BeachBlonde217

THis thread has been very helpful! Related question.....looking at Harv and Marv......and have never been to AK. I did read somewhere in my gads of research something about the fog lifting later in the day.....not sure where that was or even what it was in relation to (specific location, tour, etc) but do you have a better chance of clear weather later in the day? Would it be better to do the 12:30 vs the 9:30am???

We just did Spencers tour last week. It was WONDERFUL !!!!

I had written ahead and asked if the tour was doable for people with bad knees. He wrote back and said yes.

He and his crew were the most hospitable, lovely people.

They were especially helpful and would have done anything to help those of us that had some mobility problems.

St Lucia is beautiful and Sugar Beach, where we had lunch and a beach break was truly the most beautiful location I have ever seen. With this secluded beach surrounded by the volcanic Petons it was outstanding!!!

The lunch was also very good. Would go again and I highly recommend this tour.

The next day we did a similar tour in St Marteen and the tour company I used was not even near as professional and considerate.

Spencer Ambrose was a great tour guide

I'm curious...what tour did you do in St Maarten? We have one booked next week for our cruise.

I messaged several different companies and booked with Royal for our day in port. Some of them will not rent for just the day, I found out. If you google Royal Rental Car Aruba, it should come right up. They meet me right at the port for pickup and the rental price I'm paying includes insurance. Not sure about your DL, but check their website. Or message them. They were pretty easy to work with.

I am SO glad the ring was returned! Yay!!!

We just did the beach break and WOW....AMAZING. The snorkeling was absolutely gorgeous.

 

I have a full review with TONS of pictures from that day located HERE if you are interested.

I see in your review what cameras you have, but what did you use for your underwater shots? Because they look amazing!!!!!!

I'd send you a PM, but since I can't figure out how to do that.....LOL Feel free to PM me if you know how :) Thanks!

We are going on Spencer's Land, Sea and Beach Adventure next week. Will I be ok in a swimsuit and cover up or would it be better to plan on changing? Thanks!

You will be fine. YOu get muddy and wet at the mudbaths and then you get wet at the waterfall and then wet again at the beach. I took my coverup off at the mudbaths and didn't put it on again until we were on our way back to the cruise ship.

Do take a towel ;)

As I told the last person, I don't know how to private message on here. I'm not sure he would want his number on the message board. If you know how to private message, and would send me one, I can respond with his phone number.

Otherwise, you can email me and just put "Captain Karl" in the subject line. My email is "morris.shannon" at hotmail.com.

Karl is old school. He doesn't have a website, just a cell phone. Not sure if I had mentioned it in this thread, but I ended up with him because the people we had scheduled with had an emergency and had to go out of town so they set me up with Karl vs cancelling my excursion.

I can't express how wonderful he really was. I have his cell number and that's it. I'm pretty sure we aren't allowed to post that info on here???? If you guys can PM me, I'll respond back with the number. I'm pretty new to these boards and can't figure out how to send one???

I'd love to get it to you but I can't figure out how to send a private message??????

We were on Spencer's tour the day that the proverbial "sh*T hit the fan" too. Spencer himself got on our bus and apologized. Apparently there is another company that they work with on a VERY regular basis. They loan each other boats etc. Well, Spencer had confirmed with this gentleman that they were good to use one of his boats for the day and he was told yes a number of times. Apparently at the last minute the guy tried to claim it wasn't arranged and that he couldn't help them out. Based on all the reviews I read before going, I honestly believe this was a total fluke. Spencer said he was very disappointed in this friend and very sorry we had to wait.

We did have a bit of a wait for the boat to pick us up initially but once we got underway, things went smoothly. She She (Shequana) his daughter was on our bus when we went to the mud baths and the waterfall, as well as on our boat during those portions and she was awesome. We obviously did the full tour, but you end at the beach either way. Once we got to the beach it was VERY crowded but if you do beach only I'm sure you'll be fine.

The snorkeling was AMAZING!!!! Definitely take equipment so you don't have to rent. I could have done the beach all day and not gotten out of the water except to eat. LOL I even saw my first squid! A group of 3 of them. And a puffer that was GIAGANTIC! I didn't even know they could get that big. I would not hesitate for a moment to book with Spencer again and would highly recommend him.

We did Buck Island with Captain Karl. He picked us up right at the land end of the cruise dock in a dingy and took us to his sailboat. I'm sure if you wanted to do a different destination he'd be more than happy to accommodate. You could probably do just your family too, which in my eyes is a lot nicer than being on a catamaran with 50 people.

We sort of fell upon him when we had booked someone else who had to make an emergency trip to the states. Our original booking asked Karl to take us in their absence and I couldn't have been happier.

He and his first mate Erin were VERY knowledgable about the area. Erin was great at pointing out turtles and other sea life and even did some free dives to grab a few things to show us.

He's been living in the islands for 20 some odd years so he really knows his stuff :) He's a bit old school in that you'd have to call him (no website) but trust me.....he's worth it! lol

Message me if you are interested and I'll give you his number. I don't want to post it on here :) Let me know if you have any questions.

