Private Excursion Help - Barbados and Puerto Rico

[Summer12315]

I am hoping some of you experienced people can help me. We are going on the 11-night southern Caribbean cruise this summer. Due to it being a longer cruise, it's mostly experienced cruisers so as silver status we were basically last to book. As I expected, many of the items we wanted are gone. Does anyone have any experience/recommendations for private tours for these two places?

Barbados - I'd like to do a tour that takes you to Harrison Cave and we definitely want to go to the wildlife reserve, preferably to be there for the 2:00 feeding time.

Puerto Rico - I'm not even quite sure what I'd like to do here. I'd like to get a little bit of the history and a feel for San Juan but we have a 10 and 5 year old so we need activities that will keep them happy and engaged. I liked the sound of the Castillo San Cristobel tour with youth activity but that's not even an available excursion for our cruise so I don't know what to choose, or if we should walk around a bit or something.

I apologize if there's already a similar thread, I searched and didn't see anything. Any advice or suggestions are greatly appreciated!

 

[allashore]

we did this cruise last year

Barbados we booked private van with driver thru DCL, it was on the excursion website. We had to plan our own itinerary. There were 7 of us altogether. myself, DH, 80yr aunt, and 4 "kids" ages 15-21. The driver was excellent, pointed out a lot, answered questions etc.
Here is what we did, dropped DH & 3 kids at beach, driver took 80yr, 21 yr and myself to a historical house tour and rum tasting, I forgot the name but can look up if you are interested. while we were there, driver went back and picked up DH & kids from beach, then came back for us. All us then went to Harrison Cave's, then back to the boat. It was well worth the $$$ spent to have your own driver, be able to see more, etc
I had to make my own reservations at Harrison Cave, very easy with email, paid when we got there. I originally wanted to do the caves first, but they are all booked in the morning with cruise ships. The private van thru DCL was for 4hrs, we were able to add another hour ahead of time, unlike other excursions this had to be paid for at booking, where most excursions are paid for with onboard acct. We mostly do excursions thru DCL, b/c of fear of not getting back to the ship. I would think there are other services you could use, I did not look into any. You may be able to get to both wildlife reserve and caves if you did a private car service. You would have to figure out how far apart they are and see if you could time it right.

Puerto Rico there is a fort in San Juan that you can walk from the ship. We did this when our kids were younger, they really enjoyed it. Last summer all but the 15yr, he stayed on the ship, went to the Bacardi Factory, and did a mixology there, not thru DCL This was a lot of fun.

any other questions, I would be happy to answer

 

[caribear]

Puerto Rico:
You can easily get to the fort on your own without an excursion. You pay an entrance fee at the fort. Super easy. It is very hot in the summer though....so I recommend taking the free trolley transportation at the end of the pier. It stops at both forts on the island. I think the Castillo San Felipe del Morro is larger...and my kids really enjoyed looking around. We walked to Castillo San Felipe del Morro...and then took the free trolley to Castillo de San Cristobal on the way back to the pier.

 

[DietCokeMommy]

I would grab an Uber in SJ and got to El Morro. It’s fun to walk around, as is the city around it. Tons of great places to eat too.

In Barbados I didn’t find Harrison’s cave to really be a must see. It was kind of cool but not an all day thing, I’d thats what you’re looking for. And it was very slippery, so be careful with your younger one. We did have a great time on a catamaran trip with Silver Moon. The boat and crew were excellent.

 

[Chemist]

We did that cruise last summer.

In Barbados we went sailing with Calypso Cruises. Small boat, our boys were the same age as your kids and they were well cared for. We went snorkeling at two spots, then to a small beach and then sailed back. Highlight of the trip.

In San Juan we just walked over to the one fort. We enjoyed it but it was HOT. We took the kids back to the ship for lunch and A/C and then went to explore. We walked to the other fort and took a taxi back. Super easy to do it all on your own.

 

[Summer12315]

Thanks everyone for your replies. We're going to book a private tour in Barbados. We definitely want to get to the wildlife preserve. I think we'll just walk to the closest fort in San Juan and take in the city a bit.

I've been doing so much research and also changed our Martinique and Aruba plans. I'm super excited about the things we have booked so I'm not even mad we weren't able to get our original desired excursions anymore.

 

[charlenebu]

If you are looking for something great for kids in Puerto Rico, check out https://puertoricocruiseexcursions....ack-sand-volcanic-beach-west-end-island-tour/ its a great family tour

In Barados with went on this catamaran https://barbadoscruiseexcursions.com/excursion/barbados-catamaran-snorkeling-excursion/ gorgeous day and we got to snorkel with Green Sea turtles! Really amazing

 

[wcb100]

how is Puerto rico for tours at the moment? are the riots affecting our safety or is that is a different area of the country?

 

[BRC6C]

how is Puerto rico for tours at the moment? are the riots affecting our safety or is that is a different area of the country?

All of us on this cruise leaving Saturday are watching closely! Some cruise lines have cancelled stops but it looked like some went yesterday. Of course this morning news sources are reporting the governor is expected to resign so that may calm things down...

 

[Doingitagain]

DCL emailed today that we are going to St. Thomas rather than Puerto Rico.