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I've been on the Thenford Grey Tours myself, and COMPLETELY recommend them! We did their "grand tour" of the island. Our guide (Thenford Grey, himself) was the most personal and professional gentleman of a tour guide, and was an absolute walking encyclopedia of knowledge on the island (being born and raised there). Again, highly recommend them!

I have not been to St. Kitts yet, so the following is not a recommendation. It's just for your information and you'd need to do your research on them but I have seen Thenford Grey Tours highly recommended over on CC: https://www.thenfordgreytours.com/

+1 for Thenford Grey Tours. VERY happy with them. One of the best best tours I've been on. http://www.thenfordgreytours.com

For a nice tour of St Kitts, look into Thenford Grey Tours.

Last week we did St Kitts Grand Tour with Thenford Grey Tours (Grey's Island Excursions). It was a fun yet interesting whole island tour with a final stop at a beach if you chose. I highly recommend this company and tour!

My husband and I booked two spots on the Thenford Grey Capital and Beach Splash Tour (6hr tour). It was $25 per person, but the tour needs four people to go. We’re looking for others to join. Check out the tour at Thenford Grey Tours. http://www.thenfordgreytours.com/capital-city-tour---beach-splash-on-st.-kitts.html

Took the Thenford Grey 6 hour Grand Tour of St. Kitts during our recent Adventure OTS cruise. We cannot say enough about how good it is. We were fortunate enough to have Thenford himself as our tour guide. He grew up on the island and while he was extremely knowledgeable and informative, he was also entertaining and funny. The tour included several stops and great photo opps, as well as beach time. He will, of course, make sure you are back to the ship in plenty of time. This was well worth the $55 per person cost, which includes admission fees to two attractions. He runs other tours as well which you may check out at www.thenfordgreytours.com

+1 on the Thenford Grey tour! I agree about it being one of the best excursions I've been on. The only issue is that it is NOT a Royal Caribbean sponsored excursion, so as long as they are allowing private excursions on St. Kitts while you are there, then no problem. Otherwise, you may not have this option.

One of the best excursions I've ever been on was Thenford Grey in St Kitts. Grand Tour of St Kitts is the one. Excellent excursion and highly recommended!

I agree, to top it off Thenford was our tour guide, supper guy, very personable had a great time

+1 for the Thenford Grey tours! (Non-RCL). We very much enjoyed it when we went with him back in January 2015. Thenford was an absolute walking encyclopedia of information of St. Kitts! His website is still functional and up, at least... https://www.thenfordgreytours.com/

We did an excursion with Thenford Grey when we were in St. Kitts in 2018. It was very highly recommended, and after going on it, I can see why. Not sure if the current status, but highly recommend considering him. Very professional, well maintained bus, very informative and a good mix of time in each stop.

Oh hey! I’ll be on this sailing too! I’m doing a “girls trip” sailing with my mom and it’s over my birthday which is San Juan day. I admit I haven’t planned a ton for it yet, but I had done some rough research about the ports and potential excursions. If you have never been to St Kitts before, I can’t recommend Thenford Grey’s tour enough. Great deal, super knowledgeable and professional tour guide, and nice comfortable transport. It helps you get a really good feel for the whole island and you can end it with either a couple of hours at the beach or going back to the ship a little early. You can find my recap of the main island tour when I went last May. It starts around halfway down this page. I have no idea what we are doing in St Maarten or Antigua (likely a beach of some sort???), but St Lucia my mom and I are going to do the land and sea tour with Spencer Ambrose because it has great reviews and looks like a ton of bang for your buck. Since I figure it’s unlikely I’ll be back to St Lucia, I want to make sure to see the Pitons and do the volcanic mud baths. It just seems so unique to the island! San Juan will be strolling around sightseeing/shopping/having dinner since it’s a later port of call. Probably going to one of the forts for the sunset because that sounds wonderful. Love San Juan because I can use my data for free (TY, US territory) to use google maps and find places to go so it’s very easy to DIY. Look forward to sailing with you and I hope your anniversary is super memorable! The best part of a vacation is spending time with loved ones.

