Which island can be missed on Serenade

[Maineac]

We are on the Serenade S.Caribbean cruise. My DH would like to stay on the ship one day and just relax...... Which island can be missed IYO?:)

[Jtd724]

Ummmm, which islands are they?

[Maineac]

St.Thomas,Antiqua, St. Maartin, St.Lucia, Barbados:)

[Sheffie]

Ummmm, which islands are they?

St. Maarten, St. Thomas, St. Lucia, Barbados and Antigua.

 

For the OP, that is a hard question. Have you been to any of the islands before? If so, then maybe then would be a time to stay on board. We are going on this same itinerary, and we are taking St. Maarten and St. Thomas as our days to just hang out at a beach. There is one really close in St. Maarten, if you would like to have a close beach.

 

I am one of those people who cannot imagine not getting off the ship to enjoy the island and the water. It is good that there are choices.

 

Have a great cruise!

[Jtd724]

Oh my god, IMO, you have an all star port lineup, I would not miss any, espeically Antigua, I miss that place so much, but all those islands are really something to see. If I had to choose one it would be St Martin. I have not been to Barbadoes and Antigua since 99. Antigua has the best beaches. They also have or used to have Jolly Roger Pirate Ship, by far the best excursion I ever had, people diving off the planks naked!

[Maineac]

We've never been to any of these islands....I'm up for seeing all of them....

Just trying to keep DH happy.:)

[FLCruiseGirl]

I've sailed this ship/itinerary. You HAVE to get off the ship at every one of those islands! IMO this is the best itinerary out there.

 

A previous poster suggested skipping St. Maarten - this is my favorite island and I would never skip it. The shopping is great. And the beaches are beautiful.

 

This really is not the itinerary to sit on the ship. I asked my DH which island he would skip if we repeated this cruise, since I can't pick one. He said Antigua.

 

You'll probably get responses that choose each of the islands. If I were you, and he REALLY wants to stay on the ship one day and doesn't care which day, I would pick the day for him. I would pick a day that there is something I could do by myself - something he doesn't want to do. An island tour would be a good thing because you're still with a lot of people.

Just a suggestion.

[cruzobsessed]

o.k. only my opinion......we took this cruise in december. we did stay on the ship one day..... we skipped st. lucia.

the benefit of the serenade and the southern caribbean is that it is very port intensive and many beautiful beaches everywhere but......when you're on the serenade.....the captain takes the ship very close to the piton mountains at when the ship leaves, he times it with the sunset and it is breathtaking.

personally, we enjoyed sleeping late..... not having to worry about "chair hogs" and under no pressure to do anything.

this is the best itinerary (in my opinion)....in st. martaan we went to DIVI LITTLE BAY in the morning and then took a cab to MAHO in the afternoon to watch the planes landing right over our heads while we were at the beach...AWESOME.

in barbados we sailed on the silvermoon catamaran (a must do) and in antigua we got a day pass for pineapple beach resort (also a great day).

what i would advise is to go to the PORTS OF CALL portion of this board and look up each port and see what people typically do in each place. don't just look at royal caribbeans excursions because we did everything on our own THANKS TO EVERYONE ON THIS BOARD!!!.

[TexasMom2]

We had this itinerary last June and we loved every port. If I HAD to stay on board for one port, I would choose Antigua (Pineapple Beach Resort day pass). Just my personal opinion, but it may be colored by the fact that it was overcast and misty the day we were there. Loved St. Thomas (Trunk Bay on our own and shopping at Havensight), St. Martaan (Orient Beach and shopping), St. Lucia (catamaran to the Pitons) and Barbados (Silver Moon I).

 

FLCruiseGirl's suggestion is a good one -- pick a port for him to stay on the ship by himself, and you can go on a group excursion.

[marys350]

Hi,

We also did this itinerary in April, 2005, and it is our favorite (well- tied with RCCL's Southern Caribbean itinerary of St. Thomas, St. Martin, Aruba, and Curacao). In my opinion, I definitely would not want to miss any of the ports of call. There is one day at sea, which on our trip was the last day, which was a nice way to wind down before going home. Some of the excursions, whether booked through the ship or on your own only last for several hours, which still leaves time to relax on the ship that day if you want to. We usually like to do an excursion either in the morning or afternoon, but not both, and have lunch on the ship. That way we can decide if we want to relax in the solarium pool or do something else on the ship, or get off the ship again to do something else. Some people like to spend the whole day off the ship. That's what is nice about the cruise, there's alot of flexibility each day.

At St. Thomas, we went over to St. John's Trunk Bay one year and that was awesome, another time we did a snorkel trip at St. Thomas.

