Going on Arvia. Tell me all about these Caribbean ports!

[Vampiress88]

Barbados 
Tortola 
La Romana 
St Maarten

Antigua 
St Kitts  

Martinique 

St Lucia 

 

I feel like there is a lot of planning. They all seem to take different currencies which wouldn’t be an issue if I could use my credit card everywhere but I worry that over there they will want cash instead. 

[Glad Bailey]

From our experience all of the quoted ports accept US Dollars

[Megabear2]

15 minutes ago, Vampiress88 said:

Barbados 
Tortola 
La Romana 
St Maarten

Antigua 
St Kitts  

Martinique 

St Lucia 

 

I feel like there is a lot of planning. They all seem to take different currencies which wouldn’t be an issue if I could use my credit card everywhere but I worry that over there they will want cash instead. 

Most will accept the US dollar.  Martinique will takes Euros, very hard to spend US$ there.  Credit card will be fine - not been to La Romana but as its Dominican Republic they'll most likely want US$ as it's such a poor place. All the other islands are very tourist orientated and you'll have few problems. Tortola is the least touristy, the interior is beautiful to visit.

 

When paying by card some islands will take money in the local dollar rather than US.  That is generally a far better deal for you.  If you see a price tag check it and generally there will be two prices.

 

You'll have a wonderful trip, the islands are fab.  Be careful of personal possessions and property, particularly in St Lucia.

[solentsam]

Make sure they are asking for Caribbean dollars and not US or visa visa many have fallen in to that trap, as it could be double tor half the price

[Sussexboy]

On Tortola we did an island tour on one of the Jitney buses. These are open topped jeep base charabancs and are very reasonable price wise. Then after we relaxed in the Aromas martini and cigar bar. It was an enjoyable day, especially if you like a Cuban cigar with your martini 😁.

[SquishTheWhale]

Barbados- we did a ship excursion to one of the nearby beaches for a turtle snorkel. Only did it through the cruise line as we had an excursion credit promo to use up, it's very easy to do yourself. The beaches near the port are stunning and loads of beach clubs to choose from which will take you out to the snorkel spots.
 

Antigua- did an island tour which we pre booked from one of the many independent operators in port.  It was excellent and theres so much to see, we found it to be one of the more pleasant Caribbean islands in terms of how clean it was etc. Nelsons Dockyard, gorgeous view points, the cricket stadium and a beach visit.

St Kitts- we did the zip lining course in the jungle. You can book this independently only if the cruise line doesn't offer it as an excursion, we were with Princess who didn't. They will pick you up in port. The zip lines were amazing and so many of them, it was just us doing it with 2 guides. At the site there's also some historical ruins and a batik factory where we saw a big excursion visiting

 

St Lucia- we used Spencer Ambrose to book a speedboat tour which included the volcanic mud baths, waterfall and sugar beach between the pitons. The snorkelling from that beach is out of this world. However don't book with Spencer as there's been huge issues with them in recent years, our tour we had several non serious issues. Cosol tours are supposed to be good but they do 1 way coach and return on speedboat, and we wanted it all via speedboat

[Vampiress88]

22 hours ago, SquishTheWhale said:

Barbados- we did a ship excursion to one of the nearby beaches for a turtle snorkel. Only did it through the cruise line as we had an excursion credit promo to use up, it's very easy to do yourself. The beaches near the port are stunning and loads of beach clubs to choose from which will take you out to the snorkel spots.
 

Antigua- did an island tour which we pre booked from one of the many independent operators in port.  It was excellent and theres so much to see, we found it to be one of the more pleasant Caribbean islands in terms of how clean it was etc. Nelsons Dockyard, gorgeous view points, the cricket stadium and a beach visit.

St Kitts- we did the zip lining course in the jungle. You can book this independently only if the cruise line doesn't offer it as an excursion, we were with Princess who didn't. They will pick you up in port. The zip lines were amazing and so many of them, it was just us doing it with 2 guides. At the site there's also some historical ruins and a batik factory where we saw a big excursion visiting

 

St Lucia- we used Spencer Ambrose to book a speedboat tour which included the volcanic mud baths, waterfall and sugar beach between the pitons. The snorkelling from that beach is out of this world. However don't book with Spencer as there's been huge issues with them in recent years, our tour we had several non serious issues. Cosol tours are supposed to be good but they do 1 way coach and return on speedboat, and we wanted it all via speedboat

see they all sound so cool but the kids aren’t the best swimmers yet and I don’t think I could let them on a zip line. They will only be 9&8

[Megabear2]

6 hours ago, Vampiress88 said:

see they all sound so cool but the kids aren’t the best swimmers yet and I don’t think I could let them on a zip line. They will only be 9&8

If you can improve their swimming enough the turtle swim in Barbados is in warm water that's quite shallow.  Everybody wears a life vest so they will float.  Noodles are often provided if people are nervous.  I'd say that one is okay if you can get them water confident.

 

St Lucia - have a look at the aerial tram. It is child friendly, even infants can go and it's something a bit different.

 

St Kitts - not the best beaches here.  Maybe have a look at the train ride or train plus boat.  The port area in St Kitts has lots of shops if you don't fancy an excursion.

