Caribbean Ports of Call: Eastern and Southern Regions, 5th: A Guide for Today's Cruise Passengers...

Caribbean Ports of Call: Eastern and Southern Regions, 5th: A Guide for Today's Cruise Passengers | Kay Showker | Jewel of a book

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Caribbean Ports of...

	Caribbean Ports of Call: Eastern and Southern Regions, 5th: A Guide for Today's Cruise Passengers Kay Showker Globe Pequot, 2004 - 432 pages average customer review:based on 3 reviews view larger image
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This guide shows readers how to plan a carefree vacation at sea to the Eastern and Southern regions of the Caribbean, including Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, St. Maarten/St. Martin, Antigua, St. Barts, St. Kitts and Nevis, Montserrat, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, St. Lucia, Grenada, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Bonaire, Curacao, Aruba, Venezuela, Colombia, and Panama.

very practical for cruise passengers

This book was definitely the most (if not the only) practical book for my week-long cruise along Eastern Caribbean islands last week, and I took a good look at about ten of them! It provides a good balance between amount and brevity of information to make it a fast and easy read and to help you schedule your limited time on each island as best as possible, depending on your particular interests - be it shopping, sunbathing, golfing, or fishing. Not an encyclopedia on Eastern Caribbean but has just enough for a cruise passenger! A perfect five!

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Jewel of a book

Walking tours! It has walking tours and maps of the ports and very complete information on each island listed. If you want to tour on our own, this is book for you.

Very Basic Info--you will need to do your own research

Caribbean Ports of Call is packed with information, but missing what I am looking for. It does give good basic information regarding the different ports of call, including highlights of each area, walking tours, and a sampling of shops, restaurants, beaches, etc. Everything is rather vague, however. What I feel the book is lacking is specific information regarding excursions, shopping and off-the-beaten track destinations. Only those excursions sponsored by the cruise lines are covered. You do not need this book to find that information--it is all listed on the cruise line websites themelves! There is a single page on which private excursion companies are mentioned, but none are named. They do no comparing for you, but suggest you do the research yourself to find the best prices. The reason I purchased the book was so that I would not have to do the research. For example, St. Martin is a mecca for finding fine 14k and diamond jewelry. One watch shop, one pearl shop and two high-end jewelry shops are referred to. Additionally, it does not tell you where the shops are--are they in Marigot or Phillipsburg? You won't save any time having to figure these things out for yourself. Another example is this: my family will be visiting Martinique, St. Martin and Barbados. We want to swim with the dolphins. The book does not mention that a 15 minute ferry ride from St. Martin to Anguilla will get you a full day of dolphin discovery, swimming and lunch offered by www.shoretrips.com. I found this information simply using a seach engine. Only a signle page was devoted to Anguilla even though it is a lovely, unspoiled island and easily accessible from St. Martin. I was hoping the book would list tour and excursion companies that offer price comparisons to cruise ship offerings and better values than those offered on the ships. There are none to be found in the book. I was looking for comparisons between excursions offered by the cruise lines and those you could find through private tour companies on the island and book yourself. The shopping sections also seemed to be just briefly skimmed over. St. Martin has dozens of reputable, jewelry shops with hefty discounts off of US prices. I have personally shopped in several on earlier trips. None of these are mentioned. I think the book would be much better if it dug a little deeper and gave more specific information. What it seems to be is a summary of what you will find on any of the cruise line websites. I did not find it particularly helpful--all of the info in the book can be found using search engines, reading cruise reviews or with search engines.

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