I'm off to the Caribbean in December for two weeks and the brochure says I don't need any innoculations. Possibly cruising is considered different to a land based holiday. On a land based holiday you are exposed to the possibility of poor hygiene standards in hotels and local restaurants and over a two week holiday this could cause problems. On a cruise most of the meals and drinks will be taken on board ship and meals off the ship will be taken in different restaurants so the chances of them all having poor hygiene standards will be a lot less.

If you had them when you went to the Dom Rep, then they may well still be valid, unless it was a long time ago.

We are doing 14 days back to back caribbean cruise and were advised to have injections. We had 4.
We have booked the full package (drinks inc) but we don't know what currency to take for when we go ashore. Can anyone advise

All the Caribbean islands accept the US$.

On our 14 day cruise on the caribbean could anyone advise which trips are the best value to be booked on board and which ones should we do ourselves when we go ashore. There are 4 of us.

Which cruiseline? Which ports are you visiting?

Destiny. Flying to Dominican Republic, calling at St. Kitts, Antigua, Grenada, Tortola, Barbados, St. Martan, St. Lucia.

Hi Carolyn M. There are also four of us doing this cruise and would also like to know the best excursions to do ourselves, however I have looked on the Carnival website and it gives you examples of their excursions and prices all in alphabetical order of the places you visit. I know each cruiseline is different, but as Thomson hasn't done this Itinerary for years, it was the best I can come up with. Incidently
We are doing this cruise in March, when are you going?

There is a 'sticky' just above this topic, called 'diy shore excursions Caribbean' which might help.

If you go here http://www.thomsonbeach.co.uk/th/cruise/viewPorts.do on the Thomson website, it lists ports of call. If you click on each one that you are going to, it describes it and then lists the excursions with prices.

Thanks mehmeh 1 for the quick reply. This site and its members is fantastic

Thank you all for your tips on the caribbean. I must say that if the four of us do at least one trip per island it is going to cost us a veritable fortune. Any tips on going ashore and doing these trips on our own. eg hiring a taxi.
When we visited the far east we spent four days in Hong Kong and did the usual coach tour and it cost us about £30 per person. The next day we did it on our own, caught the bus, ferry etc. and it cost us about £2.50 each and none of us could speak a word of chinese.
I will post any tips or pitfalls when we get back from the caribbean at the beginning of February.

CarolynM - see the sticky above on 'diy shore excursions Caribbean'. I think you can probably do most of them by taxi if you want. Just study the excursion descriptions so you know where you want to go!

carolyn,

in tortola, do the royal swim with dolphins.

the website is dolphindiscovery.com, it is near enough to walk to/from the port or cheap enough to taxi it. plus the trip is much cheaper booking it yourself plus (based on OV cruise) the itinerary for the swim is better also.

as for injections
we did a caribbean cruise in jan and had none.

Well we are back from our fortnight caribbean cruise on Thompson Destiny and I must say that the four of us enjoyed it immensely. So what if the ship was a bit tired and needed updating and the cabins were small but spotlessly clean (how much time do you spend in a cabin when you're out and about enjoying yourself). The onboard entertainment was excellent especialy the the shows in the Can Can Lounge, you couldn't have seen better in the UK they were so professional and the costumes extremely impressive. The food was fantastic whether it be in the Lido Restaurant or the Seven Seas Restaurant. I am a vegitarian (although I will eat fish) and I found there were plenty of choices. I reckon we all put on at least a stone, so take some larger clothes for the second week. Our cabin girl was a joy and the waiters were a bundle of fun and very friendly. We did a couple of the advertised trips but found them extremely expensive. The only one we recommend you go on is the Rhum Run (good fun). Much cheaper to get together with a few people and get a mini bus outside and go sight seeing with the taxi driver and end the day on the beach. Save your money for shopping on St. Maarten. duty free and tax free and such a lovely place, beautiful beach. Most everyone on board were extremely friendly and by the time the second week came around we felt we should write 'good morning' on our foreheads. So anyone contemplating this cruise go for it and have a lovely time as we did.

Carolyn nice to hear you had a good time. Can you write a full review in the cruise reviews as it is still 5 weeks until my cruise and reading this and various sites keeps me going. I would really be interested in any daytrips and interesting places to visit that you came across. Can you tell me any duty free prices on ship shop (TRY SAYING THAT FAST) e.g. Cigarettes, Tobacco, Spirits etc. Thanks

bigmamtam, whatever the prices on board the ship, buy them in st maarten. they are soooo cheap.

Last October the price of cigarettes was around $18 per carton (200 cigs) onboard ship and $14 in St Maarten.

Cheers for the quick replies guys. Is St Maarten cheap for everything i.e jewellery and clothes?