First Caribbean Cruise-What's Your Best Suggestion?

[BoiseIdahoSpud]

Hello cc'ers!

 

My partner and I are sailing on the Noordam 10-day Barbados and back. This is our first time on the Noordam and our first trip ever to the Caribbean. I am so excited to see blue water, white sand, coral and colorful fish for the first time in the wild!

 

So in one short sentence... What's your top recommendation for some excited Caribbean newbies?

[Vic The Parrot]

What other ports are you visiting?

 

 

Barbados has good beaches. One beach I loved is un-named (forgot what it's called LOL, but I'll look it up later)

 

 

And on that island, try a rum drink with Mount Gay Rum ... it's the islands best hooch! ;)

[terkatz56]

snorkel! On your own (port threads helpful) or book an excursion

I am from Montana, so hello neighbor. Did my first Caribbean cruise on the Noordam in Dec. Loved it so much am re-booking the same cruise for next Dec.

[Vic The Parrot]

Crane Beach!

 

 

barbados.org

 

 

It's a nice place, but be careful in the water.

[Cathy-CA]

My husband and I were in Barbados this past October on the Maasdam and did Glory Tours' "Best of Barbados". It was the highlight of our cruise because we got to do so many different things in one day. You don't spend much time at any one place, but get to see Harrisons Cave, a nature preserve (feeding peanuts to Barbados green monkeys was great), snorkel with sea turtles and tropical fish and get a good tour of the island. Their website is www.glorytours.org .

[more cruises]

SPF 30 sunblock before you leave the ship and reapply often :D

[BoiseIdahoSpud]

Thanks for the suggestions! We have snorkeling booked in Barbados (swimming with turtles) and St. Thomas (catamaran to St. John with snorkeling). Is there any island where you can swim in a waterfall? Also, is there a "not to miss" Caribbean food? Thanks for contributing your thoughts - we appreciate it!

Becasue someone asked... here's the itinerary:

 

DatePorts of Call ArrivalDepartureMonday, March 28, 2011Fort Lauderdale, Florida--05:00 PMTuesday, March 29, 2011At Sea----Wednesday, March 30, 2011At Sea----Thursday, March 31, 2011Philipsburg (st. Maarten), An08:00 AM04:00 PMFriday, April 1, 2011Castries, St. Lucia08:00 AM03:00 PMFriday, April 1, 2011Soufriere, St Lucia05:00 PM06:00 PMSaturday, April 2, 2011Bridgetown, Barbados08:00 AM05:00 PMSunday, April 3, 2011Fort-de-france, Martinique07:00 AM01:00 PMMonday, April 4, 2011St. Thomas, U.s.v.i.08:00 AM05:00 PMTuesday, April 5, 2011At Sea----Wednesday, April 6, 2011Half Moon Cay, Bahamas08:00 AM04:00 PMThursday, April 7, 2011Fort Lauderdale, Florida07:00 AM--

[BoiseIdahoSpud]

snorkel! On your own (port threads helpful) or book an excursion

I am from Montana, so hello neighbor. Did my first Caribbean cruise on the Noordam in Dec. Loved it so much am re-booking the same cruise for next Dec.

 

 

Great to hear - that's the kind of endorsement you like to hear. And hello to the Big Sky Country from the Gem State!

[SwissMyst]

Had a horrible flying fish sandwich in Barbados and the hottest most painful hot sauce ever encountered that we used to try and give the mushy, watery flying fish some flavor. Local food will not be one of your trip highlights. The Puerto Rican "mofungo" (sp?) was even more of a culinary horror and even the HAL jerked chicken at Half Moon cay was too bland to be interesting. Stick with the Mount Gay Rum factory tasting and tour for the flavors of the Caribbean.

[Cruizer Bill]

We like the Caribbean because of the beaches, water and lots of sun. Get out and enjoy the water! You will like Barbados, take a spin around the island and head to a beach. St. John's is awesome and so is the shopping on St. Thomas. You will like is so much you will get hooked on cruising like the rest of us. Good choice of ship!

Bill :)

[cb at sea]

Lots of sunscreen is a MUST...And, bring binoculars....lots to see out there!

[fann1sh]

Consider the ship's own historical walking tour in Fort-de-France Martinique if that interests you at all. Go to the spice market, buy a sugar cane drink from a local stand where they press it for you from raw cane. Bring some Euros. Martinique is an actual département, not just a colony, so you will actually be visiting part of France.

