisincarrie,

We plan to go there in April with a 2 and 4 year old. Would love to hear about your day there. Please write when you get back. Have a great time and enjoy your trip.

Margaret,

I won't know cab fare since we are taking a tour with Gordon from Antigua Beach Runner that includes some sites and beach time. We are paying him $35 per adult, $10 for the 6 yr. old and the 2 yr. old is free. I'm sure it would be less if you didn't have the tour included. I know he will run you to just the beach and back too, so you might want to email him for a cost.

mimi'sgirl,

Yes, I will report back on how the day goes in Antigua. What other ports are you visiting?

Well we rented a car (Hertz- Suzuki Grand Vitara for 57.00 + for the day) and drove ourselves..... 4 adults. On the left side tho.... but once out of town.....almost no other cars on the road.

We went first to the church on the hill... my bf loves old churches and this one is really unique. You'll see it from the harbor. Then over to Long Bay for a few hours of beach time..... really nice white sand beach. Snorkling is just ok.... the reef is looking a little tourist worn. But a few burger huts and a few vendor areas too.... Then down to Nelsons Dockyard area - but did not stop.... then over Fig Tree Drive - GORGEOUS !!!! and up the west coast back to town. Plenty of time to shop before "all aboard".

Antigua was actually one of my favorite islands on this cruise. Like a tropical Texas hill country.:)

Hi cruisincarrie,

We will be aboard the Norwegian Dawn and travel to St. Thomas, Antigua, Barbados, Grenada, Dominica (Easter) and Tortola. Where will you be going? Which cruise line will you be on? Any info would be greatly appreciated. I could give you my email address if you prefer. Thanks again and enjoy!

:)

When are you going? We have planned an afternoon there next week with an almost 2 yr. old an a 6 yr. old. I'd be happy to report back to you when we get back, if it's not too late.

We are going in March, so any information you can pass on would be very much appreciated.

Thanks!

Rigger

We are crusin on the Jewel on march 4 and will be in Antigua march 7. we have booked Sean from Scenic tours to pick us up(there are 4 of us) and take us to Pineapple Beach Resort on Long Bay.

Sean quoted me $15.00 each return from the pier to Long Bay...He has a 30 seater bus.

We also booked a day pass at the Pineapple Beach Resort - For $45.00 we can stay the day, eat, drink and enjoy there activities and amenities for the day...It looks like a great resort..the drive to the resort is across the Island and takes 30 min..so we will see some sights along the way...

We just got in last night from a wonderful cruise on the NCL Pearl. Antigua was one of our favorite islands. We used Gordon from Antigua Beach Runner (and Premier Tours) and loved him! He picked us up in a spotless van and stopped at the few sites we wanted to see and then drove us out to Long Bay Beach. The public beach area at Long Bay is between the Long Bay Resort and the Grand Pineapple (they all share the same beach). It was a beautiful white, powdery sand beach. The water was warm and you could walk out quite a distance. There was a reef further out for snorkeling. You could rent a jet ski if you wanted to get out on the water. They had chairs available for $6. Umbrellas for $10. You could also just lay on your towel from the ship. We had lunch at Barrow's restaurant. It was very basic (hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken sanwiches), but very reasonable and the food was ok. The meals were $5-7 including fries. Water, soda, juices, lemonade, or punch were $2. We didn't order anything alcoholic, so I don't know those prices. There were some beach vendors set up in tents, but they didn't come around bothering you. I would highly recommend this beach. I can't see paying the additional money to go to Grand Pineapple next door unless you planned on eating and drinking a ton!

Let me know if you have any other questions. I am going to try to upload our photos today if anyone would like to see the beach area.

Enjoy your trips!

