1st cruise - ?'s about excursions

[expericd]

Hi-

 

I've just booked my first cruise on the Serenade of the Seas which cruises from San Juan to St. Thomas, St. Maarten, Antigua, St. Lucia, and Barbados this coming January.

 

I have a few questions regarding shore excursions and if anyone could offer any insight I would appreciate it.

 

I'm a 27-year old male and I'm traveling with my 25-year old girlfriend on this trip. We don't really plan to do much shopping on this trip, rather we'd like to devote most of our time to different excursions on the different islands. We're looking for certain excursions involving things like water activities (ie: diving/snorkeling/parasailing/etc), beach visits, boat tours, really anything that is somewhat active and definately not too laid back and boring. Anything involving a few cocktails is always up our alley too;-) We're both pretty outgoing and always love a good laugh or anything involving a little action.

 

Can anyone make a few recommendations on what excursions to take on which islands?

 

One other thing that I'm concerned about is this:

 

I booked this cruise through RCI (RESORT CONDOMINIUM INTERNATIONAL). I own a timeshare and I had the option of exchanging a week in return for a discount on a cruise with Royal Caribbean.

 

I know from reading through some of these forums that I'll probably want to make my reservations for excursions through the operators directly, and not through Royal Caribbean...so...should I just do my research...and call all of these places over the next few months?

 

Also, if I was to decide to book a few through the cruise line, how do I do that?

 

Do I do my research, then wait until I board the boat...then sign up for everything at once? Or should I be contacting Royal Caribbean in these next few months to reserve times?

 

I guess overall I'm concerned about maximizing this trip yet, at the same time, not spending extra money when it's unnecessary, and possibly avoiding the large amounts of people that (from what I've read on these forums) tend to be on the excursions booked with the cruise line.

 

So if all you cruise-saavy folks could point me in the right direction, maybe give me a few "must-do" excursion ideas, and the "best-way" to go about booking them (on my own and how - or through the cruiseline and how) I might actually get out of this room I've locked myself in for the last week...researching endlessly!

 

My girlfriend thinks I'm being obsessive! lol - I just want to have a memorable trip...

 

Thanks in advance!

[Sue L]

Welcome to the wonderful world of cruising and you are talking to a bunch of cruise/research obsessed people so you are among friends.

 

First, book your excursions early as the good ones sell out. You can go to RCCL.com and book them directly on there with a credit card.

 

In St Marten I would highly recommend the "America's Cup regatta" You actually get to be part of the crew for a racing boat. It is a blast and I believe that you can only book it through the cruiseline.

 

Go to to RCCL website and you can see what is available for excursions in each port. You can also go to the ports of call sections on these boards for each island and get recommendations for different activities.

 

 

Keep reading the boards for a ton of hints and tips.

[Miss Vickie]

We've done this itinerary numerous times, it's our favorite, and we'll be on Serenade for the 4th time this coming January. You couldn't have made a better choice :D .

 

We prefer active excursions in the ports, and normally book our own with island operators. Some of my favorite have been:

 

St. Thomas - go over to St. John (easily done on your own) and snorkel or hike - something like 3/4ths of the island is national park. Cinnamon Bay is a great snorkeling location. Or arrange for a day sail - we like High Pockets.

 

St. Maarten - I think the zip line tour (only offered through the ship) is a ball. It's only 1/2 a day, so there's time for some beach time afterward, or a stroll through Phillipsburgh.

 

Antigua - we love Eli's Eco Tour and Xtreme Circumnav. These are our favorite excursions ever (we've done the eco tour 4 times). There's a ton of info on the ports of call boards about these tours. Eli's website is www.adventureantigua.com. Full day excursions on power boats, with swimming, snorkeling, some cool sites and activities, a great crew, great lunch and liquid refreshments, although definitely NOT booze cruises.

 

St. Lucia - we've used Frank for a small group tour. St. Lucia is gorgeous, and you should tour the island - it's lush and green, and close to what you'd imagine a south pacific island looks like. By the way, when you leave port in the evening, Serenade sails the coast line of St. Lucia to the Pitons, and does a 360 turn between the Pitons before heading to Barbados.

