Antigua

[CruisingTeacher19]

What is there to do in antigua. Does anyone have any suggestions.

 

I have posted in the ports of call but have got no responses and that was a few weeks ago. Everyone here is so knowledgeable. I heard the taxi's are really expensive to just travel around so any tours or things to do and see would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you

[golfer1966]

We were there in March and we did a beach day. It was one of the excursions through RCCL. I am sorry I dont remember which beach they took us to, but it was nice. They took all of us in a few vans and dropped us off and picked us up several hours later. The van driver gave us a lesson on Antigua as we drove to our beach. When we got there we a had chairs reserved for us and plenty of Rum Punch.

[erniesband]

Check the port of call again for info on Eli's Eco-tour, highly recommended. Another good place to look is http://www.antiguaadventures.com

 

ernie

[friarfan]

We were in Antigua about a year and a half ago. Very nice beaches. We went on the Jolly Roger pirate ship excursion. They took us out on this pirate ship, had the music playing with the margarita's and rum punches flowing. Took about an hour to get to this beach area. They anchored off the beach and you had the choice of being shuttled onto the beach, or remaining on the boat. Our friends went to the beach and enjoyed it. My wife and I stayed on the boat. The boat had a plank that acted as a diving board (was quite high up) and a rope swing off the very top of the boat that you could use to swing out over the beautifully clear water and let go and take the plunge. The rope swing was really very cool. Did that many times. I would reccommend that trip if it's available.

[superjerryw]

We got day passes for the Occidental Grand Pineapple Beach Resort. For $50 per person it included beach chairs, all you could eat and all you could drink. The taxi was $32 each way to the hotel, about a 30 minute ride.

[zqvol]

Very historical island, if you are into history lots of things to see. If you are a beach person it is said that Antigua has 365 beaches, one for each day of the year.

 

Check the POC boards for more info.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Here's a second for Eli's Eco Tour. I learned about it on the POC board. Check out the link on my signature for a lot of pictures on the tour. Just go to the "Jewel of the Seas" Album. Enjoy!:)

[BridenGroom]

We were in Antigua in February. Island is really pretty. We just took a cab to the beach and swam a bit. The seas had been rough, so no snorkling. The locals bother you alot on the beach and it took forever to get a $15 chair and umbrella. But, it was a pretty location. Shopping, we stayed right near the peir for that. The downtown looked a bit sketchy for me. I bought a few water colors and trinkets. When you pull up - the island is gorgeous.

[cruzobsessed]

go back to the antigua board and on the top it says "search this forum"......type in PINEAPPLE and wait for the responses. i must've posted dozens of very positive reviews.

it is a very lovely place and for 50.00 per person you have full access to all the facilities. 2 pools a beautiful beach (chairs, umbrellas, towels) and all food and drinks included.

[zackiedawg]

Go down to Nelson's Dockyard...check out the history of the island, and its selection as the headquarters of the British Caribbean fleet under Admiral Horatio Nelson, hero of the great Napoleonic naval battle of Trafalgar.

 

From that point, you can climb the hill to the overlook of the Dockyards and town, and look 20 miles across the sea to the southeast and see the steaming, ash-belching, highly active and horribly destructive Soufriere volcano on the neighboring island of Montserrat. The volcano became active in 1996 after lying dormant for recorded history...and proceeded to burn down villages, destroy and bury the capital city of Plymouth (a modern day Pompeii), and leave over half the population exiled around the world and those remaining clustered at the far northern end of the island. The volcano remains very active to this day, building its lava dome at an unbelievable rate of 10 cubic meters per second...resulting in regular pyroclastic flows (600 degree clouds of ash and rock) cascading down the flanks and sending columns of ash high into the sky, reaching as far as Puerto Rico.

 

At least, that's what I intend to do when I go to Antigua this October!

[texancruzer]

Rent a car and go all over the island....

 

Thats what we did when we were there last November.

 

Rented a new Suzuki Grand Vitara from Hertz. They had a representative deliver it to a hotel only 1 block from the pier.... very convenient. We also returned it to the same place. We drove over to Long Bay - very nice beach - and spent a few hours there. Then down to the southern part of the island (Nelsons Dockyard - but did not stop there ) then headed west and went along Fig Tree Drive (GORGEOUS CANOPIED AREA) and then back north along the west coast back to town. There is really only one main road that goes all the way around the island.... people are unbelievably friendly and over every hill another beautiful vista of a secret harbor. The whole island is like a tropical Texas hill country - rural with cows, goats etc.... but with palm and banana trees :D this was actually one of my favorite islands that we went to.

