Southern Carribean out of San Juan Question

[lovingCCL]

My DH and I are going on a 10 year anniversary cruise in November. The ports are the normal ones for this cruise (Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Thomas, St. Kitts and St. Maarten). I am definitely a beach person and my hubby is most definitely not. I want to do two beaches on this cruise and the rest we can do what he likes. Therefore, I want to get the most out of the beaches I choose. Which beaches are CAN'T miss on this cruise?

 

P.S. I am not interested in the beach that has the planes landing overhead. That looks way too close and I wouldn't be able to relax at all.

[caribnsnrklr]

Have done this cruise numerous times. You will love it. If I had to choose I would say St Maarten-Pinel Island . Has great beach, less crowded and snorkeling is decent. St Thomas-Sapphire Beach or St John Trunk Bay are great choices. St Lucia has great one at Ti Kaye Resort which you can day pass there and get picked up by boat. Hope that helps.

[dbrucern]

Our favorite beach is at St. Maarten - Orient beach we usually rent jeeps and go the L'Hoste have lunch and spend the day on the beach and we really are not beach people but plenty to see, eat and drink.

[pghsteelerfan]

Have done this cruise numerous times. You will love it. If I had to choose I would say St Maarten-Pinel Island . Has great beach, less crowded and snorkeling is decent. St Thomas-Sapphire Beach or St John Trunk Bay are great choices. St Lucia has great one at Ti Kaye Resort which you can day pass there and get picked up by boat. Hope that helps.

 

I totally agree with these suggestions. We were on this cruise in May 2013, but on Carnival Valor, and these are the beaches I'd choose. Have been in St. Thomas three times and Sapphire Beach and Trunk Bay in St. John are my favorites and you can't go wrong with either. We've also been to Pinel Island in St. Maaten twice and LOVE it. Another beach I'd recommend is Jalousie Beach (beach between the Pitons) in St. Lucia. Beautiful beach and great snorkeling. Can't really take a taxi there (would be very expensive and a long ride) so we had two options, the tour through Carnival which wasn't as long and we'd only have had about an hour and a half at the beach, not really enough time to spend snorkeling and to enjoy the beach. The other was to do a private tour, which we ended up doing. We booked a "Jalousie Beach Break" where we took a 45 minute speedboat ride to the beach, had about 5 hours for snorkeling/enjoying the beach and a great lunch was provided along with unlimited drinks (coke, diet coke, water, rum punch, Piton Beer). The ride back was also by speed boat but we had several stops along the way for the "sea tour" and great photo opportunities. It's really hard to pick a few great beaches on this cruise as Barbados also has beautiful beaches. St. Kitts beaches are nice, but not as spectacular as the others. That is a great island to do a tour of and it's small enough that you could actually do a tour and beach.

Edited March 21, 2015 by pghsteelerfan

[vitaminsea3]

Our favorite beaches were Jalousie Bay in St. Lucia. AMAZING being between the pitons. We went there as part of a day tour. Our second favorite was the Boatyard in Barbados but that beach is quite lively with tons of fun activities and music. You'll see most of the crew there. And in St Thomas our favorite is Megan's Bay. It's a beautiful beach. We found the beaches in St Maarten and St. Kitts to be ok, nice, but not as great as the ones above. Have fun on your cruise!

[CPT Trips]

It's a really great itinerary with excellent beaches on each island. Since you can't miss with beaches on any island, why not take the opposite approach? Look at the shorexs on each island and see whether there are any that you both would "die for," then decide your beach choices from the remaining islands.

 

Any way you cut it, you win!

[cb at sea]

A guidebook is what you need, before you start booking anything! Learn something about the places you'll go...and then you an maximize your time ashore! Research is key!

[searoses]

Barbados for sure....a few small boats will take you out to see the turtles..we swim out but it is pretty far...the turtles will swim near the boats looking to be fed...Paynes bay....idyllic...you can rent chaises and an umbrella and have drinks brought to you...enterprising,friendly young men make it easy..we also go to st john ...trunk bay is beautiful but cinnamon not as crowded....plenty of taxis waiting to take you back...st marten had damage from a hurricane last winter and some popular beaches seem to still be affected..orient producing a lot of seaweed still....have fun planning!

[Bonnie J.]

Cosol tours in St. Lucia was FANTASTIC and all day. At one point you take a boat to a beach below the Pitons and are there for about an hour. Then boat back and continue the tour. We had many stops for the view and at all there was water, soda or rum punch-free. We also stopped for breakfast. I can't tell you how many different foods were on, I think it was 3 or 4 long tables, for you to sample. At some stops there were vendors. A lady couldn't make up her mind if she should but a dress. This was one of the 1st stops. She decided not to buy it but later wished she had. She told out driver this so he detoured back to vendors house at the end of our tour! She had just closed and was walking up her driveway. The driver told her what the lady wanted and she went and got the dress!

