We're going to the Caribbean for the first time next year.
We're calling at:
Bridgetown, Barbados
Castries, St Lucia
Dominica
Philipsburg, St Maarten (a day and a half, overnight in port)
Tortola, BVI
St Kitts
St Johns, Antigua
We're looking for advice on tours, beaches and walkability! We don't do DIY tours other than walking off the ship under our own steam. Apart from that we prefer the security of a P&O tour rather than grabbing taxis or booking independently in places we've never been to before. More expensive I know but I'm haunted by the vision of the ship sailing without us if a non-P&O bus breaks down.
So of those ports, which have interesting towns or whatever which we can wander easily (and safely) straight into from the ship without a long walk or a taxi? We see no point in paying for a walking tour if we can take the map and do it ourselves.
We're not beach bums who soak in the sun for hours but we can't go to the Caribbean without dipping our toes in the water. Most of those ports offer a beach transfer for three or four hours and we'll definitely do one or two, but which of those stops have the best beaches? The ones with the palm trees, white sand and clear blue water in all the pictures!
And finally when we come to booking the tours what are the must see attractions on those islands?
Quickly, and jmo - others will give you other advice and cover other ports
Castries - P&O Catamaran trip to the Pietons. I don't think St Lucia is a terribly safe place to be independent now
Phillipsburg - very easy to be a DIY beach bum but you might like to look at both sides of the island - Dutch and French
St Kitts - the P&O sugar train trip. Probably expensive but fun and a relaxed way to see the island and learn the history
St Johns - just get a taxi and get your driver to take you to a beach. Tell him the kind of beach you want and he'll take you and arrange to come back for you at a time of your chosing
I agree with Moby about Nelsons Dockyard but make sure you book a tour that also takes in the Fort that overlooks English Bay the photos I took from there were amazing.
As Sunseeker says the Catamaran tour is great, the one we did took us on a mini bus from the cruise port to Soufriere where we picked up the boat and sailed back to Castries with a stop for swimming in a secluded bay and a tour of Marigot Bay. My only disappointment was there were only soft drinks available until we had been for a swim but after that it was rum punch all the way back.
Bridgetown is a very disappointing place to go unless there is a match on at the Kensington Oval so you need to get on a tour from here.
Even if you aren't a beach bum Cane Garden Beach on Tortola is a must visit as you think your in the famous "Bounty" advert when there. Pussers Landing is a bit more up market but a nice place for a cocktail or two.
St. Johns, Antigua has a very nice boardwalk straight from the ship and it has some decent shops, if Trish is into Pandora this is the place to forget to take your credit card ashore Merv.
Beautiful beach, a ten minute or so walk to plenty of shops, bars etc. It's been several years since we were there but I think you can get a small boat to take you across the harbour if you don't fancy the walk. Someone else can confirm this.
St Kitts, the Sugar Train tour is fantastic, we've done it twice. You get taken by coach to the station - the coaches are now all owned by the Sugar train company, very smart. The Sugar Train is as the name suggests an old Sugar Train. There are two compartments, one upper, one lower. The lower one is air conditioned but very few people bother to use that. The upper level has bench seats, the sides of the carriage are open so a lovely cooling breeze comes in as the train grinds her way around the track at about, I think 8 miles an hour. You travel along through villages with the sea on one side and the interior of the island on the other. There is a commentary from a retired Sugar Train man, very good. There's also a woman who looks after the carriage and brings drinks around, the banana daiquiri is lovely, quite potent I found - had two! She also brings little biscuit, shortbread things. There is also a choir of, usually three women from a local church, who go from carriage to carriage singing for you. My memory is of the train making it's slow way round the island - when you go through a village if it's not a school day the local children will come running out to wave at you - a daiquiri in hand, listening to these three ladies sing "Itsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow polka dot bikini"! Quite a memory.
Tortola is a beautiful island. There is now a spanking new cruise terminal with a selection of shops in. It's worth doing an island tour here. You can either go on one of the P&O trips or get a taxi to take you round. I've been on a P&O tour twice round the island. The first time I was in one of the open sided buses, bench seats, where you really get a feel, and smell for the island. The views are fantastic, especially when you are high up looking down over the Caribbean beaches. Now some people don't fee these sort of buses are safe, especially as there's some very sharp bends where you sort of close your eyes as you go round. I thought it was great, you can smell the pines and herbs that grow there and you can see poinsettias growing in the wild. The second time I did the trip it was in a closed minibus - not half so interesting. I don't know what P&O are using now. We are not beach people either but do go round the island, not to be missed.
Dominica, you must do a trip here. The port area is not really worth exploring and the interior of the island is beautiful. I have read reviews where people have said they walked around the port and it wasn't pleasant and next time they'd stay on board. The interior of the island is lush, and has beautiful waterfalls. Don't know if either of you like snorkelling as you're not beach people but my husband did the Champagne Reef snorkelling trip here and said it was one of the best snorkelling trips he'd done.
St. Maarten, well worth getting the water taxi over to the main area. It's just by where the ship docks. Yes St. Maarten is a shoppers paradise but there's some lovely restaurants right on the beach. I remember sitting right on the sand having a drink as a cockerel strolled by!