 

Again if you can get the kids water comfortable the stingray trip in Antigua is good. The water is only about 5 feet deep and the stingrays come to the guides.  It's a bit different.

 

La Romana has swim with dolphins which is the number one thing to do there.

 

If I were you I'd concentrate on gettingbtye girls competent and happy in the water as most of the best things out in the islands tend to be water based. Kayak trips are very popular with families and also the boat trips, again involving snorkelling with life vests and if needed noodles.

 

I hope that helps.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Vampiress88]

21 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

If you can improve their swimming enough the turtle swim in Barbados is in warm water that's quite shallow.  Everybody wears a life vest so they will float.  Noodles are often provided if people are nervous.  I'd say that one is okay if you can get them water confident.

 

St Lucia - have a look at the aerial tram. It is child friendly, even infants can go and it's something a bit different.

 

St Kitts - not the best beaches here.  Maybe have a look at the train ride or train plus boat.  The port area in St Kitts has lots of shops if you don't fancy an excursion.

 

Again if you can get the kids water comfortable the stingray trip in Antigua is good. The water is only about 5 feet deep and the stingrays come to the guides.  It's a bit different.

 

La Romana has swim with dolphins which is the number one thing to do there.

 

If I were you I'd concentrate on gettingbtye girls competent and happy in the water as most of the best things out in the islands tend to be water based. Kayak trips are very popular with families and also the boat trips, again involving snorkelling with life vests and if needed noodles.

 

I hope that helps.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

thanks megabear. 
they are happy and confident in water. I just worry that they aren’t the best or strong swimmers. They can manage maybe 10m swimming I think and they are good at diving down.  They literally spent 3 weeks in the pool in Florida. But for somewhere that’s at sea I worry. I suppose really we won’t be ever going out too far from either a boat or land and especially if they have on a life vest then that’s no issue. 
 

I just have this horrible memory of when I was a teen, about 15 I think and me and my mum went swimming in Spain and going out was fine but trying to get back in was terrible, it’s panicked me a bit ever since. 
 

I’ll go look at all those now. 

[Megabear2]

9 minutes ago, Vampiress88 said:

thanks megabear. 
they are happy and confident in water. I just worry that they aren’t the best or strong swimmers. They can manage maybe 10m swimming I think and they are good at diving down.  They literally spent 3 weeks in the pool in Florida. But for somewhere that’s at sea I worry. I suppose really we won’t be ever going out too far from either a boat or land and especially if they have on a life vest then that’s no issue. 
 

I just have this horrible memory of when I was a teen, about 15 I think and me and my mum went swimming in Spain and going out was fine but trying to get back in was terrible, it’s panicked me a bit ever since. 
 

I’ll go look at all those now. 

The trips are well supervised and members of the crew go in the water. Everyone, crew included, wears a life vest and as I say they'll give anyone who needs or wants once noodle.

 

Being islands the water based trips are definitely the best.  The visits to forts, historic sites etc are good but your girls are quite young so the fun based ones will appeal more I'd think.

 

St Maarten you can walk to the beach but a trip to the French side might appeal or the beach where the aeroplanes zoom over.

 

Have a look at the submarine in Martinique, its glass bottomed and takes you down to see the turtles. They take you to the beach after.

 

Perhaps with the summer holidays starting you could get them on some improver swimming classes at your local baths.  Obviously not all councils offer it but our local pools do a very cheap 3 times a week offering.   It would definitely make sense to take some extra swimming  lessons so that the girls get the most out of their great holiday and also you'll be more relaxed as well.

 

Incidentally they aren't that young when it comes to swimming, Swim England allow kids to compete in races from the age of 9!

 

Bit of a win, win for everyone.  

 

 

[Pear Carr]

On 7/21/2023 at 4:34 PM, SquishTheWhale said:

 

St Lucia- we used Spencer Ambrose to book a speedboat tour which included the volcanic mud baths, waterfall and sugar beach between the pitons. The snorkelling from that beach is out of this world. However don't book with Spencer as there's been huge issues with them in recent years, our tour we had several non serious issues. Cosol tours are supposed to be good but they do 1 way coach and return on speedboat, and we wanted it all via speedboat

What are the issues with Spencer Ambrose tour - we are booked on this in December.

[SquishTheWhale]

On 10/30/2023 at 8:04 AM, Pear Carr said:

What are the issues with Spencer Ambrose tour - we are booked on this in December.

Don't take this as gospel as its 3rd hand, but in recent years there's been lots of complaints including trouble with the speedboats, rudeness and people nearly missing sail away. There's a topic somewhere on here- maybe caribbean ports board? If you search spencer Ambrose on there

 

Our experience many years ago wasn't perfect. They were very late picking everyone up. There was loads of waiting around as they couldn't seem to work out who needed dropping where as some people were doing the beach trip only.

There was no local food samples as advertised when we booked it- I think they changed the excursion description after we complained. The lunch served on the beach wasn't enough for everyone.

 

We still very much enjoyed the excursion but it was down to the location rather than spencer

Edited November 1, 2023 by SquishTheWhale

[Pear Carr]

Thanks for the update - I will do some more research!