How many excursions on a 7-day cruise?

[aruss]

Just wondering how many shore excursions all you experienced cruisers normally do on a seven day caribbean cruise. My DH and I (both in our mid 30's)will be doing the southern itinerary in November and I was thinking one in all five ports. He thinks only one or two total. This is our first cruise and first time to the carribean.

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Serenade to the Southern Caribbean

[This message was edited by aruss on 05-02-04 at 08:27 PM.]

[This message was edited by aruss on 05-02-04 at 08:34 PM.]

[Cruising Fool]

Personally, if you have the money, I'd do one in each port. We've learned from experience that you never know when you might get back to a particular port - if ever. Also, in some ports there's not a lot to see where the ship docks. Even if you do a "city tour", it's better than nothing. Whatever you do, you'll enjoy it!!!

Marianne
Royal Caribbean - 23; Carnival - 11; NCL - 9
Princess - 4; Costa - 2; Disney - 1; Celebrity - 1
Other now defunct lines - 18

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[tmessenger]

Seeing that this is your first time, I would recommend taking an excursion at each port if possible. Most of the islands have a 'Best of' or 'Highlights of' excursion. These are normally fairly inexpensive ($20-40 per person) and usually hit the most popular points of interest on the island.

You might also consider hiring a cab to take you around. You can usually find a mini-van that will take you (along with however many others they can fit into the vehicle) for a 2-3 hour tour of the island. We've done this a couple of times and the cost was closer to $10-15 per person.

If you do end up taking a cab, you want to make sure that you leave enough time so that you can still get back to the ship if there are any problems (vehicle breakdown, etc.). Remember, if you go out on your own, the ship will not wait if you are late.

[aruss]

Thanks for the replies. I think an excursion a day is what we'll do. Now I just have to figure out if I want to do them through the ship or independently.

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Serenade to the Southern Caribbean

[skigirl]

Just another point of view - we did the AOS southern route last summer and did no official ship excursions. All of these islands are pretty easy to do on your own. In St. Thomas we spent some time in town, then went to Magens Bay for the afternoon (we have been here before and have also done the same thing except substituted Coki Beach, which is better for snorkeling). If you love snorkeling and don't care so much about having time in Charlotte Amalie, you can take a cab to Red Hook and the ferry to St. John where the snorkeling is awesome. It's really hard to fit in St. John and Charlotte Amalie if you are only in port until 5:00. All of these places have tons of cabs waiting to take folks back to the ship, so it's almost impossible to get stranded. In Antigua we knew we wanted to see Nelson's Dockyard and Shirley Heights so when we got off the ship we found a taxi driver named Christopher John to take us there and he was just wonderful, showed us his home and church which was on the way and we learned so much about Antigua. Then in the afternoon he took us to a beach - we chose Dickinson Bay as it was close to the ship and we did not have tons of time, and it was fine. In St. Maarten we wanted to visit Marigot, see the island, stop at Orient Beach and also Phillipsburg and I knew from reading these boards that you could rent a car there so we did it and it was fine - gave us control of how long we wanted to stay everywhere. There are several rental agencies right at the pier. It's a bit crazy driving in town but certainly manageable. We went to Bikini Beach section of Orient Beach and I have to say did not see anyone nude that day, just topless. The food was great - you think it's this little beach shack but then there is great French food. You can also do St. Maarten by cab - everywhere we went there were tons of cabs. In St. Lucia my husband was set on snorkeling at Anse Chastanet and we again found a taxi driver to take us - it's really quite a trip on winding roads and the last 1-2 miles are incredible. He waited with us and then took us to a great place for lunch with a lovely view of the Pitons, then dropped us off in Castires, where the market is quite interesting. You can do the Pitons and Anse Chastanet from a catamaran too, but my oldest daughter gets seasick on them and so they are not an option for us. Finally we had been to Barbados before and the first time had a wonderful taxi driver named Weldon Grovenor who took us to Folkstone Park as we wanted to snorkel. We enjoyed him so much that we looked for him and found him last summer and this time asked him to show us more of Barbados, then take us to a beach with waves. So we saw more of the island and then went to Causarina Beach, which was great. The taxi drivers in these islands are more like tour guides, they mostly are willing to work with you if you have some idea of what you want to see and do. You also learn a lot from them. We have been to Aruba on another trip and it is also easy to rent a jeep there and sightsee on your own. We love port intensive cruises so the AOS was wonderful, but I do have to warn you that it can get exhausting, since you're only in each port until 5:00 there is a real feeling that you should be up and on your way. Having 5 excursions would definitely have been too much for me - it's nice to know that at least on some days you are on your own time, maybe with some beach time and a little shopping. Plus there are times on excursions where they stop at some stores or craft stalls and you can end up wasting lots of time waiting for everyone to get back on the bus or whatever. Any way you do it though, you will love the cruise - enjoy it!

[kbt2]

We usually do 2-3 on a 7 day cruise. And we do have the money if we wanted to do more, but we personally find it a bit much to do something (excursion wise) in every port. We are in our early 30's as well, so we are on the go most of the time, but not always through an exursion. We do some things in ports on our own.
Have fun!

Kim
Dawn Princess
Regal Princess
Grand Princess
Mercury - Celebrity
Windward - NCL
Monarch of the Seas - RCCL
Voyager of the Seas - RCCL

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[cmason]

I think it depends on your energy level and $$ you want to spend. A southern itenerary is basically a port a day, so you are busy all week long. I would advise you pick a few that sound really exciting, and leave a few ports open for leasurly touring or shopping. So if one port is well known for snorkeling, schedule a great snorkel cruise, etc. Otherwise, you will be so tired from your vacation that you need another vacation!

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[jstducky]

i try to do at least one in each port. i agree that it depends a lot on your energy level and the money you want to spend. but i totally agree with the other poster who stated that you never know when you may get a chance to go back to these places again, if you see something you really want to do, do it. you don't want to go home saying to yourself "i should have done this" or "i should have done that" just do it and then you won't have any regrets.

i've found that even when you do the things you wanted to do, there are always other things you wish you could have done. i have experienced this with my alaska trips. i've done it twice, but i feel like there's so much more i want to do that i haven't done yet.

basically i'm saying don't limit yourself to a fixed number, just do everything you want to do. there have been times where i've done 2 excursions in one day! [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_eek.gif[/img]

just go and enjoy yourselves!

jstducky!
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[natesfirewife]

I will find out all about the ports and then check the shore excursions offered by RCCL. Then I will check into the Ports Message board and see who everyone recommends for doing the tours on your own. You will save alot of money doing it on your own and you might find something that the ship doesn't offer. We are in our early thirties and we love to do the tours, it all depends on what you want to do and how active you want to be. When we did Alaska we did something at every port and loved it. When we do Mexico we tend to hang out at the beach and enjoy all the water sports. Check the Ports Message Board and you will get an idea of what there is to do there. But most of all, Enjoy and have a great time!

Misty


Roll Call for the Grandeur 12/18/04. Come join us in New Orleans for the Christmas Season!!

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