Advice for shore excursions

[jillfeng85]

We are going on a cruise to Southern Caribbean, and I have 3 islands that I am not sure what to do with them: St. Kitts, St. Marten, and Barbados. I would like to have some advices.

 

Here are my questions:

 

1. Which island/town would you recommend to take a walk in town for a couple hours? I heard about marigot. Any better choices than that? On the day we are at St. Marten, there will be another cruise and a total of 7000 passengers. I heard that the traffic at St. Marten can be bad. That's my concern for marigot.

 

2. Any restaurant for local foods would you recommend on these islands? Price under $30 pp

 

3. Which island would you recommend for a moderate hiking trip?

 

4. Which boat trip/snorkel trip would you recommend the most, of all 3 islands?

 

Thank you.

[Keith1010]

There is a wealth of information on the Ports Of Call Board for each Island under the Caribbean Ports of Call section so I would highly recommend posting there.

 

For a nice walk I would walk Barbados. You make your way out of the terminal and then make a left and walk a couple of miles into town. It is a nice walk and on one side is the water which we walk into town and on the other side of the road are some shops which we stop off at on our way back from town. In town there are sites to see such as one of the oldest Synagogues in North America and a similarly olds church and some other sites and markets. There are places to shop too.

 

In St. Marten it is a 20 minute walk from the ship and we also like to walk that town too and it is excellent for shopping.

 

St. Kitts downtown areai very limited so I would not plan a walk there.

 

Keith

[Trainer]

I suggest the town of Marigot on the French side of St.Maarten/St.Martin. Easy to get a taxi from your ship's port. Nice restaurants, some French shopping and a market on the bay front. I stay away from Phillipsburg (Dutch side) unless I am shopping for watches, etc.

The Dutch side is more commercial and the French side more, well, more French.

When you are done, taxis, some multi-person vans, are easy to find at the market to go back to your ship. Yes, traffic can be bad so allow plenty of time.

[Floridiana]

St. Kitts is good for a moderate hiking trip. We did ours with Greg, actually ours had minimal walking. We loved that excursion.

http://www.gregsafaris.com/

 

More walking: On the French side of St. Martin, we took a van and and an open bed truck to the top of the mountain and walked down, excellent views and great excursion. That was organized by the ship.

 

On the Dutch side (different cruise), we walked from the pier into Philipsburg, pleasant little town with a waterfront promenade. They also have a small ferry which we took back to the pier.

 

Barbados: I agree with Keith that the walk into Bridgetown is pleasant.

Edited August 23, 2015 by Floridiana

[jillfeng85]

I think that we like to try Marigot and probably a bit of Barbados.

 

In term of snorkeling and boat ride, which island do you think is better?

 

I tried the specific ports of all, but they don't compare island to island.

 

Also any good restaurants?

[SuiteTraveler]

I liked snorkeling on the French side of St. Maarten. Barbados snorkeling is more about seeing sea turtles.