Port of Call Change

[Teibban]

Hi everyone,

Received a letter from Carnival this morning saying that the stop at Antigua is now being replaced by Tortola on our cruise on the Carnival Magic starting February 29, 2020. 

 

Anyone knows the reason why? Antigua was one of the reason we selected this itinerary (never been) and please tell me the beaches in Tortola are as nice (never been too) :)

 

Thanks

Jonathan

[mdsgu]

You are so lucky!  Tortola is beautiful.  Find an excursion to Jost van Dyke and just chill out on the beach enjoying a Painkiller (or 5).

[schazzy]

I saw somewhere in an article not long ago that the port in Antigua was going to be updated to handle Oasis-class ships in the near future, so that may have something to do with it.

[shof515]

Most likely a schedule conflict caused Antigua  to be overbooked and unfortunately carnival had the short straw and was forced to cancel the port of call. 

Originally, the ship was scheduled to call on Antigua on March 4. On various port schedule websites, they are 5 ships in port on that day. 

Looking at Google Maps, Antigua only 2 piers that can berth 4 ships. 

[Teibban]

 

17 minutes ago, mdsgu said:

You are so lucky!  Tortola is beautiful.  Find an excursion to Jost van Dyke and just chill out on the beach enjoying a Painkiller (or 5).

Thanks. Actually this is a cruise with our 2 kids (8 and 11 at that time) and we mostly want to do beach days with visit to forts in San Juan. Is Jost van Dyke also a good place with kids to relax and enjoy beach and easy snorkeling near the shore for the kids?

[imridingdolphins]

14 minutes ago, mdsgu said:

You are so lucky!  Tortola is beautiful.  Find an excursion to Jost van Dyke and just chill out on the beach enjoying a Painkiller (or 5).

I can second JVD as an amazing place to hang out on a beautiful beach (White Bay Beach) to enjoy multiple beach bars and drink painkillers.  Do some research first because JVD and Tortola were destroyed by hurricanes in 2017.  The beach bars in JVD were literally wiped away.  I know that some like Soggy Dollar are back up and running, so best to check ahead.  On Tortola, there is a beautiful beach called Cane Garden Bay.  It was hit hard as well.   CGB will be overrun with cruisers, so if you are ok with that, then you'll be fine.  Enjoy!

[Teibban]

1 minute ago, shof515 said:

Most likely a schedule conflict caused Antigua  to be overbooked and unfortunately carnival had the short straw and was forced to cancel the port of call. 

Originally, the ship was scheduled to call on Antigua on March 4. On various port schedule websites, they are 5 ships in port on that day. 

Looking at Google Maps, Antigua only 2 piers that can berth 4 ships. 

Thanks for the information. Does not really matter for me. Would just not want to switch from a beautiful (looks like it) place such as Antigua to be relocated to something like Nassau (which we do not really like). Tortola looks really nice though and never went there.

[imridingdolphins]

1 minute ago, Teibban said:

 

Thanks. Actually this is a cruise with our 2 kids (8 and 11 at that time) and we mostly want to do beach days with visit to forts in San Juan. Is Jost van Dyke also a good place with kids to relax and enjoy beach and easy snorkeling near the shore for the kids?

JVD is ok for snorkeling right of the beach.  It is more of an adult playground though.  People go there to party right off their sailboats. 

[Teibban]

2 minutes ago, schazzy said:

I saw somewhere in an article not long ago that the port in Antigua was going to be updated to handle Oasis-class ships in the near future, so that may have something to do with it.

Possible. anyway cannot do anything to change it 🙂 Will make the most of it in Tortola and will probably enjoy it as much as we would in Antigua.

[Teibban]

Just now, imridingdolphins said:

JVD is ok for snorkeling right of the beach.  It is more of an adult playground though.  People go there to party right off their sailboats. 

Thanks for the hint. Have you ever been to Smuggler's cove? Seems really nice but no facilities... would need to bring a small lunch box. otherwise as you proposed, Cane Garden Bay might be the best choice.

[schazzy]

1 minute ago, Teibban said:

Will make the most of it in Tortola and will probably enjoy it as much as we would in Antigua.

 

When life gives you Tortola, make Tortol-ade!

[mdsgu]

9 minutes ago, Teibban said:

 

Thanks. Actually this is a cruise with our 2 kids (8 and 11 at that time) and we mostly want to do beach days with visit to forts in San Juan. Is Jost van Dyke also a good place with kids to relax and enjoy beach and easy snorkeling near the shore for the kids?

