Calling all past Valor and Southern Caribbean guests....

[Jennifer925]

We hop on board the Valor March 1st! (49 days! Yahooooo)

 

We are looking for beach suggestions for St Thomas, Barbados, st kitts and st marteen....we are big beach goers, not so much drinkers and have our own snorkel gear... Would love to see what everyone's opinions are :)

 

 

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[lunagirl]

We hop on board the Valor March 1st! (49 days! Yahooooo)

 

We are looking for beach suggestions for St Thomas, Barbados, st kitts and st marteen....we are big beach goers, not so much drinkers and have our own snorkel gear... Would love to see what everyone's opinions are :)

 

St Thomas: We took a cab to the ferry to St. John and then went to Trunk Bay. We got off the ship early in the morning and were able to spend several hours at Trunk Bay before it got crowded. Great sand, amazingly clear water, FANTASTIC! There were sting rays, fish, and sting rays hanging out with us in the water and it was a great morning. Once it got crowded, we went back into town and had some fresh fruit smoothies and lunch, and did shopping. I am doing this again in May. Loved it!

 

Barbados: Calabaza...enough said. It was a super day with snorkel fun with turtles, a reef, a sunken ship, and some beach time. The boat, crew, food, and drinks were great.

 

St. Kitts: Went to a beach at the far end of the island (at the suggestion of the taxi driver....wasn't impressed. There were lots of people trying to sell stuff. The beach wasn't as soft and the snorkel experience definitely left something to be desired. I will be finding another beach this time. Thinking of Carambola

 

St. Maarten: I am no help here, as we didn't snorkel here.

 

Side note: We had a surprisingly cool snorkel experience at Jalousie Beach in St. Lucia.

 

Enjoy! I hope this helps!

[Jennifer925]

St Thomas: We took a cab to the ferry to St. John and then went to Trunk Bay. We got off the ship early in the morning and were able to spend several hours at Trunk Bay before it got crowded. Great sand, amazingly clear water, FANTASTIC! There were sting rays, fish, and sting rays hanging out with us in the water and it was a great morning. Once it got crowded, we went back into town and had some fresh fruit smoothies and lunch, and did shopping. I am doing this again in May. Loved it!

 

 

 

Barbados: Calabaza...enough said. It was a super day with snorkel fun with turtles, a reef, a sunken ship, and some beach time. The boat, crew, food, and drinks were great.

 

 

 

St. Kitts: Went to a beach at the far end of the island (at the suggestion of the taxi driver....wasn't impressed. There were lots of people trying to sell stuff. The beach wasn't as soft and the snorkel experience definitely left something to be desired. I will be finding another beach this time. Thinking of Carambola

 

 

 

St. Maarten: I am no help here, as we didn't snorkel here.

 

 

 

Side note: We had a surprisingly cool snorkel experience at Jalousie Beach in St. Lucia.

 

 

 

Enjoy! I hope this helps!

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the reply!! Great suggestions!! Do you happen to remember taxi fares?? For st lucia we are going w cosol tours for the island experience...I picked that because of the volcanic hot springs...I did them in Costa Rica and will do it any chance I get!!

 

 

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[seannyice81]

Good Morning

 

We took the ferry from Red Hook Bay over to St. John as well. Its nice to do it early because you have plenty of time to see Trunk Bay and downtown Cruz Bay. St. John is a great place.

 

Barbados we bought a day pass for the Hilton and had a nice relaxing time on their beautiful property. The specific passes we had, allowed us each use of the pools, beach, and outdoor amenities, with 2 beach towels each. It also included lunch and one cocktail or beer from the poolside restaurant. Can't remember the cost.

 

St. Lucia we did the Cosol tour and had a great time. Our van decided as a group to tour the volcano instead of the mud bath, since apparently it makes you stink. The tour did run a little long though, and when we got back to the ship we really didn't have any time to look around at anything.

 

St. Kitts we took the Carnival sponsored ATV tour and had a pretty decent time. It was a little too short though.

 

St. Maarten was almost a complete bust. I got a nasty cold and it rained almost all day. For a short time we were able to see the planes land low at Maho Beach. I want to go back and do it all over.

 

Hope you have an excellent time.

[lunagirl]

St. Thomas: taxi was $10.00 per person each way from the port to the ferry and $3.00 per person from the ferry dock in St. John to Trunk Bay.

