Adventure of the Seas S. Carib excursions

[lephysteria]

Hi Everyone,

 

We got an email saying that we can book our shore excursions for our AOS 4/3/05 cruise, but I think its a tad too early to reserve them, especially because we aren't sure what's been done by other CC members.

 

Has anyone heard anything that is a must do in any of our ports? We are visiting Aruba, Curacao, St. maarten, St. thomas, and San juan. It would be neat to find out what most would do again if they could return. I've been to St. Thomas, and did some great gemstone shopping there.

 

We like to do beach excursions, but would prefer not to snorkel or dive. We also like to do tours, sightseeing, or any other activities like this.

 

Thanks in advance!

[nerak]

Hi!

 

We did that cruise a year ago in March. Let's see...St. Thomas we went to St John and LOVED it. St Martin we just shopped and laid out on the beach near the pier. Curacao and Aruba we rented cars. We had been to Aruba for a week before, but went to the Natural Bridge, California Dunes, National Park, and beach for swimming. In Curacao we drove all over....got to see much of the "true" island and lifestyle. We stopped at a national park and had a great time (I can get you the name of it...it was only $5 for 3 of us to get in. There was another national park close to it, but they were not very helpful and wanted $30pp to go in, so we skipped it). We also went swimming at a cove that we basically had to ourselves. There was a dive shop there and a group did head out while we swam. Then back to town to do some shopping across the floating bridge. San Juan we stayed the night before our cruise and went to Old San Juan and played on the beach. These are awesome stops....especially Aruba and Curacao. BTW...not offered on the ship, but it is on the internet is a snorkling tour in Aruba. It is called the Octopus. We did it many years ago and our son did it last year. Very inexpensive catamaran trip and fantastic service. JMO

[OCruisers]

lephysteria .... On our upcoming cruise stop in Curacao we will probably do it OnOurOwn and spending our time at this beach :

 

KonTiki Beach Club (click for cruisers' reviews/questions)

 

Have FUN planning! Happy Sailing! OCruisers :)

[rascalious]

We have done this same cruise twice in the last two years.

Aruba 2003: 4x4 Off Road Adventure and snorkel at Depalm Island. Booked through RCI ($95 per person). It is about 7 hours long. If you drive, you can not drink alcohol, so plan accordingly. It was fun, but I would not do it again. Very dusty and few potty breaks while on the jeep tour.

Aruba 2004: Went on our own to the Allegro Hotel. $45 per person Day Pass - gets you run of the facilities - beach chairs, unbrella, floats, swimming pool access, unlimited beverages, lunch and a room to shower and change.

Booked Kukoo Kunukuu Party Bus dinner and Bar Crawl - VERY FUN!!! (about $69 per person)

 

Curacao 2003: Booked the Beach Break through RCI ($38 per person ???)

Curacao 2004: Just walked to town and shopped.

 

St. Martin 2003: Booked Orient Beach (nudity/topless) through RCI (cost ???)

St. Martin 2004: Shopped and bought wife Tanzanite ring. Bought me a new DVD digital camcorder. Then to beach near pier (Phillipsburg). Just relaxed on the beach and drank many beers.

 

St. Thomas 2003: Magens's (sp) Bay - booked through RCI

St. Thomas 2004: Cleared immigration at about 8:00 AM, then taxi to Red Hook Ferry ($18 for the two of us). Ferry to St. John Trunk Bay ($3/person).

Paid entry fee to Trunk Bay ($3 each???). First ones on the beach - very beautiful. Snorkeled, ate lunch, drank beer, then 2:00PM ferry back to Charlotte Amalie (pier) - about $7 each ???.

 

We also stayed in San Juan one night pre and post cruise, both years. We stayed at the Caribe Hilton in 2003 and the Wyndham Condado in Sept. 2004

We just went to the Old San Juan District both years.

Hope this gives you some ideas.

[Lynndpi]

We sailed on the Adventure last year. We didn't go to Aruba or Curacao though. We had a blast on the Rhinorider boats in St. Maarten. You may not like the snorkel portion of the trip though. The BOB tour on St. Thomas is okay. Unfortunately we were not the first group to go out and the water was pretty murky when it was our turn. If anyone goes to Antigua or St. Lucia (I think it is Antigua) I do not recommend the bike ride in the rainforest. It was unbelievably hot and humid (duh-rainforest-I know). It was boring and not as pretty as I thought it would be. The kayak trip to the sea turtles in Barbados was amazing! Nothing like coming home with up close and personal turtla pics! Kids loved the stingray outing in St. Lucia (I think that's where we were). Those critters kinda creap me out though. Hope this helps, if not on this cruise maybe in the future.

 

Lynndpi

[elaineb]

If you have already paid in full, you can sign up for ship excursions now. If you are booking non ship tours, it is not too early. Seeing that you are beach people, I'd definitely recommend a cab to Bikini Beach on Orient Beach. It's a section right in the middle - chair & umbrella will be about $12 for the day. You can also rent any watersports there, or just lay back and relax. This is a nude beach, however, looking at the water to the far right is a nudist resort. But they stay to themselves and you shouldn't be bothered. The rest of the beach is partial nudity, but we didn't see any on our last trip. The beach is really our favorite.

I also vote for Trunk Bay on St. John's. Here is the schedule for the ferry Virgin Islands Ferry Schedule I would recommend take a taxi to Red Hook and take an early ferry. When you get to St. John's, take a taxi to Trunk Bay and arrange a departure time for your driver to come and get you. Then once back to the ferry, take it to Charlotte Amalie (instead of Red Hook) and do a little shopping before you get back to the ship. The taxi from C.A. back to the ship is only about $3pp.

Enjoy your trip!

[pltag]

If you have already paid in full, you can sign up for ship excursions now.

I don't think full payment has anything to do with whether you can book RCI excursions. Once you have a booking number (which we recieved with our first deposit), and more importantly when the excursions are made available on the website......then you can book.

 

Kukoo Kunuku (Let's see who can spell that by the end of the night :D :D), looks like a must do for my group!

 

Have a Great Cruise! :) :)