AOS in 6 months....help me plan!

[sherlynn]

I'm in the "planning mood" for our upcoming December Southern Caribbean cruise aboard the Adventure of the Seas. I'm looking for any and all tips, ideas and suggestions. We are doing the Barbados route so also looking for great beaches or shore excursion suggestions for our stops in Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Maarten, Antigua and St. Croix. I would really like to do a zip-line tour if anyone has tips on where to go for that as well. I appreciate all the ideas I receive here on CC and find everyone's information so helpful.

 

Thanks in advance,

[hospital]

Hi there, I can't help you with tours as we did none when we did this cruise in April, however I will tell you if you're in St. Croix and you should decide to do something on your own, using a taxi in port, MAKE SURE they will also come back and pick you up. We took a taxi into town and he had another appointment so he could not come back to get us and told us just grab any cab and you will be okay. NOT, we could not get a cab and almost missed the ship, we were told over and over again if they didn't bring you they wouldn't bring you back. :eek: Really!!! I finally spoke to someone and told them I didn't think RCCL would be too happy to know that their passengers were having a difficult time in this port and it might hinder them using that port. (probably not but at that point anything was a shot). That sparked him a little and he found someone willing to take us back and we also had a father and son beg us to let them share the cab for the same reason. I said even if you have to sit on our lap climb on in. We did make it back, thankfully minutes before the ship was leaving, unfortunatley the taxi driver that drove us back groaned and moaned the entire ride. He didn't want to go to the ship, he makes more money going to the airport. I finally had to tell him to stop talking and just drive, he was being paid and if he wanted a tip he should drive and be respectful. Other than that the island is pretty and most people were very friendly. I would use either the ship's excursion there or an independent one. Do not rely on the taxi system. My opinion only. Would I go back there absolutely, but I would definitely do things differently...

[Janet Foster]

Look under ports of call. .it will get island specific and you may find suggestions there!

 

 

Good luck!

[emtb12]

I'm in the "planning mood" for our upcoming December Southern Caribbean cruise aboard the Adventure of the Seas. I'm looking for any and all tips, ideas and suggestions. We are doing the Barbados route so also looking for great beaches or shore excursion suggestions for our stops in Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Maarten, Antigua and St. Croix. I would really like to do a zip-line tour if anyone has tips on where to go for that as well. I appreciate all the ideas I receive here on CC and find everyone's information so helpful.

 

Thanks in advance,

 

We did this route in April on the Adventure. Love that ship! Go to deck 4 and then walk all the way forward to the helicopter pad. Great place to watch the sun come up.

Barbados is a beautiful island. We rented a taxi and did an island tour. Just breath taking! We then book the afternoon shipwreck/sea turtle excersion thru RCI. It was amazing. The current was to strong to snorkle the shipwreck, as the police would not let us in the water. The people running the excersion brought us to another spot to snorkle a reef instead. Beautiful fish. The turtles were amazing. Came right up to us! Would do this again in a minute. St Lucia: DO NOT book the taxi's to take you to the waterfall/volcano. It is a 2 hour ride one way and they do not tell you this prior to booking it. Then you spend 15 minutes at each site and then 2 hour ride back. It was horrible! Antigua: We did a beach day. I do not remember the name of the beach, but it was by the helicopter airport. It was a lovely beach that was a short ride from ship. Clean with changing rooms, rest rooms, and a food/drink vendor. St. Maarten: We scheduled a shipwreck snorkel thru RCI. Seeing that it was a holiday, the vender that they use was closed. They secured a vendor and other than the boat being on the small side, the crew did a great job. Shipwrecks were nice. We are going back to St. Maarten in Feb. on the Navigator and have booked this excersion again (as this time we will have the children with us). St. Croix: We did a beach day at rainbow beach. If you get there early, you can get small beach chairs that recline. When they run out, you get hard plastic chairs. They had a bar/resturaunt. ATV adventure across the street, and jet skis. The beach was small and clean. A little rocky getting in, but then it was crystal clear. Beautiful view of the ship from their.

Enjoy your cruise!

[sherlynn]

Thanks for the tips so far.....keep 'em coming please! :)

[cruiseguy1016]

We've done two southern routes out of San Juan and have another booked for next year. I will recommend two excursions that we thoroughly enjoyed. The first is a Segway tour in San Juan. If you get there a day early or have time after the cruise before your plane departs, find Segway tours of San Juan in Old San Juan and do the fortress tour with them.

 

The next recommendation is a catamaran tour with Cool Runnings in Barbados.

[sherlynn]

Just watched the video for Cool Runnings....looks amazing! I have a turtle swim on my wish list so it's always great to hear good reviews from folks who have participated in it. Did you book that tour privately or thru the cruise line?