 

Barbados: No taxi for us

 

St. Kitts: I think the taxi cost was @ $7 per person each way

 

St. Maarten: No taxi for us

[pghsteelerfan]

We hop on board the Valor March 1st! (49 days! Yahooooo)

 

We are looking for beach suggestions for St Thomas, Barbados, st kitts and st marteen....we are big beach goers, not so much drinkers and have our own snorkel gear... Would love to see what everyone's opinions are :)

 

 

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We did the southern itinerary out of San Juan on Valor in 2013 and it was one of our favorite cruises - beautiful islands. We are also big beach goers and were at a beach every day and also have our own snorkel gear.

 

I'm not trying to "suggest" but just letting you know what we did in each of the islands you asked about. We really enjoyed our time and all places we went to were beautiful. I'd love to do the same cruise again and would probably try different places, as we always do on islands we've visited before.

 

St. Thomas: Were in Trunk Bay, St. John on a previous cruise so we decided to stay in St. Thomas this time and went to Sapphire Beach. The cab fare was $10.00 per person, each way. Sapphire is on the eastern side of St. Thomas and it took about 20 - 30 minutes to get there. Beautiful beach and great views of St. John and some of the British Virgin Islands.

 

Barbados: We ended up getting a day pass at the Barbados Hilton to use their beach loungers/facilities for the day. This wasn't planned. We hoped to go to the Eastern side of Barbados to Bathsheba (huge rock formations out in the water, beautiful views from pictures I've seen) but it would have been $80.00 (USD) per person...we passed. We got into a cab with others but had to wait till it filled. Most of the others were going to the Hilton so we just decided to go there too. We got the package for the use of loungers/umbrella/towels/pool. We were mainly interested in the beach. We paid $40.00 per person (they'll have it listed as $80.00 per person, but that's Barbados dollars). There were other gals in the taxi who opted for the "free" package (towels in the sand off to the left side). We really enjoyed it and it's a beautiful property at the far end of Carlisle Bay. It took about 10 - 15 minutes to get there.

 

St. Kitts: We got a taxi ($7.00 per person if taxi has four our more people, more expensive otherwise, like $14.00 per person/each way) and went to Cockleshell Beach which is on the southern side of St. Kitts facing Nevis (St. Kitts' sister island). We were only there for a couple of ours since it pretty much rained all day in St. Kitts. We never snorkeled, so I can't say how it is. It think loungers/umbrellas were $5.00 and there are a couple restaurant/bars (Reggae is one). Our cab driver waited for us since there was also another couple who rode there with us. The ride took about 20 - 30 minutes and we did stop at the point on top of Timothy Hill for views of the section where you can see the Atlantic (left) and the Caribbean (right side).

 

St. Maarten: We went to Pinel Island, which is just north of Orient Bay on the French side. To get there, we took a private excursion outside of the cruise line. We had been on Pinel Island years ago, feel in love with it and wanted to get back. Carnival didn't have any excursions that went there and it's not recommended to rely on a cab. From the Port of Call section, it would be easy to get a cab there but cabs usually aren't waiting to take cruise passengers back since it isn't a popular area for cruise passengers. Getting to Pinel Island also involved a 10 minute ferry ride. When we were there it was $7.00 per person, round trip but I've heard that has gone way up. It's beautiful there and there were others there but it remained fairly quiet. There are loungers/umbrellas and two restaurants/bars (on the pricey side). The snorkeling was good.

 

I hope you have as good a time on Valor as we did...again, one of our all time favorite cruises.

[sylent]

St. Thomas - Can't go wrong with Magen's Bay

St Kitts - South Friars Bay

St Maarten - Little Divi Bay

[sixb0nes]

St. Thomas - took a ferry to water island to lounge on Honeymoon Beach. Small and quiet beach with no snorkling but a wonderful day. On previous trips to St. Thomas, we took a cab ($10 per person) to Sapphire Beach and snorkeled right from the beach. Also did a 1/2 day snorkling tour with Fury Charter - great snorkling.

 

Barbados - Calabaza. Excellent day with great snorkling, wonderful crew and yummy food. Gina was a great hostess.

 

St. Kitts - we did a tour with Rose & Jim's Taxi service. It was a tour of the island plus some beach time. We went to South Friars Bay (Shipwreck Bar & Grill). If I remember correctly it was a black sand beach and we did no snorkling there so not sure if it was any good. We had Rose as our tour guide and she was wonderful and accomodating.