I've looked through the first few pages of threads and didn't see anything similar.....

My husband and I will be in Aruba on RC come February. As we are docked from 8am - 11pm I am thinking we'll do an excursion in the morning, walk around the pier area for a bit, go get cleaned up for dinner, and then head back out for a nice, celebratory, anniversary dinner and some drinks.

Where would you recommend for dinner? How about drinks after?

Open to taking a cab but also don't want to spend $50 on cab fare to get somewhere and then spend $200 on dinner if it can at all be helped. I am willing to spend $200 on a nice dinner though.

I have looked at the top reviewed places on Trip Advisor but I'd like some personal recommendations.

Some new restaurants have popped up since you were there that are really good. If you go again, let us know and I'll give you some new recommendations.

We will be coming in February 2017 (just booked this morning) on a cruise. We are in port from 8am - 11pm. I'm soooo excited and we definitely want to do a nice dinner. So far I've only looked at the tops on trip advisor. I would love some personal recommendations from you as well. Feel free to message me privately if you prefer. We will probably do a 1/2 day excursion, go back to the ship and shower up and then do dinner, and drinks after somewhere. Any advice is much appreciated.

Hi Shannon- just wondering.... what do you have planned in St. Thomas?

 

We are stopping there on our cruise in July.

 

Thanks!

Maureen

My cruise is over. We did a half day sail to Buck Island with a private boat. It was just 4 people plus the captain and his mate. It was lovely not to be on a boat with 100 other people.

Thanks, Islandbear!

We have excursions booked in St Thomas and St Lucia. We have our own equipment and are looking for beaches that would allow us to snorkel on our own at one, if not all, of our 3 remaining ports: St Croix, St John Antigua, and Grenada. (RC Adventure of the Seas 4/30-5/7)

Preferably either walking distance or a cheap cab ride from the pier ($10 each way? if that's doable) and it would be nice if there was a restaurant/bar at the beach so that we could spend the day there without having to move for lunch if we don't want to. We are not opposed to walking a distance and have no physical limitations so if we need to hike a bit to get somewhere unique I'm up for it :)

The only thing I've found so far that appears to be walking distance is Rainbow Beach on St Croix but not sure if that's a good place to snorkel????? Any tips or advice are much appreciated!

Thanks!

Our spend is about $100/120 pax, for a wonderful day, including, cocktails, lunch (2/3 courses) wine, beers, rum, tips etc. :)

 

Worth it!!!!

 

A run-of-the-mill "all inclusive" is about $65/85.00 pax and is not in the same league as JO's

Thanks....looks like I need to find out exchange rate. I panicked when I saw their menu online and thought that was in US dollars. Stupid me.....lol

EDIT: or is pax mean per person? I've never seen that before?????

I too would like some pricing info on Jaqui O's!!!!

Shannon, did you read the CC Port Guides yet? It tells you what sort of beaches, shopping and excursions are available in each port and you can make your own choices:

http://www.cruisecritic.com/ports/newport.cfm?ID=10

THANK YOU! I had not seen these. I've not found this site to be super new user friendly. Looks like a TON of useful info on these pages.:D

Antigua is not known for snorkeling but has over 300 beaches....sounds like a good beach day....you do not need a tour for this....there will be taxis at all your stops.....if you are interested in the history make a deal to be shown around some and then dropped off at a popular beach so getting a taxi back would be easy....think we are going to darkwood or valley church....they both have restaurants( which usually have bathrooms) and chaises to rent......trip advisor has many pictures of both...

 

St lucia deserves some research on your part...

There are land,sea,and combo tours.....the pitons are the big deal.....swimming near them is awesome.....only you know if your family would enjoy the several hours of bus or van travel on twisty,narrow roads to get there or a speed boat or sailing trip....again....some time on trip advisor is necessary....

 

..that was a really good idea to see what the ship offers to get an idea of what you like....our first couple of cruises we did use ship tours but like most here on cc find the private tours cheaper and less crowded......when you look on the cc port board and see the same names over and over it should make you more comfortable....the old nugget of the ship waiting for you regardless is almost completely true but these well known private tours know they will be out of business if you miss your ship....

Thank you! I have since looked into the land & sea deal on St Lucia (before seeing your post even) and that is a definite possibility. I'm thinking we do our snorkel (swim with turtles) in ST Thomas and the land/sea delio on St Lucia. The other ports I'm still kind of up in the air on. Would like to do some shopping one day, some bar hopping perhaps, and spend at least one of our days just lounging on a beach somewhere :) We like to mix up days of adventure with days of relaxation.

Go take a look at the excursions offered by the cruise line to get an idea of what is popular for your ports. Then take a look on TripAdvisor and look at the reviews. Their reviews will give you an idea of the reputable vendors if you want to book on your own. Cruise Critic's Ports of Call will give you information about each port. We've found that when we are visiting a port we've never been to before that by visiting all these places, we start to see many of the same pro's and con's with a particular excursion. I'll give you one example. We are planning a cruise that included a new island. I thought cave tubing would be a fun thing we had never done on any of the other islands we visited. It seemed to pop up on all the sites. I was almost ready to book an excursion with a vendor when a review mentioned BATS in the caves and bat droppings falling on one of the folks. Two of our group would have freaked out, just at the thought of bats overhead. Because of the reviews I knew this would not be an excursion for us. Found instead a catamaran sail that sounds perfect and I know everyone will enjoy.

