Antigua, St Lucia, Barbados ... Excursions

[LLSullie]

Book with RCCL, book with local talent, go your own way ...

 

Any suggestions?

[nanfromatlanta]

In St Lucia, I would book with the cruise line due to the large size of the island. If tou book with the cruise line, and the tour runs late, the ship will wait for you. If you book on your own, and the tour runs late, you are out of luck. I highly suggest the Land & Sea to Soufriere tour. You get the best of everything St Lucia has to offer. It is a full day trip, but well worth the price as well as the time in port.

[frito58]

Hi, we are also on the AOS in Sept. Some of the people on our cruise have been on this ship before and they suggest booking Cosol on St. Lucia. We have about 10 groups booked with him his tour looks great.

 

On Barbados I hear good things on the Silvermoon tours.

 

Antigua the Eco-tour seems to get high praise.

 

There are web sites to all of these just go to the islands page and you can find them.

[Stella Darling]

Per the boards here, in St. Lucia, we used a private tour guide named Cosol. His email address is Cosol966@hotmail.com. He was excellent! He took us all over this winding, hilly, amazing island. We saw the volcano, banana plantations, botanical gardens, and incredible views! He has a comfortable van and gives great lectures on the history of the island. We had fish cakes, fresh baked bread, bananas and drinks. We toured about 5 hours and it was only $45 per person. We tipped him another $10. Very well worth it. There were 4 other people from our ship with us. We've never booked privately and were nervous, but he does this every day there is a ship in port and quite experienced. No need to worry.

 

In Barbados, if you're an animal lover, we took the ship's tour "4 x 4 Green Monkey Encounter." Read my post under Cruise Reviews Empress of the Seas. Excellent, excellent tour!!!!

 

Antigua we did the "Snorkel, Kayak and Eco Tour" by the ship. Also a great tour. We tried to book a private tour (can't remember the name) which was recommended by people on the boards, but they were sold out already.

 

These three islands, in my opinion, are absolutely the most beautiful and all 3 are my favorites. You'll have fun no matter what you do.

[cruzobsessed]

without a doubt....SILVERMOON IN BARBADOS.

no more than 12 people all day on their catamaran. food and drinks included. 3 different snorkel/swim experiences.

the best......watching as the other catamaran excursions with 45 people crammed together go by:D

[GarrenS]

without a doubt....SILVERMOON IN BARBADOS.

 

no more than 12 people all day on their catamaran. food and drinks included. 3 different snorkel/swim experiences.

 

the best......watching as the other catamaran excursions with 45 people crammed together go by:D

 

 

In total agreement to this.....it was the best $100 I spent the whole trip. We laughed every time one of the other catamaran tours sailed up - with a blue million people on them.

 

We also did Cosol on St Lucia - was a very excellent tour as well. Be prepared for a lot of driving time - it's a big island and the roads are narrow and winding.

 

Good luck - whatever you choose!

Garren

[erniesband]

Eli's EcoTour, in Antigua, is our all-time favorite excursion. His Xtreme Circumnav is also a great excursion - these tours are different from anything you'll find anywhere else, and nothing the ship offers comes close. His website gives complete info on both (http://www.adventureantigua.com), and there's a ton of stuff on the ports of call boards about them.

 

In St. Lucia, we've done ship excursions and privately booked excursions with good results. We've used Frank for a land tour - he's terrific.

 

Silvermoon is one of the better opportunities in Barbados. We've also used Glory Tours for some land touring, hired a taxi on our own for some touring once (after having done a fair amount of research about things we wanted to see, that aren't on any of the ship tours, or commonly offered, like Animal Flower Cave).

 

We tend to do privately booked excursions over ship excursions, for a number of reasons: few people on the excursion, a more intimate experience, frequently priced better. There are some very good local operators out there, but you have to be willing to do your research.

 

Jodi

[Desert Cruizers]

In St Lucia, I would book with the cruise line due to the large size of the island. If tou book with the cruise line, and the tour runs late, the ship will wait for you. If you book on your own, and the tour runs late, you are out of luck. I highly suggest the Land & Sea to Soufriere tour. You get the best of everything St Lucia has to offer. It is a full day trip, but well worth the price as well as the time in port.

We were in St Lucia 2 years ago, and did the Catamaran, Island Tour and 1 hr private beach = 3-4 hrs I believe. They served a lunch and provided entertainment. It was a blast.

[nickam]

were in st lucia last year and did a private tour with a guy called james only charged us $25 dollars each for six of us.He was great and gave us a great commentary as we were going .tour lasted about 4 hours going into volcano banana plantations and to tropical gardens and waterfall. all in all a great day and great value.

