Lil Saints Fan Posted April 10, 2008 #1 Share Posted April 10, 2008 Hey Everyone, I am a new member here and am not sure if I am posting this in the right place? But I was wondering a few questions about the ports the Valor docks at. The first stop is Nassau, Bahamas, then St. Thomas, then St. Maarten. We have cruised with carnival before and found that we prefer to explore the islands without doing carnival booked excursions. Does anyone have any suggestions on activities or places to see while porting at these three locations? Thanks for your help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momofzeke Posted April 11, 2008 #2 Share Posted April 11, 2008 Hi, and welcome to Cruise Critic! :) We just got off the Valor Eastern itinerary 2 weeks ago ~ Valor is a great ship! You're going to love it. Nassau, not a whole lot here, and we were only in this port until 2 pm (so needed to be back onboard by 1:30). We just went to the Pirates of Nassau Museum, which was pretty cheesy but worth a laugh. Looked around a bit and got back on the ship. Lots of taxi drivers waiting to take you out to Atlantis resort or to the beach or tour the island if you wanted that, but we did not. I've heard Atlantis is beautiful but expensive. There is also a Hilton (I believe) not far from the port area that will do a day pass (more info on the Ports of Call section of the boards for Bahamas). St. Thomas, we did a tour with Sunny Liston. Shopping first, then tour the island ending up on Mountaintop for a beautiful view and yummy banana daiquiri. Sunny is fun and lively with lots of music and singing. Then he dropped us on Saphire Beach for a couple of hours, where I snorkeled and we just hung out. Great snorkeling there. Restaurant was very expensive so we just bought snacks at the little store. St. Martin, we just took a taxi to Orient Beach. We rented padded chairs for $5 each from a lady next to the Pirate bar. Down the beach from us was Pedro's, which is right next to the nude part of Orient beach. If you don't want to see topless ladies strolling by you, go further up the beach away from Pedro's and Pirate's ~ towards Bikini beach. Nice beach day. Enjoy the Valor! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Natmar Posted April 11, 2008 #3 Share Posted April 11, 2008 momofzeke: How far of a walk in Nassau is it to get to the Pirates of Nassau Museum?? We were hoping we could just walk there without taking a taxi - our dd who is 11 just adores pirates especially Jack Sparrow of Pirates of the Caribbean so we thought this would be a treat for her to see - and reasonably priced also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lil Saints Fan Posted April 11, 2008 Author #4 Share Posted April 11, 2008 Thanks momofzeke! I greatly appreciate your help....actually your plans in St. Thomas sound right up our alley. I heard that the traffic can get a little heavy in St. Thomas, did you guys catch any problems getting back to the ship? WOW, I didn't realize the stop in the Bahamas was that short! Hopefully we can get some activities done. And I am glad to hear you liked the ship!....I have been on the Conquest three times, so I can't wait to actaully cruise on a different ship! :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momofzeke Posted April 11, 2008 #5 Share Posted April 11, 2008 Natmar, the Pirate Museum is only a few blocks from the ship ~ an easy walk ~ no taxi necessary! Lil Saints, no traffic problems getting back to the ship. We were taken back to the ship as part of our tour with Sunny Liston, but the traffic did not seem bad. The Valor got to Nassau pretty early ~ maybe 7 am, but we did not want to have to get up early to get to an excursion which is why we just did a low-key day in Nassau. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2Ports Posted April 11, 2008 #6 Share Posted April 11, 2008 Did the Valor in January - wonderful ship! Nassau - Pirate museum an easy walk. In fact, everything is an easy walk. Horse drawn carriage ride cheap and way worth the $10. Only problem, I kept thinking of the President the whole time. :p St. Thomas - we went scuba diving - pretty good. Shopped afterwards - excellent. St. Maarten - been there twice. Once we did the Lord Sheffield pirate ship (private excursion) and loved it, second time went diving again. Hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
