Excursion/Non Excursion Suggestions

[soldoncruising81]

Hello! I am new to this whole cruise critic thing....however, I thought it would be a good idea to find out some input on what my husband and I should do before we go on our cruise. We leave next Sunday on Celebrity "Solstice". This will be our 3rd cruise together.

Since I am 5 1/2 months pregnant, we didn't think that signing up for excursions would be a great idea. So, I am curious, how safe is it for us to be able to just hitch a cab to a destination and then make sure that we're back to the port in time before it leaves? Have many done this before? On our other 2 cruises, we did excursions for every port, because we felt like we should take advantage of them. However, this time we just want to relax/sight see/shop/etc. Here are the ports we are stopping at: San Juan, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten. Any beach suggestions, sight seeing suggestions, best way to get from point A to point B would be VERY much appreciated. My husband and I both have found the posts from all of you very helpful, and know that asking these questions, you will be honest with your answers and insights!

Thank you in advance!

[Denny01]

Welcom and I hope you find a lot of what you are looking for here. I'd recommend you try two forums:

Roll Call. This is a forum for each specific cruise. Listed by ship and then specific cruise. Go to the top of this forum and click on 'Celebrity Roll Call', select your ship and then find your specific cruise. There will be a whole lot of people on your cruise sharing info and communicating. They can help you a good deal also.

Ports of Call/Shore Excursions: Listed by cruise area then by ports of call/islands. Lots of info on where to go on your own and how to get there.

 

There will be others posting here giving you some advice, but those two sites will help you also.

 

Enjoy and congratuations!

 

Den

[TheresaK]

This is just my personal opinion, but we have done tours from the cruise line and tours on our own. The cruise tours are very expensive, they are done on their time, you have to wait for everybody to board the buses before you can leave. If you hire a taxi driver, the price is about 1/3 or what you pay the cruise line, you leave when you want to, you have personalized service and you can go the same places. The only thing you have to be careful about is time, but we have never had any problems. If you don't get back to the ship on time, they will leave without you. If you go on the cruise tours, they will not leave without you even if you are late.

[Arwen]

Hello! I am new to this whole cruise critic thing....however, I thought it would be a good idea to find out some input on what my husband and I should do before we go on our cruise. We leave next Sunday on Celebrity "Solstice". This will be our 3rd cruise together.

Since I am 5 1/2 months pregnant, we didn't think that signing up for excursions would be a great idea. So, I am curious, how safe is it for us to be able to just hitch a cab to a destination and then make sure that we're back to the port in time before it leaves? Have many done this before? On our other 2 cruises, we did excursions for every port, because we felt like we should take advantage of them. However, this time we just want to relax/sight see/shop/etc. Here are the ports we are stopping at: San Juan, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten. Any beach suggestions, sight seeing suggestions, best way to get from point A to point B would be VERY much appreciated. My husband and I both have found the posts from all of you very helpful, and know that asking these questions, you will be honest with your answers and insights!

Thank you in advance!

 

Check out TripAdvisor.com for suggestions. I have found that website to be a wealth of knowledge on what to do and see and people rate the experience.

 

Whatever you do, as others say, make sure you leave enough time to return to the ship. My comfort zone is to make sure I begin my trek back to the ship at least two hours or even three depending on how far I am from the ship.

 

Traffic jams, accidents, construction projects are all things that can slow you down.

 

It is true that the ship's excursions are more expensive and you are herded about. We have done more and more independent excursions and enjoy them.

 

My only warning is to people who plan any water based activity in the Caribbean on their own.....safety is an issue. I will post on that later. After a recent experience, I will only book Caribbean water excursions through the ship.

[vickykay]

Hi. Just off the Solstice a week ago Sunday - beautiful ship and you will enjoy the cruise. We have been to San Juan several times, so just walk around however, the first time we were there, we did take the ship's walking tour of old San Juan and found it to be very enjoyable and informative.

 

Several fellow cruisers took a tour of St. Thomas with Godfrey tours (can find on the web - just google) and had many positives to say about it, reasonable price - some time sightseeing, shopping and a couple of hours at the beach (Megans I believe). You can also just take a cab to Megan's bay (a beautiful beach) and then back to ship or town to shop.

 

At St. Maarten we just take a cab to Orient Beach (our favorite, cabs taking several passengers are waiting at the port, easy to get loungers/ umbrellas once there), spend a few hours, then a cab to town for a little shopping, water taxi back to ship - all very easy to do. There are other beaches also - check on the port message board.

 

Have a great cruise!

 

vicky

[soldoncruising81]

Thanks so much!!! We are excited. We've been to these same ports before as well....but we've never done the "let's do it ourselves" thing before!

I can't believe we leave in less than a week! I'm ready for some warmer weather!

[We're The Groupnors]

We just did the same itinerary as you in mid-Feb. Having been to all three ports many times before we just did things on our own. In SJ you will dock right in the old town. We walked around and shopped; they have a great Coach store, Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren, etc., within easy walking distance of the pier. But, there are a lot of cobblestone streets, so if you're uncomfortable walking them at 5-1/2 months pregnant you may want to take a tour.

 

In St. Thomas there are plentiful taxis available to take you into town. We like to have lunch on the covered patio at Cafe Amici to break up the day. It's always cool there and wood oven pizzas are great.

 

In St. Maarten, you can take a taxi or a water taxi the short ride into town, where there is a beach in addition to the boardwalk and shopping, though certainly not the nicest beach on the island. Last time we took a 25 minute taxi ride to the French side to look around, as it had been many years since we had done that.

 

Bottom line, you will have plenty of time to do things on your own and make it back before the ship sails. We thought this itinerary was especially relaxing, and often went back to the blissfully empty ship early since we felt to pressure to do anything special in these ports, having been there so many times before.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

[verodoodle]

soldoncruising81--Come over to our Roll Call and see who else is cruising with you. :) we are!

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1314131&page=6

[Lsimon]

St. Thomas and St. Martin are both great places where it is great to head to the beach on your own, go to the main shopping district on your own, or even tour - all via taxi. Both places have organized taxi dispatchers with set fares that the dispatcher will tell you. At St. Martin there is a big price board showing common taxi destinations and fares for different numbers of people. In St. Thomas if you're going to a common destination it is very customary for the taxi driver to take several passengers heading to that general area and all taxi fares there are per person.

 

Shopping in both of the port's downtown area, a short ride from the cruise ship, is some of the best in the Caribbean. Both have fantastic beaches and I'd recommend a look through the port of call forums for the particular island if you're trying to decide which one.

 

Personally I wouldn't bother with an excursion at either place except for a day-sail in St. Thomas and even there I'd book one of the private small sail boats that take a maximum of 6 people - there are quite a few discussed regularly on the St. Thomas forum.

 

San Juan is a fine place to just get off the ship and wonder around by foot if you're up to walking a lot. I've heard there is also a free shuttle up to the forts and some of the popular tourist areas but I've never tried these. Save your beach time for St. Martin and/or St. Thomas.

[soldoncruising81]

Thank you for all your suggestions!! They have really helped us do more research. We are VERY excited to go! We just got upgraded to the Aqua Class now too...so more relaxation?? SURE!!