The Caribbean is lovely, hope you have a fantastic trip.
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We've booked the sugar train, Nelson's dockyard, one that includes Cane Garden Beach and one that includes both sides of St Maarten plus a couple of others. The only recommendation we didn't follow was the catamaran. I forget to mention Trish is a bad sailor and anything less than 30,000 tonnes on a sea any worse than a millpond and she'd spend the whole trip looking very green with her head over the side! Oh and I didn't mention shops.
You mean you didn't tell Trish of the fantastic bargains to be had in the jewellery shops in St. Maarten! My husband avoids shops like the plague - even shopping for my Christmas present is either done by one of my daughters or has to be done in our village - mind you we do have a very good jewellers there!
On St Maarten you can easily get a taxi to Maho beach where the planes come in low to Julienne airport. We spent a few hours there at Christmas - also had a very nice meal in the bar/restaurant to the left (as you look out to sea).
While I agree Cane Garden Bay is quite picturesque, I would avoid it at all costs as it tends to be heaving with cruise passengers and can be unpleasantly busy. The next bay along, is far nicer and much less busy as well.
Just a quick add to my earlier question. I believe visas are not required for a UK citizen to make cruise visits to Caribbean islands. Have I got that right. We do have US ESTA that is still valid if that's in any way relevant
Visas are not required but ESTAs are ... in case of hospitalisation in the good ol U S of A.
We did not have, nor were we required to have ESTAs on our Caribbean cruise earlier this year, because we were not scheduled tò go to any US islands.
So not sure what would have happened if we had needed hospitalisation in the US.
I'm a bit late as you have already booked, but there is usually an interesting trip on St Maarten by boat to Marigot on the French side (across the inland lagoon so not at all choppy) and then back by 'bus.
The market in Castries is interesting and just a short walk from the port. There is also a good trip to the "rainforest" with a cable car ride up through the trees
I enjoyed the boat trip on Tortola but I am sure it would see Trish off. It involves a hairy 'bus ride out to Pusser's Landing and then a lively boat ride back to the ship. QBob can testify to that, assuming he can remember after tucking into the rum punch !
There is a fantastic garden on Barbados - Hunte's Garden but I don't think P&O run a tour there any more although it is an easy taxi trip.
Whatever happens, I am sure you will enjoy your Maiden Caribbean trip !
I'm a bit late as you have already booked, but there is usually an interesting trip on St Maarten by boat to Marigot on the French side (across the inland lagoon so not at all choppy) and then back by 'bus.
The market in Castries is interesting and just a short walk from the port. There is also a good trip to the "rainforest" with a cable car ride up through the trees
I enjoyed the boat trip on Tortola but I am sure it would see Trish off. It involves a hairy 'bus ride out to Pusser's Landing and then a lively boat ride back to the ship. QBob can testify to that, assuming he can remember after tucking into the rum punch !
There is a fantastic garden on Barbados - Hunte's Gardenbut I don't think P&O run a tour there any more although it is an easy taxi trip.
Whatever happens, I am sure you will enjoy your Maiden Caribbean trip !
Might well have a look at that. I think Barbados is one place we decided to try a bit of DIY. So unless anyone needs a bit of wallpaper hanging that day.....
It is owned by a very eccentric Englishman called Anthony Hunte - he often has his friend Cliff Richard round for tea !! He is very free with the homemade rum punch so be warned !
It is owned by a very eccentric Englishman called Anthony Hunte - he often has his friend Cliff Richard round for tea !! He is very free with the homemade rum punch so be warned !
He sent us away with two bottles of the stuff on top of what we quaffed on his verandah. Mind you, he did take quite a liking to Mrs C - they were into in-depth discussions on flower arranging.
Visas are not required but ESTAs are ... in case of hospitalisation in the good ol U S of A.
We did not have, nor were we required to have ESTAs on our Caribbean cruise earlier this year, because we were not scheduled tò go to any US islands.
So not sure what would have happened if we had needed hospitalisation in the US.
It is not a requirement but it will become one if you hope to get into the USA. If one of you becomes ill the other one will need to apply for the ESTAs. Sometimes it can take several days to process them, we would prefer to avoid such a delay.
Okay next question. We're going mid January and after a call at La Coruna have 8 days at sea heading across the Atlantic. How far into that 8 days are we likely to go from long sleeve to short sleeve temperatures outside?
Last edited by Mervyn and Trish on 08 Dec 2016, 16:44, edited 1 time in total.
Okay next question. We're going mid January and after a call at La Coruna have 8 days at sea heading across the Atlantic. How far into that 8 days are we likely to go from long sleeve to short sleeve temperatures outside?
That is one of those "how long is a piece of string" questions.
I know that this is not quite the same time of year but last year we did a transatlantic Christmas cruise leaving mid December and we were a week out of Soton before the weather "picked up" - but we were on the tail end of a hurricane.
In my experience "short sleeves" don't come out until at least the Canaries/Azores - but you are best using the officers as a guide - once they go into "whites" the weather is improving.
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