Help me plan the perfect itin in ports

[Scorpiorose]

:)I've already checked the ports section, now I want to open this question up to you people:

 

We are going on AOS to: St. Martin, St. Thomas, Carurcao (sp?), Aruba and will have two days in San Juan.

 

My questions is what to do where.

1 - We want to shop (we'll do some in OSJ)

2 - We want to snorkel the best spot on the itin. Where would that be?

3 - We want to have an awesome beach day - thought we'd do orient beach - (this would be our only complete beach day) St. Thomas - would this be a mistake. I want a great beach day!

4 - I want a Dolphin adventure. Curocao (my spelling of this place changes every time:o ) is full:( - where else.

5 - We want a pirate ship possible snorkel/sail adventure. Lord Sheffield's doesn't seem to have that great of a snorkel, very short times too.

 

Help me plan the whole itin PLEASE.....

[amybear912]

If you want a great beach day...

 

When you get to St. Thomas, take the ferry over to St. John... it is pretty nice... the bulk of the island is a National Park... We arranged to get over there pretty early in the day, got back to St. Thomas with about an hour to spare and shopped around a little bit... It was our favorite day of the cruise... we did this on our own, not through an excursion...

 

On St. John you can snorkel at Trunk Bay or Cinnamon Bay or any number of little bays... We spent the day at Trunk and in the distance you could see St. Thomas... it truly was a really nice beach day...

 

I've been to Orient Beach as well... it was nice... lots of people, walking vendors, bars and restaurants... a "commercialized" beach, so to speak... the conveniences were nice and we did this the day after Trunk so we didn't mind the crowds as much...

[Sue L]

Curacao (correct spelling ;)) in my opinion is where you should go snorkeling. It is one of the best places I have ever been to. They have a underwater snorkel park there with a sunken tug that is a amazing.

 

There is a RCCL tour that goes there and it is accessible from the beach at Caracas Bay.

 

St Martin I would do the America's Cup Regatta, it was a fantastic tour.

[FitzLA]

Are you sure that the dolphin adventure is full? Did you only check with the cruiseline? If so, book it on your own. Will probably be cheaper anyway. Also, if the cruise line shows full, they always hold space for people to book onboard. So if you decide to do it through RCI, just make sure you book it as soon as you board.

[Scorpiorose]

Actually, I think I had that wrong, it wasn't on the day our cruise ship would be there, and it was a private dolphin adventure.

 

I guess, everyone is saying St. John and Trunk Bay, so that would be the place to snorkel. I suppose I'll try to take the ferry over and spend the day. Is there any food and such on St. John's? Do the cruise ship dump tons of ppl there?

 

Thanks everyone!

 

I've heard so many ppl say the regatta is the thing to do, but why? Why is it so great?

[melgray13]

what types of things do you want to shop for? shopping in St Martin and St Thomas is great. We are going on our cruise in May specifically to see St Martin shopping for diamonds :)

[amybear912]

Actually, I think I had that wrong, it wasn't on the day our cruise ship would be there, and it was a private dolphin adventure.

 

I guess, everyone is saying St. John and Trunk Bay, so that would be the place to snorkel. I suppose I'll try to take the ferry over and spend the day. Is there any food and such on St. John's? Do the cruise ship dump tons of ppl there?

 

Thanks everyone!

 

I've heard so many ppl say the regatta is the thing to do, but why? Why is it so great?

 

The ships don't dump anyone at St. John... But you will see people from ships while there... Some excursions go there and many people just go on their own... We did it on our own to control our time there...

 

We caught a cab over to the Red Hook ferry ..took the 9am ferry over to St. John... then caught another cab over to Trunk Bay... you have to pay park admission and your transportation but it still came out less than the excursion and we had a lot of time on the island... we were there before the cruiseship excursions arrived and left long after the excursions left... We had about 6 hours at the beach that day and loved every minute of it...

 

Since you are inside a National Park, the food choices were limited to snack bars, no bar-bars...

 

If you are going to do this, be sure to allow travel time back to the ship (each way, taxis and ferry took about 30-45 minutes) ... considering that the last ferrys of the day may be crowded... We caught one of the last ones and made it back to the ship with about an hour to spare... That seemed like a safe bet for us and worked out fine...

 

There are a few places to eat and a little shopping, I wouldn't think of it as a cuisine destination but we found a little place that served some great grouper and it was right at the the pier where the ferry arrives/departs...

[Sue L]

A

 

I've heard so many ppl say the regatta is the thing to do, but why? Why is it so great?

 

 

 

It is just a blast. You get to be part of the crew and work the sailboat and race against another sailboat. It is just wonderful and still one of our favorite tours ever.