Post your Eastern Caribbean Excursions here!!!

[DaddyNash]

Hi DaddyNash, I keep meaning to post to thank you for your post. We sailed the week of Feb. 7th and were looking for a good do it yourself beach outing on St. Thomas. I had read about honeymoon beach in other excursions but they all required my son to be 5 or older and he was 4. We followed your advice to the tee. Here is how it went for us. Since the water taxi only runs at 8am then 10am/11am we didn't rush off the boat. We walked straight off to the official taxi stand (avoiding non-licensed taxi drivers) and they took us to crown bay for $20 there and back- total $40 (they let our 4 year old ride free). Since the water taxi didn't run at 9am, only 8am then 10am, we didn't have to rush off the boat. We paid $35 for whole family for the water taxi. We got to Crown Bay at 9:50, unfortunatly it was full, but the water taxi driver did a double run. We sat at the restraunt and ordered sodas, tipped well and they gave us lots of free refills before the water taxi came back at 10:20. On the water taxi a woman who owned a little golf cart rental business offered us a daily golf cart rental for $35 since she had some unreserved. We took her up on it. So instead of walking to the beach we golf carted over. The beach was awesome. Warm, clear, gentle sloped. Not too deep, not too shallow. Saw some great fish. Free beach chairs and umbrellas, there were also a few spare extra beach toys for the kids which was good because we forgot ours.

We also ordered drinks and a nacho plate, I think it was $18, but it was HUGE and really good. We then drove the golf cart all around water island and saw some amazing views. I think we caught the 4pm back to town, boat deparature was 5:45 or something like that. There was a little traffic back but we got back w/ plenty of time to spare. We spent around $150 for the whole day with 5 family members, and we had a fantastic time and met some great locals. Anyway, I wanted to thank you for your post and your recommendation. It was a great day for our family.

Yay! Glad you liked it. Reading your write-up sure made me miss that place. Some day we may have to head over to St. Thomas for a week, if only to experience a few more days of peace at that beach!

 

[GOOFY D]

Trying to decide between 2 excursions for St. Thomas. Not an experienced snorkeler or great swimmer and have a 9 year old as well.

Castaway Catamaran Sail and Snorkel to Shipwreck Cove or Caribbean Sea Safari, Snorkeling and Beach Tour (Buck Island and Honeymoon Beach)

Anyone with experiences or thoughts?

 

[DaddyNash]

Check out my post a couple pages ago. I can't recommend honeymoon beach enough (but just do it yourself, don't do the excursion).

 

[leidig32]

subbing May 2016

 

[bcwife76]

subbing too!! If we enjoy our first DCL cruise this September then we'll do a placeholder deposit to book an Eastern Carribean cruise for Spring Break 2017.

 

[DISNEYFAN3260]

This is super helpful info for our Eastern trip in August! Booking excursions soon. Anyone have recent experience with the Doubloon Turtle Cove Sail and Snorkel on St. Thomas? I've got 3 non-adventurous teens and 2 adults who won't get in the water. Will everyone enjoy some aspect of it? THANKS!!!

 

[DISNEYFAN3260]

This is super helpful info for our Eastern trip in August! Booking excursions soon. Anyone have recent experience with the Doubloon Turtle Cove Sail and Snorkel on St. Thomas? I've got 3 non-adventurous teens and 2 adults who won't get in the water. Will everyone enjoy some aspect of it? THANKS!!!

Oops, I should be more clear! The teens will try snorkeling, the adults won't get in at all.

 

[charminnie]

Just booked for the May 2017 Eastern so i know i have alot of time to plan but was looking for excursion opinions. I think we will take an excursion to the Bathes at our stop in Tortola. I'm torn between the full day Turtle Cove and Honeymoon beach excursion or going over to Trunk bay on St. John. Trunk bay looks absolutely beautiful, I'm just worried I will be disappointed in the short length of time you have to enjoy the beach. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

 

[kylaura]

We went on the Eastern itinerary last week.

Random Wind sailboat in St. Maarten was great! It was a sailboat with only about 20 people. They stopped twice to swim and snorkel. They cooked us a Caribbean lunch of jerk chicken and coconut rice. Staff took very good care of us. We were a little nervous doing and excursion on our own, but it was a good experience. It was easy to meet them by catching a taxi at the port and then the lady on the boat called us a taxi to go back.
http://www.randomwind.com/

Went to Magen's Bay beach with the Disney excursion. Probably could have done it slightly cheaper on our own, but it was nice having it all arranged. They water was clean and calm. Rented a float and floated for several hours. There was a restaurant with sandwiches for lunch, it was just OK, nothing to brag about. My daughter got the chicken leg, it was cheaper, but almost a quarter of a chicken. She liked it.

