Eastern Caribbean shore excursion advice needed!!!!!

[delaney.juliet@gmail.com]

My bf and I are going on a 7 day eastern Caribbean cruise on the carnival glory in a few weeks. I have been to the destinations before, however it has been years and this is my first vacation as an adult planning everything on my own. I have looked into third party shore excursions, however I prefer to stick to carnivals own shore excursions. What are your thoughts on the excursions offered for each port of call: half moon day, st Thomas and Puerto Rico.

 

My biggest hopes are for parasailing, snorkeling and zip lining. Can't find parasailing anywhere. Any thoughts on third party vendors for this? It's also my boyfriends first ever vacation, cruise, time out of the country and first time seeing the ocean!!! I want to make this as memorable as possible. Please, any and all advice is wanted and appreciated!!!!!

 

 

Thanks!!!!!

[susie8862]

Hi Juliet. You are going to have a wonderful time. Love the Glory. She is a great ship. Try not to stress. Everything will be great.

 

Your question should be posted in the "Ports of Call" Caribbean section

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=587

Go here and you will finds TONS of info on each particular Island.

Have a WONDERFUL cruise.

[delaney.juliet@gmail.com]

Thanks for the advice!

[susie8862]

Thanks for the advice!

:):o:)

[dredawg]

We were on the Glory two years ago and booked a parasailing excursion with Carnival. It was located right outside the port area and lasted about an hour so we had the rest of the day to do whatever we wanted. The views were fantastic and the guys who ran it were a blast...if they don't have it with Carnival anymore maybe just look around the port area and see if they are working independently.

Once we finished with parasailing we jumped into a cab and headed over to Coki Beach for some snorkelling and relaxation on the beautiful beach. I think cab fare was around 8 dollars each or something like that and we rented the snorkels for $5.00 from a guy on the beach...have fun!!

[dredawg]

One more thing....I don't think I saw zip lining but they did have a cable car that took you to the top of a hill giving you a great view of the bay and had some shops and places to eat. I think the price for that was around $25 each(not sure if I paid that for 1 or 2). The cable car is also located right at the dock so you can just walk over.

[delaney.juliet@gmail.com]

Thank you! I know carnival used to offer parasailing as a shore excursion a year+ ago, no longer it seems. Hoping I can just find something on the beach In half moon cay so we can snorkel in st Thomas and zip line in San juan. For snorkeling recommendations, how was coki? I heard Magen's beach isn't great for snorkeling and I heard sapphire is good but kind of run down. What about St. John too?

[dredawg]

I'll be honest, it wasn't great if you're a seasoned snorkeller but it was still fun and something I'd do there again.

There is some sort of aquarium to the right of the beach where I think you could touch sting rays in tubs of water but I heard it was a waste of money so don't do that but the snorkelling on that side of the beach was the best and I did see some really neat fish just not a whole bunch of coral.

The plus to Coki is that it is fairly close to port so you can have great beach day and see other things as well. We booked our driver over by the cable cars and he offered to pick us back up at the beach at our arranged time. It seems there was a spot the drivers go to play dominos and socialize while they wait for their passengers( he says this way the drivers can tell their wives they've been working all day) Our driver was the best...he walked us onto the beach and introduced us to a friend of his and said if we had any problems or wanted to leave early just let him know and he'll get our driver. Our driver was on time and even drove us to a store to buy cheap alcohol (st Thomas probably had the lowest prices we have seen)...

Don't be afraid to book tours independently. Go onto the "port of call" section on the main page and see where others are booking. Tour operators know the importance of getting you back on the ship on time. You even sometimes go to the same places as Carnival tours but you probably only paid half the price

[latitude918]

My bf and I are going on a 7 day eastern Caribbean cruise on the carnival glory in a few weeks. I have been to the destinations before, however it has been years and this is my first vacation as an adult planning everything on my own. I have looked into third party shore excursions, however I prefer to stick to carnivals own shore excursions. What are your thoughts on the excursions offered for each port of call: half moon day, st Thomas and Puerto Rico.

 

My biggest hopes are for parasailing, snorkeling and zip lining. Can't find parasailing anywhere. Any thoughts on third party vendors for this? It's also my boyfriends first ever vacation, cruise, time out of the country and first time seeing the ocean!!! I want to make this as memorable as possible. Please, any and all advice is wanted and appreciated!!!!!

 

 

Thanks!!!!!

 

If you have the time, go snorkeling in St. Thomas. They'll take you snorkeling off of Buck Island a sea turtle sanctuary.