Jane and all. I have recommended Thenford Grey Tours in St Kitts many times and everyone has loved them. He is highly rated (5 stars on Trip Advisor and touted on many message boards) and has several types of tours to choose from. We did the Grand Tour of St. Kitts. No matter which you choose. You will NOT be disappointed. My avatar is from one of the spots he took us...it's where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Caribbean Sea. He was born and raised in St Kitts and has more knowledge of his home than I've ever seen and one of the nicest gentlemen we have ever net. If you happen to get a different tour guide, you'll still be fine..they are family. @Suma. This is a third party company so not to be booked through Royal, but they will definitely get you back to the ship with time to spare.

We were on Symphony in May You can see my live blog here Here are some things for you to think about..hope this helps. For a GREAT view, go to deck 14 port side, all the way forward past the cabins. Go through the door on your left and you'll be on a bridge wing overlooking the helipad. It's a great uncrowded spot with chairs and loungers. Can get pretty windy, but great anyway. Speaking of uncrowded, this was our first time on an Oasis class ship and we were absolutely amazed that it never once felt crowded. What a pleasure. Take your time to walk around the ship and explore. Every deck, every staircase, every nook and cranny has amazing and sometimes interactive art work. Check out the musical stairs on deck 15 leading up to the Windjammer. Also check out the picture on deck 5 in the entrance lobby to the MDR...it actually puts you into the picture when you stand in front of it. The entertainment on this ship is the best. Make sure to make all your reservations as soon as they come out. Every show on this ship is great. Most importantly, make your reservation for the Aqua Theater show for as early in the cruise as possible. Reason for that is because that show can easily be cancelled and rescheduled due to ocean caused movement. If your reservation is scheduled towards the end of the cruise, you may well miss it altogether. (In our case the day 2 show was cancelled, but we got to see the rescheduled show on day 6.) Suggestion: make your reservations on cruise planner as soon as they become available. Standby lines for the shows were all very long. Same thing if you want bungalows, beach beds or clamshell loungers on CocoCay. They don't have a lot of them and they sell out quickly. aaaah, Cococay...what a magnificent job they did (are are still doing) there. Phenomenal. For events on the Promenade (such as the 80's show, which despite what I said before, obviously does get crowded))...instead if standing there, we arrived early at the Schooner Bar on Deck 6 (Promenade is on Deck 5) and got a small table and chairs that overlooked the stage. It was perfect. If your itinerary includes St. Kitts, I highly recommend the Thenford Gray Grand tour. Others on this blog have also recommended it and everyone we have sent has had a great time. He is the best tour guide we ever had. Even if you are not lucky enough to get him personally, it will most likely be one of his family members and you won't be disappointed. It's a 6 hour tour, includes beach time and costs only $55 per person. He WILL get you back to thip on time. We have done it and this past rip my sister in law and her friend went and loved it. If your itinerary includes St. Thomas, we chose the Royal's Trunk Bay (in St. John) outing just to have the piece of mind of the ship waiting for us. We paid $66 for it and felt it was worth it. It included a narrated 40 minute or so boat transport from St. Thomas to St. John, a narrated 20 minute or so ride from dock in St John to Trunk Bay Beach, guided snorkeling with free rental gear. The driver to the beach (on very winding roads) was the safest, nicest driver we've ever had. If you get the chance, ask for Smittie. The beach was actually not crowded at all (because most on the tour did the snorkeling further down). It came in 3rd on my beach list, tied with Megan's Bay in St. Thomas. 1 is Barbados and 2 is Bermuda (we have not been to Europe). Cabin: We stayed in 10264 (ocean view balcony). We loved the location, no noise at all, close to elevators and midway between dining on 5, pool on 15, Windjammer on 16, Boardwalk on 6 and Central Park on 8. If you happen to be doing any specialty dining, 150 Central Park was the best ship restaurant we have been on. Loved it--food and service were top notch. We did buy the KEY at $19.99 per person and thought it was worth every penny. The debarkation day breakfast and escort off the ship to awaiting luggage was fantastic. Alo, an unpublished perk we had was that we never had to get our card scanned for pool towels. What made that so great, besides avoidng any erroneousd charges for unreturned towels, is that we have had to wait on line to get our card scanned when returning them. Just drop them in the bin and walk away. Feel free to ask about anything else and happy sailing

