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Lucky you,we are looking forward to the Grand Princess soon.We saw her docked in Galveston,TX.about four years ago while we were waiting for our cuise on Carnival(which we wouldn't do again).We have also sailed on other Princess lines and loved them.We sailed down to Belize and spent a day there.I think that is considered the western Caribbean.We are looking forward to the Eastern Caribbean probably next year on the Grand Princess.Have fun,sure you will enjoy the Islands and all the Cayes.

We cruise the Caribbean almost every winter and have been to some of those islands and can tell you what we've done there. In Aruba, we always walk around the town which is safe and upscale, with lots of shops and restaurants. Several times we've gone to the beach by the big hotels a few miles away. You can take an inexpensive public bus that will get you there and back, or take a cab. The beachs are free although you'll have to rent a chair. We've gone to Baby Beach as well, which is a long cab ride, and in my opinion isn't worth it. We've also snorkled at DePalm Island on a ship's excursion, and that was nice. We once took a biking trip there which was fun, but a bit rough.

Curacao is a neat place and very picturesque. We've walked around the town by ourselves - it seemed safe and was quite interesting. We went sea kayaking once, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it.

Barbados has a town you can walk around. We once toured Harrison's Cave and some plantation, but that was just OK. It's the wettest cave I've ever been in but not the most interesting. We went snorkling on a ship's tour last year, which was fun.

We were in St. Kitts for the first time last year and we couldn't find a tour that interested us. There is a small shopping area by the dock which was safe and clean.

There is a lot to do in St. Thomas. That would be the place to shop if you want to buy jewelry or electronics. There are two docks, and one of them, Havenside, has a large shopping mall next to it. I've never been the the other one. You can easily walk into downtown Charlotte Amalie from Havenside. I think you need a cab from the other dock. Charlotte Amalie is a great place to walk around. Last year we took a ship's excursion to Magan's Bay, which has a great beach. If you like to snorkle, you can go to St. John's and snorkle at Trunk Bay, which is a National Park. We've been there many times and had a wonderful time when the weather was good, but at least once it rained on us.

We haven't been to the other islands you are visiting, but I'd like to stop at some of them. You can find a lot of information about ports and cruising in general, on the interent. I use www.cruisecritic.com a lot. Have a great cruise. Writing this makes me want to go on our next cruise on the new Celebrity Equinox, also in January.

Tom

It may interest to some to know that the Royal Princess will be doing 2, 2 week cruises in the Carribean in March and April 2010. The cruise is the Carribean Calypso cruise.
This ship is one of 3 princess vessels with less than 750 passengers-or small ship cruising.
My wife and I will be going as our third Princess cruise in March.
This ship is popular with the "Around the World" cruise.

Those that posted have posted accurately what to expect. May I add that Aruba is a great place to find rare and unusual liquors at rock bottom prices and Magan's Bay is considered to be in the top 5 beaches of the world.

Best
Ricky

Thanks for the advice so far, folks! Keep it coming. I'm taking notes.
- Beth

It's been quite awhile, but my husband and I did go to St. Thomas and I doubt it's changed much. I didn't see too much as I took an excursion on a catamaran and then went snorkeling. It was very fun and a beautiful Caribbean island!

My husband stayed in town and shopped. He had shopped at various ports and liked what he saw at St. Thomas. He bought me a gorgeous pair of emerald earrings, a special gift from him before he passed away the following year. Great memories.

We went on one of the royal caribbean cruises to St. Thomas many, many years ago. I have to agree with louscraps-- St. Thomas and the Virgin Islands are gorgeous.

WOW,I can hardly wait to go cruising again.Haven't seen the eastern caribbean yet,hope to catch the Grand Princess for that one.Maybe Europe soon.

Has anyone done any long distance exotic cruises? maybe repositioning cruises as well?
I just returned from a 32 day Princess cruise embarking in Cape Town, South Africa and ending up in Singapore. At the end I almost had to be dragged off the ship. It was wonderful!!!

To have friends before you even board, go to "cruiseCritic.com and go the boards area on the left of the page. Each and every ship and each and very cruise is listed and you go to your cruise and put in your booking number to confirm you are on the cruise and you will have an instant 100 or so new best friends. Also, once on the ship, the ship will probably sponsor a free Meet and Greet Party for all Cruise Critic Passengers.
Take sun blocker!! Enjoy.

Larry

We have taken many Carribean cruises and enjoyed all of them. After awhile all the islands look alike, but I would say that St. Thomas was the best. The shopping there is the best and you can get a ferry over to St. Johns which is very nice and less crowded. I played golf at the Meagan's Bay Golf Course and it was somewhat of a dissapointment. The location was beautiful, but the price was outrageous and the course was not in great condition. My wife likes to go to the Crystal Shop in Charlotte Amalie to add to her Hummel collection. The prices are really good, the owners are very friendly and there is no tax. Grand Turk is not very interesting. The town is not much to see, but the beach near the dock is nice. Aruba is nice on the side where all the fancy hotels are and the other side is a rocky coastline. Princess is a nice cruise line and has good food and service. I snorkeled on their private island which was fun. I also went snorkeling on another island which wasn't nice. I can't remember which island it was, but the excursion was titled something like a Rum Punch snorkeling trip. I was more interested in the snorkeling and was very dissappointed. The trip was to a sunken small boat about 50 yards off the beach and there was nothing to see. After the snorkeling everyone on the excursion boat was drunk except for me. Although I like to tip a few, but noon was too early for me. Enjoy the cruise.