Mimi'sgirl,

It sounds like you have a nice itinerary. We've been to St. Thomas many times. Our favorite day was spent with Jan and Omar of Interline Sail for a daysail. It was well worth the time and money. We spent our day in Barbados at the Boatyard. It was fine, but not my favorite port. I'm sure we would have a different opinion if we had done something else. The Boatyard is a nice beach and it is nice to have your chair and a drink included, but the people in Barbados were very pushy everywhere we went. We haven't been to Grenada, but are scheduled to go there in November. You'll have to let me know what you think. We used Reyno Tours in Dominica and can't say enough about them. We swam in the Emerald Pool and hiked to the falls. It was a gorgeous, unspoiled island. We also saw the Wacky Rollers tubing and ziplining area. It looked like a blast, but our kids are too young. We went to the Baths on our Tortola stop with Patouche. It was beautiful. You should definitely get out there if you can. Let me know if you have any questions or would like to see pictures of anything! Have a wonderful cruise!

Carrie

Crusincarrie, Hi I noticed in a couple of your posts that you did a 1/2 day baths tour with Patouche. Could you provide any details here or on the tortola board of this excursion? I have this same trip booked with Patouche from the Pearl and so many people have me nervous about the short time on the island etc that I was hoping you could give me your feedback. Also how recently did you take this excursion? Thanks!!! Michele

Hi Michele,

We just got off of the Pearl two days ago. We were out with Patouche in Tortola last Friday. We had a really nice sailing with them on the Oil 'n Water. What are you booked on? I typed a nice long review of the trip on the Tortola board and for some reason it didn't post. I'll get back there soon. The timing was fine, but we only had 15 minutes to spare. I felt ok about being out with them since the Extreme Machine was an NCL excursion and the ship would have to wait for them and that is Patouche's other boat. We would have had a little more time if someone from our ship hadn't no showed. We had to wait to see if they were going to come. The Baths were gorgeous, but very crowded. It was worth seeing and from what I could see, the other boats were filled with lots of passengers. It was great to be out with a smaller group. I would recommend them. Just make sure you remind them of what time you need to be back to the ship. Julie called the taxi driver from the boat on our way back to make sure he would be there to meet us and he was. Let me know if you have any questions. Have an awesome time!

Thanks crusincarrie! We booked directly with patouche so I guess will be on the same boat you were unless they put everyone together on one boat. Do the two boats follow one another to the baths and back or are they operated independently of one another. I'm assuming that the NCl excursion boat took them directly back to the Pearl and your boat took you back to Patouches's dock? How many people fit on this boat (oil and water) or did they tell you how many they typically take? Thanks again!

cruiseincarrie,

So glad to hear you had a great time. Thank you for all the info. Definitely going to Long Bay in Antigua. In Grenada we are going to try Morne Rouge beach. I will write back to you in the Grenada port forum when we get back. How did the kids handle the hike in Dominica? and the van ride? If you are going back to Barbados- we might try the "sea eye". I think its www.seaeye.com. If we try this I'll write about that too. Again, thank you for getting back to us.

mimi'sgirl,

I'll look for your review on the Grenada board when you get back. I also tried to book the Sea Eye, but they wouldn't respond to my emails. I did, however, see the same type boat in Tortola. I was suprised to see it there docked near Patouche. As for Dominica, my 6 yr. old did awesome on the hiking and walking. My very independent 21 month old kept thinking she should be carried, so that would slow us down a little, but she was a trooper. She probably walked half and was carried half. There are some steeper sections that we insisted she not attempt. As for the van rides, the kids did great. We did take some snacks with us, but they were so interested in what we were passing, they didn't seem to need anything else to keep them occupied. It was really very nice. Have a wonderful trip. I'll look forward to your review when you return!

Carrie

cruiseincarrie

Thanks again!

We just got back from a cruise on the Carnival Destiny last week. We went to Long Bay for the day & overall it was nice. We found a taxi right at the pier & he charged us $10.00 per person each way - he came back & picked us up at the time we specified. Long Beach is the beach that Grand Pineapple beach resort & some other resort share, so it was quite busy, but still fun. There was plenty of shade & you could either just put your towel down & not pay anything, or you could rent a chair & an umbrella. Our group rented umbrella's from 2 different places, even though they were almost right next to each other. If you rent from grand pineapple (the ones on your left if you are facing the water) the cost was a little more than if you rent from the guy on the right side. The guy on the right also gave you "bathroom priviledges" if you rented from him. The beach was also less crowded if you stayed to the far right side (again "right side" being if you are facing the water). If you don't buy a day pass from grand pineapple (which we did not) you can still rent from the water sports booth (we didn't do this, but they had paddle boats, hobie cats, jet skis, etc - the prices were not great, but not outrageous either). There were also some vendors on the grand pineapple side that were selling jewelry, trinkets, tee shirts, etc. They are not pestering at all - you have to go into their booths to even see them (and they actually had some really cute bracelets that I got for only $5). The snorkeling was not great. We didn't see very many fish & the waves made it a little challenging as well. So, overall I would say this beach is fun as long as you are not looking for great snorkeling & you don't mind lots of people.

