Guadeloupe

[Triggertravel]

Guadeloupe is a  place that I’ve never been too, but would love to visit  , and also like to tick off, but for some reason  P&O avoid it like the plague. Unless you’re   on a  Southampton to Southampton Caribbean cruise Is there a reason why They don’t go there I love the French Caribbean islands   

[molecrochip]

Is it a tender port unless you’ve a really small ship?

[Wonky]

We were alongside on MSC Preziosa a few years back.

[Fionboard]

Not tender. Have been there three times. Port and island pretty run down in general, but the beaches are lovely. Club Med is good for the day ( or another beach hotel)  if you are not on an excursion. Not interested in DinP excursion but have heard it is not good. 

[Gettingwarmer]

We were on MSC Preziosa and visited the Botanical Gardens which were very good. We passed through the place where the Death in Paradise police station etc is but did not stop. We also visited other nice places. 

[terrierjohn]

2 hours ago, Wonky said:

We were alongside on MSC Preziosa a few years back.

We were also alongside on Ventura.

[Megabear2]

1 hour ago, Fionboard said:

Not tender. Have been there three times. Port and island pretty run down in general, but the beaches are lovely. Club Med is good for the day ( or another beach hotel)  if you are not on an excursion. Not interested in DinP excursion but have heard it is not good. 

That's interesting. I went there on Azura after the big hurricanes in 2017 changed all the itineraries and found it to be beautiful and natural. I loved the French influence as well and had actually researched how to take a land based holiday there but never made it due to the pandemic.

 

The DinP excursion only works out of season when the actual filming is happening.  The shack etc are props built on the beach as temporary structures every year and the police station is an educational storage place in normal times.  The local tour operators have permission to place signage on the buildings and sites to try to make it authentic.  Like any film set visit it's all down to the individuals' imagination.  

 

I'm a sucker for a good film or television set, one of all time favourites is the Inspector Montalbano tour in Sicily. Yes, I know it's very sad.

[galeforce9]

27 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

That's interesting. I went there on Azura after the big hurricanes in 2017 changed all the itineraries and found it to be beautiful and natural. I loved the French influence as well and had actually researched how to take a land based holiday there but never made it due to the pandemic.

 

The DinP excursion only works out of season when the actual filming is happening.  The shack etc are props built on the beach as temporary structures every year and the police station is an educational storage place in normal times.  The local tour operators have permission to place signage on the buildings and sites to try to make it authentic.  Like any film set visit it's all down to the individuals' imagination.  

 

I'm a sucker for a good film or television set, one of all time favourites is the Inspector Montalbano tour in Sicily. Yes, I know it's very sad.

I’ve done a private tour from another cruise line.  Visited the botanical gardens, the National park, gorgeous beaches, had an amazing quality lunch at the beach and Deshaies with all the locations from DP and a rum distillery.  A superb tour and would love to return.  I too researched for an independent holiday! I agree with you also about montelbano.  Ciao 😁

[Triggertravel]

Some great and useful guides and information on this Thankyou for posting , but why do you think p&o don’t include Guadeloupe  in their carribean itinerary instead of the normal same old same old itinerary . I know there has been numerous posts on p&o  itinerary selection  

[Megabear2]

1 hour ago, Triggertravel said:

Some great and useful guides and information on this Thankyou for posting , but why do you think p&o don’t include Guadeloupe  in their carribean itinerary instead of the normal same old same old itinerary . I know there has been numerous posts on p&o  itinerary selection  

No idea, until 2020 the ports used to mix up with smaller and more interesting islands like Dominica. For someone like me who do it every year, sometimes several times, it was good as you could get variety. This has clearly stopped now with the 2023, 2024 itineraries being identical to 2021 and 2022.  At least Arvia is adding some variety with the welcome return of Tortola together with Martinique and La Romana.

 

Mind you with the vast number of cruise ships in the Caribbean an awful lot of the islands will be booked seasonally by one line with little room for others to dock and P&O are not keen on tendering.

