Caribbean Cruise Ship Travel
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So my parents like to travel, but they have slowed down in recent years and they are becoming more and more reluctant to do extended road trips, trans-Atlantic flights, and the type of budget adventure travel I like to do. My brother, son, and I still want to go places with them, so we bit the bullet and have signed up to do something they love doing - taking a cruise ship trip.
We have an 11-day Caribbean trip scheduled on a Holland America ship for the first of the year and will be hitting Ft Lauderdale>Sint Marteen>St Lucia>Barbados>Martinique>Antigua>USVI>Bahamas>Ft Lauderdale. While I am dreading being stuck on the boat, which one review called a "nursing home on the high seas" because of the average age of the passengers, the ship will be stopping at some islands that have cool historic sights and natural areas.
Couple questions:
* How easy is it to find a cab or local bus and leave the area around the cruise ship docks to check out other parts of the island and be back before the boat takes off?
* Being stuck on a boat like that will drive one to drink, but you can spend a fortune paying cruise ship prices. How easy is it to sneak a bottle of rum back on to the boat in the Caribbean ports of call (we did that on the one other cruise I took up to Alaska but it took some planning)?
* Any must see spots on those islands listed above? Already found some cool stuff in the guidebooks, but looking for some tips if anyone has been there.
* We want to do a dive one day. We are looking at the places that weren't affected by the recent hurricanes (e.g. Barbados or St. Lucia) for better visibility and suggestions on good dive shops are appreciated.
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Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Lucky Day
https://youtu.be/VhJIDETEVIQ
https://youtu.be/VhJIDETEVIQ
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: skyjunk
Plastic Flask
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: skyjunk
Those islands are so small I
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Thumbkinetic
Been a long time, but The
Been a long time, but The Jolly Roger (Barbados) was a blast both times I was on it. Day sails are a bit more family-friendly (rope swings, walk-the-plank, water cannons, optional beach side-trip). The night sails are a straight-up party. Cabs shouldn't be a problem, unless you scare easily (had a mind-blowing ride on St. John. Good thing we were drunk). You used to be able to bring six (?) bottles of booze back duty free. Getting it on the boat shouldn't be an issue at all.
Sunscreen!
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: uncmozo
Traffic around the cruise
Traffic around the cruise ship docks is usually at a stand-still. Many times there is more than one cruise ship at the terminal, and you have several thousand tourists in a 2 block area. This is not the most ideal place to get a cab. In the past, we have arranged a rental car on-line ahead of time and that works very well. Usually the agency (Hertz for example) has a desk at a nearby hotel you can walk to and the car is in the hotel lot. Expect the rental car check-out to take about a half hour.
As for the "nursing home', I find the screaming little kids more of an annoyance.
You WILL have fun!
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: pumpkin lurker
google how to get booze onto
google how to get booze onto a cruise ship. One can take water bottles and cut the bottle out of a top so that the seal stays attached, then take another bottle dump out the water fill it with clear liquor and screw the top back onto the bottle with the seal attached. You can usually bring on a 6 or 12 pack of water when you get to the boat. If you wait 10 min the traffic is gone from around the terminal. If you book excursions through the cruise line you will be back on time and it was my experience the price was about the same as doing it yourself. Then you know you will be back on time.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: New & Improved
We stayed on the west side of
We stayed on the west side of St Lucia and the snorkeling wasn't that great. That said, climb the Gros Piton if you have the time.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Tim
Bring sunscreen, lsd, and a
Bring sunscreen, lsd, and a big appetite. Walk the stairs to burn calories. Go to the top deck (lido?) to see the topless women.
After any kind of island swimming/diving full flush of fresh H2O. There is always a possibility of sea lice and they will make you itch like a mother fucker that night and the next day.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: treat island
Stay well. Wash your hands
Stay well. Wash your hands early and often while on the ship. You're going to be touching things lots of people who don't wash their hands touch.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Ken D.
Thanks all for the
Thanks all for the suggestions.
>>>google how to get booze onto a cruise ship.
