Mountain Biking on Water Island

[English Rose]

We took this tour with RCI. We were very fortunate that our party of 7 and one other couple took this trip. It made it a very personal and enjoyable experience. We were taken over to Water Island by water taxi. We were then driven to the top of the Island where we picked up our bikes. We were given full instructions and lots of informative talk along the way, stopping regularly. Sue, her partner and friend made our day. They were so friendly, full of wonderful information and pampered to our every whim. After an energetic bike ride on very uneven pathways and roads we stopped for an hour at Honeymoon Bay (or Beach, can't remember). That was the highlight. By this time there was nobody on the beach but us. Amazing.

 

We were delivered back to the ship by water taxi. A thoroughly enjoyable half day and one of the highlights of our cruise. I would thoroughly recommend anyone looking for an energetic couple of hours to take this trip. The scenery alone was worth it.

[DCwom]

We did the Bike excursion in May from the Adventure. This was our last stop and our 4th excursion of our cruise so our experience is somewhat different, although not bad.

 

1st we enjoyed it so I'm not complaining, but I wouldn't really call it mountain biking since it was pretty much on roads, albeit dirt roads. There was no single or double track riding for those who know what that means, and the ride was basically downhill or flat, no real climbing. We routinely ride 20 or so miles (on road) each weekend during the summer months so this 6 mile ride was nothing. For us the bike provided a good way to see this "different" island, and when you throw in honeymoon beach and the ferry ride across the bay it made a nice outing. The guides were very helpful to the less experienced riders repeating over and over and over again how to shift gears :( The bikes weren't in very good condition, I think they are basically stored outside in the rain so they didn't ride very well.

 

In a nutshell if you can ride a bike you can do this excursion its definitely within the "less than average" riders ability, and if you are an experienced cyclist then take it for what it is, a guided tour of the island using an old bike with a nice semi private beach stop and a private ferry ride across the harbor.

 

Just a side note, at the end of the ride the group was given the option to continue to the "black diamond" or go directly to the beach. The rest of the group (the 7 youngins) went the the beach while us 2 old farts (actualy we're only 46) took the "black diamond" trail through the trees to the beach. The trail really wasn't a big deal but the irony is that we sort of crashed because of the crappy bikes. Basically I zigged when I should have zagged and came to a complete stop (stalled) at a little hump in the trail at which time I fell over sideways due to lack of forward motion, and of course my wife ran into the back of me. The event gave us the tag line for our cruise when we got home, "If your not bruising, your not cruising hard enough":eek:

[English Rose]

I do agree with your point. If you are a very experienced biker or extremely fit, then do take note of the considerations below. The bikes were definitely under par but certainly didn't bother us. The advice was very repetitive and rather for 6 year olds, but again, we just went with it and had a lovely afternoon.

[The Islander]

For folks that want to see what Honeymoon Beach looks like you can check out this video of the beach (and walking there from the ferry).

 

--Islander

[GinDon]

Can this mountain biking tour be booked independently, or does it have to be a ships' excursion?

[DCwom]

Can this mountain biking tour be booked independently, or does it have to be a ships' excursion?

 

I don't know about direct booking, they didn't have a web site when we went, but given the logistics of the location and no competing bike tour I'd think most all of their business is via Cruise ship excursion desks.

 

They also met us at the ship (Adventure of the Seas) and the ferry picked us up right there giving us a unique photo op of the Adventure when we departed/returned; Sue the guide snapped one of our favorite couples picture of us with the Adventure in the background. Apparently they charter a ferry just for the excursion folks because the normal ferry dock is about 3 miles from the Haverstand dock that Adventure uses.

 

I forget exactly what we paid, but given all the logistics I think it was fairly priced for this type of thing. Here's what you get.

 

* 2 Ferry rides across harbor directly from Cruise ship (to/from).

* Bike Rental, with support, i.e. no worry of mechanical breakdowns because they follow you.

* Transportation to the "summit" of Water Island.

* Guided info on both the ferry & bike ride.

* Bottle of water.

* Ride ends @ Honeymoon beach with 1 hour beach time (technically this is free, but you'd still need a ferry ride to get here.)

* Transport from Honeymoon beach back to ferry dock (a 10 minute walk).

[subtchr]

Even though this is an older thread, hopefully you will see it and answer a quick (probably dumb) question...can we put beach bags, etc. in the following van while we ride bikes? This sounds like a fun excursion for us.

 

thanks

 

Sue

[DCwom]

Even though this is an older thread, hopefully you will see it and answer a quick (probably dumb) question...can we put beach bags, etc. in the following van while we ride bikes? This sounds like a fun excursion for us.

Sue

 

On our excursion the Husband and a worker rode with us while the wife drove the van back down to the beach where she set up some of her paintings. We were told it was safe to put our belongings in the van, and we did. Water island as you will find out is mostly inhabited by millionaires with exclusive homes, so petty thief is pretty unlikely. If I recall correctly the husband and wife are from the mainland US; water island and its inhabitants are pretty much wealthy transplants from the US.

[subtchr]

On our excursion the Husband and a worker rode with us while the wife drove the van back down to the beach where she set up some of her paintings. We were told it was safe to put our belongings in the van, and we did. Water island as you will find out is mostly inhabited by millionaires with exclusive homes, so petty thief is pretty unlikely. If I recall correctly the husband and wife are from the mainland US; water island and its inhabitants are pretty much wealthy transplants from the US.

 

Thanks for the response...we would not put anything valuable in the van, just beach bags. Sounds like a relaxing day, we are looking forward to it!

 

Sue

[butterflyfish]

Thanks for the review. We wanted to do this last time we were in St. Thomas, but they weren't running the tour the day we were there (only ship in port that day). Will have this on my list for next time!