Caribbean first timer advice

[NAUdebo]

Headed to the Eastern Caribbean on the Valor in two weeks with my DW - neither of us have been anywhere in the Caribbean before! Oddly enough, we've each been on three cruises before, but never to the most popular cruise location in the world.

 

We're trying to put together the plan for our time in port. We have a full day at Half Moon Cay (9-5), San Juan (7-3:30), and St. Thomas (9-6) with a shorter stay at Grand Turk (11-5).

 

I've been looking at the forums for each port, but there's a lot of crossover and it seems like you can do the same kinds of activities in each place. So my question is about matching activities to the best port for them.

 

DW is expecting, and she'll be 11 weeks along, so hitting the beach bars isn't something we're going to be doing this time! Of course, scuba and some things like parasailing are out on this trip too. We're both in our late 20's, but mainly looking to get away and spend some time together. We definitely want to snorkel a couple times and see the most scenic beaches we can find. Our preference is more for solitude than crowds, and we like to do our own thing but are willing to use the Carnival excursions when it makes sense. No missing the boat and getting left behind! :D

 

The one problem that I'm seeing from the Carnival excursion options is the limited amount of time you have at a lot of the places. For example, we're interested in Trunk Bay at St. John, but it's only a four hour trip. By the time you get to TB and get in the water, I'm guessing we only would have about two hours at the beach. Not to mention the beach will be packed with people on the excursion - I don't know if it's worth it.

 

The only thing we know we'll do is spend some time exploring Old San Juan and taking the bus ride to the Bacardi factory. That way I get her free drink tickets! ;) San Juan seems to be the only place of the four that has much in the way of culture and an urban setting, so we'll take advantage of that.

 

As for the other three (HMC, Grand Turk, St. Thomas), what would everyone recommend for us? Thanks for any insight you have!

[Winterstale]

Go to Trunk Bay anyway...

[Winterstale]

Seriously...if you've never been to the Caribbean and you really want to book an excursion via Carnival -- that's where I'd go if I were you.

 

We spend every summer in the British Virgins -- right behind St. John -- on our first trip, we went over to St. John's from Tortola and tried snuba at Trunk Bay -- I know you guys won't be doing that -- but the beach is quite lovely and - IMHO - nicer than anything they're offering on STT.

 

On the other hand, you could get off the ship and have a cab bring you to someplace like Secret Harbour - the Secret Harbour Beach Resort is right there so you can buy something to eat or drink, etc. It really depends on how long you have in port. Most of the time on ilon, if you get a cab to take you someplace? They will give you their card so you can call them when you're ready to leave.

[B and C Blake]

HMC is a beach day.

 

Grand Turk is a beach day, LOL OK OK at Grand Turk go through cruise port past the taxis outside of cruise port gate there will be folks renting golf carts and scooters. GC is 80 for the day and scooters are 40. Most of them will have a map. The island is not big. But really too far to walk with no sidewalks. You can tour through Cockburn and out out to the lighthouse. In all maybe 2 -2.5 hrs. On the way back you can stop at Jack's shack you will see a sign on left side before getting to cruise port entrance. Jack's is like a neighbor's deck party BBQ. The beach there is not rocky like down at the cruise center.

 

St Thomas someone else will have to help with. We did the Champagne Catamaran/ Snorkel to St John's.

[MissRabbit]

Our last visit to St. Thomas was our best. We paid $9/pp to hop on a safari van (open air group taxi) and went to Coki Beach. Spent a few hours there snorkeling and feeding the hundreds of fish swarming around us. It was so surreal and peaceful. When it came time to leave, a safari bus driver came up to us and asked us if we were leaving. We said yes, so he told us which van was his. Within a few minutes of climbing onto the van, we were off to the port. Add in a couple bucks for paying for dog biscuits to feed the fish, we had a whole day's fun for $40.

[B and C Blake]

Our last visit to St. Thomas was our best. We paid $9/pp to hop on a safari van (open air group taxi) and went to Coki Beach. Spent a few hours there snorkeling and feeding the hundreds of fish swarming around us. It was so surreal and peaceful. When it came time to leave, a safari bus driver came up to us and asked us if we were leaving. We said yes, so he told us which van was his. Within a few minutes of climbing onto the van, we were off to the port. Add in a couple bucks for paying for dog biscuits to feed the fish, we had a whole day's fun for $40.

