Catamaran-St.Johns Is it worth It?

[sarajean]

We are going on the Emerald in April and were thinking of taking the 1/2 day Cataman sail to St. John. It really sounded like something different for me first of all I have never snorkel, but then again I thought the cataman might be fun. Has anyone been on it and is it worth it through Princess? It is $89 each. Thanks in advance foir any info. Jean

[tmitchell82]

We are going on the Emerald in April and were thinking of taking the 1/2 day Cataman sail to St. John. It really sounded like something different for me first of all I have never snorkel, but then again I thought the cataman might be fun. Has anyone been on it and is it worth it through Princess? It is $89 each. Thanks in advance foir any info. Jean

 

We did this tour a few cruises ago and was nice. You take a taxi ride to the pier and board the catamaran there. The taxi ride was a little longer than I expected, but largely due to traffic. You sail on the catamaran over to St. Johns. I think we ended up at Honeymoon Bay which was beautiful. You could snorkel off the catamaran and there was nice coral to see along with some fish. Even managed to see a Stingray. They will also take you to the beach if you want on a small dingy if you do not want to swim it. On the way back, they had champaign, beer, and pain-killers (which we pretty strong) along with some snakes. The boat was not too crowded which was nice. The crew was decent. The only part I did not like was that they asked for tips more than once and stated that is how they get paid. Ask once at the end and I am fine, multiple times is a little overkill for me. St. Johns is really pretty. Was a nice tour.

 

Tim

[Lsimon]

Before I'd take a ship's excursion I'd consider a private day sail for just a little more money. Here is a thread that discusses some of them. We've done two and prefer the Rumbaba - but there are several of these operating: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1123738

[cruzkitty]

We did the full day excursion to Honeymoon Beach and really enjoyed it. The staff was great and the food was very tasty. I did ride over to the beach on the dinghy because I am not a strong swimmer. The staff was very helpful. I would definitely do it again. We had a gentleman get quite sea-sick, and the Staff was excellent to him!

[sarajean]

Thanks for the help.

Jean

[canadiancruisers11]

We did the full day over to St. John and since we love to sail, it was a very nice day...Just used the motor to get out of the harbour and then we were under sail the rest of the way which was very nice...Beautiful beach, great snorkeling, we saw stingrays, turtles up close and tons of fish...A nice way to spend the day if you've already done the beach thing in St. Thomas and the shopping