divamimi312

On 6/29/2022 at 10:37 AM, lambstew said:

Just wanted to highly recommend Woodwind for snorkeling tours.

We have done many excursions, and this one is by far the best organized and best run excursion we have ever taken.

It is a short walk once you get off the boat.

The things that set them apart:

Before you get in the water - they size you for masks and fins.  If you bring your own, they will defog your masks

They provide short and long sleeve snorkel shirts if you want to borrow one

They divide the boat into 5-8 people groups and they have a guide for each group.

The guide will show you different fish as  you go along

They drop you off uptide and let you drift back to the boat - however the boat is available to pick you up at any point if you need

The first spot was about 35 minutes of water time, and the second spot was slightly shorter

When  you get back on the boat - you hold onto a yellow rope and they come behind you and remove your fins, and hand them to you once you are back on the boat.

They have a wide variety of drinks available -  alcoholic and regular

They provided orange slices, a plate of food (noodles and chicken) and cheesecake

Just can't recommend them highly enough!

 

Great to hear.  We are going on them in September.

We go on the Equinox 9/17 and will be in Cayman 9/19.  IF we get off the ship, we plan to go to a store and pick up drinks and do a beach day on our own and eat all meals on the ship.

On 2/27/2022 at 3:45 PM, J18ktleo said:

Hi!

We are looking to book a tour that leaves from Palm Beach at 9am and our ship docks at 8am.

The tour company (Octopus Aruba) says the ships time is one hour earlier than the port time, it's been 2 years since I've sailed and don't recall if

the ship stays on their own time or changes for the islands.

Anyone have any input?

 

Also, used Octopus Aruba two years ago for snorkel tour and it was AWESOME!!!!!  Had a group of 10 and the service was perfect!

I was trying to book Octopus Aruba yesterday only to find out we don't dock in port until 9AM so it is a no-go for us.  Octopus Aruba told us it is about a 12 minute drive from the cruise port so if you get off the ship at 8 you should be good.

Cruising for the first time without kids. What fun things would you suggest for a group of 6-8 adults?!

 

 

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I'm looking for the same one. We are on NCL Epic 2/24-3/3.

1cruisingal, we booked the Hilton Rose Hall resort through Resortforaday.com (aka RFD). We are on the Carnival Freedom sailing this Sat, so I will post after we get back and let you know how it was. RFD required a $53 deposit per person and that includes transportation to and from the ship. Fingers crossed it was a good choice!! (Kinda disappointed that no one responded to my request for reviews.)

Looking forward to hearing how it went and how far from port. I"m looking into this one and Secrets.

Stop in town at the local grocery store to buy all the food and drinks, etc. then head to Cemetery Beach for a quiet and people free experience. This would be your ultimate Grand Cayman experience. We always go their for snorkeling.

 

 

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Sounds like my kind of day unless we do a non-cruise snorkeling excursion. How is the snorkeling there?

Traveling on the Carnival Vista on Jan 21. Was wandering if anyone knows of a perfect snorkeling excursion for myself and wife. My wife does not want to snorkel but wouldn't mind getting in the water. She is actually scared to snorkel. We would like an excursion where we can both go and enjoy. Is there excursion that are recommended that may work for us? Like a glass bottom boat or something? I really don't want to snorkel on a couple foot deep sand bar which it looks like alot of the excursions I see go to a sting ray sand bar location. I would like to see some reefs and coral.

We did a snorkel and Stingray City boat trip about 7 years ago (I remember because hubby proposed first night of cruise) through a private charter, not the cruise ship. We stopped at 2 places to snorkel and it was great, then swam with the stingrays which was awesome. Our boat only had a few people on it while the cruise ship boats had 100 people. Even had a souvenir conch shell the captain retrieved for each couple to bring home. Plan to do the same type excursion in February.

Is snorkeling on St. Thomas the most popular activity? We will be there on January 23 and I'm unsure of what activity to plan for the day. While Celebrity has updated our itinerary, they haven't updated the excursion options (the website still lists options for St. Maarten).

Coki Beach is the best snorkeling unless you go to St. John's Trunk Bay. Magen's Bay is for beaching, not snorkeling. Not sure how any of this was affected by the hurricane's though.

Found out a few days ago that our ship will be docking in St. Thomas rather than St. Kitts on Christmas Day. Is it really $10 per person one way to the closest beach? It doesn't look far.

 

Will the Safari Bus be running?

 

Renee

We go stay on St. Thomas all the time. That price does not surprise me at all considering where the cruise terminals are in relation to the various beaches. Let me know if you have any questions about the various beaches there and on St. John.

Did Seahorse several years ago and it was great.

We did the Seahorse several years ago and it was awesome.

can anyone provide information on these all-inclusive for a day pass?

We are on the same sailing and we are looking at a day pass too. I'm reading that Sandals is awesome. $110 per person 10-6. All-inclusive.

I might need to rethink our plans to go to St. John

We are a family of 5 so it will cost almost $250 just for transportation [emoji30]

Am I missing something? Is there a more affordable way?? I haven't looked at ship excursions yet...

