What to do while on the Caribbean???

[Want the Sun]

I am planning on doing only one excursion on our trip. I like to do one involving snorkeling. I seen a couple with the inflatable boats. Has anyone done one of these? I was wondering also where to do it, St. Marrten or St. Thomas. I like to keep Princess Cays day as a relaxing down on the beach. Also like to do a little shopping. SO, where do I do the excursion (and which one) and where is the best place to shop?? Sailing Mar 23 on Caribbean Priness:D

[Want the Sun]

Any one???:(

[cookingchick]

I am planning on doing only one excursion on our trip. I like to do one involving snorkeling. I seen a couple with the inflatable boats. Has anyone done one of these? I was wondering also where to do it, St. Marrten or St. Thomas. I like to keep Princess Cays day as a relaxing down on the beach. Also like to do a little shopping. SO, where do I do the excursion (and which one) and where is the best place to shop?? Sailing Mar 23 on Caribbean Priness:D

 

I'd do the snorkeling excursion in St. Thomas...but get an excursion to St. John. Really beautiful over there.

 

I didn't find that the snorkeling was all that great in St. Martin. We rented a car and drove around the island...the French side has beautiful beaches, but I think the Dutch side has the best shopping bargains. Sorry, I'm not much of a shopper so maybe someone else can answer that better.

[mii]

Maybe you will find suggestions in the Ports of Call board. then scroll to St. Thomas, St. martin or wherever you go.

 

Marilyn

[Colo Cruiser]

I am planning on doing only one excursion on our trip. I like to do one involving snorkeling. I seen a couple with the inflatable boats. Has anyone done one of these? I was wondering also where to do it, St. Marrten or St. Thomas. I like to keep Princess Cays day as a relaxing down on the beach. Also like to do a little shopping. SO, where do I do the excursion (and which one) and where is the best place to shop?? Sailing Mar 23 on Caribbean Priness:D

 

 

In St Thomas we have gone to Sapphire Beach. We have also gone over to St John/Trunk Bay. :)

 

St Martin we used to go to Mullet Bay. :)

[Want the Sun]

Is shopping better in St. Martin?

[martini cruiser]

I would do snorkeling on St John as others have mentioned. But St Thomas is also the best shopping as far as I am concerned.

 

You should be able to do both. If you dock at Havensight the shopping there is just as good as downtown.

 

 

Martini Cruiser

[Want the Sun]

Has anyone tried the excursion where you get your own inflatable boat with motor (of course) and you go to one of the bays and snorkel?? You go with a guide.....I think from what I have read.

[Susie51]

I'm glad you are going snorkeling. You can shop anywhere. I hope you are able to snorkel twice. I have taken cabs to beaches in the past and it was very reasonable. Try looking at the special interests forum.

[chrysalis]

I don't know how experienced you are at snorkelling, but take a cab to Coki Beach,...nice beach, lots of facilities and the snorkelling is actually very good, with a wide variety of fish.

[Want the Sun]

I have never snorkeled before so I would rather stick to going with a excursion.

[dplusd]

While in St Thomas, I highly recomend the ship excursion to St John/Trunk Bay. It's the best. A little more expensive that independent travel, but worth it for the peace of mind.

 

Not a tremendous abount of fish here, but it's one of the most beautiful beaches I have visited. You will love it. The boat ride to St John is less than an hour and very pretty too. Enjoy!

[Want the Sun]

While in St Thomas, I highly recomend the ship excursion to St John/Trunk Bay. It's the best. A little more expensive that independent travel, but worth it for the peace of mind.

 

Not a tremendous abount of fish here, but it's one of the most beautiful beaches I have visited. You will love it. The boat ride to St John is less than an hour and very pretty too. Enjoy!

 

 

What is the excursion called??

[chrysalis]

What is the excursion called??

 

here is the link to it.....

 

http://www.princess.com/learn/shorex/shorexdetail.jsp?shorexId=STT-830

[Kan't Wait]

I have been to St. Thomas and St. Maarten several times and for this cruise we have decided to do the champagne catamaran 1/2 day to St. John while in St. Thomas. (thru the cruise line) This time in St. Thomas we want to check out a few other sites. While in St. Maarten we are renting a car to utilize our time to see and do all that we can. Shopping in St. Maarten is one of my favorites but I hear St. Thomas is good... it's all subjective of course and it all depends on what you are looking for. I too am looking to just relax on Princess Cays.

[JWJs]

We have snorkeled at Sapphire Beach on St. Thomas a few times. Short and reasonable cab ride and you are there. The beach is great. Great Snorkeling is on the right hand side of the beach. We bought snorkel gear that we carry in a duffel bag as checkged baggage. I saw some good buys on snorkel gear just the other day at COSCO. For our last cruise I bought two small nylon Nike back packs that were prefect to carry our snorkel gear when we headed out for a beach day. The packs have a zipper section that holds misc stuff.

