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We will be cruising for our first time in October with Carnival. We prepaid our gratuities, is there any reason or should we still tip?! Thanks!

Thank you all for the amazing suggestions! This is so very helpful! Keep them coming. :)

Hey! I am cruising in October on my honeymoon. I am having a hard time figuring out what to do where on my ports of call. I have gotten great suggestions but everything is getting overwhelming! We are wanting to do a few things in particular but don't know what to do where. Our stops are:

St Thomas

Barbados

St Lucia

St Kitts

St Maarten

The only thing I know for sure is we want to take a glass bottom boat out to the shipwreck in Barbados and snorkel with the turtle. I have looked at several different companies to go through for this but that is also overwhelming, we are hoping to keep it $40/pp or less! Can anyone recommend a good company to go through?

We are also wanting to know which islands have the best beaches, because we want to have 2-3 beach only days! Also, which beaches on which islands, how much taxi/chairs are... etc.

We would like to do one island tour... where would be the best to do this at?

I hear Barbados has monkeys that you can pet and interact with? Where could we find something like this at?

I know I probably sound like a total noob, this is our first cruise and first time going out of the country.

I appreciate any and all tips/suggestions! I tried posting under the individual ports of calls but did not get many answers so I am hoping to get more here.

Thanks all!!

The Boatyard Beach club - $5 each cab ride and $15 each for admission (covers chair rental, one free drink, and the cab ride back to the ship). Wonderful beach, fun water toys, good drinks, etc.

 

For $20 each you can go on a glass bottom boat, snorkel over a ship wreck from WWI, and swim with the turtles (and the glass of free rum punch is more rum than punch! :D)

 

Check tripadvisor form ore reviews and photos. Enjoy! :)

Who did you do the glass bottom boat/snorkeling with?? I can't find anyone who only charges $20!

We are cruising in October on our honeymoon and this is one of our port stops! We are on a budget so we are looking for recommendations on things to do, best beaches, etc. If anyone has any suggestions, this is our first time on a cruise and first time out of the country!! Thanks in advance. :)

We are cruising in October on our honeymoon and this is one of our port stops! We are on a budget so we are looking for recommendations on things to do, best beaches, etc. If anyone has any suggestions, this is our first time on a cruise and first time out of the country!! Thanks in advance. :)

We are cruising in October on our honeymoon and this is one of our port stops! We are on a budget so we are looking for recommendations on things to do, best beaches, etc. If anyone has any suggestions, this is our first time on a cruise and first time out of the country!! Thanks in advance. :)

We are cruising in October on our honeymoon and this is one of our port stops! We are on a budget so we are looking for recommendations on things to do, best beaches, etc. If anyone has any suggestions, this is our first time on a cruise and first time out of the country!! Thanks in advance. :)

We are cruising in October on our honeymoon and this is one of our port stops! We are on a budget so we are looking for recommendations on things to do, best beaches, etc. We might splurge on snorkeling since we have never been. :) If anyone has any suggestions, this is our first time on a cruise and first time out of the country!! Thanks in advance. :)

Thank you all for your help/suggestions! I definitely have a lot of research to do!!

Make sure you are back on the ship after an excursion in time to see the drunk people stagger back. As good as the comedy clubs as far as entertainment value goes.

Lol this is great, we will definitely have to do this!!!

For St. Maarten, if you are a beach lover, then I recommend either Orient Beach, which is supposed to be one of the ten best beaches in the world. However, understand that one side of the beach is clothing optional. Take one of the taxis from the port. Where you are dropped off, to the right is the clothing optional beach, to the left is clothed beach (though you may find that most of the men and some of the women are topless - this beach is on the French side of the island).

 

 

Or, you can go to Maho Beach. Ever see a picture of a jet landing just a few feet above people's head? This is where those pictures are taken. Here is one I took ...

 

 

In St. Thomas there are three good beaches to go to (I've been to two of them):

 

Magens Bay - if you want quite, this is the place to go. No motor boats are allowed. It is a protected bay, so there are no waves ...

 

 

Coki Beach is next to Coral World ...

 

 

Sapphire Beach - I haven't been to Sapphire Beach, so I don't have a photograph to show you. So instead I'll show you a picture from Paradise Point ...

 

This is amazing!!! Thank you so much!!

