Which ports need an excursion, which don't?

[coevan]

1 hour ago, Joebucks said:

St. Thomas - Went over to Trunk Bay on St John. Cost about $100 for 2 people

 

 

 

This is what I am talking about. The taxi si $15 for both of you. The ferry is $6 each. ferry runs every hour each way. So the total cost is $27, what exactly are you paying $100 for? You have watches and can tell time you leave St. John with plenty of time to get back to the ship. The STT taxi drivers have done this hundreds of time, no problem

[kcdancerkc]

We enjoyed the black sand beach on St.Kitts.

another time we took the ferry over to Nevis to get away from the crowds,

 

st m we enjoyed snorkeling on the dutch side

and the food mecca Grand Case on the French side

 

barbados, beaches beautiful 

 

the only thing i am not sure is what is left of most of these islands since Irma

 

try and look at most recent pictures.  No  huge taxi bill for any we did.

 

we also research reviews of tours  operators

cheaper than Carnival 

 

so many beaches so little time. 😎

 

 

 

 

[jsglow]

Been to all these ports several times.  Agree that St. Lucia requires an organized excursion of some kind.  That said, I'd do an excursion at each and every, especially if you won't pass that way again anytime soon.  YOLO.  If I were to skip a day, it might be St. Thomas as you are more likely to return their on a future cruise and the Haverhill development at the port is quite nice.  What I would do is alternate touring days with beach days and land adventures with sea adventures (like a sailing day).

[tmg698]

I would do an island tour in St Kitts it is a beautiful island ours was thru Carnival it was on 4x4 Safari trucks that were open air it was like 6 hours but we saw a lot of the island. It was one of the best excursions we have been on.

[Joebucks]

9 hours ago, coevan said:

 

 

 

This is what I am talking about. The taxi si $15 for both of you. The ferry is $6 each. ferry runs every hour each way. So the total cost is $27, what exactly are you paying $100 for? You have watches and can tell time you leave St. John with plenty of time to get back to the ship. The STT taxi drivers have done this hundreds of time, no problem

 

 

Between the two of us, we paid about $20 ($40 RT) for the taxi to the Red Hook ferry. It was $16 for the ferry ($32 RT). Then I believe $12 ($24 RT) from the ferry to Trunk Bay. There's also an entry fee of $5pp that wasn't being charged at that time. I could be off by a few dollars on any of those. I doubled checked the ferry price online to verify. I remember charging over $30 on that. The taxi to the ferry was quite a hike.

 

Your $27 estimate is pretty much factoring in one person, one-way. My estimate is for two people includes round-trip. I verified this with multiple people on this board too before I went, so I had an idea what I was looking at. 

[Hillbillygram]

18 hours ago, Bookster99 said:

Hello! We are going on a 4th of July cruise on the Fascination to the following ports:

St. Thomas

St. Maarten

St. Kitts

St. Lucia

Barbados

 

We are perfectly happy walking around a nice shopping village, but some ports the shopping village isn't that unique and there is a must-do excursion. If you have been to these ports, how is the experience right off the ship? And what ports have an excursion that we don't want to miss?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

 

We did this same itinerary on the Fascination in September but with Dominica included.

 

St. Thomas--This was our second time there. First time, We went to Magen's Bay and then went up to Paradise Point. If you want to stay in the vicinity of the port, the walk to take the cable cars up to the point is an easy walk. The restaurant there is great! In September, we took a taxi to Sapphire Beach. It wasn't crowded; beautiful views; and the water was calm.  For shopping--there is tons of shopping available right As you get off the ship.

 

St. Maarten--Maho Beach definitely!!  Cruise terminal shopping wasn't great in my opinion. We will be back there next month, so this time I'm going into Phillipsburg to shop.

 

St. Kitts--we did Thenford Grey's Island Tour. One of our favorite excursions to date. Didn't do any shopping there.

 

St. Lucia--we went deep sea fishing And upon our return we took the water taxi over to Castries. There is an open air market there and a craft market. There are several little deli type cafes at the open air market. We had two heaping plates of assorted local foods and soft drinks for a total of $16 USD. We picked up a lot of great souvenirs at the craft market.

