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Star Clipper Virgin Islands


molly23

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Hello!

We just finished a 2 week cruise on Star Clipper. Wow! Where to begin?

The ship was immaculate, food spectacular and not a drop of rain!

cabin 345 with the platform bed 4 feet above floor level. Great fun as always.

Fun mix of passangers, 125 the first week and 100 the second week. Just perfect.

Did al lot of snorkenilg and floating too. Barracudas and sting rays for all. No danger but very cool.

If you have questions, shoot away!

 

A bientot

 

Ahoy!

 

I've been "eyeballing" the following tours available on the Star Clipper Leeward & Treasure Island itineraries.

 

Most of the tours (3-4 hours) seem fairly reasonable pricewise (there are exceptions of course). It also seems there would be plenty of time to swim & snorkel at the local beach following a tour & enjoy a local libation or two;).

 

Any opinions / thoughts on the following tours would be appreciated:

 

Dominica: River Tubing

Guadeloupe: Caret Island Cruise / Lunch tour

Antigua: Kayak Eco tour

St. Barts (we'll be there twice): Sailing the Leeward

Coast tour + rent a car 2nd visit to explore.

Virgin Gorda: The Baths tour

St. Kitts: Caribbean Cooking tour

 

Thank you in advance for any information.

 

Bon Voyage & Good Health!

Bob:)

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I can only help you with 2 of these. We did the Baths tour on Virgin Gorda. The best part was the open air bus that traveled along beautiful roads with some amazing vista points, that they stop at for pictures. We had an unfortunate experience at the Baths with a death on the beach (not from our ship). A real Buzz Killer, so to speak, because they laid him out on the beach, uncovered, while waiting for transport. The path down to the rocks/beach is rough but not too long. My hubby has mobility issues and it was difficult for him. The beach was super crowded because 2 big cruise ships were in port on that side of the island. The giant rocks are amazing to climb through but the beach and water were too crowded to enjoy. There is a nice bar with a beautiful view at the top of the path. Virgin Gorda is where you will have your Beach Barbeque where they set up a nice spread of food on a nice flat calm beach. There are also some nice bars (seems like all I do is talk about bars...hmmm) on shore that they will shuttle you too and from in to the late evening. One had live music.

On St Barts there are many Taxi drivers who will be happy to drive you around the island, going anywhere you want, for a reasonable price. A lot faster and easier than renting a car. The driver we had kept stopping at all the photo op places for us. Some of the streets are very narrow with Mopeds zipping in and out. I would not want to drive there. Negotiate the price ahead of time. We had our driver drop us off at a nice beach and he picked us up a few hours later and brought us back to the Tender spot for the ship. There are many high end designer shops within easy walking distance and an impressive row of mega yachts. Walk past the yachts and a bit through town, keeping to the right, and you will find Shell Beach that is actually made of shells. It has a nice Bar...there I go again!!...and is the perfect place to watch sunset.

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Where to begin?

Giant snails from France? We had an apetizer of snails! Huge and about 10 of them. Our fellow dinner companions were impressed. My hubby described them as the garden slug variety. Very tasty.

Best snorkeling off the beach at no cost: Norman Island and St-Kitts. Wonderful variety of fish and coral.

Guadeloupe: we negociated a 50 euro cab ride for a tour of the north part of the island. The driver did not speak French. I do! 2 hour tour!

Do the Bath excursion, it's a must! Then they take you to Prickley Pear Island for the picnic. Plenty of angel fish there to nibble at your feet.

St-Barths: Take a walk to Plage St-Jean. You will go by the scariest airport runway in the world! At the base of it there is a beach and a very good beach bar. Have enough food and drinks and they might treat you with their homemade vanilla rhum shooter. Miammm. Great wifi there too. 30 minute walk up and downhill. If I can do it, most people can. You also go by the prettiest graveyard!

 

Do the St-Maarten thing: get blasted on Maho beach. Get lucky and watch KLM 747 take off. We did! The small bar is the best. Rhum punch to kill any virus known to man.

 

Jost Van Dyke: Floater's paradise. A bit of snorkeling but the main attraction is Soggy Dollar Bar. Beer is 5$ and Painkillers are 6$.

I did the trek every hour for the group. We had a saying: It's beer o'clock!!!

Just be careful not to get salt water in the drinks!

 

Antigua: Because of winds, we were docked at the main terminal. Great public market to explore.

 

Ile des Saintes: best ice cream and sorbets in the world. All homemade. Off the pier, to your right. Yellow plastic chairs. Take euros!!!! You might go back twice. great beach to walk to. 30 minute walk. Take a cab if you want. Euros again. Fabulous clothing store too. Mahogany is the name.

 

Took the deserted island tour in Anguilla. Sandy Island. Rough waves for snorkeling. Lots of stuff washing up on the beach. We found bathing suits, shirts, underwear, fishing gear, tablecloth. Loads of fun. Maybe skip this one!

