View Our Southern Carribean Excursions

[Peter118]

Our cruise is this February and these are the current excursions we have selected. Putting this out there to hear from this experienced group of CC cruisers who I am sure have been there and done that.

@njsweetie and I will begin in San Juan arriving in the afternoon the day before so we will want to see the forts in the daylight that we have and see Old San Juan in the evening. Our current plan is to get to the ship as early as we can although our boarding times are different (odd, we are traveling together, same room, same credit card, same everything and they give us different boarding times).

 

Here is what we have so far:

1) St Thomas. Caribbean Sail to Christmas and Honeymoon (6 hours)

2) St. Kitts. ATV Rental at Sunny Blue to explore Island (6 hours)

3) St. John's. Catamaran with Lobster Lunch (6 hours)

4) St. Lucia. West Side Treasures by Catamaran. (6 hours)

5) Barbados. Golf at Sandy Lane (6 hours)

6) At Sea. Recovering (all day)

 

Dinner at 8:30

 

Will like to hear your thoughts....

 

[1025cruise]

Well, none of those would be my cup of tea, but if you are happy with them, that's all that's important.

[macaroni]

I would not be concerned about the boarding times....we always get to the ship by 10:30 and usually on around 11-12...

[250373]

Peter118, who did you book your sail in st-Thomas with?

[Peter118]

20 minutes ago, 250373 said:

Peter118, who did you book your sail in st-Thomas with?

it is thru Celebrity and titled Caribbean Sail to Christmas and Honeymoon Coves. I'm not certain if I have anymore info than that.

[250373]

3 minutes ago, Peter118 said:

it is thru Celebrity and titled Caribbean Sail to Christmas and Honeymoon Coves. I'm not certain if I have anymore info than that.

 

Thank you! I will check if it's available for my cruise!

 

I have been to a few of the islands you'll be visiting.  You will have a blast! Enjoy your trip! :-)

[sound_guy0918]

You may not want to change your golf plans, but we found Elegance Barbados to be one of the absolute best catamaran/snorkel experiences we’ve ever had.  Unfortunately the Yacht Nightwind is no longer sailing in St. Thomas...

[Peter118]

What made the experience of Elegance so different from others? We can always golf in a different location. We would’ve  preferred to golf the Green Monkey but that is only for guests of the resort. So a change in plans is an option. 

[oneputt18]

Golf at Mahogany Run in St Thomas, well maintained ,challenging course with great views. 

[njsweetie]

1 hour ago, oneputt18 said:

Golf at Mahogany Run in St Thomas, well maintained ,challenging course with great views. 

Mahogany Run is permanently closed due to damage from hurricanes Maria and Irma. It was for sale so hopefully can be rebuilt by new owners.

[oneputt18]

1 hour ago, njsweetie said:

Mahogany Run is permanently closed due to damage from hurricanes Maria and Irma. It was for sale so hopefully can be rebuilt by new owners.

That's a shame, I have played there a half a dozen times and it was a great course, with friendly staff. Restaurant /bar was great too! 

[CruiseLifeIsTheBest]

Catamaran with lobster lunch remains one of my top 2 favorite excursions. Calabaza Sailing in Barbados is #1. Great crew, great food, great snorkeling, so much fun. Small group and crew waited on us hand and foot. Can’t wait to get back to Barbados to do it again. Enjoy whatever you choose to do! 

[Miss Vickie]

4 hours ago, CruiseLifeIsTheBest said:

Catamaran with lobster lunch remains one of my top 2 favorite excursions. Calabaza Sailing in Barbados is #1. Great crew, great food, great snorkeling, so much fun. Small group and crew waited on us hand and foot. Can’t wait to get back to Barbados to do it again. Enjoy whatever you choose to do! 

We’re booked with Calabaza for the 7th time this coming February.  We love it!

[dani negreanu]

We very much enjoyed the Grand Island tour with Thenford Grey. For 55$pp we preferred to be "driven"😁

 

http://www.thenfordgreytours.com/

 

[sound_guy0918]

On 11/23/2019 at 11:30 PM, Peter118 said:

What made the experience of Elegance so different from others? We can always golf in a different location. We would’ve  preferred to golf the Green Monkey but that is only for guests of the resort. So a change in plans is an option. 

