Excursions in Anitgua and St. Lucia?

[SET TO SAIL]

We're sailing on SOS on March 21, and have never been to Antigua or St. Lucia. Anyone have suggestions for excursions?

[Jescer]

I haven't been there either but we will be on Serenade 3 weeks after you and we have decided to do the zip line in the rain forest in St. Lucia. My husband is going golfing in Antigua. I am not sure what I am going to do there.

[sandytoes03]

We did a catamaran snorkle and beach break tour in Antigua. It was *fantastic*. The beaches on Antiqua are so pristine and lovely. In St/ Lucia we did a jungle ride and bike tour. I would not recommend that. :rolleyes:

[ellbon]

st lucia

 

Cosols tour- mention all over the baords. $50 I ithnk for a 5 hour tour with rum and food. great day, used mini vans.

 

Antiqua

 

Eli's Eco or Xtreme tour

 

both have snorkeling and lunch

[Fargo2]

We're sailing on SOS on March 21, and have never been to Antigua or St. Lucia. Anyone have suggestions for excursions?

 

Set to Sail, check out the Meet and Mingle listing for your cruise, please feel free to join in, there's some good conversation on excursions for the cruise you will be on. Several are going on Cosol's tour in StLucia, and also on Eli's Eco Tour in Antigua, but there's many more ideas being discussed. Join us for the Meet and Mingle!

[Nerina]

We're sailing on SOS on March 21, and have never been to Antigua or St. Lucia. Anyone have suggestions for excursions?

 

We sailed the Southern Caribbean last March, did both of these islands & absolutely loved them! We opted to hire a private cab at each of the ports for approximately 4-5 hours. Our drivers took us to some of the most beautiful spots on the islands. They also enlighted us with a bit of the islands history. If you have a special request they are more then delighted to accommodate you. We had such a wonderful time & highly recommend the private cabs. Enjoy your cruise:)

 

 

Past Cruises:

2003 Serenade of the Seas – Canada

2004 Voyager of the Seas – Western Caribbean

2005 Jewel of the Seas – Westbound Transatlantic

2006 Explorer of the Seas – Bermuda

2006 Explorer of the Seas – Bermuda

2007 Radiance of the Seas – Hawaii Circle

2008 Explorer of the Seas – Southern Caribbean

2008 Eurodam – NYC Introduction Cruise

 

Future Cruises:

2009 Explorer of the Seas – Eastern Caribbean

2009 Norwegian Jewel – New England & Canada

[rummenroman]

We just did this cruise at the end of January.

 

St. Lucia we did COSOL. It was by far the highlight of our cruise. For us it was 55 a person, but i think the raised it to 65, but im not sure. This is something we will do again, and we aren't ones to re-do things. The tour gave you a very intimate look at the island. It also gets you out of the tourist areas, to see the real island!

 

Antigua we just did some shoping, and back to the boat. There was also a bunch of taxi drivers offering an island tour. We considered it, but then decided we needed a day to relax. One thing i didn't like about Antigua was i was offered all sorts of different drugs while there. On the other hand there must have been a local artist there, because we bought several peices of art. They really fix our decour perfectly. There was everything from contempory to island scenes.

 

Enjoy your cruise....i really wnat to be back on one....i only have to wait till december this time!

[Fargo2]

We're sailing on SOS on March 21, and have never been to Antigua or St. Lucia. Anyone have suggestions for excursions?

 

Are you looking for relaxing, quiet things to do, or something more active? Beach people? Shoppers? Snorkeling?

[butterfly2]

I highly recommend Cosol's Tour in St. Lucia!

[2VaCruzers]

Set to Sail, check out the Meet and Mingle listing for your cruise, please feel free to join in, there's some good conversation on excursions for the cruise you will be on. Several are going on Cosol's tour in StLucia, and also on Eli's Eco Tour in Antigua, but there's many more ideas being discussed. Join us for the Meet and Mingle!

 

We did both of those excursions back in January of 2007. Both were our favorite excursions and truly highlighted our cruise. And even at 52 (2 years ago) I climbed Hell's Gate on Eli's Eco Tour. The view from Bird Island (one of the stops) is gorgeous. Cosol's tour...just fabulous. Our last stop was at a beach between the two pitons. The snorkeling was the best I've ever seen.

 

Some day...we're going back!!

[RoofingPrincess]

Eli's Eco Tour in Antigua was AMAZING! Definitely a highlight of my cruise. Pictures through the link in my signature.... it's the Mustard of the Seas (Jewel of the Seas) album.

One of the great things about it was our tour guides. They made us feel like we were friends... "this is the place we used to go to when we were kids, we jumped off the cliffs, our mothers would've had a fit if they'd known..." :)

They were very willing to work with beginning snorkelers when we were docked at Bird Island, and the reef they took us to was gorgeous. I'd never been snorkeling at a place where you didn't wade into the water, so it was a new experience for me.

Oh, and the rum punch is an excellent way to rinse the salt water out of your system when you're done snorkeling! :D (I was using their equipment and couldn't get it to seal quite right....)

