Barbados, St Lucia, St Johns, St Maarten OR St Croix, St Kitts, Dominica, Grenada?

[Miami-Syracuse]

Greetings everyone! My wife and I are debating between two different Southern Caribbean itineraries and would appreciate any advice and insight everyone can provide. Both are on Celebrity's Summit, depart from Puerto Rico, include St. Thomas, and sail in October/November, so the only difference is the ports...

 

Option A - Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua, St. Maarten

 

Option B - St. Croix, St. Kitts, Dominica, Grenada

 

My wife and I are 35, very active, and love the outdoors. Ideally we'd like to go ATV riding, hiking, horseback riding, and scuba diving. We have zero interest in shopping and really want to focus on enjoying and exploring the natural beauty the islands can provide. So what do you guys recommend? Thank you in advance for any suggestions everyone provides!

[phoenix_dream]

I think you could find what you want on either itinerary. That said, the former group is more commercialized as a whole, so you might prefer the latter. Dominica in particular is quite natural with primarily outdoor activities (albeit not good beaches for swimming)- not my favorite stop at all, but my needs are different than yours.

Edited July 17, 2014 by phoenix_dream

[4774Papa]

That is a hard one to pick, since my two favorites for nature, St. Lucia and Grenada are on different cruises.

Barbados has Orchid World, which is wonderful.

I have read that St. Kits has one of the highest crime rates in the World and the people aren't very friendly. Also, I have read negative things about Dominica.

I think that I would go with the first choice, Barbados,---

[captdave]

Option A is what I picked, I'm a seasoned traveler.

 

Stay over in San Juan so you can tour Old San Juan.

 

 

CaptDave

[captdave]

St. John has my most favorite beach, another must see.

 

 

CaptDave

[captdave]

Antigua is another great Island to see. This is Shirley Heights and a view of English Harbor & Nelsons Dockyard. You won't be sorry.

 

CaptDave

[Lsimon]

There is no clear winner here.

 

One thing to consider is to check to port schedule for St. Martin the day you're there. Sometimes there is an outrageous number of people on the island and it gets crowded too. St. Thomas is the same way so you can also check that for the two St. Thomas days and see if there is a big difference in the number of ships in port on the days you are there.

 

Unfortunately, I don't believe cruise critic allows links to the we sites that report this but you can find some with a Google search. Just confirm it with one or two different sites as some of these do not have accurate numbers. The most accurate reporting is if you can find the web page for the island's own port authority and see if they have a schedule listed.

 

For hiking your best bet is Dominica with St. Lucia right up there.

 

Not sure I've seen ATV or horseback riding at any of these but I haven't looked for it either. You could easily do a Google search or, better yet, do a search for each of ATV and Horseback on Cruise Critic's port of call forum for each island and read the related posts.

Edited July 17, 2014 by Lsimon

[gdpups]

Tough one, I've done option B twice and doing option A for the second time next January. Southern Caribbean has lots of options for active excursions.

 

I've ATV'd in St Martin (through town to Orient Beach with some off road) and in Dominica (mountain off road paths in the mud) and also in St Croix. Ziplined in St Kitts.

 

Barbados was one of my favorites to snorkel and in St Marten I've done the America Cup races (we won, yeah) and also Maho Beach to watch the planes (google if you haven't seen it).

 

Dominica is beautiful, as I said we ATV'd one time and last November we went with Bumping Tours where we snorkeled (champagne bubbles) and swam in a gulch that was incredible (google them). Went tubing with Wacky Rollers too, which was fun.

 

Anyway, check out the port boards and do some research before you decide and maybe do like we do and alternate, I just love the Southern Caribbean. Also, spend extra time in San Juan as was mentioned.

[captdave]

We got lucky and got to see 2 cruise ships arrive after us at sunrise in St. Maarten.

 

 

CaptDave

[captdave]

St. Lucia is great if your into Rain Forrest Tour's, things like that. No where near as sophisticated as Antigua.

 

 

CaptDave

[olemissreb]

I chose the Barbados option simply because that's the one we'll be on in March! It will actually be the second time for us and I did that because we didn't really get to see St. Lucia or Antigua the first time we were there because our excursions got cancelled. We haven't been to St. Maarten (yet).

