AOS Barbados Route- Excursions

[tuliplvr]

Hi- I am going on AOS in May on the Barbados Route- Antigua, Barbados, St. Marten, St Croix, and St. Lucia. I'd love to hear what excursions people did. good and bad. Thanks so much in advance.

[Aprille]

You might want to check out the Ports of Call boards for each of your ports. There is a wealth of information there.

 

The only one of these ports we've done is St Maarten and we used Joyce Prince Personal Tours which I found out about on the St Maarten board here on CC. She was fabulous. We toured the entire island. We got to see several big planes land at Mahu Beach and that was pretty much the highlight of the day for us as it was something we really wanted to do. But the tour can be customized to suit your needs.

[AZ ParrotHead]

This is a fantastic cruise:

 

Here's what we did:

 

Barbados: Silver Moon Catamaran. An AMAZING day. Don't miss this excursion. We swam with sea turtles, snorkeled, had a gourmet lunch and sailed around the island. One of the best excursions we have ever done.

 

St Lucia: We should have done something a little more organized here. We did a cab tour and it was incomplete. I suggest looking at the St Lucia boards. The beauty of this island is indescribable.

 

Antigua--We rented scooters from the dock and tooled around the whole island. Head out to Nelson's dockyard to meet up with "real sailors" for lunch. Also stopped at Darkwood beach which was beautiful. This are 365 beaches on Antigua so finding a quiet one is easy!

 

St Maarten--First time there, we took a cab to the french side and went to Anguilla. Anguilla is amazing! The most beautiful beaches I've ever seen. Quiet and much different than St Maarten. The Second time, we rented a car and drove around the island. Visited Maho beach to see the planes land, got lunch from a real french baker in Marigot, stopped at Orient beach, and found a beautiful, crystal blue cove to swim in on the dutch side.

 

St. Croix-Never been there. When we did this route, AOS was stopping at St. Thomas.

[butterfly2]

Did this trip on AOS. It was the BEST cruise we have ever done.

Look on the Ports Of Call Boards and you will see that the 2 excursions

I did were very highly rated. Just do a search.

 

Barbados: Silver Moon

St. Lucia: Cosols Tour

 

I would definately recommend both of these to you. Both of these excursions need to be privately booked and are not offered by the cruise ship.

 

In St. Maarten we just took a cab to Orient Beach.

There are many beautiful beaches in Antigua, take your pick.

In St Croix when I was there many years ago, the locals put on a big "Carnival" type party at night right on the pier. It was really fun!

 

This is a GREAT trip enjoy!

[wrp96]

Here are some of my favorite excursions:

 

Antigua - Eli's Eco Tour www.adventureantigua.com A great day of doing as much or as little as you want while you cruise along Antigua's coastline. We stopped at Bird Island where you had the opportunity to climb to the top for fantastic views, or stay on the beach and swim or just relax. Then we went to Hells Gate which is a formation on the edge of the reef that we were given the opportunity to swim out to and climb all over. Then we had the opportunity to snorkel. They provided a nice lunch as well.

 

St. Lucia - Cosol www.cosol-tour.com Basically a best of St. Lucia tour with several different stops. Be aware that the roads in St. Lucia are very twisty so take your motion sick pills if you are prone to it.

 

Barbados - Silvermoon www.oceanadventure.bb Swimming with the sea turtles and snorkeling, all from a nice catamaran. They limit the numbers onboard so you aren't overcrowded and they provide a nice lunch and unlimited drinks.

[Dall]

Ditto for Silvermoon in Barbados.

[BILL-WI]

Here are some of my favorite excursions:

 

Antigua - Eli's Eco Tour www.adventureantigua.com A great day of doing as much or as little as you want while you cruise along Antigua's coastline. We stopped at Bird Island where you had the opportunity to climb to the top for fantastic views, or stay on the beach and swim or just relax. Then we went to Hells Gate which is a formation on the edge of the reef that we were given the opportunity to swim out to and climb all over. Then we had the opportunity to snorkel. They provided a nice lunch as well.

