Carnival Freedom- Antigua & Tortola?

[cruiseapril]

We are considering the Carnival Freedom cruise to: San Juan, St. Thomas, Antigua, Tortola, and Nassau.

 

We have not been to Antigua or Tortola and are wondering what Carnival cruisers think of those ports? Any advice on excursions would be appreciated.

[Will&Hel]

We are considering the Carnival Freedom cruise to: San Juan, St. Thomas, Antigua, Tortola, and Nassau.

 

We have not been to Antigua or Tortola and are wondering what Carnival cruisers think of those ports? Any advice on excursions would be appreciated.

 

Slightly biased but these are "British Ports" - the history on Antigua is fantastic and the visit to Nelson's Dockyard is worth it on its own- we used Sean Beazer for an Island Tours with lunch at Jolly beach (http://www.scenictoursantigua.com/index.html) and in Tortola (British Virgin Island:rolleyes:) we went across to The Baths on Virgin Gorda with Patouche - brilliant excursion. Check out the Ports of Call and I am sure you'll get great advice

 

We did the same cruise last year

[cruiseapril]

We do check out the Ports of Call sections, but are especially interested in knowing about Carnival excursions taken by Freedom cruisers.

[Will&Hel]

We do check out the Ports of Call sections, but are especially interested in knowing about Carnival excursions taken by Freedom cruisers.

 

The 2 excursions we did in these ports were not Carnival excursions but imho were very reliable and good value for money

[Payd]

Antigua has hundreds of beaches (as they say - one for each day of the year). We went to Darkwood - great beach, great swimming, great service.

 

At Tortola - we went over to the Baths at Virgin Gorda. AMAZING!!

[aubreysmom]

On our Freedom cruise in May of 2009, my DH and I did the circumnavigation of Antigua - offered through Carnival. It was WONDERFUL! Probably one of the best excursions we have ever done.

 

We boarded a luxury catamaran on the docks right near the Freedom. We then headed out to circumnavigate the island with a stop at a private - un-inhabited island - for snorkeling and lunch. Lunch was cooked for us on board and was wonderful. After everyone was finished snorkeling we headed back out to finish circling the island. We were offered as much rum punch & beer as we wanted on the return. EXCELLENT time :D

 

In Tortola we did a private island/kayak excursion also offered through Carnival. This was very nice and relaxing.

 

Have fun on your cruise!

[ChefSusan]

When we went on Freedom a year ago, we did two really cool excursions:

On Antigua, we booked a Segway tour of the island, complete with a visit to the Forts and riding the segways on the beach - so cool!

 

On Tortola, we also booked a private catamaran tour to the Virgin Gorda baths with Patouche tours. We were part of a group of 18 people from our roll call who did this excursion, and to this day, it was the most amazing experience we have ever had!

 

I can highly recommend these two for you - or you could go to the Ports of Call section and get more recommendations. If you have not already, also check out the roll call for the cruise that you will be on - you may be able to get some other recommendations for excursions.

 

Regardless, enjoy - Freedom's one of our favorite ships!

[cruiseapril]

Hi- Virgin Gorda seems very popular. Is it possible to do that excursion and also see some of Tortola?

[Crusin Hogs]

Two of the best islands on this cruise Antigua and Tortola

a lot less commercial than St Thomas or St Marrten

More relaxed islands We just got off the ship in Tortola ,There will

be sight seeing busses waiting there ,20.00 per person for about

a 3 to 4 hr tour , stops at a beach , the hilltop restraunt and bar

Don't miss Sunny Cribee a local spice shop, You can taste the spices

before you buy! In downtown area. In Antigua we did the

rainforest tour thru Carnival , very nice

[cruiseapril]

Hi- I noticed that Carnival offers excursions to Long Bay Beach, Lambert Beach, and Cane Garden Bay in Tortola. Anyone been to those beaches?

[gaylensgigi]

These are my two favorite ports.

Didnt do any Carnival excursions, we tend to book our own.In Antigua, we took a cab to Jolly Beach..beautiful..not crowded,great beach reteraunt/bar right there chairs umbrells etc. When we saw that several of the entertainment staff had done the same thing,we felt we had made a wise choice as they usually know the ports quite well.

In Tortola we chartered the Kuralu and went snorkleing and to Jost Van Dyke.Garry is excellent.It included a home made lunch of the most delicious food and open bar,including the best rum punch ever,complete with fresh grated nutmeg.A wonderful day,best day trip ever.There were 10 in our party,and we were never crowded.

Some friends did Patouche and also had very good things to say about it.

