Excursions from Golden

[salmn]

Will be cruising the Golden in April. Prefer to self-guide, take taxi to nice beaches or possibly day passes at a hotel. Also like places to snorkel from beach. Ports are Barbados, Antigua, St.Martin, St.Thomas, and St.Lucia. Would like to hear recommendations for beaches, snorkeling, and if there are any hotels that sell day passes at these ports. Thanks a bunch.;)

[San10s]

We will be on the Golden to those same ports in 3 weeks! :D I will be happy to give you more information when we return but I can tell you our plans we have for this cruise as well as what we did in past visits.

 

San Juan - We will arrive 3 days early and finally take a tour to the rainforest. I decided not to do it in a cab on our own and take an organized tour so we don't miss all the commentary.

 

Barbados - Been here twice and did ship's tours. Once did a land and sea, all day tour. First half was a 4X4 jeep taking us off road to incredible places. What a blast. Many had far too much rum punch but were pretty entertaining the rest of the day! :D The second half was on a Tiami catamaran. WHat a great time. We went to two different sites for snorkeling and swimming with sea turtles. The sailing and relaxing part on board was also great. A terrific lunch was provided on board.

 

This time, we are looking at going to The Boatyard for a day on the beach and water sports. We are doing it on our own. We also may tour the Malibu Rum factory.

 

St. Lucia - One of our favorite ports. :) The last time, 2 years ago, we did a day visit to Sandals. Then it was only $45.00 and was a great deal. Now I am hearing it is up to $100.00 for the day. It is easy to reach by a short taxi ride if you want to do it. Another time, we did the 4X4 tour through the ship. Again, a memorable experience driving up the mountain sides and seeing where and how the locals live. The scenery was incredible. It ended up, after a short walk / hike, at a beautiful waterfall where you could swim. Again, very memorable and in our top 5 excursions after 15 cruises. We have never snorkeled in St Lucia. We still haven't finalized plans for this trip but we are leaning towards taking a catamaran sail to the Pitons. Since we have been told we will have to tender in to port, I am assuming that means there will be sveral ships in port. Availability to tours will be limited so I must make up our minds soon. We have also heard good things about Frank's Taxi Tours.

 

Antigua - This is our first time to this island. After reading so much about Eli's Eco Tour on the ports boards, we booked him. We will get to do some snorkeling and looks like have another incredible day in the Caribbean.

 

St Maarten - We have been here twice. Both times we have stayed and used one of the beaches right near the ship. My DH did take off with some of the guys and head to Orient beach. This trip, we definitely will find a good snorkeling beach.

 

St Thomas - Can't begin to count how many times we have been here and love it. The best thing to do for snorkeling is to make your way to St John's to Trunk Bay. It is a National Park and a beautiful beach. There is an underwater snorkeling trail you can follow. This ivolves taking a taxi to Redhook to then catch an hourly ferry to take you there to then take a taxi to the beach and reverse it all to get back. There are tours available to do the same. A little money can be saved by doing it on your own. On St Thomas, we have done a couple of tours that took us places to snorkel and use some beaches. The best 'on your own' place to taxi to is Coki beach..IMHO. For a nice beach (but can be quite crowded) there is always Meagan's Bay. This trip, we will go to Coki Beach.

 

I hope this helps. Let me know if you want more info on our return.

 

Judy

21 days until we sail on the Golden Princess! :D

[crisp1]

Make sure you check out the Ports Of Call boards. Most of the islands you're cruising to are listed individually, or go to Other Caribbean.

[fraidycats]

We LOVED Crane's beach at Barbados located at the Crane hotel. It is one of the prettiest beaches I have seen anywhere. There was no fee and there were chairs and umbrellas to rent. We bought lunch and drinks at the hotel. It is not a snorkeling beach but has some waves and rents boogie boards. Our family had a blast in the water.

On St Lucia you may want to spend the day at the resort Anse Chastenent. Again we were never charged a fee but had lunch there and were welcomed liked royalty. Great snorkeling at the foot of the Pitons. Looks as close to the south pacific as you can get:). Do a search online and bring up the hotel websites. Great pics. Both these hotels are considered upscale.

[salmn]

Thanks for the info so far. Still deciding, so anyone that has more ideas to offer, please do so. Sans10--a review when you get back would be great. We will be looking for it.:)

[nu2cruz]

Just posted my review of the golden b2b 1/16/05 & 1/23/05. Did mostly beaches so check it out!

[salmn]

Thanks for the great review. This will help us decide what to do.

[Slyfox16]

We will be on the golden 4/3. Salmn when are you going? Sans10 would greatly appreciate it if you could let us know about tours when you get back.

Thanks, Seth Sclevin@aol.com