West Indies Explorer cruise

[bookbabe]

We also did this cruise in December.  Our excursions (prices in Cdn $) are screenshotted below.

 

Best was the chocolate making, closely followed by the river tubing.  Those were both great.  Worst was the St Martin included tour, mostly because of the guide, that’s 2.5 hrs of my life I’m never getting back.  The St Thomas included is pretty much an excuse to drag you by souvenir shopping spots, depends if you like that or not.  Antigua was good, but mostly because we had a great guide.

 

[Texanniew]

This is great! Thank you 🙂 

[FetaCheese]

17 hours ago, Snowcat1 said:

In the responses, several people have said that American Airlines flies to San Juan direct. But direct from where?

Philly

[Jim Avery]

12 minutes ago, FetaCheese said:

Philly

The rest of us slobs have to connect.  On AA our choices for SJU are connect in CLT. PHL, or MIA.  Yay.

Edited September 2, 2023 by Jim Avery

[JenRonn1104]

Philadelphia has direct flights to San Juan as well.

[millybess]

19 hours ago, Snowcat1 said:

In the responses, several people have said that American Airlines flies to San Juan direct. But direct from where?

From Toronto we used to be able to get to San Juan nonstop with Air Canada and Air Transat.  Now, we have to stop in Miami.  We like Miami so we have no problem overnighting there and then flying to SJ.  I think Air Transat might have a nonstop from Montreal once or twice a week.  

[EchoIsland]

20 hours ago, Snowcat1 said:

In the responses, several people have said that American Airlines flies to San Juan direct. But direct from where?

We flew Van to Toronto, Toronto to San Juan with Air Canada in Jan 2023 for this cruise.   Return with Jet Blue, San Juan to NY, NY to Van, which was better than we expected.  

[millybess]

58 minutes ago, EchoIsland said:

We flew Van to Toronto, Toronto to San Juan with Air Canada in Jan 2023 for this cruise.   Return with Jet Blue, San Juan to NY, NY to Van, which was better than we expected.  

It would be great if AC had the nonstop to SJ when we are flying in January 2024, but alas no -- unless they add it back in now that we've booked AA.🙄

 

We flew a lot with Jet Blue when we had a place in Florida. We really like Jet Blue.  

Edited September 2, 2023 by millybess

[Texanniew]

On 9/1/2023 at 4:40 PM, photopro2 said:

 

I made some notes on our trip in February 2023, so hope these might help you. We obviously paid for our excursions in pounds, but that will give you an idea of the dollar amount.

We had visited Old San Juan and the forts previously, but would recommend taking a look at these on day two if you’ve not seen them before. However, our itinerary was as follows

Day 1 San Juan

Arrival in San Juan evening walk into town.

Day 2 San Juan

Made our own arrangements. Walk past government buildings to Palm lined beach at Balneario del Escambrón

Day 3 Tortola

AM walk round the bay to British governor’s old residence.

PM Tortola Scenic Tour & Beach INCLUDED This was a good included tour with an informational ride across the island, followed by an hour or so at a beach club with loungers, and one included drink as I recall.

Day 4 St Kitts

Historic Basseterre & Fairview Great House INCLUDED Reasonable included tour, Busy in the house at times and we visited the garden first. Then went back into the house once the crowd had gone through.

Day 5 St. Lucia

St. Lucia Panorama INCLUDED mostly a drive-by coach tour but the Stony Hill Estate visit at the end was lovely – wish we had longer there.

Day 6 Barbados

Made our own arrangements. Walked into the old town, and then a couple of hours at Brownes Beach, which was nice.

Day 7 Dominica

Rainforest Waterfalls & Beachside OPTIONAL £69 per person

Nice excursion. Swam in the pool under the waterfall and had a good amount of time (and lunch) on the secluded and picturesque beach. 

Day 8 Antigua

Amazing Antigua INCLUDED Maybe an hour at Nelsons dockyard and a couple of high points for overviews of the island, not a bad included tour overall.

Day 9 St. Thomas 

AM St. John National Park Champagne Catamaran Sail OPTIONAL £84 Per Person. Loved this excursion. We left the ship fairly early in the morning and were the first boat to arrive at the deserted beach, so those of us from Viking had it all to ourselves for the first 20 minutes. Then had time for swimming and sunning ourselves before returning to the ship. 

PM Secret Scenic Island Tour & Mountain Top INCLUDED Stopped at a couple of high points to view the island. The longer stop at the top was at a large touristy shopping area, not to our taste but okay for the view.

Day 10 America’s Cup 12-Meter Regatta OPTIONAL £92 Per Person. This was one of the best excursions we have ever done. Sailing those fast boats across the blue ocean is a completely unique experience and one we will always remember. 

Day 11 leave ship and fly home

 

Thank you! This is so helpful.

[Texanniew]

With all the talk about airlines,I am in Houston and United has a non stop flight to San Juan, does Viking usually put you on the easiest flight?

[Breckski]

On 9/1/2023 at 4:36 PM, Snowcat1 said:

In the responses, several people have said that American Airlines flies to San Juan direct. But direct from where?

CLT for one.