So. Carib Excursions

[MrsTffx]

In your most humble opinions, what are the best excursions offered by RCCL in the So. Carib? We're going to Antigua, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Martin and am wondering if RCCL's excursions are worth taking or should we just go on our own? We are in our late 50's and are fairly active and love to snorkel, hike, etc. Any suggestions would be most appreciative!

[Daycare Provider]

Break in the AOS for us. We will be on the 4-29-07 cruise. We are booked on the Pirate Exstravaganza tour. Apparently the Brig Unicorn Sailing ship that we use, is the same ship in all three Pirates of the Caribbean Movies. Some of the crew played extras in the movie. We can't wait to play on the same ship as Captain Jack Sparrow.:D

[cc cruiser]

One of my favorite excursions of all time was the America's Sailing Cup in St. Maarten. I believe it is only offered through the cruise ship. We are not sailors, but this excursion was fun, exciting and a once in a lifetime experience. We recently met a couple (who were sailors from California) and when we told them we were on the Stars and Stripes, they were so jealous. I think they may just go to St. Maarten for that experience.

 

My husband and I are also in our 50's and enjoy snorkeling. We usually use this website to book independant tours in each port. Especially for snorkeling. We went on one ship sponsored tour where it was so crowded we were literally swimming elbow to elbow with 50 or more shipmates. We ended up getting our money back on that one.

 

We've been to Barbados once before and went snorkeling and swam with the sea turtles with Thriller Tours. It was a great tour!

 

On our next cruise, we are going with independant tours in Antigua (Eco tours) and St.Lucia (Cosol Tours.) You can find lots of information on them on this website.

 

Happy Planning!

[wrp96]

In St. Lucia, I highly recommend a tour with Cosol (www.cosol-tours.com ). He takes you all over the place, provides food and drink, and offers the opportunity for snorkeling and beach time if you want.

 

In Barbados, I highly recommend the Silvermoon I or II (www.oceanadventures.bb ) It is much better than the ship's exucursions and take a whole lot less passengers. They only take 12 people on the I and 18 people on the II. You go snorkeling, swim with the sea turtles, and while they are putting out lunch you can swim in the lovely blue waters surrounding the catamaran.

 

I haven't done it yet, but in Antigua I'm following the recommendation of these boards and doing Eli's Eco-Tour.

 

In St. Maarten the most recommended tour is the America's Cup Regatta which can only be booked through the ship. Perfect for the active cruise passenger.

 

In St. Thomas, I recommend going over to St. John on your own via the ferry from Red Hook and taking a cab to either Trunk Bay or Cinnamon Bay. Beautiful beaches with great snorkeling.

[Sheffie]

Wrona is my long lost sister. . . and I didn't even know I had lost her! We agree on almost everything! We are cruising the same islands again this year, and we have done all of the tours she mentioned with the exception of Cosol, and our friends did his tour and loved it. We toured with Frank and had a great time. Our friends are using Herod this year because I read great things about him, too, and he will take you to the beach between the Pitons. (I have since found that others will do that also.) We are going snorkeling this time since we did the land tour last year.

 

If you check out my photos, you will get a small taste of what our tours have been like.

 

This is a fabulous itinerary!

 

Have fun planning!