Southern Carib. excursion help needed

[jetstorm]

To all you Southern Carib. pros out there, I need help in determining what type of excursions are best for which islands, such as which are best for snorkling, so I can then reseach each. Any private tour company info. would be greatly appreciated also.

Here's our ruise info.:

Crown Princess, sailing out of San Juan on Dec. 22, 2007

12/23 St. Thomas (7am-6pm)

12/25 8am-5pm (Christmas) Aruba Will there be anything open?

12/26 Bonaire 7am-1pm

12/27 Grenada 10am-5pm

12/28 St. Kitts 10am-6pm

We will be two adults and one 10 yr. old child. We love water activities and adventure tours.

Sorry this is so long but I wanted to give as much info. as I could.

[Desert Cruizers]

To all you Southern Carib. pros out there, I need help in determining what type of excursions are best for which islands, such as which are best for snorkling, so I can then reseach each. Any private tour company info. would be greatly appreciated also.

Here's our ruise info.:

Crown Princess, sailing out of San Juan on Dec. 22, 2007

12/23 St. Thomas (7am-6pm)

12/25 8am-5pm (Christmas) Aruba Will there be anything open?

12/26 Bonaire 7am-1pm

12/27 Grenada 10am-5pm

12/28 St. Kitts 10am-6pm

We will be two adults and one 10 yr. old child. We love water activities and adventure tours.

Sorry this is so long but I wanted to give as much info. as I could.

I can't assist you with the other Ports, ST Thomas we did a land tour. If you haven't already, go on the web for your cruise, when the page comes up showing the itnerary, click on Shore Excursions at top of page, then put in each stop it will give you a list. Hopefully others will stop by and offer more assistance for you. Have a wonderful cruise.

When looking over the tours, keep in mind, length of tour vs time in Port

[bubbadog]

you should go to the ports of call board,they will have a ton of info and links about all the different ports,this will help you alot:)):p

[PescadoAmarillo]

Here are my recommendations. We are also water babies and love adventure.

 

St. Thomas: Take ferry from Charlotte Amalie to St. John. Go to Trunk Bay for the day. Take ferry from St. John to either Charlotte Amalie or Red Hook on St. Thomas.

 

Aruba: Arrange ahead of time for a 4WD rental right at the pier (Avis used to pre-book). Head for the east side of the island and the national park in the morning. Return to ship to cool off and for lunch. Head for west side and California lighthouse area in the afternoon.

 

Bonaire: Walk to your left (towards town) after disembarking the ship and take the water taxi to Klein Bonaire for the day. Great snorkeling!!!

 

St. Kitts: Hire a taxi to Turtle Beach for the day. There are lots of monkeys there that will eat out of your hands. They may not be there when you first arrive, but they generally show up and stay for quite a while.

[YoPhilly]

Grenada has a beautiful national park filled with waterfalls, hikes, etc. We took a 4WD adventure to the park with a hike and a swim. Beautiful and great fun.

 

The best thing to do on Aruba is just go to one of the great beaches. It's a very flat, dry island...not much in the way of sightseeing.

 

St. Thomas - depends what you like to do. I agree with poster who suggested you check out the Ports of Call boards.

 

I haven't been to St. Kitts or Bonaire.

[jetstorm]

Thanks to you all for the ideas on excursions. I will go on the ports of call boards, but I wanted to get a general idea of all the stops first to see what type of things they offer and yu guys gave me some things to think about and check into.

If anyone else has any other excursion ideas to offer, please feel free.

[Mommy40]

To all you Southern Carib. pros out there, I need help in determining what type of excursions are best for which islands, such as which are best for snorkling, so I can then reseach each. Any private tour company info. would be greatly appreciated also.

Here's our ruise info.:

Crown Princess, sailing out of San Juan on Dec. 22, 2007

12/23 St. Thomas (7am-6pm)

12/25 8am-5pm (Christmas) Aruba Will there be anything open?

12/26 Bonaire 7am-1pm

12/27 Grenada 10am-5pm

12/28 St. Kitts 10am-6pm

We will be two adults and one 10 yr. old child. We love water activities and adventure tours.

Sorry this is so long but I wanted to give as much info. as I could.