St. Martin is beautiful- We've been to Orient Beach and Little Divi Beach which were great (liked Orient best)

St. Lucia- did Frank's taxi tour

Barbados- did the Silvermoon Catamaran, which I found out about on cruisecritic message boards, and that is our all time favorite activity that we have done on all of the cruises that we've gone on.

Antigua was nice, but not one of my favorites.

Good luck with whatever you decide- you will love the Serenade of the Seas and this itinerary. The ports of call message boards also helped me alot in planning our trip.

[Maineac]

Thank you all so much for YOs.....I think with a little TLC:rolleyes: my DH will be willing to explore each island.:D So much to see and so little time.

[bplazo]

We also did this ship in December and I loved all the ports and wouldnt want to miss one. St. Lucia was the best. We did a jungle tour with Shal and even my teenage daughter loved this island.

[GCBCKat57]

We are on the Serenade S.Caribbean cruise. My DH would like to stay on the ship one day and just relax...... Which island can be missed IYO?:)

 

We've been trying to figure this one out too. While I'm very excited about all the islands, I'm concerned that it may be just a tad too port-intensive. I've been to St. Thomas and St. Martin twice already but do not want to miss the other three islands. St. Martin, to this point, is my all-time favorite stop..don't see us skipping that one. So, I was thinking about skipping St. Thomas. Only thing is, in my ideal world, it wouldn't be the first port of call, but something in the middle of the itinerary.

In the end, I think we'll just wing it and see how we feel day to day.

 

BTW...I hear much about how beautiful the beaches in Antigue are. Any suggestions? While we usually don't book excursions, preferring to get to our destination on our own, I'd be open to those suggestions as well. Thanks in advance.

Kathy

[Ocean Boy]

I understand the dilemma as I ideally like two sea days with one of them being the last day. However, after having sailed Serenade I have to say that every one of the islands really is worth seeing and they each have unique things about them. It isn't a matter of after you have seen one you have seen them all. And since we had been to St.Thomas before, this time we took the ferry over and explored St. John. And to contribute to the intensity of the ports, our week was the refueling stop at St. Croix. And the couple of hours we spent in town there was also worth it.

 

And the final sea day will be unlike any that you have had before. The captain takes the ship very close to many of the islands that you pass on the way back to San Juan and he gives you a history of each island including the volcanically devistated island of Montserrat.

 

We visited each port that the ship stopped at and I wouldn't have wanted to miss any of them.

[Rondo]

This southern route was extremely tiring!!! What kind of adventures do you like? What's available at each island might help you make up your mind. If you don't like what the island offers you can skip it. I don't find too many islands I can skip, especially if I haven't been there before.

 

St. Thomas - Daysail http://pws.prserv.net/sailhighpockets Any other

daysails are good, too. Beaches, St. John's

St. Marteen - Orient Beach - take a cab

Antigua - Eco Tour with Eli http://www.adventureantigua.com

Would like to go on the Jolly Roger, but it was being repaired when

we were there. I'm glad, because we had a great day with Eli.

St. Lucia - Jungle Tour http://www.jungletoursstlucia.com Our

best day! Open jeep touring the rainforest and seeing some

pretty remote villages

Barbados - We were soooo tired, we got in a cab and had him drive us around the island and we didn't even care what we saw. Would love to go back and do the Catamaran that some have mentioned.

 

I keep telling my husband we're going to stay on the ship one of the days of our cruise, but it hasn't happened yet. I can always find something new to do on each island! Have a wonderful trip!

[zantedeschia]

We are on the Serenade S.Caribbean cruise. My DH would like to stay on the ship one day and just relax...... Which island can be missed IYO?:)

The one we skipped was St. Thomas. That was more because we had flown into San Juan 3 days before the cruise and ended up vegging practically the entire time and the inertia carried over. Partially because we flew from the US to the US! Then our first island was ... still in the US! Got going in St. Maarten where we took the America's Cup tour, then in Antigua we did the helicopter over Monserrat tour, etc.

[Twaincruisers]

We've been to all of these islands several times and we always get off because they are favorites. St Lucia has two tours we highly recommend: one is an all-day catamaran and bus tour that goes along the coast to or by beautiful beaches, to a couple plantations, and to the drive-in volcano; the other goes north aboard the Brig Unicorn (The Black Pearl) to Pigeon island where you can explore ruins of Fort Rodney or go to the beach--our trip was enhanced by the last hurricane of the season last year: big waves crashing over the bow of the Unicorn. Antigua has beautiful, historic English harbor with Nelson's Dockyard N.P.; also, back at the port, walk to the end of the mall to have flying fish at Hemingways...BYON. In St Thomas we enjoy the historic sites like Fort Christian, the synagogue, and the old wareshouses, now stores, restaurants, and bars. St Maarten is great for shopping, beaching, and the America's cup. Barbados has interesting areas to eat and drink downtown and on the Careenage or out at St Lawrence Gap with beaches nearby.