 

St. Maarten: We went to Mayo Beach - it is small beach with great sand and some waves. The highlight is the planes landing beside the beach. We did no snorkling here. We never get tired of doing this :)

 

St. Lucia - we did a land, sea and beach tour with Spencer Ambrose tours. Snorkling was good at Jalouise Beach, buffet lunch was yummy but St. Lucia was my least favorite port. I felt like every tour stop was an opportunity to be sold coconut necklaces and local wares. I think if we go there again we will try Pigeon Island.

[ldlewis45]

St. Kitts: If you want a regular beach day, Carambola beach club is great. Technically, the beach it's on is a free beach, but they've got nice loungers and umbrellas, and they don't let the monkey men or people selling things bother you if you're in the Carambola section.

 

St. Maarten: If you want an organized excursion, try Captain Alan's charters. They go several places, and one of them is Pinel Island, which is absolutely beatiful. Next time I go, I'm probably going to try to go to Pinel Island by myself.

Edited January 11, 2015 by ldlewis45

[LiquorPig]

Was on Valor in 2013. Going again Mar 15 2015 same cruise/ itinerary

Not a carnival excursion but Bob Cass runs this tour - look it up in trip advisor for St Maarten. Total blast. # 1 in trip advisor.

 

Snorkel, tour, lunch included and a couple awesome surprises I won't ruin. Great staff. Accepts payment through PayPal and is totally legit.

 

It was the best excursion of the 4 we did in 2013. We already paid for 2015 to repeat it.

 

Its worth it. Much happy.

 

Liquorpig.

[LiquorPig]

Was on Valor in 2013. Going again Mar 15 2015 same cruise/ itinerary

 

Not a Carnival excursion but Bob Cass runs this tour - look it up in Trip Advisor for St Maarten. Total blast. # 1 in trip advisor

 

Snorkel several sites , fun as you go boat tour...enroute to sites, serious fast boats and lunch included plus a couple awesome surprises I won't ruin.

 

A well rounded awesome experience guaranteed!!

Great captains/staff- boats are nice, new and exciting rides. Twin 300 HP.

 

Accepts payment through PayPal and is totally legit. Boats only seat about 10-12 including captain which allows access to sensitive snorkel areas head boats are banned from.

 

It was the best excursion of the 4 we did in 2013. We already paid for 2015 to repeat it as daughter is joining this time.

 

They WILL get you back to port on time. They are pro's. They have a great "tour" and have it down to a science.

 

Its worth it. Much happy.

 

Liquorpig.

[Jennifer925]

Thank you everyone for your replies!!! :) I'll post a review and pictures when we get back!!

 

 

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[jimbo5544]

Thank you everyone for your replies!!! :) I'll post a review and pictures when we get back!!

 

 

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St kitts, we loved Ragaee beach, you can view Nevis from the beach.

 

 

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[campdaan]

First off:

Spend some time in San Juan. We hired a taxi and went to the Bacardi factory, then took the ferry back to the ship.

 

St. Thomas:

Godfrey Tours if you are a first timer. Sunny Liston is also a great tour guide.

 

St Maarten:

Maho to watch the planes land or Orient Beach

 

St Kitts:

Raggae Beach.

 

Barbados:

The Boatyard

 

I'd have to look up our tour operator from St. Lucia, but it's a beautiful island, rich in history.

[Surrealistic]

St Thomas- first trip we did the Carnival Two Island excursion.......plenty of snorkeling, lots of sea turtles. Second Trip we went to Trunk Bay, St Johns also on a Carnival excursion and loved it. Gorgeous beach and lots of good snorkeling.

 

St Kitts -Our first trip we went to South Friars Beach as part of Grey's Tour. We had the choice of going to several areas on the beach and we chose to go by the Shipwreck Bar per recommendations on CC. It was a fun time.....the beach does have black sand, however, and only a small area to enter the water. There was plenty of fish to see snorkeling, and as part of our tour we spent only about an hour or two there. Our next trip to St Kitts, we spent solely at Carambola Beach Club. It's also on Friar's Beach, and closer to the cruise port. The beach sand is nicer, but no snorkeling to speak of.

 

Barbados- We went to the Boatyard and spent the day. We did not bring snorkel gear, so can't comment on that. The day at the Boatyard was one of the best we ever had, however.

 

You can't go wrong with Cosol tours. We did that in St Lucia and it was a fabulous jammed pack day which included a brief stop at a lovely beach. They had snorkel gear available, but we chose to relax.

 

Both times we visited St Maarten we opted for something other than the beach........once a land tour the other time shopping so I can't help you there. Whatever you do, have a wonderful time on your cruise!

