Tortola: Excursion or On Our Own?

GBBTomorrow

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jul 6, 2009
My husband and I are traveling on the Fantasy in the fall and have never been to Tortola. I don't mind planning things myself, but I can't seem to find as much information about this port as I have about others in the past. Has anybody been to Tortola, and if so, can you tell us about what you did in port?

Any details and recommendations would be great.

We are considering going to Jost Van Dyke, but aren't sure whether to take the DCL excursion or do it on our own. I know the boat will leave us if we aren't back in time. I'm not a huge risk-taker, but if I have a plan I can be confident in, I don't necessarily need to go with DCL to feel ok.

Thanks for any help!
 
We were just in Tortola while on a Merrytime cruise in December. We booked a private sail with Aristocat Charters. I HIGHLY recommend them. It was the highlight of our week. We sailed on the catamaran to two snorkel spots and to a beach area where we swam and paddle boarded. Our kids were 7,9 and 11 and they loved it as much as the adults.
 
We booked a private boat through TRC Charters. Highly recommend. We ended up having rainy weather (warm rain though) so we cut things short and they cut the price for us. We went to Norman Island and had lunch at Pirate's Bight. Awesome day. DH and I and three kids 13, 11, 11.
 
We booked a private boat through TRC Charters. Highly recommend.

We also booked a private with TRC Charters and can not say enough great things about them! Our party was 2 families of 3- me, husband and 9 year old DD and my sister, her husband and their 10 year old DD. We headed for The Baths ASAP and were able to get through them before all the ship groups made it there. Then we headed to a snorkel spot off Cooper Island and then to snorkel at the Caves and Indians off Norman Island. By this point my motion sickness was really bad due to some very choppy seas so our captain dropped me and my daughter off at Pirates Bight and we enjoyed the very empty beach for almost 2 hours while the other 4 in our group enjoyed the rest of their snorkeling.
 


we just got back from Tortola in a may cruise. we didn't do an excursion we just explored on our own. Wish we would have done an excursion. Tortola is beautiful and the port area is great -we loved it. but would have been nice to see more of Tortola.
 
We did a private catamaran trip with Kuralu Charters in October and had a fantastic experience. No worries at all about getting back to the ship on time.
 
We rented a jeep at the port and drove to Long Bay Beach. Beach was amazing and no one else was there except a few people staying at Long Bay Beach Club. Shallow water is rocky, so if you want to spend a lot of time in the water I suggest another beach, but if you want a beautiful place to lay out and walk around, you can't beat this place. Also, we rented a jeep because there were 4 of us and it was just as much to get a taxi.
 


We were just in Tortola 3 weeks ago. We're a pretty adventurous family (just 3 of us), but we took a ferry/taxi on our own to the Baths (we did this the next day going to Trunk Bay on St John too). We prefer going on our own - the Disney tours never seem to match the time we want to spend where. We've been on a beach, see the Disney tour come and go in a short time, while we continued to enjoy our leisurely day. There's enough info out there to male sure you're well informed and well planned going on your own.

We do make sure to be extra conservative with our return time. We get off the ship first thing, and make sure we're planning our times to be back to port at least 2 hours before all aboard.
 
We were just in Tortola 3 weeks ago. We're a pretty adventurous family (just 3 of us), but we took a ferry/taxi on our own to the Baths (we did this the next day going to Trunk Bay on St John too). We prefer going on our own - the Disney tours never seem to match the time we want to spend where. We've been on a beach, see the Disney tour come and go in a short time, while we continued to enjoy our leisurely day. There's enough info out there to male sure you're well informed and well planned going on your own.

We do make sure to be extra conservative with our return time. We get off the ship first thing, and make sure we're planning our times to be back to port at least 2 hours before all aboard.

The two hours before all aboard tip is a great rule of thumb for me to use when planning. Thanks!
 
I typically book my excursion through the ship especially being a solo cruiser/traveller. I like the reassurance that they are watching the return time since the majority of my excursions involve scuba diving.
 