 

[lpizzuro123]

Love all these reviews.

 

[Spart02]

For those of you that have experience Tortola, is there any way at all to do the dolphin encounter and the baths both in one day? We are not wanting to do the dolphin encounter from St. Thomas.

 

[hoffman1]

We did the Eastern last month.
In St. Maarten we hired a private guide (Joyce Hanley). She was ok but not as good as guides I have used in other ports. She did take us all over the island. We went to Maho Beach (but there wasn't any real beach there--just large boulders), the Yoda Guy shop (which was not at all what we were expecting), Orient Beach, and lots of other stops. She had a cooler of water and drinks but they were only offered twice. She took personal calls while we were touring. It was an ok day but not really worth the money.
In St. Thomas we did the Coral World with semi-submarine ride through DCL. Coral World was not as large as I had anticipated. There was not a lot to see there. The sea lion show was entertaining. It was just our bad luck but there was a storm the day before so the water was really cloudy and we did not see much on the boat ride.

 

[MissDaisyofTexas]

We sailed on the Fantasy Jan 16-23, 2016.

Here are my reviews of the Tour to Virgin Gorda in Tortola: http://savingforadream.blogspot.com/2016/01/dcl-port-adventure-review-tour-to.html

And the Legendary Kon Tiki in St. Thomas: http://savingforadream.blogspot.com/2016/01/dcl-excursion-review-legendary-kon-tiki.html

 

[Dizney73]

We sailed on the Fantasy Jan 16-23, 2016.

Here are my reviews of the Tour to Virgin Gorda in Tortola: http://savingforadream.blogspot.com/2016/01/dcl-port-adventure-review-tour-to.html

And the Legendary Kon Tiki in St. Thomas: http://savingforadream.blogspot.com/2016/01/dcl-excursion-review-legendary-kon-tiki.html

Great review! Thank you!

 

[lynseymoll]

hi,

i'm sorry if has been answered already but i've just read all 22 pages at once & my head is in a spin!!

On the DCL excursion to honeymoon beach on the catermaran - is there a small boat/dinghy to toak you to the beach or does everyone have to swim ashore? we will have a 5 year old with us who isn't water confident (dsepite our best attempts!)

thanks.xx.

 

[MissDaisyofTexas]

hi,

i'm sorry if has been answered already but i've just read all 22 pages at once & my head is in a spin!!

On the DCL excursion to honeymoon beach on the catermaran - is there a small boat/dinghy to toak you to the beach or does everyone have to swim ashore? we will have a 5 year old with us who isn't water confident (dsepite our best attempts!)

thanks.xx.

Are you talking about the Kon Tiki boat to Honeymoon Beach, or is there a different catamaran? If it's Kon Tiki, it pulls right up to the beach and you only have to get your feet barely wet. The water was maybe ankle deep. My 5-year-old is also not confident in the water but she was fine.

 

[goterps1986]

Going next month.

Anyone done Honeymoon Beach (or even nicer beach) on their own lately? And I saw someone asking how close the DCL excursion boat got to the beach.

Is it better to try to do the Baths on your own in Tortola? I read you can get there easier if you do and have more time?

They have cancelled the Jost Van Dyke excursion so is there another beach excursion that's really nice?

Those are the ones we're thinking about it. Thanks.

 

[mom4fun]

I felt the need to report back on a negative experience with full day sail and snorkel on turtle cove and honeymoon beach. I read a lot of great reviews and that is why I booked this excursion. The pirate ship and crew were great. We really enjoyed it. The snorkeling was average but fun at turtle cove. The honeymoon beach portion was a waste of time. The beach seemed kind of sketchy. The bathrooms were disgusting and the out buildings seemed very run down. There was big sign selling pot at the bar, right next to where DCL families were eating the mediocre buffet. There were very few chairs or loungers on the beach and very little shade. We got board pretty quickly and we're ready to leave. This is the only excursion we've ever done that we would never do again.

 

[travelgalNYC]

Following

 

[bonnielynn]

Any suggestions for Tortola, British Virgin Islands? I am unsure what to do there.

Also, St. Thomas - which is the better excursion the St. John's champagne cruise or the Honeymoon Beach? Let me prerequisite this question with saying my DH doesn't swim, but he would just chill on the boat while everyone snorkeled.