July 27th, 2010
My boyfriend and I will be going on a Caribbean cruise in late October/early November and I’m trying to figure out what activities to do where (neither of us have ever been to the Caribbean).
Here’s the itinerary:
Leave from San Juan, Puerto Rico
St. Croix, USVI
St. Kitts
Dominica
St. Lucia
Barbados
Grenada
day at sea
Curacao
Aruba
day at sea
return to San Juan
Which island offers the best snorkeling? By "best" I mean plenty to see and suitable for two people who aren’t great swimmers and haven’t snorkeled much. (I’ve heard Buck Island off of St. Croix is good, but that the water can be rough.) If at all possible, I’d prefer to do the snorkeling in the first half of the trip.
Which island would you suggest taking an off-road jeep tour? I’m thinking Dominica because it seems to have the most nature, but I’m not sure.
Also, any "can’t miss" sights or experiences on any of these islands? Thanks!
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For off-roading, St. Lucia. It has beautiful towering peaks (Petit Piton and Gros Piton) and thick rainforests. Dominica for snorkeling. Champagne Beach is a must – underwater volcanic vents make it look and feel as if you’re snorkeling in a bowl of warm champagne. Soufriere Scotts Head Bay, at the island’s southern tip, is another favorite for snorkelers. The Virgin Islands (St Croix) is known for its very clear water and colorful reefs. Morne Rouge Bay in Grenada has beautiful blue waters; great swimming and snorkeling. That’s going to be the best trip regardless of how you spend it.
Also cruisecritic.com to get the opinion of cruise critics! Email me for any questions. I’d be happy to answer in more detail. sid645@gmail.com
Check out http://www.shoretrips.com for shore excursions that are way cheaper than the cruise sponsored ones.
http://www.lonelyplanet.com and http://www.fodors.com will give you ideas of some more info
We did a jeep tour in Aruba and it was lots of fun. The entire east side of the island is undeveloped and very rocky – quite different than the calm waters of Palm and Eagle beaches.
http://www.abc-aruba.com/jeep_safari_half.html We went with this company. We did the 5.5 hour tour, so we didn’t get to go to the Natural Pool, but the ride up there is supposed to be really bumpy and fun.
Eagle Beach on Aruba is beautiful – very wide and not too crowded, unlike Palm Beach. Definitely try to relax there for a bit. http://images.google.com/images?q=eagle%20beach%20aruba&rls=com.microsoft:*:IE-SearchBox&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi
Ide say dominica for BOTH.Rated in top 3 by readers choice magazine for 3 consecutive years for best snorkelling scuba diving in the ENTIRE Atlantic (or something so coudlnt get the specifics).There is the famous snorkeling site called champagne where bubbles created by a volcanoe rises from teh sea bed .It looks like champagne bubles in a glass hence the name ‘Champagne’.
And as u already stated there is no where more rugged and naturally beautiful like Dominica.
Barbados has both of what you are asking for…the off road jeep tour and great snorklling.
In Barbados there is something called a Safari Ride which is an off and on road jeep tour…it is soooo much fun(I have been on it before).
As I told you Barbados is also great on snorklling…you get to swim with turtles…cool huh?
http://barbados-guide.info/activities/diving.and.snorkeling/
http://www.barbados.org/snorkeling.htm
Barbados is a beautiful island. Lots of lovely scenery and so much to do, morning noon and night…whatever you like there is something in Barbados for you!
http://funbarbados.com/
http://www.barbados.org/
As it relates to accommodation, there is a lovely resort in Barbados called The Barbados Beach Club. This is along the South Coast and has a lovely beach view.
http://barbadosbeachclub.com/
The Barbados Beach Club is an all inclusive resort which offers breakfast, lunch, after noon tea, dinner, unlimited drinks, an exercise room (gym), pool aerobics, snorkeling, scuba diving lessons, windsurfing, Hobie cat cruises, beach volley ball, games room and soooo much more. The activities that are included in this all-inclusive package are astounding.
http://barbadosbeachclub.com/recreation.cfm
The Barbados beach club has 3 restaurants on site and one of them is buffet the other two are a la carte. The two a la carte are seafood and the other is Italian.
http://barbadosbeachclub.com/facilities_dining.cfm
This is a wonderful resort in a wonderful island; you should come and explore it for yourself my friend.
They also have a special going up to December 15th, 2009…you get 45% discount off the rate:
http://barbadosbeachclub.com/special-details.cfm?specialID=13086
For more information contact them below:
http://barbadosbeachclub.com/contact.cfm
Have a look at the links that I gave you.
Hope I helped!
=]
we just came back from Aruba 5 days ago!! We rented a jeep ourselves and started at the lighthouse and continued along that side of the island. It was our best day that we had. One of the best snorkeling on Aruba is at De Palm Island. We didn’t do that this year but when we went on a cruise my daughter and I did it. they have parrot fish that eat out of your hand. You can stand in the water with the masks on so its easy snorkeling. They also have an all inclusive day there which means that you get lunch and everything elas. De Palm tours will pick you up at the pier but I bet that the cruise ship all will have this tour. If you go through De Palm for the full day it’s 99 dollars and 70 for half day. Enjoy your cruise. On Dominica we did a tour to the waterfalls, on St Lucia we went to the volcano’s but booked the tour ourselves because it was cheaper we just went and got a mini van cab from inside the main area when we got off of the ship. Same with booking an island tour in Barbados. Everybody that took us around were natives to their islands and we had the most enjoyable time with them and they took us all over at a better price and more places then the tours from the ships. Just remember its your vacation so enjoy yourself and don’t forget to haggle when you shop particularly in the outdoor malls. I had a hard time but the islanders DO like to haggle! I finally got the hang of it. I enjoyed our cruise to the islands we’ve been 6 times now and this year decided to stay in one place, Aruba.