Favorite Caribbean ports?

[gerelmx]

Cozumel, Grand Cayman, St Maarten, St Thomas, Barbados, Bonaire

[GalCruzer]

Another vote for St Marteen but also San Juan.

[Extra Kim]

People that like St Maarten and San Juan, what do you recommend doing in those ports?

[leaveitallbehind]

People that like St Maarten and San Juan, what do you recommend doing in those ports?

 

Just a couple of ideas:

 

St. Martin: Maho Beach - watch the airplanes land over the beach / eat, drink; Orient Beach - one of the nicest beaches in the Caribbean, water sports; Philipsburg - shopping / beach short water taxi from pier.

 

San Juan - Old San Juan / Forts sightseeing; local shops / restaurants. All within walking distance of the pier used for day port of call stops. Bacardi rum factory tour nearby. (depending on length of time in port)

Edited June 29, 2018 by leaveitallbehind

[caseythegr]

Beaches in Grand Cayman Island were nice, but what we really loved was a Stingray City + snorkeling excursion.

 

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Did you do a RCCL excursion in GC? Or a private one. Curios as to the tendering process for ships excursions vs private ones.

Thanks

Laurie

 

 

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[leaveitallbehind]

Did you do a RCCL excursion in GC? Or a private one. Curios as to the tendering process for ships excursions vs private ones.

Thanks

Laurie

 

 

Sent from my SM-N950U using Forums mobile app

 

RCI will typically put those with ship based tours - especially those more time sensitive - on the first tenders. But they also run enough tenders to have two at the ship at a time in rotation, with each tender holding a couple of hundred passengers. So the wait for the second round or so of tenders is not too long. Also if you have higher tier Crown & Anchor status you can get priority tendering as well.

 

We have done Stingray City independently and the operator waited for all on his tour to arrive off the ship. (We don't do ship sponsored tours). As I recall we were not much later than the ship tour. They also met us in the same area as ship sponsored tours. We also have rented a car in GC and toured the island (Turtle farms, Hell, etc.) on our own. Easy enough to do if that is your inclination.

 

Hope this helps.

[caseythegr]

RCI will typically put those with ship based tours - especially those more time sensitive - on the first tenders. But they also run enough tenders to have two at the ship at a time in rotation, with each tender holding a couple of hundred passengers. So the wait for the second round or so of tenders is not too long. Also if you have higher tier Crown & Anchor status you can get priority tendering as well.

 

We have done Stingray City independently and the operator waited for all on his tour to arrive off the ship. (We don't do ship sponsored tours). As I recall we were not much later than the ship tour. They also met us in the same area as ship sponsored tours. We also have rented a car in GC and toured the island (Turtle farms, Hell, etc.) on our own. Easy enough to do if that is your inclination.

 

Hope this helps.

Yes thank you. Do they still require you to get ticket numbers to get on the tenders?

 

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[Itchy&Scratchy]

Did you do a RCCL excursion in GC? Or a private one. Curios as to the tendering process for ships excursions vs private ones.

Thanks

Laurie

 

 

Sent from my SM-N950U using Forums mobile app

Private. I think the company was called "Captain Dave's", but there are so many of them. They waited for us at the port, a short walk to the office where the minivans were parked, and then a short drive to the boat.

They also offered a free call home from the office upon completion of the excursion... That was about 4-5 years ago, and no free wifi was available in port.

[sail7seas]

I really like g the archiecture of Old San Juan,t t he food, the forts the convenience of docking in the center of 'downtown. '

[sail7seas]

Curacao,Aruba, Bonaire, Barrbados, Antigua, St. John, Puerto Rico ,

 

 

 

 

 

are my favorites along with Half Moon Cay which is HAL's private island in the Bahamas,

[leaveitallbehind]

I really like g the archiecture of Old San Juan,t t he food, the forts the convenience of docking in the center of 'downtown. '

 

Agree completely! As many times as we've been there (I used to do business in PR years ago visiting for a week at a time 6-8 times / year) we never tire of just walking through Old San Juan and stopping at Punto de Vista for mofongo and 2 for 1 mojitos for lunch.....;)