Southern Caribbean vs Other with Kids

[Rob_Jen]

We have been on numerous cruises all over the Caribbean but not to the Southern Caribbean in over 10 years and never with the kids (9 and 6). The kids have been on multiple Disney cruises to the Easter and Western Caribbean and one Carnival cruise to the western Caribbean.

 

We were planning on going on the Disney Magic out of San Juan this fall that goes to Antigua, St. Kitts, Barbados, St. Lucia and Grenada. We have been on the Magic and love that ship. Only one sea day is a drawback.

 

How kid friendly are those Islands? We have been to all of them pre kids and St. Kitts, St. Lucia from our view were not the greatest.

 

The week were are looking at the other Disney ship the Fantasy goes to the Eastern Caribbean which we have done a few years ago but did not find St, Marteen that great either. Plus we did the Fanstasy two years in a row.

 

We really like the Disney ships but want to make sure the Southern Caribbean is good for the kids.

[14ersco]

We cruised most of the Southern Caribbean over two weeks with Royal Caribbean in 2011 when our son was 8 and found the islands to be a mixed bag for being kid friendly. We were never afraid being on the islands, just the poverty and aggressiveness of some of the locals on a few of the islands. We didn't go to Grenada. Our observations, activities, and opinions:

 

Puerto Rico - We were there for a week prior to our cruise, arriving at the end of a tropical storm. So the beaches and streets were still a little muddy and not all were open. On our arrival day the storm was still happening, so it was touring of Costco and Bacardi. :p Over the next days we went through the forts (National Park Jr. Ranger), El Yunque National Forest, Rio Camuy Cave, and Arecibo Observatory. The highlight was going with East Wind Cats out to Isabel Sequnda to float in the bioluminescent bay. :cool:

 

St. Kitts - Once we were past the monkey people near the dock this was a nice island to tour. Just beyond the port we picked up our rental car to circle the island with visits to Caribelle Batik (Romney Gardens), Brimstone Hill Fortress, Black Rocks, and the afternoon at Sunset beach.

 

Antigua - The most aggressive locals at the port of any islands we have been at, but after walking a few blocks to the bus station everyone else we met was friendly. We took local bus 22 to Valley Church beach for the day.

 

St. Lucia - Beautiful island, but with obvious poverty. This was actually a good lesson to our son to see boys his age begging for change by diving off a dock. We used a local tour company to do a combination land and sea tour down to Soufriere to the sulfur springs. The snorkeling at the resort beach below the Pitons was great.

 

Barbados - A very clean, friendly, and British affiliated island. I also drove this island to do a circle tour. We went east to Hackleton's Cliff and and St. John's Cathedral for the great views over the wild coast. Most of the morning was spent at Andromeda Gardens. We had other spots we wanted to visit, but ran out of time wandering the hills. A good map is necessary and even then expect on getting turned around a few times. We finished out the day at a beach just north of the port, the ship was in sight. Some of the locals got a few turtles to come near us by cleaning their fish.

[cb at sea]

Kids live there....so I supposed ALL islands are "kid friendly"! What you need to do is get a guidebook...find out all there is to do in each place! There's plenty to do, but these boards tend to focus on "excursion-y" things. There is more to each place than snorkeling or stingrays!

[anonmom]

St. Kitts - Once we were past the monkey people

 

Please, PLEASE tell me there is some rational, non racist way to parse this. People selling monkeys? People dressed up as monkeys? People with performing monkeys?

[ducklite]

Please, PLEASE tell me there is some rational, non racist way to parse this. People selling monkeys? People dressed up as monkeys? People with performing monkeys?

 

 

There are a number if people with those little monkeys (Capuchins?) who will sit in your shoulder. The catch is they want to charge you $10 for a photo of the money in your shoulder, and can get pretty aggressive about it. Kind of like the guys dressed up as a Roman Soldiers in front of the Forum and Colosseum.

[anonmom]

There are a number if people with those little monkeys (Capuchins?) who will sit in your shoulder. The catch is they want to charge you $10 for a photo of the money in your shoulder, and can get pretty aggressive about it. Kind of like the guys dressed up as a Roman Soldiers in front of the Forum and Colosseum.

 

Thanks!

[14ersco]

Monkey people is just a common phrase on these boards for any of the aggressive people usually just outside the controlled area of the ports with various animals looking to make money by placing on unsuspecting tourists; monkeys, lizards, parrots, etc. It is good to explain to your kids not to go near any of the animals that people may be carrying at the docks or on a beach. Interesting occurrence in Antigua was that one of these aggressive people we got by on the docks in the morning was working his trade on our beach in the afternoon.