The Best Kept Secret for your Port Day in St. Kitts

Prof. Cruise here. For today’s lecture, I’m going to clue you in to the best kept secret for your port day in St. Kitts. A secret that we discovered entirely by accident on our second visit aboard the Carnival Conquest. But first, let me review what happened on our first cruise there, aboard the Carnival Freedom.

What is There to Do Close to Port in St. Kitts?

St. Kitts turned out to be my T.A. H’s least favorite port on his very first cruise aboard the Carnival Freedom. Mostly because I made him take a morning nap and he thinks he missed his excursion. He kept insisting, “surely you would have scheduled an excursion for a port where there is basically nothing to do in the direct vicinity of the cruise ship terminal.” Sadly, I hadn’t.

After H woke up, we ignored all warnings to “stay in the tourist areas” and wandered around the town. H’s grandma visited a small museum right outside the port area. It was pretty modest, but worth the $3 price of admission.

Meanwhile, H and I found a little park with flowers and acorn-like things H saw fit to collect (I’m still finding those treasures in the bottom of my bag). It also had a sign displaying some interesting and horrifying facts about the history of slavery on the island.

Someday I will have to explain to H, with a tear in my eye and a lump in my throat, what slavery is. On that day, he’ll lose a little bit of his innocence and have lots of questions I can’t answer. Until then, he’ll continue to believe every human on earth is nothing but goodness and high fives, collect acorns, and get up in arms over missing his non-existent excursion.

One thing I do know, there is a lot of pain in the world. And a lot of beauty too.

St. Kitts: From Last to First

While my standing in trivia didn’t change (still last), on our second trip to St. Kitts it moved from our least favorite port to our favorite thanks to the Marriott Resort.

It’s still sort of a mystery how we ended up at the Marriott as we had no plans to go there, but let me try to retrace our steps.

Bird Rock Deepwater Port in St. Kitts

First, we were surprised to be docked at Bird Rock Deepwater Port used for cruise ship overflow, located east of downtown Basseterre, instead of Port Zante which is right downtown. But Prof. Cruise and two-year-olds are known for being flexible, so we didn’t mind having to take a shuttle over to Port Zante.

Here’s what the port area looked like as we exited the ship:

Taxi’s at Port in St. Kitts

Once at Port Zante, we planned to head to the closest (read as cheapest taxi ride) public beach. The taxi area at Port Zante doesn’t have standard prices listed for common locations like some other ports in the Caribbean, so one is left to find a driver willing to take you where you want to go for a price you are prepared to pay.

We were immediately approached by a driver who offered to take us to the beach for $16. I’ve been known to haggle over the price of a loaf of bread at Aldi’s, so you know I wasn’t paying any $16 for a taxi. I said “that’s too much” and we kept walking. You always have to be willing to walk away, which explains why we never have any bread.

The driver approached us again with an offer of $12 and, of course, I said “we’ll keep looking for something cheaper.” After approximately 16 hours of intense negotiation, the driver and I finally agreed on $8 for the three of us and we hopped into his van with a nice couple headed to the Marriott (they paid $12 for two…suckas).

The Marriott in St. Kitts

After the couple got out at the Marriott, our driver asked us which beach we wanted. I asked what he would recommend. A lovely employee at the Marriott overheard me and suggested that we could use the beach there. In true Prof. Cruise fashion, I asked: “is it free?” The woman assured us we could use the beach for free, so I paid our driver – despite being cheap as dirt, I always tips very well, so the driver gave us his card if we wanted a return trip – and we were escorted through the hotel (“please ma’am, don’t touch anything – in fact, don’t even look directly at anything”) and out the back door to the grounds. From here we were given instructions on how to get to the beach.

We checked out the Marriott pool areas and descended the steps to the beach.

Frigate Bay Beach in St. Kitts

Wow, we couldn’t believe our luck! It was beautiful and almost completely deserted. We plopped our Carnival towels down (classy) at least 10 feet away from any of the Marriott loungers so no one would think we were stealing shade (we still expected to get kicked out at any second, but no one ever approached us) and unpacked our beach toys. BTW, if you see a yellow shovel wash up on shore next time you’re there, it’s mine.

Marriott St. Kitts Resort for a Day Experience

If you’re looking for a more luxurious, inclusive experience, you might also consider purchasing a day pass for the St. Kitts Marriott. For $59 per person you can take advantage of cabanas and loungers on the beach and three gorgeous pools. Plus 10% off on all food and beverages and 15% off at the spa. Go here for more details or to purchase your pass.

Or spend a lovely free day at the beach and hop into a taxi for a free lunch back on your ship like we did. Taxis were readily available at the resort to return you to the cruise port.

Happy haggling and beaching in beautiful St. Kitts!

Class Dismissed.

Check out my other Caribbean posts here.

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