Carnival shore excursions for Grand Turk, La Romana, Aruba, Curcacao

[mathduck]

We will be departing on the Carnival Miracle April 2, 2012.
My wife and I are in our 60's.

We have stayed for 1 week in the Turks at a relatives condo and 1 week at Boca Chica (DR) at an all inclusive.

We have not booked any shore excursions yet. We would like some feedback to help our decision making.

My wife prefers the cruise line shore excursions because they guarantee you are back on board the ship.

Thanks in advance for your help.

[scgamecock]

I'm doing this itinerary on Freedom later this year and here is what we have planned:

Grand Turk - Drinks, lunch & beach at Jack's Shack (Early port day, we depart at 2pm)
La Romana - Seavis Tours Saona Special Snorkeling Excursion
Curacao - Smallfield Adventures Sunset Cruise (Late port day, we depart at 11pm)
Aruba - Carnival excursion to De Palm Island (It's actually cheaper through Carnival than booking direct)

Let me know if you'd like more info or links on any of these.

[mathduck]

Thanks,

Chilling at Jack's Shack in the Turks souns inviting
.
Although my wife enjoyed snorkeling in Huatulco on the Beaches and Bay tour, that experience was enough for her. Therefore we need to make other arrangements.

So far we our first choice is the Kukoo Kunuku open air bus and beach in Aruba, second choice is the sunset cocktail cruise and third choice is the Jeep tour.

In Curcacao, our first choice is the Discover Curacao Island Tour and second choice is the Willemstad Trolley Train Tour.

[scgamecock]

Originally Posted by mathduck

Chilling at Jack's Shack in the Turks souns inviting

Make sure to go to Jack's website and print out the free rum shot coupon. I love that place. Strong, cheap drinks and good food. Last time, we rented golf carts from Nathan and explored the island before ending up at Jacks. That was a really fun day.

[showcat]

I just did this cruise on the Miracle!

I went to the Bohio dive resort in Grand Turk, took a taxi, much nicer beach then the one the ship docks at and plenty of time just time your cab ride there. Or you can take a taxi tour to the Lighthouse and around the island. Not much to see and do on Grand Turk but the space capsule was neat and I got to see some pretty horses roaming.

In La Romana I did Carnival's tour to Santo Domingo well worth the bus ride it was fascinating and the "real" Dominican Republic, we saw the oldest churches in the America's, beautiful paintings on ceilings like in Rome, the giant Lighthouse shaped like a cross where Christopher Columbus is buried, the place where Columbus son and family lived. There are two tours we did the long one that included lunch, food was decent.

In Aruba I did the Jolly Pirates snorkel tour, I regret not going on an island tour, here, as water was really deep and choppy. I stayed on the boat.

In Curacao we did the Double the Fun Tour with Carnival and it was one of the best tours I've ever done. We saw Boka Tabla where the waves crash, took amazing photos, went to two pristine beaches to take photos, went to two museums, and the the Liqour factory for tasting. Never did we feel tired or bored on Carnival's long tours they were great! Hope this helps!

[mathduck]

You are right the Santa Dominigo tour is an interesting history lesson about Columbus and his son. We took that excursion when we stayed at Boca Chica.

The heads up about Double the Fun tour makes me want to shift towards that. However, it depends on how time my wife wants to shop.

So far our itinerary looks like:
Grand Turks - realx at Jack's Shack and enjoy the food and rum shots
La Romana - Altos de Chavon view its culture and explore the local crafts
Aruba - Open air bus tour
Curcacau - Double the Fun tour (assumption of limited shopping)