It looks like you responded before reading my f/u posts that state I've looked at the cruise excursions and have been on trip advisor.

I guess I'm not being clear since it seems no one is really answering my questions. Let me try to be more specific.............

1. We are snorkeling at St Thomas

2. If you were going to shop at any of the other ports, which would you choose to shop at and why?

3. If you were going to spend a day relaxing on the beach, which port would you choose to do that at an why?

4. If you were going to go bar hopping at one port, which would you do this at and why.

It's cool if there is one port you choose for all these things. I am looking for personal experiences and what you like and why. Trip advisor is great but there isn't an "all Caribbean" board where you can get an overview like I'm asking for.

This reply isn't just directed at the poster I quoted :)

Grand Anse Beach is gorgeous -white sand and numerous beach bars

 

You could do the Rhum Runner and go to BBC beach - you snorkel off the beach at BBC

 

You could do the Grenada Seafaris Powerboat Adventure and then go to Grand Anse afterwards - you snorkel at the Marine Protected Areas with this tour so likely to see significantly more wildlife and diversity

 

obviously what you see depends on the visibility fo the day - but either one is super fun :-)

 

We have white sand beaches and black sand beaches on our lovely island. not quite as many as Antigua but not far off :p

IslandStar, I have NEVER been to a black sand beach. We will be there in May (soooo far away) on a RC cruise. Can you tell me more about these beaches? Where are they? Are their tours to them or how would we get to one? Do you have photos???

TIA!

Shannon, of the ports you list, I have been to St Thomas and St John (while in St Thomas). A lot depends on what interests you have as to whether someone can provide information that will help you decide what to do on your cruise. Maybe if you could give us some idea of what things you like to do, someone will be able to say "do this in x, this in y, etc".

 

But, St Thomas used to be a fun place to shop and sightsee. You can grab an open air taxi in the port area or in town. Likely there will be others wanting to take a trip around the island and see the sights. St Thomas also has some pretty good beach areas, such as Coki Beach and Magen's Bay. Both have refershments available and are pretty good places to spend an afternoon. My favorite is a little out of the way place called Hidden Beach (or Secret Beach). It is a little bay where you can swim or snorkel or rent an umbrella and chairs and just chill. Been there a couple of times and it was never crowded. Great open air bar and restaurant.

 

On St John, we have only been to Trunk Bay but really enjoyed our time there. It is a beach and snorkel spot. There is an underwater "trail" marked off that has signs showing the kind of coral you see and what fish are usual guests in the area. The water if fairly deep along the trail and you need to either be a strong swimmer or wear some sort of floatation device.

 

That is about as much as I can offer based on your ports. I hope this helps a little. :)

It does, thank you!

St Thomas we are planning an all day excursion.

As for what I'm hoping to do......anything! Literally. lol

1. Snorkel
   
2. shop
   
3. explore restaurants and bars
   
4. spend a day lounging on the beach
   
5. snorkel a second time
   
6. avoid mass tours with tons of people
   

I did a post on my blog about renting a car for the day from Budget with plenty of pictures. It is a very easy island to drive with beautiful beaches. Hope this helps. Have a great time and enjoy the island.

 

http://winenchocolate.com/our-day-in-st-croix/

I read your blog post! GREAT info and very helpful. This might be a good option for me and the hubby. Quick question.....how far is Cruzan from the port? Would it be walking distance if we wanted to go there and then just check out the two beaches (Sandy Point and Rainbow) on foot?

If not walking, has anyone taken a cab there and back that could give me an estimate on price?

I briefly answered this on the Local thread but let me expand my answer a bit here.

Take a taxi from the ship to the Whim museum (even if they are closed) and roam around the grounds exploring with the kids, it is gorgeous there and I bet you all enjoy it.

If you are feeling hungry after roaming stop at the little Whim restaurant (just to the right of the parking lot if you are facing the road) for some decent snacks and drinks.

Back in the cab (either pre-arrange with the driver or have the restaurant call one) head to Freedom City Surf.

Enjoy the rest of the afternoon on the beach with a drink and the family or go paddle boarding / swimming / snorkeling right there.

I have a dozen other suggestions if you don't like these. Let me know.

Drake,

I too will be in St Croix for a day in May on a RC cruise. I have never been to any of the ports, let alone St Croix.

I noticed that when I go to the Royal Caribbean site and log in, it doesn't show much for St Croix. From the pier, is there anywhere interesting to walk to? Beaches? Restaurants? Bars? Shopping?

I would be interested in hearing the best spots to snorkel right off the island on our own, without booking an excursion. I'm open to taking a cab or even renting a car for the day if this can be done for a reasonable price?

Any help is much appreciated :)

Thanks,