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I have been looking for private transfer for my party of 16 from Anchorage to Seward next June. I have recieved a good quote from Aurora Limos in Anchorage, but I'm not seeing listed on google maps, and am finding reviews from 3+ years ago. Has anyone used this company and if so, what was your experience?

Thanks everyone for your replies. We're not staying at Alyeska, but we are planning to take a day pre-cruise to go to Whittier and could make it a stop en route. 

Trying to decide which tram/gondola to do--Alyeska, Goldbelt in Juneau, or the mountain top in Icy Strait. From info I have found, Icy Strait may not be worth the money, but maybe it would be if combined with the tram ride at the top. For anyone who has done more than 1, which would you recommend?

We were on the Magic last week. We did the waterfalls on our own. We left the ship as soon as they let us off. We hired a taxi--he drove us to/from port for $20 pp--that was round trip and was a comfortable, air-conditioned toyota van. He waited for us while we did the falls, which was nice because he kept our stuff locked up in the van and he was ready to go as soon as we were. He also told us where to go to purchase tickets, etc. We bought the lunch, thinking it would be easier, but we felt the food wasn't that great and we wouldn't do lunch there again. Be sure to specify that you don't want lunch, because that is just what they assumed when we purchased our tickets. If you don't eat lunch, you can have even more time at port afterwards. With the lunch, we only had enough time to do a couple of shops before getting back on the ship.

You can easily do the 12 falls while in port--and it was a blast! It was definitely one of the best excursions we've done. The water is a little murky, but you can see the green and rust colors on the rock walls--meaning there is a good amount of copper and iron in the water. It is spring water, and some of the guides were even drinking it. I wouldn't recommend drinking it, but I also think accidentally swallowing some won't likely hurt you. Being spring water--it is cold, but the air temp was warm enough that we were generally comfortable temperature-wise. We didn't feel that the tour was dangerous, although when it comes time to jump 20+ feet, your head is telling you to not do it!

Bottom line--if you can do the Carnival excursion and are more comfortable with that, do it. I can't speak to the other tour operators at all, but the two you mentioned have great reviews. And if you really want to save money, do it all on your own. Most importantly, enjoy the beauty of the rain forest, the thrill of the waterfalls, and the memories you make!

Thanks for the info! Looks like we won't starve--is that even possible on a cruise? :cool:

Is there any kind of grocery store at Havensight? We want to get some sandwiches or something to take with us when we kayak to cas cay on our own.

Has anyone rented a kayak at Mangrove Lagoon? We are experienced paddlers and would prefer going on our own rather than with a tour group. Thanks for any information!

Thanks for your info! Since you paid $80 round trip and the posted price was $80 one way, did you negotiate to make it a round trip? I'm not so adventurous that I'd go "outside" for a taxi--we'll stick with those at the port. :)

How much did the cab cost? We'll have 9 total people.

Has anyone taken a taxi to the falls from the port in Amber Cove? Or, does anyone know how much a taxi would cost to do this? There will be 8 of us. Thanks for any info!

We did this from the Allure in June. This is the thread where I wrote a review of using the RCCL on your own. We felt the cost and the time on the island was about the same, and doing the RCCL excursion was easier since it left from the same pier where the Allure docks (Crown Bay).

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2374951

Our family of five (with 3 teenage sons) are going in March. Thanks for your report--exactly the things we wanted to see, so I'm glad to hear that it worked well!

Rent a car!! I did this on m last cruise there (third visit) and I suggest to everyone that feels a bit comfortable with it and can keep track of their bearings to do so. I rented with a national US company (red logo, white letters ;)) and cost me around $70. Got the car at 8am, returned it at 4pm. We went to Coki and Sapphire beaches (around 1.5-2hrs each), drove around a bit and went to the look-out point where you can see all of Charlotte-Amalie and both cruise docks, kept going to Drake's Seat (great view of Meagan's Bay and the northern archipelago of neighboring islands. We had time to head to town, spent about 1.5 hr there and back to the ship. Used a bit of my memory to get to some places, Google Maps for the rest. Just for reference, a taxi to Sapphire will cost $20 p/p each way!!

 

PS. While the cars there are left hand drive, you also drive on the LEFT side of the street. Just consider that. A bit weird at first but I just kept the curbs on my left and followed other cars...lol!!

Did you have any trouble parking at the beaches and other locations? Are there parking fees?

I have seen the reviews here on CC for guided tours, such as Iguana Mama and Marysol, with prices from $50-$90 with varying options. I see that the entrance fee is about $10 if you go to this park on your own. Has anyone done this on your own? How much was cab fare? Did you buy lunch there and approximately how much did that cost? Do you really need a guide?

