My husband, brother, sister in law and myself are sailing March 29th on the Summit. The ports are St. Maarten, St. Lucia, Barbados, St. Kitts and St. Thomas. We are having a difficult time choosing shore excursions. We don't know which ports are the best for snorkeling and which are best for just a fun day at the beach. If anyone has sailed to these destinations we would really appreciate your feedback. Also, if anyone has recently sailed on the Summit we would love to hear your comments and opinions on her. Our last cruise was the Song of Norway 16 years ago!! So its been a while for us. We're hoping to make it the best trip ever. Any suggestions would be awesome! Thanks!

Have not sailed on the Summit, but have been to all of the islands except St. Kitts.<BR>First let me ask, how experienced are you? Have you ever snorkeled before? <BR>St. Lucia has excellent snorkeling next to the Pitons. Most ship excursions will not give you much snorkle time. The typical excursions to the Pitons is an all day (7-8 hour) excursion that takes you to see the "volcano", a lunch stop, a quick stop at Anse Cochon for swimming and snorkling and back to the ship.<BR>If you really only want to snorkle in a pretty location, get a taxi for the day and have the driver take you to Anse Chastenet. Scuba St. Lucia is located there. This is the best reef on the island. For 4 people, it will probably be about $30-40 per person, which is half the cost of the ship excursion. It is a pretty drive, plus you will be able to stay at the resort as long as you like, instead of being rushed. You will also have enough time to shop and sitesee. Buy some bannana ketchup!<BR><BR>For St. Thomas, I am planning to check out this one when I go there this summer. I have been hearing good things about Captain Nautica's boat snorkle. Boat snorkels are best when you have some experience snorkeling. If you are a beginner, the best place to go is Trunk Bay on St. John. Fantastic beach with a snorkeling trail. Your ship will have lots of excrusions to St. John.<BR><BR>St. Maarten is really not known for its snorkeling. For Barbados, e-mail some of the dive operators for information. But be careful - since the island is somewhat out in the Atlantic, water conditions will probably be rough for snorkeling. I don't know what St. Kitts has.

I took a Celebrity Galaxy cruise to some of the same ports. Barbados had some very good snokeling. We rented a car for the day from a company just off the pier. St. Lucia, we took the all day trip that was a boat ride into town and then a bus ride back. It was a great excursion, but we only had about 30 minutes of snokeling. The garden on St Lucia was very interesting.

Thank you Cathy and Michelle for your comments. Cathy, my family and I have recently purchased snorkel gear and have been "practising" in the pool! We seem to be doing just fine for beginners. I really appreciate your advice on the taxi trip to Anse Chastenet. It sounds wonderful. Given our only experience has been in the pool, do you think we're ready for this adventure? Also, I would be happy to give you a review on St. Thomas when I get back. Thanks again for your reply. Lori

You are very welcome, Lori. Glad to help, I love snorkeling!!<BR>A pool is good practice and continue to swim to build your stamina and get the breathing down, but of course it is not like the ocean. <BR>Since you will be in St. Maarten first, you may want to either take the ship excursion or go on your own to Pinel Island or ask the snorkel/dive people on the ship (most cruises have these guys - they help with the dive excursions) where a nice safe place to snorkle in the ocean would be. Just remember, you may not see much at St. Maarten.<BR>At Anse Chastenet you can snorkle right off the beach within a roped off area. Once you get comfortable at St. Maarten, I think you should be able to handle Anse Chastenet - it is in a closed in area - with little wave action except for boat wakes. It is 15-25 ft deep, so I hope that does not bother you. Scuba St. Lucia is located there and you can talk to the dive masters. They may be nice enough to send a guy out with you, although there will probably be other divers or snorklers in the area. <BR><BR>Cardinals Rules of Snorkeling<BR><BR>1. Never, ever, ever, touch or stand on coral! Coral is a living organism and it takes thousands of years to grow. Once touched, it dies. Plus, if you don't know what you are touching, it could be fire coral, which has a nasty sting. Cuts from ordinary coral are bad too. Don't touch any thing and you will always be fine<BR><BR>2. Bring a boogie board or an ordinary kick board. You can find in sporting goods shops. This will make you more comfortable in the water and should you need to stop, you can rest on the board. This also prevents you from standing on coral.<BR><BR>3. Put on T-shirts over swim clothes. Helps to prevent sunburn and helps if the water is too cold. <BR><BR>4. Always talk to the local dive shop about water conditions before you get in. You can also talk to the dive masters on the ship. Many dive shops on various islands have web sites and will give you info if you e-mail them. Snorkling in a cove is safest. Watch out, because certain areas with great reefs will have strong currents and undertows that will carry you off to Africa or South America - no kidding. <BR><BR>If you follow the above rules, you should have a great time. Snorkling is relaxing and beautiful! Feel free to post any other questions.

Thank you so much Cathy for all of the helpful info. I passed on your advice to the rest of the family. I had no idea about the coral. I knew it was sharp but had no idea how sensitve it is. I'm very environmentally conscious and I'm so pleased you told me about the "rules of snorkeling". You mentioned about bringing boogie boards. I've checked my sporting goods stores here and haven't found any yet. Can we purchase them on the islands? Or better yet do you know if cruise ships rent them out? One way or another we will definitely use them. What a great idea. Thanks Cathy for all of your help! You're making our first snorkeling experience a success already! Lori

As a add on to the boogie boards, I've been on snorkel trips where they supply those long colorful styrofoam 'noodles'. Just tuck under your armpits - seems easier than a boogie board cause you can float and still look in the water. -- 'course, those might be hard to pack in a suitcase

You may be able to find kick boards on the islands in stores but I am not sure where, and you don't want to waste your vacation time looking. Your cruise ship may have them, but sometimes cruiselines are "weird" about giving you that information before you get on the ship. Often ships and dive shops will have life vests to give to snorkelers, but these always get in my way When I first started snorkeling, I liked havingthe sense of security of holding on to something.<BR><BR>Try to find a store that sells swimming equiptment to schools that have swim teams or look on the internet for swim equiptment. Look for an ordinary kick board about 18" long. Unfortunately stores only seem to market kickboards in the summertime. You may be able to buy some old kickboards from your local YMCA, or they can tell you how to order them.<BR><BR>Good luck, and very glad to help out. Let me know if this helps. I like sharing about an activity I truly enjoy, and I hope you have a great time.

Lori,<BR> We went snorkeling in St. Thomas on one of the Celebrity excursions. It was our first time, but it was awsome! We signed up for the excursion to St. John's Turk's Bay. It was great for first timers. They gave us a short lesson & we just walked out from the beach. Now I'm hooked!

T0 xxx<BR>I think the noodle idea is a great one! My husband is over 200 lbs. and they hold him up. Never thought of that! I have gotten alot of info out all of these messages so thanks to everyone. We LOVE to snorkel and even though we tackled the Great Barrier Reef we are still beginners and not strong swimmers so we are also looking for easy snorkel experiences. Thanks!

A lot of the snorkel companies will provide you with a life jacket which will do away with the need for a boogey board or noodle.

Wow!!! Thanks a million to all of you that posted your comments!!! These travel forums are so great. We would never have found this information out otherwise. To all of you...a safe and Happy New Year!<BR><BR>Lori