[tring]

We were in Guadaloupe in November on Aurora and it was our favourite port.  Yes, we really liked the frenchness and DH speaks very good french which helped, but I am pretty sure most places spoke English anyway.  We just went into the town.  It was run down near the docking location, yes, but we did not feel at all unsafe, so it was interesting in itself.  Less than ten minutes in it was fine.  We had a drink and then later stopped on the main square for lunch  - a set menu, "Menu du Jour".  The real appeal was that it really did seem unspoilt. 

 

We had stayed in all.ports, rather than travel further afield, as we have not been to the Caribbean for more than ten years and had really just gone for good winter weather while the world was recovering from covid, so going east did seem a good idea.  We expected The Caribbean to be far more touristy than we remembered, but places like St Lucia were quite eye opening.  In St Kitts we were moored with Wonder if the Seas and also a HAL ship, which did have a big effect on the immediate port area, but strange how some people are quite happy to stay there, frequenting the port bars and shops, so we were able to go off that afternoon into the town and find a local coffee bar/cafe, were we were the only tourists.  This second paragraph perhaps tells you something about our tourist style.....

 

We had read reviews of Guadaloupe before going which were mixed, including one particular one from an American who was really annoyed that they wanted Euros and would not take US dollars.  C:est La France, why should they take dollars?  I do not see the US accepting Euros!

 

Edited April 8, 2023 by tring

[twotravellersLondon]

13 hours ago, Triggertravel said:

Some great and useful guides and information on this Thankyou for posting , but why do you think p&o don’t include Guadeloupe  in their carribean itinerary instead of the normal same old same old itinerary . I know there has been numerous posts on p&o  itinerary selection  

 

As Guadeloupe is a French overseas territory... C'est la France... and as with the French mainland the situation in Guadeloupe is currently very volatile. It's best to check the UK's up-to-date Foreign Travel Advice. 

 

Since November there has been a continued increase in incidences of rioting and protests in Guadeloupe. Due to worker strikes and other forms of civil unrest, protests may occur in Guadeloupe from time to time. Demonstrations can get unruly. There have been; riots, burning barricades, buildings set-alight and burnt to the ground, roads blocked and attacks on the police.

 

These problems are ongoing and seem likely to escalate... as with the situation in France as a whole.

 

Tourists have rarely fallen victim to armed robberies or assaults... but it's so difficult to see into the future these days... one guess is as good as another.

 

That's probably why P&O give Guadeloupe a miss. Quel dommage!

[Fionboard]

Prefer the Dutch ABC islands to the French ones.

[zap99]

16 minutes ago, Fionboard said:

Prefer the Dutch ABC islands to the French ones.

We stopped in Martinique once. After a lecture from the tour guide on the evils of slavery and how ashamed we should be, followed by me asking her why she thought it was OK to throw her plastic cup over the side of the trip boat, we parted company with the wonderful French Caribbean.  ABC islands are great. We call at B&C in December. A last time.

 

 

Edited April 9, 2023 by zap99

[Fionboard]

The Dutch side is better than the French on St Maarten too IMO. 

[Ardennais]

Our tour guide in Guadeloupe got quite sniffy when I told him that we were Welsh, not English - he kept referring to everyone as being English. He was quite dismissive and said something like “same thing”. Didn’t give him a tip!! 

[Somerset Cruiser]

On 4/8/2023 at 7:05 PM, Megabear2 said:

 

 

The DinP excursion only works out of season when the actual filming is happening.  The shack etc are props built on the beach as temporary structures every year and the police station is an educational storage place in normal times.  The local tour operators have permission to place signage on the buildings and sites to try to make it authentic.  Like any film set visit it's all down to the individuals' imagination.  

 

 

 We were there in March, the DinP excursion went the the shack location and as you say it is dismantled during the tourist season, however the location is still worth visiting and is recognisable from the programme. From there we visited the harbour, onto Catherine's bar where we had a drink sat at the very table where the last scene of Beyond Paradise was filmed. Then into the police station which is just as you see in the programme, even the cells,  no imagination needed. An excellent trip.