Our cruise of the Eastern Caribbean aboard the Royal Princess was an amazing getaway from the winter weather of the Midwest. Our Itinerary took us out of Port Lauderdale, FL. with scheduled stops at Princess Cays, Antigua, St. Thomas, Barbados, St. Kitts, and then St. Lucia. Due to poor weather we weren't able to make it into Antigua, but the rest of the trip was wonderful!

Where we went

  • Princess Cays, Bahamas  

  • St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands 

  • Barbados

  • St. Lucia

  • St. Kitts

HIGHLIGHTS OF OUR TRIP

Barbados

In Barbados we had a DIY shore excursion.  First we walked from the ship to Agape Chocolate Factory, this was a great find for us.  The owner conducts a tour once a day that includes an explanation of all of his vintage German equipment, tastings of the raw ingredients and final products, and he even walks you through the process so you could go home and do it yourself!  Following up that successful find we made our way to the Mount Gay Rum Distillery where we learned about the history of rum production on the island and the passion their people have for it.

St. Kitts

St. Kitts is an island at the crossroads of tropical Caribbean destination and bustling urban community.  We disembarked and were met by our tour guide from Grey's Island Excursions.  We boarded our bus and were given a quick tour of the capital city of Basseterre with a few jokes and historic tidbits along the way.  At first we weren't sure what to make of our driver, but he grows on you and you begin to enjoy his quirky sense of humor. We made stops at Romney Manor to enjoy examples of the indigenous plant life and then our bus climbed the steep slope up to Brimstone Hill Fortress, from up here, on a good day, you can see a half dozen islands in the Lesser Antilles, we were only able to see three. 

St. Lucia

In St. Lucia we took a sight seeing tour that took us to the Diamond Botanical Gardens, the Sulfur Springs near Soufrière, and to the twin Pitons that overlook the island.  This was a neat tour that we did through Princess Cruises and was run by an excellent local guide.  We stopped for some banana chip tastings, picture taking opportunities, and the occasional animal sighting. The drive through the volcano to the Sulfur Springs was pretty uneventful but the site of the massive sulfur buildup, and of course the smell, were not to be forgotten.   

 

Our stops at Princess Cays and St. Thomas were mostly a bust, Princess Cays is a great place to just sit and relax but we had already been doing that for 3 days so we were ready to do something fun.  In St. Thomas we booked a snorkeling trip but because of the rough seas it turned into a swimming day. Taking a cruise in this part of the Caribbean during the winter months comes with some perils, the seas are usually rougher with the trade winds blowing hard from the south, in the future we will certainly schedule our excursions with this in mind.  The cruise ship had a little more movement to it as well, nothing like the YouTube videos of furniture moving from one side of the room to the other, but still a sometimes uncomfortable amount of roll, even on a larger ship equipped with stabilizers. We found that a healthy supply of Meclizine came in handy until the ship turned back north and was no longer fighting the wind.  Days at sea were a bit of a challenge due to the high winds, a chair in the sun was great but hot, and a chair in the shade usually involved using a towel as a blanket.