Do cruise ships cruise near the Pitons?

[K D cruiser]

I'll be on the Golden this fall and one of the ports is St. Lucia. Does anyone know for sure if the ship sails close enough to see the Pitons? There are several excursions that look interesting and I'd rather not book the catamaron to the Pitons if we're going to be going by them anyway. Someone asked this on the St. Lucia board and did not get an answer about Princess, but someone else posted that HAL and RCCL do go close enough to see them, so I'd like to know before I book my excursions. Thanks.

[wannasail4ever]

We've been there multiple times, mostly on HAL. If your ship shows excursions that go to Castries and Souffriere, you will definitely go by the Pitons. They are just outside of Souffriere and the ship will anchor just off the shore to collect the tenders holding excursion passengers that toured the whole island. They are very pretty and look just like on the travel channel. The ship docks in Castries and then later in the day moves to Souffriere to pick up the others late in the afternoon.

 

St. Lucia is very beautiful - take an excursion that shows you alot of the island. The snorkeling there was nowhere as good as other places.

 

Have a great trip.

 

Macy

[crusdiva]

I'll be on the Golden this fall and one of the ports is St. Lucia. Does anyone know for sure if the ship sails close enough to see the Pitons? There are several excursions that look interesting and I'd rather not book the catamaron to the Pitons if we're going to be going by them anyway. Someone asked this on the St. Lucia board and did not get an answer about Princess, but someone else posted that HAL and RCCL do go close enough to see them, so I'd like to know before I book my excursions. Thanks.

KD cruiser,

When we sailed the Dawn in 2002 we did sail past the Pitons - albeit at the crack of dawn :eek:

Depending on the route your ship takes (where it's coming from would be a determining factor) and if you're an early riser you'll see them as you sail the coastline towards the berth in Castries.

The Dawn sailed straight to Castries and remained there all day.

That said I took a lovely catamaran sail up the coast to get a better look at them.;)

[sunprincess]

I do not remember cruising past the Pitons on the Golden in March. We booked a private driver to take us on an island tour & got to see them.

[ckornuta]

Ido not recall seeing them on our golden cruise maybe we cruised by them very early in the morning. Definatly take a island tour. This was my favorite island, Very beautiful.

[KINGBOBOFTHENORTH]

When we were on Monarch of the Seas a few years ago, we departed Castries, St. Lucia for Bridgetown, Barbados which necessitated us cruising south along St. Lucia along the west coast of the island. So after our late afternoon departure from St. Lucia we went right by the Pitons. It looks like Golden Princess is doing the itinerary in reverse so it's going to depend on which side of the island the ship is going to travel. The brochure shows it going around the east and north sides of the island before pulling into Castries. In that case I don't think you could see the Pitons. If in reality it crosses the south side of St. Lucia and comes along the west coast, then you could see them but it would be early in the morning.

 

BobK/Orlando

 

just off Sea Princess

[K D cruiser]

Hi, Thanks for all of the information. It seems that HAL and RCCL make it a point to sail by while Princess just doesn't. Guess I'll have to get up early and sit on my balcony in case we do go by. My sister's not into boat rides (other than cruising) and I don't think I can talk her into the catamaran. Oh well, maybe next time.

[Aquarian]

Sailing down the coast of St. Lucia from Castries to Soufriere and seeing the Pitons come into view is one of my treasured cruise memories. I think you should work on you sister to do that catamaran excursion!

[dsl laber]

Our RCCL So Car cruise went to St Lucia, and we rented a car and did our own tour of the island. It was by far our favorite "excursion". If you follow the roads, you can drive through their rain forest and there are many "kodak moment" stops along the way where you see the Pitons. We were extremely lucky as at one point, we thought we were going the wrong way, and asked a man in a truck, and he told us he was going the same way and to follow him. We ended up finding the most awesome little resort tucked away between the Pitons, where we had lunch. It had fabulous views and your rooms were open air...no windows anywhere!! Also, each room had their own little oasis pool, overlooking the Caribbean. Someday, we want to go back there!! (Here is a link if anyone is interested)

http://www.ladera.com/index.asp

 

Have fun!!

[Cruise doggie]

We sailed on RCCL Serenade of the seas last year and we got so close to the Pitons mountains that you could actually smell the sulfer from the Volcano.

[Twaincruisers]

We did a catamaran/land tour on our Golden cruise to St Lucia---one of the best we ever had. I am not a water/beach person, but I still enjoyed the catamaran. Our tour started with the catamaran so we saw the Pitons from the water as we approached shore; we then proceeded to the walk-in volcano and a couple beautiful plantations. I would do it again on the Sea Princess in Dec, but I just have to make it to Fort Rodney.

 

Rod

[vmom]

I recommend that you do not take the land tour to the Pitons. It's a sure way to spend the day feeling carsick.

[dsl laber]

VMom--Did your land tour take you on roads through the rain forest? Our roads were okay...no one got carsick or anything. It was a beautiful drive.

[boards]

What would make you carsick?

[astridwilson]

We went on Royal Caribbean last September and the Cruise ship went by the Pitons around Dinner time, but it was almost dark. We took the catamaran tour and it was great. We stopped to snorkel for about 30 minutes on the way back. The trip went to the Pitons and back. I really enjoyed the tour. Was afraid to rent a car or hire a car as I had heard the roads are very bad in St Lucia.