Linda and I just got back from our anniversary cruise on the Celebrity Constellation. The cruise originated and ended in San Juan, and we got to spend some time there yesterday. Our last stop on the cruise was St. Thomas, where we had been before. We were looking at both islands w/ a view towards what to do when we returned there w/ the entire family this August.
I think that we go to St. Thomas - - right? Or is it St. Maarten? Well, if I'm wrong, pls disregard these ramblings.
In St. Thomas, we spent much of the day at Megan's Bay and then did some shopping. Cab rates to Megan's Bay were fixed at $6/pp plus an entry fee of $3 to go to the beach. You can go there on a ship's excursion, but it is much, much cheaper to do it on your own. Beach chair rentals were available for $6 plus a refundable deposit. You need to move the chairs yourself. There is a decent (although kind of slow) beachfront restaurant w/ decent burgers and pizza. On the pricey side. They also have a great bar that makes what I decided is the best tasting frozen drink on the planet - a Bushwhacker, which I understand is a famous St. Thomas drink. Mostly Bailey's Irish Cream w/ vodka or rum (they used vodka at this bar, but apparently use rum elsewhere), Khaluha, amaretto, brandy, pineapple juice, coconut milk, blended w/ ice. Ground nutmeg on top. Consistency of a milkshake, but no where near as sweet as a pina colada. Phenomenal!
Notwithstanding my focus on the bar, this is a GREAT beach to take small children to. Lots of trees for shade. The sand is great, and the water gets deep very gradually to allow safe play. Very little waves or undertow. In a word, perfect for young'ens. And very tranquil for mom and dad, too. Not a good place for snorkeling, though, although there were a few people out there doing it. Not much to see though.
Megan's Bay has gotten quite popular lately and can get very crowded. We were lucky, in that we were on the only ship in port that day - - and the Constellation is not as big as Disney Magic. There will probably be several ships in, and significantly larger crowds when we get there.
Many people took various excursions to St. Thomas, which is said to have even nicer beaches. Some feel that the amount of time in port does not justify the trip out there. We may very well decide to do something like that on our trip.
The shopping in St. Thomas is probably the best in the Caribbean, and it has the most liberal rules re what you are allowed per US Customs, too.
The picture in San Juan is not as happy. We had stopped there on a ship in 1996 but did not arrive until evening. So, there weren't many options other than checking out the shops in Old San Juan and going to a night spot for a few hours. As we'll be there in the daytime, that is not really going to be an option for us. Now, we arrived there in the late morning and immediately boarded the ship. Although could have explored San Juan that day (we didn't have to board until 10:30 pm), we decided to spend the afternoon on the ship rather than in port, largely because we did not have very many sea days on our itinerary, and we wanted to enjoy the ship.
Our return date was a different story. Our flight out was not until 6:00 pm. We decided to sign up for a ship excursion to El Yanque (pronounced Junkee) rainforest. It was a long coach trip during which the driver talked non-stop about how large their K-Mart was, how many Walgreen's and Subway's were on the island, etc. We spent 15 minutes at a tourist trap to use the restrooms and get drinks and snacks (when I would much rather explore some of the roadside stands where they fried fish over open wood fires - a local delicacy).
We then drove through the forest. We spent virutally the entire time in the bus and were allowed on "hike", which was really a 5 minute walk through a paved area of the forest. There were other longer, more interesting trails that beckoned to us, but no time was allowed, and the walk was not guided. There was a brand new visitor's center, but "that is not part of the tour." The forest was beautiful, but I think that I would much rather rent a car or hire a driver to take us there so that we could do it at our own pace and speed. When we go back, we will either do just that, or maybe just arrange a day pass at a local hotel and spend the day at the beach. We are not yet decided.
It figures - - we have been on 6 cruises and have never booked a ship excrusion, always chosing to hire a driver at port or make arrangements in advance directly with vendors after researching it myself. We have never been disappointed doing that, but we really did not like this excursion.
Our port was not right in Old San Juan - - remember, this was a port used for embarkation and disembarkation, so they used a more remote location w/ a full terminal facility. I understand that some cruise ships just stopping by may use the port and then utilize shuttles to take you to Old San Juan. I don't know how much Old San Juan has changed since we were there 8 years ago, but I recall that there is much of historic interest and some decent shopping besides. The Bacardi tour gets high marks, too.
Andy, you had asked about the horseriding excursion. I did not have a chance to find out anything about it. There is a great site w/ info on cruises in general and specific info on ports - -
www.cruisecritic.com I highly recommend it to everyone interested in researching what to do while in port.
Anyway, Linda and I had a great cruise -- this was to celebrate our 15th anniversary (we're married 17 years last week, actually, and we were supposed to go a couple of years ago but had to put this trip off - - a long story). We tell everyone that Celebrity is our favorite cruise line when we go by ourselves, but when the entire family is along, we love Disney!
Five months from today!! Wow!
Dan