We just did this with Royal a few weeks ago. (Bummed that it's over!) Let me say, Trunk Bay was absolutely gorgeous! We loved it. Anyway, we found this excursion to work well. In order to go to St John's on your own, you have to take a taxi from the cruise port to the ferry port, ride the ferry, then taxi to Trunk Bay or where ever you are headed on St John. The first advantage of taking the cruise excursion was that is was less expensive, even when you include the cost of the cab to Trunk Bay on St John's, and the second advantage was the convenience--the Royal excursion ferry left for St John's right from the cruise port, avoiding the whole taxi to the ferry on St Thomas. Some folks say you have more time if you go on your own, but they also advise leaving a lot of extra time to get the ferry back to St Thomas and taxi to the ship, and we found that you actually have about the same amount of time when you figure those things in. We had about 3 1/2 hrs on the beach--not nearly enough! But, again, we would have been leaving the beach at the same time either way. There are a few restaurants at the ferry port on St John's. However, Trunk Bay has a little snack bar as well. We had burgers and fries--they were comparable in cost to other island restaurants. They also serve some alcoholic drinks, but we didn't have any. One of the things we liked about Trunk Bay was it's natural setting being in a National Park. No high rises around! We enjoyed snorkelling here and saw an octopus! I haven't been to the beaches on St Thomas to compare, but you certainly can't go wrong at Trunk Bay.

We were just in St Thomas last week. We took the ship excursion to St John (explore on your own). On St John, we took a taxi to Trunk Bay. There are plenty of things to see while snorkelling from the beach. I hear that Cinnamon Bay on St Joohn has good beach snorkelling as well, but we didn't go there and haven't been to beaches on St Thomas either to compare. We LOVED trunk bay, though--not the absolute best snorkelling we've had, but the beach is just so beautiful, and we liked that it is part of a National Park.

So, we did the multi beach last Thursday. We had a driver and a personal snorkel guide. Our family of 5 were the only ones on the tour, so that was extra great. We went by air conditioned van from the pier to Whitehouse bay. On the way, we stopped at Timothy Hill to get the photos of the Atlantic on one side and Caribbean on the other. Once on the beach, our guide led us out to see the shipwreck site. The beach is rocky, and the rocks are slick when going from the shore to the water deep enough to put on your fins. It was interesting to see the shipwreck, and then the guide took us over to the other side of the bay to a reef with a great variety of fish, as well as a sea turtle. The guide would go down and bring up things to touch and look at closely. After getting back to shore, we went to cockleshell beach, where we had lunch at a place called Rush Slowly. The food was very good, with prices comparable to other island prices (more than what you'd pay in US, but not extremely expensive.) The beach was beautiful and fish to be seen right off shore. We did not stay long, because we wanted to go to the reef, which was at frigate bay, off to the left. Again, our guide led us around the reef, pointing out octopus among other fish. There were a lot of starfish and sand dollars in the sandy part of the bay here. Overall, the family voted the best excursion of the trip (although personally, I liked St John/trunk bay better--saw an octopus here, too). We did see more variety of creatures on St Kitts, but I just loved the perfect beach at Trunk Bay. If you like to snorkel, this was a great tour. As others stated about Thenford Grey in general, they gave you a lot of info about the island and it's history. I will try to post some pics once I have time to get them all loaded into the computer. Have fun no matter what you decide to do!

So, we did the multi beach last Thursday. We had a driver and a personal snorkel guide. Our family of 5 were the only ones on the tour, so that was extra great. We went by air conditioned van from the pier to Whitehouse bay. On the way, we stopped at Timothy Hill to get the photos of the Atlantic on one side and Caribbean on the other. Once on the beach, our guide led us out to see the shipwreck site. The beach is rocky, and the rocks are slick when going from the shore to the water deep enough to put on your fins. It was interesting to see the shipwreck, and then the guide took us over to the other side of the bay to a reef with a great variety of fish, as well as a sea turtle. The guide would go down and bring up things to touch and look at closely. After getting back to shore, we went to cockleshell beach, where we had lunch at a place called Rush Slowly. The food was very good, with prices comparable to other island prices (more than what you'd pay in US, but not extremely expensive.) The beach was beautiful and fish to be seen right off shore. We did not stay long, because we wanted to go to the reef, which was at frigate bay, off to the left. Again, our guide led us around the reef, pointing out octopus among other fish. There were a lot of starfish and sand dollars in the sandy part of the bay here. Overall, the family voted the best excursion of the trip (although personally, I liked St John/trunk bay better--saw an octopus here, too). We did see more variety of creatures on St Kitts, but I just loved the perfect beach at Trunk Bay. If you like to snorkel, this was a great tour. As others stated about Thenford Grey in general, they gave you a lot of info about the island and it's history. Have fun no matter what you decide to do!

We are doing this tour in a few days. I'll report back after our cruise.

http://www.thenfordgreytours.com/multi-beach-snorkel-trip-1.html

I went on this tour last week and thought I would give a review since there is so little out there.

 

we were on the cruise with 8 people. 4 adults between 41 and 45 and 4 kids (2 7 year old kids, a 10 year old, and an 11 year old). So we were up late at Red Frog the night before the tour. We were studying the paper which said the tour started at 10:30 Atlantic Standard Time. We did the conversion and went to bed. We woke up and headed to the gangway and started questioning our logic after a full day of Cheers. Well, we were wrong so we were half an hour late. They still got us on the tour though! I was so thankful and felt so stupid!

