Caribbean Help

[Green Olive]

Hello!

 

We're looking at doing our first Caribbean cruise early next year on Celebration, but we can't decide between the three from Barbados to do. Don't know much about this part of the world.

 

Anyone know which is probably the best, or any ports that might be a little disappointing out of others.

 

The three itineraries are:

 

Paradise Islands

Road Town, St Maarten, St Kitts, Antigua, St Vincent

 

Caribbean Cocktail

Tobago, Grenada, The Grenadines, Dominica, St Lucia

 

Tropical Delights

St Lucia, Aruba, Curaçao, Bonaire, Grenada

 

Thanks for your help! :)

[geomagot]

none of the ports in caribbean will be disappointing

 

we love dominica, Antigua, st lucia, st vincent which are relatively undeveloped and is the typical barefoot caribbean (dominica & st vincent especially so)

 

aruba curacau & bonaire are more developed (aruba particullarly with its hard rock cafes and margaritavilles) more like mediteranian resorts, slightly more expensive but still has the stunning caribbean white sand beaches

 

st kitts and st martin are the best for duty free shopping (jewellery/cigs/liquor)

 

depends what you are looking for? if you like a more european resorty feel then aruba

 

if you like to kick back and enjoy a rum on the beach from a beach shack held together with knicker elastic... then antigua, tortola, st vincent, st kitts

 

but… they are all great itineraries (sorry if i have just made your dilemma worse):o

[Green Olive]

none of the ports in caribbean will be disappointing

 

we love dominica, Antigua, st lucia, st vincent which are relatively undeveloped and is the typical barefoot caribbean (dominica & st vincent especially so)

 

aruba curacau & bonaire are more developed (aruba particullarly with its hard rock cafes and margaritavilles) more like mediteranian resorts, slightly more expensive but still has the stunning caribbean white sand beaches

 

st kitts and st martin are the best for duty free shopping (jewellery/cigs/liquor)

 

depends what you are looking for? if you like a more european resorty feel then aruba

 

if you like to kick back and enjoy a rum on the beach from a beach shack held together with knicker elastic... then antigua, tortola, st vincent, st kitts

 

but… they are all great itineraries (sorry if i have just made your dilemma worse):o

 

Thanks! I definitely would prefer the less developed islands so that had helped me rule out probably Tropical Delights. The rum from a beach shack is the perfect description of what we are looking for. :)

 

Just got to decide between the other two itineraries now.

[geomagot]

a few more thoughts (cant you just tell that i luv the caribbean);):cool:

 

Road Town tortola, pretty colonial town, relatively undeveloped, nice beach at cane garden bay (complete with knicker elastic)

 

St Maarten, nice long sandy beach 10 minutes walk from the ship, good cheap shopping, famous for low flying international flights descending overhead on maho beach at the end of the airport runway (gets very busy with fence surfers getting blown into the ocean)

 

St Kitts, another colonial town, undeveloped, volcanic beaches (gritty) good duty free shopping in the port area (cheap)

 

Antigua, yet another colonial town, the best white sand clear warm water caribbean seas, reputedly one perfect beach for every day of the year (not much else)

 

St Vincent, colonial, volcanic beaches (gritty) but v laid back/peaceful, v friendly/helpful locals (water taxi to the nearest beach about $5…beer on beach $1)

 

Grenada french creole speaking but english is the offical language another water taxi to the nearest beach, the spice island, scenic interior with waterfalls, banana/spice plantations and smell of spice/herbs everywhere, lovely harbour in st georges

 

Dominica, colonial, v undeveloped, the nature isle, with rain forests, volcanos, mountains, beautiful waterfalls and hot volcanic springs, black volcanic sand beach a taxi ride away from the port.... most of the island is a national park and the seas are teeming with dolphins and sperm whales (protected waters)... its beautiful

 

St Lucia, french creole speaking but again english is the offical language, nice beaches, relatively cheap, fruit markets, scenic pitons, beautiful countryside

 

