Excursions from Constellation 's Jan. 14th ship

[Merrokean]

I'm quite new to cruising and totally new to this site so I'm not sure that I should have started a new thread; however, I still would appreciate info. re excursions that should be booked in advance because they're so popular that they fill up and we can't visit them on our own. I now have the correct ship name--Constellation--and hope I will hear from some of you. If we can take a taxi from a particular port, or somehow do it on our own, we would prefer that. Stops are: Casa de Campo, St. George, Bridgetown, Basseterre and Charlotte Amalie. I'm just trying to avoid disappointment later when I do have time before Jan. 14th to make arrangements now. Thanks for any tips you can offer.

[superjerryw]

Without any knowledge of what you are interested in it's not really possible to make any recommendations. I would suggest you review the available excursions online. If you tell us what you want it will be easier to tell you if something is feasible on your own or if you are better off taking the excursion offered by the ship. In general, excursions to the beach and generalized sightseeing tours rarely fill up. Highly specialized trips such as America's Cup Yachting have a very limited capacity and are best booked in advance.

[daughter of eve]

Merrokean,

We are on this cruise with you. This is our first cruise as well. We have booked Horseback ridining in Dom. Rep. (something I have always wanted to do), Snorkling in St. Kitts and The trek through the jungle to the underground caves in Barbados (husbands pick, he likes hiking). We are considering doing the tour in St. Thomas that is $20 to be taxi'd around and dropped off here and there, but are undecided as of yet, the other tours we booked through Celebrity. I hope this helps. I am sure you are getting excited, I know we are.

Adrian

[texassilverfox]

Hello Merrokean,

 

We will also be sailing with you and this will be our fifth Celebrity cruise in the past three years. Usually, we mix ship tours with being on our own or non-ship tours depending on the port. For this trip we are using the ship tours in Dom. Rep. (4X4 off road), Barbados (submarine) and St. Kitt (railroad tour) while using a private tour in Grenada (http://www.grenadaguide.com/aetours/index.htm). In St. Thomas, we are planning to do it via taxi as was previously discussed.

 

Of course, excursions are personal and depend upon your interests.

 

Hope you enjoy cruising as much as we do.

[Merrokean]

Thanks to all of you who responded to my query. I found the site called "Ports of Call" but only saw info about Barbados with recommended private tours. Could not find anything on Dom. Republic, Grendada, St. Kitts or St. Thomas. My husband and I are youthful, active (though not athletic) senior citizens and have done a lot of traveling, not by ship. We love seeing new places and are interested in anything unique to an area. I would try snorkeling again (haven't done it in a long time), not sure about hubby, but I want to make things easy and comfortable for him so he'll not be resistant next time I suggest a cruise. Perhaps a taxi from each port, tailoring tour to our interests, would work best. Yes? I'm really looking forward to this trip. Thanks to all for your input and tips.

[espmass]

Last two times we were in Barbados, we simply grabbed a cab at the port and asked the driver to give us a quick tour. He took us all over the area stopping at St John's Church (I think that's the right name) for us to get out and explore. He also stopped anywhere we thought interesting. In St Thomas, we always walk around the town and shops for half the day, return to the ship for lunch, then grab a cab and head for either Megan's Bay or Cokie Beach. Most cabbies will be happy to show off their island en route. In Casa de Campo, I advise you to book some sort of a tour. We just took the shuttle to tour the marina and then the old town (can't recall the name) and neither was worth the effort. Haven't been back to Grenada since the hurricane devastation but last time there we walked through the town stopping at the museum and the spice market and then had a cab give us a tour of the island. Other than DR, the islands are perfectly safe to take a cab on your own if that's what you prefer.

[gail8]

We are on the same cruise. Look under "other carribean" for those ports you didn't find or do a search for that specific port. We are undecided about the Dominican, doing the Catamaran in St Kitts, a private tour with Mandoo in Grenada, a private tour with Sunny Liston in St Thomas, and my hubbie wants to go to the boatyard in Barbados. See you there.

 

Gail

[tadjr]

I just got off the Constellation this week and we did the same itinerary. I'd be happy to try to answer any questions you might have.

First off, I have to say it rained in EVERY port we were in at some part of the day (very often all day) so we didnt do everything we had planned on. Luck of the draw I guess, but we still had fun exploring.

 

In Casa de Campo we took the free Celebrity shuttle bus to Alto de Chavon and the Marina. Some of our friends took a taxi into La Romana and were not impressed and did not feel safe. Either book a ship tour here to your liking or stay on the ship would be my suggestion.

 

Grenada- took a water taxi to Mourne Rouge beach $5 pp each way. Had a nice relaxing time there for a couple hours. Came back into town and it was a mad house. The Princess megaship was there along with us and it was a sea of humanity. Our friends took a tour with Mandoo and had a good time and some others just took a cab to the waterfalls. You can do a couple of things here depending on if you want the entire tour or just a couple of places. This one can be booked via the ship or thru private companies, your choice.

 

Barbados- rented a car for the day. Had no problem driving there (on the left) but the signage is terrible. If you want to hit lots of places take a tour or get a taxi. If you want to just wander the island and do your own thing, a rental might do it depending on your comfort level of driving on the left and in a foreign country (all in English so that helps). We only had the car for about 2 1/2 hours (darn rain again) and covered quite a bit of the island so you can get a lot of touring in with a full day. Some friends went to the beach and just chilled and others did a Catamaran with the turtles thru the ship. They had a great time as well. There are also several tour companies who seem to have good tours in Barbados listed in the port of call section.

 

St Kitts- took the sugar train. This one sold out on the cruise. Had a great time and it was a nice way to see the entire island (train circles 3/4 and bus takes you back to the ship the rest of the way). It was nice not having to drive and the commentary and hospitality were wonderful. The island drive is a circle so its not a hard drive though. Some friends hit the beach in the am and then rented a car in the pm. They made it about 1/3 way around the island and then turned back. They said it was ok and it was their first time driving on the left. Other ladies we met onboard did a ship tour to the fortress and said they also had a good time.

 

St Thomas- was going to do St Johns trip, but it was pouring in the am and didnt know about taking the chance to travel all the way there to get soaked so we went shopping instead. Cleared up in St Thomas about noon, but our friends who went to St Johns said they got there at 10am and it was pure sunshine all day (with sunburns to prove it). This one is an easy place to get a cab or tour in town. There are vendors at the main square in town who will give you almost any kind of tour you want or you can cab it anywhere on the island fairly cheap. I wouldnt think you need to book this one via the ship. St Johns is also doable on your own if you want to.

 

If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask and I'll try to help if I can.

[Fang]

We were on the Thanksgiving cruise on the Connie.

 

The best shore excursion we ever had was on St. Kitts. It was the "off the beaten path". It is with a company called gregs safari. We went into the rainforest, sugar cane fields, sugar plantation ruins, got to hold green monkeys and had a picnic. It was fantastic. I know that they have a website, for this cruise. You can get it less expensively if you book direct. Off the top of my head I do not know the website, just do a search for gregs safari on St. Kitts. We booked through the ship.

 

I have been on 16 cruises and this was by far the best excursion that I have been on, in the Caribbean.

[Margery]

You guys have given me exactly the info I was looking for and I thank you so much for sharing.