Ok I will do that! Can anyone tell me the best of those islands to go snorkeling at if we decide to snorkel?

We will be taking our honeymoon on our first cruise leaving out of San Juan in October! Our stops will be St. Kitts, St. Maarten, St. Thomas, St. Lucia and Barbados. I was wondering if anyone could recommend some activities or excursions to do on a budget? We don't mind renting a scooter or something like that and just exploring some and laying on a beach most of the day! Rental company recommendations and beach recommendations would be great! We are open to any and all suggestions. We can be adventurous and laid back! Thanks everyone!!!

Unfortunately midship was already sold out. We decided to go with the back of the ship! Fingers crossed that we won't get sick. Lol!

Hi All! Thank you so much for everyone's advice and input. We decided to go with the cheapest cruise option. We got some on board credit with our deal which is awesome. The ship may not be the best but we have nothing to compare it too and we will mostly be on the islands so I think we are going to have a blast! The itinerary seemed to be our favorite and we spoke to some good friends who did the exact same itinerary and they said they did not spend much at all to explore the islands and have a great time. I feel like this was the best one for us and our budget and I appreciate everyone's input because it definitely gave me a few things to look into before booking to help us make the best decision. We are so excited for our honeymoon!

Can anyone tell me which is better as far as the rocking/motion feeling goes? A friend told me they like the front of a ship better but I am reading that the back is better. Is the motor usually loud on the back? We are going to be sailing on the Carnival Fascination. I believe the only deck open is deck 4. Any advice/input/experience would be greatly appreciated!

Congrats! I, too, am getting married (but this August) and have a cruise planned for the honeymoon.(: I would go with the cheapest option because, as you said, you won't have any other ship to compare it to. Also, it will feel nice knowing you didn't go over budget! If you didn't already, I'd look into more carnival cruises. They're known as the budget cruise line and I've heard so many good things about them. Also, because you are going in October, the cruise won't have as many kids as usual.

Let us know what you decide! You will have an amazing time regardless.(:

 

 

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Congratulations to you as well! Will this be your first cruise? If you don't mind me asking which cruise line are you honeymooning on?

So my fiancé and I are planning our honeymoon on our first cruise! We were hoping to keep our honeymoon under 2k. However it is possible we may have to go a little over. I have found some great options but we are having a hard time deciding. There is 2 cruises that have super nice ships and the other one has a ship with not so great reviews but the stops are AMAZING. We will be leaving out October 30th and saying from a Sunday-Sunday. Here is our ships and itineraries:

Option 1. Our favorite option budget wise, and the stops are our favorites but the ship does not sound that great (I'm trying to remember that we have nothing to compare it too and it might seem great to us since it is our first cruise!)

Carnival Fascination Ocean View

Day 1: Departing from San Juan Puerto Rico

Day 2: St. Thomas

Day 3: Fun day at sea

Day 4: Barbados

Day 5: St. Lucia

Day 6: St. Kitts

Day 7: St. Maarten

Day 8: Arrive back at San Juan

Total Cost including airfare is right at $2,000

Option 2: Our favorite ship that we have researched. It is more costly and the stops aren't as exciting but the ship looks amazing!

Royal Carribean Allure of the Seas Ocean View

Day 1: Departing from Fort Laurendale, FL

Day 2: At sea

Day 3: Cozumel, Mexico

Day 4: Costa Maya, Mexico

Day 5: At Sea

Day 6: At Sea

Day 7: Nassau, Bahamas

Day 8: Arriving back at Fort Laurendale

Total Cost including airfare is right at $2,300

Option 3: It looks like a great ship and it is a balcony stateroom. However it is the most costly. I have also heard this cruise line has the least children which is a plus.

Norwegian Getaway Balcony Stateroom

Day 1: Departing from Miami, FL

Day 2: At Sea

Day 3: Roatan, Honduras

Day 4: Belize City, Belize

Day 5: Costa Maya, Mexico

Day 6: Cozumel, Mexico

Day 7: At Sea

Day 8: Arriving back in Miami, FL

Total Cost is about $2480.

Just a reminder this is our first cruise. We can't decide if we want a nicer ship or the lesser ship with better stops. What would you do? We want it to be fun and romantic because it is our honeymoon! Please share you advice/opinions/experiences. Thank you!!