 

I did a horseback riding tour in Aruba with my two daughters who were ages 8 and 11 at the time, we really enjoyed it. It was on a RC ship though not a Princess and it was the ships excursion.

[Beach710]

Here are my recommendations. We are also water babies and love adventure.

 

Bonaire: Walk to your left (towards town) after disembarking the ship and take the water taxi to Klein Bonaire for the day. Great snorkeling!!!

 

I am trying to decide whether it would be better to take the Princess excusion or try to do this on our own. Maybe you could help me by answering a few questions, how much is the water taxi? How do you get the "marine tag"?

 

Thanks.

 

Donna

[PescadoAmarillo]

Yes, you will need a marine tag ($10) which you can purchase on the water taxi. They will tell you about it on the ride across to Klein Bonaire. It's actually $10 for a full year for snorkelers, so if you think you might get back there....

 

I don't remember exactly how much the water taxi is. We were there in Dec 05, I think, and it was $15 round trip, but my memory may be a bit sketchy on that. I remember thinking that the whole experience (water taxi and marine tag) was a lot cheaper than the ship's excursions.

 

Here is a link to what you might see:

http://www.skin-diver.com/bonaire/snorkel.html

[Beach710]

Thanks for the info and the link.

 

Donna

[sungirl]

As you get off the ship in Aruba, there are magazine racks with little Aruba brochures. Pick one up, they list the best beaches for snorkeling, swimming, etc. There is also a sign hanging outside that lists average taxi fares to the beachs and anywhere else you want to go. We took a taxi to Baby beach and had the same taxi come pick us up at the appointed time, no problems.

[jetstorm]

Has anyone ever been on a cruise in Aruba on Christmas Day? That's when we'll be there and I'm worried there will be little if anything open. What about tours?

[Lancashire Lad]

To all you Southern Carib. pros out there, I need help in determining what type of excursions are best for which islands, such as which are best for snorkling, so I can then reseach each. Any private tour company info. would be greatly appreciated also.

Here's our ruise info.:

Crown Princess, sailing out of San Juan on Dec. 22, 2007

12/23 St. Thomas (7am-6pm)

12/25 8am-5pm (Christmas) Aruba Will there be anything open?

12/26 Bonaire 7am-1pm

12/27 Grenada 10am-5pm

12/28 St. Kitts 10am-6pm

We will be two adults and one 10 yr. old child. We love water activities and adventure tours.

Sorry this is so long but I wanted to give as much info. as I could.

 

Hi, Jetstorm

We did St. Kitts 2yrs ago on Sea Princess. One way of seeing the island is to take the railway trip. This takes you round the island passed all theplantations and some of the parishes with as many rum punches as you can drink and free drinks for children. Our start time was 1000hrs. If you take it we hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

[annieuk]

Consider doing the Railway Trip in St. Kitts, it's fantastic. We were taken from the ship by minibus to the station, about 40 mins away. Then we waited for the train, it's an old train that used to be used for carrying sugar cane. It has two sections, upstairs, open sides downstairs inside and airconditioned. You get a seat in both sections if you see what I mean. Then you do a tour round the edge of the island. The staff bring round free drinks - those banana daquiris were great. Then there is a small local choir which goes from carriage to carriage singing. There is also a commentary. You get the children from local villages running up to the train - assuming they are not in school. I know some people throw them sweets but we were asked not to. It's a fabulous trip. On the way back to the ship (about 10 mins) we were given a free dvd of the tour.

 

It's a half day trip and worth every penny. I think you can only do it through the cruise lines. Have a try, it was great, probably the best trip we've done in the Caribbean.

Annie:)

[jetstorm]

Hi, Jetstorm

We did St. Kitts 2yrs ago on Sea Princess. One way of seeing the island is to take the railway trip. This takes you round the island passed all theplantations and some of the parishes with as many rum punches as you can drink and free drinks for children. Our start time was 1000hrs. If you take it we hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

 

I saw this railway site somewhere ,but it didn't give any prices. Do you ecall how much it was and how long it lasted?

[Stevesan]

I saw this railway site somewhere ,but it didn't give any prices. Do you ecall how much it was and how long it lasted?

 

It does appear that you have to book either through the cruise ship or hotel:

 

Rail tour tickets are available from the Shore Excursion Office on your cruise ship or can be purchased online from your cruise line.

