Southern Caribbean with teens?

[Ripley]

We are cruising on RCCL's Adventure of the Seas in July, 2007, on the itinerary that includes Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua, St. Maarten and St. Thomas. We have 13 and 15 year old girls, and this is our fourth cruise together. Have any of you done this itinerary with teens? Any suggestions for especially fun excursions. If there was one port out of these that you skipped planning an excursion, which would it be?

Thanks for your input.

Ripley

[Arubalisa]

Check on the port forums for more info. I can say we just did St Martin, St Lucia and Barbados as part of our itinerary with girls- 10, 13 & 17 and one boy age 12.

In Barbados our family of 10 did the excursion the Silver Moon II. This was the second time we have sailed aboard her and always a real nice time. Swimming with the turtles was a pretty big thrill for young and old alike. Overall a relaxing day.

St Martin, LOL, the kids went with their grandparents and great grandmother to their favorite jewelry store. Paid off for the kids because their grandparents bought the girls Tanzanite rings and my nephew received a gold chain.

St. Lucia for a first time visit for all of us. The 10 of us took a 5 hour tour with COSOL and relaxed the rest of the afternoon at the pool.

St Thomas is always good for a day at the beach.

[Ripley]

Thanks, Arubalisa. We've read other good reviews of the Silvermoon II, so we'll definitely book them. What did you think of the COSOL tour on St. Lucia?

[Arubalisa]

Yes, COSOL was very good. We were able to see a little bit of the highlights in 5 hours without overwhelming the kids on an 8 hour tour.

[bplazo]

We did this route when my dauther was 16. We did the Silvermoon and my daughter was not impressed but my husband and I loved it. Her favorite excursion was in St. Lucia doing the Jungle Tour with Shal.

 

We had a private tour with Shal on an open land rover. We went to alot of private places to see the island. Shal even climbed and helped my daughter up to some of the waterfalls. This has been her favorite cruise excursion.

 

We also did the BOB in St. Thomas.

[Ripley]

Do you have any contact information for Shal? Thanks.

[bplazo]

Ripley - Here is Shal's website

 

http://www.jungletoursstlucia.com

 

 

This has been our favorite excursion, however, this is not an air conditioned van. I believe that is why we had a great time. We could stand up in the land rover and see everything. Shal had an ipod connected to his radio and played island music and also had a cooler filled with soft drinks and beer. We had a lunch at an old sugar mill plantation.

[Ripley]

Thank you! Looks fun, I think we'll try it!

Ripley

[Laughing Gull]

Hi Ripley,

I was interested in the replies you got to your post and would love to read a trip report when you return. We are taking our kids on a Southern Caribbean cruise in August.

Our kids have been to St. Maarten and loved the zip line at Pic Paradise. The restaurant up therr is really good too! It may be on the RCI website, I haven't checked what's offered for tours in St. Maarten as we will probably stay on board that day.

Your girls may be interested in shopping. It's mainly jewelry stores on Front Street. The French side around the Marina is more interesting. Tropicana in the Marina Royale is an excellant place for lunch.

If you just want to explore the French side, don't bother with the huge tour buses, just take a regular taxi when you get disemark.