Southern Caribbean Excursions Advice Needed

[AMusicLifeForMe]

Hi everyone. My Dad and I are on the 11-night Fantasy sailing to the Southern Caribbean on June 17th. We are looking forward to that cruise a lot! Our shore excursion window opens up on Sunday, and I am wanting to get some advice from all of you who might have done a Southern Caribbean cruise in the past.

Here is the list of excursions I currently have planned to try and get:
- Barbados: Harrison's Cave and Scenic Drive
- St. Kitts: Essential St. Kitts and Fairview - Adult only departure (I'm wanting to see the fort).

If anyone has experience with these excursions, please let me know what you thought of them.

I need help with excursions at the following ports:
- Aruba: I have a feeling this is a new port to DCL, so not sure if many of you have any opinions.
- Martinique:
- Tortola:

My Dad really likes to do beach excursions, so I thought about doing the Grand Anse Beach and Turtle Discovery on Martinique. I looked into booking the Baths on Tortola, but I don't like to swim in caves, so I elected against that. We are open to any excursion. It doesn't have to be beach related. Are there beaches close to the port at any of the ports we are going to?

One last question: Does anyone know when the shore excursion window opens? Is it at midnight, or at 7 a.m. like WDW for fastpasses?

Thanks for any tips!

 

[puzzledprincess]

I'll be on that sailing too! I'm also trying to figure out what to do in the ports

 

[AMusicLifeForMe]

I'll be on that sailing too! I'm also trying to figure out what to do in the ports

Nice. Hopefully I'll meet you at the M&G if it happens. What do you have planned?

 

[M<3'sMickey]

It opens at midnight. I'm on the 10 day Southern Caribbean and just booked all my excursions at midnight on Tuesday (well I guess technically the wee hours of Wednesday morning).

I've been to Aruba on DCL before on the 2008 Panama Canal cruise and we did an off-roading excursion with time at the beach. This time we're doing the Andicuri Adventure, again off-roading but no beach time.
For Tortola we also booked the 4x4 Beach Adventure. Perhaps there's a theme with the excursions we booked lol.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Hi everyone. My Dad and I are on the 11-night Fantasy sailing to the Southern Caribbean on June 17th. We are looking forward to that cruise a lot! Our shore excursion window opens up on Sunday, and I am wanting to get some advice from all of you who might have done a Southern Caribbean cruise in the past.

Here is the list of excursions I currently have planned to try and get:
- Barbados: Harrison's Cave and Scenic Drive
- St. Kitts: Essential St. Kitts and Fairview - Adult only departure (I'm wanting to see the fort).

If anyone has experience with these excursions, please let me know what you thought of them.

I need help with excursions at the following ports:
- Aruba: I have a feeling this is a new port to DCL, so not sure if many of you have any opinions.
- Martinique:
- Tortola:

My Dad really likes to do beach excursions, so I thought about doing the Grand Anse Beach and Turtle Discovery on Martinique. I looked into booking the Baths on Tortola, but I don't like to swim in caves, so I elected against that. We are open to any excursion. It doesn't have to be beach related. Are there beaches close to the port at any of the ports we are going to?

One last question: Does anyone know when the shore excursion window opens? Is it at midnight, or at 7 a.m. like WDW for fastpasses?

Thanks for any tips!

Aruba isn't new. We stopped there on our WBPC in 2008. But, it's not one that DCL goes to a lot. If I recall correctly, we did the Sea and See tour. That's what we usually do in many ports the first time we call, to get the lay of the land. I think this time, we're just going to get off and see if we can pick up a local tour, or just walk around the town for a while.

In Tortola we've done the North Shore & Pusser's Landing excursion. It was nice. Again, just an overview of the island sort of thing. Haven't booked anything for Tortola on this cruise.

Online checkin and excursion booking windows both open at midnight, eastern time. You need to log into your reservation AFTER midnight, if you're already logged in, clicking "refresh" won't do it.

 

[puzzledprincess]

Nice. Hopefully I'll meet you at the M&G if it happens. What do you have planned?

Haha nothing yet except for Palo and Remy!

 

[AMusicLifeForMe]

I've been to Aruba on DCL before on the 2008 Panama Canal cruise and we did an off-roading excursion with time at the beach. This time we're doing the Andicuri Adventure, again off-roading but no beach time.
For Tortola we also booked the 4x4 Beach Adventure. Perhaps there's a theme with the excursions we booked lol.

Right now, I've done some reading, and I'm leaning towards the 4x4 Beach Adventure on Tortola. Do you remember how aggressive the off-road experience was on Aruba? My Dad had some back problems many years ago, but he has been fine for a while. I'm just trying to judge how he would be able to handle it. I'm looking at the 4x4 North Coast Adventure and Beach Break for Aruba.

 

[lorimay]

We are doing a B2B Southern cruise end of April beginning of May. We have the Harrison Cave booked, I will let you know how that one goes, looking forward to it.
We have something booked on the first one for every port, then a few booked on the second re-po cruise back to Port Canaveral. The 2 different ports on the second leg are Tortola and Castaway Cay. Tortola we have the Baths ( but its not listed as that) and a cabana on Serenity Bay at CC.

 

[AMusicLifeForMe]

So, I'm now updating this a bit. I have done some more reading, and I have limited my excursions down to a couple options. What would all of you do in each port?

Aruba:

• 4x4 North Coast Adventure and Beach Break
• Best of Aruba and Beach

Barbados:

• Harrison’s Cave and Scenic Drive

Martinique:

• Grand Anse Beach and Turtle Discovery (I'm only worried about this excursion based on a warning that DCL posted on the website)
• Hiking in a Tropical Forest
• Naturally Martinique
• Saint Pierre Volcano Eruption History and Rum Distillery

St. Kitts:

• Essential St. Kitts with Fairview - Adult Only Departure
• St. Kitts Scenic Railway and Scenic Drive

Tortola:

• 4 x 4 Beach Adventure

My toughest decision seems to be Martinique. Any help is appreciated.

