Tips and Things To Do

[3hs]

My husband, daughter and myself are going on a cruise the end of May on the Carnival Fascination (San Juan, St. Thomas, Barbados, St. Maarten, St. Lucia, St. Kitts). Can anyone help with tips and things to do? First time cruisers, looking for more quiet and not the party scene, snorkeling, nature, attractions, tips on and off the ship, best beaches and so on. Just trying to gather as much information before we leave. Thanks!

[teknoge3k]

You may have more luck posting in those specific ports of call sections.

For San Juan, St. Maarten & St. Kitts we are doing some island tours that seem to all have great reviews.

San Juan: Island Marketing

St. Kitts: Pereira Tours

St. Maarten: Bernards SXM Tours

 

All independent operators.

[hishorselover]

My husband, daughter and myself are going on a cruise the end of May on the Carnival Fascination (San Juan, St. Thomas, Barbados, St. Maarten, St. Lucia, St. Kitts). Can anyone help with tips and things to do? First time cruisers, looking for more quiet and not the party scene, snorkeling, nature, attractions, tips on and off the ship, best beaches and so on. Just trying to gather as much information before we leave. Thanks!

Godfrey Tours has a nice tour for St. Thomas - some shopping time, some island sightseeing and a beach time.

 

Barbados - Still trying to figure this out for my second trip there but Carlisle Bay is a nice beach area with many vendors offering swimming with turtles

 

St. Lucia - we went ziplining last time and are doing it again this year.

St. Kitts - we did a tour with Beulah Mills last time but wasn't able to get in touch with her for this trip. We are doing a tour with Thenford Grey. Brimstone Hill, in my opinion, is a must!

St. Maarten - We are visiting Pinel Island in the morning then Maho Beach (for the planes) in the afternoon.

 

I can't offer much beyond that...

[pcvtmom]

I second the suggestion of Godfrey Tours in St. Thomas. We've done that a couple of times, and it is very enjoyable. (Just Google it, for his website.)

 

In Barbados, we generally like to go to the Boatyard. It's a great beach area, with inflatables, a rope swing, bar, etc. Again, Goggle is your friend for this.

[nchikk]

San Juan -- We just hoof it around the old town and use the free trolley to go to El Morro.

St. Kitts -- We booked with Thenford Grey Tours and recommend them. Having Mr. Grey as a tour guide is just like having Morgan Freeman as a guide.

St. Maarten -- Booked with Amigo Tours and recommend them as well...did an island tour and had a stop at Maho in time to see the A340.

[estillcrew]

My husband, daughter and myself are going on a cruise the end of May on the Carnival Fascination (San Juan, St. Thomas, Barbados, St. Maarten, St. Lucia, St. Kitts). Can anyone help with tips and things to do? First time cruisers, looking for more quiet and not the party scene, snorkeling, nature, attractions, tips on and off the ship, best beaches and so on. Just trying to gather as much information before we leave. Thanks!

 

We were on this same itinerary on the Victory, and it has been our favorite itinerary to date!

Here is what we did:

San Juan: When you get off the ship, you are within walking distance to both forts. Admission is $5 per person 16 and older and this ticket gets you into both forts. The rich history and breathtaking views from the forts is fabulous! You will get some amazing pictures from these forts as they look down on the ocean below.

St. Thomas: We have been to Sapphire Beach and Magen's Bay on two different cruises. You can take the excursion offered by the ship or save a good bit of money and take a taxi there. Magen's Bay is one of the ten most beautiful beaches in the world and really is breathtaking! It is a relaxing day for sure. Sapphire Beach wasn't as pretty, but there was much more to do there. We rented jet skis and then had lunch on the beach.

Barbados: We did the sea turtle catamaran excursion through the ship. It was a fun day and really cool swimming with these giant creatures.

St. Martaan: We took a taxi to the beach on the French side. We really wanted to see it, but in hindsight, we wished we had gone to the beach where the airplanes fly right over your head. The beach we went to was nude on one end, so be careful if you go there. It was a great, relaxing day, but I think we would have had more fun at the other beach.

St. Lucia: Ahhh, our favorite excursion of all time... We booked the segway tour through the ship. We rode segways in the mountains of St. Lucia (after learning how to use them, of course), went to a beach to snorkel and hike, went on an open air jeep ride through the forest and our driver picked fresh fruit off of the trees while we rode. It was everything you could possibly want to do all packed into one excursion. So much fun!

St. Kitts: We ziplined through the rain forest, and I will never do this again in my life. We were 500 feet above sea level and I am terrified of heights. Oh, the things we do for our children...

Have fun! It was the best itinerary we have ever had!

[Geebee8]

We are not excursion type of people so can't really help with those because we are more of a "fly by the seat of our pants" type of couple.

San Juan - visit the forts as it is only $5/person and you can visit both There is a hop on/hop off trolly but the walk really isn't bad and shopping is great!!

 

 

St. Thomas - we took a cab to Sapphire Beach and loved it!

 

 

Barbados - never been so not able to provide insight

 

 

St. Maarten - take the water taxi and hit the beach! There is a great restaurant at the end of the beach, The Greenhouse that is pretty good and again, shopping is great (street to shop is right behind the beach) and be sure to stop at Guavaberry for a sample of the rum!

 

 

St. Lucia - never been so not able to provide insight

 

 

St. Kitts - highly recommend heading to Carambola Beach Club! It is the most beautiful beach we have ever been to! We just took a cab there and back and actually planning our next cruise just so we can go back there!

