Soooo Green!!

[greencruiser17]

Hi all!! I am so new to cruising and have so many queations..

My hubby and I set sail on Aug 10 from Puerto Rico and have never been anywhere outside north america.. have any of you been on the Carnival destiny cruise to southern Carriben.. any tips or great excursions..

only exception I DONT SWIM!! and am terrified of water :( I have soooooo many questions HELP!! :confused:

[tha sista]

Did that itinerary last September. It is awesome!

[greencruiser17]

Is it a really bad time to go?? Whats all this hurricane season talk...

can you tell i am a land lover!!

[PINEVIEW01]

Is it a really bad time to go?? Whats all this hurricane season talk...

can you tell i am a land lover!!

Best place to be during a hurricane is on a ship. They just go somewhere else! No way they are going to rish hurting that ship:D

[KruznKel]

Hi all!! I am so new to cruising and have so many queations..

My hubby and I set sail on Aug 10 from Puerto Rico and have never been anywhere outside north america.. have any of you been on the Carnival destiny cruise to southern Carriben.. any tips or great excursions..

only exception I DONT SWIM!! and am terrified of water :( I have soooooo many questions HELP!! :confused:

 

Welcome to CC :) You will love it.. no it is not a bad time to go.. as mentioned being on a ship most times you don't feel it.. as or the Destiny.. there is a thread around here maybe a few pages back all about her.. so I suggest you look for it. the search for me isn't working.. or I would post the link...

[ShedQueen77]

We did the Destiny Southern Caribbean route in December, over New Years. It was around low to mid 80's for the temp then, so I'm going to assume it'll be pretty warm in August! :)

 

With the exception of our wedding in Barbados, the only "on land" tour we did was in St. Lucia. We booked an island tour through Cosol Tours. It was a great way to see the island. I highly recommend it.

 

http://www.cosol-tours.com/

 

The rest of our activities centered around water. We did the BOSS Excursion in St. Thomas. You ride around on motorized scooters under the water. My husband isn't a swimmer and did fine and even learned to snorkel. The tour operators will ask up front about any non-swimmers and are very helpful. If you have any claustrophobic tendencies or have problems equalizing your ears when flying, take this tour with a bit of caution.

 

We went river tubing in Dominica, booked through the Wacky Rollers website. It was cheaper than the ship's excursion and we got more time in the water for the money.

 

We went to Runaway Beach in Antigua. Short cab ride, beautiful beach. We just bummed around there all day.

 

Our itinerary didn't include St. Kitts though, which I believe is the island they added in January 08.

 

My cruise review is linked in my signature, which also includes a link to pictures. If I can help in any way, feel free to ask! I hope you enjoy your cruise as much as we did!

 

[url=http://www.cosol-tours.com/][/url]

[greencruiser17]

:D Thank you!! That was very helpful!! I am driving my hubby nuts with questions that he can not answer I think ive found the right place for me here!!

[BCfan]

Welcome to the boards, Green.

 

DW and I cruised on Destiny in 2005 for our 25th Anniv. She is a great ship. We loved our cruise. Our itinerary was different then.

 

We did St. Thomas (Magen's Bay and Paradise point excursion through Carnival);

 

In Dominica we did river tubing with Wacky Rollers. (booked on our own; what a blast!!)

 

Barbados we swam with the turtles and snorkled around a shipwreck (also through Carnival).

 

Our last stop was Aruba. Again we snorkled on a Carnival excursion, then after dinner we visited Carlos and Charlies. Our favorite stop.

 

I wish we had more time to spend in San Juan. It's a beautiful city.

 

As you can see, we love the water, but there are so many other things to do in all the ports. I suggest you visit the ports of call boards for much helpful info. We found Cruise Critic to be invaluable in planning our last two cruises. I wish they were around when we first cruised in 1981.

 

My review and pictures can be found below in my signature.

 

If you have any questions, please ask away.

 

Happy cruising!!

 

Jerry

 

P.S. Here is the link to the Destiny thread another poster mentioned above.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=44544&page=404

[ShedQueen77]

:D Thank you!! That was very helpful!! I am driving my hubby nuts with questions that he can not answer I think ive found the right place for me here!!

 

That you did! :) My husband always is hounding me with questions. The only reason I can act like I'm "smart" is because of these boards! lol

[astropilot]

Hi all!! I am so new to cruising and have so many queations..

My hubby and I set sail on Aug 10 from Puerto Rico and have never been anywhere outside north america.. have any of you been on the Carnival destiny cruise to southern Carriben.. any tips or great excursions..

only exception I DONT SWIM!! and am terrified of water :( I have soooooo many questions HELP!! :confused:

 

Welcome to CC and to cruising. You're going to LOVE them both!! :)

[BULLOCH12]

and by the way don't sweat your fear of water. my wife is terrified of water and she has always enjoyed every cruise we have been on. there are plenty of non-water related activities.

[Thundercat69]

My fam and I did that southern caribbean on the destiny and I would have to say the destiny is my fav ship so far. If you going to Belize I would recommend doing a rain forest tour, I did the cave tubing tour and it was A LOT of fun!!! Also there is alot to do in San Juan P.R. But going on a cruise and being afraid of water is like living in Florida and being afraid of the sun. So much of a cruise is about water. That would be tough for me to avoid water on a cruise.

[firefighterjake]

Hi all!! I am so new to cruising and have so many queations..

My hubby and I set sail on Aug 10 from Puerto Rico and have never been anywhere outside north america.. have any of you been on the Carnival destiny cruise to southern Carriben.. any tips or great excursions..

only exception I DONT SWIM!! and am terrified of water :( I have soooooo many questions HELP!! :confused:

 

So many questions??? Well you've come to the right place for answers to those questions . . . and I'll let you in on a little secret, each and every one of us started out cruising just as green as you are right now and each and every one of us had a ton of questions. . . . :D so ask away!

