First time Victory cruisers looking for advice on excursions

[kittenaround]

My husband and a couple of friends and I are going on our first South Carribbean cruise on the Victory departing San Juan on January 24th, 2010. We simply can't wait. Looking for advice on excursions. If we were to only do two excursion during our entire cruise, which 2 would you recommend?

[CapeCodCruiser]

Welcome to CC!

 

Here is a link to the Caribbean Ports of Call board - there is lots of info on excursions there.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=587

 

Also be sure to find your sailing on the roll call board.

[4c's]

Kittenaround,

 

Welcome to CC, we have a very active roll call for this very cruise on the Roll Call board. Come on over and take a look, we have had many discussions about the ports and the excursions.:D

[phinfan63]

I highly recommend the Cosol tour in St Lucia.

 

http://www.cosol-tours.com/

 

There were six of us in our group and we rented a sailboat (complete with captain) for the day in St Thomas. It was wonderful, open bar and lunch were included.

 

www.sailhighpockets.com

[boowaaccaa]

My favorite site to see on this cruise was Ti Tu Gorge in Dominica--in this excursion we also went to Tallfager Falls we went with Bumpiing Tours it was $40 pp plus tip.

 

My husband's favorite site was Maho Beach (it is the beach so close to the airport that you actually 'feel' the planes) in St. Maarten (I am not sure if you have St. Lucia or St. Maarten..we had the latter).

[dznymom]

There are so many wonderful options on this itinerary it is hard to narrow it down! If I could only do one excursion it would be a catamaran turtle snorkel in Barbados. We used Shasa and they were beyond fabulous, but there are a couple of other highly rated companies that do the same basic excursion.

 

I would also suggest an island tour of either Dominica or St. Lucia as they are both very different from the typical Caribbean island. We loved our day with Spencer Ambrose on St. Lucia and I can confidently recommend him.

 

You are really in for a treat on this cruise!!

[dotshub]

We did this cruise in October and booked with Cosol on St Lucia. Fantastic day! If i had to pick just one excursion to pay for, Cosol would be it.

We also really enjoyed the scenic railway in St Kitts.

[Minoushka]

WHALE WATCHING in DOMINICA was AWESOME I highly recommend it!!!

[kittenaround]

Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on the excursions. And keep them coming.

 

There is so much to pick from that your head begins to spin. But I also know that I don't want to overdue it and risk fully enjoying the week meant for fun and relaxation.

 

Also, thank you for pointing me to the roll call board. Being new to this forum, I'm still navigating my way around (probably like I'll be doing on the ship - look for the lost soul wandering the halls). I'm looking forward to reading this active board when I get home this evening.

[D&TTexasCruisers]

Dont go on the aerial tram it sucks

[terrielynn]

I would definately suggest Bumpiing tours in Dominica! We had a wonderful and tiring day with our guide Alvin. We did the 2 hour hike and it was quite a hike! lol. We went in October and are still talking about it.

IMHO, I would try and book something to do every day. Not all things have to be hikes, but we found if we didn't book anything, we wandered, shopped for a bit and then went back to the ship. Not that it was a bad thing! But I can nap at home. Anyways, whatever you decide I am sure you will have a wonderful cruise! Enjoy!

[HarperSays]

My husband and a couple of friends and I are going on our first South Carribbean cruise on the Victory departing San Juan on January 24th, 2010. We simply can't wait. Looking for advice on excursions. If we were to only do two excursion during our entire cruise, which 2 would you recommend?

 

We did this cruise back in October and LOVED it! The itinerary was awesome and it wasn't exhausting at all. We planned an excursion in each port except for St. Thomas and St. Kitts which were beach days. Our two favorite excursions were Bumpiing Tours in Dominica (Levi) and Spencer Ambrose in St. Lucia. Hands down those were the best tours we've been on. Both islands were beautiful. Levi took us to Titou Gorge which was my favorite (swim through a cave) and then to Trafalgar Falls, the twin waterfalls. Levi was awesome as a guide, very personable and we certainly got our money's worth. Spencer was great also. Very friendly and a lot of fun. He makes sure you get what you paid for and then some. I would cruise this same itinerary again tomorrow and I would make sure we booked these two tours again.

