narnia1

Hi! You have taken some awesome photos and videos. What kind of camera were you using? We have a beautiful home in Kauai and I am going to look to trade our home for one on St. John! The cruise ship seems to send everyone to Trunk Bay or Cinnamon Bay. How do those compare to Haulover North? Also, do you know what month has the best snorkel conditions?:o Thanks.

Hi : I was so excited to see your photos of St. John. We were there in December and alas, the water conditions were so rough that Trunk Bay was closed and no swimming was allowed. We were so dissappointed as we were there to snorkel and only there for one day. Now I am sure I want to go back. Could you tell me how you found the lovely house you stayed at , and how you learned about the beaches that you went to. What was your favorite snorkel site? Thanks.

Honestly, I haven't done the math out myself. I've seen other posters say it comes out to about the same (slightly cheaper on your own.) To me, a few extra bucks is worth the security of doing the excursion and ease of catching a ferry from where we dock as opposed to cabbing it to Red Hook. I'll still have to pay for cab to Trunk Bay ($12 RT pp) and Admission to Trunk Bay ($4 pp) on top of the excursion price ($40 per adult, $30 per child.)

 

 

 

STILL waiting for a reply from a season cruiser. Anyone? Anyone? Will you please come back and report once you've done it 12/10? You must be excited, 12/10 is around the corner!

I am still confused about this. I thought we docked in Havensight about a 15 minute cab ride to Red Hook ferry. Is that not correct? The Charlotte Amalie ferry only runs infrequently I think. Does anyone know? Thanks.:confused:

Hi:

My daughter and I will be doing the same thing in two weeks on the Summit. I don't know if we dock in Havensight(I hope so), and I am thinking about whether it would be cheaper to do the 6.5 hour shopping St. John excursion so that we could have the ease of transportation as well. Two concerns is that one it leaves late I think 9:30 am and returns I guess around 4 PM. I would rather leave as early as possible to make the 9:00 am ferry. I was also trying to figure out the relative cost. Have done so? I think RT ferry is $12 pp/cab to Trunk bay $6pp each way ($24 RT) Beach admission $4 pp and cab to ferry dock is $20 each way. Is this how you have figured it? On the other hand, the security of doing the excursion may make it worth it.

Hi Augie:

Thanks so much for the advice. However, other people on our roll call say that we will dock at Havenstock(?) which is closer to the Red Hook ferry. We will be on the Celebrity Summit in port on Dec. 16. Do you know how to check on this. If we are closer to Red Hook then will DIY

Hi Anne: Thank you so much for all this valuable info. My daughter and I have never been to the Caribbean and will be on the Celebrity Summit on Dec. 16 in port from 8-5. It says we dock in C. A. Does this mean we will not be close to the shorter ferry ride? And then would it be better to consider a ships excursion? Or would we have time to cab over to the other ferry terminal and catch the 9:00 am ferry? Would taking the 3PM back to CA cut too close for a 5 PM departure? Do you know if Celebrity offers excursions like the previous poster mentioned from RCI? Also, we are avid snorklers and would love to go to a great snorkling beach. Perhaps better to do a snorkel excursion? Oh-I beleive that one of our roll call posters indicated that there will be 2 other ships in port that day. Thanks for any advice you can provide. :o

I was hoping that someone on this thread could please help me with my questions posted a few days ago above? Anne, maybe this did not show up first time? Also I reviewed the Celebrity excursions and they have the 6 hour shopping and DIY tour that another poster mentioned which may be a good alternative. Thanks.:eek:

We did see stingrays along the north shore beaches when we were there in May but just a few.

Hi Anne: Thank you so much for all this valuable info. My daughter and I have never been to the Caribbean and will be on the Celebrity Summit on Dec. 16 in port from 8-5. It says we dock in C. A. Does this mean we will not be close to the shorter ferry ride? And then would it be better to consider a ships excursion? Or would we have time to cab over to the other ferry terminal and catch the 9:00 am ferry? Would taking the 3PM back to CA cut too close for a 5 PM departure? Do you know if Celebrity offers excursions like the previous poster mentioned from RCI? Also, we are avid snorklers and would love to go to a great snorkling beach. Perhaps better to do a snorkel excursion? Oh-I beleive that one of our roll call posters indicated that there will be 2 other ships in port that day. Thanks for any advice you can provide. :o

What I meant to say was that the coral garden with Moreto was not the same as the coral garden with Frederic. And we spend way too much time with Moreto in deep water doing nothing.

Hi all:

On the 6/29 Roll Call I have just posted my experiences with the 3 excursions. All of them started way later than confirmed times only days before sailing, none of them had either Patrick, Mark or Christophe. All of them ended earlier than planned. All of them were full. While Moreto was OK as the dude, he did have attitude and gave no commentary. We spent a very long time in deep water with none but a few reef sharks which we had already swum with around the rays, and no lobster. The snorkeling was in a great are with very deep area and was not the smae as Christophe. By mid-afternoon it was so rough in the water that 2 of our PG cruisers were pretty injured on the coral and there was no first aid at all on the boat.

The bigger disappointment was Christophe as we had the most expectations for his trip. Frederic was our guide, 3 stops, coral garden was lovely, second was deep water with 0 visibility to see manta rays which it was obvious we would not due to 0 visibility. Also, we swam so far from the boat that at least 2 of us could not get back without help and had it not been for my snorkel belt, I would have drowned and my athlete husband barely made it and swallowed lots of water. It was awful. The 3rd stop was at a beautiful area but again far from the boat and I was the last to get on the boat because I didn't want to leave and I was the only one to see a ray. But no drinks were offered, no commentary, no pictures. No walk out to the sea. No explanation as to why Christophe was not there.

Marc's you can read about on 6/29 roll call-food was wonderful and guides were nice although 20 people on boat all English speakers from the PG and all French from the hotels. Much explanation was given in French, none hardly in English.

I have travelled alot and will always make the best out of any situation and I am used to "going with the flow", however, I think that the issues above really affected the enjoyment of the excursions by all of us on the PG. And I wanted to add my commentary to the foregoing for what it is worth. I would never book without getting a guarantee from the providers that we would be with them personally. Otherwise we loved the PG and loved FP. We were also very grateful that we had 5 additional days at the Moorea Hilton to do some superb snorkeling right in front of the hotel!