Best carribbean cruise to squeeze in some fishin'

[Sweetbrair]

Wife wants a cruise-I want to fly to an island and stay. She will win. I have to admit a cruise can get you to an island for cheap right now-and well fed. My question is what is the best cruise, cruise line, destination etc. to squeeze in some fishing. Never been so any info will help. Thanks.

[NJSignMan]

I took the wife on a cruise for our 25th anniversary and had the same idea. I looked at lots and lots of cruises and just about all only have you in port for 8-10 hours. For the heck of it I just checked a few trips at one of the big travel sites. A typical day in port might last from 7:30am until 4:00pm. That's not a lot of time to squeeze in a fishing trip what with the crowds getting on and off the ship, gettting to and from the fishing spot/boat, etc.

 

A cruise to Bermuda was one of my thoughts when we went (ended up elsewhere though) since there were longer port stays, say 24-48 hours. That might be your best bet to sneak in some fishing.

 

Cruise lines do offer on-shore excursions, and some are fishing trips. The ones that I had looked at were expensive and had to fit the ships schedule.

 

I'd cruise again in a heartbeat, fishing or not. Go search the web and I'm sure you can get more info than you care to read. Look for a site called tripadvisor as one starting point. In any case you should have a lot of fun.

[likwid]

If you want to fish, don't go on a cruise. The islands don't want the boats spending the night.

 

Show her photos of places like Cane Garden Bay, Tortola, and Norman Island.

See if she changes her mind.

 

If you can swing it, look into staying on Peter Island.

[formula1]

My solution is simple...since I pay for everything, I get to choose, cruise has never been a consideration for our vacations.

 

That said however, for one of my trips next year I will send her on a cruise with my Mother and I will probably go somewhere tropical to fish.

[nightwind]

Several years ago two of our cruise ship stops were Bonaire and Aruba. On Bonaire I booked a guide for a half day bonefishing and the next day on Aruba I rented a jeep and fished for bones on my own. With the guide I hooked 7 - 8, landed 3 or 4 and scared many more. On Aruba I hooked one but lost him. I saw perhaps 30 - 40 bonefish that day. With limited time on island, a guide is certainly valuable. Of course, most Caribbean islands offer good to excellent offshore fishing. Some cruise ships offer fishing excursions so the cost is per person. Naturally, if you book a boat on your own you will either need to find others to share of foot the cost yourself. I'm particularly interested in fly fishing so I search the Internet for various ports with the query "fly fishing Aruba". Any similar search should provide plenty of info.

[skyed]

There are many cruises that visit great fishing destinations. Some of the western caribbean trips visit some great fly-fishing areas (Belize, Roatan Honduras, Riviera Maya Mexico, Key West, etc). I think these typically depart from S. Florida. If you live near the cruise pier (no flying involved), then you can bring lots of fishing gear, without worrying about the airlines luggage policies.

 

I have fished in St. Thomas, USVI while on a cruise. The charter boat picked me up very close to the cruise ship. We spent 4 hours catching wahoo offshore, then barracuda inshore (conventional tackle). I think we only ran about 8 miles offshore, so most of the time was spent fishing, not boating.

 

Also fished Caye Caulker Belize on another cruise. We took a water taxi from Belize City to Caye Caulker. We were fortunate to find a local fly fishing guide with a panga type boat. We had a great 4 hours wading and casting from the boat. Caught a few nice bonefish, and a few other species. This was an amazing place, cannot wait to get back there for a few days.

 

We are taking another cruise later this year, this time to Bermuda. The ship spends 3 consecutive days at the pier. I have heard of some very picky bonefish I hope to find there. We are planning on renting a boat for a day or two and walking some of the beaches.

 

Hope this info helps. There are many great ships / cruise lines out there. Everyone's preference is different. Some want a family trip, some luxury / romantic, some inexpensive, etc.

 

I do not recommend booking any fishing trip directly through the cruise line. The primary benefit that booking via the cruise line offers is that if you are late returning from their trip, the ship should wait for you. However the cruise lines typically charge more for an inferior experience. One can research and book a local charter / guide on their own prior to the trip.

[yabuticus]

I booked a 4 hour trip through the cruise line (Royal Carribean) and it was terrible...they put 6 guys on the boat at $300 each and we basically drove around trolling for 4 hours - we didn't even raise a fish. The charter captain told us that he only gets a portion of the money that the cruise line collected (which made me feel like we weren't getting the charter guy's a-game). Anyway, I wanted to book my own charter in Puerto Rico for tarpon, but the wife made me book only the "cruise line offered" trip. In hind site, I would have been much better off sticking to my guns. The caution would be to clearly go over all the details of where you will be docking and when you need to be back at the boat with the charter captain as the cruise will leave without you. Good Luck!

Mark

[3Beard]

I was talked my first cruise this past winter, and I must say I had the time of my life..The ship was awesome, and the food and drink endless.. The trip was a 6-night tour of the Western Caribbean on Royal Caribbean out of Ft. Lauderdale.. The boat stopped in Belize, Costa Maya, and Cozumel.. I of course wanted to do some fishing,, but had heard bad things about the cruise companies various excursion trips.. I did a little research and came upon an outfit called "Action Belize". What I liked when I talked to them, is they where honest enough to say that while Belize is famed for it's flats fishing, the time constraints on the brief cruise stops and proximity to the flats made success difficult at best... They instead offered a river trip, that fished just upriver from the tender port.. so travel time was minimal.. Well let me tell ya, it turned out to be some trip.. A brief ride into the mangrove jungle (which in itself was worth the price of admission), had us on some incredible non-stop action with BIG Snook, Jack Cravelle, and I even caught a fish high on my bucket list , a nice Permit.. We also fought something huge for a while before it straightened the hooks on a small plug (guide guessed a big Goliath Grouper) The local guide Claude, was waaay savvy, and alot of fun to fish with.. and he really packed alot of action into our few hour trip.. I also booked a trolling trip in Cozumel, but as feared, the short time we had to fish limited us.. We raised no glamor species, but managed a few Cuda's and enjoyed the spectacular scenery.. But the small taste of Belize we had left me wanting much more.. I highly recommend it.

