What are your recommended excursions for St. Croix??

[ken_nyc]

I have been to the St. Croix thread and have not much info there :eek: ...I would deeply appreciate any suggestions for our August cruise on the AOS. Thank you in advance for your help!! :)

[cb at sea]

Can't help you with excursion recommendations, but I would recommend that you visit your local library and get a guidebook on St. Croix (and other Caribbean ports)...you will find TONS of info in the guidebooks, and at the library, it's FREE!!!! That way, you'll know about the island, what's available, and you can compare your knowledge to the excursion list on your cruiseline. There will be independant tour operators listed in the book! RESEARCH!!!!!

[mex25]

We booked Big Beards snorkling -the all dayer- they remind me a lot of Triology a fantistic company we used on maui in 07 and again in 08:cool:

The excursion is out to Buck Island -were really looking foward to this to finish off our cruise on Adventure next month:D

[CrusinAgain]

I don't think you will find much on the boards because the cruise ships have just recently started to return there. We went there on our 1998 cruise and it was an extremely small town back then and had their water shipped in from St. Thomas I believe. They were rebuilding due to a hurricane. It was that big one that hit southern Florida. Those that took excursions back then went to St. Thomas on a ferry. I would probably check on tripadvisor and take it from there. I know when I signed up on the board I asked what happened to St. Croix and people here told me the ships stopped going there quite some time ago due to crime. When we went we felt really safe and the people were very nice. The ship even stayed 6 hours past time since the island invited the ship to a town carnival. It was really fun. Enjoy and hope you find something.

[onesphinx2004]

I have been to the St. Croix thread and have not much info there :eek: ...I would deeply appreciate any suggestions for our August cruise on the AOS. Thank you in advance for your help!! :)

 

 

We just returned from AOS cruise. St. Croix, being our last port, we were a little tired. We walked into port and enjoyed the shops, a steel band playing continual music, and a cold beer or two.

[ken_nyc]

I appreciate all of your suggestions! :)

[ricks2047]

Went to St. Croix on our first cruise about 15 years ago, so info is dated. We did a whole island tour that took us to both big towns, a few beaches, a plantation and the Cruzan rum factory tour. It was a really nice day and we saw the whole island. There was just enough time in each town to get a really good feel for each place. The rum factory tour was an eye-opener. We are not drinkers but if you were and you saw the conditions that stuff was handled in, you wouldn't be a drinker for long. It was the kind of tour that lets you see just what you would like to do if you were to come back to the island and stay for a week. I don't remember what other type of excursions were being advertised at the time, but this was a nice one.

[thompson4131]

We're going on the Aug. 2 AOS cruise and we booked the Carambola Beach Break through RCL. Figured this is the last full day of the cruise so we just want to relax by the beach and work on our "take home" tan.

[kbertsch]

We just got back from the AOS southern caribbean cruise. Our last stop was St. Croix and we went to Buck Island on the snorkeling tour. It was fantastic! We would do it again in a heartbeat. If you hang around the port area there is not much to do or see. The capital is on the other side of the island where we took the boat out to Buck Island. Very recommended.

[Smileeface]

Hi KBertsch! I was just looking at that Buck Island Snorkel excursion on RCCL. How long did you get to snorkel and did you get to go on the beach there at Buck Island? Also, it doesn't mention that lunch is included, so do you have time to get something to eat or do they sell anything on the boat? Any more details on the bus ride and the snorkel part would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

[Smileeface]

We booked Big Beards snorkling -the all dayer- they remind me a lot of Triology a fantistic company we used on maui in 07 and again in 08:cool:

The excursion is out to Buck Island -were really looking foward to this to finish off our cruise on Adventure next month:D

 

 

 

Hi mex25. I looked at the Big Beard website and the full day sounds wonderful. My only concern is that our AOS trip in July says we're in St. Croix from 7am departing 5:30pm. Big Beards excursion is 9:30am to 3:30pm but that's starting and stopping in Cristiansted. I'm worried about getting there and back on time, from and back to Fredericksted. How are you handling transportation, and do you know how much that will be yet?We will be there on a Saturday, so I wonder how much traffic there is and how long the drive. Thanks!

[Drico]

 

We just returned from AOS cruise. St. Croix, being our last port, we were a little tired. We walked into port and enjoyed the shops, a steel band playing continual music, and a cold beer or two.

 

 

 

LOL! Well that was a lot of help!

[Ms Belvedere]

Hi mex25. I looked at the Big Beard website and the full day sounds wonderful. My only concern is that our AOS trip in July says we're in St. Croix from 7am departing 5:30pm. Big Beards excursion is 9:30am to 3:30pm but that's starting and stopping in Cristiansted. I'm worried about getting there and back on time, from and back to Fredericksted. How are you handling transportation, and do you know how much that will be yet?We will be there on a Saturday, so I wonder how much traffic there is and how long the drive. Thanks!

It's about 40-50 minute drive between Christiansted and Frederickstead. It's been many years since we've been to St. Croix, but in 1987 we honeymooned there for a week and took the Big Beard's snorkeling trip to Buck's Island. His son was running the business the last time we were there in the 90s on a cruise. We docked in Fredericksted and taxied to Christiansted, my best (conservative) guesstimate would be about an hour to get back to the ship.

 

St. Croux is so beautiful but seems to always get hit by the storms. It's shadowed by St. Thomas and there have been problems with crime but we always thought the people were wonderful, kind and good when we were there.

Ms B

[ken_nyc]

Any other suggestions would be very much appreciated!

