Best Excursions on upcoming AOS cruise

[BearJim]

We are going on the Adventure of the Seas in March & are having a hard time picking excursions & would really appreciate any advice. The only guide line being we are not comfortable going outside of the excursions offered by RCI, unless there is a beach within walking distance from the boat. See our itinerary below. Thanks again.

 

 

 

Sailing Itinerary

 

 

Date Port Arrive Depart Activity

 

12-Mar San Juan, Puerto Rico 8:30 PM

 

13-Mar St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands 8:00 AM 5:30 PM Docked

 

14-Mar Basseterre, St. Kitts 8:00 AM 5:30 PM Docked

 

15-Mar Philipsburg, St. Maarten 8:00 AM 5:00 PM Docked

 

16-Mar Fort De France, Martinique 9:00 AM 6:00 PM Docked

 

17-Mar Bridgetown, Barbados 8:00 AM 5:00 PM Docked

 

18-Mar Cruising Cruising

 

19-Mar San Juan, Puerto Rico 6:00 AM

[Clarea]

There are beaches within walking distance in St. Maarten and St. Croix.

[pjnj40]

We are going on the Adventure of the Seas in March & are having a hard time picking excursions & would really appreciate any advice. The only guide line being we are not comfortable going outside of the excursions offered by RCI, unless there is a beach within walking distance from the boat. See our itinerary below. Thanks again.

 

 

 

Sailing Itinerary

 

 

Date Port Arrive Depart Activity

 

12-Mar San Juan, Puerto Rico 8:30 PM

 

13-Mar St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands 8:00 AM 5:30 PM Docked

 

14-Mar Basseterre, St. Kitts 8:00 AM 5:30 PM Docked

 

15-Mar Philipsburg, St. Maarten 8:00 AM 5:00 PM Docked

 

16-Mar Fort De France, Martinique 9:00 AM 6:00 PM Docked

 

17-Mar Bridgetown, Barbados 8:00 AM 5:00 PM Docked

 

18-Mar Cruising Cruising

 

19-Mar San Juan, Puerto Rico 6:00 AM

 

I been to few of them on your list. I did mostly all beach day except for Martinique

St Thomas there tons of taxi to take you to the beach. I suggest Sapphire beach. There is alway a taxi waiting to take you back. Avoid megan by because there is a charge to get on the beach.

St Martin, tons of taxi at the port. If you want to go to watch airplane land and take off Maho beach is best . IT EPIC. Txi alway waiting for you to leave Maho beach with a 20 minutes ride.

St Kitts, it was a bad timing because everyone want tours of island. We wanted to de beach but our beach was little to small to hang out called cockshell beach. Watch out for the guy who put monkey on you because they way 20 dollars for three pic.

Martinque, I wanted to do beach but the weather for us on that day was so mixed with sun, clouds and rain. We decided to do island tour. It was ok but the problem is most people on that island don't speak too much english for us to communicate.

Barbados is another great island to go to and do beach. A short taxi drive to blue mountain beach.

 

By booking an excursion is a good idea but if you happen to hang out with people on the ship who been there before go along with them. Not all ship excursion are safe. There was a few casualties and robberies on their trusting tour company. The only good thing about ship excursion , if your late they have to wait.

[britty1]

We are going on the Adventure of the Seas in March & are having a hard time picking excursions & would really appreciate any advice. The only guide line being we are not comfortable going outside of the excursions offered by RCI, unless there is a beach within walking distance from the boat. See our itinerary below. Thanks again.

 

 

 

Sailing Itinerary

 

 

Date Port Arrive Depart Activity

 

12-Mar San Juan, Puerto Rico 8:30 PM

 

13-Mar St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands 8:00 AM 5:30 PM Docked

 

14-Mar Basseterre, St. Kitts 8:00 AM 5:30 PM Docked

 

15-Mar Philipsburg, St. Maarten 8:00 AM 5:00 PM Docked

 

16-Mar Fort De France, Martinique 9:00 AM 6:00 PM Docked

 

17-Mar Bridgetown, Barbados 8:00 AM 5:00 PM Docked

 

18-Mar Cruising Cruising

 

19-Mar San Juan, Puerto Rico 6:00 AM

 

You don't say what your likes and dislikes are - if you are looking for adventure or if you love to go to the beach. Don't know if this is your first cruise or just your first cruise to the Southern Islands so I will just give you a brief outline of what I would do.

 

Date Port Arrive Depart Activity

 

12-Mar San Juan, Puerto Rico 8:30 PM

Go and see the forts and old san Juan if you have time.

13-Mar St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands 8:00 AM 5:30 PM Docked

Take a taxi to rainbow beach if you like the beach, easy to do this one on your own

14-Mar Basseterre, St. Kitts 8:00 AM 5:30 PM Docked

ship tour Caribbean Plantation and Beach - I think this is the tour we did - the plantation was like a museum, plus a little beach time.

