My review for our recent cruise to Southern Carribean - March 16th - March 23rd

[ilovetravel123]

I know it's long but I hope it is helpful.

 

 

My husband and I took the Southern Carribean Cruise from March 16-23rd out of San Juan, PR.

 

Embarkation:

We flew in to San Juan and landed around 11:30. Took the prepaid carnival transfer and got to the terminal around 1:00 pm. The line wasn't long at all. We quickly checked in, got our sail & sign card and were up on our way to duty free shop. We tried some free samples and hubby had a field day stocking up on liquor. We also got some coke, stored it all on our carry on and made it through security without any issues. We were inside the ship within an hour of getting there. Rooms weren't going to be ready till 2:30 so we grabbed some lunch and walked around the ship.

 

We had room 7102 which was a decent size ocean view. I was really afraid about the condition of the ship from what I read but I thought it was fine. It's an old ship but there was nothing that concerned me. Dinner on first day was open arrangement. You got seated as you arrived.

 

St. Thomas:

Hubby and I've been here so we knew we wanted to go back to Megan's Bay. We took a cab for $8/person and the lady stopped by a viewing point to take some pics. It was BREATHTAKING. I can't get over the beauty of this place. We spent the whole day hanging out on the beach, just taking in the beauty of St. Thomas.

 

Dominica:

We had arranged a tour with Beno. Beno personally didn't come with us but his nephew did. He was great. He provided tons of information and entertainment. They took us to Trafalgar Falls & Emerald pool. We also stopped by Mr. Nice's fruit stand and had some delicious fruit. Towards the end, he took us to a viewing point to take some gorgeous shots of the island and the ship. We had some coconut water and local beer as well. Overall, a nice day.

 

Barbados:

We went to the Malibu Beach for $3/person and rented some beach chairs. It was sooo hot that day. The beach was excellent. The vendors got on my nerves a bit initially but eventually got the point and left us alone. We had some snacks and beer on the beach and headed back to the ship.

 

Antigua:

Unfortunaly, we hit some bad weather in Antigua. Due to the full moon, the waves were really high and made the water really choppy. We had booked the Eco Tour for that day. They still took us out and showed us the island. We went to a viewing point and hell's gate. People tried to snorkel but didn't have that good of a luck. We had some delicious local lunch on the boat. It was a great day despite bad weather. It was nice to be able to see some stuff in Antigua since most of the carnival excursions were cancelled.

 

St. Kitts:

We absolutely LOVED this island. We took a tour with a guy which was about $20/person. It was such a bargain considering he spent an entire day with us. We started driving around the island, went to the batik factory, brimstone fortress, black sand beach and then he dropped us off at the Frigate bay. We hung out at a beach bar, it was such a fun lively environment. Did some souvenir shopping by the port. A FANTASTIC DAY!!

 

St. Marteen:

This was the last island. We took a tour through carnival that took us around the island and the orient beach. The weather wasn't that great. But we went to the French side, did some shopping in the downtown area (can't recall the name of the town), had some delicious pastries from a french bakery. Then we headed to the Orient Bay. This is the european style beach. The weather was really windy so we just hung out by the beach.

 

Overall, it was a great cruise with amazing ports of call. I thought we'd be tired visiting 6 islands in 7 days but we took a beach day every other day, so it was a lot of fun. I'd love to visit most of the islands again some time.

 

Food & Entertainment: The food was the typical carnival food. But I LOVED the warm chocolate cake dessert. I had it 4 nights. The buffet lines were huge so we opted to go to the dining room for breakfast. It worked out really well. The shows were good as well.

[ialvarado2]

interesting

[bluejeans]

great review. We did the southern a couple of years ago. I agree with you, the heat in Barbados and for us, Martinique, was pretty bad. But we knew this before we went, and went prepared. I'd love to do this one again.

[Skeeter1602]

Sounds like you had fun. What ship did you sail?

[ilovetravel123]

We were on Destiny.