Shore excursions....?

Question

I am going on Royal Carribean's Explorer of the Seas at the end of March 2008....our ports of call are:

Labadee, Haiti

Casa de Campo, Dominican Republic

St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Does anyone know of any good shore excursions to do at these ports of call?? Any answer is greatly appreciated!! Thanks!! = ]

Answer 1

I have been on this cruise.  While in St. THomas do the shore excursion to Trunk Bay.  It is rated one of the top 10 most beatiful beaches in the world - and it is.  

DO not get off the ship in Labadee.  It's a horrible little place, Royal's private island.  Beggers everywhere.  Stay on the ship and enjoy the pool that day.  

San Juan has lots of shopping, take the tour to "Old San Juan".  

This is a good cruise - enjoy - you'll love it!

Answer 2

Labadee is Royal Caribbean's private island (actually a peninsula) where you will stop for an all day beach party.  There are no tours on Labadee.  You can pay for jet skiing, para-sailing, or go snorkeling.  They also have an ocean water park that they charge $5. for and you get to play in the ocean in a special area that has "water toys".  They will bring food and drink ashore for the day and there is a market place where natives sell their wares.  The island is huge and they provide  a tram to take you from one beach area to another.  You can go explore by ocean cliffs or just relax on one of the many beaches.

ST Thomas is a shopper's paradise.  If you want to buy jewelry, perfume, or most anything then St Thomas is the place.  If you want to do the beach go to Megan's Bay, or  abetter beach is Sapphire Beach (it's a $10. taxi ride per person each way .... we did this last time).

Puerto Rico has several good tours.  We did the city and Fort (old San Juan ) tour back in May from a cruise ship and it was nice.  A few years ago we did the Rain Forest tour which was nice because it was a long bus ride from town and we got to see some countryside.

That's what I know, but you know that you can go to the RC web site and all of the tours for each port are described very well.

Answer 3

The BOB underwater adventure in St. Thomas  http://www.bobunderwateradventure.com/

is one of the most amazing things I have ever done in my 64 years..You ride a scooter underwater..while literally hundreds  of fish swim around you... There is great video at the above site that shows exactly how this works..Our cruise (Celebrity Zenith) offered this excursion in 2004..but I think you can book this online directly with the company also..My husband could not scuba because of his ears but was able to do this just fine we both LOVED it and so did the much younger 2 girls..One in her 40's and one in her 20's who went with us on this cruise..

Answer 4

I have been to Labadee, Haiti and San Juan, Puerto Rico, so I will tell you about those.

Labadee, Haiti:

When I went there, my family and I just snorkeled.  They have a snorkel rental place, but the down side is, you have to rent a life vest.  It costs $6 or something like that...  If you go to the snorkeling beach, there are ruins of a plane crash.  It's really cool to dive down and look at them up close.  Some advice though, if Royal Caribbean is providing lunch, find out where it is going to be.

San Juan, Puerto Rico:

When I went there, we found out that's it's best just to wander around the city.  You can buys passes into the ruins of a fort.  It is really cool, and its a good place to take pictures.

I hope this helps!

Answer 5

I'm going on this cruise in May, but I have also been to both San Juan and St. Thomas numerous times.  For San Juan, try the Bacardi distillery, its cool how they make the rum and everything.  Or you could do the Old San Juan City, Fort, and SHopping tour.  It stops at a couple of forts which you can walk to the top of and get beautiful views of the island.  ALso the shopping is really good....I plan on doing the rain forest tour because its the only rainforest in the U.S. so it should be awesome, i also hope to hit some kind of beach

In St. Thomas I went to Megans bay which is the 10 in the world (either they have two or Trunk Bay isnt, there were so many signs and everything at Megans Bay bragging about it so thats why I think it is.  I never heard Trunks Bay being top 10).  Anyways its a really calm beautiful beach thats perfect for just relazing.  You can rent chairs, umbrellas etc and food their also.  I actualyl liked Coki Beach even more because there is great snorkeling here and a full bar.  Its just as beautiful and similar to Megans Bay.  If you like snorkeling go to Coki Beach.  The Excursion i went on also did an island tour where they took you up the mountain and you could see your ship off in the distance....absolutely breath taking....I hear hatii has beggers but is still beautiful, and Dominican Republic is supposed to be beautiful also.