 

So our driver was Henry and he was wonderful. Our snorkel guide was Tate who was also wonderful. Henry drove us through town and gave us history and information and answered all of our questions. We stopped at a few places with a great view for pictures as well. It was the perfect mix for me as we had time to enjoy and take a picture but I didn't feel like we were wasting a bunch of time. The van was comfortable and air conditioned and Henry was a good driver.

 

We stopped at the first place and it was just us and a group of kayakers. We swam to two ship wrecks. The first was a really old wooden ship that there was not much left of. The second was a newer metal ship that did have more remnants though it did not look like a whole boat or anything. It was a pretty decent swim to the second boat and I was not sure how the littles (as we call the seven year old kids) would do but they both did great. The snorkel vest and fins made a huge difference. My son is very athletic but he is not a good swimmer but he was having such a blast and following Tate and was the first one to the far wreck. Tate was very good at finding things and pointing them out. He would also take our camera and dive down to take good pictures. He would also bring things up so that the kids could see them up close and touch them. He did this with urchins and sea cucumbers. The kids thought it was awesome. He also found a beautiful conch shell that looked like the gift shop ones and gave it to the kids to keep.

 

Once done with this stop, we went back to the beach for some water. We brought a zillion snacks and shared with everyone on the tour. Tate was taking the group down the beach a bit to a new snorkel spot. My son was a little tired from the long swim so we opted to sit this one out. The other 7 year old did go. All reports from that stop were very good as well. We spent the time in the van chatting with Henry and it was time well spent. I really enjoyed getting to know him.

 

After everyone got back, we took a short drive to another beach. This was a more populated/touristy type beach with sunbathers and a bar. Some people on our tour said they had enough so they got some lunch and drinks in the bar while we went out. Some people on our tour were on a different boat that left earlier than us so we did not have too long at this stop. We saw some great stuff at this stop as well and I think Tate propelled the other 7 year old the whole time and kept her happy even though she was tired and worn out.

 

The snorkeling: So, I have snorkeled in a lot of places and have snorkeled in the Cayman's several times. This snorkeling was not like that but no other snorkeling has been. What I loved is that we were close enough to the bottom and coral to see everything but no so close that I was worried about getting pushed into coral. I have been on some trips that I just did not enjoy because the coral was too close and I am scared of hurting it (or me). We did see a variety of fish including parrot fish, sea turtles, a sting ray, puffer fish, a Caribbean reef squid which was very interesting (looked like a cuttlefish). Tate was excellent at finding things and pointing it out to us. He tried to catch a sea turtle for us to look at but those buggers were fast!

 

Note that we started the tour at 11:00AM ship time and they dropped us off at the ship at 5:00. We never did get lunch anywhere. They had a cooler with water and that was all. Luckily we had a huge bag of snacks with us.

 

Overall, I was very happy with this tour. Henry and Tate were fantastic and this was the highlight of the trip for all 4 kids. I really enjoyed it as well. I feel the price was very fair. I would recommend this trip and if we find ourselves back in St Kitts, I would not hesitate to do it again.

2 thumbs up for sure! Recommend.

Thanks for the review! I'm glad to hear that you would recommend this tour! We are booked for June, and are really looking forward to it. Our family can't get enough snorkelling, so it sounds perfect. I guess lunch is at the bar at the beach if you want it.

I wish I could shed some light...unfortunately I asked the same question on here last month when I was first researching it :D. We'll be there at the end of next month. I think it's a fairly new tour of his - that's why so little feedback. But I did find one trip advisor review on it - just look up his name there and you'll find it. They were pleased. And the company has such a good track record with their other tours, so I figured what the heck - took the gamble and booked it. I like that it's not out on a boat...all from shore.

When you get back, please update on how the tour went! Thanks! I think I'm going to go ahead and book it--we're going in June.

We will be in Nassau in June on the Allure. We will be in port from 7-2. Can someone tell me if this is too much to try to do? 7:30--leave ship, take jitney to arawak cay, walk to Ft Charlotte and enter around 8 a.m. when it opens. Spend an hour at the fort, then at 9:00--walk from Ft Charlotte to Ardastra Gardens (20 minute walk according to google maps.) Spend about an hour (maybe stay for the 10:30 flamingo show). Leave Ardastra 10:30-11, take the jitney up to the public beach entrance next to the Melia for 1 1/2 to 2 hrs of beach time. By 1:00--take the jitney back to the cruise port, board and have lunch. We are a family of 5--mom, dad, and 3 teenage sons--the history buffs want the fort, the "wanna be a vet" kid wants to see the zoo, and mom wants the beach (sitting on a towel on the public beach is fine, as well as a couple of hours without a bathroom.) :)

Do you have an American cellphone plan?

AT&T plans cover St Thomas. No need to search for Internet.

Thanks for the tip! Is the signal generally pretty good?

Has anyone taken the thenford grey multi beach snorkel tour? http://www.thenfordgreytours.com/multi-beach-snorkel-trip.html

We love to snorkel, so this sounds perfect, but would love to get some feedback before booking. Thanks in advance!

Sounds like if we want to snorkel that beach, maybe we should stick with the tour! Thanks for the info!