 

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We just returned from our 3rd land vacay in St. Thomas. If you really want St. John, I would do it from the ship. If you want really good snorkeling in St. Thomas in the time window you are alloted without paying the excursion fees, I'd get a van cab straight to Coki Beach. It has some amazing snorkeling that is free (gear is there to rent; we bring our own) and there is a little shopping you can do and they have food/beverages. Depending on the number of cruise ships in town, will depend on how busy the beach is.

We are staying in St. Thomas 10/24-31/2015. I would love to charter a boat to go over to the BVIs but it is expensive. Anyone else going to be in STT on a land trip during that time that would want to share a charter to BVI?

Sapphire is not fun on a windy day. Otherwise, it is beautiful. Watched fireworks in St. John from the jetty at Sapphire Beach a couple of July 4ths ago. Great times.

Lots of nice white sandy beaches in St. Thomas. We love Magen's Bay.

Help! Looking to do a beach day in either St. Thomas or St. John. We are cruising Carnival so it can be either through the ship or not. Give me the good, bad, and ugly!

Coki Beach - Best snorkeling I've seen and we've been quite a few places. Crowded. Has facilities.

Magen's Bay - Great relaxing beach. Not crowded when we went. Beautiful! Has facilities.

Sapphire Beach - High waves when we went. I didn't snorkel.

Trunk Bay, St. John - Awesome, beautiful. Very good snorkeling. Will be a stretch from a cruise ship. Less time on beach, more travel time.

Thank you! We were hoping for a private charter, but our group is three families and it seems any I can find can only accommodate 6 people.

I remember looking at Rhumba, but believe that is the case with them.

We are going to spend a week in STT in October and I just found New Horizons. They seem to be reasonably priced and can accommodate more than 6 I believe.

http://newhorizons.daysails.com/index.php?l=t&pageStewardLink=2873

First cruise, Freedom of The Seas, end of November.

 

Our only requirements for a beach are crystal clear water, pretty views and is in proximity of a bathroom.:D

 

Does Lindquist meet these requirements? If so, best way to get there from where Freedom docks?

Magen's Bay is beautiful and was very quiet the day we spent there. It had rental equipment, restroom facilities and a snack bar. We spent a week in St. Thomas and visited several beaches but I don't recall visiting Lindquist.

Coki is awesome for snorkeling and they have a few vendors. For a relaxing beach day, Magen's Bay is awesome.

Following...we are staying 8 nights in STT the end of October and will be looking for good, inexpensive (for the most part) food places, and excursions.

Leaving in just over two weeks ~ yea!! So I have a couple of questions I am happy to have someone who can answers them ;)

 

 

On the ship ~

What did you consider the two don't miss entertainment shows?

 

Thanks for your help!

Cirque Bisou on Thursday night is a do not miss if you like any Cirque style show. The show and music were fantastic.

A new comic started on our cruise (departed 1/31/15) who was very funny and there was a comic magician that was good.

Glad to hear that. Eating there will be easier for us because of location than other venues.

We are looking forward to trying the meat loaf and their chicken pot pie.

We are just back from the Jewel on 2/7. My take on the food:

Tsar's we hit up instead of the buffet while in still in port for lunch. Wash delish and service great.

Asure we ate a few times and we had no complaints. I had tried a stipsteak roast that wasn't very good, it was tough. All in all though food was good.

Buffet always had something for us to eat or snack on.

Moderno, meat was overcooked and service was slow. Great mashed potatoes.

O'Sheehan's, first night the chicken wings were good but I heard other complaints later that they weren't. We went one port day after a late show and I tried the chicken pot pie everyone raved about. I love chicken pot pie! I thought this one had an odd flavor and the crust was just a cooked puff pastry on top. Would not have it again. Hubby had a rueben that was good.

Desserts and fruit were always excellent.

Cagney's, not as good as I remembered from Sky in '08,but was still good. Filet was perfectly cooked and the staff and service impeccable.

Thanks for the information! We leave on the Jewel on March 28, so we'll put your tips to good use!

 

Can you tell me if they have half & half creamer on the Jewel?

 

DH & I don't drink, so is Nachi Cocum still a good deal?

 

We've done the Victor Bodden tour in Roatan twice and loved it both times!

 

We're really looking forward to sailing on the beautiful Jewel! Were there any particular bands / singers you would recommend? We love to sit and enjoy some good music in the evenings!

 

Thanks again!

I've been to Nachi 3 times and to Passion Island 2 times. I would pick Nachi every time. They limit (or did limit) the beach to just 100 people a day. That, alone, is worth my 55 bucks!

Thanks OP and mncruiser84 for your responses - unfortunately, my e-docs were not available for printing after the onlinecheck-in; I called NCL and they advised me that since we had a guaranty cabin (the only option available at booking), we won't be able to do the e-docs until a month or so before departure.

Has this been your experience? I'll just keep checking and I'm optimistic that we'll have them before embarkation.

mncruiser84 - very much looking forward to our first Ncl cruise!

 

Marion

Ours took about 3 or 4 days to show up ready in my ncl but ni cabin assigned for several more days.