Wife and I will be on NCL cruise mid December with stops at Samana, Tortola, Antigua, Barbados, & St. Lucia. I got the book, Frommer's Caribbean Ports of Call which is a help. Anyone have suggestions regarding Not to be Missed shore excursions in any of these ports-one day in each one. For example, It seems like on St. Lucia, the Soufriere Volcano tour is not to be missed. Also, has anyone ever booked an excursion through shoretrips.com and do they come through for you? Thanks for any and all help.

For Antigua, take a taxi to English Harbour -- it is a fantastic place to hang out.

For Tortola: Cane Garden Bay will be a popular but crowded beach. You can do an uncrowded beach day at Smugglers Cove or if you are feeling active, go up to Sage Mountain and do the hike (its not too strenuous and you will get great views).

Barbados: The Malibu Beach and Rum Factory was a fun stop for us.

All of these you can do on your own.

I'm not sure what your particular Volcano tour on St Lucia entails, but I would choose a tour that offers other sites/activities as well. I have seen tours that just go to the volcano. The volcano while interesting is really just a short stop. I would recommend a land and sea tour to see the most of St Lucia in one day. You would see the Pitons, likely visit the Botanical Gardens and volcano, have lunch and a snorkel stop.

Hi Bosoco

You mentioned "Do on your own." Did you mean rent a vehicle or just do taxi? Is there any public transportation or would that be too much of a hasstle? Thanks!

We took taxis in Antigua and would recommend taxis in Tortola as well, it's less of a hassle.

Hello Brenandg:

NCL offers this tour for $69pp. Includes look at "lush green mountains, valleys, rainforrests, fishing village AND town of Soufriere and sulfer springs as well as botanical gardens, etc. And catamaran on way back. Sounds preety good for a 6.5 hour excursion, don't you think? Thanks for your thoughts.

I'd say that's an excellent price for an all day tour in St. Lucia. Although I suppose I'm glad I saw the sulphur springs (touted as the world's only drive-in volcano), in retrospect I could easily have skipped it. Geologically interesting and visually dull. Plus the smell permeated our clothing for a while!

My personal must-dos for a return to St. Lucia would include the botanical gardens, seeing the Pitons, and the catamaran trip up the coast with stops for snorkeling.

That sounds like a good tour. I would go for it. I checked the price of a similar tour and it was $80pp.

I took that tour with NCL. It was a fun day. Just try to get the island tour in the AM and the catamaran in the PM. It gets HOT in the afternoon.