 

St. Lucia - Cosol www.cosol-tour.com Basically a best of St. Lucia tour with several different stops. Be aware that the roads in St. Lucia are very twisty so take your motion sick pills if you are prone to it.

 

Barbados - Silvermoon www.oceanadventure.bb Swimming with the sea turtles and snorkeling, all from a nice catamaran. They limit the numbers onboard so you aren't overcrowded and they provide a nice lunch and unlimited drinks.

 

Ditto, ditto, ditto...

 

Just did all three of these in January and would do them all again in a second! You can not go wrong with any, or all of the these tours!

 

If you wish to see video of each of these tours, I have a cruise video posted in the video section of CC!

 

BILL

[sandytoes03]

Barbados--Horseback riding--of our of our best excursions ever.

 

St. Lucia--Bike and hike tour. Skip it. I would head to the beach if I went back.

 

Antigua--Catamaran sail and snorkle. Lovely. Beautiful beach, nice lunch. Again, one of our best excursions.

 

We did a slightly different route than you b/c we went to St. Thomas and St. Maarten. I have to say though, Southern Caribbean and AOS=our favorite cruise!

[tuliplvr]

Thank you all for your replies!

[stepbuerger]

Hi!

 

We are going to sail the same route in June and we booked

 

... in Barbados no excursion because we want to discover it by own

... in St. Lucia the rainforest mountainbike tour

... in Antigua the scenic Antigua and beach tour

... in St. Maarten the St. Maarten beach rendevous at Orient Beach

... in St. Croix the Ay Ay eco hike tour

 

Has anyone some expericene in these tours?

 

Katja & Stephan

[karena1]

Hi!

 

We are going to sail the same route in June and we booked

 

... in Barbados no excursion because we want to discover it by own

... in St. Lucia the rainforest mountainbike tour

... in Antigua the scenic Antigua and beach tour

... in St. Maarten the St. Maarten beach rendevous at Orient Beach

... in St. Croix the Ay Ay eco hike tour

 

Has anyone some expericene in these tours?

 

Katja & Stephan

 

JMHO - you do not need to pay for an excursion to Orient Beach. When you get off the ship, there will be cabs all over the place. Grab one and have them take you to Orient. There are a ton of bar/restaurants there (we like to get dropped off at Bikini Beach Bar), lots of little shops. YOu can rent waverunners, parasail, or do nothing at all. Much less than an excursion and then you are on your time. Cabs run back and forth all day long or you can arrange for your cab to pick you up. If all you want is just a day at the beach, that is for sure one day to just do your own thing and enjoy the day out there. Orient is absolutely a fabulous beach, we love going there.

 

Babados - good thought. There are a ton of things to see there. Ask your cabbie to take you to the old churches, Signal Hill, The Crane - view is awesome, so many other places. Should be a fun day of sightseeing for you.

[julesbeara]

Barbados - Silvermoon Catamaran or Mount Gay Rum Tour

Antigua - Brig Unicorn Pirate Ship, Catamaran/Snorkeling

St. Lucia - Island/Volcanic Beds & Catamaran Tour

St Maarten - Beach Day at Divi Little Bay

[Kaboochi]

If you want great options for Barbados check out the thread

"Carnival Victory 11-2 / 11-9 Review", which is posted under Carnival Cruises. There is a poster on that thread "aplmac" who lives on the island and has great ideas and BEAUTIFUL pics of the island. Even if readers here don't go to Barbados, you MUST go to that thread to see the pictures, they are AMAZING. He highly recommends Rockley beach. Check out that thread,, I think you will be happy that you did. Let me know what you thought about the thread. Kaboochi

[stepbuerger]

Hi Kaboochi!

 

We just made a quick view over the pictures and we totally agree with your opinion...

 

They are AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :eek:

 

Many thanks towards aplmac.

 

Our thoughts go in direction morning sightseeing in Bridgetown and a beach in the afternoon. The problem is now to choose on of this great beaches.

We think that we have to decide between Rockley Beach, Paradise Beach or Carlisle Bay.

 

Which one would be your option?

 

Katja & Stephan