Sarah asked:
Hello everyone!:)
I’m going on a cruise and we will be traveling the southern caribbean for 7 days with Carnival Cruise lines. We will be stopping at San Juan, Puerto Rico ; St. Thomas, USVI ; Dominica ; Barbados ; St. Lucia, WI ; Antigua ; St Kitts, WI ; San Juan, Puerto Rico.
What are some things that you think I shouldn’t miss doing at these places, and what are some “must-see” things I should see? Thanks so much!
In San Juan, you should definitely go check out El Morro. It’s a really old fort and you can get some great pictures. There’s another fort in San Juan, San Cristobal, that’s also nice. If you’re old enough, you can check out the Bacardi tour, it’s a short ferry ride from San Juan. San Juan also has some great restaurants and shops.
i went on that exact cruise in april! i was so much fun; you’re going to love it! ok i don’t know what you guys want to do or what your style is, but i can tell you what we did and what i thought of each thing.
puerto rico – we stayed a night after our cruise, so we just hung out at the hotel and went to restaurants, then went walking around downtown at night. it was really nice. what i wanted to do, however, was this kayak tour out at some bay where there are these micro organisms that glue neon blue when your paddle touches the water. definitely look into that.
st. thomas – we went to the aquarium and then magen’s bay beach. the aquarium was a bit of a disappointment. the beach was nice, but i was expecting it to be much larger. it has showers and stuff though, so it’s nice to be able to rinse off.
dominica – we did the double the fun for 2 in 1 thing. we went rivertubing and then went on the hike to the waterfalls. the tubing was easily one of my favorite parts of our trip. it’s an hour of tubing on a natural river and it was so much fun – i laughed the entire time we were tubing. the hike was cool, but you have to be careful. i went swimming under one of the falls and it was freezing, but very nice, clear water.
barbados – definitely go snorkeling with the turtles. a bunch came right up to me and a few almost swam into me. it was awesome. then we had some time at the beach and the sand is gorgeous – it’s pink and white and so soft
st. lucia – we went scuba diving. i don’t know if you’re certified or not, but if you are, it was a great time.
antigua – we went off on our own and found people to take us horseback riding on the beach and then had a few hours on one of the nicest beaches i have ever been to. i got scared of being on the horses, but the rest of my family and my brother’s girlfriend had a blast. put sunscreen on your legs if you’re doing this though, because i didn’t and i couldn’t move because it hurt so bad. the beach is beautiful. we went to dickinson beach i believe. it’s the beach that the sandals resort is on and it’s fantastic. i went jet skiing there.
st. kitts – i went to the beach with my mom while the rest of our party explored some shops. the beach was yucky, i’m sorry to say. it was made of sulfuric rocks and therefore it smelled and there were some creepy people there. try to get a tour of the island or something.
a little sidenote: get off the boat early and look for independent tour operators at the information desks at each port. you can save a ton of money. we did this for the horseback riding. on the boat, they said it was $90 per person. we found someone on our own for $35 a person. HUGE savings. same thing with the scuba diving. on board it was $200 per person and then we found someone to take us for $120 for 2 dives.
have fun! definitely eat the chocolate melting cake for dessert – it’s to die for.
In St. Lucia, I did an amazing island tour through Cosol Tours. it included tons of local food, Trip to the volcano, an amazing waterfall, a banana plantation and the best thing of the day was the couple of hours we spent at the Jalousie Plantation resort and it was all included I highly recommend it!
Pace yourself – that’s a very port-intensive cruise!!
In Dominica you might want to check out the zipline through Wacky Rollers, although with Carnival WR may not take non-excursion reservations due to agreements with Carnival. We did it independently while on a different cruise line. It was amazing!
San Juan – you can walk up to El Morro on your own, then take the free shuttle back down to Old SJ and walk around. Check guidebooks for suggested walking tours [e.g. Frommer's, Fodor's, etc - they have websites, too].
St. Thomas – there are so many beaches to choose from…. If you want to just grab a cab, go outside the gates to find one – much cheaper. If you have time, St. John is actually much nicer than St. T., but it’s rather involved to get there and if you go on your own you risk not getting back on time and being left behind! [That's the case with any on-your-own excursion, of course.]
St. Lucia – there are a couple of outfits that do island tours and Cosol is highly regarded. These tours are long and hot, however.
Barbados – you can get to Carlisle Bay beaches by walking or taking a cab or a shuttle. Nice if you get there early, but later on it gets crazy with people pushing jet ski rentals, etc.
Don’t know about Antigua or St. Kitts specifically, but some people on Cruise Critic say there are safety issues in both.
Go to CruiseCritic.com, click on “Boards”, then “Ports of Call” and find your ports. Lots of great, reliable info from experienced cruisers.
BTW – If you’re flying out of San Juan on the weekend, be sure and allow yourself plenty of time. The airport there is notorious for crowds and delays, especially when cruise ships are in town.
Things To Do In St. Lucia