Aruba, resorty dutch colonial town, nice long beach on the hotel strip (a taxi ride away) complete with hard rock cafes, shopping malls and casinos, interior of island is very dry (deserty) quite atmospheric, expensive compared with other caribbean towns

 

Curaçao, another dutch colonial town, quite developed, pretty dutch architecture and interesting fort and town (again expensive in comparison) good beach at the aquarium, dolphin swims available at the aquarium

 

Bonaire, dutch colonial smaller than aruba, shopping malls, geared up for tourists, a scuba divers heaven, slightly more expensive than other caribbean islands, beach is atxi ride away or water taxi to Klein Bonaire (a typical desert island with lovely shallow reef safe for snorkelling)

 

Hope this helps

[CRUISIN LINDA]

I was going to recommend Tropical Delights as it includes the Dutch ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao) also St Lucia and Grenada which are beautiful islands, but geo has just put you off ;);)

 

Also I love St Kitts and St Vincent so would choose Paradise Islands.

 

But as geo says they are all nice. (I wasn't keen on St Maarten)

[geomagot]

i'm not so keen on st maartin either (they always have so many other huge cruise ships in, they can accommodate upto 7 i believe....thats about 38,000 pax.... most of them riding up and down the boardwalk on segways!) but I do like the duty free shopping and the prices (although curacau is the cheapest for cameras);)

 

its a well known secret that i luv dominica and st vincent:p

 

i like aruba and the dutch islands fine, its a nice change to see some resorts and have a burger/stella while listing to some american rock music when your on a two weeker... breaks up all that reggae, loafing on the beach and those endless rum punches:rolleyes:;):cool:

[CRUISIN LINDA]

Thought it was just me that wasn't keen on St Maarten :rolleyes:

 

6 ships in when we were there and the trip to the other end of the island was not much to write home about either :(

[paulaud]

We have done all 3. I think for your first visit either paradise or cocktail they both have some real lovely islands. I particularly love Antigua. This year we did the Thomson trip to the Crusoe island. If you want only 1 beach bar this is the place. Its a small island privately owned, there is a coral reef surrounding the island lovely sand and plenty of rum punch. Out of this world!

[gillhalfpint]

We have been to all those listed too, and are doing Caribbean Cocktail and Paradise Islands in January as we cannot resist the islands. Love them to bits. Whichever you choose, you will love, and like us, get hooked.

[kruzseeka]

I think when I was looking at the itineraries I was interested to know how they'd got over to Aruba/Curcao/Bonaire without needing two sea days. It's quite a stretch from the ABC islands back to the Eastern Caribbean islands - they used to break it up by calling at Margarita Island which was more or less half way between but that wasn't too popular and was dropped. So when looking carefully at the port timings, if I remember correctly, I found that it's an early sailaway from Bonaire and a late arrival at Grenada. Is it something like 14.00 to 19.00 in Grenada?

 

Personally that would put me off that itinerary as two destinations effectively have curtailed stops and could restrict what you may want to do because of time constraints. It may not matter to you - but just in case it does (and I'm not getting mixed up) I'd look carefully at the length of time in port and take that into account in your deliberations.

 

But as the others have said, the Caribbean is a joy - beautiful islands, warm weather, warm seas and warm people. It has such a feel good atmosphere - colourful and vibrant. I'm sure you'll fall in love with it too. Enjoy - whichever itinerary you choose.

