NCL ship excursions: Eastern Caribbean

[FM63]

Hi,

 

we will start our Eastern Caribbean tour with NCL Dawn in April 09. I`m actually planning the excursions. We will have stops in Samana, St. Thomas, Tortula and Great Stirrup Cay.

 

For Samana I plan the "Caves & Mangroves Exploration & Beach Escape" or "Devil's Mouth & Playa Ricon". I read at Playa Rincon there is no time to swim. Can anybody confirm this ? Any other proposals ?

 

What is the best excursion in St. Thomas ?

 

I think in Tortula the "Virgin Gorda Highlights" are a good idea.

 

Any comments are highly welcome.

Best regards

Frank

 

 

 

 

[JerseyGem]

I noticed that this is your first post- Welcome! I suggest that you look at the forums for each port plus post on your Roll Call. As for your choices, all sound fine. If you are new to cruising, going with the ship's excursions can be less "anxious" that "doing your own thing" (you'll hear many negatives here about ship's excursions, but at least you know you'll be taken care of! LOL).

 

It's been a while since we were on the Dawn, but on other NCL ships, you will have the opportunity to sign up for shore excursions on board, so don't feel that you have to decide right now. Most excursions take many people, although if you're looking at something specialized (like horseback riding or scuba) (that can only take a limited number of people) you may want to book before you board.

 

As for the "best" in St Thomas- what do you like to do?? Do you just want to lay on a beautiful beach? see the island? shop? Doing "your own thing" is easier in St Thomas (it's part of the USA LOL) than in your other ports. There will be taxis at the end of the strip shopping plaza. You may find someone on the Roll Call to team up with for excursions.

 

Have fun planning your trip!

[sharonax3]

We did the same itinerary a year ago in January. The weather was absolutely perfect.

 

In Samana we did the self drive 4 x 4 jeep tour. It was actually the best of all 4 stops. We saw much of the countryside, stopped at a waterfall and had beach time. It was beautiful.

 

In Tortola, we did the Baths. I was worried about this excursion, thought it would not be something we would be interested in, but everyone said to go. Glad we did.It was great fun, and once you get past climbing thru all the rocks, it was paradise. Had a great time.

 

St Thomas we chose to kayak. I had never done this before and am so glad we did this.

Still had a lot of time afterwards, so we just shopped and looked around.

 

Normally I plan my own excursions, but this time I was rushed, so we did everything thru NCL. Everything worked out great, except we paid a lot more.

 

Whatever you decide to do, I am sure you will have a wonderful time.

[Name Of The Game]

We're taking this same itinerary. Does anyone have a list of excursion prices they could post?

[flashdog_1]

Read reviews of Dawn written by other CCs to see what they did. AT the top of this page on the far right you'll see the word "reviews." Click that, and on the next page put in Norwegian Dawn. Then choose Member Reviews (have to scroll down a little) and then read.

 

Yes, I've read on the Dominican Republic ports of call board that the Devil's Mouth & Playa Rincon does not give you much time to swim. You'll have been in the van for ages, and may be hungry, so getting a freshly caught fish grilled there on the beach may be your activity. But you got there by land.

 

Another option for getting to Playa Rincon is by land and sea for $26 per person if you have 10 (find them on your Dawn Roll Call board). Breaking it down, the taxi/van is $100 and the boat is $160. It is through Casa Dorado, a bed and breakfast in Las Galeras (check them out on trip advisor). The town of Las Galeras is a straight shot from Samana north to the coast.

 

They have a web page where you can see their activities besides just the beach get away. For an additional fee you can scuba, whale watch, fish etc. Catherine DeLaura, an American married to a Dominican who lived in the states for 20 years, is your contact person for the only English speaking ferry from Las Galeras to Playa Rincon via speed boat. She arranges the van/taxi to pick you up at the port and take you by land thru several villages, lush vegetation, by a marble mine, and on fairly good road. The last part of the road is high and winding with photo ops of the Samana Bay and the beach. casadoradodr.com is the website. You just pay Catherine and therefore have no haggling with taxi drivers at the pier since it's all arranged ahead of time.

 

She says you can customize the trip, as well. For about an extra dollar per person the van will take you to Devil's Mouth. If you want to donate school supplies, bring them with you and Catherine will meet the van at the school (or if you don't want to do that but do want to donate, just give them to her and she'll do it later. She was a principal in NY for 20 years. She says they try to discourage begging and this is a good alternative where you can still help the children). You can also arrange for a little time in Las Galeras to shop for rum, vanilla, cigars, coffee. Just don't expect to use your credit card!

 

I have read reviews of this trip on cruise critic and it is raved about. I am going in January. There are restaurants, chairs, iced drinks and food cooked right there, and kind of primitive bathroom facilities. Close by massages are available for $25 for a half hour, horse back riding and possibly other activities I'm not yet aware of.

 

If you decide to do the Caves and Mangroves and want a beach, take the add on $10 one where they take you to Cayo Levantado as well and you'll have about 2 hours there.

 

If you have already been to St Thomas, I'd recommend going to St John because it is spectacular. Around every curve in the road is a vista of what you think is the most beautiful beach you've ever seen (until the next curve). If it's your first trip to St Thomas and you want to do something besides catch some rays at a beach, take a tour that takes you up to Mountain Top or Drake's Seat so you can get a feeling for what Columbus saw when he arrived there in 1494? and understand why he called what he saw the Virgin Islands. And note that the downtown stores used to be warehouses for pirates. There is an outdoor vegetable market which was originally a slave market (shudder) if you want to see some history. The oldest Synagogue in the Western Hemisphere is also on St Thomas, just up the hill from Government House.

 

Same goes for Tortola. Take a tour that gets you up high so you can see that same spectacle from a different angle. Or there are beautiful beaches there, and there's always a trip to Virgin Gorda and the baths.

 

Planning is almost as much fun as going!

[14ersco]

We're taking this same itinerary. Does anyone have a list of excursion prices they could post?

 

Go to the NCL web site and set up an account. Then you can log into your cruise. This will bring you to a page of your reservations. From their you can do on-line check-in, make payments, get your e-docs, and book shore excursions. Under shore excursions you can see prices without booking.

[Name Of The Game]

We booked on the 23rd and travel agent has yet to send us confirmation. After we get it we'll try what you suggested.

[14ersco]

No prices listed, but NCL does have PDF file descriptions of the tours they offer at:

http://www.ncl.com/nclweb/staticPage.html?pageId=ShorexPDFs

[Name Of The Game]

Thanks but that doesn't show our itinerary. We're going to GSC, Samana, St. Thomas & Tortola in October.

 

I find it odd that the Pearl is Norwegian's only ship with a 7 night eastern route in October. Or is that not uncommon?

[garycarla]

re: Original Poster > for sure visit the Roll Call boards and the Ports of Call Boards. See notes in link below.

 

As to the comment about only one ship doing that route - not strange at all.