 

Barbados--We did the Atlantis Submarine excursion there. It was an experience I'll never forget. The cruise terminal offers a lot of shopping with a lot of variety. My favorite was the Best of Barbados shop there. Lots of unique items.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

[Hillbillygram]

15 hours ago, May1cruiser said:

Going on this itinerary in a few weeks. Have several carnival tours, but have cosol tours in St Lucia. If you do a search in ports of call in cruise critic you will learn a lot about each port. These are from cruisers from all lines, so they really have many insights.

 

I actually think this cruise will be a little tiring trying to see 5 ports in 7 days, so we may skip any big plans for St Thomas as we have been several times before. 

 

The others are more of the "best of" type tours to see as much as possible then plan for another trip to refine exactly what we liked the most of each port, then plan to revisit.

 

Cruises from San Juan are some of the least expensive in the Caribbean… 

 

 

We did this itinerary in September but with Dominica included!! 6 ports in 7 days! Tiring yes, but we loved it!  Hubby hates sea days, don't know what he is going to do next month when we have 4 sea days!

[Bookster99]

14 hours ago, OCruisers said:

Just saying ... think the OP just wants and enjoys walking around in ports of call and needs to know the ports it would not be enjoyable for them to do this so would need to plan something else.

We've been to all of their ports many times and really think they would be fine doing what they really like to do in all except for St. Lucia.  

Thank you. In a new port, with something wonderful to do, I am eager to book an excursion: The right excursion. However, if it's a beautiful little area to just walk around, I don't feel compelled to book an excursion just to have something to do. This particular cruise has a lot of ports: I am afraid they might all sort of blend together! Thank you for your summation: We met a steel drum player from St. Lucia on our Christmas Cruise. So, I sort of imagine there will just be all these incredibly talented artists just wandering around there! Ha!

[Kelly68]

17 hours ago, Crazy4Camping said:

Yes the airfare killed us.  We really didn't think it would be as expensive as it was.  Almost as much as the cruise!

 

 

how much was the airfare, we are planning on going December 29th, 2019 and will be flying out of Buffalo

[Bookster99]

1 minute ago, Kelly68 said:

 

 

how much was the airfare, we are planning on going December 29th, 2019 and will be flying out of Buffalo

Flying from Texas, ours was $1300. We used Carnival to book it, so we could pay off the airfare over time along with our cruise booking, so you might find cheaper rates out there. But by booking through Carnival, if a flight gets cancelled or delayed and we miss the ship, Carnival will get us to the next port to meet the ship.

[Joebucks]

3 hours ago, Hillbillygram said:

We did this itinerary in September but with Dominica included!! 6 ports in 7 days! Tiring yes, but we loved it!  Hubby hates sea days, don't know what he is going to do next month when we have 4 sea days!

 

I was so bummed that Dominica was cancelled for us. I much prefer port days than sea days as well. I can't wait to do this one again!

[Kelly68]

13 minutes ago, Bookster99 said:

Flying from Texas, ours was $1300. We used Carnival to book it, so we could pay off the airfare over time along with our cruise booking, so you might find cheaper rates out there. But by booking through Carnival, if a flight gets cancelled or delayed and we miss the ship, Carnival will get us to the next port to meet the ship.

 

Holy crap I am hoping to pay much less then that, fingers crossed !!!

[Bookster99]

1 hour ago, Kelly68 said:

 

Holy crap I am hoping to pay much less then that, fingers crossed !!!

Check Southwest.

[Kelly68]

17 minutes ago, Bookster99 said:

Check Southwest.

yes Southwest does seem the cheapest, now the trick is to know how soon or how late to book it to get the best price .

[Bookster99]

2 minutes ago, Kelly68 said:

yes Southwest does seem the cheapest, now the trick is to know how soon or how late to book it to get the best price .

(Copied)

7 Insider Secrets to Booking Cheap Airfare

1. [See: 12 Frugal Ways to Save on Vacation.]
2. Book seven weeks in advance. ...
3. Best time to buy: Tuesdays at 3 p.m. EST. ...
4. [See: 12 Ways to Be a More Mindful Spender.]
5. Cheapest days to fly: Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday. ...
6. Fly out early. ...
7. [See: 6 Ways to Treat Yourself on a Budget.]
8. Check low-cost airlines individually.

[Kelly68]

37 minutes ago, Bookster99 said:

(Copied)

7 Insider Secrets to Booking Cheap Airfare

1. [See: 12 Frugal Ways to Save on Vacation.]
2. Book seven weeks in advance. ...
3. Best time to buy: Tuesdays at 3 p.m. EST. ...
4. [See: 12 Ways to Be a More Mindful Spender.]
5. Cheapest days to fly: Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday. ...
6. Fly out early. ...
7. [See: 6 Ways to Treat Yourself on a Budget.]
8. Check low-cost airlines individually.