 

Barbados - we've snorkeled on our own at Folkstone, and also really like Silver Moon. Good catamaran excursion, with a limited number of people.

 

There's lot of info on the ports of call boards, and I'd be glad to try and answer any questions.

 

Jodi

[levi550]

I did that same cruise in 2006, two things I would recommend are the Snorkel and Sail out of Antigua, it took off right next to the where the SoS docked. The snorkeling was not the greatest I have ever seen, but the rum punch, the beach and the limbo on the way back were classic. Thankfully the catamaran was docked right next to the ship. :rolleyes:

 

Next one was the Alantis submarine on Barbados. There was not much activity....but how many times will you get to ride in a sub? We went down ~ 150 ft saw some nice sights, sea turtles, decent coral reefs, sunken ship. Everyone had thier own porthole to see out of, it was cool.

 

Levi

[Amber14]

I second the recommendation for Silver Moon in Barbados. The yacht is awesome - they only take a limited number of people - so you feel like you have the whole thing to yourself. They serve an unlimited amount of rum punch and local beer. They stop twice - once for snorkeling, once for snorkeling with turtles. It was the highlight of our cruise!

[CRUSINGFAMILY]

Wow you are so lucky. We spent 17 days on board Serenade and I have to tell it was certainly top of the list of our cruises. We felt like it was home.

 

We did all your ports while sailing Serenade:

 

I would like to second Eli's tours in Antigua....simply fantastic! http://www.adventureantigua.com/tour.html This does not look like the one we did but I cannot locate it, we did do it with Eli though so I suspect they changed the website. The tour we did started out in Kayaks, then moved to a speed boat to island off Antigua where we snorkeled and hiked up to the summit of a little mountain there for panoramic shots of Antigua....great day!

 

We were to go to St. Maarten earlier this year and we were planning a zip line tour there but our itinerary got changed so I cannot give you a first report on that zip line tour but I can tell you if you like action, this will definitely be for you. If you would like something calmer, there is a very good butterfly farm there and it's very near the nude beach :eek: if that's of interest.

 

Barbados, well there is the brand new Concorde Musuem...you actually go one the Corcorde jet http://www.barbadosconcorde.com/contact.php We are doing that when we go in December. Another recommendation, again on the calmer side but definitely interesting is the Harrison Caves....it's awesome. http://harrisonscave.com/

 

As for the ship doing a 360 at the Pitons in St. Lucia....it didn't happen for us but you can see them when sailing out even if you don't do a 360. We hired a cab in St. Lucia , it certainly is a very beautiful island and so far my favourite for beauty it is as jlmolner described, just what you'd imagine the south Pacific

 

St. Thomas -- Coral World is attached to Coki beach (free) here's the website: http://www.coralworldvi.com/coki-beach.shtml However the very best tour we have ever done was in St. Thomas, it's called the Bob Adventure, if you can afford it, it's fantastic!!! http://www.bobunderwateradventure.com/ You ride a motor scooter underwater and you breathe air in the bubble -- really fantastic, the guides feed the fish and take pictures for you. All you have to do is enjoy!

 

Hope this info helps you and gives you some other options. Enjoy this trip, the ship and the ports are fantastic!!

[BadBoysDriveAudi]

Hi-

 

I've just booked my first cruise on the Serenade of the Seas which cruises from San Juan to St. Thomas, St. Maarten, Antigua, St. Lucia, and Barbados this coming January.

 

I have a few questions regarding shore excursions and if anyone could offer any insight I would appreciate it.

 

I'm a 27-year old male and I'm traveling with my 25-year old girlfriend on this trip. We don't really plan to do much shopping on this trip, rather we'd like to devote most of our time to different excursions on the different islands. We're looking for certain excursions involving things like water activities (ie: diving/snorkeling/parasailing/etc), beach visits, boat tours, really anything that is somewhat active and definately not too laid back and boring. Anything involving a few cocktails is always up our alley too;-) We're both pretty outgoing and always love a good laugh or anything involving a little action.

