Well you never know till you try it!budget conscious, 1st Cruise experiment. Luxury, but cheap(ish).

[cornishfrogboy]

Originally Posted by jorm35

Maybe not your thing but Jane McDonald did one of her cruise series visiting the Caribbean islands so maybe have a search for those.
Personally I can’t stand her but it did show some lovely places to visit in each location

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I will try and find it.. even if I must suffer her in order to gain the information.

[cornishfrogboy]

Originally Posted by jocat

It sounds like you’ve picked a lovely itinerary for your first cruise.

We were on our first Caribbean cruise at Easter and visited some of the same islands you’ll be visiting: St Maarten, St Lucia, Barbados, Dominica and Antigua.

We booked a tour with the ship for 3 of those islands - St Maarten, Dominica and Antigua.

St Maarten was an open top bus tour, which took us to both sides of the island, including spending some time on the infamous Maho Beach.

Our tour on Dominica took us to Emerald Pool and Trafalgar Falls. The ship had about 4 different tours to choose from, but ultimately they both visited the same two places during the day.

Whilst in Antigua, we took a tour which included Nelson’s Dockyard, Blockhouse Ruins and Shirley Heights.

In Barbados, we just got a taxi from the port to one of the local beaches. The taxi cost $5 per person, so was very reasonable. We then paid for entry to the Boatyard - the cost included sunbeds, a parasol, a welcome drink and a boat trip which gave us the chance to snorkel and see some sea turtles.

St Lucia is the only island we didn’t really explore. This was purely because we’d holidayed in St Lucia before, so had already toured the island on that previous trip, seeing the Pitons and the Sulphur Springs in Soufriere. We used a local company called Cosol Tours for that trip. I’m sure many of the cruise ship tours would follow a similar itinerary though.

We tended to book tours that lasted half a day on this trip, so I would have been happy to book independently. However, we found there was very little difference in price for the tours we booked, so for convenience we booked with the ship.

I think for a full day trip, I’d probably avoid booking independently. But that’s because I’m naturally cautious, rather than for any legitimate reason.

I used the forums on Cruise Critic to help me plan what to do. They have forums for each cruise company, which you can filter by ship, plus separate forums with information on the ports we visited. Think it’s worth a look for first timers.

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Jocat… would you be so kind as to hunt out some more detail of your trip in a taxi to a beach in Barbados.
The Beach and also the deal with boat trip etc. it is just the sort of thing that we are looking for!

[Tamar]

Sounds great! In 2010 we did a New England road trip in the Fall. We stayed in New Hampshire at the North Conway Grand which was a great hotel - right next to outlets (tax-free) but also near restaurants and beautiful scenery (State Parks, trails and I seem to think it was near the Kancamagus drive which is the scenic must-do drive for Fall colours).
They have a sister hotel in Hyannis port in Mass. which we also liked.

[cornishfrogboy]

Originally Posted by Tamar

Sounds great! In 2010 we did a New England road trip in the Fall. We stayed in New Hampshire at the North Conway Grand which was a great hotel - right next to outlets (tax-free) but also near restaurants and beautiful scenery (State Parks, trails and I seem to think it was near the Kancamagus drive which is the scenic must-do drive for Fall colours).
They have a sister hotel in Hyannis port in Mass. which we also liked.

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Thank you. I will research this tomorrow as I am working until midnight.

[cornishfrogboy]

Pretrip post #1 updated, including with Flights now booked, further cruise research etc.

LHR to Washington Dulles £375 total and 80,000 Avios
Boston to LHR £100 total and 30,000 … plus 2 x exit row seats at £160 total.

[Glee Fan]

How exciting! I have a TR on St Lucia in the general section that I did last month, but we didn't actually do much outside of the hotel, but it might be of some use?

We didn't take any East Caribbean dollars with us at all, we just took US dollars and they were widely accepted. I believe this is the case throughout the Caribbean.

We've also just returned from Boston yesterday and I enjoyed reading your TR again just before we went.

Sounds like a wonderful trip all round!

[cornishfrogboy]

Originally Posted by Glee Fan

How exciting! I have a TR on St Lucia in the general section that I did last month, but we didn't actually do much outside of the hotel, but it might be of some use?

We didn't take any East Caribbean dollars with us at all, we just took US dollars and they were widely accepted. I believe this is the case throughout the Caribbean.

We've also just returned from Boston yesterday and I enjoyed reading your TR again just before we went.

Sounds like a wonderful trip all round!

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We just have the one day in St Lucia and we have a beach in mind. We are sticking pretty much to US Dollars where we can.

