Shore Excursion Advice

[lesarasota]

Hi everyone!

We're on a 10-Day cruise in January visiting St. Kitts, St. Marteen, Barbados, Dominica, and St. Thomas. Does anyone have advice on shore excursions at these ports? What MUST we do? We're in our mid-30's and both active. Are there independent companies that we could use (and trust) for excursions that aren't with Celebrity? Thanks for your advice in advance!

 

Cheers!

[wallie5446]

Lots of great ideas on the Port of Call board,

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=5

[4774Papa]

Hi everyone!

We're on a 10-Day cruise in January visiting St. Kitts, St. Marteen, Barbados, Dominica, and St. Thomas. Does anyone have advice on shore excursions at these ports? What MUST we do? We're in our mid-30's and both active. Are there independent companies that we could use (and trust) for excursions that aren't with Celebrity? Thanks for your advice in advance!

 

Cheers!

We did ship's tours when we visted St. Marteen, Barabados and St. Thomas. The prices were reasonable.

 

Barbados --don't miss the tour that goes to Orchid World (in the middle of the island).

 

St. Thomas - we did a tour from Constellation that covered the island visiting Blackbeard's Castle and other key spots. Second time on NCL Star did the tour to St. Johns, which was interesting.

 

St. Marteen-did the island tour of both sides of the island.

[Lsimon]

My first advice is to think hard about what you think you'd enjoy. Some people like to just go to town and shop; some people like to head to the beach; some like to go snorkeling or diving; some like active sports like kayaking, hiking or bicycling; some like touring sights on the islands like old forts or rain forests. Personally we prefer water activities like going to the beach, snorkeling or going on a day sail.

 

Download the excursion booklet from Celebrity for your cruise. If your cruise is too far away to get the current booklet then download one for a closer cruise with the same itinerary. If you're having trouble with Celebrity's website then call them and have them email the booklet to you. Regardless of whether you want to book your excursions through Celebrity, independently or just head out on your own in a taxi, these brochures can give you a good idea of the types of excursions available on the island.

 

Lastly, spend some time in the Cruise Critic port of call forums for each of your destination islands: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=587

These can give you some great ideas, answer questions and get good recommendations, referrals and reviews for independent companies.

 

Once you have some ideas then it's best to ask about specific recommendations for an excursion on the port of call forum.

 

My own recommendations based on our own preferences would be:

St. Kitts - Catamaran day sail for snorkeling and sailing with lunch on Nevis - the ship's Fan-ta-sea excursion (if it is still offered under that name)

St. Marteen - Take a cab to Orient beach for the day for swimming and lunch and head back to town in time for an hour or two of shipping before going back to the ship.

Barbados Catamaran day sail with one of the nicer catamarans (Silver Moon or similar operator) for swimming with the turtles, snorkeling and a good time sailing

Dominica Snorkeling or tour the rain forest

St. Thomas = More options here than at any other island. We like the sail boat day sails on independent operators for sailing and snorkeling. Check out Rumbaba or one of the similar boats.

Edited October 27, 2014 by Lsimon

[LegalE2010]

Hi everyone!

We're on a 10-Day cruise in January visiting St. Kitts, St. Marteen, Barbados, Dominica, and St. Thomas. Does anyone have advice on shore excursions at these ports? What MUST we do? We're in our mid-30's and both active. Are there independent companies that we could use (and trust) for excursions that aren't with Celebrity? Thanks for your advice in advance!

 

Cheers!

 

It's been 4 years, but we visited all those ports and went on some awesome excursions. Here's what I remember:

 

Dominica - We went with Bumpiing Tours to Titou Gorge, Trafalgar Falls, and the Champagne Reef. Trafalgar Falls was awesome, as there was a warm spring river that joined with a cold river and the water was awesome. Champagne Reef snorkeling was amazing - lots of vibrant fish, and the bubbles in the water were cool. When the tour was over, we went on our own to Ruins Rock cafe and had some of the strongest drinks we've ever had in our life, and stumbled back to the ship ;)

 

St. Thomas - We went with Air Force One/Papa Bear for an island tour and beach stop. The island tour was really cool, and then he dropped us off at Magen's Bay, which was an amazing beach.

 

St. Kitts - We went on an island tour with a beach stop at the end. The tour was fine, but the guide wasn't my favorite, and I don't even remember what the company was (some older lady).

 

Barbados - We took the local bus on our own to Welchman Hall Gully, which was beautiful, and then ate at a local restaurant across the street from the entrance to the park that had an awesome view of the valley below. We have done some pretty extensive travels abroad and have used public transportation systems all over the world, but we found the Barbados buses to be slow and somewhat confusing. I would recommend taking an organized tour, as we wasted a lot of time on the bus, including a 20 minute stop at a random house where we are pretty sure the bus drive went to smoke a joint. :)

 

St. Maarten - We went with Bernard's Tours, and we really enjoyed our guide. We went to both the French and the Dutch sides of the island, to Maho Beach to see the planes landing, and to Orient Beach.

 

Overall, we would recommend our tours on St. Thomas, St. Maarten, and Dominica, and the prices are great (seem to be much better than ship prices for comparable tours). For St. Kitts and Barbados, I would suggest checking the Port board to see what people recommend these days. Enjoy!

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

I would recommend joining the roll call for your cruise and seeing what other passengers are doing. Someone may be organizing a tour which may be of interest to you.

 

[verodoodle]

Can not say enough great things about this tour and Woody!!

 

 

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g147281-d1545065-r202730413-Woody_Dominica_Day_Tour-Dominica.html

[FortyNinerLiz]

I would recommend joining the roll call for your cruise and seeing what other passengers are doing. Someone may be organizing a tour which may be of interest to you.

 

 

Amen!! However, we loved the train island tour provided by Celebrity on St. Kitts!!! Just wonderful and worth the money!!!

[cb at sea]

Read a guidebook, and decide what is a "must do" for you! And, you may find you don't need to pay a guide to show you that "good time"! Many things are easy to do on your own, but you need info...get a guidebook!

Edited October 28, 2014 by cb at sea

[OCruisers]

Hi everyone!

We're on a 10-Day cruise in January visiting St. Kitts, St. Marteen, Barbados, Dominica, and St. Thomas. Does anyone have advice on shore excursions at these ports? What MUST we do? We're in our mid-30's and both active. Are there independent companies that we could use (and trust) for excursions that aren't with Celebrity? Thanks for your advice in advance!

Cheers!

 

Here's what we've most enjoyed in your ports of call:

 

St. Kitts: The catamaran sail to Nevis.

 

St. Maarten: The "Golden Eagle Island Sailaway". Also, always enjoy just going to Orient Beach.

 

Barbados: Any catamaran excursion that includes a beach stop!

 

Dominica: Never found any that we really liked enough to recommend. Fort Young Hotel is a pleasant place to have some drinks. ;)

 

St. Thomas: Take an excursion to St. John to snorkel.

 

You have a very good itinerary! Have FUN! :D

 

LuLu

[bouhunter]

Guides we've used I'd recommend:

 

Dominica: Beno (Augustine Pascal)

 

St. Kitts: Thenford Grey

 

Both of these guys are great. A google search will readily find their websites.

 

Barbados: Either snorkeling on Silver Moon, or a beach day at the Boatyard.