The tour was supposed to be 5 1/2-6 hours but ours took almost 7 hours! And the driver was very aware of the time we had to be back on the ship. Google Cosol tours and see all they have to offer.

[cruiseapril]

We enjoyed Carlisle Bay beach from Harbour Lights - the Boatyard is down a bit from it- so there are choices.

 

On St. Thomas we like Magen's Bay Beach- have been there when crowded and when not crowded, but very nice. Others like Trunk Bay on St. John.

 

We went to Orient Beach in St. Martin- but found it crowded and the surf rough- so another time would go to a beach near Marigot.

[kteachcruiser52]

I totally agree with these suggestions. We were on this cruise in May 2013, but on Carnival Valor, and these are the beaches I'd choose. Have been in St. Thomas three times and Sapphire Beach and Trunk Bay in St. John are my favorites and you can't go wrong with either. We've also been to Pinel Island in St. Maaten twice and LOVE it. Another beach I'd recommend is Jalousie Beach (beach between the Pitons) in St. Lucia. Beautiful beach and great snorkeling. Can't really take a taxi there (would be very expensive and a long ride) so we had two options, the tour through Carnival which wasn't as long and we'd only have had about an hour and a half at the beach, not really enough time to spend snorkeling and to enjoy the beach. The other was to do a private tour, which we ended up doing. We booked a "Jalousie Beach Break" where we took a 45 minute speedboat ride to the beach, had about 5 hours for snorkeling/enjoying the beach and a great lunch was provided along with unlimited drinks (coke, diet coke, water, rum punch, Piton Beer). The ride back was also by speed boat but we had several stops along the way for the "sea tour" and great photo opportunities. It's really hard to pick a few great beaches on this cruise as Barbados also has beautiful beaches. St. Kitts beaches are nice, but not as spectacular as the others. That is a great island to do a tour of and it's small enough that you could actually do a tour and beach.

 

Was the tour you took to the Pitons the one with Spencer Ambrose? We are thinking about doing Jalousie Beach Break with him and wondered if you thought it was worth the $85 pp. Last time we were there we did Cosol's tour and while we loved all the things we saw, the hour we spent on Jalousie Beach was too short. Thanks! Did you snorkel there? Where was the best place on the beach to snorkel?

[pghsteelerfan]

Was the tour you took to the Pitons the one with Spencer Ambrose? We are thinking about doing Jalousie Beach Break with him and wondered if you thought it was worth the $85 pp. Last time we were there we did Cosol's tour and while we loved all the things we saw, the hour we spent on Jalousie Beach was too short. Thanks! Did you snorkel there? Where was the best place on the beach to snorkel?

 

Yes, it was the Spencer Ambrose "Jalousie Beach Break Tour" and we both (DH and I) thought it was well worth it. In addition to transportation to and from, with the bonus of the "Sea Tour" on the return trip, a full lunch (and unlimited drinks) are provided and they are included in the $85.00. The lunch was served buffet style and was very good. Since Jalousie Beach is at the Sugar Beach resort, there is a section of loungers under palapas over on the snorkeling side (left if you're looking at the beach from the water) for tour groups to use. With the "Beach Break" tour, you should be the first to arrive and have first pick of the loungers. The four - five hours at the beach was the reason we booked it. Our day was very fun, very scenic, great snorkeling, relaxed and enjoyable. I'd do it again. Well worth the money. If you'd like to see pictures and more details, I wrote a review about our trip (it was in May 2013) and the St. Lucia portion is on Pages 9 - 12. The link to the review is in my signature.

Edited March 21, 2015 by pghsteelerfan

[pghsteelerfan]

Was the tour you took to the Pitons the one with Spencer Ambrose? We are thinking about doing Jalousie Beach Break with him and wondered if you thought it was worth the $85 pp. Last time we were there we did Cosol's tour and while we loved all the things we saw, the hour we spent on Jalousie Beach was too short. Thanks! Did you snorkel there? Where was the best place on the beach to snorkel?

 

I'm so sorry...I forgot to answer part of your question. Snorkeling at Jalousie Beach...if looking at the beach from the water, there is a large roped off area (for protection to those snorkeling) right beneath the Petit Piton on the left. We don't get many opportunities to snorkel but this was the best snorkeling we've done with a lot of different fish and other sea life and the coral was so colorful. There are mixed reviews on the snorkeling there, mainly with water clarity. Later in the afternoon when many of the other tour groups arrive, it can stir up sediment, reducing visibility and water clarity. We were the first group there and we snorkeled from about 10:30AM to noon or a bit later and had no issues with visibility or water clarity.

[lovingCCL]

Thanks everyone for the great answers. I really can't wait to do this amazing itinerary! It sounds like I have some great beaches to choose from. :-)