Spirit in the Southern Caribbean

[Ti2m]

We are booked on the Spirit for 1/19 departure. These are islands we have never visited (St. Maarten, Barbados, Martinique). Also this will be our first time on Carnival and only our second cruise. We love snorkeling and my wife loves shopping. Dining is one of our favorite pastimes. Any tips on the ship and/or the islands would be greatly appreciated. Thanks ... Timm

[Ti2m]

We are booked on the Spirit for 1/19 departure. These are islands we have never visited (St. Maarten, Barbados, Martinique). Also this will be our first time on Carnival and only our second cruise. We love snorkeling and my wife loves shopping. Dining is one of our favorite pastimes. Any tips on the ship and/or the islands would be greatly appreciated. Thanks ... Timm

[Sue]

Barbados is beautiful one of our favorite places, the other being Curacao. As far as Martinique is concerned, we were there Easter Monday of 2000 on the Ocean Princess. Young couple thought man was on their bus tour and went with him to see inside of a church. Turned out to be a bandit, beating them severly and robbing them. They were able to crawl back to the bus, taken back to the ship, and airlifted off, as their injuries were too severe for ship's doctor to handle. There's been warnings on and off about Martinique, so wouldn't do anything on your own there. This happened only 1 1/2 days out on a 12 day cruise, and they suffered facial and rib fractures. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_frown.gif[/img]

[johnmic1]

hi

We did the same crusie in Feb. 02. Don't wear the seasickness patches. They made a rocky trip much worse. The ship sways quite a bit. We paid extra for the larger balcony at the rear of the ship and that was a mistake due to the noise from the propellers. If you are fully booked eat early if you are not going to the dining room. It is very hard to find seats if not. The food is good and the dining room is very nice.

The tour we took in Barbados was on a bus which was NOT airconditioned and it was so hot and uncomfortable. The rain forest in Martinique is really nice. Barbados has maintained it's natural culture much more than St. Martin and Martinique which both rely more on tourism.

I hope you enjoy it