having never cruised before, we are at a loss at what shore excursions to take in San Juan, St.Thomas, and St. Maartin......any recomondations?? Or do you have any other advice on what to do while in these ports?

Saw your postings. I just booked for the same week, March 9-16. I have been trying to research some great things to do on the islands as well. I have previously been to all of these ports. I am a single dad and will be traveling with my 9 & 11 year old boys so my interests may vary from yours. The San Juan visit is going to be mostly a night out on the town and I will probably forgo that. My past visit to St. Maarten was 15 years ago with my ex and we rented a car and explored the island. We drove around to the Dutch side and visited several beaches and then went into town for shopping. We found the shopping to be much better here than in St. Thomas. For this trip I am looking at going to Ship Wreck Cove for the snorkeling. I have been to St. Thomas on two occasions. The last was about 5 years ago and we spent the day over at St. Johns. The beaches were really very pretty, but I sure eats up a lot of your time just getting over there and back. I am thinking about just going to Meagan's bay and Paradise Point Tramway on my own.

hey, thanks for your information on the different ports. I was also considering not venturing into San Juan, havent heard anything good about it and with the time period we have there that kinda makes it difficult to sight-see whil there. Hope you got a good deal if you just booked your cruise! We booked ours 6 months ago, but did recieve an upgrade recently. Maybe we'll run into you onboard, we are traveling with 2 teenagers, 19 & 16 and none of us have cruised before.

San Juan is beautiful and historic. Please don't stay aboard the ship and miss this beautiful city. Historic buildings, wonderful shops. You can easily find a great taxi driver to tour you through the whole city. There are some great restaurants that shouldn't be missed! My husband and I also considered skipping this port, and we're so glad we visited it!

Happy cruising!