Here is a posting of mine after being on Symphony in May. I think you are going to love that ship! Here are some things for you to think about..hope this helps. For a GREAT view, go to deck 14 port side, all the way forward past the cabins. Go through the door on your left and you'll be on a bridge wing overlooking the helipad. It's a great uncrowded spot with chairs and loungers. Can get pretty windy, but great anyway. Speaking of uncrowded, this was our first time on an Oasis class ship and we were absolutely amazed that it never once felt crowded. What a pleasure. Take your time to walk around the ship and explore. Every deck, every staircase, every nook and cranny has amazing and sometimes interactive art work. Check out the musical stairs on deck 15 leading up to the Windjammer. Also check out the picture on deck 5 in the entrance lobby to the MDR...it actually puts you into the picture when you stand in front of it. The entertainment on this ship is the best. Make sure to make all your reservations as soon as they come out. Every show on this ship is great. Most importantly, make your reservation for the Aqua Theater show for as early in the cruise as possible. Reason for that is because that show can easily be cancelled and rescheduled due to ocean caused movement. If your reservation is scheduled towards the end of the cruise, you may well miss it altogether. (In our case the day 2 show was cancelled, but we got to see the rescheduled show on day 6.) Suggestion: make your reservations on cruise planner as soon as they become available. Standby lines for the shows were all very long. Same thing if you want bungalows, beach beds or clamshell loungers on CocoCay. They don't have a lot of them and they sell out quickly. aaaah, Cococay...what a magnificent job they did (are are still doing) there. Phenomenal. For events on the Promenade (such as the 80's show, which despite what I said before, obviously does get crowded))...instead if standing there, we arrived early at the Schooner Bar on Deck 6 (Promenade is on Deck 5) and got a small table and chairs that overlooked the stage. It was perfect. If your itinerary includes St. Kitts, I highly recommend the Thenford Gray Grand tour. Others on this blog have also recommended it and everyone we have sent has had a great time. He is the best tour guide we ever had. Even if you are not lucky enough to get him personally, it will most likely be one of his family members and you won't be disappointed. It's a 6 hour tour, includes beach time and costs only $55 per person. He WILL get you back to thip on time. We have done it and this past rip my sister in law and her friend went and loved it. If your itinerary includes St. Thomas, we chose the Royal's Trunk Bay (in St. John) outing just to have the piece of mind of the ship waiting for us. We paid $66 for it and felt it was worth it. It included a narrated 40 minute or so boat transport from St. Thomas to St. John, a narrated 20 minute or so ride from dock in St John to Trunk Bay Beach, guided snorkeling with free rental gear. The driver to the beach (on very winding roads) was the safest, nicest driver we've ever had. If you get the chance, ask for Smittie. The beach was actually not crowded at all (because most on the tour did the snorkeling further down). It came in 3rd on my beach list, tied with Megan's Bay in St. Thomas. 1 is Barbados and 2 is Bermuda (we have not been to Europe). Cabin: We stayed in 10264 (ocean view balcony). We loved the location, no noise at all, close to elevators and midway between dining on 5, pool on 15, Windjammer on 16, Boardwalk on 6 and Central Park on 8. If you happen to be doing any specialty dining, 150 Central Park was the best ship restaurant we have been on. Loved it--food and service were top notch. We did buy the KEY at $19.99 per person and thought it was worth every penny. The debarkation day breakfast and escort off the ship to awaiting luggage was fantastic. Alo, an unpublished perk we had was that we never had to get our card scanned for pool towels. What made that so great, besides avoidng any erroneousd charges for unreturned towels, is that we have had to wait on line to get our card scanned when returning them. Just drop them in the bin and walk away. Feel free to ask about anything else and happy sailing!  Also, here some use useful information posted on June 6 from @ChessE4 My recent discovery on Oasis-class ships is Central Park. Not only will you find specialty dining and complimentary dining (Park Cafe), but in the late afternoon and evening, there are small concerts, such as a classical guitarist or a vocalist and musician. We found many music venues simply to loud for us, so we made it a point to check the Cruise Compass everyday and show up about 10 minutes before a scheduled performance. We got ring-side seats, and it felt like we had our own private concert. On the whole, in good weather Central Park is simply delightful. Being in crowds on the Promenade can be thrilling, too, but when you want something more peaceful, don't overlook Central Park. Also remember that Windjammer isn't the only place to eat breakfast or lunch. If it becomes too crowed for you, try the other venues spread throughout the ship. As a teenager, my son joined the teen group on several cruises, but he enjoyed them more at 16-18 then at 12-14. What I have learned is that you don't have to try everything -- go at your own speed, but don't be afraid to try something new. At 66, I tried the zipline and lived to talk about it. Spread your show reservations over the entire cruise so you don't feel rushed.