I am glad that my Boston trippie was of help to you.

[cornishfrogboy]

Originally Posted by jocat

It sounds like you’ve picked a lovely itinerary for your first cruise.

We were on our first Caribbean cruise at Easter and visited some of the same islands you’ll be visiting: St Maarten, St Lucia, Barbados, Dominica and Antigua.

We booked a tour with the ship for 3 of those islands - St Maarten, Dominica and Antigua.

St Maarten was an open top bus tour, which took us to both sides of the island, including spending some time on the infamous Maho Beach.

Our tour on Dominica took us to Emerald Pool and Trafalgar Falls. The ship had about 4 different tours to choose from, but ultimately they both visited the same two places during the day.

Whilst in Antigua, we took a tour which included Nelson’s Dockyard, Blockhouse Ruins and Shirley Heights.

In Barbados, we just got a taxi from the port to one of the local beaches. The taxi cost $5 per person, so was very reasonable. We then paid for entry to the Boatyard - the cost included sunbeds, a parasol, a welcome drink and a boat trip which gave us the chance to snorkel and see some sea turtles.

St Lucia is the only island we didn’t really explore. This was purely because we’d holidayed in St Lucia before, so had already toured the island on that previous trip, seeing the Pitons and the Sulphur Springs in Soufriere. We used a local company called Cosol Tours for that trip. I’m sure many of the cruise ship tours would follow a similar itinerary though.

We tended to book tours that lasted half a day on this trip, so I would have been happy to book independently. However, we found there was very little difference in price for the tours we booked, so for convenience we booked with the ship.

I think for a full day trip, I’d probably avoid booking independently. But that’s because I’m naturally cautious, rather than for any legitimate reason.

I used the forums on Cruise Critic to help me plan what to do. They have forums for each cruise company, which you can filter by ship, plus separate forums with information on the ports we visited. Think it’s worth a look for first timers.

See more...

Thankyou so much. I have used this post as a basis from which to pretty much plan my whole ‘First Ever Cruise’, Cruise Critic is indeed excellent.

The opening post is now fully updated and we have gone for the ‘Premium’ drink and meal package as this covers unlimited access to all the speciality Restaurants and all Fitness Classes etc.

In order to ensure that I get full value, I will not risk being ‘under dressed’ and thus, I will take my Dinner Jacket, Lightweight Suit, Dress Shoes.
I am normally a bit of a slob on vacation, but realise that I must look at this one rather differently.

I have also bought ‘Grown up’ Suitcases in order to carry my stuff, rather than my normal ‘Handbaggage Only’ method. As my long hauls are Avios, I have a good, hold luggage allowance. The Shorter DC to Puerto Rico and Puerto Rico to Boston legs will be $120 in total for our two, new Suitcases.

Trips ashore? Mainly it will be nearby Beaches, as detailed in the Pre Trip.

Thankyou once again!

[TheHughesCrew]

Originally Posted by cornishfrogboy

Jocat… would you be so kind as to hunt out some more detail of your trip in a taxi to a beach in Barbados.
The Beach and also the deal with boat trip etc. it is just the sort of thing that we are looking for!

See more...

Just a quickie as I'm off out...

The Boatyard is great! We went 3 times. Pay once, for sunbeds and parasols. Bar credit included. Boat out to the wrecks to snorkel. Lively bar, great staff.

If you wanted to do it independently, all the wrecks are easy to swim to from the shore. Visit Brownes Beach, or similar. There's about 5 or 6 IIRC. You can free dive down to them. Literally tons of fish, rays etc too. All near the surface and easily visible over the wrecks. Would probably opt for a DIY in Barbados as its so so easy to get around. And so many fabulous places. Do you want to see any of the rest of the island? Or just snorkel and beach?

[cornishfrogboy]

Originally Posted by TheHughesCrew

Just a quickie as I'm off out...

The Boatyard is great! We went 3 times. Pay once, for sunbeds and parasols. Bar credit included. Boat out to the wrecks to snorkel. Lively bar, great staff.

If you wanted to do it independently, all the wrecks are easy to swim to from the shore. Visit Brownes Beach, or similar. There's about 5 or 6 IIRC. You can free dive down to them. Literally tons of fish, rays etc too. All near the surface and easily visible over the wrecks. Would probably opt for a DIY in Barbados as its so so easy to get around. And so many fabulous places. Do you want to see any of the rest of the island? Or just snorkel and beach?

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That looks absolutely awesome and after Bamboo Beach and other Thailand locations last week, just what we are hoping for!