Princess Southern Caribbean itineraries

[lamborghini]

Is there a sense of what tends to be the better itinerary for the southern caribbean? The Antigua, St. Lucia, Barbados, St Kitts, St Thomas or the St Thomas, Dominica, Grenada, Bonaire, Aruba. We don't snorkel or hike but still very active. Thanks

[moodyb1]

The first set of islands is what Princess normally does sets as an Eastern Caribbean island cruise and the second set of islands is for a Southern Caribbean island cruise. The second set is what we did in January, 2015 on the Royal.

 

Arlene

[CruiserBruce]

Define "better". Everyone has different interests, thus a given itinerary would be "better" to one person, and not to another.

[Dusie]

We did both as a B2B, February to March 2014 on the Emerald. It was our best cruise ever. The Barbados/St Lucia/Antigua leg is fantastic because they are our favorite ports and the Dominica/ Bonaire leg because we got to check those two "never been to" islands off our bucket list. My goal is to see as many Caribbean ports as I can before I kick it. St. Thomas is the same for both legs and we went to St. John to the beaches both legs. I don't think you can go wrong either way. Pick one an do the other next time!

[Bonnie J.]

We have been to all the ports you mentioned. We haven't taken a ship's tour in years. I would say the 1st group of islands. Our tour with Cosol in St. Lucia was one of the best tour we have ever taken if not the best! Antiqua has 365 beaches if you like beaches.

We were in Bonaire for the 1st time last month. We and our cruise buddies both decided the most fascinating thing about Bonaire were the fences made of cactus and the HUGE piles of salt. We were told about 3 ships come in a week so they haven't much to do for us tourists except if you are a diver. Diving is the biggest thing there and there are orange painted rocks naming all the beaches used for diving- and there are too many to count. The ocean was too rough for us to get to Aruba- the water was so rough the harbor pilot couldn't get on board.

[lamborghini]

Bonnie: Those were my initial thoughts also. That there would be more of a variety of things to do from shopping to beaches to restaurants to nature. have done the eastern caribbean on the Regal to St Thomas, San Juan, and Turks and really enjoyed all three. hard not to love St Thomas. Again, thank you

[Bonnie J.]

I can HIGHLY recommend a Cosol tour for St. Lucia! The tour was supposed to be 5 hours but ours was 6+. Our guide was very aware of the time and time ship left so we wouldn't miss it. What really got us were the roads! The ONE straightaway had to be maybe the width of a football field, I'm sorry I didn't count all the turns as that's the way the roads are one turn right after another, right then left. We had lots of stops for the view and every stop had water, soda or rum punch. There were vendors at some but only 2 or maybe 3. One stop was an island breakfast stop. There were so many tables with local food no one could come close to trying everything. It was fascinating at the banana plantation to see such tiny bananas. They were the size of a baseball. Then we had a boat trip to a beach for about an hour to a beach at the base of the Pitons. It is one tour we will not hesitate to take again our next time in S. Lucia!

Check them on Google and ask about their tours here too.

[lamborghini]

What great information. Had similar information when we did Alaska and got to Skagway. Had lined up private tour with "Beyond Skagway Tours" which was spectacular for same amount of time as train ride, less money, and saw bears and sheep we would never have seen on train.

[cruiseapril]

In our experience, both St. Lucia and Dominica are best with well organized tours with good drivers and guides.

 

We are partial to the ABC Islands and would go again to Bonaire and Aruba.

Bonaire has some interesting sites and Aruba has lots of good excursions and some beautiful beaches. If you enjoy beaches, Palm Beach in Aruba is very nice.

 

Both itineraries are interesting. There is lots of info on the ports in the Port Forums.