I did and they even make a special product called "Rum Runners" specifically designed to sneak booze onto cruises. The only problem is that most of the suggestions are for checked bags and they recommend not trying it with carry on bags. I travel light and rarely ever check a bag. Still, I might get one of those flexible flasks to hide it on my person once we head back onto the boat after the first port of call. I assume they are using metal detectors rather than the full body scanners?
>>>>Bring sunscreen
Yep. A travel to the tropics at least once a year and bathe in that stuff. I am usually the one guy on the tropical beach in long sleeve shirts and long pants. I am as white as the virgin snow and got sunburned too many times in my younger days. No bueno.
>>>climb the Gros Piton if you have the time
That's already on my short list for St Lucia, especially if we don't do a dive trip there.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Ken D.
Just finished the Eastern
Just finished the Eastern Caribbean trip and to answer my own questions:
(1) No problem sneaking booze onto the ship. Initially, we brought on a gallon of rum in various juice containers and five beers in cans. Subsequently, we brought on an additional three liters of rum in juice containers and water bottles and another 23 beers coming back from port. We also were able to bring on 140 mg worth of edibles and a vape pen with cannabis oil no problem. Funny, we watched the monitor as the bag went through the x-ray machine coming back onto the boat and it is programed to pick up certain shapes of bottles. During our stop in Barbados, we could only find bottled beer at the supermarket near the dock, so we brought back bottled beer which was picked up by the scanner and highlighted on the screen in flashing color. Dude operating the machine was looking out the window and did not notice. We could have brought on handguns and hand grenades if we had wanted.
(2) Local public transportation was easy peasy. Just walk past the gaggle surrounding the dock and start looking for the mini-buses where the locals were getting on. Easy to navigate and for $1 - $2 per person, they would take you all over the island.
Trip itself was great. Will have to post some pics if I get the time (digging out at work). St. Lucia and Barbados were the best stops. The hurricane damage on Sint Maarten was unreal. Looked like an atom bomb went off.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: pumpkin lurker
Nice! Glad you guys had a
Nice! Glad you guys had a grate trip! Not surprised about the hurricane damage, New Orleans looked like that after Katrina. Can only imagine what St Maarten looked like :/
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: treat island
Thanks, Ken. Vicarious travel
Thanks, Ken. Vicarious travel on Viva...
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: jazfish
You saved a minimum of $600
You saved a minimum of $600 on your sign and said card. Nice small smuggle there, Ken.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Ken D.
Here are some pics of the
Here are some pics of the hurricane damage on Sint Maarten. We took a cab out to world famous Maho Beach, which was right next to the airport and planes fly just over the heads of the beach goers and airplane enthusiasts who gather there to catch the jet blasts. The beach was gone and the high end hotels and restaurants around the area were leveled, with blocks of rubble and destruction. The buildings that were left standing were gutted. The terminal of the airport was still closed and the grounds around the airport were littered with a fleet of smashed up boats sitting on dry land.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: New & Improved
Did you climb the roots and
Did you climb the roots and steps of the Gros Piton?
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Ken D.
>>>>Did you climb the roots
>>>>Did you climb the roots and steps of the Gros Piton?
Nope. We instead caught the local bus north to Pigeon Island National Park. It was the former base of operations for one of the first peg-leg pirates, Jambe de Bois ("wooden leg"), back in the 1550s. It was later used as a base by the British in the 1780s during one of their many invasions of the island. It featured hiking trails, old ruins, and a white sand beach with snorkeling right of shore.
Pigeon Island from one of the old British gun batteries:
After that, we took a local bus back into the capital, Castries, but it was Sunday and nearly everything was closed except for the farmers market, where I picked up some hot peppers, and a hole in the wall bar called the French Connection, where we enjoyed cheap local beers, kung fu movies on the TV, and conversations with the owner (who bitched about everything being closed on Sundays):
We did get to see the Pitons up close from the boat at sunset. They were pretty impressive. St. Lucia was my favorite island we visited and wouldn't hesitate to go back for a week or more, possibly combined with ferry trips to some of the other nearby islands like Dominica.
Pitons: