Help! Itinerary changed - new islands

[JF4300]

My TA just informed me the 9/24 sailing of the VOS will switch from Western to Eastern route. Had excursions planned for Ocho Rios (Dunns River), Grand Cayman (stingray swim).

 

What will be interesting for 3 boys - 9,11,13 - Can anybody give me some

suggestions for excursions in San Juan, St. Maarten & St. Thomas. These boys are not going to want to shop!

 

Appreciate your ideas.

[SteveK51]

Well if not shopping, beaches in St. Thomas are wonderful!

[dwardlaw]

Help also could any one tell us what time we would be pulling into these ports or where I can get info for the Eastern itinerary

Thanks

[DMorris]

Take a full day or half day sail in St Thomas. Many tour operators that can handle this. One that comes to mind is www.newhorizonsvi.com

 

Have a blast.

[MysticRhythmCruiser]

My TA just informed me the 9/24 sailing of the VOS will switch from Western to Eastern route...

Come join our M&M thread for 9/24 VOS here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=54343&page=1&pp=40

 

As you can imagine we've been discussing this (and our options) at some length and in some detail :)

 

Cheers,

Esther

[39august]

Go to the "Ports of Call" section on these boards and read for each of your ports. There are tons of information on excursions and beaches for each of these.

[Nanatravel]

San Juan on your own or by free trolley: walk all the way up to El Morro. The children will love this renovated fortress. Discovering all of its nooks and cranies. Bring Kites for flying on their hill. Walk downhill and stop into many colonial buildings. Don't miss Pigeon Park at the end of the main Street.

St. Maarten: Take a taxi to Dawn Beach, French St. Martin, and/or to the Butterfly Farm.

St. Thomas: Take an open taxi called a jitney to Maegan's Bay or Coki Beach next to the Aquarium. Bring dog cookie bones to feed the fish and snorkle gear if you have it. It can be rented there too.

Bon Voyage

[gkrebs]

the boys will get an eyeful sometimes at Dawn Beach. If this bothers you avoid it, there are other beaches on the island. I would also recommend renting a car on St. Marteen. Cars are at the pier and the island is very easy to drive around on your own.

[Shanafan]

In St Thomas we have been to Megan's Bay. You can get a taxi quite easily, and agree on a price, and the driver will be back to pick you up.

 

In St Maarten we have gone on the Golden Eagle several times. You take a catamaran to Orient Beach, and can snorkle or just relax in the sun. Our kids really liked it--but beware, they do serve rum punch and beer. ( Could this be the reason we keep going back?) The staff is fun, and the ride home they get the crowd going with the cheesy YMCA song, and others like that.

[sbgrace]

Do your boys like mountain biking? DH did the Water Island bike tour (from St Thomas) a couple years ago and really enjoyed it.

 

Have fun whatever you do!

Chris

[sueb]

I read somewhere on these boards about a bike tour in San Juan...you can easily navigate a lot of territory on a bike. I think they take you through old San Juan and to El Moro etc. We are there in Nov with our 11 and 13 y.o. and might do this. I just hope out of shape Mom (me) is up to it...I guess it is a pretty long bike ride, but, sounds fun and active! If you are interested, I will try and find the info again....it will help both of us out

[jbrewster630]

We just got back from the Voyager when they changed our itinerary from Western to Eastern. We didn't know until the 2nd Day into sailing so there was no real planning time for us for the new islands. They did refund our excursions we had booked and gave us a chance to book new excursions although, they didn't really have much to offer us since it was an unexpected change in the itinerary. We just did a walking tour of Old San Juan which was neat (2 hours). And a bus tour in St. Maartin. Our St. Thomas tour was cancelled becuase of rain. Your boys can always just hang out on the ship if worse comes to worse.

[cmjaffe]

Depending on how long you're in SanJuan you could rent a car and explore the island, ElJunque (sp?) isn't that far away (rainforest) mainly highway driving, where you can hike and explore (they even have park rangers giving hikes) and also Old San Juan has the fort.

St. Thomas ... if you want to be adventurous... take the ferry from Red Hook (I think) and go over to St. Johns to explore or do one of the ship's snorkel excursions... (or look at the St. Thomas area on this site for suggestions on privately run excursions.

I'm sure there are some very nice beaches to explore in St.Martin. Also you can arrange to go horseback riding.. and this CAN be arranged privately,even upon day of arrival. (Know folks who did this w/family 2 years ago while on Summit). You can also arrange for a rental car here and explore for the day (staying away from downtown which is terrible for parking), head toward the french side.