15-Mar Philipsburg, St. Maarten 8:00 AM 5:00 PM Docked

St. Maarten is easy - take the water taxi into town - there is a nice beach right there with shops and restaurants - one block back there is a great selection of shops - narrow street - OR you can take a taxi to Maho Beach, this is were the airplanes come right over the beach you think you could almost touch them as they land. Taxi's are plentiful for your return but go back early because of traffic.

16-Mar Fort De France, Martinique 9:00 AM 6:00 PM Docked

There really isn't too much on this island I would take a tour and the one I picked was a ship tour - Panoramic Tour of Martinique, we really had a nice tour.

17-Mar Bridgetown, Barbados 8:00 AM 5:00 PM Docked

Although I have never done it I understand that the catamaran cruises on this island are really good - swim with turtles and have a nice lunch on board.

18-Mar Cruising Cruising

Lunch in the MDR for the Tutti Salad Bar - excellent - they also have menu items to choose from but the MDR is only open on sea days so only one chance to get your tutti salad

19-Mar San Juan, Puerto Rico 6:00 AM

You don't say what time your flight is but if it is late you might want to consider a tour around San Juan or the Bacardi Tour to pass some time. Your luggage is taken care of and you pick it up at the airport. We did the Barcardi Tour, it's only OK so this time we will do the Old and New City Tour.

 

Hope this helped you out, have a great cruise. Enjoy

Edited January 30, 2016 by britty1

[Jonjonisatiger]

We will be on the same cruise as you! All of our excursions except two were booked with outside providers, but we chose ones that came very highly recommended here and on TripAdvisor. The ones we did book through RCI:

 

In Barbados we will be doing the Jolly Roger pirate cruise (I know there are more highly recommended catamarans in Barbados, but our trip is pirate themed and we couldn't resist the opportunity to walk the plank). We will also be taking the post cruise excursion to the El Yunque rainforest in Puerto Rico. We arriving a day early for our cruise so we will self-tour Old San Juan and the forts then, otherwise our post-cruise excursion would have been that.

[pjnj40]

We will be on the same cruise as you! All of our excursions except two were booked with outside providers, but we chose ones that came very highly recommended here and on TripAdvisor. The ones we did book through RCI:

 

In Barbados we will be doing the Jolly Roger pirate cruise (I know there are more highly recommended catamarans in Barbados, but our trip is pirate themed and we couldn't resist the opportunity to walk the plank). We will also be taking the post cruise excursion to the El Yunque rainforest in Puerto Rico. We arriving a day early for our cruise so we will self-tour Old San Juan and the forts then, otherwise our post-cruise excursion would have been that.

 

I did the el yunque twice and i love it there. Best to go the walking tours not just the ride. The ride is short, the walking one is better to see more stuff.

[Jonjonisatiger]

I did the el yunque twice and i love it there. Best to go the walking tours not just the ride. The ride is short, the walking one is better to see more stuff.

 

Thanks for the tip! I did not know there was a ride only version. I'm thinking I'm going to want all the steps I can get post-cruise!

[KBRADFORD79]

I did the el yunque twice and i love it there. Best to go the walking tours not just the ride. The ride is short, the walking one is better to see more stuff.

 

Can you take a dip in the El Yunque rainforest?

[pjnj40]

Can you take a dip in the El Yunque rainforest?

 

In 2008 i did the walking tour. They do go same route as the ride. I love to walk because you can walk aong a path that is like 29 minutes to get there and listen to sound of nature and animal. When i got to the waterfall there was people n the water(shallow tho) and great spot to try to do pics. Also on the walking tour we went to one of the castle like where you walk up to the top and see the overlook scenery.

In 2014, i was on NCL Gem and was happy it was docking at 8 am. I did the ride and they just drive most of the time. We did go to the waterfall but this one is not the one for dipping. They did drive us to the lake but no one was in it because of short time span. I was little upset because i didn't know there was a difference. But hey i learn my lesson.

[cb at sea]

The best way to "get comfortable" in a strange place is research! Get a guidebook! Learn something about your ports...and get a watch, so you can keep track of time. None of your ports are that difficult to maneuver on your own....

 

Beaches are particularly easy to DIY.

 

There's nothing wrong with ship's excursion...but you can save a bunch of ### doing things on your own...and do it on your own timetable!!!

[cincicruisers]

My favorite excursion on any island is the Regatta (not sure about spelling) American Cup sailing at St Martin. Two sailboats race each other. It was so much fun!

Edited January 30, 2016 by cincicruisers

[BearJim]

Thanks everyone for all the advise & info. Sorry it took me so long to respond. We were out of town this weekend.

I was wondering if anyone has tried the "Zoological Park & Old Rum Factory" excursion in Martinique or the "Mount Gay Rum Experience & Scenic Drive" in Barbabos.

 

Thanks again.