Caribbean shore excursions opinions needed!

[FirstAnthem]

We are looking at a Caribbean cruise on Adventure of the Seas next February, with stops in Labadee, San Juan, St Maarten and St Kitts. We have never been to any of these places. It will be me, my husband and our two kids ages 14 and 12. Looking for advice on shore excursions. What were your favorites?

[Clarea]

Be sure to take a look at the port of call forums:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=587

[jasper15]

In San Juan, we did the food and culture walking tour through RCL. It was a great tour, one of the best we have done. Only a small group, an easy walk and a very informative guide.

Amiga Island in Labadee was breath taking. Beach was beautiful and the service was great. Once again, only a small group. It was like an island you would see in the movies.

 

In St Maarten, we only wandered around near where the ship docked. Big mistake! Next time we will take a tour to the French side of the Island. Everyone who went over there said how nice it was.

 

We are yet to visit St Kitts.

[cb at sea]

Labadee is the private beach RCI leases on Haiti....it's a beach day, pure and simple. Lunch is served on the beach, and you can do the entire day without spending a penny....or, you can do any of the "for fee" activities.

 

Loungers are included in your day.....or you can rent (for big $$$$$) cabanas/bungalows, etc...or zip-line, ride the roller coaster, do wave-runners, etc.....all those things will cost you! If you look at the excursions you will see renting floats...but do NOT do that in advance...they have PLENTY on the beach, so wait and see if you really need them!

 

Neither of your other ports require excursions, depending on what interests you! Hit your library, and read a guidebook...it will give you much needed knowledge to make the most of your time ashore without breaking the bank! Almost everything is easy to DIY!

[fdwt994]

We are looking at a Caribbean cruise on Adventure of the Seas next February, with stops in Labadee, San Juan, St Maarten and St Kitts. We have never been to any of these places. It will be me, my husband and our two kids ages 14 and 12. Looking for advice on shore excursions. What were your favorites?

 

For San Juan, I would take a taxi over to Old San Juan. It's very walkable (although somewhat hilly) and has many shops and restaurants to visit as well as the old fort, Del Morro. You could easily spend 3-4 hours doing all this.

 

For St Maarten, take the water taxi to Phillipsburg and walk around town (also walkable with many decent shops and restaurants) or hang out on the beach. You can rent jet skis there. You can also walk right off the ship to the taxi stand and catch a taxi to Maho beach (where the airplanes fly really low) or to world famous Orient Beach. Orient Beach is beautiful and only the very end is nudist, the rest is family friendly and far enough away from the nudist beach that it won't be an issue. Word of advice- make sure you give yourself PLENTY of time to return from either beach. Believe it or not, sometimes taxis are not readily available, and traffic can be heavy. If the drawbridge is up (coming back from Maho), you may miss your ship!

[griffy116]

Explore the excursions available through Royal Caribbean. We LOVE San Juan. Your kids might enjoy the forts. They're easy to get to by taking the trolley. Cost is $7 and if you keep your receipt at the first one, you can go to the second one for free by showing them your receipt. You can walk as little or as much of the fort(s) as you choose.

 

Labadee was explained in detail earlier, but wanted to mention that you should carry some cash and stop by the marketplace on Labadee to buy a few trinkets from the merchants. After the devastation this island has faced, the vendors can really use the money and we got some really cute hand-made items there. They serve a wide variety of food at the BBQ lunch provided by the ship on the island.

Edited January 25, 2018 by griffy116
correction.