Excursion advice for Carribean

[stitchLi809]

Hi,

I'm broading the Serenade of the seas May 30. She's stopping in Curacao, Aruba, St. Thomas and Dominica. My boyfriend loves the water, snorkeling, boating... while i'm kind of scared of the water, not terrified but I would be open to the idea of the submarine like excursions or jetskiing. Any ideas for excursions that aren't too expensive. Also $45 for a beach excursion?!?!? really?! has anyone ventured out on their own with a taxi? Which port is the best for relaxing on the beach? TIA

[Cheryl H]

I can only answer for St Thomas. I think the times I went there, we did a catamaran ride over to St John. It's gorgeous there! I think our ride included lunch and some beach and snorkel time before sailing back.

 

p.s. I cannot swim and I loved the catamaran rides. Very relaxing. Only once did they not park quite close enough to the shore for my comfort. The water would have been up to my neck...so my husband carried me off.

 

I've not done a sub, but did a semi-submersible a couple times. Very nice. I think one of the crew went out and fed the fish so more fish would come to our viewing area.

 

Have fun on your trip!

[bgrieve]

Check out the public bus system to a beach in ARUBA. very economical. The bus station is very close to the pier.

[cb at sea]

There is NO reason to pay for an excursion to go to the beach... a cab or bus will take you there... (a guidebook is a MUST) and you can get chairs/umbrellas, etc.... on your own. And, you'll be on your own timetable. Paying for a beach excursion is for folks who don't know anything about their ports. The cruiselines COUNT (and add to their profits) on that!

[lovemylab]

Hi,

I'm broading the Serenade of the seas May 30. She's stopping in Curacao, Aruba, St. Thomas and Dominica. My boyfriend loves the water, snorkeling, boating... while i'm kind of scared of the water, not terrified but I would be open to the idea of the submarine like excursions or jetskiing. Any ideas for excursions that aren't too expensive. Also $45 for a beach excursion?!?!? really?! has anyone ventured out on their own with a taxi? Which port is the best for relaxing on the beach? TIA

 

You shouldn't need an excursion to go to a beach. This can easily be done on your own for a fraction of the cost. In Aruba you can easily grab the local bus to one of the beaches. We didn't do this ourselves but we saw where to catch them and it was very close to the ship. In St. Thomas a taxi to Magen's Bay should be around $8pp each way. Both of these ports would make for a great beach day.

 

Dominica isn't really an island known for beaches but the scenery there is breathtaking. At the pier there will be lots of taxi drivers offering tours. We got a 2.5-3 hour tour for $20 each. The taxi drivers there were very friendly and not at all pushy.

 

I also disagree with a guidebook being a must. We have never taken a guidebook with us and managed just fine. I just do my research before I leave.

[DonnaK]

In those ports, it's safe to do excursions on your own. For the best information, go to the Ports of Call board on cruise critic. Select the individual location, and find recommendations for exploring on your own.

[Terre]

Hi, we are also on this sailing. Please join our roll call at http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1107772

 

Be sure to also register for the Meet & Mingle here: https://secure.royalcaribbean.com/ccEntry.do;jsessionid=0000xbmZnbOKruDjfxl4NnBWfEG:13hldil87

[khank]

I highly recommend Levi's Bumpiing Tours in Domenica! One of the absolute best excursions I've ever taken! We did the Roseau Valley Treasures Tour. It was amazing and Levi is a fantastic guide! I was dreading the cold water at Titou Gorge, but am so very glad I did it. It was breathtaking!

 

In Aruba, take the bus to the Radisson at Palm Beach. Very pretty, relaxing beach!

 

In St. Thomas, you may want to consider taking the ferry over to St. John and going to Trunk Bay. It is truly PARADISE!!!!

 

Enjoy! We did these ports last year on the AOS and had an amazing trip! We're doing the SOS this year and trying the Barbados route.

[olemissreb]

We just did these ports last week on the AOS. Here's what we did:

 

Aruba - TomCar tour thru Greenzebratours.com Awesome tour. Got to see much of the island because the TomCars are able to travel where many vehicles cannot. Plus it was fun driving those cars!

 

Curacao - had a tour booked with Curacao-Actief, but it got rained out. Yes an island that only gets like 16 inches of rain per year had pouring rain the day we were in port - all day! Guess we'll have to book another cruise and try again.

 

Dominica - booked Hibiscus Eco Village and River Tubing through the cruise line. It was an ok tour - best part was the tubing. Won't book through the cruise line again - would probably book with Levi @ bumpiing tours. Rained in the rain forest and was a little overcast the rest of the time.

 

St. Thomas - booked a 1/2 day snorkel at Turtle Cove on Buck Island through Jolly Mon. Was a wonderful excursion. Sarah is so knowledgeable about the marine life and I learned a lot.

[BillOh]

If you are into water excursions, google BOSS USVI. This was great fun and my wife and I still talk about it 5 years later.

 

[krillsister]

I highly recommend Levi's Bumpiing Tours in Domenica! One of the absolute best excursions I've ever taken! We did the Roseau Valley Treasures Tour. It was amazing and Levi is a fantastic guide! I was dreading the cold water at Titou Gorge, but am so very glad I did it. It was breathtaking!

 

I definitely recommend this tour. Levi is the BEST!!!!!

[Terre]

We are doing the See & Sea Tour in Curacao and Jolly Pirates in Aruba. Haven't decided anything for St Thomas or Dominica, but one thing we have done in St. Thomas in the past that I loved was Rumbaba Charters (http://rumbabacharters.com/) Go to St. Thomas under the Ports of Call board for more comments about Rumbaba; it was one of the best excursions we've done.