Most cruises have one to two sea days where you have no port stops that give you time to relax and get to know the ship. This Southern Caribbean cruise that we took did not have any sea days. So after a lot of time spent researching each of the ports and what there was to do, we decided to choose two port days where we would take it easy and not have much of a plan. We chose our day in St. Croix to be one of these days.
St. Croix is the least visited of the U.S. Virgin Islands and is the most agricultural. This was very evident in the shore excursion options available in Frederiksted. The third-party shore excursion websites didn’t have anything and what was available through Royal Caribbean was expensive and not very interesting. So, we used this day to sleep in, have breakfast in the dining room, and play Pickleball before heading off to explore St. Croix.
Right at the end of the cruise pier in Frederiksted is Fort Frederik. Fort Frederik is a red masonry fort built by the Danish in the mid-18th century to ward off pirates. The fort, named for the Danish King Frederik V, is on the National Register of Historic Places. One of the most interesting facts about Fort Frederik is that it is believed that Fort Frederik fired the first salute from foreign soil to the new nation of the United States in October of 1776. In 1848, the fort was also the location of a slave revolt that led to the emancipation of slaves in the West Indies.
The fort is pretty small and doesn’t take too long to visit. Like many places in the Caribbean, the fort was damaged by Hurricane Maria and many of the exhibits did not survive. It only costs $5 to enter the museum and they could use all the money they can get to continue the restoration work.
After walking through the fort, we walked the main drag, found a coffee shop and bakery, and got caught in the most torrential rain I’ve ever experienced on a cruise. We had to hide out for a while to avoid getting soaked! After walking around for a little bit we headed back to the ship. It was fun to sit out on our balcony and watch the people return (top). Our friends could even see turtles from their balcony!
The other port where we ended up taking it easy like this was in Bridgetown, Barbados. I don’t know if it is still like this, but in March, to get off the ship in Barbados you had to take an approved tour. By this point in our trip, we had already visited four ports and we were tired. Nothing looked super exciting so all we ended up doing was shopping in the port area and going back to the ship. This was really hard for the die-hard traveler in me, but I guess now I have a reason to return to Barbados!
Thanks for stopping by! To read more about this trip check out my Island a Day Trip Report. To read about some of our previous trips, visit my Trips Page. If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page and follow me on Instagram! You can purchase prints on Fine Art America. To see inside my camera bag, check out my updated Gear Page.
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We chose to stay in Luquillo, Puerto Rico before our cruise because of its proximity to 
When planning this trip, the La Mina Falls trail looked like one of the best, easier hikes in El Yunque, but unfortunately, it has not reopened after hurricane Maria. So, we decided to hike the Mt. Britton trail. When we visited, the road through the forest was closed at the picnic area, so that added an extra mile to this hike. According to the forest service’s Facebook page, the road should be closed farther down than it actually was when we visited. The roads through the forest are steep and winding and hiking on the road felt more difficult than the trail itself. If you are planning to hike the El Yunque or Mt. Britton trails, just be aware that the road closure adds additional mileage.
Once on the trail, it was a beautiful trek through lush, tropical greenery. The trail is a 1.3 mile hike (0.8 miles each way) with 650 foot elevation gain. The forest service says this hike takes 45 minutes each way, but we went down much quicker than that! This is a steep hike so it can be tough on the knees. Make sure you have shoes with good traction as rain is frequent in the rainforest. The Mt. Britton tower (left) at the end of the trail, was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the late 1930s and offers beautiful views of Puerto Rico, The Caribbean, and the Atlantic. The view from the top (top) makes the climb worth it!
