Lordy

Hi there,
we are booked on the Noordam for a Southern Caribbean cruise in January.
The ports are as follows:

St Thomas
Roseau, Dominica,
St George's Grenada,
Fort de france - Martinique
Phillipsburg - St Maarten
Half Moon Cay - Bahamas

What are your suggestions for activities and shopping etc?

We will be in Fort Lauderdale before or after the cruise. What is there to see and do?

Thanks in advance
Donna
Australia

Lordy

Any ideas????
Thanks
Donna

diann24

Lordy,

The Southern Caribbean for January sailing is the best. You are farther south and get the warmer temperatures. St. Thomas is a pretty island and on all stops the cruise will inform you of there shopping spots. Grenada is known as the Spice Island. You can purchase spices there, and go on a tour of the island. It is a friendly island. When you get off the ship, there will be island people offering tours. You can get them for a fraction of the cruise ship costs. All islands will offer plenty of shopping and ideas. We like the beach so on St. Thomas we have been to several beaches. Megans Bay is one of them and morningstar beach. Taking a trip to st. Johns from St. Thomas is worth it for it is a beautiful Island. Lush, tropical. If you search the web site I am sure they will offer various cruise tours for each island and see what interests you.

Ft. Lauderdale, there is a the jungle cruise. It takes you through all the mansions by boat and gives you the history of the homes along the river. There is a water taxi that will take you all over to the many fine restaurants and shopping in FLL. FLL is a great city. Enjoy!

debrad149

Of the places you will be going, I have only been to St Thomas and St Maarten, and LOVED them both! We went on RCCL so I don't know if the excursions offered are the same, or what kind of things you like to do, but in St Maarten we did the America's Cup Regatta and had a great time. You sail the actual Stars and Stripes from the America's Cup with some of the greatest guys (you race other boats), and there are different jobs for people of different ages/fitness levels,etc...

After that we just took a cab over to Orient Beach and laid out for a little while (and marveled at the differences between Europeans and Americans

On St Thomas we did this underwater scooter thing with snorkeling after that was pretty cool, but I don't know if it was worth the price. Then we went to Magan's Bay to lay out on the beach some more! It is a beautiful beach (but smaller than I expected). Apparently St Thomas is known for shopping, but we didn't do any while we were there.

I lived in Ft Lauderdale for a few years and it is a fun place, again depending on what kinds of things you like to do. There are a ton of good restaurants in the Las Olas/Riverfront area downtown, along with a bunch of bars. And the beach is nice although not necessarily as nice as where you will be for the rest of the trip.

Hope you have a great time on your cruise!!

Lordy

Thanks diann24 and debrad149.
We have booked our cruise and are really looking forward to visiting the ports of call. I will check into the activities and places you have mentioned. My travel agent has sent me a shore excursion brochure and I will see what is available.
Thanks again for your great suggestions.
Donna