2022 Cruise, St Croix, Antigua, Barbados, St Lucia, Grenada, Dominica & St Kitts, should I try to dive them all or are there other tours I should do?

[Rob9876]

Antigua doesn't get much mention on ScubaBoard, but I have seen the topic brought up very sporadically. A cruise stop may not be the best way to blaze a trail. I'd do something else there.

I have not dived in Antigua, but we went there for a week or so for vacation before getting certified, and we tried a number of spots around the island for snorkeling -- all pretty disappointing. The roads were in horrible condition with potholes that could literally (really) swallow a small car, food was expensive and pretty mediocre (best we found was a Chinese restaurant in the town of St. John's, Antigua).

At the end of the day, it is an island in the Caribbean, so there are worse places to be. That said, it's probably my least-favorite island that we've been to in the Caribbean, and when we took a cruise the next year that stopped at a few of the places on the OP's cruise, we opted to stay and relax on the ship in Antigua (which is really not like us at all, but I'd do it again). So, I'd suggest either staying on ship or just planning a beach day -- not really worth an expensive cruise excursion tour.

I'd definitely dive in St. Croix (we dove there about a year ago), and the snorkeling was good in St. Lucia and Barbados, so I'd be inclined to try diving there also.

 

[living4experiences]

I really enjoy cruise ship diving because you get a chance to sample many places and decide if it's worthy of a longer stay in the future. If you have the opportunity, dive every place you can.

2016 was the last time I was diving from a cruise ship in St. Kitts, St. Lucia, and Grenada. Loved all three places with great diving and dive ops and was planning trips in 2020, but then we know what happened. Until the COVID hassles lift, I'm holding off on doing those trips.

Grenada-Dive Grenada, owners are Helen & Phil
St. Lucia-Scuba Steve's
St. Kitts-Dive St. Kitts
I was in St. Croix for 10 days in May 2021. What I loved most was diving the pier, but you can't do that when ships are in port.
Dominica-I did not dive on the 2016 cruise because there was a sperm whale watching tour in prime viewing season and I chose that over diving. I love whales and to see these beasts was quite impressive.

Antigua & Barbados-I've not dived there.

This region took a heavy hit from Hurricanes Irma & Maria in Sept. 2017, and I'm sure there's varying degrees of recovery at all of these islands. St. Croix is the only island I've been to post hurricanes, and recovery on land and the reefs underwater is still a work in progress.

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[jonhall]

That said, it's probably my least-favorite island that we've been to in the Caribbean, and when we took a cruise the next year that stopped at a few of the places on the OP's cruise, we opted to stay and relax on the ship in Antigua (which is really not like us at all, but I'd do it again). So, I'd suggest either staying on ship or just planning a beach day -- not really worth an expensive cruise excursion tour.

Just a little extra about Antigua.

Funny how people see things differently - it is probably one of my wife's favorite islands - we stayed 2 weeks. Since I already commented earlier about the *diving in Antigua, I'll go with things I found out that I could apply if I ever go back on a cruise ship (which is not likely to happen.)

*Regarding diving, although the diving is okay, the only reason I wouldn't dive here if on a cruise ship is because of taking a taxi (distance and time.)

I have a hard time justifying eating a meal off of a cruise ship, when I've already paid to eat on the ship, but around the Jolly Harbor Marina, about ½ hour taxi ride, are several excellent restaurants. We frequented them often over 2 weeks - spent ~$990 on restaurant meals (and about $200 on groceries.) Didn't really care too much about food cost as we only paid $75 for our 2 bedroom resort for the 2 weeks - our friends paid the other $75.

Jolly Beach, a 5 to 10 minute walk to the Jolly Harbor Marina, is/was a cruise ship beach excursion. There is a "cruise ship only" beach, which also had a restaurant/bar. If one wanted a nice, cheap beach day, they could easily take a taxi (~$20 for 2) to Jolly Beach, open to anyone, still make use of the restaurant/bar, or go to one of the restaurants around the marina. There are a lot of other nice beaches though from 15-45 minutes away and a taxi on your own will probably be cheaper than a cruise ship beach excursion.

As @Rob9876 stated roads aren't great. We paid $79, including tip, for 2 to have a taxi (someone who knew the roads) take us on a 4 hour tour of the island - there are not that many sightseeing highlights - maybe cheaper than a cruise excursion though.

If the timing works, I would recommend a boat ride to Montserrat - half of the island is green and the other pretty barren due to the volcano (you can see it from Antigua. If it were a cruise ship excursion, it is something definitely worth doing. If not an excursion, I would explore doing it on my own - and again, get a taxi driver to give you a tour of the island. The boat to Montserrat leaves out of St. John.

St. Johns, where the cruise ship terminal is located, is not that great of a town to walk around and shop in, IMO - it is very colorful though. Pretty sure whatever the OP does, it will be a great time.