I was going to wait until single digit time to post this, but woke up today in the "can't stop thinking about the cruise" mode. Sailing on Symphony in 16 days with my wife, her sister and sister's best friend from childhood. First time on Oasis class for all of us. We have all been on Voyager and Quantum classes before. Wife and I bought The Key when it was $19.99 and the refreshment plan when it was $17.00 They did not get either BUT, they are Diamond (we are only Platinum) so they'll get their happy hours, boarding privileges and whatever other perks . They have MTD and we have traditional early seating. However, we bought the BOGO dining and we'll have on board credit that we will most likely use for other specialty restaurants. It should be interesting to see how much time we actually get to spend together but am sure it will all work out well. I am dying to try out Wonderland that we did not do when we were on Anthem. Told DW that I don't care if one or both of us even like the food. I want the experience and if need be, we can go to Windjammer afterwards. We used miles for our flights and the way it worked out we will be flying into Miami (the day before) and flying back from Fort Lauderdale. SIL and friend are flying in same day (I begged them not to but to no avail) so I obviously hope it all goes smoothly. Itinerary - The ship was our destination for this cruise! We have been to St Kitts twice---We enjoy it there but will probably stay on board that day to get more "explore the ship" time. Travel companions will be doing the Thenford Grey Grand Tour of St Kitts that we HIGHLY recommended to them. He owns the family business and is the best tour guide we ever had. Even if one of his relatives happens to conduct the tour instead of him personally, it will still be great. We have been to St. Thomas also BUT one of my bucket list items is to see St John so we booked the Trunk Bay excursion through Royal. More expensive than going ourselves, but between transportation and ferries, we are much more comfortable knowing that the ship will (hopefully) wait for us in case of any delay getting back. We got a beach bungalow in CocoCay. Not sure if it's still in South Beach area since they may still be working there, but we are sure it will be great wherever it is. Actually, I am not even sure if Symphony is docking there or still tendering. Other ships are definitely docking there, but last I heard, the dock was still too short for Symphony but may be working anyway. We'll know soon enough! I was hoping to have Abe Hughes as CD (best we ever had), but, as I am sure you know, he is now at the home office instead of CDing (is that a word?) to not be away from his new child so much. Great move for him, a loss for us. I know @Lovetocruise2002 is interested in hearing about CD Mike Szwajkowski prior to her July cruise, so I will post my thoughts. Generally speaking, I feel that a really good CD can enhance a cruising experience, but I'd never let a not so good one ruin it---hey, we're on a cruise---fun time either way! The only devices with us will be cell phones and I hate typing on that. I will NOT blog with any of the frequency or flair of @Lovetocruise2002, @twangster , @JLMoran , @hayley_bopp @SweetPea etc. nor do I take a lot of pictures, but please do feel free to let me know if there is anything you'd like for me to find out and get back to you. Ultimately I will post my thoughts of the ship, the CD, the Key, the food, the entertainment etc., although maybe after we return. Thanks!