We booked a private boat through TRC Charters. Highly recommend. We ended up having rainy weather (warm rain though) so we cut things short and they cut the price for us. We went to Norman Island and had lunch at Pirate's Bight. Awesome day. DH and I and three kids 13, 11, 11.
Hi! We are going in October on the Disney Fantasy. I just booked a charter through TRC Charters. Did you do a full day or half day? Also are we CRAZY to do a charter as we will have a 7 year old and almost 5 year old who keeps up with her 7 year old sister with no problems and both swim well. We really want to see several of the islands and go at our own pace. So we thought the private charter would be better.
 
We'll be there in the fall; while I'm a first timer, one of my companions is experienced. We're going to explore on our own because we'll probably just end up on the beach.
 
We did Tortola and booked through Island Surf & Sail. There were supposed to be 6 of us but DH wasn't feeling well and stayed back on the ship. We had a wonderful time with an all day tour snorkeling at the Indians, the Caves, and another "secret" spot that only the locals tend to go--we saw lots of rays, a shark, and lots of fish (more than I've seen in Hawaii). Our Capt. took us to a floating burger joint for lunch and made sure that we had plenty of time to make it back to the ship before all-aboard (I had plenty of time to do some shopping when we got back). The price was less than most other private charters and it was only our family, which is what we wanted. After having branched out and done an excursion on our own, we feel rather spoiled and frankly would prefer to book private charters from now on (although for our WBTA, we have booked some DCL excursions due to timing of arrivals and departures of the ship :sad1:, otherwise, price-wise, it broke down to about even for all of us to book a private charter). The communication with the owner of the shop was great and would not hesitate to book this exact excursion the next time we do this itinerary.
 
We visited Jost Van Dyke some weeks ago. I booked the excursion during the online booking window on Disney's website. I was hesitant about the 40 minute boat ride and missing the onboard time but this port adventure was seamless and not stressful at all. We had an early meet up time of 7:15am and boarded a separate, smaller boat after a very short walk from the Fantasy. The boat ride was approximately 35-40 minutes. We then took a tender to the island. The tender is under five minutes and goes back and forth a few times to accommodate all the passengers. The crew did a great job of making their rounds and letting everyone know when it was time to head back. I didn't feel rushed and had enough time to brush sand off the kids and pack our float and snorkeling gear. The only downside was I wish the onboard time could be pushed back as we enjoyed this beach so much and would consider returning during a future DCL sail. Also, when speaking with other passengers later that day, I was confident we made the right choice. Other excursions, including beaches, seemed to pale in comparison to JVD.
 
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We were just in Tortola while on a Merrytime cruise in December. We booked a private sail with Aristocat Charters. I HIGHLY recommend them. It was the highlight of our week. We sailed on the catamaran to two snorkel spots and to a beach area where we swam and paddle boarded. Our kids were 7,9 and 11 and they loved it as much as the adults.

THIS! It was one of THE best excursions we have done anywhere! We had other folks from our cruise on the boat so we weren't worried about getting back in time.

The crew and ports were fabulous. Don't go for the included lunch. It's very basic. You WILL be hungry after all that water time.
 
We went to Tortola a few weeks ago on the Fantsay. It is absolutely BEAUTIFUL! We did the excursion through Disney, the 4x4 beach adventure. Your guide drives you up the mountain and you stop and get views for pictures like this:





Plus the time you spend at the beach is wonderful. It was a very quiet beach near the airport, no one to bother you, no chairs to rent for the time you're there. We had an amazing time.
 
@DisneyMama05 we booked a full day but then changed to half a day when the weather turned out to be pretty yucky - they suggested it and we were only billed half a day. One of the reasons why I recommend them - super flexible. And they will 100% set whatever agenda you want - if you say "we want to go to kid-friendly beaches" they will take you. Your reasons were the same ones we had for booking a private charter - flexibility and a desire to see several islands, which we did. I hope you enjoy it!
 
We booked the North Shore and Pussers tour. We don't snorkel and small boats give me motion sickness. Maybe try this tour?
 
@DisneyMama05 we booked a full day but then changed to half a day when the weather turned out to be pretty yucky - they suggested it and we were only billed half a day. One of the reasons why I recommend them - super flexible. And they will 100% set whatever agenda you want - if you say "we want to go to kid-friendly beaches" they will take you. Your reasons were the same ones we had for booking a private charter - flexibility and a desire to see several islands, which we did. I hope you enjoy it!
Thank you so much! Their reply to my booking was so nice so we are very excited!
 

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