 

[Rob9876]

Funny how people see things differently - it is probably one of my wife's favorite islands

Yes, even more so since we were also staying in the Jolly Harbour area. Again, I'd say it could be o.k. for a beach day for those that like just staying on the beach. Jolly Beach is postcard pretty with turquoise water, but once in the water it was quite silty with low viz. I remember lunch at the beach grill was $85 for 2 kids' meals, 2 burgers (or similar), and 2 regular mixed drinks. There was a beach, I think it was Darkwood Beach, about 10-15 minutes away that had better water clarity but not much to see.

Different strokes for different folks. It is still an island in the Caribbean, so there are definitely worse places to be.

 

[hilljo88]

I have dived many times while on a cruise (although not in the Caribbean) and can also recommend that you book dives and transportation yourself directly through dive shops, rather than use the cruise line services. I've been to all of the islands you will visit, but have dived only in St.Croix, St. Lucia and Barbados, and only while staying on the islands. I highly recommend Anse Chastenet in St. Lucia, but it is a long, bumpy drive from the port. On the other hand, if you have time, your non-diving companions would enjoy their beach, food and touring the property. If you can't time one of their boat dives, you might be able to arrange a guide to dive the fabulous house reef. St. Croix has possibly the best dive site in the Caribbean: the Frederiksted Pier. Unfortunately, you can't dive it because your ship will be blocking access. But Cane Bay is a solid alternative. I don't remember much about Barbados diving-it was ok, but not as memorable as St. Croix and St. Lucia. Friends who have dived Grenada and Dominica say that they are well worth diving.

 

[Volleyball]

St. Croix - Easy to make a free U.S. phone call to schedule dives or get info. Cruise ship pier is in Frederiksted with a couple of dive shops at the end of the pier. Nep2une Scuba Nep2une Scuba – Small Group Diving At Its Best is great dive op. Limits diver to 6, so would need to contact in advance. Good chances they would take you to a wreck and a reef.
* I would recommend diving here but if you don't, an ATV tour is a great/fun way to see a part of the island.

Antigua - Indigo Divers https://indigo-divers.com is located about 20 minutes from cruise ship pier in Jolly Harbor. Was there 2 weeks so hit several different sites. Not known as an exceptional diving spot but water is clear and there are fish and sharks to be seen.They take cruise ship people but you have to get your own transportation.
* Hired a taxi to take us on a sightseeing island tour, which is a pretty common thing to do. Made a couple of stops at some historic sites.

From my 2020 cruise ship research (just before pandemic):

Barbados - Cruise ship pier is in Bridgetown. Roger's Scuba Shack Home - Rogers Scuba Shack has free pickup/dropoff at pier. Majority of dive sites are in nearby Carlisle Bay (5-10 min. drive from pier.)
* Did a 5 ½ hr sea turtle snorkel with lunch here - one of the better catamaran/snorkel trips I've been on. There are several touristy sites to see in Barbados.

Thank you everyone for the info. Currently on the cruise, did these two ports so far and doing Barbados later this morning (we don't arrive until 10am), will do a mini review for each but wanted to comment on the logistics.

In St Croix did Cane, there's 6 shops right off the pier, they do shop to boat transportation and said "F the taxis!". It was at least a 30min drive to the boat they will drop you off by boat literally on the same pier the ship is on.

In Antigua, I did Indigo. As stated, no transportation, used taxis which were $35 fixed rate from ship to the harbor and $25 back, I tipped $3 each way so $66 all in with transportation. Spoke to another couple who used another shop that started with an A, can't remember. They offered free transportation and had a larger dive boat. I will do a more detailed review but will say the reason they only do six people is because its a tiny boat. Very cramped, you may need to put your gear on sitting on the side of the boat with their assistance, need to backroll off and the ladder to get back on is tiny and doesn't go into water very deep. The Capt and Guide encouraged the divers to take off our BCs before getting onto the tricky undersized ladder. While the water was fairly calm, if you get seasick easily you may want to confirm the boat size before booking. The one man crew/captain and the dive guide were top notch and I'd book them again if visiting by land, but if coming from a cruise ship where you need to pay premium since they don't provide transportation I would book with a shop that provides transportation.

In Barbados, diving in a few hours. Rogers never replied back to multiple emails, FB messages or my phone VM. We arrive at 10am which usually means if local customs clears the ship on time the earliest time you can be outside of the secured area at 1010am. Perhaps that's too late for Rogers.

 

[drrich2]

In St Croix did Cane,

Does that mean you did a dive at Cane Bay (if so, shore dive or boat dive? One dive or two?), or you used Cane Bay Dive Shop as your dive services provider?

Richard.