@teacherdl -great post by @ChessE4 above. We just got off Symphony 2 weeks ago, You can see my live blog here Here are some things for you to think about..hope this helps. For a GREAT view, go to deck 14 port side, all the way forward past the cabins. Go through the door on your left and you'll be on a bridge wing overlooking the helipad. It's a great uncrowded spot with chairs and loungers. Can get pretty windy, but great anyway. Speaking of uncrowded, this was our first time on an Oasis class ship and we were absolutely amazed that it never once felt crowded. What a pleasure. Take your time to walk around the ship and explore. Every deck, every staircase, every nook and cranny has amazing and sometimes interactive art work. Check out the musical stairs on deck 15 leading up to the Windjammer. Also check out the picture on deck 5 in the entrance lobby to the MDR...it actually puts you into the picture when you stand in front of it. The entertainment on this ship is the best. Make sure to make all your reservations as soon as they come out. Every show on this ship is great. Most importantly, make your reservation for the Aqua Theater show for as early in the cruise as possible. Reason for that is because that show can easily be cancelled and rescheduled due to ocean caused movement. If your reservation is scheduled towards the end of the cruise, you may well miss it altogether. (In our case the day 2 show was cancelled, but we got to see the rescheduled show on day 6.) Suggestion: make your reservations on cruise planner as soon as they become available. Standby lines for the shows were all very long. Same thing if you want bungalows, beach beds or clamshell loungers on CocoCay. They don't have a lot of them and they sell out quickly. aaaah, Cococay...what a magnificent job they did (are are still doing) there. Phenomenal. For events on the Promenade (such as the 80's show, which despite what I said before, obviously does get crowded))...instead if standing there, we arrived early at the Schooner Bar on Deck 6 (Promenade is on Deck 5) and got a small table and chairs that overlooked the stage. It was perfect. If your itinerary includes St. Kitts, I highly recommend the Thenford Gray Grand tour. Others on this blog have also recommended it and everyone we have sent has had a great time. He is the best tour guide we ever had. Even if you are not lucky enough to get him personally, it will most likely be one of his family members and you won't be disappointed. It's a 6 hour tour, includes beach time and costs only $55 per person. He WILL get you back to thip on time. We have done it and this past rip my sister in law and her friend went and loved it. If your itinerary includes St. Thomas, we chose the Royal's Trunk Bay (in St. John) outing just to have the piece of mind of the ship waiting for us. We paid $66 for it and felt it was worth it. It included a narrated 40 minute or so boat transport from St. Thomas to St. John, a narrated 20 minute or so ride from dock in St John to Trunk Bay Beach, guided snorkeling with free rental gear. The driver to the beach (on very winding roads) was the safest, nicest driver we've ever had. If you get the chance, ask for Smittie. The beach was actually not crowded at all (because most on the tour did the snorkeling further down). It came in 3rd on my beach list, tied with Megan's Bay in St. Thomas. 1 is Barbados and 2 is Bermuda (we have not been to Europe). Cabin: We stayed in 10264 (ocean view balcony). We loved the location, no noise at all, close to elevators and midway between dining on 5, pool on 15, Windjammer on 16, Boardwalk on 6 and Central Park on 8. If you happen to be doing any specialty dining, 150 Central Park was the best ship restaurant we have been on. Loved it--food and service were top notch. We did buy the KEY at $19.99 per person and thought it was worth every penny. The debarkation day breakfast and escort off the ship to awaiting luggage was fantastic. Alo, an unpublished perk we had was that we never had to get our card scanned for pool towels. What made that so great, besides avoidng any erroneousd charges for unreturned towels, is that we have had to wait on line to get our card scanned when returning them. Just drop them in the bin and walk away. Feel free to ask about anything else and happy sailing!

