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St Lucia Reccomendations!

Taiters91

By Taiters91,
in St. Lucia

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Taiters91

Taiters91

Posted
Posted

Hello!

 

St Lucia is our 5th port on our first ever cruise in March!

 

We have decided to DIY as we keep changing our minds, so we will play it by ear as to what we fancy doing and may book excursions on the ship!

 

Any recommendations or No go's?

 

We are 24, newly married, and this is our Honeymoon. Our main aim of the holiday is to relax and enjoy some beautiful sites.

 

Our main interests would probably be beach resorts with restaurants, shops, maybe water activities or any other recommendations to make the most of the island!

 

We are also visiting;

Aruba

Grenada

Barbados

Bonaire

Antigua

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reedprincess

reedprincess

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Posted
Hello!

 

St Lucia is our 5th port on our first ever cruise in March!

 

We have decided to DIY as we keep changing our minds, so we will play it by ear as to what we fancy doing and may book excursions on the ship!

 

Any recommendations or No go's?

 

We are 24, newly married, and this is our Honeymoon. Our main aim of the holiday is to relax and enjoy some beautiful sites.

 

Our main interests would probably be beach resorts with restaurants, shops, maybe water activities or any other recommendations to make the most of the island!

 

We are also visiting;

Aruba

Grenada

Barbados

Bonaire

Antigua

Aruba and Barbados will have your most "tradional " beautiful beaches, ie white sand, calm waters, etc. Bonaire for water actives like snorkeling, etc. The others are much more interesting topography with Hills and mountains, waterfalls, volcano, ruins, forts, rainforest, etc.

In St Lucia, not to be missed includes the Pitons. They are our iconic landmark and unique to the Caribbean. Stunning really. Followed by our volcano and mud baths. Lots of various ways to see them from beach break to land/sea tour, etc. Spencer Ambrose, Cosol, Frank's Tours, Real St Lucia Tours, Barefoot Holidays, Jame's Touring, and so on are all excellent options.

Enjoy...

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  • 1 month later...
pghsteelerfan

pghsteelerfan

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We've done Spencer Ambrose's Jalousie/Sugar Beach Break and really enjoyed and recommend it if you want time at the beach. Jalousie/Sugar Beach is the beach between St. Lucia's famed Pitons (a must see). We did the tour in May 2013 and met at the cruise center and from there we took a speedboat to Jalousie Beach. We had two quick stops along the way, basically for information and photo ops. We were the first group at the beach, arriving by 9:30AM. It was a 45 minute ride, but we had the stops. We had about five hours to enjoy Jalousie/Sugar Beach, so there was plenty of time for snorkeling, walking the beach for pictures, and just kicking back and enjoying it. Walking the beach from one end to the other isn't very far and doesn't take long but it's beautiful. A very good lunch with authentic foods is provided in the cost, along with unlimited coke, diet coke, water, Piton beer, and Rum Punch.

 

I have seen many complaints about the loungers and their location that tour groups are allowed to use, but they are free and under the shade of trees and palapas. They can be moved into the sun if you wish. They are "first come, first serve", but with the Jalousie/Sugar Beach Break tour, you should be the first group and will have first picks of the free loungers. Jalousie/Sugar beach is a resort, so the other side is the resort side. They have some very nice loungers but they are expensive to rent. Many just go to the other side and put their towels in the sand if they don't want to use the free loungers.

 

The beach is stunning and the snorkeling is the best I've ever seen with a lot of fish and very colorful coral. Some others who were with us on our most recent visit saw an octopus. The snorkeling area is over to the left if you're facing the beach from the water (right in front of the free loungers) and it's at the base of Petit Piton (the smaller of the two Pitons).

 

On the return trip, you'll get the "Sea Tour", with several stops along the way for descriptions, information and some excellent photo opportunities, including great views of both Pitons from the water. We've chosen this tour over the one that was offered through the cruiseline since the cruiseline tour only allowed for an hour and a half at the beach...for us, not nearly enough time to snorkel, walk the beach for pictures, and just to kick back and enjoy the beautiful scenery. With the Jalousie/Sugar Beach Break, we had between 4 and 5 hours to enjoy on the beach. The pricing of the tour through the cruiseline (Carnival in our case) and Spencer's was about the same. We returned to our ship with about 45 minutes to an hour before back on board time, leaving plenty of time to browse the shops in the cruise center shopping area. Spencer's tours have never been late for the ship.

Edited by pghsteelerfan
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SailinC2C

SailinC2C

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Is there anything to see around the port in St. Lucia? the first time we went we did a full day tour with a bus and then returned in a catamaran. We want to do something different this time and didn't have time to look around the town

Is there anything to see? Are there any beaches close to the port?

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reedprincess

reedprincess

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Is there anything to see around the port in St. Lucia? the first time we went we did a full day tour with a bus and then returned in a catamaran. We want to do something different this time and didn't have time to look around the town

Is there anything to see? Are there any beaches close to the port?

There are many threads about this, a quick search will bring them up. Essentially, there is little right around the port, as Castries is very much a working city, rather than a purpose built port area.... A few things in the city with the walk, if you're interest, including Derek Walcott Square. The Cathedral of Immaculate Conception, Castries Food and Craft Market (rated #3 food Market in the world by NatGeo about 2 years back). Vigie Beach is about a 15-20 minute walk from the port areas, a very local beach with great swimming, lots of natural shade, and local food and rum shacks down near the airport entrance....

Otherwise, consider Pigeon Island, or Rodney Bay for a change of scenery from tour past tours...Enjoy your visit.

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