[campdaan]

First off:

Spend some time in San Juan. We hired a taxi and went to the Bacardi factory, then took the ferry back to the ship.

 

St. Thomas:

Godfrey Tours if you are a first timer. Sunny Liston is also a great tour guide.

 

St Maarten:

Maho to watch the planes land or Orient Beach

 

St Kitts:

Raggae Beach.

 

Barbados:

The Boatyard

 

I'd have to look up our tour operator from St. Lucia, but it's a beautiful island, rich in history.

 

St Lucia: Rose and Jim or Spencer Ambrose.

[FreezingInMichigan]

One of our favorite (and busiest!) cruises!

 

St. Thomas: We booked catamaran sail/snorkel to Buck Island to swim with the sea turtles. Great water day.

 

Barbados: Another catamaran sail/snorkel to swim with the sea turtles. Used Island Marketing. Another great excursion.

 

St. Lucia: Booked Cosols all day tour. The snorkeling at the Pitons is fabulous.

 

St. Kitts: Booked a tour that ended up at the Shipwreck beach bar. Many taxi straight to Shipwreck and spend the day. I would if I were going a second time.

 

St. Maarten: Raced the American's cup yachts then taxi'd over to Maho Beach. Rented chairs and an umbrella to relax in the surf while the planes flew in overheard.

 

It's a fabulous itinerary. Have fun!

 

~ Sheryl

 

 

We hop on board the Valor March 1st! (49 days! Yahooooo)

 

We are looking for beach suggestions for St Thomas, Barbados, st kitts and st marteen....we are big beach goers, not so much drinkers and have our own snorkel gear... Would love to see what everyone's opinions are :)

 

 

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[larsch]

St Kitts: Cockleshell Beach. Nice beach, calm water, Perhaps some of the best views I have ever seen(so far).

Larry

[TanIslandGirl]

We hop on board the Valor March 1st! (49 days! Yahooooo)

 

We are looking for beach suggestions for St Thomas, Barbados, st kitts and st marteen....we are big beach goers, not so much drinkers and have our own snorkel gear... Would love to see what everyone's opinions are :)

 

 

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Ill be hopping off the day you hop on.

[SaWuttae]

We're beachgoers and drinkers but not so much snorkelers, but here's my input.

 

St Thomas - Done both Emerald and Magen's Bay, I liked them both, I think I would do Magens again before Emerald. Magens is nice...better drinks at Emerald though.

 

St. Kitts - Our favorite place. Carambola/ South Friars. We usually go and plop down on different spots from Carambola to the Shipwreck throughout the day, and the little bars in between. Can't go wrong. Cheaper drinks at Shipwreck, and good food. I hear it's decent snorkeling between the 2 bars.

 

Barbados - Done Boatyard and Rockley Beach, I liked Rockley by far. I would never go back to the Boatyard, too crowded, too much of a party atmosphere for my liking. It is a nice stretch of clean beach though.

 

St. Martin - With limited budgets and so many ports, we've always made St. Martin our cheap day. We've done it twice and we won't do it again, too much to see! We always walk to Great Bay Beach in town, spend 20 bucks for 2 chairs, umbrella, and a bucket of beers. Then we bake, jump in the water occasionaly, and buy more buckets of beer. And walk the town a bit.

 

St. Lucia - did a tour with Herod. Wonderful tour, only beach we went to was Jealousie, and can't say that I was impressed with it. Expensive drinks.

[ldlewis45]

We're beachgoers and drinkers but not so much snorkelers, but here's my input.

 

St Thomas - Done both Emerald and Magen's Bay, I liked them both, I think I would do Magens again before Emerald. Magens is nice...better drinks at Emerald though.

 

St. Kitts - Our favorite place. Carambola/ South Friars. We usually go and plop down on different spots from Carambola to the Shipwreck throughout the day, and the little bars in between. Can't go wrong. Cheaper drinks at Shipwreck, and good food. I hear it's decent snorkeling between the 2 bars.

 

Barbados - Done Boatyard and Rockley Beach, I liked Rockley by far. I would never go back to the Boatyard, too crowded, too much of a party atmosphere for my liking. It is a nice stretch of clean beach though.

 

St. Martin - With limited budgets and so many ports, we've always made St. Martin our cheap day. We've done it twice and we won't do it again, too much to see! We always walk to Great Bay Beach in town, spend 20 bucks for 2 chairs, umbrella, and a bucket of beers. Then we bake, jump in the water occasionaly, and buy more buckets of beer. And walk the town a bit.