 

We were originally booked on Option B and that would have been great because we've never been to St. Croix or St. Kitts, but our youngest son has a big swim meet that starts the day of what would have been our embarkation. Oh well - maybe in 2016!

 

Love sailing out of San Juan. Doesn't matter if it's the same itinerary we've already done. There's always more to see than can be done in a single port stop.

[phoenix_dream]

That is a hard one to pick, since my two favorites for nature, St. Lucia and Grenada are on different cruises.

Barbados has Orchid World, which is wonderful.

I have read that St. Kits has one of the highest crime rates in the World and the people aren't very friendly. Also, I have read negative things about Dominica.

I think that I would go with the first choice, Barbados,---

I would be interested in where you heard St. Kitts has one of the highest crime rates in the world?? I have been there twice and the people were lovely. They did have a crime incident a couple years ago with a shore excursion, but the police handled it promptly. Antiqua has had at least one tourist murder in recent years, as has St. Thomas. Overall, I don't think any of these islands is known for a particularly high crime rate. Common sense is always a good traveling partner admittedly, as crime can happen anywhere (I live in a suburb of Chicago with the most churches per capita in the state, and the month I moved into my house there was a murder on the street behind me - you just never know).

 

I have also read bad things about Dominica, and in fact have written some. But if you read these bad things, the vast majority of them are because the island does not have nice beaches, nice restaurants, and nice shopping (defining 'nice' as clean, modern, etc). They do, however, have some of the absolute nicest scenery and undeveloped tropical areas of any island on this list. Given what the OP indicated they like, I would think it is the perfect island for them. So we need to agree to disagree on these points.

 

Updating to add one more comment that just occurred to me. On our last trip to Barbados a year or so ago (your recommended stop), there was an armed robbery downtown on the street right next to the main street while our ship was there. It was a tourist from a cruise ship. Stuff can happen anywhere.

Edited July 17, 2014 by phoenix_dream

[4774Papa]

I would be interested in where you heard St. Kitts has one of the highest crime rates in the world?? I have been there twice and the people were lovely. They did have a crime incident a couple years ago with a shore excursion, but the police handled it promptly. Antiqua has had at least one tourist murder in recent years, as has St. Thomas. Overall, I don't think any of these islands is known for a particularly high crime rate. Common sense is always a good traveling partner admittedly, as crime can happen anywhere (I live in a suburb of Chicago with the most churches per capita in the state, and the month I moved into my house there was a murder on the street behind me - you just never know).

 

I have also read bad things about Dominica, and in fact have written some. But if you read these bad things, the vast majority of them are because the island does not have nice beaches, nice restaurants, and nice shopping (defining 'nice' as clean, modern, etc). They do, however, have some of the absolute nicest scenery and undeveloped tropical areas of any island on this list. Given what the OP indicated they like, I would think it is the perfect island for them. So we need to agree to disagree on these points.

 

Updating to add one more comment that just occurred to me. On our last trip to Barbados a year or so ago (your recommended stop), there was an armed robbery downtown on the street right next to the main street while our ship was there. It was a tourist from a cruise ship. Stuff can happen anywhere.

I don't remember where I read about crime St. Kitts, but I believe it was on cc.

I have see posts critical of St. Kitts and Dominica.

 

Not sure how bad it its, but there is a lot of discussion on the internet about the subject.

 

The homicide rate in 2012 was 33.6 per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to the USA's 4.8

That rate is higher than most of the Caribbean countries, but not in a huge way.

 

/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_ratehttp://www.fodors.com/community/caribbean-islands/how-bad-is-the-crime-in-st-kitts.cfm

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g147374-i541-k4757616-Crime_on_St_Kitts-St_Kitts_St_Kitts_and_Nevis.html

 

http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/country/st-kitts-nevis.html

 

http://crimestoppers.kn/

 

http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-633325

[Cruzaholic41]

I also answered you in another thread, but I noticed your nature reference in this one. In that case, I don't think any of the other islands can top Dominica when it comes to natural beauty.

[OCruisers]

I also answered you in another thread, but I noticed your nature reference in this one. In that case, I don't think any of the other islands can top Dominica when it comes to natural beauty.