breanne$5 Posted April 11, 2008 #7 Share Posted April 11, 2008 check out port of call for ideas, we were with momofzeke - had a blast. We went to Cable Beach, you can take jitney bus #10 for $1 each or cab is $5 each. I have a great cabbie, got her name if you want, more like a tour guide, versus cab ride, she was so great. At Cable beach you have the Wyndham & Sheraton, the Sheraton if fantasic, for $15 you can use both beaches, lots of things to do, and gorgeous beaches. Beautiful pools, beach, beach toys, activities. St Thomas we went with Sunny's tour. You are there until 8 p.m. so no problem with traffic, in fact you can do the tour, then you could come back and walk to the skyride if you wanted. Godrey & Sunny both offer a great tour for $25 each! Another thing to do, I wish we had, was a private sail for the day, check port of calls for different options. St. Martin, Orient Beach is beautiful, or you can walk or take the water ferry to downtown Phillipsburg, shop, beautiful beaches. Or take a cab to Maho to watch the planes land, check out you tube, it's amazing watching the planes come in! The Valor is a fantastic ship, one of the nicest (and the are all very nice) crews around! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockwood84 Posted April 11, 2008 #8 Share Posted April 11, 2008 I second the Orient Beach idea. This is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. We got chairs from Pedro's, right at the "dividing line." Some people were nude, some topless, some fully clothed. No big deal, and much less crowded on this side. There's a good walking tour of downtown Nassau that I found on the Nassau board. If takes you to the Queen's Staircase, and the fort at the top of the stairs. (I can't remember the name, sorry, it's late in the day for me.) There are also tons of cab drivers at the end of the pier who will take you to Atlantis, a tour of downtown, etc. In St. Thomas, you can also just get a cab to Megan's Bay, Coki, or Sapphire Beach. There are lots of cabs lined up as you get off the ship. If you want to do a beach other than Megan's, you should go early in the day. We tried to go to Coki last year after our am snorkeling excursion, but the driver wouldn't go until he filled up his 16-person cab. As there were only 2 of us, we bagged that idea. We ended up getting away from the cab line, and found a cab to take us to Mariner Point Beach, which is closer to the port, and - best of all - free. It's not very big, but you can rent jetskis, play in the surf, and sit in the sand. There was a restaurant there, also, but we didn't go in. Have a great trip! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flowerchild Posted April 11, 2008 #9 Share Posted April 11, 2008 Hi! I'll be on this same itinerary on the Valor in August. We'll be traveling with my 9yo daughter (her first cruise) and my mom and sis. Keeping the age differences in mind, I've been doing my research to plan well so that everybody will be happy. I did find out that the Dolphin Encounter and the Swim at Blue Lagoon are the only dolphin related activities that are ship sponsored for this itinerary. There are others that involve traveling to other islands, which would incur much more in costs. All the comments I've heard about this organization are positive and I found the price to be reasonable for that type of experience. I've priced them in the FL Keys and they were much more expensive...The prices in Nassau are $85pp for the Encounter $165 for the Swim...the ship prices are $112 and $189. The ships version takes you directly from the port; in the independant version, you will need to take a taxi (water or otherwise) to the ticket counter, $8/pp/rt. We decided to go through the ship this time taking cancellation policies, short time in port, tendering and debarkation, etc. into consideration. In St. Thomas, we are considering the Butterfly Conservatory at the docking area and are definitely going to Sapphire Beach. We are taking the city bus. We will come back from the beach and shop in the dock area and Philipsberg for liquor and perfume, visit the Butterfly Conservatory again (you see different things at different times, and reentry is free) and then head back for dinner on the ship. In St. Maarten, we are going to Marigot (again, city bus) and visiting the overlook/fort and then taking a taxi to Maho Beach to see the planes and frolic in the water a bit. Before deciding to go with the Dolphin Encounter in Nassau, we were going to visit Fort Fincastle and see the Queen's Staircase and browse the liquor stores and straw market, take a horse drawn carriage ride. We usually do most things in port on our own, but will splurge on something we really want to do. We've always wanted to try something like this and were waiting for our daughter to be old enough to remember it! LOL. Can't wait! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lil Saints Fan Posted April 11, 2008 Author #10 Share Posted April 11, 2008 Thanks Everyone! For all the ideas!!! There is so much to choose from.....what is a girl to do?....:p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.