 

those open air taxi drivers are brutal .. heck any driver in St Thomas:eek: but OP said his DW is preggers .. might not be a good idea. :confused:

 

I think there is a ferry to St John's is near the cruise port. Nice relaxing ride there pristine waters.

[MissRabbit]

those open air taxi drivers are brutal .. heck any driver in St Thomas:eek: but OP said his DW is preggers .. might not be a good idea. :confused:

 

I think there is a ferry to St John's is near the cruise port. Nice relaxing ride there pristine waters.

 

i think any taxi/ship excursion ride in St. Thomas would be a bumpy ride as the roads were atrocious. I agree that the ferry ride to St. John's would be much less bumpy.

[Sauer-kraut]

On Grand Turk,

walk down the jetty into the terminal building, exit LEFT and walk down the beach PAST Maragritaville, but not as far as Jack's Shack. There is another bar there that has nice restrooms but we didn't buy anything there. Plant your fanny on the sand and then go swimming and snorkle there. There were a ton of fish to see in the rocky area. We brough our own masks and snorkles and just paddled away. It was a lot of fun and much better to see fish there than at Half Moon Cay, that was a waste of effort to cart my snorkle stuff to that beach.

[mikel24m]

We are doing this itinerary on the Valor as well on 10/09/11.We are very experienced cruisers and I do a ton of research and have always had home runs

 

HMC we are having a beach day with lunch that the ship provides

St thomas we are also going to trunks bay ,my friend worked on a cruise ship and he said its beautiful and not to be missed

in grand turk were going to jacksshack.tc .I know you dont really want bars and stuff but the beach is nice and they say the food is great as well on the website i provided theres a coupon for a free shot of rum if you print it out

Puerto Rico im stumped myself .I did read that the Bacardi tour was a waste of time and I looked on the ports of call boards for Puerto Rico and most people do fort tours ,theres alot of really old history there

[B and C Blake]

We are doing this itinerary on the Valor as well on 10/09/11.We are very experienced cruisers and I do a ton of research and have always had home runs

 

HMC we are having a beach day with lunch that the ship provides

St thomas we are also going to trunks bay ,my friend worked on a cruise ship and he said its beautiful and not to be missed

in grand turk were going to jacksshack.tc .I know you dont really want bars and stuff but the beach is nice and they say the food is great as well on the website i provided theres a coupon for a free shot of rum if you print it out

Puerto Rico im stumped myself .I did read that the Bacardi tour was a waste of time and I looked on the ports of call boards for Puerto Rico and most people do fort tours ,theres alot of really old history there

 

Mike .. Google segway tours of puerto rico .. there is only 1. They do an awesome tour .. see part 2 album in my sig. We just sailed eastern on Valor end of Aug.

[DocF]

We are not beach people as you will see when I tell you what we did/do in various ports.

 

San Juan has not been on any of our cruises so far.

 

St. Thomas is a day to visit the "straw market" like vendors near the main shopping street. I have gotten some great bargains on island shirts and similar.

 

Grand Turk: We took the tour into the town. It is a very good thing to do as you see how most of the Caribbean was before being inundated with tourists. This was very interesting. That being said, we will be doing a beach day when we hit there on our TA.

 

Half Moon Cay is the best stop in the Caribbean. This is the one beach we really look forward to visiting. Also, for some reason the burgers and dogs taste really great on the island. The ship's crew does everything and carries everything onto and off the island. It is a lot of extra work for them, yet they always seem to enjoy it a lot.

 

Enjoy your cruise; no matter what you decide, you will have a great time.

 

Doc

[Thoth]

San Juan is my favorite Caribbean port with all that history. Old San Juan is just so neat!

From St Thomas I loved the excursion over to St John with its US National Park.

[NAUdebo]

Thanks for the help, everyone! So we'll definitely go to Trunk Bay, that sounds like a yes from everyone. Now, what's the best way to do it? I'd like to have a few good hours there. We dock at 9 and leave at 6. When would we need to be on a ferry back to St. Thomas to feel comfortable and not stressed about missing the ship? Or do we just book through Carnival, enjoy a couple hours there, and not worry about how we get there and back? We're pretty independent and can figure things out, but there's something about being on a different island than the ship that makes me pause.

[Colorado Kat]

For Half Moon Cay, I think the only option is a beach day. Haven't been there yet, but it sounds heavenly, and I can't wait to try it.

 

In St. Thomas, you might want to try a cruise excursion. The traffic there can be brutal, (especially in the afternoon heading back to the ship). Perhaps better safe than sorry.