What is walkable near Carnival terminal in St Kitts,St Maarten,Grand Turk,San Juan

[LADYBIRD]

Just curious what is within walking distance of the Carnival cruise terminal in St. Kitts, St Maarten, Grand Turk and San Juan, as in beaches, shopping, anything I wouldn't want to miss, etc. I'm sure those answers are in one of these gazillion posts, but I am taking the lazy way out, thanks in advance.

[helene109]

I am curious too wondering about restaurants also

 

 

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[kicia]

St. Maarten has a lot of little shops at the pier. It is an easy walk to downtown Phillipsburg with more shops, restaurants and the beaches. There is also a water taxi from the pier to downtown if you don't want to walk.

 

Grand Turk has shops at the pier and there is a huge pool (free) with flowrider (for a fee) to be used by all. There are restaurants there (Margarittaville) and others and the beach is free to use too. You can also walk to the small village or take a cab.

 

San Juan port is located in Old San Juan and you can walk to the shops and there is a free trolley that picks up outside the port area to take you downtown. The free trolley also goes to the forts. There is a charge for the forts but if you have the senior national parks pass that will get you into the forts for free.

[Essiesmom]

St. Maarten has a shopping center at the foot of the pier, and when you have exhausted that, there is a water taxi into town where there is the main shopping and a beach. Grand Turk the shopping is at the pier, you have to go through it to get to a beach, which is also right there, plus Margaritaville with a pool. San Juan grab the Ho-Ho bus and get off at El Morro and explore. You are right in Old Town, so just stroll around and shop, grab a bite to eat. We did the Sugar Train in St. Kitts, but I think most people tak a taxi to a beach. Check out the Ports of Call forums. EM

Edited January 24, 2017 by Essiesmom

[LADYBIRD]

thank you :D

[cruise pup]

There is a very good Ralp Lauren factory store and a CVS across from the pier in San Juan. A lot of cruise people use the CVS. And you can use your club card.

[Elaine5715]

You can walk to both forts in San Juan. It is a very nice walk along the seawall between forts with a look down at the forbidden zone LaPerla. The city is deceptively small.

 

I also walk into town at St. Maarten.

[Drazil65]

San Juan a wonderful port and the historic district as well as both forts are very close. Beautiful sites and the restaurants in old town are wonderful. This is one of our favorite ports and always just walk through the historic area and then grab lunch (food so good) and a drink or two.

 

St. Thomas, you can walk to some shopping and the mountain tram to Paradise Point for some great pictures of the Harbor and drink at the top. The beaches you will need to either book excursion or grab taxi to get to them for the most part.

[simplelife]

The are are 2 piers in St. Kitts. One is right at the cruise port (with shops etc) adjacent to the town of Basseterre. All Walkable. The other pier in in an industrial area and you have to take a shuttle or taxi into Basseterre.

 

 

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[paul58]

There is no "Carnival" terminal. There is Port Zante. It is the cruise terminal. The deep water harbor is used occasionally when there in not enough room at Port Zante. They are going to install another pier at Port Zante to accommodate additional ships. That construction will begin later this year. There are many shops in the Port Zante area and it is a short walk in to Basseterre. There are no beaches near the port area.

[helene109]

In San Juan does the cruise ship give you information on restaurants or just shopping on their port talks thanks!

 

 

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[RecoveryDude]

I was just in these same ports two months ago. Here are my impressions:

 

St. Maartin: There are shops right at the port, as is typical with cruise ports. I would walk to FRONT STREET where the "real" stores are tho. It's like 10 min away. No beach to walk to here, you will have to take a taxi. When we were there, We really wanted to see the planes land overhead at Maho beach... and enjoy lunch at on the French side of the island at Sarafina's (Best ham/baguette sandwich this side of the Atlantic (And the pastries, wow.) and we like to be on our own time, so instead of taking a tour that included a stop here, we just RENTED A CAR from Coastal Car Rental, right at the port. There's also a Hertz right at the port, but the people at Coastal were friendlier and it was a little cheaper ($60/Day). So easy to drive on this island, and they give you a GPS! There are some stores right at the port ... but if you don't at least go to Front Street (a 10 min walk) you are really missing the boat. if you are a STAR WARS fan ... the guy that created Yoda for the original movies lives here and he has a cool museum on front street with lots of neat things from all the movies he worked on.

 

Grand Turk: Typical stores right off the ship ... plus beautiful beach right where the ship dock with FREE chairs (don't let a local scam you into paying for a chair!) -- There is also margaritaville with a giant pool that's free. food is "ok" at Margaritaville .... but where I suggest you eat is JACK's SHACK ... it's a 5 min walk up the beach (get off the boat and TURN LEFT) - It's where the crew will be hanging out so you know it's good. Cheap prices and great jerk chicken.

 

St. Kitts: There are typical stores here at the pier, but not a beach. "Town" is a short walk. We took a tour here and were glad we did, it's a beautiful island! We really enjoyed the sweeping views and vistas that we got to see and take pictures of during the tour ... and also got to take pictures holding the monkeys which was really cool.