BTW...St. John is gorgeous. Once you go there you always want to go back but that's also true of St. Thomas. We never tire of going to those islands.

 

Have fun. It's great to get a little snorkeling in while on a cruise.

[deppong]

We have done the inflatable boats 2 times. They were each on different islands 2 different years. I think one island was Antigua and the other was St. Thomas but I am not sure. Both days were cloudy and overcast. The water was kind of choppy and even though we stayed close to shore it was pretty bouncy. My husband drove the boat and I rode up front. There was a lot of pounding and bouncing. Finally after about 1/2 way thru the guide came over and told me that I could sit on the side of the boat (on the inflatable part) It was much better there. After doing it twice I decided I really didn't like it that much. My husband who didn't get the crap bounced out of him! loved it. We have our own boat that we take out on private lakes in Wisc. and Illinois so I am used to boating. I just don't like the pounding. It hursts my back and head! I would rather do a rollercoaster!

[Want the Sun]

I have been looking at the champagne catamaran 1/2 day to St. John also. We got this book from Princess with all the excursions. It is great but still.....it is hard to know what to do. Plus we are new to snorkeling...

[JWJs]

I re-read this thread and the more I hear about the inflatable boat with the motor the more it sounds like a lot of fun. How much is the rental? Is the rental through princess or ???? How does the guide work out? How many people/boats go out with the guide? Sometimes, when we snorkel at Sapphire or other beaches, it would be so neat to just travel on around the bend a bit.

[deppong]

We had about 10 boats with our group. One time we took the boats to a bay area and "docked" (pulled up on the sand) and swam and snorkeled from there. The other time we just stopped in the middle of what I thought was the ocean! but was a very large bay and they tied the boats together and we just jumped over. I guess I sounded a little negative about the boats in my last post. We are in our 50's and love adventure. My husband was driving the boat in and out of the wake of the other boats so that made it very bumpy. He likes fun! I didn't feel comfortable driving so I got pretty banged up until I sat on the side. You have to have someone sitting towards the front so the boat will plane out (flatten out in the water) otherwise you have your front end up toward the sky and it makes it hard to see what is ahead. All in all I enjoyed the boats when we were going at a slower speed in the calmer water. My poor old bones cant take the pounding anymore. I am sure my kids would have loved it.

[Momeof3]

We were in St Thomas in January and did an excursion with GodFreys. We booked directly with the tour and it was $25 per person much cheaper then booking thru the ship. We had a wonderful time. We got a tour of the island, did shopping and even got time at Coki Beach. With Godfreys you have a choice of beaches to spend 2 hours at.

 

We requested that Godfrey take us around the island himself and he did. He has a wealth of knowledge about the island. If you decided to go with this tour make sure you have a banana daquari at the shop at the top of the mountain...Delicious and you will get beautiful pictures at this spot too.

 

This is the link to his website. http://godfreytoursvi.com/ We enjoyed this tour because we got a little bit of everything that we wanted to do.

 

Have a great Cruise.

[Texalana]

We're going to try Godfrey's tour this time. I'm really looking forward to it, too! I've read so many great things about him on the St. Thomas board that I just have to see for myself now!

 

Texalana :)

[Want the Sun]

The "Inflatable boat Excursion" sounds like a lot of fun. I do worry about my back now though with all that knocking around. I do have back problems so..... Maybe I should look into doing another snorkeling excursion.

[Pam in CA]

I like to keep Princess Cays day as a relaxing down on the beach. Also like to do a little shopping.

Princess Cay's won't be so relaxing -- you'll be sharing the beach with almost three thousand of your fellow passengers. It'll be MUCH more relaxing if you beat the crowds and stay on the ship, which you'll have almost to yourself. :) I think the shopping is much better in St. Maarten than in St. Thomas but that's my opinion.

 

While in St Thomas, I highly recomend the ship excursion to St John/Trunk Bay. It's the best. A little more expensive that independent travel, but worth it for the peace of mind.

I too highly recommend the St. John's Truck Bay snorkling excursion. The beach is gorgeous and the snorkling fabulous, particularly for a beginner. It's a national park and they have underwater signs of what you're seeing. :)

[deppong]

The "Inflatable boat Excursion" sounds like a lot of fun. I do worry about my back now though with all that knocking around. I do have back problems so..... Maybe I should look into doing another snorkeling excursion.

 

 

If you have back problems I REALLY would advise against it. What about a catamaran to an island. That is smooth and lots of fun.