Carribbean beaches

[Whirlwind1995]

Hi guys first cruise looking at beach excursions and its lyk £50 for the 2 of us to go the beach with p&o.whould we be better just getting a taxi from the port we are traveling on azura 15th November going to Barbados/St Kitts /St Vincent/Tortola/St Maarten/grand Turk/St Lucia /Dominica and wich are the best as we will only be doing beach days once or twice thanks very much

[soobs]

Look on the ports of call loads of info for each island that's what we do we are on the 5th December not going to St Vincent this year though

[kruzseeka]

The best for beaches from your list of destinations imo are;

 

Philipsburg has a great beach - long sweep which you can walk to around the bay (about 20 minutes) or catch the water taxi from the port @ $4/5. Just check how many ships are in port with you as it can get very busy here but it's a long beach - if you walk to the left away from the beach jetty it is less crowded.

 

Barbados - you can walk to Carlisle Bay (about 30 minutes) where there are a number of beach bars and facilities and good bathing, or go a bit further afield to Rockley Beach - that's a taxi transfer. Sorry not sure of the cost.

 

Tortola - Cane Garden Beach. Pick up the local bus transfers or taxis about $6 each way.

 

Grand Turk is just a cruise ship resort but the beach is just as you get off the ship - free sun loungers and access to the pool and bars belonging to the complex (free Wifi here too).

 

There are lots of taxis/ minibuses/local tour operators dockside in the Caribbean so no need to pay for expensive beach transfers.

[1160451]

Most ports of call with beaches nearby will have taxis, minibuses, buses ready to take you to a great variety of beaches.

We were on Azure last January and I think we used mini buses to three beaches.

[Whirlwind1995]

Thanks kruzseeka are we best booking trips at ports aswell

[Whirlwind1995]

Thanks kruzseeka are we best booking trips at the ports aswell

[lanarkshire lad]

Hi guys first cruise looking at beach excursions and its lyk £50 for the 2 of us to go the beach with p&o.whould we be better just getting a taxi from the port we are traveling on azura 15th November going to Barbados/St Kitts /St Vincent/Tortola/St Maarten/grand Turk/St Lucia /Dominica and wich are the best as we will only be doing beach days once or twice thanks very much

 

Hi Whirlwind1995,

Barbados aprox 20 min walk or 5min in a taxi.To Carlisle Bay where you can visit THe Boat Yard or Lobsters alive .

 

St Vincent.

We dont Recommend going to the beach there as it is so small it gets overcrowded.

Tortola- Taxi to Cain Garden Bay.

St Martin -the water taxi at the ship will take you straight to the beach and shops take plenty of money if you want to buy jewellery best duty free prices on the Islands.

Grand Turk _ i think the boat is right next to beach.and that is all thats there

St Lucia- Taxi to Rodreck Bay.

Grand Turk ,Barbados ,and ST Maarten are our favourites.

There is no need to use P&O

Taxi,s are reasonably priced and the driver will come back for you at arranged time.

[Turbofun]

Last January on St Maarten we just used the local bus service to go to Maho Beach because we wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

Sadly, heavies out of the USA were grounded because of bad weather.

It's still an ok beach and OP, if your wife is brave, you could get free drinks at the Sunset Bar and Grill.

[jantoby]

Hi guys first cruise looking at beach excursions and its lyk £50 for the 2 of us to go the beach with p&o.whould we be better just getting a taxi from the port we are traveling on azura 15th November going to Barbados/St Kitts /St Vincent/Tortola/St Maarten/grand Turk/St Lucia /Dominica and wich are the best as we will only be doing beach days once or twice thanks very much

 

On Tortola, Cane Garden Bay is the busiest beach on the island. Not far from it is Brewers Bay, which is lovely. Taxi drivers will come back and pick you up to take you back to the ship if you tell them what time you want to be back. Hope you have a great time, wherever you go.

[kruzseeka]

Hi Whirlwind1995,

Barbados aprox 20 min walk or 5min in a taxi.To Carlisle Bay where you can visit THe Boat Yard or Lobsters alive .

 

St Vincent.

We dont Recommend going to the beach there as it is so small it gets overcrowded.

Tortola- Taxi to Cain Garden Bay.

St Martin -the water taxi at the ship will take you straight to the beach and shops take plenty of money if you want to buy jewellery best duty free prices on the Islands.

Grand Turk _ i think the boat is right next to beach.and that is all thats there

St Lucia- Taxi to Rodreck Bay.

Grand Turk ,Barbados ,and ST Maarten are our favourites.

There is no need to use P&O

Taxi,s are reasonably priced and the driver will come back for you at arranged time.

 

Agree we weren't too impressed with Villa Beach via water taxi (speed boat!) at St Vincent either.

Is it Reduit Beach at St Lucia? That's lovely with plenty of beach furniture. You can get a taxi or even the local buses to Rodney Bay and walk through from the main road to the beach.

Dominica is best known for the tropical vegetation, waterfalls and nature.

