Where does Princess dock in . . .

[Luvmyrotti]

DH and I are headed on a 10 day Caribbean sailing in just under 3 weeks. I'm looking to find out in which town Princess docks in the following islands:

 

St. Lucia

Antigua

St. Maarten

 

We're likely going to just be walking around the town or looking for a close-by beach bar, so I just want to get the lay of the land. Any info is appreciated!

[friend of Eeyore]

Castries

St. John's

Phillipsburg

[Luvmyrotti]

Castries

St. John's

Phillipsburg

Thanks Cathy. That's what I thought, but wanted to be sure.

[Colo Cruiser]

DH and I are headed on a 10 day Caribbean sailing in just under 3 weeks. I'm looking to find out in which town Princess docks in the following islands:

 

St. Lucia

Antigua

St. Maarten

 

We're likely going to just be walking around the town or looking for a close-by beach bar, so I just want to get the lay of the land. Any info is appreciated!

 

 

St Maarten is at least a 20 minute walk to town.

They have a ferry/shuttle service from the pier to town/beach R/T for $7pp. (use as many times as you want) for the day. There is a beach right there in town.

Antigua you dock right in town.

St Lucia could be right in town or across the bay which makes it at least a 20 minute walk to town.

[CruiserBruce]

Wherever the Harbormaster tells them to.

 

A little research on the ports boards would reveal lots of info. There is a good sized docking facility in St Maarten (I think it handles 5 or 6 ships). St Lucia can only handle maybe 3 ships, depending on size. Have not been to Antigua.

[famski740]

This web site will show you all the docks at the various stops in the Bahamas & Caribbean ports:

 

http://www.cruisemapper.com/ports-in-bahamas-and-caribbean-and-bermuda-8

[Luvmyrotti]

Thank you all, this is all very helpful. I just always worry about a situation, like in the Dominican, where the Carnival cruise port is on almost the separate side of the island from where some ships dock I don't want to look for private excursions in the wrong town. I don't worry about having to take a 10 or 20 minute shuttle, just about docking in a totally different, distant town.

[CruiserBruce]

Thank you all, this is all very helpful. I just always worry about a situation, like in the Dominican, where the Carnival cruise port is on almost the separate side of the island from where some ships dock I don't want to look for private excursions in the wrong town. I don't worry about having to take a 10 or 20 minute shuttle, just about docking in a totally different, distant town.

 

That is because there are at least 3 main ports and probably 2 lessor used ports in the Dominican Republic. You need to look at your schedule and see where it says your specific cruise is docking at. They are not being deceptive...there are just different areas to dock in some countries. Heck, New York City has at least 3 quite separate places cruise ships dock. Even Maui and the island of Hawaii have two different ports.

 

Up to you to be responsible for knowing where your ship docks at.

[Thrak]

If you've never been there it's good to know that Antigua is pronounced An-tee-ga. It looks like An-tig-wa but it isn't. Just a bit of info many people know but which I didn't know when we did our first Caribbean cruise last April.

 

I also asked a few people on various islands which was correct: Care-a-bee-un or Car-ib-ee-un. The answer was always, "Yes". It seems that either way is correct and even people on the same island say it one way or the other.

 

It sometimes seems that everybody on Cruise Critic has done a bazillion Caribbean cruises but I guess it's just that so many people live where the "local" cruise port does those cruises. For us the convenient cruises are Alaska, Hawaii, and Mexico.

[BarbinMich]

. . .

 

It sometimes seems that everybody on Cruise Critic has done a bazillion Caribbean cruises but I guess it's just that so many people live where the "local" cruise port does those cruises. For us the convenient cruises are Alaska, Hawaii, and Mexico.

 

We live in Michigan so we have no local cruise port. As my signature indicates, we have done a lot of cruises. Departure ports have varied from FL (for the Caribbean, sometimes for a TA) to SF to San Diego to LA to Vancouver (for Alaska) to Southampton UK to Rome to Venice. I take it you don't like to fly, which is true for lots of folks. Fortunately we don't mind it since I can't imagine never leaving MI although we have done a fair number of auto trips as far west as Jaspar NP in Alberta, CN and as far east as Sydney, Nova Scotia, not to mention flights to other faraway places such as CA, TX, and AZ for auto trips. Guess I was "born to travel" as my folks started driving us to distant places from Indiana on summer vacations.

[BarbinMich]

DH and I are headed on a 10 day Caribbean sailing in just under 3 weeks. I'm looking to find out in which town Princess docks in the following islands:

 

St. Lucia

Antigua

St. Maarten

 

We're likely going to just be walking around the town or looking for a close-by beach bar, so I just want to get the lay of the land. Any info is appreciated!

