Southern Caribbean Port Question

I would do a beach day in Antigua. Book Calabaza early as it is very popular. In Curaçao I would either rent a car and drive around the island, stopping at different beaches for swimming or snorkeling or go into town...pretty place to walk around. Enjoy!

A couple of my suggestions:

Barbados - we opted not to take a catamaran cruise. I'm not a fan of boat tours. Earlier visits we just took a taxi to the places like the Boatyard then took a boat out to swim with the turtles. So we got some beach time and snorkeling with the turtles. Barbados has some of the best water in the Caribbean. This last time we rented a car and explored the island, stopping to snorkel, shop and sight see along the way. Had a great time.

We took a kayak tour in Antigua. Not overly impressed with water sports here. It was OK, but that's about it.

Aruba - We are going for the first time in October. Just plan on taking the bus to a beach and doing a little shopping. Not a fan of an island tour as they tend to all look alike after a while. No desire to take the trikes, I ride a motorcycle almost daily :)

Curacao - we are renting a car so we can shop, sight see and snorkel all around the island.

Boanire - like you we reserved Woodwinds. We usually don't take "tours" but this is the place to snorkel and these guys get rave reviews. Also not that expensive.

I’m reading with interest as I have the same itinerary in January.

After spending hours and hours researching every port, I’ve pretty much booked something for everyday except Aruba where I’m still undecided.

However, I still enjoy reading other people’s recommendations just incase there is something I missed.

I can’t really recommend any options until I’ve actually done them, but I’m happy to share my choices if you are interested.

Also, I recommend reading some of the recent trip reports on here (such as the ones by deladane, Noreen411 and Marvy Mare). They are very well written, with great pics, and may provide you with some inspiration.

We just did a similar cruise on Eclipse on March 18 with gerlmex (hi gerardo). DW likes to go to resorts and buy a day pass. You can go to a site called resort for a day dot com to get some great ideas. Also caribbean day pass dot com. We did this in Barbados (Barbados Hilton) and second day in Curacao (Curacao Hilton).

We also went to Amsterdam Manor in Aruba (right on Eagle Beach).

We did do ship excursions first day in Curacao and went to the Papagayo Resort (great salt water Infinity pool about 250 feet across). There is an ocean beach there but we didn't use it. In Bonaire do not do the Spice Club trip (no real facilities there, very poor swimming, no beach at all).

In Barbados we had previously done the Atlantis submarine ship excursion which takes you down in a glass bottom sub for a great view of the marine life. This is a half day trip so you can do something else the other part of the day.

Previously in Grenada we went on a ship excursion to one of the beaches. It was really nice, not that expensive and you could see the ship.

Above all enjoy your cruising days.

We just did a similar cruise on Eclipse on March 18 with gerlmex (hi gerardo).

Hi John, was a pleasure to sail with you.

Bridgetown, Barbados

Casteries, St Lucia - Spencer Ambrose Land, Sea/Beach tour booked

St George’s, Grenada

St John’s, Antigua

Aruba (overnight)

Curaçao

Bonaire - Woodwind snorkel trip booked

We've done all the Southern Islands many, many times, nearly every winter since 1999.

Barbados - we've toured the island (booking on our own, gone to Folkstone for snorkeling on our own, arranged our own little "chocolate, rum and cutter day" with a taxi driver we found at terminal - there's a small chocolate factory near the harbor that offers tours, then we went to the rum distillery in Bridgetown, then had the taxi driver drop us off at a restaurant for cutters. Fun day. The past 5 visits we've booked Calabaza, and as soon as we have Summit booked for 2020, we'll be booking them again.

Antigua - we always do one of Eli's tours, adventureantigua.com. We love all of his excursions. The Xtreme Circumnav takes you to Stingray City, early enough so it is not crowded, the Eco-Tour takes you to the mangrove forest, Hell's Gate and gives you a good eco overview of the island, and the sailboat sails the waters between Antigua and Montserrat. You can occasionally see an ash plume or steam coming from Montserrat's volcano in the distance. It's on a handbuilt Carriacou sloop. All of his excursions are terrific - great crew, fun day, and you get a really good home made lunch on all 3 tours.

Grenada - we've done all of Mandoo's tours. It's worth touring the island if you've never been there - I don't think the "premier" beach on the island is all that special, but Mandoo's tours are.

Curacao - we really like snorkeling with Scubacao. You go out with one of their dive masters, and it is some of the best snorkeling we have ever done (including having snorkeled at all of the islands on your itinerary. We're booked with them again for next February.

Bonaire - we are booked with Compass for snorkeling - it's a traditional sail boat and takes fewer people than Woodwind.

Aruba - we've rented our own car a couple of times. It's an easy island to navigate, and you can drive around and see all the highlights in a short time - definitely doesn't take more than 4 hours or so. Last time we were there we booked with Sonny Binns, as there were 6 of us, and most of the rental cars don't accommodate 6 people. Sonny has a comfortable tour bus, took us to all the usual locations, and dropped us off in town for a really good, local lunch (something we had requested, not part of the tour.

We always try to eat lunch on the island, preferably at a local restaurant, rather than a tourist one. We find it adds a lot of value to our trips.