 

Can anyone make a few recommendations on what excursions to take on which islands?

 

One other thing that I'm concerned about is this:

 

I booked this cruise through RCI (RESORT CONDOMINIUM INTERNATIONAL). I own a timeshare and I had the option of exchanging a week in return for a discount on a cruise with Royal Caribbean.

 

I know from reading through some of these forums that I'll probably want to make my reservations for excursions through the operators directly, and not through Royal Caribbean...so...should I just do my research...and call all of these places over the next few months?

 

Also, if I was to decide to book a few through the cruise line, how do I do that?

 

Do I do my research, then wait until I board the boat...then sign up for everything at once? Or should I be contacting Royal Caribbean in these next few months to reserve times?

 

I guess overall I'm concerned about maximizing this trip yet, at the same time, not spending extra money when it's unnecessary, and possibly avoiding the large amounts of people that (from what I've read on these forums) tend to be on the excursions booked with the cruise line.

 

So if all you cruise-saavy folks could point me in the right direction, maybe give me a few "must-do" excursion ideas, and the "best-way" to go about booking them (on my own and how - or through the cruiseline and how) I might actually get out of this room I've locked myself in for the last week...researching endlessly!

 

My girlfriend thinks I'm being obsessive! lol - I just want to have a memorable trip...

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Nice cruise; I just got back from Freedom of the Seas which stopped in Puerto Rico, St. Thomas and St. Maarten. If you want to book through the local operators, that's certainly fine, but you also have many options through the cruise line (more expensive though). You have software bundled with the television in your stateroom that allows you to view and book excursions, you can book them online (I think), and you could always take a trip down to the pursuer's desk to make the booking. Generally I always use the television in my stateroom because it's easy and the tickets show up later on when my room stewardess makes up my room.

 

The Bacardi tour in Puerto Rico is nice, but I believe it costs $30 for the tour through the cruise line. The actual tour is free -- we met up with a local from the island (he knew we were coming and picked us up at the dock) and went to the tour. He'd never been there so it was fun for all of us. There is also a fort close by (can't remember the name but can get it from my camera pics if you like) that had a beautiful sunset when we strolled up.

 

St. Thomas was a blast, and if you happen to get to Coco beach, you'll have an enjoyable snorkling adventure. We took the underwater sea helmet tour and then stayed at the beach (our tour was supposed to leave the parking lot at 12:30 PM). You can easily get a cab from the pier to the beach for $9 one way, so don't worry too much about getting back to the pier. Buy some dog biskets from the local shops (4 for $1), rent some snorkling gear (about $20 for the pair of you) and get into the water. You'll see the most beautiful tropical fish swim right up to you to eat the biskets. If you want to see larger fish (like Yellowtail snappers), swim out to the reef on the right. You'll see schools of Yellowtail about a foot long -- don't hold the biskets for them because they'll nip at your fingers too. I have a TON of pics that I'll be putting online soon.

 

St. Maarten was fun, and I'd recommend the zip line. The max weight is 250 lbs. per person, and if you get into a small group, you'll have a ton of fun trying to get through the course quickly. It's not just zip lines; you have rope swings, rope bridges, chain bridges, tightropes, etc... It's a blast to get through it, and if you can fly through, they'll let you go twice (just make sure you get through before the next group shows up). That was a lot of fun; my only complaint is that they didn't allow you to take a camera with you on the course. It makes sense when I saw how other people struggled with the course, but I certainly would've like to take a few shots of my date and vice versa. Regardless, I'd pay to do it again. :D

 

After that, we went shopping and to the beach across the water from the pier; water taxis were $5 round trip (don't remove your wristband they give you). I went diving for sea shells and gave them to my date.

 

Too much fun, way too many pictures to wade through, and I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat.

[expericd]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Mr. Audi, do I risk not being able to book certain excursions by waiting until I board the boat? I imagine I should book things early on...