Dominica: negociate and catch a cab to take you in the mountain plantations. Wonderful and luscious. I did the tubing tour a few years ago: absolute blast of fun. fresh cool water and tons of giggles. Go ahead and enjoy this pristine island.

 

If you like small islands, also check out these two operators: Island WIndjammer, they have 2 ships. Diamant and Sagitta

WIndjammer Sailing has the beautiful 90 year old Mandalay sailing vessel. She is a beauty!

 

Any more questions, shoot!

 

Best regards, PuceOlive

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Packed!!! Leaving tomorrow for the Leeward Islands:D Spending a few days in St Martin before the sailing to acclimate. I'll check in upon return with any pearls of wisdom that I might collect. Bye Bye sweaters....Hello swim suits!!:cool:

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We're those giant snails drowning in garlic butter and cheese by any chance? I have my fingers crossed for YES!

Thanks for all the info, great stuff.

Prescottbob -looks like we're on the same B2B, see you on board.

 

Ahoy!

 

We'll be there (God willing) @ the Holland House arriving late afternoon 1/17. We've scheduled on the the Eagle Catamaran Sail, Snorkel & Suds all day tour for 1/18 prior to the 1/19 embarkation.

 

We'll see ya aboard. The predicted weather, thus far, looks great.

 

Bon Voyage & Good Health!

 

Bob:)

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Ahoy!

 

We'll be there (God willing) @ the Holland House arriving late afternoon 1/17. We've scheduled on the the Eagle Catamaran Sail, Snorkel & Suds all day tour for 1/18 prior to the 1/19 embarkation.

 

We'll see ya aboard. The predicted weather, thus far, looks great.

 

Bon Voyage & Good Health!

 

Bob:)

We're booked at Holland House as well but our flight isn't scheduled to arrive until 9:55 pm. On the 18th. Hoping HH holds our reservation as they don't respond to our e-mail.

See you in the islands.

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  • 2 weeks later...

We're back from another amazing adventure on the Star Clipper, Leeward Islands. If you have not left yet here's my biggest tip......pack the Bonine!! Oh My Goodness did we ever Rock and Roll :eek:!!!!! The crew said that it was the longest stretch of heavy winds that they had ever experienced. 4 days straight of big time bouncing. The sailors in the bunch LOVED it, the rest were sea sick...including me the first night and I have never been sea sick before(I took the sea sickness pill too late to keep it down and after that took one each morning and had no problems). One night the Captain took pity on us and remained at anchor behind Dominica so that we could have a nice dinner with out bouncing up and down. Here's the amazing part, despite extreme conditions it was still a wonderful trip...how could it not be?? Once I got my sea legs I was up at 6am every morning with my cup of coffee on the bow, riding the waves like a wild bull. Met many wonderful people. Here's another bit of news....after careful planning with lots of research, most of the excursions were not available or cancelled, not just due to the weather because some were not available even before the ship left the dock. Many people were disappointed. The best experiences that we had were when we got a Taxi and told them what we wanted to see. Find some other people to go with, up to 6, and the cost comes down. All were reasonable in price and very happy to show off their Island. Negotiate before you get in, they bend if you act like it is too much. Engage them in conversation and ask a lot of questions, they love it. (Except on St Barts where they are very over priced...$30 to a beach 10 minutes away!) I'm exhausted, multiple flight delays getting home, been up for almost 24 hours. Happy Sailings to you all!!:D

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We're back from another amazing adventure on the Star Clipper, Leeward Islands. If you have not left yet here's my biggest tip......pack the Bonine!! Oh My Goodness did we ever Rock and Roll :eek:!!!!! The crew said that it was the longest stretch of heavy winds that they had ever experienced. 4 days straight of big time bouncing. The sailors in the bunch LOVED it, the rest were sea sick...including me the first night and I have never been sea sick before(I took the sea sickness pill too late to keep it down and after that took one each morning and had no problems). One night the Captain took pity on us and remained at anchor behind Dominica so that we could have a nice dinner with out bouncing up and down. Here's the amazing part, despite extreme conditions it was still a wonderful trip...how could it not be?? Once I got my sea legs I was up at 6am every morning with my cup of coffee on the bow, riding the waves like a wild bull. Met many wonderful people. Here's another bit of news....after careful planning with lots of research, most of the excursions were not available or cancelled, not just due to the weather because some were not available even before the ship left the dock. Many people were disappointed. The best experiences that we had were when we got a Taxi and told them what we wanted to see. Find some other people to go with, up to 6, and the cost comes down. All were reasonable in price and very happy to show off their Island. Negotiate before you get in, they bend if you act like it is too much. Engage them in conversation and ask a lot of questions, they love it. (Except on St Barts where they are very over priced...$30 to a beach 10 minutes away!) I'm exhausted, multiple flight delays getting home, been up for almost 24 hours. Happy Sailings to you all!!:D

Welcome home. Glad to hear you had a great trip in spite of the weather. We'll have to see if we can round up some Bonine! We haven't bookied any excursions but are planning on doing the Baths. We'll just wing it once we are on board.

Not lomg now. We fly out on Friday!!!!!!!!!!!

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