 

I cannot tell you how useful I found this site when my wife and I were planning our very first cruise (this past March on board the Destiny) . . . my best advice is to read everything you can until your eyes begin to grow puffy and water . . . then stop, take a break and then resume reading . . . there is a great amount of good information here to help you plan shore trips, get around the ship and plan pre- and post-trip activities.

 

I will say that I was a lot like you . . . I had gone to Canada (it's our next door neighbor in Maine) and I had visited my sister in Alaska two times . . . but other than a trip to Montana . . . but the furthest south I had ever been was DC and as far as going out of country . . . only Canada. This is a good trip however to experience a little bit of the world . . . I felt very safe on this trip (even with the steep drop-offs along the road in Dominica) and truly enjoyed meeting the people and experiencing a different culture than the one I am used to seeing in my daily life.

 

As for tips and excursion ideas . . . well some of these may work for you and your husband's tastes and other will not . . . feel free to pick what might work for you.

 

Pre-trip: Again . . . read, read, read . . . CruiseCritic is an incredible source of information. Read all you can about ports, excursions, about the boat, etc . . . and then realize that you may read 99 posts about how good a tour operator is and then 1 post about how bad he was -- and know that odds are the many good reviews about a person or place probably means that the 1 person who wasn't happy was having a bad day, is a person who is never happy, etc.

 

Fly down a day early . . . you can rest up, check out Old San Juan and more importantly know that you will not miss the ship. Yes . . . August may not have the blizzards that cause airlines to cancel flights . . . but you do have thunderstorms and other unforeseen events. On the flip side . . . give yourself some time at the end of the trip to see OSJ . . . it's a nice way to start off and end your vacation.

 

The Ship: Read the reviews . . . but make up your own mind. I had read about how dirty the ship was and how it was old and decrepid. I had read some reviews about the crew members being rude. I had read about Carnival being a party ship . . . but when we went my wife and I found that the ship was old and showing her age in places, but it was clean and that counts for a lot in my book . . . the crew was fantastic and very friendly, especially if you get to know them better . . . and while there is a festive atmosphere on board you can always find a quiet place to read, relax or just watch the water slip by as you head to your next port.

 

Puerto Rico: Some things my wife and I did included touring the two forts, checking out the lizards and iguanas (at the fort and down near the seawall), checking out the cat colony near the Governor's Mansion, geocaching, riding the free trolley around town (it's not a guided tour, but it's a relaxing way to see the old city) and simply . . . relax and take in the sights and sounds. Tip: Depending on which hotel you book you can check out and leave your luggage with them until you're ready to board the ship. Tip #2: If you want to save some money you can buy some soda or bottled water here. Tip #3: If you don't want to go right to the airport after leaving the ship you can check your bags at Audio Gaia (Trolley Stop 1) for a small fee . . . and then tour OSJ.

 

St. Thomas: My wife and I are quiet folks who are not into crowds. Thanks to CC we were able to learn about Honeymoon Beach on Water Island . . . it was a quick taxi ride and water taxi ride over to Water Island from the pier . . . and we ended up spending a good portion of our day relaxing there. I swam and snorkeled . . . my wife simply enjoyed the day away from work and being in the warm sun as opposed to being cooped up inside due to the long Maine winter. On the way over we met a local and she ended up taking us to the beach via her golf cart after a stop off at her home . . . and the dump on the island . . . these are the memories that you don't forget.

 

Dominica: We booked a tour with Beno . . . a good way to see this very lush, tropical island . . . saw coconuts, cinnamon trees, cashews growing on trees, banana plantations, etc. along with some waterfalls. This tour can be long, but is a good way to see this island which is not nearly as developed as some other islands in the Caribbean.

 

Barbados: We booked a tour with Glory Tours . . . a truly fantastic tour. Saw Harrison's Caves (my wife didn't like being underground though), an orchid garden (not my thing, but it was a nice, relaxing stop), several sites along the way and one of my trip highlights -- a stop at the Wildlife Refuge where we were able to see quite a few animals, including a troop of wild green monkeys that come there every day for a 2 p.m. feeding. This was a very good and informative tour . . . I highly recommend the tour guide, Vernon.

 

Antigua: We spent the day at Fort James Beach . . . another very quiet beach. Not very good for snorkeling, but the warm, beautifully blue waters were fantastic for swimming and cooling off. I took lots of pics of this beach since it was so pretty, did a geocache at the nearby fort and my wife and I even paid for some massages (something we have never done before.) I collected some shells here on the beach and walked down the long beach . . . a very relaxing day.

 

St. Kitts: My favorite island. If you go I would highly recommend you take the tour with Thenford Grey -- an amazing man with a tour that was absolutely incredible. We visited Brimstone Fortress, stopped off at the botanical gardens and traveled down to the Southeast Peninsula -- for a monkey lover like me this was a great excursion . . . although my wife did get a small monkey bite from a pet monkey that was being shown at some Carib petroglyphs . . . nothing serious . . . but she has been buying lots of bananas lately. :) ;) I cannot say enough good things about this tour, this island or Thenford.

 

St. Martin: Since we love animals we checked out the St. Martin Park Zoo . . . a nice little zoo. We enjoyed this zoo and wiled away a couple of hours here before going to nearby Dawn Beach . . . like every other beach I swam and/or snorkeled while my wife simply relaxed and enjoyed the sun . . . partly because by Day 2 she was badly burned and the salt water in the ocean was very painful on her burns.

 

Well hopefully this may give you some ideas . . . stop by the ports of call for other ideas for the various ports . . . and if you have more questions fire away (no pun attended.)

 

Firefighterjake