Advise on southern carribean cruise excursions

[TxShenanigans]

Howdy everyone so i have a cruise late this year out of san juan on the freedom of the seas on dec 2nd. The cruise will go to willemstad curacao, oranjestad aruba, st. Kitts, and st thomas. A little background i used to do a lot of cruises with family when i was young now that i have a career and can afford it im starting to take more trips on my own. With all this in mind it has been ages since i went to these islands. What islands does everyone recommend an excursion on and which one is good to enjoy the beach and local area? I dont think i will end up doing an excursion at all 4 ports more than likely only half of them. I went on a carnival cruise last year to amber cove and that was definitely an excursion stop(with not much to do around the port). Anyways thanks for reading this far and any advice!:D

[Clarea]

The ports of call forums have a wealth of info:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=587

[FionaMG]

The cruise will go to willemstad curacao, oranjestad aruba, st. Kitts, and st thomas.

 

Hi.

 

We did a southern Caribbean cruise on Serenade just two months ago (seems like we have been back forever!) and we called at Curacao and Aruba. I did a full trip report, including details and some photos of what we did in each port. You can read about these two ports in posts 83 and 85 for Curacao and 86 for Aruba here:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2574952&page=5

 

My opinion is that I would like to explore more of Curacao. We wanted to see the caves and the plantation house where a local artist has a gallery but unfortunately our excursion there was cancelled. And I would like to see the beaches on the west side and the Shete Boka National Park. Mambo Beach, which is near the cruise port, was fine for a quick and convenient couple of hours on the sand, but it is not the prettiest beach I have been to. Note also that there is charge for this beach ($3.50 per person) and, as I understand it, for other beaches in Curacao too.

 

Aruba, however... fabulous beach. We had a paltry 50 minutes on Eagle Beach (no charge) tagged on at the end of our excursion and we would have loved to spend longer there. I am pretty sure that if we visited this island on another cruise in the future we would just get a taxi and spend time enjoying that beach.

 

Have a great cruise! :D

[papaflamingo]

It really depends on what you enjoy. We usually just hang around town in St. Thomas, but if you like beaches, Megans Bay is one of the most beautiful beaches in the world.

We have been to St. Kitts twice, last time 2 weeks ago. On both cruises we did the "Catamaran Fan-Ta-Sea to Nevis Island with Snorkel." We love it. The boats are great and the crew is fantastic. Nice sail to a great snorkeling spot for an hour or so, then on to Nevis Island where you can "hang" on the beach or swim. They provide free rum punch and beer and set up a small bar on the beach for you. There is also a beach bar nearby if you want. Lunch is also include. Take a look at it. There are other catamaran sails, etc. but the Fan-Ta-Sea is great!

[TxShenanigans]

Thanks for all the info. It will pretty much be the beach and then sail snorkeling, maybe atv on one of the islands. From what ive read so far a lot of people seem to go for spending aruba on the beach. Funny that you mention that excursion on catamaran to nevis as i was thinking of looking into that one. Cant wait to go on this cruise. So many choices, its a good problem to have!

[ptf2009]

Thanks for all the info. It will pretty much be the beach and then sail snorkeling, maybe atv on one of the islands. From what ive read so far a lot of people seem to go for spending aruba on the beach. Funny that you mention that excursion on catamaran to nevis as i was thinking of looking into that one. Cant wait to go on this cruise. So many choices, its a good problem to have!

In Curacao, try Mambo Beach....really nice:)

[cb at sea]

Google your ports or get a guidebook from the library...see what there is that interests you in each place, then you can figure out if you NEED an excursion for any of it! Most things are quite easy to do on your own.

[skid10]

Howdy everyone so i have a cruise late this year out of san juan on the freedom of the seas on dec 2nd. The cruise will go to willemstad curacao, oranjestad aruba, st. Kitts, and st thomas. A little background i used to do a lot of cruises with family when i was young now that i have a career and can afford it im starting to take more trips on my own. With all this in mind it has been ages since i went to these islands. What islands does everyone recommend an excursion on and which one is good to enjoy the beach and local area? I dont think i will end up doing an excursion at all 4 ports more than likely only half of them. I went on a carnival cruise last year to amber cove and that was definitely an excursion stop(with not much to do around the port). Anyways thanks for reading this far and any advice!:D

 

 

For St Kitts Check out http://www.thenfordgreytours.com

Fabulous, professional and well priced.We did the Grand Tour.