[pwkreis]

Dominica - you MUST see Mr Nice's Fruit Stand we did a island tour with Beno & it was excellent, but remember it is a very poor island and the roads are in TERRIBLE shape! Still worth seeing.

 

St. Kitt's - we booked the Catamaran Fan -ta- sea through Carnival you have lunch had some beach time on the neighbouring island of Nevis

 

St. Lucia - I too recommend Cosol Tours

[*Luv2Cruz*]

Please see my Destiny 5/08 review below to see what we did at the same ports. Luved it!;)

[screennamebroken]

DW and I did this cruise in August.

I would recomend EEE Tours in St. Thomas, Bumpiing Tours in Dominica and Cosol Tours in St. Lucia. In Barbados we had booked with Shasa, however he had to cancel due to Hurricane Bill, and in Antigua, and St. Kitts we planned beach days. :cool:

[kittenaround]

The Bumpiin Tours in Dominica have really caught my interest. I do have one questions though. They appear to be very jammed pack tours that take 6 + hours. Has anyone ever had any issue getting back to the ship on time as I understand Carnival won't wait for you if you're late?

[susan123]

We were on the Victory last week, and we loved all of the islands. We're older and enjoy sightseeing tours to learn about the culture and history of the islands while seeing as much as possible. If you are interested in that kind of excursion, I suggest the Scenic Rail tour at St. Kitts. It's a Carnival excursion and is very popular. You get a bus tour for about 30 min to the railroad, and then you board a train that used to carry sugar cane. You can sit downstairs in air conditioning or sit upstairs in open air for the best view. It was a great tour, and we saw most of the island during the 2 hour train tour. Free drinks are included....pina coladas, rum punch, soft drinks or water...., and they gave us a cookie made with local coconut and sugar cane. A choir comes through each car of the train and sings a few songs. At the end of the tour they gave each family a free copy of a DVD showing the train ride, somc information about St.Kitts, etc.

[iceladywm]

We just got off the Victory on the 20th.... We did something everyday, however, I would suggest St Kitt's. We used a local fellow "Captain Sunshine" he was wonderful. He took us on a tour around the island then stopped at South Friar's Beach for the afternoon. (kenny@stkittscaptainsunshine.com). Also you can't go wrong doing a catamaran sailing in St. Lucia - a nice sail and snorkel and then over to the Pitons.

Each Island is unique and you'll love them all. It's very inexpensive to take a taxi to some of the wonderful beaches. In Antigua it was $6.00 each way. In Barbados it was $4.00 each.... Nice way to spend a day on the beach.

[HarperSays]

The Bumpiin Tours in Dominica have really caught my interest. I do have one questions though. They appear to be very jammed pack tours that take 6 + hours. Has anyone ever had any issue getting back to the ship on time as I understand Carnival won't wait for you if you're late?

 

We were with Levi from Bumpiing Tours back in October. This was probably our favorite tour. We opted out of the snorkel at Champagne Reef after the island tour just so we could do some shopping at the port and grab a late lunch on the ship. However, I've never heard of him getting anyone back to the ship late. When he dropped us off at the ship, there was still plenty of time for the others to snorkel and get back to the ship also.

[lhanson38]

The Bumpiin Tours in Dominica have really caught my interest. I do have one questions though. They appear to be very jammed pack tours that take 6 + hours. Has anyone ever had any issue getting back to the ship on time as I understand Carnival won't wait for you if you're late?

 

 

We just did this tour on Dec 15. It was great we had gary as a guide he took great care of me. My knee desided to really give me some trouble

and he was great...It took every bit of the 6 hours and i was a little bit worried about the time but gary said we had nothing to worrie about he would get us to the ship on time and he did...You cant go wrong with bumping tours. This is a hike that no one should miss..:):)