[SimplyAddicted]

We were on the Serenade Southern itinerary in Dec. 06. It was to date the best cruise we had been on. Antigua and St. Lucia were our favorite ports.

 

In Antigua, we took a catamaran with an open bar that did a tour around the island and stopped at the beach and Nelson's dockyard - that was a great time and the staff was top notch! The ride on the catamaran was pretty rough that day, but they said that was unusual.

 

In St. Lucia, we did a mountain bike ride through the rainforest and came to a beautiful waterfall and natural pool you can swim in. We had a blast here. Very beautiful island.

 

Have fun!!!

[ellbon]

no one ever hit me up to buy drugs on ay island but jamaica

[Albobeagle]

Cosol in St Lucia is great¡¡

we did on SOS on 2/7/09

wish we have more time at jalouise bech beteeen the Pitons.

setting is awesome and snorkel was excellent

[candhmama]

I have to agree with Cosol in St. Lucia, the best excursion we have ever done. His website is www.cosol-tours.com

We have been to Antigua a couple times and have yet to really enjoy it. Last time we did a snorkel with the sea turtles. The sea turtle part was really neat but the other parts of the snorkeling were not great at all. I think if we go to Antigua again we are going to try Eli's Ecotour after everyone's recommendations on here.

Have a great cruise

[SwimnwFishes]

Another vote for Cosol's in St Lucia.

Without question, the best $55.00 I've ever spent on a cruise! Not only a great bargain, but a fun tour.

[RUBBER DUCK]

We did the Island Safari in Antigua. There's several trucks that take you deeper into the island than you would normally go, including up a mountain size hill, down into the forest areas, and even past a Rastafarian camp. We had a layover at the beach for a while too, then back to the ship. The ride was moderately rough, but since you're just riding it's easy to hang on (you're belted in the back bed area of a land rover truck on seats). Depending on the weather, you might get dirty from mud puddles, etc. It was one of my favorite excursions of all we ahve done.

[printingchick]

We booked a trip through ShoreTrips on Antigua (it might also be available through the cruise line, not sure). We were picked up near the dock and driven to a lovely little waterfront home which I believe was owned by a retired physician from Australia. We took small boats to an island called "Great Bird Island." It was one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. The uninhabited island is hilly, with unbelievable views and sandy beaches. Just gorgeous. After exploring there for a while, the boats took anyone who was interested just offshore for some snorkeling. After that, we went by boat to another area, where we each boarded kayaks and explored the shoreline by kayak. We returned to the house at the end for snacks and rum punch. There were rest rooms and changing rooms there as well. Absolutely lovely day with a variety of fun activities. One of my all-time favorite excursions!

 

We were supposed to do a pirate boat excursion in St. Lucia, but the ship was pulled for repairs at the last minute and our excursion canceled. We took a cab to a beach, where we went parasailing. It was fun, but I suspect there are better things to do on this very pretty island.

[msakmom]

My DH and I will be on the cruise with you. We have never been before either. We are scheduled to take Cosol tour because of all the great reviews we've read. We're looking forward to it. We are just doing a beach day in Antigua.

[rpurkey]

I just returned this weekend.

 

St. Lucia - did Cosol's tour. it was great. however, it is getting so popular that it is now VERY large. there were 10 vans on our tour with 12 people in each van. $65 per person plus the driver expects a tip (well earned) at the end. the only 'negative' is that the 'bar car' that they say is with you all the time really isn't. there were only 3 or 4 stops (out of the 10 or 12) that you could get a drink. it was fine, but not as 'free flowing' as i had expected.

 

Antigua - our least favorite stop. this was the only place where the taxi drivers were rude and borderline dangerous. maybe we were just unlucky. we did a beach day at Dickenson Beach (right next to Sandals). beach was fantastic. however, the local vendors were EVERYWHERE. they weren't necessarily overbearing, but it is no fun to have to turn someone away every 10 minutes. if we go back to antigua, we will definitely book a tour.

[Bison]

We're sailing on SOS on March 21, and have never been to Antigua or St. Lucia. Anyone have suggestions for excursions?

Another vote for Cosol, his tour was one of the best we have taken. In Antgiua we did a tour with Lawrence of Antiguawhich we enjoyed and thought was a good value.

[vivig]

You MUST do Cosol's tour in St. Lucia ..it was terrific from start to finish! We had a wonderful time.

[candhmama]

I just realized that what I mentioned we did in Antigua is actually what we did in Barbados. In Antigua we did a snorkeling excursion and it was by far the worst one we have done. We went out on a very crowded catamaran, we snorkeled over what appeared to be a dying reef, then we stopped to swim at a beach. Most of us swam to the beach from the boat and none of us stayed there because the vendors were walking out into the water to try to sell us stuff. We were all in our swimsuits, we didn't even have money on us. It almsot seemed we stopped there just for the vendors. It was a catamaran snorkel through the ship, so if you are considering it, I would pass on it.

[LABCHICK]

We also had a tour with Lawrence of Antigua. Really enjoyed it.

 

Judi :)

[toothy26]

We also did the Island Safari in Antigua. It was really a lot of fun and we had an awesome driver/guide. My son remembers it as one of his favorites.