Hotel guests can purchase rail tour tickets from the tour desk at their hotel on-island.

Here's the web site:

 

http://www.stkittsscenicrailway.com/

[jetstorm]

It does appear that you have to book either through the cruise ship or hotel:

 

Rail tour tickets are available from the Shore Excursion Office on your cruise ship or can be purchased online from your cruise line.

Hotel guests can purchase rail tour tickets from the tour desk at their hotel on-island.

 

Here's the web site:

 

http://www.stkittsscenicrailway.com/

 

Thanks for the info. and the link.

[Stevesan]

It does appear that you have to book either through the cruise ship or hotel:

 

Rail tour tickets are available from the Shore Excursion Office on your cruise ship or can be purchased online from your cruise line.

Hotel guests can purchase rail tour tickets from the tour desk at their hotel on-island.

 

Here's the web site:

 

http://www.stkittsscenicrailway.com/

 

 

I just checked the price on Princess web site: $99 for the three hour train ride!!!:eek:

 

Fugedaboudit!

[jetstorm]

I just checked the price on Princess web site: $99 for the three hour train ride!!!:eek:

 

Fugedaboudit!

 

I agree! I can ride a train through the beautiful NC/Ga mountain area for alot less than that.

Thanks for letting me know.

 

Anyonw know if the Mi Dushi sailing ship (Aruba) goes out on Christmas Day?

[GSDsky]

Crown Princess, sailing out of San Juan on Dec. 22, 2007

12/23 St. Thomas (7am-6pm)

Megans Bay

12/25 8am-5pm (Christmas) Aruba Will there be anything open?

Palm Beach (lot of water toys and great sand for the 10 year old.) Water very clean

12/26 Bonaire 7am-1pm

Klein Bonaire is nice but no facilities?

Take cab to the beach next to Harbour Beach Resort. Driver will know it. Fantastic Snorkling and take corn flakes from the ship. Actally take Fruit Loops they like the colors.

12/27 Grenada 10am-5pm

Grande Anse Beach

12/28 St. Kitts 10am-6pm

Went to Shigity Shack. OK but beach not that great.

[jdm]

Grenada - great excursion was the river tubing. We booked through Princess. It was wonderful.

[Stevesan]

I agree! I can ride a train through the beautiful NC/Ga mountain area for alot less than that.

Thanks for letting me know.

 

Anyonw know if the Mi Dushi sailing ship (Aruba) goes out on Christmas Day?

 

Send them a quicky email:

 

http://www.midushi.com/?id=74

[jetstorm]

Send them a quicky email:

 

http://www.midushi.com/?id=74

 

 

Thanks, I sent them an email and they are open although it sounds like they are only taking reservations through the ship.

Now I just have to decide what to do on the other islands.

[KAWS]

I can only help with St. Thomas. We just took a sailing/snorkeling excursion with Jollymon. They cap the guests at 6 people. Gary will come to the downtown area (you take a taxi there for $4 pp) and pick you up and bring you to the Jollymon. Gayle will be waiting. You go sailing and then they give you a choice of two different places for snorkeling. Gayle comes into the water with you and shows you things you'd never notice on your own. That made it for us. Afterwards there's snacks and drinks. That's the 1/2 day (3.5 hr) for $75 pp. Totally worth it. They do have a full day package too but we wanted shopping time afterwards (read here Cardow Jewellers!!) so took the half day. Go to www.jollymon.com for more details. It was a wonderful day.

[jetstorm]

I can only help with St. Thomas. We just took a sailing/snorkeling excursion with Jollymon. They cap the guests at 6 people. Gary will come to the downtown area (you take a taxi there for $4 pp) and pick you up and bring you to the Jollymon. Gayle will be waiting. You go sailing and then they give you a choice of two different places for snorkeling. Gayle comes into the water with you and shows you things you'd never notice on your own. That made it for us. Afterwards there's snacks and drinks. That's the 1/2 day (3.5 hr) for $75 pp. Totally worth it. They do have a full day package too but we wanted shopping time afterwards (read here Cardow Jewellers!!) so took the half day. Go to www.jollymon.com for more details. It was a wonderful day.

 

 

Thanks, I'll check out Jollymon. We love to snorkle.