Victory - Southern Caribbean Itinerary Ideas

[mom22tinks]

Hi everyone, We are going on the Victory to St. Thomas, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and St. Marteen for the first time. I am just wondering if you have any suggestions on what to do at each of the ports. We are a family of 4 with two girls 9 and 11. We all enjoy the beach, have our own snorkeling equipment and vests and are also interested in each island. I am afraid that if we just go to the beach everyday it will get boring. If you were planning an itinerary for someone... what would you suggest? I am posting this in the other four sections as well as I wasn't sure where to post this. Thank you all for your help! Jess

[Karysa]

Hi everyone, We are going on the Victory to St. Thomas, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and St. Marteen for the first time. I am just wondering if you have any suggestions on what to do at each of the ports. We are a family of 4 with two girls 9 and 11. We all enjoy the beach, have our own snorkeling equipment and vests and are also interested in each island. I am afraid that if we just go to the beach everyday it will get boring. If you were planning an itinerary for someone... what would you suggest? I am posting this in the other four sections as well as I wasn't sure where to post this. Thank you all for your help! Jess

 

Here are a few ideas: St. Thomas- Coral World and Coki Beach are on the same beach and a good combination

Barbados- We went to the Nature reserve it was nice and you could spend half a day on this and then after lunch just walk the easy 20 minutes to Brandon's Beach or there is a much talked about beach with activities called the Boatyard that the girls might like

St. Maarten-Plan a day in Grand Case with time on Petite Plage and a snorkel trip out to the nearby Creole Rock for some great snorkeling.

There is also a Butterfly farm within a 5 minute walk of LeGalion beach and this is a good combination as well. Another place to consider on the island would be a visit to Maho Beach to see the planes landing and this can be combined with the nearby Mullet beach which is a 15 minute walk away.

St. Lucia- I have yet to visit but I have always wanted to tour it and I like the idea of a half-land and half-sea excursion which I have seen offered

St.Kitts- I am still looking for something for our family including 3 teens. Hopefully someone can jump in here and help us both out!:)

[dz63]

We sailed on the Victory in 2009. At that time this question came up in our Roll Call. Based on my research in preparation for our cruise, I put together a list of the islands visited by the Carnival Victory and what there is to see and do at each port of call. This also included some of the recommended tour operators. In 2009 the Carnival Victory stopped at the ports of Dominica and Antigua. These islands have since been dropped from the Victory's itinerary, so I have not included these in the list below. Since we cruised, St. Maartin has been added to the Victory's itinerary, so I do not have any information about recommended excursions offered there.

 

It can be overwhelming choosing tours for so many ports of call and the tours offered by Carnival tend to be more expensive than booking tours privately. Prior to our cruise in 2009, I had spent hours reading the forums to come up with possible tours for our family. (At the time of this cruise my boys were ages 17, 14 and 10). Every island will offer you something tropical, including beaches, new sights and local food. Some tours will include food and others do not--but you can always buy your own lunch somewhere.

 

St. Thomas: If you want to see sights and relax on a beach, than a tour with Sunny Liston, Airforce 1 Papa Bear, Godfrey, Chrstopher Henry EEE Tours, Spider man or Island Marketing will do. These tours are inexpensive but do not provide food. Another option is take an excursion to St. John’s or ride the tram up to Paradise Point.

What we did: We booked the sightseeing island tour and beach stop with Airforce 1 Papa Bear. We visited many overlooks including the Solberg Overlook, Lindbergh Bay and Dorothea Bay. We also went to St. Peter Great House and Botanical Gardens where we got a panoramic view of the world-famous Magens Bay, 1,000 feet below. Our day ended with time to relax and swim at Sapphire Beach. Click on the link below to view our video presentation.

Length 3:35

 

 

Barbados: This island offers alot of everything--from sightseeing and beach stops, ziplining, swimming with turtles or visiting Harrisons Cave. You can take a land tour with such operators as Cameron Reid, Scenic Barbados Tours, Glory Tours, Johnson Tours, or Coconut Tours or explore the island on a jeep safari with Adventureland. If you want to go on the seas and swim with the turtles you can take an excursion on a catamaran like the Tiami, Silver Moon, Calabaza or Shasa. These are popular excursions and lunch is provided.

What we did: We booked Harrison’s Cave and Rockley Beach with Scenic Barbados Tours. With Andy as our guide, we visited such sites as Harrison's Cave, Bathsheba (located on the rugged east coast side of the island), St. John's Parish Church and Accra/Rockley Beach. Click on the link below to view our video presentation.

Length 4:06

 

 

 

St. Lucia: This is a very mountainous island full of lush vegetation, waterfalls and breathtaking vistas. Islands tours, coastal tours and a visit to Jalousie Beach tend to be the more popular excursions. St. Lucia also offers excursions for the more adventurous including ziplining or climbing the Gros Piton. Some recommended tour operators include: Spencer Ambrose Tours, Serenity (although I found them to be more expensive than Carnival), Cosol, Herod and Fabian Tours.