This is long, but hopefully helpful. :) Have fun on your trip! (I wish I was going back!!)

We were in Antigua last Wednesday. We went to Long Bay and loved it!

The only problem for us was the cab. They told us it would be $32. each way for the two of us unless we could find someone else to share. We waited 45 min before we found some others willing to go. They filled the taxi and charged each couple $16. each way. There were 8 couples. There was also a family of 4 and they were charged $25. each way. We all agreed at a pick up time and the driver just stayed at the beach waiting for us. We didnt have to pay until the end. The beach is just awesome and was not crowded when we were there. We talked the guy at the beach into renting us beach chairs for $5 each.

I agree with Leno about the difficulty of getting out to Long Bay. I would really recommend having your transportation set up in advance. We really liked being able to see some of the island as well as the beautiful beach. It was nice to know that we had a reputable driver in a spotless van waiting for us a the pier.

I did a day at the Pineapple Beach Resort a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, it rained the enitre time we were there. We were stuck in the lobby for the entire day. We ate breakfast there and had a couple of snacks from the snack bar at the pool. I'm sure if it had been sunny out, we would have had a much better time. One thing I wanted to mention to those of you going there, is be careful on the tiles. I had flip flops on without any good traction and I took a nasty fall. My ankle was bothering me for a couple of days after that. The tiles are very slippery.

We were in Antigua 2 weeks ago. I had decided to go to Deep Bay for good snorkeling, but the taxi driver talked me into Long Bay (bigger fare). The beach was beautiful, but the snorkeling was terrible. Almost no fish, waves pushing us into the dead coral. If you want to snorkel, go somewhere else. Taxi fare was $25 each way, would have been only $10 to Deep Bay. Taxis are readily available, if you don't like the offer of the first one, just walk around and find another. If you rent a car, beware the goats roaming the roads and the huge speed bumps and potholes.

Just got back from Antigua. 4 of us we got a cab for $ 20 each. We went to Long Bay for 4 hours we then went to Devils Bridge then to English Harbour. We stopped at the church in town and at various spots for pics. Antigua is beautiful.

Long bay is very pretty, softer sand on tghe right side of the beach. There is decent snorkeling on the outside of the reef. I think that the bay at Devils Bridge would have better snorkeling.

Paul

Well we rented a car (Hertz- Suzuki Grand Vitara for 57.00 + for the day) and drove ourselves..... 4 adults. On the left side tho.... but once out of town.....almost no other cars on the road.

 

We went first to the church on the hill... my bf loves old churches and this one is really unique. You'll see it from the harbor. Then over to Long Bay for a few hours of beach time..... really nice white sand beach. Snorkling is just ok.... the reef is looking a little tourist worn. But a few burger huts and a few vendor areas too.... Then down to Nelsons Dockyard area - but did not stop.... then over Fig Tree Drive - GORGEOUS !!!! and up the west coast back to town. Plenty of time to shop before "all aboard".

 

Antigua was actually one of my favorite islands on this cruise. Like a tropical Texas hill country.:)

My DH might be interested in renting a car so would you please tell me a little more about your experience?

1. Did you arrange it ahead of time?

2. Did you feel you needed extra insurance or just use your credit card waiver?

3. Were the roads easy to navigate and did you have a map that was pretty clear with directions to Long Bay, etc.?

Anything else you can think of?

Thanks so much,

Barbara

Does anyone have any pictures of Long bay? Any more feedback on the Pineapplebeach resort, all inclusive? Any info would be helpful....John