Cathinjoetown

We're taking a week's cruise next month on Celebrity Renaissance to St. Kitts, St Maarten and San Juan, PR.

Any suggestions for those ports? We like nice lunches and will be with a couple who are true foodies. We may take a side excursion to Nevis offered by the ship. I've never been to any of these islands. Have had a few mixed reviews on Puerto Rico.

Thanks.

jacketwatch

St. Maarten is a fave of mine. I recommend that you contact this gal who provided a great tour for us.
http://joyceprince.com/tours.html

We like Indian food so this place there in Philipsburg was great.
http://www.best-stmartin.com/detail....ID=6&extraID=0

PR is also very nice and I do recommend seeing the castle El Morro. Its amazing as is the rain forest El Yunque. There is also a bacardi rum factory tour as well.

Never been to St. Kitts or Nevis.

You can take a ferry from St. Maarten to Anguilla but I am not sure of how much time you have.

The Celebrity Renaissance? Do they have a new ship?

Rhea58

In Old San Juan grab the free trolley with hop on/hop off stops...If you need a coffee fix there's a Starbucks too.

In St Martin, I always walk to Back street & grab one of the
mini vans for $2 to Marigot where there are a plethora of cages, French pastries etc.

haven't done St.Kitts

RoamsAround

In St. Kitts (if you decide to stay on the island) hire one of the local taxi driver/guides for the day. He will take you group on an island tour so you can see/.explore the petroglyphs, the ruins of Winfield Estate, the gardens and batik factory at Romney Manor, the Fortress at Brimstone Hill (one of the best in the the Caribbean) and the Black Rocks Lava Flow. Then have your driver drop you off (he'll either wait for you or come back at a pre-set time) at Otley's Plantation for a leisurely lunch at the edge of rainforest while you gaze out over the Caribbean. After lunch you'll have to to roam around their gardens and take a short hike in the rainforest before returning to your ship.

Of course, if you decide to go over to Nevis on the ship's excursion you can certainly do that. Make use you understand the "excursion's itinerary" as some just do a day sail (with a stop for snorkeling at Shitten Bay off of St. Kitts)) over to Pinney's Beach where you have time for a swim and lunch but you don't get to do much else. Other excursions are "land based" tours and include stops at the Botanical Gardens, a few sugar plantation ruins, perhaps the Nevisian Village exhibition, and other points of interest.

Orlando_Vic

In St. Maarten, Bernard's Tours are excellent! http://www.bernardstours.com/

_______________________________________________
Vic's travels: http://my.flightmemory.com/vogilvie

jacketwatch

Bernard is perhaps the most well know tour guy there.We tried to use his services but he was booked. However we were very happy with Joyce Prince too. Her gal Berniece was great and we had a small bus for the 5 of us.

I think you will be fine with either one.

Cathinjoetown

Thanks, everyone, for some great suggestions. Jacket, the ship is the Reflection which we have sailed on before. I guess I had a brain cramp when I wrote Renaissance!

Cathinjoetown

Celebrity Edge--I received a mailing about this a few days ago. No details, just "it's coming.". Here's some info from Cruise Critic:

http://www.cruisecritic.com/reviews/...fm?ShipID=1130

jacketwatch

Thank you. Maybe you flashed on the defunct Renaissance line. .

Also thanks for the link about the new X ship. Interesting that they are going smaller.

rjgdjg

Hi-
St. Maarten and San Juan are particularly fabulous ports, with plenty to do right at the port.For example:

* St. Maarten--take the water taxi ($7 gives you unlimited use) into town; it's about a 5-7 minute ride. There's a public beach right there with water sports and cheap umbrella/beer/wi-fi packages, as well as lots of beach-side bars and restaurants. There's a ton of shopping and even a casino or two.

* San Juan--the ship pulls right up to the old town with its blue cobblestones, pastel-meets-Spanish architecture. It's positively charming--a bit of Europe in the Caribbean. In addition to El Morro, which someone else mentioned, there's also another fort right in town--San Cristobal. There's also a number of chic restaurants on the waterfront. In short, there's a ton to do.

Hope this helps. - Musing About Cruising

Cathinjoetown

Thanks, rjgdgj. I have read a bit about the islands but appreciate first-hand information.

I'll do a brief cruise report when we get back.

CarolineF

If you are interested in planes, I highly recommend Maho Beach in St. Maarten. First get a taxi to Mullet Bay which is a very nice beach then around 11:30 or so (might be able to check plane schedules before that and you will start to see planes fly in), walk back to the end of the parking lot then to the right along the side of a golf course (might not look like much of a course!) till you eventually see a walking path. Follow this to the end then walk along the sidewalk to the right. This brings you to Maho after about 15 minutes altogether. Here you can watch the planes come in right over your head as well as take off. Check out youtube. Lots of fun but don't be stupid like some people!

jacketwatch

This is what she means. .
https://images.search.yahoo.com/yhs/...ullyhosted_011

CarolineF

If you are interested in planes, I highly recommend Maho Beach in St. Maarten. First get a taxi to Mullet Bay which is a very nice beach then around 11:30 or so (might be able to check plane schedules before that and you will start to see planes fly in), walk back to the end of the parking lot then to the right along the side of a golf course (might not look like much of a course!) till you eventually see a walking path. Follow this to the end then walk along the sidewalk to the right. This brings you to Maho after about 15 minutes altogether. Here you can watch the planes come in right over your head as well as take off. Check out youtube. Lots of fun but don't be stupid like some people and hold on to the fence! haha