Celebrity Ultimate Southern Caribbean Cruise

[Climes5]

Can someone tell me if there are shopping ports, within walking, at the following ports:  Basseterre St Kitts, St. Georges Granada, Fort de France Martinique, Castries St. Lucia, and St. Johns Antigua?  

 

Also, for Celebrity cruisers, specifically Celebrity Equinox, why are there no excursions at Basseterre St, Kitts?  

 

Thanks

[jwlane]

7 minutes ago, Climes5 said:

why are there no excursions at Basseterre St, Kitts?  

Depending on when you sail, they may have just not been published yet.

[39august]

All the ports you mentioned, excepting Martinique of which I know nothing, have shopping near the port. 

[Climes5]

52 minutes ago, jwlane said:

Depending on when you sail, they may have just not been published yet.

Got it. The other ports are showing all excursions but maybe as you said just not posted yet. Jan 2023 is a bit away. Thanks!!

[Turtles06]

1 hour ago, Climes5 said:

Also, for Celebrity cruisers, specifically Celebrity Equinox, why are there no excursions at Basseterre St, Kitts?  

 

As noted above, it's probably just too early for your cruise.

 

We did a similar itinerary on the Silhouette in December, and called at St. Kitts.  At that point, we had to take Celebrity shore excursions.  We booked the St. Kitts Scenic Railway, and I highly recommend it.  It's a tour of a good part of the island on an open-air train that used to bring sugar cane in from the fields.  The route runs between beautiful beaches and water on one side, and a volcanic peak on the other, with small villages along the way.  It's a really gorgeous ride.  There's excellent live narration, and all the rum punch and daiquiris (as well as water and soda) you can drink.

It turned out to be one of the most enjoyable and beautiful afternoons of our entire cruise.

 

http://www.stkittsscenicrailway.com/

[DCPIV]

Martinique seems to be starting up slowly. We have a cruise stopping by there in a few months, and it was only very recently that a handful of excursions posted. I wouldn't worry at all about a January cruise. 

[MarKay525]

1 hour ago, Turtles06 said:

We did a similar itinerary on the Silhouette in December, and called at St. Kitts.  At that point, we had to take Celebrity shore excursions.  We booked the St. Kitts Scenic Railway, and I highly recommend it.  It's a tour of a good part of the island on an open-air train that used to bring sugar cane in from the fields.  The route runs between beautiful beaches and water on one side, and a volcanic peak on the other, with small villages along the way.  It's a really gorgeous ride.  There's excellent live narration, and all the rum punch and daiquiris (as well as water and soda) you can drink.

It turned out to be one of the most enjoyable and beautiful afternoons of our entire cruise.

http://www.stkittsscenicrailway.com/

And if they still offer the longer excursion with a catamaran sailing back to the ship after the train trip, it is even better!

[lnuzzo]

We sailed the ultimate southern in 2019.  In St Kitts

we took an excursion to cockleshell beach, with views of Nevis.   And incredible beach day! 

Edited June 15, 2022 by lnuzzo

[Turtles06]

1 hour ago, lnuzzo said:

In St Kitts

we took an excursion to cockleshell beach, with views of Nevis.

 

I really wanted to do an excursion to Nevis from St. Kitts on our December cruise aboard the Silhouette, but it was cancelled, I'm sure because of covid restrictions.   As we sailed past Nevis on our way to docking at St. Kitts, I found myself thinking about how incredible it was that a someone born on that little spot in the Caribbean in the 18th Century could go on to have the remarkable life that Alexander Hamilton had, and to influence our country as much as he did.

[CTSandy]

We did the train, too, in April 2022 and thought it was one of the best excursions we’ve booked through Celebrity.

[alcpa1]

All of the ports have at least kiosk shopping.

Be aware however few shops on any of the islands are open on Sundays and holidays. In the Caribbean Christmas is celebrated for three days with limited shopping in many of the ports.

Most of the shopping revolves around t shirt type shops and glittering baubles.

Enjoy!

[DCPIV]

I meant to mention that covid changed some of the shopping at the ports for at least some time (if not still).  A lot of the ports had a restricted area just off the ship with some shopping, but it was not much to look at--a bunch of junk stores for the most part.  Cruise passengers were not allowed to go outside that area unless they had an excursion.

 

Of course, a lot of that has gone by the wayside.  That's the good news.  The bad news is that many of these islands still are suffering a long lag to restart.  Shops closed, population left the islands, etc.  There's no telling what may actually find in January, though.