[Host Faith]

We've done this cruise twice- once each on the AOS and the Serenade. Such a great itinerary. We were so happy with our choices for the AOS that we pretty much did the same excursions when sailing the Serenade. Details are in my review below. Feel free to ask any questions about the tours or locations I highlighted.

 

If you've never been to Puerto Rico, I would suggest arriving in San Juan a night or two (even better) before the cruise. Take a self-guided walking tour, or hire a guide to take you through the Old City. Check out the San Juan port of call board here on CC for ideas and suggestions. Be sure to visit El Morro Fort- just incredible sea views and photo ops. You'll want to be out on deck or on your balcony during sailaway, which happens at night. You'll see El Morro and the rest of Old San Juan illuminated against the night sky. Just one of the most beautiful sailaways you'll experience.

 

Enjoy the ship and your cruise!

[sherlynn]

We've done this cruise twice- once each on the AOS and the Serenade. Such a great itinerary. We were so happy with our choices for the AOS that we pretty much did the same excursions when sailing the Serenade. Details are in my review below. Feel free to ask any questions about the tours or locations I highlighted.

 

If you've never been to Puerto Rico, I would suggest arriving in San Juan a night or two (even better) before the cruise. Take a self-guided walking tour, or hire a guide to take you through the Old City. Check out the San Juan port of call board here on CC for ideas and suggestions. Be sure to visit El Morro Fort- just incredible sea views and photo ops. You'll want to be out on deck or on your balcony during sailaway, which happens at night. You'll see El Morro and the rest of Old San Juan illuminated against the night sky. Just one of the most beautiful sailaways you'll experience.

 

Enjoy the ship and your cruise!

 

Great review and you've given me some great ideas for each port!

[cgrout78]

Did the same cruise with the same intinerary this past January and loved every minute of it. In St Lucia you're better off booking a private tour IMHO, We used Herod and had a great time, but on the St Lucia board you can get ideas for a couple of other tours to try. St Croix is a great place to just relax on the beach. It's a VERY port heavy cruise, so don't feel like you have to plan something for every day otherwise you may end up needing a vacation after your vacation!!!

[Host Faith]

Great review and you've given me some great ideas for each port!

 

Thank you! Glad it's helpful :)

[cruiseguy1016]

Just watched the video for Cool Runnings....looks amazing! I have a turtle swim on my wish list so it's always great to hear good reviews from folks who have participated in it. Did you book that tour privately or thru the cruise line?

 

We booked the tour privately. We made a reservation on line. I think we paid a deposit in advance and the balance when we got to the boat. They will pick you up right at the cruise pier and take you to their boat. After the tour they tale you back to the ship but we declined and spent some time walking around town and then took a taxi back to the ship.

[newlifeca]

Here's a super quick review of our trip in April on the same itinerary

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1396252

[sherlynn]

Did the same cruise with the same intinerary this past January and loved every minute of it. In St Lucia you're better off booking a private tour IMHO, We used Herod and had a great time, but on the St Lucia board you can get ideas for a couple of other tours to try. St Croix is a great place to just relax on the beach. It's a VERY port heavy cruise, so don't feel like you have to plan something for every day otherwise you may end up needing a vacation after your vacation!!!

 

Is there a beach you would recommend in St. Croix? Yes, I agree that doing something in each port could get exhausting and by the end of the week, we'll likely be content to just hang at a beach for a few hours and return to the ship early. I believe St. Croix is our last port. I've been to St. Maarten before...I think it was Sapphire beach that we went to.....may want to see something different in St. Maarten for a change.

[Host Faith]

Is there a beach you would recommend in St. Croix? Yes, I agree that doing something in each port could get exhausting and by the end of the week, we'll likely be content to just hang at a beach for a few hours and return to the ship early. I believe St. Croix is our last port. I've been to St. Maarten before...I think it was Sapphire beach that we went to.....may want to see something different in St. Maarten for a change.

 

If you don't want to go far, there's a beach right at the port: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1299839

[newlifeca]

On St Croix we did a half day excursion to Buck Island with Big Beard's tour. Had a good time

[cgrout78]

Is there a beach you would recommend in St. Croix? Yes, I agree that doing something in each port could get exhausting and by the end of the week, we'll likely be content to just hang at a beach for a few hours and return to the ship early. I believe St. Croix is our last port. I've been to St. Maarten before...I think it was Sapphire beach that we went to.....may want to see something different in St. Maarten for a change.

 

 

I believe the one we went to was Rainbow beach. There were taxis right there at the pier that would take you there and back. There was a restaurant/bar, chairs to rent etc. A nice relaxing day.