St Lucia and Barbados

[karena1]

If anyone has been on Explorer of the Seas in the last week, can you tell me about St Lucia and Barbados?  It appears we can book an independent tour operator and not do a ship excursion.  

 

What has been your experience?

[Lou33]

We were on explorer last week and did ship excursions in both ports.  From what I remember in the Cruise Compass, you could not do any independent excursion in St. Lucia, and in Barbados, you could do an independent tour only if it is government approved.  

 

To our surprise, we found the prices for the ships tours to be very close to the prices for independent tours.  

[lr657]

This is the information on the Royal Caribbean website. I was told you would need a ship excursion for Barbados, St Lucia, and St Kitts.

 

Below are our current tour requirements at ports of call, which are subject to change as we continue to evaluate circumstances around the globe.

Vaccinated Guests
Fully vaccinated parties may book a shore excursion or visit most ports freely — with the exception of those listed below, which will require tours for all guests who wish to go ashore in November and December, regardless of their vaccination status.

• St. Lucia
• Barbados
• St. Kitts

At the above destinations, vaccinated guests may depart the ship and visit the enclosed port area on their own. If they wish to visit further into the island, they must have booked a Royal Caribbean shore excursion, or participate in a government approved tour. The government approved tours are unaffiliated with Royal Caribbean.

[Biker19]

5 hours ago, lr657 said:

I was told you would need a ship excursion for Barbados, St Lucia, and St Kitts.

 

5 hours ago, lr657 said:

If they wish to visit further into the island, they must have booked a Royal Caribbean shore excursion, or participate in a government approved tour.

I guess the "or" part of that doesn't mean anything?

[little britain]

18 hours ago, karena1 said:

If anyone has been on Explorer of the Seas in the last week, can you tell me about St Lucia and Barbados?  It appears we can book an independent tour operator and not do a ship excursion.  

 

What has been your experience?

It’s a government approved tour….or a ships tour. 

[rcrdale]

And exactly how do you find government approved tours?   When we visit Barbados, we love going to the Boatyard.  Are there any tour operators at the port that will take us there?

[jean87510]

You have to do a google search for government approved tours on every country that requires this.  It is the same thing as browsing a cruise planner on your booking or going on viator.com.  I have to do it for 4 ports on my Dec cruise.  It really isn't that difficult.  

[Sunshine3601]

My understanding is the government approved tours will allow their people to enter the fenced in area to sell their tours.  At least that is what I heard for st kitts.  

To book earlier than getting off ship and going to port I guess google which are government approved for each island or check the boards for the threads to see if other cruisers have used or can recommend.

 

[Smhp]

I found this info on the Barbados government page. I assume if they are advertising these tours on the government page then they are approved, I emailed a few just in case and asked. https://barbados.org/tours/toursisl.htm

[Ashland]

We'll be at these ports mid March and hoping we'll be able to DIY.

[CPT Trips]

I was recently in contact with a charter sail provider in Barbados. To be government approved, a tour with ship passengers can ONLY have ship pax, no mixing with people staying on the island. It isn’t worth it to her at this point to get approved for ship pax.

We opted for one of the ships cattle carrier sailing tours. 

[Lou33]

9 hours ago, rcrdale said:

When we visit Barbados, we love going to the Boatyard.  Are there any tour operators at the port that will take us there?

 

I don't think so.  We also wanted to go to the Boatyard.  But there is a RCI tour called the Carlisle Bay Beach Break, that takes you to an adjacent property called Harbor Lights for only $29.  When you get there, they offer a 45 min snorkeling boat tour to the wrecks and turtles for only a $15 upcharge.  The guides were great and they did extra time at the snorkel sites.  It was the best $15 I ever spent.  The only downside was the RCI tour was 8:15 to 11:30.  Not the ideal time to go to the beach.  But it is a great alternative if you want to go to the Boatyard.  

[karena1]

55 minutes ago, Lou33 said:

 

I don't think so.  We also wanted to go to the Boatyard.  But there is a RCI tour called the Carlisle Bay Beach Break, that takes you to an adjacent property called Harbor Lights for only $29.  When you get there, they offer a 45 min snorkeling boat tour to the wrecks and turtles for only a $15 upcharge.  The guides were great and they did extra time at the snorkel sites.  It was the best $15 I ever spent.  The only downside was the RCI tour was 8:15 to 11:30.  Not the ideal time to go to the beach.  But it is a great alternative if you want to go to the Boatyard.  

I emailed this company to see if they are approved.  Don't want the ship tour since you get such a short time at the beach.  We want to go to the beach all day.

[Love2travel4]

I am sailing with Calabaza in Barbados in January.  I have been in contact with them and they’re a government approved tour.  The operator had all the required information from the cruise line to be an approved tour: limited passenger number, no mixing land and cruise passengers etc.

[Lou33]

Again, be sure to compare the prices with the RCI tours.  Some of the independent tours are more expensive than what you get directly through RCI.