 

Here is one place he took us, where the Atlantic Ocean (left) meets the Caribbean Sea.

 

[SG65CB]

(in my opinion) St Kitts and Curacao are excursion stops, Aruba and St Thomas are beach stops.

[skid10]

(in my opinion) St Kitts and Curacao are excursion stops, Aruba and St Thomas are beach stops.

Excellent point--agreed!

[Clarea]

(in my opinion) St Kitts and Curacao are excursion stops, Aruba and St Thomas are beach stops.

We enjjoy Mambo (Seaquarium) Beach at Curacao too.

[TxShenanigans]

Excellent point--agreed!

 

Thanks for all the info they seem like great islands but honestly some islands are better off exploring on your own and some doing an excursion just makes it better. I appreciate the info! Thats what i felt about amber cove. It was a fun stop but outside the port area i wouldnt want to walk around on my own by myself, also there is nothing nearby to do.

[RBKL]

St Thomas - Buck Island Snorkeling - Have seen turtles every time

St Kitts - ATV tour or Mad Max Dune Buggy tour. Spent a week in St Kitts and did the Mad Max tour. It was great!

Aruba - so much to do there. Red Sail catamaran was great, day at De Palma Island is great and they have Sea Trek there as well, Jeep Tour, Baby Beach, Eagle Beach are all great.

[Sobro]

Aruba: aruba-trikes.com

 

The St Kitts scenic railway is fun but a little long.

 

We enjoy the ambiance of Willemsted and just tour the city.

 

For a Top Ten beach, go to Trunk Bay on St John island, near St Thomas.

[Noreen411]

In St Kitts Carambola Beach club is very nice if you are looking for a beach day.

 

If you email them in advance they will have front row loungers and umbrella for you. You can just show up but may be in the second row from the water. Either way it’s a fun day. Cost was $10 for each chair or umbrella.

 

 

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[OCruisers]

Thanks for all the info. It will pretty much be the beach and then sail snorkeling, maybe atv on one of the islands. From what ive read so far a lot of people seem to go for spending aruba on the beach. Funny that you mention that excursion on catamaran to nevis as i was thinking of looking into that one. Cant wait to go on this cruise. So many choices, its a good problem to have!

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Go for it -- We've taken the catamaran to Nevis several times and always enjoyed! :D

[RBKL]

In St Kitts Carambola Beach club is very nice if you are looking for a beach day.

 

If you email them in advance they will have front row loungers and umbrella for you. You can just show up but may be in the second row from the water. Either way it’s a fun day. Cost was $10 for each chair or umbrella.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

If you go to Carombola Beach you can snorkel from the beach. At the far right around the rocks there was great snorkeling. Good fish, turtles and an Eagle Ray

[olemissreb]

In Aruba we did the TomCar tour. It was great. Half day tour that took you all over the island with plenty of time to spend at the beach if you wanted. I seem to recall we had a little bit of time at the beach as part of the excursion. We had a 10yo & 14yo with us and they loved the TomCars.

 

In Curacao, we were scheduled to do a Jeep Tour, but the day we were there, I think they got their entire years worth of rain in about 6 hours! Our tour was cancelled along with a ton of others on the ship. Good thing was that by the time we got back to San Juan, the credit for our excursion had already hit my credit card! We were able to at least get off the ship just before lunch and check out the shopping - had lunch on land too (really good and I can't remember the name of the place but it was right on the water so we could watch the bridge opening and closing).

 

In St. Thomas, we took a private sailboat cruise out to Buck Island (IIRC) and the daughter of the owner took us on a snorkeling tour of the reef out there. She was a marine biology major and the tour was great and very informative. It was a busy place though. We got out of there not long after another boat showed up which seemed more like a booze cruise than anyone serious about snorkeling. I can't remember the name of our boat, but she picked us up right by the cruise ship dock - heck if we wouldn't have killed ourselves, we could have dove off our balcony and swam to her boat as it was anchored right by the ship!