Best Excursions for St. Thomas, San Juan and Grand Turk?

[malteselover1]

Our family is taking our first cruise on July 10th, Carnival Liberty, Eastern Carribean. Ports of call are St. Thomas, San Juan, and Grand Turk. What are the best excursions? Any help making a decision is greatly appreciated. We plan on booking them through Carnival for safety and convenience.

 

Also staying the night before the cruise in Miami. Any suggestions on where to stay. Would prefer a place with shopping and good restaurants in walking distance.

 

We are so excited. Celebrating our 30th anniversary and our precious daughter's 21st birthday.

 

Thanks!:)

[golfadj]

Our family is taking our first cruise on July 10th, Carnival Liberty, Eastern Carribean. Ports of call are St. Thomas, San Juan, and Grand Turk. What are the best excursions? Any help making a decision is greatly appreciated. We plan on booking them through Carnival for safety and convenience.

 

Also staying the night before the cruise in Miami. Any suggestions on where to stay. Would prefer a place with shopping and good restaurants in walking distance.

 

We are so excited. Celebrating our 30th anniversary and our precious daughter's 21st birthday.

 

Thanks!:)

 

Suggest you go to the port of call pages for info.

 

For Grand Turk nice peach right off the ship and real nice Margaritaville with great pool next to the beach.

[zqvol]

Our family is taking our first cruise on July 10th, Carnival Liberty, Eastern Carribean. Ports of call are St. Thomas, San Juan, and Grand Turk. What are the best excursions? Any help making a decision is greatly appreciated. We plan on booking them through Carnival for safety and convenience.

 

Also staying the night before the cruise in Miami. Any suggestions on where to stay. Would prefer a place with shopping and good restaurants in walking distance.

 

We are so excited. Celebrating our 30th anniversary and our precious daughter's 21st birthday.

 

Thanks!:)

 

First Miami

 

The Holiday Inn Port of Miami is about a mile from the ships. It is right across the street from Bayside which is a nice area with shipping and restaurants. Not luxury, but clean and convenient.

 

In San Juan, if it is a day time stop I opt for a tour of the city and then explore historic Old San Juan.

 

Grand Turk is a beach day. take a snorkel trip or just go to the beach off the ship.

 

St. Thomas is the shopping mecca of the Caribbean. I think I would check the port of call boards, and arrange a private tour with both shopping and beach time included. That will get you a little bit of the whole island.

[malteselover1]

Thanks for the info. Your suggestions sound good to me!

[Crusin Hogs]

We have been on 3 cruise's this is a link to the best excurission

we have ever done , Under water scooters in St Thomas

 

http://www.bossusvi.com/

 

We will do this again ! We booked before the cruise direct thru BOSS

They are at the pier wating on you ,They only take 24 people out

so book early ,You are back in time to shop in town and make

the ship with no problem

They have won an award as the best excursion in St Thomas!

[Rizzorp]

Well if you like to snorkel then I would suggest going to Trunk Bay in St. John. It is just a quick tender ride from St. Thomas. Carnival does an excursion there...think it is called "St. John Trunk Bay Beach & Snorkel". Beautiful!!! Thousands of fish....maybe millions! When I was there we swam around the back of a little island and the the fish looked like moving clouds. They would part around you as you swam and make...how to explain.....guess a living tunnel around you of fish! Then we saw turtles and an octopus. Just beautiful!!!

[Sheffie]

In St. Thomas, getting to St. John is very easy to do on your own, and you will get more beach time if you go on your own, also.

 

San Juan is also very easy to do on your own. You can catch a cab, or take the free trolley up to El Morro, explore that fort, and then wander your way back down through Old San Juan to the docks. It is like being in Europe, with the narrow roads and cobblestone streets.

 

Enjoy your cruise with your family. What great memories you will have!!

[MrPete]

On St. Thomas, for many visits, we went to Trunk Bay. You must dedicate so much time getting to and from there, as 2 cabs and 1 ferry ride is involved.

 

Our last visit, we finally wanted a tour, so we hooked up with Godfrey, and got to shop (option 1, 2 or 3 hours), followed by a tour, that used to include a trip to Mountain Top before it burned down, and then dropped you off at one of the three popular beaches. He would then come back to transport you back to the ship.

 

On San Juan, we have strolled the streets ourselves, which you can do quite easily, or take that trip up to El Morro. We took a city tour once, and it was AWFUL!

 

Never been to Grand Turk.

[jean0151]

Castaway Girl is a great snorkeling trip thru Carnival in St. Thomas. Reasonable and fun. What about the Ducks in San Juan--- see the city and then into the harbor. We are going to try that this weekend... Get back to you when we arrive home

[luv2gonow]

I have the same itinerary as you......end of June...only i leave out of NY.

 

St.Thomas....I think I will have to go to Megans Bay.....unless you

have been there....how can you not:D

Grand Turk....I was going to stay at Margaritaville....and enjoy their beach and pool.

 

San Juan....stroll around Old San Juan....i hear it is beautiful.

 

My list of "cheap excursions":D

Enjoy your cruise

K

[mojonah]

We were in St. Thomas last January. We went on a day sail with Pat from the Independence. WOW!! We all agreed that it was the BEST excursion of the entire cruise. Pat doesn't have more than 6 people/sailing. You can book either a full day or half day sail. Her mate, Ray, is great. He goes snorkeling with you and shows you where to look and such. Lunch and drinks were included. Pat will take you wherever you are wanting to go. She even arranged a taxi to shuttle us to and from. FABULOUS, and relaxing. Top notch.

 

Have fun with whatever you decide to do.

[rudi_mentle]

Celebrating our 30th anniversary and our precious daughter's 21st birthday.

 

Thanks!:)

 

Congrats on the two upcoming milestones! Seen a lot of answers about St Thomas port so I thought I'd give you a few ideas about Miami, San Juan and Grand Turk -

 

Miami - great place to stay that none seems to ever mention is South Beach. It's just a short cab ride to the pier. There are several excellent hotels in north section of SoBe that are within walking distance of Lincoln Rd, a closed off street where you'll find great shopping, restaurants and of course people watching.

 

San Juan - one tour I keep hearing people rave about is the Old San Juan Segway tour (not sold thru ship which in my book is a good thing - no cruiseline overhead). You can head over to the San Juan board to read from others who have taken this tour and here's their website to check out http://www.segwaytourspr.com/

 

Grand Turk - one really fun excursion here is the Horseback Rid & Swim (several youtube vids on this if you'd like to check it out). Only drawback is that it's only offered by the Cruise ship which makes it about 25% more than you should be paying. But for that matter I understand that Carnival has a monopoly on the excursions here so I don't think you'll find any private excursions.

 

 

I’m sure whatever you choose you’ll have a fantastic time. Enjoy celebrating!

[hpreece]

We have been on 3 cruise's this is a link to the best excurission

we have ever done , Under water scooters in St Thomas

 

http://www.bossusvi.com/

 

We will do this again ! We booked before the cruise direct thru BOSS

They are at the pier wating on you ,They only take 24 people out

so book early ,You are back in time to shop in town and make

the ship with no problem

They have won an award as the best excursion in St Thomas!

How much $$ was this?

I will be on a Costa cruise and they don't have this listed...so hopefully I can do it on my own. I looks awesome!

Thanks,

Heather