We like to walk around ports, too. However, I would caution against doing it in Castries, St. Lucia. We'd done it in the past, but when we were last there (Jan 2016), we started to but very quickly ran into some local men sitting in chairs on the sidewalk who were rather intimidating so we turned around and went back to the shopping "village" near the ship. Did not have similar problems in Antigua or St. Maarten. We're not beach people, but lots of pax rave about the beaches on Antigua. And in St. Maarten, there's a huge white sand beach in "front" of Philipsburg, the port town and there's Orient Beach on the French side (St. Martin). Enjoy!

[Luvmyrotti]

That is because there are at least 3 main ports and probably 2 lessor used ports in the Dominican Republic. You need to look at your schedule and see where it says your specific cruise is docking at. They are not being deceptive...there are just different areas to dock in some countries. Heck, New York City has at least 3 quite separate places cruise ships dock. Even Maui and the island of Hawaii have two different ports.

 

Up to you to be responsible for knowing where your ship docks at.

Well aren't you kind and helpful. ;)

 

I'm not a novice cruiser (elite on Princess) and have certainly tried to ascertain on the Princess site which town we dock in. While suggested, it wasn't explicit, which is why I asked here. I know there are Princess cruisers here who have experience in these ports, so I asked. No where did I suggest anyone was being deceptive.

 

By the way, unhelpful and veiled nasty responses such as yours are why many novices don't come back or post again here on the Princess board.

[canadarocks]

This web site will show you all the docks at the various stops in the Bahamas & Caribbean ports:

 

http://www.cruisemapper.com/ports-in-bahamas-and-caribbean-and-bermuda-8

 

Thank you for this! I've never seen this website. (y)

[Luvmyrotti]

If you've never been there it's good to know that Antigua is pronounced An-tee-ga. It looks like An-tig-wa but it isn't. Just a bit of info many people know but which I didn't know when we did our first Caribbean cruise last April.

 

I also asked a few people on various islands which was correct: Care-a-bee-un or Car-ib-ee-un. The answer was always, "Yes". It seems that either way is correct and even people on the same island say it one way or the other.

 

It sometimes seems that everybody on Cruise Critic has done a bazillion Caribbean cruises but I guess it's just that so many people live where the "local" cruise port does those cruises. For us the convenient cruises are Alaska, Hawaii, and Mexico.

I hear ya Thrak. I'm always inclined to pronounce Antigua with the "u" in there and have to over-ride it. Don't want to offend locals.

 

For the Mexico port, Princes, of course, specifies the actual town of the port stop, which makes planning so much easier. For the Caribben islands, they are much less specific on the port towns.

[Luvmyrotti]

 

We like to walk around ports, too. However, I would caution against doing it in Castries, St. Lucia. We'd done it in the past, but when we were last there (Jan 2016), we started to but very quickly ran into some local men sitting in chairs on the sidewalk who were rather intimidating so we turned around and went back to the shopping "village" near the ship. Did not have similar problems in Antigua or St. Maarten. We're not beach people, but lots of pax rave about the beaches on Antigua. And in St. Maarten, there's a huge white sand beach in "front" of Philipsburg, the port town and there's Orient Beach on the French side (St. Martin). Enjoy!

 

Thanks for the info Barb!

 

In St. Lucia we may head to one of the resorts to do a day, though my DH is not a huge fan of just hanging on the beach.

[reedprincess]

Thanks for the info Barb!

 

In St. Lucia we may head to one of the resorts to do a day, though my DH is not a huge fan of just hanging on the beach.

Ships dock directly in Castries. You can check slaspa.com for the specific dock.

Castries is not a pretty port town. It's a fairly ugly working capital city, there's not much in the local area

If you haven't been to St Lucia before, I'd highly recommend an island tour. It's unique in the Caribbean for the Pitons, drive through volcano, etc. Cosol or Spencer Ambrose offer great day trips that include volcano , mud baths, Pitons, waterfalls, beach, lunch, drinks, etc. It's an absolutely beautiful island - Castries is just not a picturesque town....

[Luvmyrotti]

Ships dock directly in Castries. You can check slaspa.com for the specific dock.

Castries is not a pretty port town. It's a fairly ugly working capital city, there's not much in the local area

If you haven't been to St Lucia before, I'd highly recommend an island tour. It's unique in the Caribbean for the Pitons, drive through volcano, etc. Cosol or Spencer Ambrose offer great day trips that include volcano , mud baths, Pitons, waterfalls, beach, lunch, drinks, etc. It's an absolutely beautiful island - Castries is just not a picturesque town....

That's helpful to know! Thanks!