 

You can pick up tours dockside - there will often be a number of different tours/destinations/beach transfers on offer. These will typically be minibuses which fill up with 10/12 passengers. Alternatively negotiate with a taxi driver to take you wherever you want to go.

[DevonianCruiser]

On a two week med cruise round the Greek Isles this summer we booked all out tours privately using recommendations on here at the ports of call and other sites and it was far cheaper and better in my opinion. The Caribbean is even easier though the islands are far smaller and almost everything you need can be delivered by taxi drivers just off the ship.

 

What we normally do is arrange an hour or two island tour, get the driver to drop us off at a beach for a number of hours, then get dropped back at the port town to have a look round the shops. It's amazing how much you can do in a day and still feel totally relaxed. I like to see a bit of the island I've been on, but I like to sunbath and swim too.

 

As others have said above there's a great beach in St Martin right in front of the very long street full of loads of shops that's ideal. Water taxi to get there, or walk it as we do. Barbados, the Boatyard is walkable and is a great place to spend the day ($15 each entry I believe) and we've walked I to Bridgetown from there. That said I'd want to see Sandy Lane, the oval cricket ground, drive past the street where Rhianna grew up, stop outside Simon Cowells gated house and see Wayne Rooneys pad in the distance - bit cheesy maybe but we did all that and thoroughly ended seeing the island :)

[Sanjam cruisers]

Hi Whirlwind 1995

Would agree with previous posters best beaches are Barbados, St Lucia, Tortola, Antguia and Grand Turk, avoid St Vincent the beach the water taxi takes you to is an overcrowded postage stamp infested with sandflys, went there once and was bitten so much I looked like a patchwork quilt. I would also suggest you take or buy water shoes as some of the beaches have a lot of broken/ground up shell and can be slightly rough on the feet. The beach at Grand Turk at the point the ship docks has been man made and can be quite rocky underwater, it is better further away from the dock area.There is also a problem throughout the Caribbean Islands just now with a Mosquito borne virus called I believe "Chinuguki " or similar so take or buy a Insect repellent those which contain DEET are recommended.

Have a great cruise

Edited November 5, 2014 by Sanjam cruisers

[kruzseeka]

Hi Whirlwind 1995

There is also a problem throughout the Caribbean Islands just now with a Mosquito borne virus called I believe "Chinuguki " or similar si take or buy a Insect repellent those which contain DEET are recommended.

Have a great cruise

 

 

Thanks for the heads up on that one - as you say the bites can be quite a problem. We were caught out by sand flies when we just put our towels on the sand. Never again! Always get loungers now! Hopefully the mosquitoes won't be too active in the daytime - although some are! Good advice re DEET - I've been told by a Dr that it's recommended it should be at least 50% DEET to be effective. There's usually a weaker version and the suncreams which have insect repellant don't offer good enough protection.

 

Just found this link:

 

http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices/watch/chikungunya-saint-martin

Edited November 5, 2014 by kruzseeka

[Sanjam cruisers]

Hi Kruzseeka

We have cruised in the Caribbean numerous times without problems as we are not normally beach people, however we have cruised three times with friends who do like the beach and that is when we have had a problem. We went to Cane Garden last earlier this year, nice day till it started to rain and the insects came out with a vengeance my better half was bitten and we only noticed back on the ship. We ended up in our local A&E the morning we arrived back in Glasgow as the bites had become infected. However it has not put us off our Caribbean Cruises will be back on Ventura in February.

Edited November 5, 2014 by Sanjam cruisers

[sj_stella]

I have to agree with the posters that say go to the Boatyard in Barbados. It is basically a day-use resort that you pay, get some food and drinks, and then have a lovely beach with lots of entertainment. There are shipwrecks right off the shore that you can snorkel for cheap, or you can rent jetskis, play volleyball, etc. The water there is extremely clear as well. In Dominica, I'd recommend a rainforest excursion of some kind. The fort in St. Kitts is neat to see. If you are into buying jewelry, St. Kitts and st. Lucia are great places to do it. Haven't been to the other islands. Hope that helps!

[sj_stella]

Also, chikungunya is spread by two mosquito species that are active in the daytime. Wear bug spray. Also, deet percentages refer to amounts of time that it is active. Similar to sunscreen, anything over 50% gives people false security and they don't reapply often enough. You are better off applying a lower percentage more frequently. I went recently a reapplied every 2 hours plus when I got out of the water from swimming.

[HellouB]

I loved Cane Garden Beach in Tortola, it was very peaceful and relaxing. We took the onboard transfer with P and O, which was good as the driver gave a running commentary and let us get off to take pictures.

 

I was disappointed with the beach in St Lucia as it was overrun with hawkers and I spent most of my time saying thank you I'm not interested. Just by the Sandals resort a young couple we were travelling with were offered drugs within 10 minutes of arriving so they felt uncomfortable and made a hasty retreat (I hope this was an isolated incident). Everyone we knew who went on the catamaran trip organised by P and O said they had a wonderful time and got to see many interesting sites and swim in the coves. If I go back to St Lucia I will definately do that trip instead.