Compared to other catamaran excursions we have done, I would sum up the difference as "intimacy and attention to detail."  I chose them based on their reviews on TripAdvisor...food, drink, service, comfort, etc. were all outstanding.  The catamaran is smaller - maybe 16-20 guests - and this made the whole experience so much more enjoyable than the giant 50+ passenger boats that a lot of the cruise lines use.  The owner is married to the boat captain and he is an excellent sailor.  Snorkeling quality will depend a lot on the currents/sea conditions, but Barbados is gorgeous both above and under water.

 

FYI, I just saw an update from the owners of the Yacht Nightwind on St. Thomas that they are purchasing a new sailboat (the original was destroyed in the hurricane a few years ago).  We had an amazing time on this experience as well - crew, food, drink, sailing, comforts were absolutely amazing.  

 

I would say these two excursions rank in our top 3 all-time Caribbean experiences.  (Captain Bob's on St. Maarten was the third for all of the same reasons.)

 

 

[Peter118]

7 minutes ago, sound_guy0918 said:

Compared to other catamaran excursions we have done, I would sum up the difference as "intimacy and attention to detail."  I chose them based on their reviews on TripAdvisor...food, drink, service, comfort, etc. were all outstanding.  The catamaran is smaller - maybe 16-20 guests - and this made the whole experience so much more enjoyable than the giant 50+ passenger boats that a lot of the cruise lines use.  The owner is married to the boat captain and he is an excellent sailor.  Snorkeling quality will depend a lot on the currents/sea conditions, but Barbados is gorgeous both above and under water.

 

FYI, I just saw an update from the owners of the Yacht Nightwind on St. Thomas that they are purchasing a new sailboat (the original was destroyed in the hurricane a few years ago).  We had an amazing time on this experience as well - crew, food, drink, sailing, comforts were absolutely amazing.  

 

I would say these two excursions rank in our top 3 all-time Caribbean experiences.  (Captain Bob's on St. Maarten was the third for all of the same reasons.)

 

 

 

thanks I too read trip advisor and went to their website after reading your post and immediately sensed the smaller intimate experience...this is a great suggestion and appreciate your thoughts. We may be moving our gold day to another Island.

[sound_guy0918]

20 minutes ago, Peter118 said:

 

thanks I too read trip advisor and went to their website after reading your post and immediately sensed the smaller intimate experience...this is a great suggestion and appreciate your thoughts. We may be moving our gold day to another Island.

If I recall correctly, their price was maybe $20 higher than the comparable excursion through X.  Worth every penny.

[Peter118]

13 minutes ago, sound_guy0918 said:

If I recall correctly, their price was maybe $20 higher than the comparable excursion through X.  Worth every penny.

I see this company as an offering thru X sponsored excursions unless I am mistaken. The price difference is not as important to us. What is important is we do not want to become "pier runners". An X sponsored excursion if anything goes wrong or there is a delay the ship will have to wait, at least this is my understanding. But a 20 spot will be worth the smaller boat.

[sound_guy0918]

1 hour ago, Peter118 said:

I see this company as an offering thru X sponsored excursions unless I am mistaken. The price difference is not as important to us. What is important is we do not want to become "pier runners". An X sponsored excursion if anything goes wrong or there is a delay the ship will have to wait, at least this is my understanding. But a 20 spot will be worth the smaller boat.

If you are certain the X excursion is this specific vendor, that would be the way to go, especially if they offer transportation to/from the catamaran.  We booked directly in 2013 and I looked back through my emails and Elegance had arranged for a taxi to pick us up at the pier and the same driver was waiting for us after the sail to take it back to the pier.  If memory serves, there were plenty of hours between the end of the Elegance cruise and sailaway, but your itinerary may encourage you to book through X.  Either way you book, the $20 was absolutely worth the upgrade to a smaller boat.  I hope it works out for you.

 

If you are interested in the Yacht Nightwind, they have a Facebook page and they can give you more information about their new sailboat.

[lola2013]

23 hours ago, CruiseLifeIsTheBest said:

Catamaran with lobster lunch remains one of my top 2 favorite excursions. Calabaza Sailing in Barbados is #1. Great crew, great food, great snorkeling, so much fun. Small group and crew waited on us hand and foot. Can’t wait to get back to Barbados to do it again. Enjoy whatever you choose to do! 