Now that it is officially single digits until sail away, I figure it is not unreasonable for me to get this live blog started! (though I AM endlessly amused by the people who have recently started their posts far in advance of their sailings. *cough @StayFrosty @Lovetocruise2002 @Matt cough*) I will be transparent in that, since this is my first live blog, I can't guarantee I will be able to stay on top of it the way I might like, but I will be doing my level best to share with all of you for multiple reasons. First and foremost, I have gotten so much out of other's live blogs and genuinely want to give back to this community in any way I might be able to. But it isn't ALL altruistic. I think, if I'm able to stay on top of a live blog, it will make a great memory in a bottle of my trip to allow me to revisit wistfully on extra stressful days. I think I will start with a bit of background organized in a format that I'm shamelessly stealing from one of @Lovetocruise2002's blogs. Pre-cruise report: Sailing: May 12-19, 2019, Allure of the Seas, 7 Night Eastern Caribbean cruise Sailing with: Me (32), and my parents (not my age to tell) Flying from: PHL to FLL on Southwest and returning on American (boo baggage fees, yay nonstop flights at reasonable times) Pre-cruise hotel: Ended up with Holiday Inn Express Ft. Lauderdale Cruise-Airport (the one on 17th Street) We cycled through many different hotels before we ended up with this one. Like the sane person I am, I would check on hotel prices about once every 2 weeks starting 8 months in advance and if I saw a great price at a hotel that looked convenient or interesting I booked it just to guarantee the price. At one point I had 4 hotels booked at the same time. You may be starting to get the impression that I take as much enjoyment from planning my vacation as actually taking it. You would be correct. And thank you kindly for enabling that! Other hotels that were considered and discarded: Drift Hotel - liked that it was close to the beach, disliked that it didn't seem to have as many amenities as other hotels, such as having someone there to hold our luggage if we got there far before check-in. Holiday Inn Express & Suites Ft. Lauderdale Airport/Cruise - liked that it had 2 queen beds (not doubles) for a good price. Disliked that it didn't seem very walkable Hampton Inn Ft. Lauderdale Airport North Cruise Port - this was the #1 hotel until the price recently came down for the Holiday Inn on 17th Street. I liked that it had the normal things like a free airport shuttle, concierge, pool, but it also was across a smaller side street from a shopping center that has restaurants, a Big Lot & a liquor store where my dad could grab some wine. But you just can't beat the convenience (from what I hear) of hotels in that 17th Street strip so while this hotel was walkable...the Holiday Inn Express won out. The itinerary is as follows: Day 1 – Fort Lauderdale Day 2 and 3 – At Sea Day 4 – Basseterre, St. Kitt's Day 5 – Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas San Juan, PR Day 6 – At Sea Day 7 – Nassau, Bahamas Day 8 – Fort Lauderdale We have booked a third party excursion on St. Kitt's through Thenford Grey. I've heard good things about him on here and elsewhere so I'm excited for this tour. We were originally slated for St. Thomas as a stop, but as many of you have probably already seen, Allure is having some propulsion issues and we will now be stopping in San Juan. There are many people in my sailing's FB group who are devastated by this news. While I respect that reaction, I don't want to start letting negativity seep into my vacation before it has even started. So goodbye trip to Secret Sands beach we had through Royal and hello to last minute research into self guided walking tours through San Juan. I'm actually legit excited about this change as I would prefer getting to know the history and culture of a place than simply laying around on the beach all day. And that FOOD. So time to dust off my super rusty 14 year old spanish lessons and go with the flow. WEPA! And for Nassau, we have been before and my parents have no desire to get off the off again. With a ship like Allure to explore and relax on instead, I will not be arguing with that. Cabin: We have a hump balcony Junior Suite on the 8th floor. Very much looking forward to "having" to walk through Central Park to get back to the room. ~*~WOE~*~ Pre-purchases: Besides the excursions which I covered above, we will be trying out The Key (I see it as a great little upgrade to Sea Class) and my mother and I have the refreshment package. Since my mom doesn’t drink, my dad gets the 2 bottle of wine allotment to himself and will supplement that with the occasional beer here and there. Nowhere enough to warrant a drink package for himself. The last time we were on a cruise, he would decant half of his bottle of wine into an empty (clear) water bottle from the room. The moment he proceeded to do this with his bottle of red as well was the moment I was mentally buying him a portable wine tumbler for this trip. None of the crew members said anything, but seeing him walk into the MDR with a clear water bottle full of dark red wine was not our proudest hour. Though if you asked him, he would quip that Jesus paid him a visit and turned that water into wine. *facepalm* Random Pre-cruise thoughts: I am going to take as many pictures as I can remember to, though it’s not ingrained. Please let me know if there is anything in particular you would like me to check out or take pictures of for you. I am open to requests. I will make sure to detail how easy or difficult it was for me to get reservations in Coastal Kitchen as a Junior Suite. That is something that seems to have very mixed results so I’m curious how it will work out. Ideally we would have reservations there every night except for the night we have Giovanni’s reserved. If all goes according to plan, I shall be running a completely unofficial and entirely arbitrary “Allure’s Best Steak” competition since I plan to have steak in Chops (Key lunch), Coastal Kitchen, Giovanni’s, and the MDR (Key breakfast). I will be sure to let you know my thoughts. I will also make sure to note how I am liking the Key since that’s such a new feature and it seems to vary wildly from ship to ship. I have reached the point in trip antsyness where I’m overthinking my packing and buying unnecessary things from Amazon to help. Because buying a toiletry bag is the most important thing in the world right now! I promise future posts will have more pictures!