 

[fishbulb]

Did the Bermuda cruise a few years ago.

 

Had we not had an almost 2-year old with us it likely would have been more fun than i was.

 

But I did get a morning to go out with the only fly guide on the island. He was knowledgable, polite, honest, encouraging and told great stories.

[Nikoli]

If you do the bermuda thing, hit me up with a PM. I have fished the island a few times with and I have a bunch of DIY info.

[rrdstarr]

We have cruised with Princess the last 8 cruises! The food is great, the entertainment is great, plenty to to do on the ship on sea days.

 

Tried Holland America and found it to "fuddy duddy". Been on Celebrity, the food was great but the ship was going on 12 years old and rather dated and small.

 

When we did the Caribbean we did a back to back cruise with Princess out of San Juan, PR.

Classic Southern Caribbean - Roundtrip San Juan 7 Days

Southern Caribbean - Explorer Roundtrip San Juan 7 Days

 

Only one repeat island in the 14 days!

 

We found two or three islands that we will be going back to for longer visits.

Barbados has the best beaches for just hanging out and relaxing.

Grenada was really nice, I was there in 1983(doing some shooting) and found it totally relaxing this time! This time no one was shooting back!

Dominica was totally laid back too.

 

I wasn't there for fishing, just to get away from the frozen north for three weeks! Wife has a high stress job so we go on a cruise once or twice a year. Just unpack once and enjoy! No worrying about where to eat or where to find a hotel. We don't have kids, just a dog that goes to the inlaws. We brought snorkel gear and swam/snorkeled at every island we stopped at. Check Princess out and their shore excursions out. Their charters through the ship are not that unreasonable! You can also walk off the boat and find charters to take you fishing.

 

Also have you wife checkout http://www.cruisecritic.com/ That is where my wife gets ideas for cruises. People tell what they like are certain ships and cruise lines and shore excursions. They have never steered us wrong!

[likwid]

Did the Bermuda cruise a few years ago.

 

Had we not had an almost 2-year old with us it likely would have been more fun than i was.

 

But I did get a morning to go out with the only fly guide on the island. He was knowledgable, polite, honest, encouraging and told great stories.

 

Who did you go with? I pretty much grew up on Bermuda.

[TryToFly in NJ]

 

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3Beard 

 

I was talked my first cruise this past winter, and I must say I had the time of my life..The ship was awesome, and the food and drink endless.. The trip was a 6-night tour of the Western Caribbean on Royal Caribbean out of Ft. Lauderdale.. The boat stopped in Belize, Costa Maya, and Cozumel.. I of course wanted to do some fishing,, but had heard bad things about the cruise companies various excursion trips.. I did a little research and came upon an outfit called "Action Belize". What I liked when I talked to them, is they where honest enough to say that while Belize is famed for it's flats fishing, the time constraints on the brief cruise stops and proximity to the flats made success difficult at best... They instead offered a river trip, that fished just upriver from the tender port.. so travel time was minimal.. Well let me tell ya, it turned out to be some trip.. A brief ride into the mangrove jungle (which in itself was worth the price of admission), had us on some incredible non-stop action with BIG Snook, Jack Cravelle, and I even caught a fish high on my bucket list , a nice Permit.. We also fought something huge for a while before it straightened the hooks on a small plug (guide guessed a big Goliath Grouper) The local guide Claude, was waaay savvy, and alot of fun to fish with.. and he really packed alot of action into our few hour trip..

 

That's a pretty cool side trip.  "Action Belize," you say?  How long ago did you take the trip and about how much did they charge?  I'm fighting the same battle with my family and a cruise... and I'd love to sneak in the Belize trip, with or without the Tarpon and Bones... how was Royal Caribbean?

 

 

 

[surfcast]

I was talked my first cruise this past winter, and I must say I had the time of my life..The ship was awesome, and the food and drink endless.. The trip was a 6-night tour of the Western Caribbean on Royal Caribbean out of Ft. Lauderdale.. The boat stopped in Belize, Costa Maya, and Cozumel.. I of course wanted to do some fishing,, but had heard bad things about the cruise companies various excursion trips.. I did a little research and came upon an outfit called "Action Belize". What I liked when I talked to them, is they where honest enough to say that while Belize is famed for it's flats fishing, the time constraints on the brief cruise stops and proximity to the flats made success difficult at best... They instead offered a river trip, that fished just upriver from the tender port.. so travel time was minimal.. Well let me tell ya, it turned out to be some trip.. A brief ride into the mangrove jungle (which in itself was worth the price of admission), had us on some incredible non-stop action with BIG Snook, Jack Cravelle, and I even caught a fish high on my bucket list , a nice Permit..

We also fought something huge for a while before it straightened the hooks on a small plug (guide guessed a big Goliath Grouper) The local guide Claude, was waaay savvy, and alot of fun to fish with.. and he really packed alot of action into our few hour trip.. I also booked a trolling trip in Cozumel, but as feared, the short time we had to fish limited us.. We raised no glamor species, but managed a few Cuda's and enjoyed the spectacular scenery.. But the small taste of Belize we had left me wanting much more.. I highly recommend it.

 

 

 

 

That is some snook u caught what rver wer u on ??????????????????????????????????