girls who have cruised before

if you know you DEFINATELY want to do a must-excursion, book it now! why wait

however, i wouldnt book ALLL of them now. you have to see how you feel sometimes too.

i would recommend booking the MUST-DOs now..and wait on the rest

I've only ever booked one shore excursion though the cruiseline and it was swimming with the dolphins. Usually they are extremely overpriced and so not worth the money.

One year in St. Thomas they wanted to charge $35 for an hour long guided snorkel tour. We went to the same beach and got the same gear for unlimited use for $10 (and I think we got $5 back after safely returning the gear) and dog biscuits (weird, I know) to feed the fish!

We even followed the tour for a little while. Unless it's something that's unique like swimming with dolphins or parasailing, I'd wait until the island to book! HTH!

depends what you want to do. for st thomas.. just do shopping and go to the beach.. its cruiser friendly.

other ports i havent been to..

if u act like a tourist, book excursions..just to be safe. lol

PORT! Unless there is something real spcific and you're afraid you won't find it on the island alone. They are always much cheaper in the port. Also you can negotiate with them.

Once you get into the port there are secure areas where actual companies regiualted by the country who have people there to sell their excursions to tourists. For the most part, that is, since 9/11 it's not just some local with a van who will take you where you want to go.

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Posted by grkbarbie

if u act like a tourist, book excursions..just to be safe. lol

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Good advice.

Hmm. I would book one or two, but it's good to see what your mood is the day of also. Some of them book up though, so I'd book one or two that you really want to do!! LOVE CRUISES!!!

do ziplining if it's offered. sooo fun!

oh supposedly i went to antigua.. if i rememebr correctly..we were jus ton a ebach at a sanadals resort..

u can always go to front desk on the cruise ship and see whats near the port.. u walk 2 bocks away from the tourist cabbies..and get in a reg cab (ask price 1st) it should never be more than 15$ for a ride. youre on an ISLAND. theres beaches 5-10 min away..

Now I just spoke with FH about this. He said to wait to book. St Thomas and Barbados he has been to so he knows where to go and the other islands he wants to wait and see when we get there. He says what if we dont feel like going off the ship that day or if we get sunburned or somehting and cant go. i guess it kinda makes sense in a way.

I normally book excursions when I get on the ship, also in most ports you can book excursions when you get off the boat like jet skiing and others that are offered on the boat.

At St. Thomas - Megan's Bay is supposed to be the most beautiful beach in the world, but it was a major tourist trap when I went and there was no room on the beach, and I thought the other beaches were just as nice.

oh i went to barbados,too.. when u get out theres vans that take u to the beach.. we did that.. then we walked back to the pier. it was a 15 in walk. for soem reason when on vacation we loveeeeeeee exploring on our own and taking long walks.

we went to a bech locals go to.. i kept signaling trucks driving by to honk their horns. im such a hewwa lmao

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Posted by jilliibabii

One year in St. Thomas they wanted to charge $35 for an hour long guided snorkel tour. We went to the same beach and got the same gear for unlimited use for $10 (and I think we got $5 back after safely returning the gear) and dog biscuits (weird, I know) to feed the fish!

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We did the same thing! Was it at the beach near that place 'Coral World' that's like an aquarium kinda thing? We went to the beach, found some guy who was selling snorkel stuff, we left our bags in his trunk lol because I didn't want to leave them on the beach unattended... we got the dog biscuits too and got swarmed by fish!

Anyway... for Celia's question - the more popular excursions book up fast, so for those I would book it earlier because I know when we were on the boat people got locked out of those because they were overbooked. I know the Jeep Tour we did in Tortola was closed out on the boat, we had booked that in advance, and the swimming with dolphins excursion in Bermuda was also - it was also booked up when I went to the Bahamas like 15 years ago on a cruise. So those types of things I'd book in advance, but something like a 'day at the beach' or snorkeling, stuff like that, I wouldn't worry about. I'd be concerned about anything where it's limited to a small number of people and it sounds cool, I'd book those in advance.

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Posted by DWKSwed

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Posted by jilliibabii

One year in St. Thomas they wanted to charge $35 for an hour long guided snorkel tour. We went to the same beach and got the same gear for unlimited use for $10 (and I think we got $5 back after safely returning the gear) and dog biscuits (weird, I know) to feed the fish!

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We did the same thing! Was it at the beach near that place 'Coral World' that's like an aquarium kinda thing? We went to the beach, found some guy who was selling snorkel stuff, we left our bags in his trunk lol because I didn't want to leave them on the beach unattended... we got the dog biscuits too and got swarmed by fish!

Anyway... for Celia's question - the more popular excursions book up fast, so for those I would book it earlier because I know when we were on the boat people got locked out of those because they were overbooked. I know the Jeep Tour we did in Tortola was closed out on the boat, we had booked that in advance, and the swimming with dolphins excursion in Bermuda was also - it was also booked up when I went to the Bahamas like 15 years ago on a cruise. So those types of things I'd book in advance, but something like a 'day at the beach' or snorkeling, stuff like that, I wouldn't worry about. I'd be concerned about anything where it's limited to a small number of people and it sounds cool, I'd book those in advance.

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But how do you know what are the popular excursions?

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Posted by Future Mrs H

leaving from PR- st thomas, dominica, st kitts, antigua, st lucia and barbados

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Ahhh we did this same cruise in 07! Amazing you will loveee it!!

As for the excursions I would suggest waiting until you are on the cruise. Thats what we did and each night you would get info under your door about what port you will be arriving to in the am and different excursions they have to offer. I felt this was better then booking it way in advance only because we 'thought' we were going to do a new excursion each day but there was def a day or 2 were we just went to the beach or hung out at the pool. And it is a lil more expensive booking thru the cruise but at least you know if anything happens the boat wont leave w/o (they have to wait until all of the excussion busses are back) where as if you go on your own and you dont make it back you will be waving buh bye to your ship from land (lol) just something to think about- and you havent saving millions! lol HTH!!!

Have fun!

PS I def recommend horseback riding in St lucia!

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Posted by DWKSwed

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Posted by jilliibabii

One year in St. Thomas they wanted to charge $35 for an hour long guided snorkel tour. We went to the same beach and got the same gear for unlimited use for $10 (and I think we got $5 back after safely returning the gear) and dog biscuits (weird, I know) to feed the fish!

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We did the same thing! Was it at the beach near that place 'Coral World' that's like an aquarium kinda thing? We went to the beach, found some guy who was selling snorkel stuff, we left our bags in his trunk lol because I didn't want to leave them on the beach unattended... we got the dog biscuits too and got swarmed by fish!

Anyway... for Celia's question - the more popular excursions book up fast, so for those I would book it earlier because I know when we were on the boat people got locked out of those because they were overbooked. I know the Jeep Tour we did in Tortola was closed out on the boat, we had booked that in advance, and the swimming with dolphins excursion in Bermuda was also - it was also booked up when I went to the Bahamas like 15 years ago on a cruise. So those types of things I'd book in advance, but something like a 'day at the beach' or snorkeling, stuff like that, I wouldn't worry about. I'd be concerned about anything where it's limited to a small number of people and it sounds cool, I'd book those in advance.

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Yupp! That's exactly the beach!!! Dan thought it would be hysterical to break the dog biscuits up into pieces and throw it into my face so the fish attacked me. They did!!!