 

 

Thanks, not sure I have the nerve to wait 7 weeks before , maybe if I had to option to drive if I missed out but that isn't an option this time. 

[Bookster99]

20 minutes ago, Kelly68 said:

 

 

Thanks, not sure I have the nerve to wait 7 weeks before , maybe if I had to option to drive if I missed out but that isn't an option this time. 

Only with an amphibious vehicle. I suppose if your time is flexible you could book a tramp steamer to San Juan...

[Hillbillygram]

3 hours ago, Bookster99 said:

Flying from Texas, ours was $1300. We used Carnival to book it, so we could pay off the airfare over time along with our cruise booking, so you might find cheaper rates out there. But by booking through Carnival, if a flight gets cancelled or delayed and we miss the ship, Carnival will get us to the next port to meet the ship.

Wow!! We flew American from Knoxville for a total of around $800 round trip for the two of us. We booked in June before our cruise in September. We had planned to fly to San Juan on September 15. On the Wednesday before, we received a weather alert from AA due to Hurricane Florence and AA wasn't sure how the storm was going to affect our connection in Charlotte.

 

We had no time constraints, so we rebooked to fly on the 13th, no charge to change our flight plans. We flew to Philadelphia and then on to San Juan. So glad we did this as we basically extended our trip by almost 3 days. We had a wonderful time exploring Old San Juan on those days.

Edited January 9, 2019 by Hillbillygram
Left out pertinent details.

[Hillbillygram]

3 hours ago, Bookster99 said:

Flying from Texas, ours was $1300. We used Carnival to book it, so we could pay off the airfare over time along with our cruise booking, so you might find cheaper rates out there. But by booking through Carnival, if a flight gets cancelled or delayed and we miss the ship, Carnival will get us to the next port to meet the ship.

So will buying cruise insurance outside of Carnival as far as flight delays/cancellations.

 

[Bookster99]

2 minutes ago, Hillbillygram said:

So will buying cruise insurance outside of Carnival as far as flight delays/cancellations.

 

...so, there's that!

[Bookster99]

9 minutes ago, Hillbillygram said:

Wow!! We flew American from Knoxville for a total of around $800 round trip for the two of us. We booked in June before our cruise in September. We had planned to fly to San Juan on September 15. On the Wednesday before, we received a weather alert from AA due to Hurricane Florence and AA wasn't sure how the storm was going to affect our connection in Charlotte.

 

We had no time constraints, so we rebooked to fly on the 13th, no charge to change our flight plans. We flew to Philadelphia and then on to San Juan. So glad we did this as we basically extended our trip by almost 3 days. We had a wonderful time exploring Old San Juan on those days.

I'm jealous. We have just enough time for the cruise. We did that once with a cruise leaving from New Orleans, and explored New Orleans for a few days. 

[scpirate]

We pickup a tour outside the port area where the operators are lined up talk to a few and take a look at what they are driving.we got put in an old early 90's Dodge van and I was worried about getting back.this one looked really rough .we had a good tour none the less.

[coevan]

1 hour ago, Hillbillygram said:

Carnival will get us to the next port to meet the ship.

 

 

 

As long as you have a passport. If your next port is a foreign port, your not going anywhere. There are many non passport holders here on CC. We would never leave U.S. soil without a passport.

[Crazy4Camping]

5 hours ago, Kelly68 said:

 

 

how much was the airfare, we are planning on going December 29th, 2019 and will be flying out of Buffalo

Buffalo is prob cheaper than Rochester but we paid $493/pp roundtrip.  As OP states in the next response, we did Fly2Fun as well to pay for it over time and because Carnival guarantees we will get to the ship.  Hopefully we will not have to take them up on that!

[Crazy4Camping]

55 minutes ago, coevan said:

 

 

 

As long as you have a passport. If your next port is a foreign port, your not going anywhere. There are many non passport holders here on CC. We would never leave U.S. soil without a passport.

Exactly my thought.  I've made sure that my husband and I have passport cards, passports, everything just in case.  Just found out that the couple we are going with only has enhanced licenses.  Told them they are crazy they should def have their passports(plus they've done a bunch of cruises and this is our first!).