What we did: We booked the West Coast Island Delight Tour with Spencer Ambrose Tours. We saw the fishing villages of Anse La Raye and Canaries, visited a Banana Plantation, cooled off in the Toraille Waterfalls, walked through the Botanical Garden, smelled the pungent odor of sulfur at Sulphur Springs (the Caribbean’s only drive-in volcano) and went swimming at the breathtaking Jalousie Beach nestled between the majestic Pitons. Click on the link below to view our video presentation.

Length: 5:53

 

 

St. Kitts offers sightseeing by land, catamaran or train (aboard the St. Kitts Scenic Railway). You can stop at a beach, go ziplining, visit Brimstone Hill Fortress, ride a catamaran to Nevis or even hike up the volcano. Some recommended tour operators are Thenford Grey, Everton Delaney, Royston Tours and PereiraTours.

What we did: We booked Sky Safari's Zipline with the St. Kitts Tour Store (now Pereira Tours). At that time, the zipline excursion was not offered through the cruise ship, but now the cruise lines have a contract with Sky Safari's which means all zipline bookings must be made through the cruise line. Click on the link below to view our video presentation.

Length: 4:43

 

 

 

If you check out my review (the link is in my signature), you can see photos and get more information and details about the excursions we did.

 

Hope this helps you to plan your intinerary.

[sherilyn70]

In St. Thomas we went downtown and picked up a cheap island tour that also had an optional beach break with it. You can get much better prices if you're paying cash for your tour. The beaches are beautiful on this island and it's not a bad place to just spend the day at the beach. Ask around for Angel and if you can find him... he's the best. :)

 

Barbados... far too many things to do. I plan on eventually going back just for a weeks vacation. I've been there twice now and I'm still unsatisfied as to how much time I've had there. I've been to the monkey conservatory and done the jungle safari adventure that takes you out in a 4x4.

 

St. Lucia, do not get on a bus tour whatever you do. It's boring boring boring even if there are gorgeous views. :) If I had it to do all over again I would have done something water based (catamaran) and not been stuck on a bus. The roads are windy and long and it takes a long time for them to get from point a to point b.

 

St. Kitts, we loved the Brimstone fortress. We took a private taxi out before the tours got there and had it all to our selves for most of the time. It was beautiful.

 

St. Martin, I think we were just so tired by the time we got to this port we didn't enjoy our excursion.

 

San Juan, if you have time after the cruise before heading home I highly recoment doing an excusion up into the rainforest. It is absolutely beautiful.

 

You can see my pictures from February's cruise (about 700 of them) at http://sherilyn70.shutterfly.com.

[shonandsuzie]

We sailed on the Victory in 2009. At that time this question came up in our Roll Call. Based on my research in preparation for our cruise, I put together a list of the islands visited by the Carnival Victory and what there is to see and do at each port of call. This also included some of the recommended tour operators. If you check out my review (the link is in my signature), you can see photos and get more information and details about the excursions we did.

 

Hope this helps you to plan your intinerary.

Wow! Amazingly helpful. Thanks for sharing.

[Ms411]

St Kitts is known for good hiking. You could do a half-day rainforest hike, but you have to reserve in advance. If you're interested, I'll post the contact. Most ships offer the full day Mt Liamunga (sp?) hike, but I hear that's pretty challenging.

 

You might want to do some kayaking at one of your stops. Most kayaking excursions, though, will include beach and/or snorkeling.

 

You could visit Harrison's Cave in Barbados for something different. Check their website, because they offer adventure tours that aren't marketing on the ships.

 

There's also the chocolate factory in Barbados which is something different.

 

In St Martin (the French side), we took a perfume-making class at Tijon at their fragrance boutique. Lots of fun, educational, and there's a beach about a block away. Supposedly good restaurants in the area, but we went to Orient Beach instead.

 

You'll have memorable adventures no matter what you decide to do!

[mom22tinks]

Thank you all for all the input. I think I've finally nailed down our itinerary... and I think we will have to take this cruise again in order to do all the things we would like to ;)

[erby2283]

Just got back from our cruise and here's what we did:

 

St. Thomas - Godfrey Tours $29 shopping, island tour, beach time

Barbados - we hired a taxi for $35 for ONE hour. I highly suggest booking a tour. I heard good things about "Glory Tours"

St. Lucia - Cosol Tours - $65 but included breakfast snacks, a tour, some beach time and lunch. It was great!

St. Kitts - Royston Tours - HIGHLY RECOMMEND! It was my favorite. For $45 he will take you on an all-day tour of the island and includes Brimstone Fort and lunch (the food on the streets is awesome).

St. Maarten - We did Jo Junie tours $40. It was okay but do to slow a$$ people in our group who were late at every stop, we didn't get to see the plans take off or land at the beach which was the only reason I booked his tour!

[princess_deedee]

My husband and I did this cruise for our honeymoon and the highlights of our trip were Silver Moon II tours in Barbados where we swam with turtles, snorkled on a reef, and had an amazing time on the boat. There were only 25 passengers allowed for a boat that held 50 so it was really nice and they fed us lunch. Great day! I'm sure your kids would love it.

 

In St Lucia we stayed on a small beach at the base of the Pitons under a tiki hut all day...pure bliss. There was great snorkeling there too, and a lunch as well, but your kids might get bored because there were no water activities and it was rather small.