I am going on a Carnival Cruise to the Carribean this summer and I want to figure out which place we are?

Question

stopping at has the best snorkling and the best town to just hang out and shop in- "Half Moon Cay, Bahamas", "St. Thomas, USVI", "San Juan, Puerto Rico" or "Grand Turk"? Thanks!

Answer 1

Well I have not toured the Carribean since about 1978 on the Sun Princess, but St. Thomas is where we went scuba diving and also has duty free ports.  Although, in reality things (other than fed tax free liquor) were not much less at that time than from discount catalog stores (before the internet).  San Juan had bright white sand beaches and rain forest tours.

That was a nice tour.  Non-stop AA flight from Chicago to San Juan, one day on the water then Curacao (unique Dutch), Caracas (before Hugo), Trinidad (beautiful steep cliffs and gardens), Martinique (topless French), St. Thomas (diving and shopping), and back to San Juan.  Princess has since merged with Carnival.

Answer 2

Of those ports, St. Thomas would be the big shopping port.  Of course, there's shopping in Old San Juan, also, but it's still part of the US, so there might not be much difference in prices.  If you're thinking about doing "serious" shopping [e.g. for fine jewelry] do some shopping before you go so you have a basis for comparison.

HMC is the cruiseline's private island.  It's beautiful and relaxing, but there's nothing else there.  Grand Turk is a small port and is more of a beach stop.

St. Thomas [or St John] has some good snorkeling, and HMC is easy to snorkel, although it's nothing special for anyone who has much experience at it.  SJ you'd have to go out of the area for snorkeling and even then it might not be so easy, as you're on the Atlantic side of the island.  Don't know about GT.

For lots of info from lots of different people, go to CruiseCritic.com, click on "Boards", then "Ports of Call", then your port.