I have never booked a tour with Thenford Grey but I have been on the scenic railway. Based on the reviews that I have heard from those who have taken a Thenford Grey tour, I would say that the Thenford Grey tour would be better. While the scenic railway is interesting, I thought it was WAAAYTOOO long. I wanted to do it just for the experience, and now I have. I do not feel the need to do it ever again.

I booked us for the Grand Tour with Thenford. My wife is a little nervous with the idea of booking a tour through a 3rd party. With all the good reviews I'm not worried about it.

For those who have done both the Thenford Grey Grand tour and the The Caribbean scenic railway tour which was your favorite? Trying to decide which one to do now. I'd like to learn a little something about the history on a tour not just see the sights.

^^^^^So true! Thenford is fabulous. We made sure our SIL went last Tuesday and she loved it. Thenford has not lost a beat over the years. A tru gentleman.

With Thenford and one of his tours that includes a beach stop it will be your last stop and he will return you to the ship, generally those that want to shop will when you get to the beach stop re-board the van and the driver will take you back to port shop while Mr Gray or his tour guide if not him giving the tour will remain at the beach. Van returns after dropping off shoppers to beach. If your lucky enough to have Thenford himself he is a FANTASTIC guide, upper 10% anywhere. In reference to the St Kitts Sugar Train, if arriving by cruise ship your only option is to do the tour through the cruise ship excursion (it is in their contract). We enjoyed it, though everyone would like a tip, many different people, bus to train driver, train car guide, singers, drink server, return is either by bus or catamaran (Catamaran is a little more expensive but much better way to return to ship). Was interesting way to see a lot of island you won't see any other way, but in our opinion a one time experience, not one to go back to again.

I'm doing this same itinerary in June of 2020 on a B2B with the ABC islands on the other week. It has been many years since I have been Barbados and Antigua and don't recall if we have ever been to St Lucia. So I'm just starting my own research. St. Maarten - Leo Brown tours St Kitts - Thenford Grey Tours (Mentioned above). My recommendation on all of the sites is to go to the Cruise Planner for your cruise and look at all of the ports individually and look through all of the excursions and make notes of things that interest you, then go to Trip Advisor and look at each port individually as well and get additional ideas, you don't have to book through the cruise line but if this is a first cruise you may want to be more cautious and book through Royal As far as resorts, go look at resortsforaday.com, I have looked and I believe they have at least one resort for each port. I have used the web site 5-6 times in recent history and have had great results with their recommendations. From what I can remember, Barbados and Antigua are island that you might focus on for a return trip, but in reality none of them are bad. Hope this helps.