Excursions in Caribs

[Zigge]

Me and my wife are going on the Mariner, March 4 Caribbean cruise, this will be our first cruise with regent and we are very excited and looking forward to this.

We are looking at different shore excursions during this cruise but there are so many things to do.:D

 

The only thing we have decided so far is that we will plan for renting a harley in St. Maarten and rent a car in St. Barts, but the rest of the ports??

We would really appreciate if there is anyone that can give us some input about St Thomas, Tortola and Grand Turk.

 

Thanks

Peter

[annierie]

We rented the car in St. Barth's. It's usually a very small jeep like vehicle and a lot of fun. By the way, the hills are unbelievable and the car is a manual transmission. Thankfully, we had experience with stick shifts and hills.

 

In St Thomas and Tortola, we did the catamaran snorkeling tours. We loved getting away from the crowds in St Thomas, and also loved the new destination from Tortola. Both days were lovely.

 

Haven't been to Turks so can't help you there.

 

Enjoy your trip. We loved ours last year, but we went to Princess Cays instead of Turks.

[DebbieH103]

We did a snorkel around the Tortola area on one of our cruises but surprisingly didn't see much that we couldn't have lived without, and there were thousands and thousands of jellyfish. I imagine it was just that it was April.

 

Another thing you can do is take the ferry over to Virgin Gorda and go to The Baths. They are just beautful.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

We were in Grand Turk on Navigator last year, but didn't get to see the island much because we did a snorkelling excursion. The stop was impromptu, so the excursions were scanty and (in our case) not great, hopefully they will do better when it's scheduled and they can vet the operators. The port itself has a Margaritaville, with huge swimming pool, bars and shops. There's a nice sand beach right there as well. I think the island itself is fairly undeveloped, but looks like a nice laid back place. As I said our snorkelling excursion was kind of disappointing, no coral, not many fish, not very helpful crew--hopefully they have found a better operator for that excursion.

[hvsteve1]

We were in St Thomas on Navigator last year. We booked the Atlantis submarine tour http://www.atlantisadventures.com/stthomas.cfm as it looked like the one thing we wanted to do. Unfortunately, the rough seas caused them to cancel. We plan on booking the March 4 Mariner cruise (maybe we'll see you there) and are going to try again. It is not something you can book through Regent. Also, keep in mind it is located near the main ship docks and Regent tends to use the newer port some distance away, so you have to get debark right away and grab a taxi to that location as traffic on the island was tough.

[AtA]

You might want to reconsider St Marten. We did the America's cup sailing race and it was a blast and not to be missed.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

We did the catamaran snorkel trip to Honeymoon Bay in St. Thomas. It was great. A bit of a drive, but it was nice to see the island.

 

BTW, we docked right downtown, so I guess that's the older dock.

[Zigge]

All, thank you for your input, it is much appreciated.

We are looking at the catamaran tour to honeymoon beach or the ocean racing challenge at St Thomas. At Turks we are thinking about the personal aqua boat or the dune buggy.

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

We did the dune buggy tour of Grand Turk last March. While an interesting way to get a quick overview of the island, it was pretty tame. Not as "adventurous" as it sounds. Worthwhile though, and made for some great photo ops.

 

Our favorite, by far, was the ATV "tour" out of Samana in the Dominican Republic. This was OUT THERE! Racing through the jungles in the mountains, along river banks, fording deep streams, racing on a deserted beach - all with no helmets...

 

Plus on the way to the wild areas you get to see how the local folk live. Lots of little smiling kids running out and waving as you blast by on the dirt roads.

 

This is the one tour where you knew you "were not in Kansas anymore".