 

Tend to agree with you on that! :)

LuLu

[jsf]

We have been to these islands many times, I'd choose Option B the other choice has islands that to me are more "touristy".

J

[NLH Arizona]

I picked number 2, because you can see Sperm Whales in Dominica (best viewing between November and April) and that is one whale I haven't see yet. I'll be there there next January on the Summit, so I've got my fingers crossed.

[koolforkatz]

Apart from St. Croix I have been to all these places. For beaches I would pick option A. But you say you want nature - in which case I would pick option B, particularly Dominica.

[whataboutport]

There is no clear winner here.

 

One thing to consider is to check to port schedule for St. Martin the day you're there. Sometimes there is an outrageous number of people on the island and it gets crowded too. St. Thomas is the same way so you can also check that for the two St. Thomas days and see if there is a big difference in the number of ships in port on the days you are there.

 

Unfortunately, I don't believe cruise critic allows links to the we sites that report this but you can find some with a Google search. Just confirm it with one or two different sites as some of these do not have accurate numbers. The most accurate reporting is if you can find the web page for the island's own port authority and see if they have a schedule listed.

 

For hiking your best bet is Dominica with St. Lucia right up there.

 

Not sure I've seen ATV or horseback riding at any of these but I haven't looked for it either. You could easily do a Google search or, better yet, do a search for each of ATV and Horseback on Cruise Critic's port of call forum for each island and read the related posts.

 

Yeah, when the Monstrousity of the Seas make port there you can count on another 5000 or so pax on the island. For me, I would check the cruise time table sites and see which cruise has less ships in port and choose that one.

[bruinlvr]

Don't choose, do both. We did a B2B last November-option A&B on the Summit.

 

If I'm honest I can't remember which island we did what on. St.Lucia, St. Kitts, Dominica, Grenada pretty much all looked the same. We were in St Croix on a Sunday, the island is almost shut down on Sundays.

 

Loved Barbados even tho we got ripped off by a taxi driver, you hear me Michael!!!!

 

Went to St. John on the ferry, but when we got to Trunk Bay, it was closed for swimming and snorkling because of high surf.

 

St. Martin was by far our favorite. Took the bus to Maho and spent hours there and met some great people.

 

The Summit was the best too. We were lucky enough to book on the 123 go getting the drink package. The martini bar was a hoot. Had a different Martini every nite (or 2 or 3). Best bargin ever on all of the cruises we have taken.

[shipfriend_max]

Hi,

 

I have done both itineraries - the one with Barbados and St. Lucia in 2014, the other one in 2013.

For natire, if you would like to hike and do adventure activities, than, IMHO, the one with Dominica and Grenada is better, since on these two Islands you can do many activities such as hiking - we have done a full day hiking tour in Dominica through the jungle - awesome!

 

But, the IMHO slightly nicer itinerary is the one with St. Lucia and Barbados...

At St. Lucia we did a nature trip in a bus and a boat trip in combination, were we also did some snorkeling - and St. lucia is a truly beautiful island!!!!!!

And at Antigua, we rented Jetskis for half an hour.

So I also could recommend this itinerary.

 

No matter which cruise you choose - you will have a great time!

And Summit is my favourite ship!! :)

[Windsailer]

I also answered you in another thread, but I noticed your nature reference in this one. In that case, I don't think any of the other islands can top Dominica when it comes to natural beauty.

 

Dominica is awesome. If you like to snorkel champagne reef can't be beat; and the folks there are very, very friendly.

[OCruisers]

Some people may be voting for Plan A because they have never been to many of the islands for Plan B.

It would be interesting to know how many people voting for Plan A have actually been to all of the islands listed on Plan B.

LuLu

Edited July 17, 2014 by OCruisers

[Champagne Cruiser]

We have been on both itineraries and prefer Opt A because the snorkeling and beaches are much better. However, we will be doing Opt B for the second time in Feb because the dates worked better for us in 2015. So the botom is that you will like either one. Just do your research and choose which one speaks to your interests more. You will love the Summit.

[Miami-Syracuse]

Thank you to everyone who has replied so far, we really appreciate it! We're not sure which one we will choose yet, but I have a feeling that whichever one we choose we will enjoy! :p