[geomagot]

yes crusoe island... lovely:cool: a typical desert island, safe for swimming and a nice reef for snorkelling, its privately owned by miguel and his family

 

miguel does sometimes book private guests from resorts on the island (especially at busy times like christmas holidays) so you may find lots of other people using the island as well as the group from thomsons and it can take upto a hour to transfer all the group over to the island on the speedboats

 

its a v small island and was a little 'over subscribed' the last time we were there (they paid less than us, were staying on longer and a curry meal was being prepared for them as we left on the speedboats)

 

the thoms crusoe island shorex is a little expensive (for my wallet) about £60pp but it does include the coach ride there, free bar, and a creole lunch

 

you can get all of that on antigua for a price of a taxi ride and drinks in a beach bar and maybe a light lunch on the beach should not be too expensive on antigua (depending on establishment)

 

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example....ffryes bay (above) 20 minutes from the port (about $20 for the taxi.... driver will come back for you at a specified time) has glorious white sand and very shallow, safe for swimming, crystal blue waters, they have a bar/restaurant/wash rooms and deck chairs which are free if you buy a drink and there will probably only be a couple of other people on the whole of the rest of the beach (those that made the walk over the headland from the resort around the corner) its not a great snorkelling spot but it is a perfect caribbean beach (as most of them are on antigua)

 

.

[infoqueen]

We are doing paradise islands and tropical delights about 4 new ports of call for us.

[geomagot]

I found that it's an early sailaway from Bonaire and a late arrival at Grenada. Is it something like 14.00 to 19.00 in Grenada?

 

 

yes they are sheduled to leave bonaire at 1pm (all on board at 12.30 at the latest)

 

and will not be arriving in grenada until 2pm the next day.... its quite a long sail

 

i guess this is a better option than missing out grenada or bonaire altogether and having an extra sea day which is what they were doing when dream sailed this itinerary

 

its still not ideal tho......not much time to go too far on those days, we always try to get back to the ship in good time for sailing in case of traffic snarl ups/public transport delays etc

 

and grenada is notoriously difficult to dock into if its breezy/choppy? there is a (reasonably significant) risk that they will have to sail straight past and continue onto barbados (risking an extra day and half at sea)

[Green Olive]

Thanks everyone for your help! Looking at doing Caribbean Cocktai.

 

Has anyone cruised the Caribbean around November time? Looking at doing the Caribbean Cocktail on 22 November but worried that the weather might be horrid, and perhaps leaving it till January might be better?

[gillhalfpint]

Never done November, but no problem with weather January.

[Pensioncruiser]

Ditto Feb and March OK too☺

[rickpo]

Yes, done it in November a couple of time and weather has been fine.

 

Enjoy,

 

Rick.

[Turbofun]

Thanks everyone for your help! Looking at doing Caribbean Cocktai.

 

Has anyone cruised the Caribbean around November time? Looking at doing the Caribbean Cocktail on 22 November but worried that the weather might be horrid, and perhaps leaving it till January might be better?

 

http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/outlooks/hurricane.shtml

[infoqueen]

Hope its ok in November im on 29th sure it will be lovely I was thinking of doing the crusoe island trip so thats another one decided for me then thanks

[Keamma]

We are going on the Carribean Cocktail in November and our flight home is in the evening - do you know what time we have to be off the boat? Hoping it's not too early..

[geomagot]

We are going on the Carribean Cocktail in November and our flight home is in the evening - do you know what time we have to be off the boat? Hoping it's not too early..

 

coach will pick you up about 3 hours before your flight

[Keamma]

coach will pick you up about 3 hours before your flight

 

Thank you - but do you know what time we have to be off the boat as we will have all day before pick up?

[all-afloaty]

Thank you - but do you know what time we have to be off the boat as we will have all day before pick up?

 

 

You can stay on ship till they pick you up and you can use all the facilities including your all inclusive package if you have it [emoji3]

[Keamma]

Oh result!! Thank you. On our recent cruise with Fed Olsen we had to disembark almost as soon as we docked. Our previous cruises with Thomson have been lunchtime flights home so we were not aware of what happens to those on late flights.

[CRUISIN LINDA]

We are going on the Carribean Cocktail in November and our flight home is in the evening - do you know what time we have to be off the boat? Hoping it's not too early..

You can stay on the ship until it is time to go to the airport. You have to be out of your cabin early (not sure what time) but you can use the ship's facilities until you leave the ship.

 

There are usually trips that you can do too and they sometimes take you straight to the airport after the tour/beach etc

 

Hope this helps :)