[Sheffie]

It looks like JLMolner and I have done the same things! We have been on this cruise 2 years in a row, and you are in for a real treat! This ship is glorious and the itinerary is the tops. I recommend all of the things that JL recommended. These companies come highly recommended here on CC. I suggest that once you decide on what you are going to do, that you book right away. I know that the Silvermoon and Eli's are ones that can book up fast.

 

Have fun planning your cruise. You are doing the best!

[megr1125]

yes...if there is something RC offers that really interests you, book it ahead...some things tend to fill up...and if you cancel within the permitted time frame (it will tell you at RC's website) you will get a refund to your CC--otherwise, if you cancel on the ship within the allotted time, you get a credit on your seapass......

 

have fun...be warned..cruising is addictive.......

 

welcome!

[kkpcruiser]

Hi-

 

I've just booked my first cruise on the Serenade of the Seas which cruises from San Juan to St. Thomas, St. Maarten, Antigua, St. Lucia, and Barbados this coming January.

 

First off let me say this was our faviorite ship AND favorite itinerary so far of our 5 cruises!!!

 

I have a few questions regarding shore excursions and if anyone could offer any insight I would appreciate it.

 

I'm a 27-year old male and I'm traveling with my 25-year old girlfriend on this trip. We don't really plan to do much shopping on this trip, rather we'd like to devote most of our time to different excursions on the different islands. We're looking for certain excursions involving things like water activities (ie: diving/snorkeling/parasailing/etc), beach visits, boat tours, really anything that is somewhat active and definately not too laid back and boring. Anything involving a few cocktails is always up our alley too;-) We're both pretty outgoing and always love a good laugh or anything involving a little action.

 

Can anyone make a few recommendations on what excursions to take on which islands?

 

ST LUCIA: land & Sea Soffriere Excursion: Get to ssee a little of everything. Bus through Banana Planataion and rainforest. stop at a quaint fishing village, walk through volvano, lunch at a plantation, view the PITONS, then catamaran along the coastline back to port with a beach stop. Alcoholic beverages on the way back on the catamaran. Long day but great excursion. This actaully was not our first choice; we wanted the full catamaran but i think this ended up being a great sampling of the island. we traveled with 2- 21 year olds( daughter & Boy Friend-both loved it)

 

ANTIGUA: ECO Kayak: another excellent excursion though the bus ride out made you wonder. Once at the PADDLEs site, it went perfectly, kayaking, kayak races, then powerboat, snorkling, stop on isolated island with a deserted beach and stunning views of antigua.

 

BARBADOS: Turtle/shipwreck snorkel: Might want to book this privately though the excursion activity itself was great. and a Beautiful beach stop, fascinating swimming with the Turtles. Excursion was a little crowded and we saw a few that were much smaller and probably better

One other thing that I'm concerned about is this:

 

I booked this cruise through RCI (RESORT CONDOMINIUM INTERNATIONAL). I own a timeshare and I had the option of exchanging a week in return for a discount on a cruise with Royal Caribbean.

 

I know from reading through some of these forums that I'll probably want to make my reservations for excursions through the operators directly, and not through Royal Caribbean...so...should I just do my research...and call all of these places over the next few months?

 

Also, if I was to decide to book a few through the cruise line, how do I do that?

 

Once you get a reservation # assigned you can go on the RCCL site and book. Go to "before You Board", "Excursions" enter your info and prices and explanations are there

 

Do I do my research, then wait until I board the boat...then sign up for everything at once? Or should I be contacting Royal Caribbean in these next few months to reserve times?

 

Some ship excursions sell out prior to boarding and you have a 2 week window whe you cannot book but the ship does hold some small percentage for booking on board. If you really want something book early and you can cancel 24hours prior to the excursion and get your acct credited

 

I guess overall I'm concerned about maximizing this trip yet, at the same time, not spending extra money when it's unnecessary, and possibly avoiding the large amounts of people that (from what I've read on these forums) tend to be on the excursions booked with the cruise line.