Do some port of call research and decide what appeals to you,you will have a great time in these two beautiful places

[tattoos]

We booked shore excursions thru Carnival...in Antigua we booked the Private Island Snorkel Tour to Prickly Pear Island. They transported us to a beach where we waited for a small motorboat to pick us up (you have to walk in knee deep water out to the small boat), there is no dock where the boat ties up so wear water shoes or you will have to take off your good shoes to access the small boat. Don't worry, there are plenty of people there to help you aboard. The island was just offshore and provided a magnificent view of Antigua, you could snorkel around the island or just sit in comfortable chairs with umbrellas and enjoy some drinks. My grandson found a beautiful star fish in the shallow water adjacent to the beach. The island personnel brought some live conch up and cleaned and cut it up and served it. They had a nice covered porch area and cold drinks and rum, of course. They also had a small restroom on the island. It was a great excursion if you like swimming, snorkeling or just relaxing in a beautiful setting.

 

In Tortola we booked the Snorkel Tour to Norman Island which was the basis, as I understand it, for Robert Louis Stevenson's novel, Treasure Island. This was the best snorkeling I've ever experienced. You can swim pretty close to the caves on the island where, supposedly, pirates hid their booty. After about an hour of snorkeling, we boarded the catamaran and were treated to complimentary punch or RUM PUNCH, yum. The catamaran then transported us to Pirates Bight Restaurant where the Bushwackers were flowing and they had plenty of menu items available on their open air porch or you could relax in loungers and swim. Another beautiful place.

 

Rose

[dst]

We have been on the Freedom previously (different itinerary) you will not be disappointed in the ship

 

Tortola - I have been to before and it is a safe and beautiful Island. This time we are heading to the Baths (absolutely beautiful)

 

Antigua - this will be my first visit but we are doing a private tour there with a tour of the Island and beach time.

 

I think you will be pleased regardless of what you decide to do on the Islands

[golfadj]

We went to the baths in Tortola by ferry and had a great time. Have to watch the clock to make sure you do not have a problem but would highly recommend it.

 

Antigua did not impress us.

[jstcruizin]

Antigua has hundreds of beaches (as they say - one for each day of the year). We went to Darkwood - great beach, great swimming, great service.

 

At Tortola - we went over to the Baths at Virgin Gorda. AMAZING!!

 

 

I second this. The Baths are AMAZING!!!! In fact this was our favorite cruise to date

[3Hearts]

Our first cruise was last year on the Freedom.

 

A great time!

 

The only excursion we did through Carnival was the Baths, due to time.

 

Antigua we did a speed boat excursion around the whole island. It was AMAZING! Our son was the youngest, 8 at the time and the oldest was in his 70'S! .

It was the Xtreme Circumnav with Eli. We had lunch on a island all to ourselves. Conch shells everywhere! Did two snorkel stops and Stingray island.

 

We google and plan everything. And this had great reviews. It was well worth the money. Great memories!

 

http://www.antiguaadventures.com/t-pb-rays.htm

[Lydia B.]

Only have been to Tortola, but loved it. Did the Baths ourselves, not a Carnival tour. It was indeed very easy, you take public ferry's over and then a bus takes you to the Bath's. Got there much earlier than the Carnival gig which made it nice, far less folks. If you got...stop at the Top of The World Bar, (can't miss it) and have a drink, but ask them to water it down a bit, I was truly looped on one drink. Don't eat there unless you want to pay $20 for a chicken sald sandwich which was way too much in my book, but very beautiful and you do seem like you are on the top of the world. Keep in mind that getting down to the beaches at Virga Gorda for the baths is a bit wicked, you need to be pretty sure footed and in good condition, IMHO.

If you do the Bath's by yourself, yes you have plenty of time to check out things out. Go to the Bar where they serve Pursers Rum (I might have the spelling wrong)...they have a huge and fun giftshop with nice items like cool tin enameled cups with old nautical flags and ships on them. Have fun, Lydia of Ohio

[zstell]

The Virgin Baths is one of my all time favorite excursions. We did not book through CCL. We got off the ship as early as we could, walked to the ferry and bought a r/t ticket. I am SOOOOOO glad we did this on our own. Everyone else seemed very rushed at the baths. We explored and hung out at one of the rocks just before the beach with 2 other couples we met on the ferry. It was an absolutely perfect day. We ferried back when we were ready, they let us know times available. Once back to Tortola, we shopped a little and had a snack and a couple of drinks. I cannot describe the beauty and tranquility of the Virgin Baths, but plan to go back!