 

St. Lucia - did a tour with Herod. Wonderful tour, only beach we went to was Jealousie, and can't say that I was impressed with it. Expensive drinks.

I agree with your comment about the Boatyard. It was horribly crowded and was like I was back in college at a fraternity party (and I didn't enjoy that the first time, let alone again). I managed to get seated between two groups of people, one a couple of guys in their 20s and the other a married couple in their 40s/50s. They spent most of the day bonding over the different varieties of marijuana. Apparently, the married couple were in legal trouble because their house had just been raided by the police because they were growing and selling marijuana. Supposedly, the cops seized all the pot, but they apparently forgot to look in one of the freezers and missed a good portion of their stash, lol. There I was, employed by a federal law enforcement agency, wondering what the heck I'd gotten myself into and hoping they didn't decide to light up right there next to me.

 

In St. Lucia, I did a private excursion with Spencer Ambrose Tours that spent the entire day at Jalousie Beach. I actually really liked it. It wasn't fancy, but the snorkeling was decent, the provided lunch was good, and the free rum punch the organizers handed out was SO STRONG. I had three small cups (maybe 5-6 ounces each), one at the beginning, one with lunch, and one on the way back to the ship. It knocked me for a loop, to the point where I was about to get sick on the speedboat ride back because they kept slowing down and letting the boat rock. They actually had one of the guys sit next to me to make sure I was okay, lol. I wound up stumbling back to my room, dragging my tote bag behind me.

[Arizonagirl14]

St Thomas-ferry to St. John. Beautiful

 

Barbados-went just to the left of boat year. I believe it was Copacabana ;beautiful but much quieter than boatyard. 2 Banks beers for $6 USD.

 

No beach in St. lucia

 

St. Kitts we did the 1 hour city tour and then went to the carambola beach club. It was beautiful. No peddlers and fantastic facilities. (Island Paradise tours) $30 p/p . Chris, out tour guide , was awesome. Chairs and umbrella extra. It is a nice facility and would go there again.

 

St. marten-Maho beach was a blast.

 

 

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[Cruiser 2 too]

All these tours/ beaches sound great! I love the southern itenerary. Valor is a nice ship too!

[KatPem]

St Thomas- we have been there twice...both times took cab ($10pp) to red hook ferry ($14pp round trip) and then had a cab drop us off at the. Cinnamon Bay Trailhead and we hiked 1.2 miles...all downhill...to cinnamon beach. We spent the day there and then took the same route back at the same cost...pretty pricy for a family of 6 but well worth it. Cinnamon beach is gorgeous, there is snorkeling but it is a ways out. Truck bay has an underwater snorkeling trail but it also more popular. We take this itinerary with the kids over spring break and are going to sapphire beach this time.

 

Barbados-we went just the two of us and booked the silver moon catamaran tour ourselves....would love to do again but kids weren't a fan of snorkeling so going to probably try the boatyard. The silver moon was beautiful and we loved it!

 

St lucia- never been here but we heard good things from people on our last cruise about ziplining there so that is what we might do. I would rather go to the beach but.....lol

 

St kitts-was there last November with my husband. We went to carambola beach club and loved it! We are taking the kids back. Great loungers, can walk down to see the monkeys, we snorkel end our way back and there was awesome snorkeling...the best of our trip. There is a reef that runs parallel to the beach about 30 ft out or so between carambola and where the monkeys are. We probably saw 20 different species and crystal clear water!

 

St martin- we did a catamaran tour on the golden eagle. We loved it and had a blast but the snorkeling was nothing compared to st kitts, although we did enjoy it there too. Definitely taking the kids to maho beach and may check out marigot if the kids are beached out and pineal island or orient beach if they aren't.st martin is beautiful!

 

 

 

Kathy-Central Indiana

Mom to four (2girls-17&13), (2boys-14&11)

Carnival Liberty (Southern) 4/2015)

Carnival Conquest (11/13) Repositioning

Carnival Liberty (4/13) Eastern

Carnival Destiny (6/04) Southern

[RNnNC]

We hop on board the Valor March 1st! (49 days! Yahooooo)

 

We are looking for beach suggestions for St Thomas, Barbados, st kitts and st marteen....we are big beach goers, not so much drinkers and have our own snorkel gear... Would love to see what everyone's opinions are :)

 

 

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Barbados......CALABAZA!!! Hands down the best excursion I have been on. Twice!