 

in barbados we did our own thing as we have visited there before we just took the local buses to the places we liked the best 1 bajan dollar 50 cents to go as far as you want approx $0.75, Holetown chattel house village on te west coast of the island is great for souvenirs and Baku beach nearby is great for snorkelling amongst some of the best coral and sea life on the island.or a glass bottom boat to see/swim with the turtles also from Baku beach.

[KillaFee]

I also suggest booking with Cosul Tours. I wouldn't worry about getting back to the ship if you book with them because they're used to it and all of their passengers are cruisers for the most part. It was a fantastic tour - the best I've taken actually, and I usually HATE tours on buses/vans. It was very interactive and informative and you didn't feel like you were in a herd of obnoxious tourists. :D If you want, check out my pics down below and click on my Serenade album and you'll see pics of St. Lucia - they were all taken on the Cosul tour.

That is the BEST itinerary - enjoy!

Laura

[Goofyisme]

We also recommend Cosol for St Lucia. DW and I did a private tour with him and had a great time. Don't remeber how much it cost but it was well worth it.

[tinkerme1]

Another BIG thumbs up for the "SilverMoon" catamaran excursion in Barbados. Without a doubt, one of the BEST excursions I have ever done on any island. They run a first-class service, with first-class (professional) staff. They pick you up at the pier, and then return you when the excursion is over. Their rum punch is outstanding!:D

[texancruzer]

Antigua - we rented a car and went all around the island as well as had a few hours beach time....

 

St. Lucia - did RCI Land and Sea to Soufriere - great tour....

 

Barbados - hired Cameron Reid for a private tour - amazing day....

 

more info on any of these three if you need it :D

[iowagal64]

I was those 3 islands in Feb, they were my favorite also!

 

On Antigua we did Eli's Eco tour and loved it. I would highly recommend them.

 

In St Lucia we took a tour with Jungle Tours: http://www.jungletoursstlucia.com/moretours.htm. We ended up being the only 2 on the tour and it was incredible. We really got to see the island, the volcano, the banana plantation, we swam in a pool at the base of a waterfall, and then a wonderful lunch at a beach looking the Pitons. We were the only people at the restaurand and the waitress just kept bringing us food.

 

In Barbabos we walked to the Boatyard beach and spent lots of time there. You can take the shuttle to downtown and then walk to the beach, it isn't far. We walked in the free entance, but for $15 you get a chair, a drink and ride back to the boat. The beach was beautiful!

[debshomespun]

Here's another vote for Cosol in St. Lucia. We used him this past March from our NCL Pearl cruise. His tour was really great! We got to see most of the island, went to a beach between the Pitons, tried lots of the island food, and he had a cooler full of drinks, bottled water, cokes, and rum punch! This was one of the best tours we have taken.

 

In Antigua, another vote for Eli's eco tour. We did that back in Jan/05, and had a wonderful day. It is a full day trip, but well worth it.

 

We almost always book independent excursions, as they are less money, and so much more personal, not like the ship excursions where they pack you in like a can of sardines! This is how the independents make their living, so they will get you back to the ship on time.

[willysgrandma]

In Barbados, if you're an animal lover, we took the ship's tour "4 x 4 Green Monkey Encounter." Read my post under Cruise Reviews Empress of the Seas. Excellent, excellent tour!!!!

 

I did this on the Crown Princess and it was fabulous. The monkeys actually run all around you - it was a lot of fun.

[va boy]

we cruised in Dec 06

 

Barbados I second Cameron Reid we had a great tour with him .

 

St Lucia we used Fabian he has a nice new van and his tour is fantastic .

 

Antigua we used Lawrence we were very happy with him and had a good tour .

[suzfrn]

Green monkey tour in Barbados was great. My entire family, including teens, loved it. Very interactive.

[gospelle]

the locals in antigua are incredibly friendly to tourists. We rented a scooter and explored by ourselves.

 

Everywhere we went the locals were wanting to help us out. If it looked like we were lost, kids on bicycles would offer help. One guy waiting for a bus offered to give directions.

 

Even a local driving a car stopped to let us go at an intersection, EVEN THOUGH we had the stop sign and he didn't. It was amazing. I've never seen anything like it anywhere else.

 

Do yourself a favor and get off the beaten path in Antigua. You'll love it.

[bplazo]

Silvermoon was a great excursion and if you decide to do this you need to book early because of the limited spaces they fill up early.

 

We did Jungle Tours in St Lucia and also had a great time.

[LLSullie]

Thanks so much ! ! I'm making a huge list, always planning ahead :p

[LLSullie]

is there a "zip wire across the island" excursion on any of these islands?

[QueenBee1212]

:D If you want, check out my pics down below and click on my Serenade album and you'll see pics of St. Lucia - they were all taken on the Cosul tour.

That is the BEST itinerary - enjoy!

Laura

 

Thanks for sharing those pics, Laura...I am booked with Cosol, in July...and seeing the pictures got me even more excited than I already was!:D