Considering how badly damaged Cayman is I'm sure you'll be glad that you'll be getting several ports instead of several extra sea days. I'm sure you active boys will enjoy this itinerary.

Carolyn

[TheWog]

We did the Atlantis Submarine ride in St. Thomas. It was a lot of fun and took up most of the morning. Your boys would probably like it. 60 - 100 feet underwater seeing sharks, barracuda and all sorts of undersea life.

 

I have also heard good things about the Winifred day sail.

 

St. Maarten, we hung out on the beach and rented jet skis and played in the morning, then shopped in the afternoon. They have regatta race with America's cup yachts, also a dubloon pirate ship excursion which is supposed to be cool. They make the kids walk the plank to jump in the water for snorkeling. You also get a "tatoo".

[Sea Island Lady]

One of two suggestions for St. Thomas. We have been to St. Thomas five times now. Our favorite thing to do is to take a taxi to Red Hook - then ferry over to St. John's - then an open air taxi (this is a thrill in itself!) to Trunk Bay. Take along a box of Cheerio's from the Windjammer - rent some snorkeling equipment and swim out to the reef. They provide life vest, so you do not have to worry about the little guys. Best snorkeling we have ever done in the Caribbean! Trunk Bay is a National park, and it is very well kept. Has a snack bar and a huge bath w/showers...very nice. You can get more information on the Ports board. On the way back to the ship, Mom can stop and shop at Heavensight, while the men go back to the pship's pool.

 

The other suggestion, if you do not want to leave St. Thomas, is to do this tour throughthe ship: Captain Nautica's Power Raft Snorkeling Tour. Tons of fun!:)

[negc]

You don't have to be terribly adventurous to go to St. John when you dock in St. Thomas and IMHO, Cinnamon Bay or Trunk Bay are far nicer than Magen's Bay (although Magen's Bay is still great). However, your boys (and you)might really enjoy the BOB (Breathing Observation Bubble) excursion in St. Thomas (book early if it is offered because it sells out quickly). A great and unique excursion which lets you explore underwater in a different way. We did it in March and thoroughly enjoyed it.

St. Maarten offers a duck tour (you can book it online) that is a lot of fun.

Enjoy your cruise.

[skiiergirl]

Lucky you.....we love the Eastern route and would take it any day over the western route! St. T....Can't really go wrong with anything here. We usually shop/play golf but as others said...kids might enjoy snorkeling or beach...You might consider the Coral World excursion....it is an "aquarium type" attraction and next to it is a beach for snorkeling.

 

St. Martin....Now there I can definitely tell you the boys would really enjoy either the Golden Eagle Catamaran or the America's Cup sailing regatta. If your family is more "athletic"/"adventurous" or want to "actively participate" I would do AC. If you want a more relaxing laid back type excursion I would do GE. On AC, you are on the boat and most of you work hard during the race. You do not get in the water. It is really a lot of fun. We have donethis once and are doing it again this year. Now, for GE....we love this excursion and have done it about 10 times or so and are also doing it during our second week this year. Here you are on a catamaran and sail over to a small island "Tintamar". You have about 1 to 1/2 hours of snorkeling/beaching/sunning. The boys would love the ride if they sit up front on the nets. Normally you get pretty wet up there. They do serve alcoholic beverages but they also serve sodas. There is a chance you might see some nudity on this island. As a previous poster said...I would go over to the ports of call forum and read what is there. I know I have given several opinions on the St. M board and usually find lots of great info on those boards.

[vacationhappy]

In St. Martin just rent a jeep when you get off the ship and cruise around to all the beaches. The kids loved it!

[stretch]

St. Thomas - Turtle Bay Sail & Snorkle

St. Maartin - Golden Eagle

San Juan - Tour of the forts

All these are good.

Stretch

[LogansDad]

We just got back from the Voyager when they changed our itinerary from Western to Eastern. We didn't know until the 2nd Day into sailing so there was no real planning time for us for the new islands. They did refund our excursions we had booked and gave us a chance to book new excursions although, they didn't really have much to offer us since it was an unexpected change in the itinerary.

 

Hi -

 

We booked excursions online for Cayman a while back for our 9/24 VOS. Looks like we wont be going to Cayman so I guess we'll get a refund, too. Did they charge back your credit card or did they give you on board credit for the cancelled excursions?

 

thanks,

jim

[JF4300]

To Logan's Dad - our excursions on GC & Ocho Rios were with private tour operators - no problem to cancel those

 

Our excursion in Grand Bahama was through RCCI and I really don't know yet how they will handle the credit. I read on the boards that they usually just credit your seapass account once on board.

 

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions!