Princess Shore Excursions- St. Lucia

[sealegirl]

What's the best ShoreEx booked through Princess that you've been on? What can't I miss that I need to start saving $$ for now? Thanks in advance!!

[kestrel]

We took the Best of St.Lucia by Land & Sea, and enjoyed it.

 

I liked the plantation visit (my very first!) and the catamaran ride the best. The view of the Pitons from the water was magnificent. However, the volcano part was a disappointment -- can't compare with Yellowstone. There was a 45-min or so stop for us to swim or snorkel. I considered it too short. Overall, it's a nice trip.

[B8C]

We took the Jungle Reef Estate tour last week. This was an old plantation now belonging to a hotel which the hotel gets some of its supplies from and is working to revive as a working plantation. Approx 40 minute boat ride each way to Jungle Reef on the south side of the island. This is an all day tour and did not allow much time for shopping when we got back. Snorkeling at the reef to the left side of the beach was pretty good, snorkel equipment provided if you do not have your own, plenty of shade and lounge chairs on the beach, bar w/ drinks and candy bars for purchase, the included bbq lunch had a nice variety with 2 main dishes, hiking and biking trails with bike rental available, and the "jungle" tour with a guide. The guide showed us the many varieties of fruits growing on the plantation - we walked by pineapples on the trail going to the bbq and didn't even notice them. Several people tried the inside of a fresh cocoa pod.

 

On the day of our tour the only tours were our snorkel tour and a scuba tour (approx 40 - 50 people total). We were the only ones on the beach and the scuba tour joined us for lunch at the estate. Bring water shoes since there were rocks before you reached the sand.

 

The boat captain sailed by the Pitons on the way back to the cruise dock. Some great photo opportunities. I was originally nervous since I didn't see much regarding this Princess tour, however, we really enjoyed it.

 

Have a great cruise.

[UKRosie]

Our favourite Princess shore excursion by far on our 2 week trip on the Crown was the Soufriere Island Delight with lunch in St Lucia. We drove in our coach through Castries past banana plantations with a stop to view and photograph the Pitons. We went on to walk round the Botanical Gardens and the Diamond Waterfall. Next we stopped at the drive-in volcano Sulphure Springs. Finally we had a lovely Creole buffet lunch in Soufriere. Everyone on our tour really loved it and said it was one of the best tours they had done.