1st time Cruiser with questions ??

[ilycam]

My husband & I are going on our 1st cruise in April 05. We will be doing a Southern Caribbean cruise on the Golden Princess (Antigua, St Thomas, Barbados, St Martin and St Lucia). Looking for information about shore excursions (good or bad), or any tips that might be helpful for these ports of call. Thanks!

[GloriaF]

I can only make suggestions for St Tom and St Martin.

 

We did the Views of St Tom first time around and it was disappointing. This coming cruise (11/13 on CB) we are going to St John Trunk Bay. We are taking the ship's excursion because it is the only way DH will relax & not worry about missing the ship. But it can be done on your own if you wish.

 

In St Martin, we're doing the same one we did before: the French Riviera Beach Rendevous excursion goes to Orient Beach, includes lunch and a lounge chair.

 

We haven't had the pleasure of going to the other islands you mentioned yet, but I will do the Pitons catamaran excursion when I do go to St Lucia.

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[tom-n-jules]

My husband & I are going on our 1st cruise in April 05. We will be doing a Southern Caribbean cruise on the Golden Princess (Antigua, St Thomas, Barbados, St Martin and St Lucia). Looking for information about shore excursions (good or bad), or any tips that might be helpful for these ports of call. Thanks!

The Ports of Call section of the boards will have lots of info for you.

 

In Barbados I really enjoyed the Mt Gay run distillery/Banks brewery combo tour.

[RvrCrzr]

BARBADOS: 5-Star Catamaran with lunch! We did this ship excursion with Princess, and it was the best excursion EVER! (Tiami Catamarans) Nicest, most fun crew imaginable. Excellent food, great drinks, nice boat, fun time!

 

Snorkeling was awesome! We really LOVED this excursion!

 

PS...nothing like eating flying fish!

[phabric]

Ndjollymon-

Princess has cancelled Princess Cays and we are now going to Nassau. I have noticed on the Princess' excursions they have a Catamaram and Turtle tour ($99) is that the one you mentioned. Princess hasn't listed any tours for our sailing since it is too close to our Oct 31 sailing so they will probably have them on board. I want to be prepared to book. Can you tell me anything about your tour. I don't snorkel but would like to go into the water at the beach.

[WeBeGone]

My husband & I are going on our 1st cruise in April 05. We will be doing a Southern Caribbean cruise on the Golden Princess (Antigua, St Thomas, Barbados, St Martin and St Lucia). Looking for information about shore excursions (good or bad), or any tips that might be helpful for these ports of call. Thanks!

We always book excursions through Princess because I'm paranoid about missing the ship (yes I know its more expensive) :

Antigua - did the small bus tour of island-interesting but a lot of sitting;

St. Thomas-ferry to St. John National Park for the day-still had time for an hour of shopping before reboarding and I got to check off another national park in my quest to visit all 397 of them;

Barbados-4 wheel drive jeep tour-very FUN-our favorite island;

St. Martin - did the Americas cup Race and absolutely LOVED it, would do it again in a heartbeat-DH participated in hauling sails but I chose to ride and just stay out of the way;

St. Lucia- combination island bus tour with catamaran boat back-lots of fun, rum, and beautiful views.

[Stranger1]

I recommend taking the ferry over to St.Johns from St.Thomas and spending the day at Trunk bay...beautiful beach! You can do this on your own without any problems. If you'd rather stay on St.Thomas, may I suggest the Sea Trekkin (I think that's what it's called). It's an excursion from the ship at Coki beach that allows you to walk under water with a breathing device much like a deep sea diver (my wife and I had a blast). On Barbados, we did the SNUBA through the ship, and had a great time. Very professional staff, and we got to see a couple of ship wrecks.

[Aquarian]

I haven't been to Antiqua. St. Thomas: since it is your first cruise, I would take ship's excursions to either Magen's Bay or Trunk Bay on St. John. In Barbados, we did the Jolly Roger excursion which is sort of a booze cruise with lots of rum and singing and dancing. A beach and swimming is included but it isn't the greatest beach in Barbados. It was a fun day if that appeals to you. In St. Martin, we always do the French Riviera of the Caribbean excursion to the French side and Orient Beach. It is clothing optional but most passengers remain fully clothed. It's a beautiful beach and includes a tour guide and lunch/drink/beach chair. Umbrellas are available for a small fee. If you decide on this excursion, ask the bus driver to drop you off on Front Street for some great shopping after your day at the beach. Great jewelry shopping there and don't miss the Belgian Chocolate store and the Guavaberry Rum Store. You can take a water taxi back to the ship for a small fee from Front St. St. Lucia is one of my favorite islands. I also would suggest any excursion that takes you on a catamaran and bus combination tour where you will see the Pitons, swim/snorkel, view the inactive volcano, botanical gardens and have a buffet lunch. This is a very busy itinerary for a first cruise so be sure to give yourself some time to enjoy the ship and relax.