 

Kayaking and The St Lucia excursion did not seem crowded at ALL. The Barbados only was crwoded during the turtle swim...and people were pushy and obnoxious which honestly i think jus happened to be the extended family ( over 20) that we had on the excursion

 

So if all you cruise-saavy folks could point me in the right direction, maybe give me a few "must-do" excursion ideas, and the "best-way" to go about booking them (on my own and how - or through the cruiseline and how) I might actually get out of this room I've locked myself in for the last week...researching endlessly!

 

My girlfriend thinks I'm being obsessive! lol - I just want to have a memorable trip...

 

Seriuosly this is THE BEST CRUISE on the BEST SHIP.....you will love it.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

You cannot go wrong with anything you plan. this is a perfect itinerary.ALOT of ports and not alot of ship time but the day at sea is also the BEST becasue of all the islands that you apss along the way.

 

well i thought i could type my answers in between your comments and now that i previewed...grrrr...i cannot, so please look back at your copied post for my interjections. sorry!

[BadBoysDriveAudi]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Mr. Audi, do I risk not being able to book certain excursions by waiting until I board the boat? I imagine I should book things early on...

 

There is always that risk, but generally you should be safe if you chose to wait until you actually boarded the ship and book through the purser's desk or your stateroom television. I'd label the risk of missing out as very small.

 

That being said, there were two things that I missed out on this past cruise. The first was the murder theater dinner, but I didn't find out about that one until the last minute, and by then it was already booked solid. I think there were fifty slots open, so if I wanted to do this, I should've headed to Portifinos as soon as I stepped on the boat. Even then, depending on the time you arrive to the pier, I might not have been able to book it.

 

The only excursion that I missed out on was the underwater scooter adventure. I just tried to look it up in my Royal Caribbean handbook to get the exact name of the tour, but I didn't see it listed. Basically, this tour has been featured on National Geographic and consists of a small group (16 folks) and a guide that actually sit on their individual scooters (think mopeds) and propel underwater to certain reefs, etc. The tour looked like a blast and the stateroom television had a station that explained the tour and showed a group propelling underwater to different sites. It looked like a blast.

 

The reason I missed out on that is because my group waited until the last moment to book the excursions for St. Thomas (2 AM on the night before we arrived in port). Obviously that was entirely our fault; if we made it a point to book excursions earlier in the cruise (perhaps the first day), we might have been able to get in. Again though, it was a very small group and only one tour; I think the tour lasted 4 - 4.5 hours.

 

Just as well though, because we booked the Deep Blue Sea Helmet Dive, which was a small adventure in and of itself. And like I mentioned, we stayed at the local beach (maybe 100 yards from our helmet dive) and had a blast feeding the tropical fish. That's one thing I'll never forget and it shot St. Thomas up to my most favorite port out of the two cruises in which I've participated. I wouldn't worry too much about sharks, because I didn't see any during my snorkling or the Helmet Dive -- even though they informed us that they released two sharks the day before. The tour guide said that this is open water and just as we can go anywhere we want, the sea creatures can go anywhere they want. I think that's the best type of environment to be in. :)

 

One other thing I should mention -- not all excursions are listed on Royal Caribbean's web site or the Adventure Awaits booklet that they send you in the mail (if you request it). One such example is the zipline tour in St. Maarten. It's a fairly new tour and I explicitly informed the tour guides that if they want more business (they kept telling us to tell our friends about our experience), they should make it a point to get listed on Royal's web site and in the adventure booklet. I only found them by browsing the port excursions section on the stateroom's television. So basically, you could do all the homework in the world and book everything you think you want, only to find something offered at the last second while you're on the cruise! :p

 

If you're really interested in booking well in advance, I'd recommend you doing so if you do it through the cruise line. You can always cancel and book another excursion (see rules regarding getting your money back, but I had a friend that booked the zip line tour and then got his money back the day of the tour because he was over the weight limit). You'll probably have a harder time getting your money back if you book directly through the tour operator, but at least you might be able to score the excursion for a cheaper price. Ah, life -- weighing the pros and cons.

 

Have a blast, do your homework and Get Out There! If you have any other questions, just let me know.