 

Yes!  We've taken our kids twice and they enjoyed it.  The water is crystal-clear and the beach is beautiful.

[Aplmac]

As nice as Antigua is, Tortola is even better.

 

It's one of the Virgin Islands fer God's sake,

and things don't get any prettier than that sprinkle of islets!

 

Here are a few pics of the harbour area.

Regrettably, we never did an island tour,

but chose to walk around Roadtown instead

which was interesting, but we shoulda done an island tour

in one of those open air jitney-type buses for about $20 a person.

.

[Aplmac]

More?

.

[jmcathome]

Looks like Aplmac has invaded my pictures from Tortola last month. Really is a beautiful island. Took the 20 dollar tour and still have time for the beach by taxi if you like. 

[Aplmac]

In case the town interests you as well

here are a few misc. shots taken in the capital Roadtown

back in January of 2008

.

[brookie848]

Sorry about your itinerary change, but like you said, at least you aren't being re-routed to Nassau.

 

Antigua is our favorite island, but when we were there two weeks ago, our taxi driver talked about the improvements to the cruise and industrial ports (being at least partially paid for by China, by the way). She also mentioned how they are getting more ships than they can handle right now.

 

We were also in Tortola a couple of weeks ago and went to Jost Van Dyke. There were four or more bars open on White Bay, including Soggy Dollar, Gertrude's and a few others. You should have no trouble having a relaxing day there.

[Aplmac]

2 minutes ago, jmcathome said:

Looks like Aplmac has invaded my pictures from Tortola last month.

 

Really is a beautiful island. Took the 20 dollar tour

and still have time for the beach by taxi if you like. 

.

My pics are way-old ..from Early Jan. of 2008

and so might make an interesting comparison,

to show what has happened/or-not, since then?

 

The donkey's name was William. He was cool

but Wm's owner seemed to think he could cash in on picture-taking privileges

and wanted $1 per shutter release. No.

 

If William is still around, please convey my regards.

.

[K&RCurt]

I would also recommend a trip to "The Baths" on Virgin Gorda.  There are 2 nice beaches connected by a path through and under several huge boulders with pools in their midst.  We had a great time there!

 

 

[Teibban]

45 minutes ago, Aplmac said:

More?

.

Thanks a lot for all the pictures. Looks really nice.

[Teibban]

31 minutes ago, K&RCurt said:

I would also recommend a trip to "The Baths" on Virgin Gorda.  There are 2 nice beaches connected by a path through and under several huge boulders with pools in their midst.  We had a great time there!

 

 

Thanks for the idea. Will look at it. 

[dmet0225]

We have been to both Antigua and Tortola.  While Antigua had the nicest beach (Valley Church Beach), Tortola had, by far, the best snorkeling off the shore that I've ever seen (Brewer's Bay).

[TNMIMI6]

2 hours ago, Teibban said:

Hi everyone,

Received a letter from Carnival this morning saying that the stop at Antigua is now being replaced by Tortola on our cruise on the Carnival Magic starting February 29, 2020. 

 

Anyone knows the reason why? Antigua was one of the reason we selected this itinerary (never been) and please tell me the beaches in Tortola are as nice (never been too) 🙂

 

Thanks

Jonathan

We just returned March 1 from a Journeys cruise that included Antigua and Tortola. In Antigua, we went to Turners Beach. It was a nice beach but the surf was very strong. My husband is a strong swimmer but he even struggled there. In Tortola, we went to Cane Garden Bay and loved it! It is a great beach for families with lots of diving pelicans, a gentle surf, and beautiful views both at the beach and on the way there and back. We have been all over the Caribbean and it is in our top 5 beaches.

 

[jmcathome]

If plan on Baths book soon It was full by Carnival early. You can go by ferry from port. Get to ferry early as they do not run that often. Need to be at ferry to get the 830 ferry. There is tour to Baths there at ferry, including the taxi when you get there.There is still some damage from Hurricane Irma to see

[Teibban]

1 hour ago, dmet0225 said:

We have been to both Antigua and Tortola.  While Antigua had the nicest beach (Valley Church Beach), Tortola had, by far, the best snorkeling off the shore that I've ever seen (Brewer's Bay).

Nice to know. Thanks