[bepsf]

Hey Spud!

 

I highly recommend Cuzzins on St Thomas for Caribbean/Soul Food - It's in Charlotte Amalie, just ask one of the locals for directions...

...in fact, you may even want to save money and just take a local jitney from the pier over the hills of St Thomas to Megan's Bay rather than going to St John - You can go sans-tour and walk down to the far left end of the beach and have a perfectly enjoyable beach day.

:)

 

For St Lucia, I recommend the Zip-Line Excursion...

...and for Barbados, I very much enjoyed living it up at the Sandy Lane resort where we lunched on the terrace & did some celebrity-watching after a nice walk along the beach - but there are also numerous catamaran excursions that will get you to that beach as well.

[innlady1]

Gladys Cafe in St. Thomas is a fabulous place for lunch...wonderful Bloody Mary's and yummy gazpacho! Plus Gladys stands behind the bar, belting out Ella Fitzgerald tunes, as she's wiping down the bar and serving customers!

[RuthC]

Plus Gladys stands behind the bar, belting out Ella Fitzgerald tunes, as she's wiping down the bar and serving customers!

Sounds like that's worth the price of admission right there! :D

[Lizzie1213]

Hello cc'ers!

 

My partner and I are sailing on the Noordam 10-day Barbados and back. This is our first time on the Noordam and our first trip ever to the Caribbean. I am so excited to see blue water, white sand, coral and colorful fish for the first time in the wild!

 

So in one short sentence... What's your top recommendation for some excited Caribbean newbies?

 

We loved Calabazza's sailboat snorkeling tour of Barbados. They limit guests to only 12, and pick you up at the pier in a taxi. They also provide wonderful, gourmet food, open bar, snorkeling equiptment. We snorkeled over a shipwreck and with sea turtles (wild ones in the open ocean; NOT enclosed animals)

 

You can visit the message boards regarding the ports. Fellow cruisers will provide excellent suggestions.

[BoiseIdahoSpud]

Hey Spud!

 

I highly recommend Cuzzins on St Thomas for Caribbean/Soul Food - It's in Charlotte Amalie, just ask one of the locals for directions...

 

 

Perfect - thanks, Brian! We love soul food and will definitely give this a try. I'd like to connect with you on your RSVP experience too.

 

I really appreciate all these great suggestions and recommendations. time to do some research and perhaps change some of our excursions to work in these ideas!

 

Now... the long slog to make it through 2.5 more months of winter...

 

Happy sails everyone!

[BoiseIdahoSpud]

Hey Spud!

 

I highly recommend Cuzzins on St Thomas for Caribbean/Soul Food - It's in Charlotte Amalie, just ask one of the locals for directions...

 

 

Perfect - thanks, Brian! We love soul food and will definitely give this a try. I'd like to connect with you on your RSVP experience too.

 

I really appreciate all these great suggestions and recommendations. Time to do some research and perhaps change some of our excursions to work in these ideas!

 

Now... the long slog to make it through 2.5 more months of winter...

 

Happy sails everyone!

[Rich824]

Hello cc'ers!

 

My partner and I are sailing on the Noordam 10-day Barbados and back. This is our first time on the Noordam and our first trip ever to the Caribbean. I am so excited to see blue water, white sand, coral and colorful fish for the first time in the wild!

 

So in one short sentence... What's your top recommendation for some excited Caribbean newbies?

 

Hi,

 

I'm also booked on the Noordam 10 day Caribbean cruise, the one departing March 28. The Caribbean is a great place to cruise, especially after a harsh winter. Well, just to give you a few ideas of things to do:

 

-St. Maarten, I've taken a tour with Bernard's tours before and he does a really good job. This time though, probably just do some shopping then go to Maho beach to watch arriving aircraft.

 

-On Barbados, we just booked a tour with glory tours to go to Harrison's cave as well as swimming with the sea turtles (island adventure tour). I took a tour with Glory tours in 2005, so I'm looking forward to going with the same company again but just a different tour.

 

-For St. Thomas, probably go to the beach at Lindberg bay since Holland America docks across the bay and not Havensight.

 

Everyone needs to do what's comfortable for them, but I find it's worth the savings to do shore excursions on our own to save some money. However, I only pick vendors after doing research on each one.

 

Hope that helps some, but post if you have any other questions.

 

Rich