 

San Juan: You can take the trolly to old town. Walgreens and CVS are right there ... and prices similar to Mainland US. However, CHECK PRICES at BOTH ... Energy drinks were cheaper at Walgreens ... but the hats and other souveniers were cheaper at CVS. Plus CVS is HUGE and had a great selection of souveniers. There were also vendors on the sidewalk selling cool things right off the ship.

 

Have a great cruise!!!

[Elaine5715]

I was just in these same ports two months ago. Here are my impressions:

 

St. Maartin: There are shops right at the port, as is typical with cruise ports. I would walk to FRONT STREET where the "real" stores are tho. It's like 10 min away. No beach to walk to here, you will have to take a taxi. When we were there, We really wanted to see the planes land overhead at Maho beach... and enjoy lunch at on the French side of the island at Sarafina's (Best ham/baguette sandwich this side of the Atlantic (And the pastries, wow.) and we like to be on our own time, so instead of taking a tour that included a stop here, we just RENTED A CAR from Coastal Car Rental, right at the port. There's also a Hertz right at the port, but the people at Coastal were friendlier and it was a little cheaper ($60/Day). So easy to drive on this island, and they give you a GPS! There are some stores right at the port ... but if you don't at least go to Front Street (a 10 min walk) you are really missing the boat. if you are a STAR WARS fan ... the guy that created Yoda for the original movies lives here and he has a cool museum on front street with lots of neat things from all the movies he worked on.

 

Grand Turk: Typical stores right off the ship ... plus beautiful beach right where the ship dock with FREE chairs (don't let a local scam you into paying for a chair!) -- There is also margaritaville with a giant pool that's free. food is "ok" at Margaritaville .... but where I suggest you eat is JACK's SHACK ... it's a 5 min walk up the beach (get off the boat and TURN LEFT) - It's where the crew will be hanging out so you know it's good. Cheap prices and great jerk chicken.

 

St. Kitts: There are typical stores here at the pier, but not a beach. "Town" is a short walk. We took a tour here and were glad we did, it's a beautiful island! We really enjoyed the sweeping views and vistas that we got to see and take pictures of during the tour ... and also got to take pictures holding the monkeys which was really cool.

 

San Juan: You can take the trolly to old town. Walgreens and CVS are right there ... and prices similar to Mainland US. However, CHECK PRICES at BOTH ... Energy drinks were cheaper at Walgreens ... but the hats and other souveniers were cheaper at CVS. Plus CVS is HUGE and had a great selection of souveniers. There were also vendors on the sidewalk selling cool things right off the ship.

 

Have a great cruise!!!

 

You can walk into town at St. Maarten. If you watch, you can see the shortcut out of the pier area and into the beach by the city. It isn't scenic as others but I walk it every time. You can also follow crew.

[Elaine5715]

In San Juan does the cruise ship give you information on restaurants or just shopping on their port talks thanks!

 

 

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Just shopping. Try Trip Advisor for restaurants.

[Bob7]

Just curious what is within walking distance of the Carnival cruise terminal in St. Kitts, St Maarten, Grand Turk and San Juan, as in beaches, shopping, anything I wouldn't want to miss, etc. I'm sure those answers are in one of these gazillion posts, but I am taking the lazy way out, thanks in advance.

We were in St. Kitts a few weeks ago on Celeb, using the main dock right at the town, lots of cute cruise shops on the dock. On the other side of the bay there was a Carnival ship in an industrial area. For some exercise we walked the nice wide boardwalk around the bay, which ended when we were about two-thirds of the way to the CCL ship, and to get to the ship we would have to leave the bay and find our way through the streets, so we turned around. We were curious as to how CCL handled being way over there, assuming they would provide free shuttles to the town, and we asked several people on the boardwalk if they were from the CCL but none were (no surprise).

A few blocks inland from the dock there is nice large park to walk around with big shady benches, where we sat with our local smoothies, squeezing out the last few minutes before final boarding call. We ended up kind of grinning at each other b/c personal space is not an issue here, if the benches are occupied, everyone just squeezes in together. So 2 local ladies and a third not with them just squeezed in beside me and my DW, the single lady hip to hip with me, all business dressed. So what the heck, we all said hi and had a nice chat, they gave us some local advice, and we told them some things about the cruise ships that they were curious about. There is an old interesting church on one side of the park, many tourists taking photos of it. Nice place to spend a bit of time if you can't get out of town.

[LADYBIRD]

thanks everyone, I appreciate the info, sorry sooo late for my thanks

[sturderick]

St. Maarten has a shopping center at the foot of the pier, and when you have exhausted that, there is a water taxi into town where there is the main shopping and a beach. Grand Turk the shopping is at the pier, you have to go through it to get to a beach, which is also right there, plus Margaritaville with a pool. San Juan grab the Ho-Ho bus and get off at El Morro and explore. You are right in Old Town, so just stroll around and shop, grab a bite to eat. We did the Sugar Train in St. Kitts, but I think most people tak a taxi to a beach. Check out the Ports of Call forums. EM

 

We are going on this same itinerary. We have actually been on it before but are looking for inexpensive things to do this time. How was the Sugar Train in St. Kitts? Also, how much was the water taxi into town at St. Maarten? I have been to San Juan several times but have never taken the "Ho-Ho bus". We have always walked. What exactly is that?

 

Sorry for all of the questions haha. Thanks!