Eastern Caribbean Ports #1 thing to do at each

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hockeymom

Guest
Taking our 1st cruise in Jan. and stopping at the following ports: Grand Turk
San Juan
St. Thomas
Half Moon Cay

Have 2 children w/us ages 10 & 14.

Any suggestions on the #1 thing to do at each port?

Is the rain forest tour at San Juan worth it?
How about the Half Moon Lagoon Aqua Park & the Stingray Adventure?
The kids would like to try snorkeling, but have little experience doing it....any suggestions on a good place for them to try?
Thank you for any input that would help us on our new adventure!!!
 
R

red stripe

Guest
Well, at San jaun we explored the forts, plus walked into the town square and fed the many pigions.
I would think your children would find the fort interesting. And we did this on our own.

In St Thomas there are many beaches for them to explore, as I figure that shopping will not be high on the list.
I personally like to get off the ship as soon as I can, and catch the taxi to Redhook. Then take the ferry to St. John.
Once over there, you can get another taxi to Trunk Bay. They not only have the most beautiful long beach there is, but they also have a snorkel trail marked out (underwater of course:lol )

As for Half Moon Cay, well.. HAL has an extensive kids program that you might want to check out on their site. There are all kinds of water sports for them and you.
 
S

spoheating

Guest
I agree strongly with the last post. Trunk Bay offers snorkeling from shore, great white sand beach. There is a concession there, and rental of snorkel equipment. You can do this all on your own--your cab driver will know how to get to redhook. My kids were 12 and 19 last year and this was their favorite day. It takes some time to get there and back but well worth it. Also doing this on your own, while it will probably not save you $$ as each leg of cab/ferry/cab will cost is still the best option. When the bull horn came our summoning all the "tours" back to the three ships in port that day we had 2 more hours of the beach with only a few dozen people left there. We believe we paid about what the ship's tour there cost, the real gain was the time we got to spend there.
 
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stsomewhere

Guest
My kids are 8 and 10. They love the forts in San Juan. You can take the free trolley to the forts. $5 adults and $3 kids will give you admission to both. The have a Jr. ranger program. They give them a workbook about the forts. After completed, they meet with a ranger to discuss what they learned. It is free.

Half moon cay- there is a climbing structure with a small water slide. There are floating trampolines and climbing structures in the water. Some floating animals of the younger ones. The sand was great.

St. Thomas- We charted a 44 ft sailboat for the day. It was a little pricey. But, well worth it. We paid extra to cover a 5th person and we had the whole ship to ourselves. We sailed to St. John's and did snorkeling in a few different coves. We had our own guide(the first mate) he showed us all kinds of fish, coral and sea life. He would explain to us want were were seeing. My son and husband saw and octopus and sea turtles. It was the best day of our entire vacation. After looking at the excursion price and times offered by the cruise line, we felt we would only spend a little more. We sailed with Capt. Pat on first mate Ray on the Independence.

Good Luck
 
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