Frustrated in the Caribbean

Like many others, we travel to the caribbean in the winter seeking sun and beaches. This is not the destination if you are looking for culture, architecture or gastronomy, but the beaches are amazing. We've cruised there 3 times on Seabourn, twice on the Club Med 2, and one time each on Windstar and Seadream. On all of these vacations, with the exception of our most recent on the Odyssey, there were several opportunities to go to the beach. Yes there are taxis eagerly waiting outside of the cruise terminal, but most of them look like they just smoked one of those funny looking cigarettes and we just don't feel comfortable putting our lives in their hands.

On the previous Seabourn cruises, if we were not walking distance to a beach, there was a shuttle (sometimes free, sometimes not). What happened to this service?

We did try some of the excursions that offered "relax on the beach" in the description. The first one we tried, a 3 hour tour, consisted of 1 hour of waiting in the theater and tender ride before we were on the open air bus to the Baths in Virgin Gorda. We then had approx 40 minutes on the beach before waiting around again for the transfer back to the port.

There was also an excursion offered in Cap Cana at the Eden Roc beach club for 199$ per person. If you went on your own the entrance fee was 30$ per person. I did investigate other beach options in advance that felt safe and was looking forward to a nice day on the beach. Unfortunately the port was cancelled due to the current.

Unless Seabourn brings back these services, I think we will be focusing more on spending our winter holidays at a beach resort. The beach bbq was amazing, but one out of 12 days on the beach is just too frustrating for us. It's just a shame to have been surrounded by crystal blue water and not be able to swim in it

In the Caribbean we have always preferred to rent a car and tour the island and find a beach. Beaches near the cruise terminal are almost always crowded and ships' excursions priced rather excessively. Most Caribbean islands are easily to drive - the best are Antigua, St Kitts, Dominica, Grenada and Barbados. Sint Maarten can be choked with traffic, Martinique ditto. St Lucia is a bit scary.

We have had good luck either walking away from the port and finding a taxi or, depending on the distance, just walking. I do recall at a port I can't remember the name of, we took a cab to what looked like a 5 mile ride only to discover it was less than 2 miles, needless to say we walked back. The ship's tours to beaches always seem to me to be over priced, and as you mentioned more time getting to/from than actual beach time. Plus if the weather is inclement - as you unfortunately experienced - you may be forced to choose between giving up your money or stuck waiting for the return.

Personally, if my primary purpose of taking a winter Caribbean cruise was to escape the cold and experience warm weather I'd prefer to stay on board and spend my time around the pool and enjoy Seabourn's service. Maybe a short stroll around the town first.

I don't recall a shuttle service from Seabourn on either of my Caribbean cruises with them. I've seen a shuttle offered in other places (even then it was generally just a town center type location), just not in the Caribbean.

I remember a shuttle bus in Jost Van Dyke, Le Marin and St Lucia back in the good old days with the triplets. We also tendered directly to the beach in Anguilla and Grand Turk. Maybe I chose the wrong itinerary this time.

I wonder if some of the shuttles went along with some of the special tours (aside from the one in Ephesus)?

We all know the rules when it comes to ship excursions. They are expensive and you have to work to the lowest common denominator.

Surprisingly few taxi drivers are high on drugs when driving. There are always licenced taxis available, in most cases you have to agree fares in advance. On some islands fares are set and there will usually be a notice that you can photograph. Also take a picture of the taxi registration number. If you are really suspicious take a picture of the driver's ID card.

Do some homework to find resorts that offer day passes. Ask on here or one of the other forums. There are groups on Facebook which also include crew, they will be able to offer first class advice. Now that all the ships have Internet you can do your planning "on the fly", the internet isn't cheap but your savings over ship excursions will easily cover it and you get to do exactly what you want.

The ship caters for people who aren't independent or who aren't confident stepping ashore in a foreign country without a protective safety net.

For the rest of us the Caribbean is our Lobster :)

Henry :)

Thank you Dell Boy

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