Need help with ports

[harishhere]

Hi,

Me (31) and my wife (28) are taking our 1st cruise on Princess on Jan 30th. This is our first cruise and need your guys expertise to suggest what to do at ports. This is what I'm planning, please provide comments:

1. St. Thomas - Magen's Bay Beach, ????

2. Dominica - Trafalgar Falls, Ti Tou Gorge, (if time permits - Rainforest Aerial Tram). working with some tour guide here

3. Grenada - Fort, Grand Anse Beach, some cooperative Nutmeg place - planning to do it on my own with taxis there

4. Bonaire - We've never done snorkeling and have read reviews that this is one of the best places, so would do it here. Woodwind is booked so looking for someone comparable to them. Also, planning to add WAter Taxi to Klien

5. Aruba - Helmet Dive & Passport To Paradise Tour of princess (some chances of doing snorkeling here too) ... Want to see Natural Bridge not sure whether i can take a taxi and still make it on time ??

 

That's pretty much i can think of.

 

Thanks

[Essiesmom]

Welcome to Cruise Critic. Have you checked to see if there is a roll call for your cruise? On the main boards page, go to Roll Calls - Members Only, click on Princess, then find your ship, and look for the dates for your sailing. There you will find others sailing with you and they will have lots of ideas about excursions. EM

[MountainMimi]

If you have time GO to St. John....It is beautiful!!!

[zookiebird]

If you have time GO to St. John....It is beautiful!!!

 

 

Couldn't agree more with MountainMimi. St John is so very worth visiting. Trunk Bay is fantastic.

[LarryL]

1. St. Thomas – You should be there for around 9 hours so you will have time to get to St John. Trunk Bay is a great place to go. Take a taxi from the port to Red Hook, where you can get a ferry to St John. There you can get on another taxi toTrunk Bay. You can rent snorkel gear there, it’s great for that. If you are not comfortable doing it this way, the ship usually has excursions there. Be sure you allow for travel time. The ship will leave on time without you, unless one of their excursions are running behind schedule.

 

2. Dominica – We kayaked there but this island has so much to offer. I don’t think you can find a bad place here.

 

3. Grenada – We liked Mandoo Tours & Taxi on Granada. He will work with you to see and do what you want. Just google Mandoo Tours.

 

4. Bonaire – There is great snorkeling on Klein Bonaire. We opted for a ship excursion there but it is also accessible by water taxi. There are no concessions there so bring your own water. This site does have several topics on snorkeling and operators at Bonaire.

 

5. Aruba – Just a note: the Natural Bridge collapsed in 2005 but remains in that state (they didn't remove any debris). Just wanted to let you know in case you weren’t aware and could be very disappointed if you expected it to be intact. This, and Dominica, are two of our favorite islands.

 

Have fun, this is a great itinerary.

 

Larry

[harishhere]

Thanks everyone for your reply.

@LarryL - Thanks for informing Natural Bridge is no more ... It looked gr8 on photos though :(

I think I will St. John's as per e'one's recommendation. There is ship's excursion to trunk bay so may try that.

Will check out Mandoo Tours ..

bw, what else we can do in Aruba ? Is Helmet Dive is worth the buck ?

[LarryL]

Thanks everyone for your reply.

@LarryL - Thanks for informing Natural Bridge is no more ... It looked gr8 on photos though :(

I think I will St. John's as per e'one's recommendation. There is ship's excursion to trunk bay so may try that.

Will check out Mandoo Tours ..

bw, what else we can do in Aruba ? Is Helmet Dive is worth the buck ?

 

Aruba has an abundance of water sports, both ship sponsored and private. Aruba also has several tourist websites. We did the snorkel to the shipwreck "Antilles" which was good if you have never seen one.

 

When you leave Aruba, try to find a spot on the top decks. They have an airport right in line with the ship and incoming planes look as though they are going to crash into the ship. It's a bit of a rush. It was a topic at many dinner tables that night.:eek:

[cleverdaisies]

Hi there! We just returned from the Caribbean a few days go. Wishing we were still there!

 

Do you have a guide for dominica already? We booked with Reyno tours and it was a fabulous day. We went to titou gorge, trafalgar falls, hot springs, then snorkeling in champagne reef. We had a private van for our group and the price was great. Let me know if you would like anymore info.

 

Megans bay was a great beach, but I am wishing I could have gone to st John. Hubby was diving that day so I went on an excursion with his family. But I have heard that st John is the place to go.

 

Meghan.

[chatdad]

just a few more days and am sure the excitement is building. Only suggestion for Aruba I'd makes to rent a car and drive around the island stopping at whatever beach you want (we like to go to Baby Beach and loop around the island (stopping off at what was the natural bridge and continue around to the Lighthouse). An easy island to drive for those of us who are directionally challenged.

 

For pure beach time, Megans is the place for us and get there early before the crowds show up. We did enjoy St. John's though the ferry over can be rough at times.

 

Dominica - right on with the local guide and hitting the right spots. It's a natural wonderland to enjoy.

 

Looking forward to reading your trip review upon return