Joined
Oct 30, 2019
My mother (DM64) and I (DD27) will be cruising on the Wonder Jan 26, 2020 to San Juan, St. Maarten, Antigua, Martinique, Barbados, and St. Lucia. I am an avid swimmer and snorkeler. Mom can't swim at all and is not a fan of catamaran type sailing excursions. I'm planning to do 1 snorkel specific excursion and she plans to either do a port excursion of a different type or stay on the ship. I generally try to plan my snorkeling where there is something she can do as a port excursion or the port is comfortable enough (not super aggressive vendors and safe) for her to walk around without a planned activity and where there is very good snorkeling. In addition, I also like to plan 1 beach day and 1 resort day. I'll list our current plans below. Looking for any advice or recommendations about where to plan my snorkel, with whom, and what would be a good alternative for her.

San Juan
We will be there for a couple of days after the cruise and she has been there before (but recommendations welcome!)

St. Maarten - Snorkel Day
Figured this would be a good port to do my snorkeling as it has many activities she can do like the Seaworld Explorer (which she has done before in another port and liked) or the Island Drive and Explorer Cruise. However, I have not found a snorkel sailing that I'm particularly thrilled about in this port. I would like to go on a catamaran and have a small group (less than 15 people). Also to note: we are not interested in Maho Beach because of the airplanes.

Antigua - Beach Day
We would like to see the cathedral here, but not necessarily interested in an organized tour to do it. As this island is known for it's beaches, I figured a beach day here would be nice. However, I have read quite a bit about finding beaches in Antigua, and have read that public access is very easy. I'm particularly interested in Carlisle Beach as it does have a resort on it and we may take advantage of renting umbrella and chairs or utilizing their bar/food service. I have also read nice things about Beach Limerz.

Martinique - Self-Explore
We plan to explore on our own here.

Barbados - Tea at St. Nicholas Abbey
We are going to do the Disney Port Excursion "Tea at St. Nicholas Abbey". High Tea is our "thing". We did an AMAZING high tea in Victoria after seeing the gardens (which were just incredible, btw - highly recommend if you are in the area), and we incorporate this into all our vacations now. However, I can't find any reviews on this particular experience, so if you know anything about it I'd love to hear!

St. Lucia - Resort Day
I'm torn about this port. I heard the best way to experience the island is by boat, but there is not much to do in port for my mom. Also, I heard the port itself isn't the best. In addition, I heard the roads were terrible and that many of the on land tours take you through some very not nice places (I do understand that there are very poverty stricken areas). However, this is a beautiful island and I want to be sure to appreciate it as that. So, I did quite a bit of research and found Mystique Royal St. Lucia who offers a "use of pool and umbrellas" type admission for $25/person (I explain it like this because it isn't exactly a Day Pass kind of thing and when I called they definitely didn't call it as such). I heard really great things about this resort and is located at Reduit Beach. It is very close to the cruise port which is important because I have heard that the roads and traffic can be unreliable and can give a false sense of time needed to get back causing passengers to be very late getting back or missing their ship altogether.

Please let me know your opinions, advice, and recommendations with your rationale on our current itinerary! Thanks in advance!
 
We’ve done several different snorkeling excursions in St. Maarten, and by far the best one was the Rib Boat Adventure (SM31). Admittedly a rib boat ride is not for everyone (it’s quite high speed, which we thought was fun), but one of the benefits of that speed is that it gets over the French side of the island, where we found the snorkeling to be far superior.
 
Oh, dang. I was literally just about to book the SXM LUXURY CATAMARAN GROUP TOUR...

Have you snorkeled in Antigua?
Once, a couple of years ago. Sorry, but I don’t remember which specific excursion. We did note that a lot of the coral was bleached out, though, which was kind of depressing. The guides told us that it was the result of a recent big storm. Did see some good fish, though.
 


Once, a couple of years ago. Sorry, but I don’t remember which specific excursion. We did note that a lot of the coral was bleached out, though, which was kind of depressing. The guides told us that it was the result of a recent big storm.
Woof! That is depressing! I actually just "booked" the SXM Luxury Catamaran Group Tour and am waiting to get confirmation about that. *fingers crossed*

Do you know anything about St. Lucia or St. Lucia Resorts for day pass-type offerings?
 
Been to most of these ports - as far as St Lucia...we booked a tour based on friends recommendations and I am so glad we did! We went with Spencer Ambrose and did the hot mud baths - it was amazing! Then we went to the Pitons and swam at the beach in between them - so far, my favorite Island! Barbados we did a catamaran and swam with turtles, Martinique has a lovely port area and straw market - Enjoy!!
 
Been to most of these ports - as far as St Lucia...we booked a tour based on friends recommendations and I am so glad we did! We went with Spencer Ambrose and did the hot mud baths - it was amazing! Then we went to the Pitons and swam at the beach in between them - so far, my favorite Island! Barbados we did a catamaran and swam with turtles, Martinique has a lovely port area and straw market - Enjoy!!
Agree about the Pitons in St. Lucia - they are awesome! Be aware that a boat trip there takes quite a while, though. And in addition to the beach, there is an excellent snorkeling area there - great corals and fish.
 


It's not a cruiseline excursion, but if you are open to doing an independent one where the owner is EXTREMELY proactive about making sure everyone is back to the ship on time, check out Soualiga Destinations for St Maarten. Capt Bob has a small fleet of boats that hold a small number of people (I want to say 10-15 each) and it is an AMAZING excursion!! I'm planning to book him for my excursion in St. Maarten in 2021.
 
So I did not get on the SXM Luxury Catamaran Cruise that I tried to book yesterday - bummer! So I'm back to square one on that. However, I did look into Captain Bob's quite a bit before choosing SXM - the only thing holding me back is that I don't really want a speedboat, I'd really prefer a catamaran.

In St. Lucia, I have 4 resorts that are top contenders...
Mystique Royal
Calabash Cove
Rendezvous
Bay Gardens
 
Jumping in here, anyone have any beach suggestions for Martinique Or Barbados?
 
In Martinique we took the ferry over to Anse Miton. It's a narrow beach, but you can rent a lounger and umbrella and there is a restaurant/bar right there. The water was calm and warm (we were there in July 2018) and everyone was very friendly. It's easy to take the ferry (just look up tips so you are clear how it all works). There were plenty of people who spoke English to help out. You will need Euros for cash, but that's also easy.
 
You seem set for Barbados.

But just in case...

We went sailing/snorkeling with Calypso Cruises.
Captain Nick and his crew were fabulous, we had an amazing time.
The non-snorkelers on the trip were happy to hang out on the boat and relax.

https://calypsocatamaran.com/
We went with Captain Nick also and had a blast. It was us, another family of 4 and a solo for 6 hours. Fantastic trip and the food and nibbles were great
 

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