[cb at sea]

Get a guidebook on the Caribbean, and you will find exactly what suits YOU....most things don't even require an "excursion", and it's much cheaper if you don't need one! But..you do need to know something about the places you'll visit. Head to your library and check out a guidebook...make notes...and then, have fun!

[Athankfulheart]

My husband, daughter and myself are going on a cruise the end of May on the Carnival Fascination (San Juan, St. Thomas, Barbados, St. Maarten, St. Lucia, St. Kitts). Can anyone help with tips and things to do? First time cruisers, looking for more quiet and not the party scene, snorkeling, nature, attractions, tips on and off the ship, best beaches and so on. Just trying to gather as much information before we leave. Thanks!

I highly recommend spending the day in Barbados with Sailing Calabaza. Its an amazing day!

 

The Grand Tour with Thenford Grey in St Kitts. This man is your textbook gentleman and provides a wonderful and varied tour which can include beach/snorkel time at the end.

 

Cant say enough about either of these operations.

 

Sent from my SM-N920V using Forums mobile app

[mikentara]

St. Maarten- we have done Bernards tours and also just taken a taxi to Maho Beach on another trip. Walking along the beach and streets in the downtown is also fun. The Yoda Guy museum is a must for any star wars fans!

 

St. Kitts - I highly recommend Carambola Beach Club. I was not excited about st. Kitts so we just opted for a beach day. So glad I was wrong about the island, it's now one of my favorites!

 

St. lucia - we did the sugar beach tour with Spencers. Excellent shore entry snorkeling. The tour was a bit disorganized but that didn't bother us much, and the scenery and beach were lovely.

 

Barbados - go to the Boatyard. It is a beach club, kids welcome. Tons for them to do. Includes a boat ride out to snorkel with the giant sea turtles. This is an awesome deal. Best value I saw in Barbados and the beach is gorgeous. Also have stopped at for a drink and a snack at Bert's Bar (which is more or less mandatory for any Canadian hockey fans out there).

 

San Juan - we have done the bacardi distillery which was great, it's more about history of bacardi family and how they make rum. The grounds are very interesting. Also have done self- tour of old San Juan and went to the forts.

 

When I was planning I found a really good review of the same cruise done by Mitsugirly. It helped me a lot! Link below (hope I did that right!)

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2396178

[originalgeek]

...

St. Kitts -- We booked with Thenford Grey Tours and recommend them. Having Mr. Grey as a tour guide is just like having Morgan Freeman as a guide.

....

 

SOLD!

 

don't have a cruise to there booked yet but I will eventually and I'm writing this down just for that. :)

[lisagro]

We booked with brendaandfranco'sfuntours last November in St. Thomas and had a great time. Just google them. Brenda was our tour guide, and she was lovely and informative.

[pr1vatepiles]

Not sure if I can make specific companies or not. If I can just say and I'll add more details:

 

St Lucia - Land, sea and beach tour

St Kitts - Sout Friars Beach or Frigate Bay

St Maarten - Kayaking Pinel Bay

San Juan - All inclusive beach resort

St. Thomas - Honeymoon beach (via the water taxis)

[cruisemom67]

We are going on Fascination in June and have our tours booked. In San Juan, we are taking the trollies and doing the city tour on foot (google it, you can do it by yourself). In St. Thomas, we are booked with Godfrey tours, tour of island and some beach/shopping time. In Barbados, we are going to the Shipyard for a beach day and swimming (there) with turtles. Taking our own snorkel equipment. In St. Lucia, we are booked with Frank's tours. island tour and volcano/mudbaths. In St. Kitts, we are doing the "lunchtime special tour." it is only $12 as all the drivers are back from their morning tours and have nothing to do, so they make it cheap! In St. Maarten we are booked with Bernards tours to see the island and the planes on the beach.

[rdemn]

San Juan and St.Thomas is part of the US you can call home on your cell phone. At least with AT&T but check with your carrier..

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[nchikk]

San Juan and St.Thomas is part of the US you can call home on your cell phone. At least with AT&T but check with your carrier..

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

 

And Sprint...I was able to use my phone and all my apps as though I was in my living room.

[jsglow]

Have you been to any of these places before? You're going to get tons of tour suggestions on here but you really have to figure out what's for YOU.

 

Let me offer one suggestion as this is so very port intensive and having done the itinerary (or something very close as CCL has changed it a little) twice in the last 10 years.

 

Alternate the types of excursions you do and alternate relaxing 'beach days' with 'tour excursion days'. You simply can't experience everything and each island has a different feel. But it is an endurance test. If you're like us, you'll be in bed by 10p so you can be fresh for the next day.

 

Enjoy. It might be our favorite itinerary and frankly we wish Carnival would establish a second 'B' route out of San Juan hitting some different islands so we could go again. Seriously considering RCCL or Celebrity's boat from there to make that happen.

 

Also, I see that you are going in about 6 weeks. You need to get on this research now. Agree with the guidebooks and reviewing the destination boards here.

Edited April 8, 2017 by jsglow

[hishorselover]

My husband, son and I are neither "go, go, go" types or "sit on the beach all day"...this is why we try to plan our days to include something active and some beach time as well. We all find that a couple of hours per day at the beach is perfect. Works for all of us!

[o-state girl]

We used Cosol tours in St. Lucia. It was pretty much an all-day tour, and if you tend to get carsick take Dramamine before you leave (some of the mountain roads were a little curvy). We went snorkeling between the Pitons, went to the volcano and mudbaths, sampled some local snacks (included in price), and saw some beautiful scenery. We thought it was well worth the money.

 

We also used Thenford Grey in St. Kitts. I second the opinion that he was a kind and informative gentleman,and we enjoyed his tour very much.