Advice on Caribbean Itinerary

[SuperTrooper00]

I would love to get some of your feedback as my wife and I decide on an upcoming cruise. We are very much beach people...we like to snorkel, but that is a distant second to laying on a beach with a good book.

We LOVED HMC and St. John's on a former cruise. Didn't enjoy Tortola or Nassau nearly as much.

So, what other islands might you recommend to us that would fit our billing? Thanks for your help.

[fann1sh]

You might want to consider Noordam's 10 day Southern Wayfarer - as well as St. Thomas and HMC, there are stops at St Martin, Barbados and St Lucia, all with great beaches.

[Krazy Kruizers]

I agree -- the southern itineraries are great with so many beach opportunities.

[navybankerteacher]

St. Maarten has the best beach in the hemisphere: Baie Rouge, Antiga (sp?) is circled with good beaches.

[Ballwin Babe]

We'd been to Tortola twice before, and Tortola was on the cruise itinerary from which we disembarked on Friday. Thought I'd share a very pleasant surprise which we discovered on this sailing.

 

For a $6pp cab ride, one can be taken to the north side of Tortola, to Cane Garden Bay. It's quite a scenic trek to the spot with a few great shots of the ship in port.

 

Cane Garden turned out to be one of the highlight days of this cruise for us (an 11 port cruise). Untill we discovered this beach, we thought Tortola was a ho-hum port, with only Sunny Carribee as a place of interest.

 

So, if you find yourself in Tortola, all is not lost! :)

[Willsot]

I agree with the others. Southern is our preference, as long as the itinerary also includes HMC. One of our great beach experiences was a day at Blue Bay Beach in Curacao. Google Blue Bay Beach or Blue Bay Village Curacao for photos.

[SuperTrooper00]

Thank you for the replies. We have two young children who will be staying at home, so we are trying to keep the cruise to 7 nights (bummer), which limits our choices. Right now, it seems we are deciding between an itinerary of HMC, Aruba, Curacao....and HMC, St. Thomas, San Juan, and Grand Turk. Both seem to have nice beaches. The former is a "sexier" pick, but we have not been there so we were not sure. There are a couple of good options on other cruise lines that are 7 days to the Southern Caribbean, and/or include St. Marteen...so we will keep looking.

Any other favorite beach islands?

[gizmo]

I would go for HMC, Aruba and Curacao. Aruba and Curacao both have great beaches.

[topcop]

St. Marten's Orient Beach is great, but it is European style (topless) for some.

 

Turks & Caicos has a great cruise port with a fine beach. Just get off the ship and the beach is there. They also have a huge pool. No need for a side trip on this island if you just want the beach.

 

And of course Half Moon Cay (HAL's private island) is fantastic.

[cruiseapril]

Hi- We are beach people too and have just done the Westerdam southern to HMCay, Aruba, & Curacao which is a fun itinerary. We went to Palm Beach in Aruba (walked through the Radisson to their restaurant by the beach.)

 

We spent the day at Blue Bay Beach Resort in Curacao. Good swimming, good amenities.

 

We've been on the other itinerary also- but prefer the Dutch islands.

[Kabana]

If you do end up in Tortola take the ferry to Virgin Gorda and go to the world famous Baths

 

[djhsolara]

We'd been to Tortola twice before, and Tortola was on the cruise itinerary from which we disembarked on Friday. Thought I'd share a very pleasant surprise which we discovered on this sailing.

 

For a $6pp cab ride, one can be taken to the north side of Tortola, to Cane Garden Bay. It's quite a scenic trek to the spot with a few great shots of the ship in port.

 

Cane Garden turned out to be one of the highlight days of this cruise for us (an 11 port cruise). Untill we discovered this beach, we thought Tortola was a ho-hum port, with only Sunny Carribee as a place of interest.

 

So, if you find yourself in Tortola, all is not lost! :)

 

 

Funny you posted this...we had the same experience.

 

On our first sailing that went to Tortola, we only went as far as we could walk...and were pretty much not impressed at all and were back on the ship within probably about an hour. When we went back last year, we did the island tour excursion...and discovered that Tortola is truly a beautiful island. This is not some place where you should just stay by the dock...you need to go beyond. I would highly recommend the island tour...it gave us a stop at Cane Garden Bay as well...for probably about 45 minutes or so.