 

[living4experiences]

To add to @drrich2's question, if you dived with Cane Bay dive shop, which side of the island did you dive? Frederiksted or Christiansted?

 

[Volleyball]

Does that mean you did a dive at Cane Bay (if so, shore dive or boat dive? One dive or two?), or you used Cane Bay Dive Shop as your dive services provider?

Richard.

To add to @drrich2's question, if you dived with Cane Bay dive shop, which side of the island did you dive? Frederiksted or Christiansted?

Cane Bay dive shop, two tanks and Christiansted.

To add, did a two tank boat dives on all ports but Dominica where there was only one dive shop near the cruise ship which was full; had to settle for a single tank shore dive or not dive with a DM who dives by appt only as he runs a snorkeling and paddleboard operation. We dove the same site as the dive boat site, I spoke to other divers who said they got around 40mins (excluding the safety stop) per tank, with the shore dive there was no other divers and had a 70min dive.

 

[Volleyball]

St Croix: Used Cane's divers, shop is right off the pier, they provide free transportation to the boat and then the boat dropped us back off at the ship. As a bonus there was an expensive camera rig so you could buy great photos of yourself and/or the marine life. The reefs were just average but did see, usual reef marine life but did see some turtles and at the very end, in about 20' of water so the lighting was great a small ray came out where it "visited" every diver which I assume was looking for a handout. It seemed very excited and animated sometimes swimming in circles, haven't seen anything like that before.

Antigua: Used Indigo, had to pay $35 there and $25 back, another dive shop offers transportation called "A-S-S" or Antigua Scuba School. If you wanted an island tour you could bundle that with your way back. Saw lots of rays including a bunch under the sand, a reef shark came out for a bit as well. Several of us saw a "Striped Burr fish" and thought it was pretty special but turned out it's common as I saw at least another dozen on the next ports.

Barbados: Used West Side Scuba which included transportation, they are hard line cash only, wouldn't accept credit or even paypal/venmo. Reef was in great shape, usual reef critters. We then went to the shallow wrecks, 6 wrecks in like 20' or less. Saw an octopus extracting a conch from its shell and a cuttlefish seemed hang around us. One thing I will say is Barbados is one of the few cruise ports where tours are allowed to feed turtles and there are a lot of snorkeling tours that do that. Saw several other passengers pic/video footage of their closes encounters with huge turtles. That may appeal to some more than scuba.

St Lucia: Used Scuba Steves or Dive St Lucia (same company), picked you up and dropped you off at the marina near the ship. Stunning views of the coastline to and from twin Pitons, dove between the pitons. Amazingly colorful reefs, lots of reef critters. Best topography I've ever seen and above water coastline views.

Grenada: Used "Grenada Blue Inc. T/A Eco Dive", they are located in a resort, do not provide transportation and prepay, no refunds if you ship arrives late. There is another more cruise ship friendly shop that provides free transportation called Dive Grenada but was full. The port have a watertaxi for $10 each way to the beach the resort/dive shop is located. They went right by the ship and the Captain said it would no problem to either pick up or drop off divers from the ship. After I got off I spoke to the shop about picking up divers from the ship, they told me no, if you want to dive with us you come here. Anyways, great reefs, lots of critters but the star of the show are the underwater sculptures.

Dominica: Used Donny Hector from Donny Hector's Snorkel. Due to the hurricane destroying previous dive shop buildings. There was only one dive shop that's remotely close and was full that day. No transportation and taxis are up there in price, Donny has a neighbor taxi driver who can give you a discount of $20/each way (otherwise was $25 there and $50 back). One thing was Donny wouldn't commit to a time as he had to get his ducks in a row for a snorkeling tours so you can either arrive early and snorkel and/or paddle board on your own or wait for him to call you. It was just him and us, beach dive, was $65 USD before tip for one tank. Saw all sorts of cool little critters I hadn't seen before, cucumber, a lot of scorpion fish and the thermal vent bubbles. Donny interacts with marine life, picks up things and hands them to you which I know isn't for everyone. We ended up diving by shore the exact same spot the other dive shop dove, spoke to other divers booked on that and they said they had two really short dives due to some divers being very new. A very unique dive.

St Kitts: Used Pro-Divers, pickup and drop off a short walk from the ship. Huge dive boat (biggest I've been on) and at the time not many divers that day. Can jump off six places on the boat and there are two ladders to get back on. Overall the highlight the dive. Dive guide had a lion fish spear and had no problem locating lionfish, which he'd feed to the roaming reef sharks, barracuda or some spotted moray eels. There were also humpback whales in the water and you could hear them "sing" which was a first.

I'm happy to answer any questions so feel free to ask away. I'm happy I dove them all. If I visited the same ports again, in Barbados I would skip diving, I'd snorkel the wrecks and do a turtle tour. I'll put together a short youtube video of the footage and share it here