Agreed...Calabaza is hands down the best catamaran.  That said, I am hoping for a similar experience on Aristocat next week when we are in Tortola on Edge.  

[MaggieAtSea]

On 11/23/2019 at 11:04 AM, Peter118 said:

Here is what we have so far:

1) St Thomas. Caribbean Sail to Christmas and Honeymoon (6 hours)

 

 

Will like to hear your thoughts....

 

Well, after doing the sail to Honeymoon in St. Thomas (and almost every other sailing/beach excursion ever offered) we finally plucked up the courage to do something on our own there... we took a water taxi over to Water Island and rented a golf cart to explore the island and hang at the beach.  All very easy to pull off and worth it... it was super fun.  Highly recommend it - you can find all the info out with a couple of quick google searches.

[Peter118]

3 hours ago, MaggieAtSea said:

Well, after doing the sail to Honeymoon in St. Thomas (and almost every other sailing/beach excursion ever offered) we finally plucked up the courage to do something on our own there... we took a water taxi over to Water Island and rented a golf cart to explore the island and hang at the beach.  All very easy to pull off and worth it... it was super fun.  Highly recommend it - you can find all the info out with a couple of quick google searches.

 

This does sound like fun. I will look further into it. Thanks for the suggestion.

[son3cruisers]

On 11/23/2019 at 11:04 AM, Peter118 said:

Our cruise is this February and these are the current excursions we have selected. Putting this out there to hear from this experienced group of CC cruisers who I am sure have been there and done that.

@njsweetie and I will begin in San Juan arriving in the afternoon the day before so we will want to see the forts in the daylight that we have and see Old San Juan in the evening. Our current plan is to get to the ship as early as we can although our boarding times are different (odd, we are traveling together, same room, same credit card, same everything and they give us different boarding times).

 

Here is what we have so far:

1) St Thomas. Caribbean Sail to Christmas and Honeymoon (6 hours)

2) St. Kitts. ATV Rental at Sunny Blue to explore Island (6 hours)

3) St. John's. Catamaran with Lobster Lunch (6 hours)

4) St. Lucia. West Side Treasures by Catamaran. (6 hours)

5) Barbados. Golf at Sandy Lane (6 hours)

6) At Sea. Recovering (all day)

 

Dinner at 8:30

 

Will like to hear your thoughts....

 

My thoughts....

One of the best tours we EVER took was in St Lucia. It was provided by a company called Julian Tours.

https://www.julian-boattours.com

Boat rides, snorkelling, trip to the mud baths/ hot springs and volcano with an authentic lunch at “mama’s”. Amazing trip on an incredible island. I feel like we were able to see so much of the island! And swimming under the pitons! Amazing! 

 

And then I would save the Catamaran tour for Barbados. Again, a fabulous tour, one of our favourites. So professional and absolutely stunning locations. You 

https://www.julian-boattours.com

 

Both these excursions were very highly rated, and recommended to us by friends who have visited those islands many time. 

Whatever you decide, have a fabulous cruise! 

[DrivesLikeMario]

If your ATV tour in St. Kitts is anything like the one we did through Viator, you'll have a great time!  We were picked up in a van at the port and taken to their site.  I had never been on an ATV before and was surprised at how incredibly easy it was and that it was SO much fun!  You might check out the one on Viator to compare prices.  We went to the Batik factory and to an old sugar plantation.  Excellent tour.  There were only 4 of us so we all got a lot of individualized attention throughout the whole tour.

[Peter118]

On 11/25/2019 at 7:51 PM, DrivesLikeMario said:

If your ATV tour in St. Kitts is anything like the one we did through Viator, you'll have a great time!  We were picked up in a van at the port and taken to their site.  I had never been on an ATV before and was surprised at how incredibly easy it was and that it was SO much fun!  You might check out the one on Viator to compare prices.  We went to the Batik factory and to an old sugar plantation.  Excellent tour.  There were only 4 of us so we all got a lot of individualized attention throughout the whole tour.

We did ATV in Sedona and it was great. Covered a lot of ground in a day and saw quite a bit. This may be the way to roll...