 

[AMusicLifeForMe]

So, I have booked my excursions. My Dad and I settled for:

Aruba: Best of Aruba and Beach
Barbados: Harrison's Cave and Scenic Drive
Martinique: Saint Pierre Volcano Eruption History and Rum Distillery (might change this one).
St. Kitts: Essential St. Kitts and Fairview - Adult Only Departure
Tortola: 4 x 4 Beach Adventure

We are excited to tour some of these islands that we haven't been to before!

We are doing a B2B Southern cruise end of April beginning of May. We have the Harrison Cave booked, I will let you know how that one goes, looking forward to it.

Yes. Please let me know if you enjoyed it!

For Tortola we also booked the 4x4 Beach Adventure. Perhaps there's a theme with the excursions we booked lol.

Please let me know what you thought of this excursion after your cruise. Have fun!

 

[jujubiee4]

So, I have booked my excursions. My Dad and I settled for:

Aruba: Best of Aruba and Beach
Barbados: Harrison's Cave and Scenic Drive
Martinique: Saint Pierre Volcano Eruption History and Rum Distillery (might change this one).
St. Kitts: Essential St. Kitts and Fairview - Adult Only Departure
Tortola: 4 x 4 Beach Adventure

We are excited to tour some of these islands that we haven't been to before!



Yes. Please let me know if you enjoyed it!



Please let me know what you thought of this excursion after your cruise. Have fun!

On the same cruise. Aruba we booked the shipwreck snorkeling or whatever it is called (someone recommended
on this board). Tortola the baths. St Kitts the cooking then cancelled /Essential St Kitts but might cancel
that. Barbados .. Beach Day. Martinque booked the same tour as you however I do a lot of researching
on Trip Advisor and Cruise Critic forums and lot of people said that was disappointing. So will probably cancel that.

We booked on the 4th but i have changed my mind on some things. I have read reports that it will be in the
90's and very humid when we go and I don't do well in that environment at all. So tours i read that were in
hot muggy buses I passed on. Read Trip Advisor (the same tours are on there) and Cruise Critic to get first
hand reports.

My daughters just want to head to the nearest beach to lay out or swim and snorkel.

Good Luck!

 

[My2Qtz0205]

I know you have already booked your excursions, but I just wanted to note that on The Baths excursion, you are not swimming in a cave. The "cave" is really boulders stacked on top of each other. There is a bit of climbing and tight spaces, though. It is not dark like a cave, and the most water you will see is ankle-deep. It is also an option to go through the cave. You may also stay at the first beach. We found the beach on the other side of the cave to be better for swimming, as the first beach had large rocks sticking out of the sand. Just FYI.

I am sailing the Southern Caribbean next summer, and I looked at the tropical forest hike, but decided against it due to 1. the heat and humidity at the end of June/early July and 2. the possibility of me seeing a large and hairy spider that will result in my husband carrying me piggy-back the rest of the hike.

 

[AMusicLifeForMe]

On the same cruise. Aruba we booked the shipwreck snorkeling or whatever it is called (someone recommended
on this board). Tortola the baths. St Kitts the cooking then cancelled /Essential St Kitts but might cancel
that. Barbados .. Beach Day. Martinque booked the same tour as you however I do a lot of researching
on Trip Advisor and Cruise Critic forums and lot of people said that was disappointing. So will probably cancel that.

We booked on the 4th but i have changed my mind on some things. I have read reports that it will be in the
90's and very humid when we go and I don't do well in that environment at all. So tours i read that were in
hot muggy buses I passed on. Read Trip Advisor (the same tours are on there) and Cruise Critic to get first
hand reports.

My daughters just want to head to the nearest beach to lay out or swim and snorkel.

Good Luck!

What would you change to on Martinique? I'm now thinking the same thing, but a lot of things have sold out.

 

[Stinkerbe11]

We are on the 11 night and I booked the same excursion in Martinique (kids love historical sites and we still have plenty of beach days). On our last cruise we went to the Baths and had a disappointing experience. The problem was the extreme crowding. We stood in line for over an hour before even entering the cave section and then the line moved at such a slow pace that we gave up. Also, the water was very choppy that day and I was afraid that my kids would be smashed against the rocks, so no swimming there either Our next stop was Pirate's Bight and that was nice, so not a total bust...

 

[M<3'sMickey]

Right now, I've done some reading, and I'm leaning towards the 4x4 Beach Adventure on Tortola. Do you remember how aggressive the off-road experience was on Aruba? My Dad had some back problems many years ago, but he has been fine for a while. I'm just trying to judge how he would be able to handle it. I'm looking at the 4x4 North Coast Adventure and Beach Break for Aruba.

From a very vague recollection, I don't think it was too bad, but I don't know if it's the same excursion that's being offered now. Sorry!

 

[jujubiee4]

What would you change to on Martinique? I'm now thinking the same thing, but a lot of things have sold out.

Not sure on Martinque. I read a lot of reports on cruise critic where people said out of all the ports
that was the unfriendliest. I love Volcanoes so was looking forward to this but its just a museum looking
at pictures. Disappointing. The rum distillery might be ok but I don't drink. I'm still looking around.
Still its a pretty inexpensive.

St Kitts Fairview house i really want to do but not Disney's one. Royal or some other cruise line offered an
excursion of the island plus Fairview with high tea and kind of a brunch. I saw pictures of it on travel blog.
Im trying to do that one but Fairview has not emailed me back.

 

[lucas]

We're on this cruise, too. We don't have any shore excursions booked. The only new ports to us will be Martinique and Barbados.