Where in the Caribbean would you return for a Land-only vacation?

[navybankerteacher]

22 hours ago, cruznqueen said:

This is not the Caribbean but Costa Rica is a wonderful place to visit with a lot to do other than beaches.  

Costa Rica has more Caribbean shoreline than many, if not most, Caribbean islands.

 

Anyway, I’d go for St. Maarten and St. Barth’s - been to both on land vacations - of course, on St. Maarten you have to shelter in place on busy cruise days when thousands descend on the island.

[clo]

1 hour ago, navybankerteacher said:

St. Maarten you have to shelter in place on busy cruise days when thousands descend on the island.

Now?

[donaldsc]

On 7/22/2020 at 5:49 AM, Mapleleafforever said:

Cuba hands down, no contest. Best beaches in the world by far and can't beat the price (value). Only a short 3 hour flight from Toronto. 

 

Once travel to Canada and Cuba opens up if it ever does, anyone can go to Cuba is you are just willing to ignore the rules perpetuated by the current administration. Just fly to Canada and then book a flight from a Canadian city to Cuba.  I see no reason why I can't go to Cuba.  Everyone else in the world can go.  I have been there twice and both trips were wonderful.  Beats any of the islands in the Caribbean that I have been to.

 

DON

[Aplmac]

On 7/21/2020 at 9:52 AM, lovemylab said:

In Barbados we stayed at a hotel that had a kitchenette

and was right on the beach.   

Barbados can be pricey but having the kitchenette

allowed us to save a fair amount on meals/drinks. 

 

Sounds like Coconut Court -on Hastings Beach?

 

[evandbob]

Right now I'd begin to research which isle has done its best to isolate COVID exposure as well as who is going to accept healthy Americans.

 

No sense thinking of going someplace you aren't allowed to go. Nor does it make sense to go if the isle requires a quarantine period or shelter in place restriction.  I can do that at home without the risk inherent in flying to an island.

 

But if Antigua, Barbados, Grenada, St Lucia, St Maarten, or Aruba would take us back, we'd be happy to return again!

[iancal]

Cuba and St. Lucia.

[evandbob]

On 7/22/2020 at 4:15 PM, NJGeorge said:

For us the worst part of a land Caribbean vacay was when the cruise ships were in port! 

St.John was the best (a bit pricey) no direct cruise ship dock.  We also stayed in Saint  Lucia and Tortola.

 

Exactly! Amazing how one's perspective changes when a cruiser becomes a land vacationer.  On some islands that had cruise ships perhaps 3x a week, we would choose our days activities around the congestion and traffic caused by the ships porting.  On  Roatan, we stayed in a hotel called Infinity Bay that was adjacent to Tabayana Beach and we couldn't snorkel when the cruise ship crowd came in.  I would get my snorkel in as they were docking, and I finished before they arrived at the beach.

 

St Thomas and St Maarten are notorious for cruise ship induced paralysis if 6 ships dock with over a 20,000 pax load.

 

My last time back, I was a cruiser so naturally my focus reshifted again.

Edited July 27, 2020 by evandbob

[iancal]

One reason why we like Cuba so much.

[SelectSys]

56 minutes ago, evandbob said:

 

..

 

St Thomas and St Maarten are notorious for cruise ship induced paralysis if 6 ships dock with over a 20,000 pax load.

 

...

 

I discovered cruising as an easy family vacation when my kids were young and have kept on going once they moved off to university and beyond.   Before those family vacations, I would always travel via land including a couple of trips to the Caribbean.  

 

I remember the streets of Charlotte Amalie back then thinking that the cruise passengers were just like the tide - they roll in during the morning and back out to sea in the evening.  I am not sure what it is like in the past 20 or so years after the ships leave but the streets really emptied out once the ships left.

[navybankerteacher]

2 hours ago, SelectSys said:

 

I discovered cruising as an easy family vacation when my kids were young and have kept on going once they moved off to university and beyond.   Before those family vacations, I would always travel via land including a couple of trips to the Caribbean.  

 

I remember the streets of Charlotte Amalie back then thinking that the cruise passengers were just like the tide - they roll in during the morning and back out to sea in the evening.  I am not sure what it is like in the past 20 or so years after the ships leave but the streets really emptied out once the ships left.

My first time into Charlotte Amalie was in the ‘60’s - with USN (moored at the Submarine  Pier) when perhaps one cruise ship carrying maybe 1000 passengers might call every other week.  A H Riise was the place to hit - so you could bring back some cheap liquor (not available to you on boar), and there was a floating restaurant - The Black Witch, I believe.  It was a great liberty port back then - now one of the worst cruise stops.

[George C]

We have done Sandals in Jamaica several times , Sandals whitehouse is a great resort about 6 restaurants With food way better than mdr , top shelf drinks , Swim up bars at a couple of pools, miles of beach and every room is ocean front. My only issue is entertainment which is better than most resorts but not as good as cruises. 

[wowzz]

Can't see the attraction of Aruba  - no character, no soul. It's OK if you like flash resorts and casinos, but that is hardly the essence of a Caribbean holiday. And the island does not even have a decent cricket team!

Give me Antigua any day.   