[retnuh281]

Any other suggestions would be very much appreciated!

It's been two years, but my family vacationed there for a week and we loved it. I highly recommend Buck Island if you enjoy snorkling. All the beaches there are public and most are virtually uninhabited, except for the resorts.

I had a rental car and we would just drive around and look for worn spots on the side of the road where you could tell others had parked, pull over and enjoy the beach. My DD and I would snorkle right from the beach, any beach! It was awesome. Driving is on the left hand side but it is VERY easy and very little traffic. If you wanna get away and explore without tons of tourists, then rent a car.

If not, the resorts are nice and have all the amenities. Buck Island is really great, if you have seen the Shawshank Redemption, the last scene when they were on the beach.....that is Buck Island. It's a National Park and the snorkleing is phenomenal. There is a sting ray that hangs around and swims with the group around the beach too. Great pics!!

Make sure to buy Cruzan rum, you can get it in any store and it's dirt cheap and very tasty. You can also visit the most easterly point in the United States, it's up on a mountain with INCREDIBLE views. I could go on and on, you will have a blast.

Did that sound like a rep from the St. Croix tourism board?

[ken_nyc]

Thank you retnuh281 for the info, will definitely consider.

[explorer2000]

............. All the beaches there are public and most are virtually uninhabited, except for the resorts.

............

 

huh?

Edited May 21, 2009 by explorer2000

[retnuh281]

huh?

 

Follow closely................

You can drive around and find beaches all over the island where there are no other people, meaning seclusion. That means you can have the beach to yourself all day. Now obviously, if you visit a resort there will be other people at the beach, and you will NOT be alone. You have choices.

Personally I prefer walking down to a secluded beach, some others like to have all the amenities a resort offers.

Is that better?

[kbertsch]

Hi KBertsch! I was just looking at that Buck Island Snorkel excursion on RCCL. How long did you get to snorkel and did you get to go on the beach there at Buck Island? Also, it doesn't mention that lunch is included, so do you have time to get something to eat or do they sell anything on the boat? Any more details on the bus ride and the snorkel part would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

We booked the 1/2 day excursion to Buck Island through Royal Caribbean. We were going to go independent but sense you have to go to the other side of the island, we didn't want to mess around with getting our own transportation. Besides, booking through RCCL will not cost you much more and for those of you who are worried about getting back to the ship on time you don't have to worry because the ship will not leave you. They picked us up right on the dock and drove the 40 min across the island to Christiansted where the other harbor is. There really is not much to see in the interior like you can on St. Lucia or Barbados. When we got to Christiansted, we boarded the boat and took another 40 min ride to get out to Buck Island. Buck Island is not your typical tropical paradise island. It acually has no trees to speak of and has a lot of cactus. Almost looks like a desert. The reef though is unbelievable. You will see coral formations that you will not see in too many places. Since it takes so long to get there and out to the island, we only had about an hour and a half to snorkel. Even after an hour we were all pretty tired. If you take the full day excursion you will obviously have more time and I think they have a cookout on one side of the island. Christiansted looks like a cool town and we wish we could have spent some time there. Fredricksted is not really much to speak of. Just a few shops around the pier. If you want to know about any of the other islands just feel free to ask while it is still not even a week old in my mind. Barbodos, St. Lucia, Antigua, St. Martin, and St. I hope this helps.

[Rupert_S]

I, too, can recommend Buck Island. Sadly, my last cruise was in 2000, but have recently been getting the "itch" to go again. As others have said, it is about a 40-50 minute drive to Christiansted, where you get on a boat for another 40 minutes or so to Buck Island. My 8 year old son and I went. I have a phobia of fish (sad, I know!) but he really wanted to go snorkeling, so I did this for him. I have to say that although the water was a little choppy that day, it was an amazing experience. The guide was really good with my son and made sure he was safe. We did get to see a turtle so that was cool.

 

The only problem I had was since St Croix was our first port of call, I overindulged at our first breakfast, especially on the wonderful fresh fruit. Thankfully, the bus to Christiansted was running a little late. I say no more! :)

[Smileeface]

We booked the 1/2 day excursion to Buck Island through Royal Caribbean. We were going to go independent but sense you have to go to the other side of the island, we didn't want to mess around with getting our own transportation. Besides, booking through RCCL will not cost you much more and for those of you who are worried about getting back to the ship on time you don't have to worry because the ship will not leave you. They picked us up right on the dock and drove the 40 min across the island to Christiansted where the other harbor is. There really is not much to see in the interior like you can on St. Lucia or Barbados. When we got to Christiansted, we boarded the boat and took another 40 min ride to get out to Buck Island. Buck Island is not your typical tropical paradise island. It acually has no trees to speak of and has a lot of cactus. Almost looks like a desert. The reef though is unbelievable. You will see coral formations that you will not see in too many places. Since it takes so long to get there and out to the island, we only had about an hour and a half to snorkel. Even after an hour we were all pretty tired. If you take the full day excursion you will obviously have more time and I think they have a cookout on one side of the island. Christiansted looks like a cool town and we wish we could have spent some time there. Fredricksted is not really much to speak of. Just a few shops around the pier. If you want to know about any of the other islands just feel free to ask while it is still not even a week old in my mind. Barbodos, St. Lucia, Antigua, St. Martin, and St. I hope this helps.

 

 

Hi again, Kbertsch! Does RCI provide any lunch on this Buck Island excursion or was it available to buy?

What did you do in St. Lucia???