Cruise stops at 6 islands - any suggestions as to what to do
 

Going on a cruise out of San Juan that has stops in St. Thomas, Dominica, Barbados, St. Kitts, Antigue, and St. Lucia. Obviously we only have a short time at each island and I'd love any recommedations as to what's the "must do" at any of these locations with approx 8-10 hours on each but in particular we would like to choose at least one to just take a day to lie on a nice Caribbean beach with clear, calm water and a cold bucket of local adult beverages (cruising with 8 adults age range from 27-70).

We did a cruise a few years ago and thoroughly enjoyed swimming with the green turtles in Barbados. Any visit to St. Kitt's must include a sojourn to Brimstone Hill to see one of the best forts in the whole of the Caribbean.

Go on to the www.cruisecritic.com website message boards.

They will definitely be able to help you out. It is a great website.

Unless any of your group are shoppers I would reccomend Magens Bay Beach on St. Thomas for your one day of chillin on the beach. It's probably the first stop but it's a beauty of a place to hang out for a day.

Just back from RCCL Caribbean cruise, we did St Thomas, Antigua, Barbados, St Lucia, and St Martin. We took the all day tour with lunch of St Lucia, offered through the cruise line, I highly recommend it. We visited the Butterfly Farm in St Thomas (right on the cruise dock) and also did the ECO tour of St John which was really nice. The Antiqua highlights tour was disappointing. Have nice trip!

I agree with the all day tour on St Lucia down to The Piton's. While St Thomas is very nice, I am partial to St John. I would either do the ships excursion or take the ferry over and taxi to the North Shore beaches. You could also do a little shopping in Cruz Bay and have a nice lunch.

Barbadoes- Its worth going to the underground caves. A train like trolly takes everyone down and then it stops to let everyone out to look around. It is quite interesting. All ages would enjoy it. Take a sweater, it is cool down there.

@ St. Thomas, make that your beach day by taking the ferry to St. John and going to Trunk Bay Beach in the national park, where there is a snorkeling trail. There is no development to be seen, the beach is shaded at the edge. It is probably the most photograped beach in the world.
On St. Lucia, you can sort of do "St. Lucia in a nutshell" by taking a local boat ride down the west coast where you will see the spectacular Pitons, the town of Soufriere, a beautiful gardens, a volcano, and a snorkel from the boat on the way back.
On Barbados, try Francia Plantation, a beautifully maintained plantation house from the sugar days, Harrison's Cave, and Flower Forest, a tropical forest/garden so spectacular that a visitor once wrote in their guest book, "If I owned both Flower Forest and Paradise, I'd live in Flower Forest and rent out Paradise." If time you could have lunch & snorkel @ Coral Reef Club, the class act resort on the island to give you a feeling for that should you want to return to stay on the island. Take a taxi, not a ships tour--much less crowded and noisy.

St Thomas - shop 1/2 day - go to Megan's bay the other 1/2
St Kitts - take taxi to Turtle Beach - the drive there is spectacular - once there - you can have a nice lunch with a bucket of carib - it's on a nice beach that looks out to Nevis.
St Lucia - take catamaran to see the Pitons - you'll stop in Marigot Bay - beautiful
Antigua - go to Dickinson's Beach - Nelson's Dockyard

St. Thomas, Dominica, Barbados, St. Kitts, Antigue, and St. Lucia.

Strictly my preferences:
St. Thomas
- Beach - there are several nice ones - do a search on St. Thomas to get names and shopping
Barbados - some sort of island tour - maybe a private one with your own taxi driver
Antigua - if you like historical things and great photo ops - tour the sites of the National Historic Park - Nelson's Dockyard, Shirley Heights, The Blockhouse etc. Cruisecritic has a number of recommended tour guides and also local taxi drivers are mostly qualified to give you a decent tour
St. Kitt's - Brimstone Hill fortress (fabulous fortress - World Heritage site) and Caribelle Batik (lovely gardens and some interesting souvenir possibilities)
St. Lucia - catamaran tour to the Pitons

thanks for all the suggestions. i did look on cruisecritics.com as well and feel like we can definitely make some educated choices based the suggestions from both sites