 

Got back to the pier area and did some shopping at Diamonds Intl for my 25th wedding anniversary present - very good day on Antigua ;)

[nspm_1956]

We were in Antigua last March and booked an excursion with this company and had a great day..Power boat,snorkelling and kiak(sorry can't spell) Picked us up at the pier and brought us back. The women that owns it name is Jennie. Just e-mail her and she'll set it up. I think we paid 50 U. S.

[Mike & Sue]

Another here who had a great day on Eli's Eco Tour.

[threeofus]

We got day passes for the Occidental Grand Pineapple Beach Resort. For $50 per person it included beach chairs, all you could eat and all you could drink. The taxi was $32 each way to the hotel, about a 30 minute ride.

 

We did the same thing...I think you can get a 45.00 pass if you arrive after breakfast.

Pretty pool and beautiful beach...don't forget to eat at Miss Mary's place up on the hill overlooking the ocean....great homemade ribs and chicken, beans .....and it is something to see.

We enjoyed it and would do it again.

[labeachcomber]

I've heard about Pineapple Beach, but I really don't want to pay over $100 when you include cab fare for the two of us. The free food doesn't really appeal to me either, as there's going to be a ton of food on the boat.

 

What about just taking a short cab ride to Runaway Bay? We're just looking for a nice relaxing beach day.

[Hey! Jude]

This place is definitely for beaches.

We used the cruiseline tours twice. Once we went on the Castaways Beach Break.($68. CAD each) Airconditioned bus, beach chairs & BBQ lunch included. Umbrellas were 5.00 and you needed to ask for them right away as they only had a few. We really enjoyed this. There was also volley ball but no watersports.

This year we went on the Antigua half day beach break. ($47. CAD each)It was more crowded, you paid for the umbrella (they were double wides) but we were at the beach so we were happy. There was no lunch included but it was less money.

I would go back to Castaways.

We did not do the Eli Eco Tour but our friends did and had a great time.

[Rowtyd]

This is a great excursion. He is a great tour guide and you'll see all the island highlights.

 

http://lawrenceofantigua.com/

[suznf]

Had a wonderful day w/ Eli's Ecotour...we did it and fell in love w/Antigua. I am enjoying your comments because we are going back and will probably do something different.

[DancerOT]

We went to Paddles of Antigua and it was fantastic. Jennie and Conrad treated us just like family - a little bit of everything: snorkeling, paddling, mini hike up bird island. Their son did the tour and he shared tons of info about where we were including ecological info.

 

My parents went on The Excellence through the cruiseline and they also had a fantastic time. The food was delicious (they emailed my mom the recipe for the fish because she loved it so much and she normally doesnt like fish), they saw the major tour spots and came away with some great memories.

 

Part of our group went on the Jolly Roger in Barbados and had a very fun, very drunk time. The rope swing off was a blast and a group of us all dived off the side at the same time.

 

No matter what you chose to do you will have a great time!

[Corkle]

Ask for "Lawrence of Antigua" and you'll have a blast! We got him for $100 for the entire day for just the two of us. He showed us really beautiful places on the Island and we had the best day ever! The island is beautiful and you can't go wrong with Lawrence!

[Sunshine101]

We also did Paddles in Antigua and it was great. We booked directly through Paddles rather than through the Cruiseship and saved money. It was a fantastic day!

[love2vacation]

This was one of our favorite islands, St. Lucia was the other, on our March cruise.

 

I agree that there are lots of historical spots. We saw so many places, our favorites, Darkwood Beach, and Nelson's Dockyard, along with Shirley Heights.

 

If ou want to check out our Antigua album is is at http://www.jlfcruise06.dell.shutterfly.com. There are some great pictures of Darkwood beach, the dockyard, and Shirley Heights.

 

We walked off the ship and booked a taxi tour at the end of the dock.

 

Have a great cruise, I sure wish we were going with............

[cruisingrightalong]

We went thru Antigua Adventures...and did the ATV ride over the island.....28 miles worth!

 

Lou

[CruisingTeacher19]

Thank you all so much for your suggestions. I have decided to book with Lawrence of Antigua because I have heard great things from him. I will let you know in my review my thoughts when I get back.