[navybankerteacher]

5 hours ago, wowzz said:

Can't see the attraction of Aruba  - no character, no soul. It's OK if you like flash resorts and casinos, but that is hardly the essence of a Caribbean holiday. And the island does not even have a decent cricket team!

Give me Antigua any day.   

You thought the Dutch would bring cricket with them????

[wowzz]

1 hour ago, navybankerteacher said:

You thought the Dutch would bring cricket with them????

Fair point, but they do play Cricket in the Netherlands, and are ranked 13 in the world. 

[sverigecruiser]

 

For many years we wanted to visit Aruba so we were happy when the itinerary changed for our most recent cruise and Aruba become one of the stops.

 

We were very disappointed and don't plan to ever go back again! Eagle Beach is often ranked as one of the best beaches in the world but I have been on many better beaches even in Sweden!   

[wowzz]

The same question has been asked on a UK cruise line thread. Aruba is one of the least liked islands, with posters finding it hard to see what its appeal is. I suppose it's OK if you like US resort type holidays, but not much else.

[Dennis#1]

Went to Aruba for a week in August 2005.  About a two months before our visit, Natalee Ann Holloway disappeared.  Spent some time on the back shore looking for her remains, but had no success.  We stayed at the Holiday Inn at Palm Beach.  Had no problems with Palm Beach, Baby Beach and the numerous other Aruba beaches.

[rkacruiser]

23 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

A H Riise was the place to hit -

 

While booze was sufficient reason to go shopping, that store as well as others had bargains (in comparison to prices at home) for the same merchandise that were excellent (and I am not a shopper normally!).  

 

1970, I purchased a cashmere cardigan sweater made in the UK for a fraction of what I would have paid where i live.  I still have that sweater in good condition; it has worn like iron and is the warmest sweater that I own when Ohio winters arrive.  

 

I defy you to find such an article of clothing in St. Thomas today.  If what you are shopping for are jewelry and electronics, you might be successful.  Much else, including booze, the "savings" aren't really worth the trouble of carting the stuff home.  Particularly, if one is returning home by plane.  

[2wheelin]

4 hours ago, wowzz said:

The same question has been asked on a UK cruise line thread. Aruba is one of the least liked islands, with posters finding it hard to see what its appeal is. I suppose it's OK if you like US resort type holidays, but not much else.

Spent a week in Aruba a few years back and had a great time. Lots of off-roading and cave exploration. Mining ruins, rock climbing. I think it has been resortified since then but still a lot of back country which we explored again on a recent cruise.

We stayed at a time share resort along the beach and one day watched a flat bed truck drive slowly down the highway along the beach. There was an elephant standing on the trailer to promote a circus. Not something you see everywhere.

[SelectSys]

3 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

I defy you to find such an article of clothing in St. Thomas today.  If what you are shopping for are jewelry and electronics, you might be successful.  Much else, including booze, the "savings" aren't really worth the trouble of carting the stuff home.  Particularly, if one is returning home by plane.  

 

My understanding is that jewelry is often times overpriced for the quality in these shops.  

[wowzz]

3 hours ago, 2wheelin said:

There was an elephant standing on the trailer to promote a circus. Not something you see everywhere.

Thank goodness for that!  Hoped that sort of thing was a thing of the past.

[Roger88]

3 hours ago, 2wheelin said:

Spent a week in Aruba a few years back and had a great time. Lots of off-roading and cave exploration. Mining ruins, rock climbing. I think it has been resortified since then but still a lot of back country which we explored again on a recent cruise.

We stayed at a time share resort along the beach and one day watched a flat bed truck drive slowly down the highway along the beach. There was an elephant standing on the trailer to promote a circus. Not something you see everywhere.

Definitely Aruba. Aruba is fantastic, its like Maldives only way chiller in my opinion. The climate there is also amazing and you can always spot some fancy fish and birds around you especially if you live in a bungalow. There is something fantastic about living on those islands in the bungalows. I mean, you can literally be ONE with the nature 

[wowzz]

1 minute ago, Roger88 said:

Definitely Aruba. Aruba is fantastic, its like Maldives only way chiller in my opinion. The climate there is also amazing and you can always spot some fancy fish and birds around you especially if you live in a bungalow. There is something fantastic about living on those islands in the bungalows. I mean, you can literally be ONE with the nature 

Seriously? If you want a water bungalow on a virtually deserted island then any of the Maldives beats Aruba into a cocked hat. I'd be interested to know which of the Maldives you visited, but unfortunately you never respond to any replies to your posts.

And you do know that the other nearby islands in the Caribbean share the same climate and also have fish and birds?

You have not given a single reason why Aruba is a special place to visit.

[iancal]

We would go back to Cuba in a flash for another land stay.  Amazing beaches,  incredibly friendly people, no huge cruise ship crowds.  No wall to wall duty free and jewelry stores.   Perfect!

Edited July 29, 2020 by iancal

[CoolNickname]

We've gone back and done vacations at several locations we previously cruised to or near to, though not all of them were Caribbean islands. We'd definitely do Cancun, Cozumel, Playa Del Carmen, Puerto Rico, Curacao, and St. Thomas. Maybe Aruba after all of those. Kind of funny seeing this question when I was just looking at a new resort being built on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques.