Carnival St. John Trunk Bay Beach & Snorkel excursion

[MindTheGap1918]

Has anyone been on Carnival's Trunk Bay Beach and Snorkel trip? Their site lists it as being 4 hours long which does not seem like it leaves much time for snorkeling after travel time. Any input would be much appreciated :)

[danech]

Kids & I did this in 2003. Then is was their first Cruise and first snorkel trip (during which my son was nicknamed "Flipper Boy", lol). With both those firsts, the trip over and back was great fun also. The Guide pointed out sights while traveling. Total snorkel time was around an hour. Trunk Bay was as beautiful!

 

If we were to do it again now, after seven Cruises and many other snorkel trips and/or water tours, we'd find the travel vs. snorkel time short also. For then it was perfect.

[hubofhockey]

Not sure how many hours you are in port. But this is an easy port to do on your own. Take a taxi to the ferry and another taxi to Trunk Bay. You may wind up with more time at the beach and a much cheaper price.

[tiggerman101]

It is short. We usually avoid cruise line excursions but I wanted my partner to see Trunk Bay (I had been there before). He stresses sometimes over a lot of travel so I thought the taxi/ferry/taxi, etc trip would worry him. We did the excursion on our Victory cruise and didn't have too much time at the beach at all. I remember getting back to the ship with many hours to spare before it left again. In fact, we ate lunch, took a nap and then went back out shopping before we left St Thomas.

[MamaParrotHead]

Yes, beach time is supposedly maybe an hour and a half. Considering you spend more time getting there than enjoying the beach, I think we're going to attempt to do it on our own.

[airhead22]

We did it on our own with no problems. Just be sure to allow for traffic time, as it was at a standstill in the afternoon. The trip from the ferry dock in St Thomas took around 45 mins.

[pghsteelerfan]

We just did Carnival's Trunk Bay Beach and Snorkel trip this past May and really enjoyed it. We took a ferry from right where the ships dock over to St. Johh where we then took open air taxi buses to Trunk Bay. The ferry ride took about an hour total with about 15 minutes loading everyone up and the actual ride over was about 45 minutes. The taxi ride was about a half hour total, which included stopping at scenic overlooks of Caneel Bay as well as Trunk Bay (beautiful). We had about an hour and a half for beach and snorkel. The snorkeling is an underwater trail that you do on your own, without a guide, so you can spend as long or as little time as you'd like snorkeling. The trail has markers in the water that you follow and there are also signs underwater that you'll see snorkeling that will identify some of the fish and other sea life you will see. There are restrooms and showers at Trunk Bay. I forget if there were refreshments for purchase or not (I think there were, but we didn't get anything). You'll then be picked up by the open air taxi's for the return trip to the ferry. We really enjoyed this excursion and I'd love to do it again. We were thinking of doing it on our own, but if for some reason we'd be late getting back to the ship, it would not wait for us. If you are on a ship's excursion, the ship will wait if the excursion is late getting back. If you decide to take this excursion, I highly recommend sitting at a window seat on the left side of the taxi if you would like to get pictures of the overlooks - they are just beautiful.

 

Here are a few pictures from our excursion:

 

Caneel Bay overlook on St. John

 

Trunk Bay overlook

 

Signs identifying sea life along the underwater snorkeling trail

 

If you have any more specific questions about this tour, please feel free to ask.

[MindTheGap1918]

I have considered during the tour on my own by taking the ferry, but am also concerned about the logistics of getting to and from St. John and missing the boat. The Carnival tour would probably my best bet, I just feel paying $75pp for a little over an hour of beach and snorkel is a little much. The boat is in port until 5pm and the excursion is over at 12:30.

 

pghsteelerfan, thank you for sharing your photos. They make me wish I was there right now! :)

[blindrid]

Not sure how many hours you are in port. But this is an easy port to do on your own. Take a taxi to the ferry and another taxi to Trunk Bay. You may wind up with more time at the beach and a much cheaper price.

 

We just did it and I checked doing it our way. It really didn't save much money so we booked through CCL. This way we didn't have to wait for ferry, screw with cabbies, pay the park fee (built in) and overall hassles.

 

Snorkel time was about an hour, good ride over and stops along the way for good pic opps.

[dclark]

I have never considered doing through CCL. Here are my reasons:

1) Cost- CCL is more than doing it on your own

2) Time-we liked to spend the whole day there, not just a couple of hours. It is too beautiful to only spend and hour or two there.

3) Crowds- when the tours show up, the people do a good job of scaring away fish and clouding up the water. As soon as the ship docks, we get off, grab a cab to the ferry. We are always among the first at Trunk Bay and it is nicest then.

[MindTheGap1918]

Thank you all for your responses. I am still somewhat on the fence though I however did not consider how many ships may be in port that day. It may be beneficial to get there earlier by going on our own. I'll continue my research!

[dclark]

Thank you all for your responses. I am still somewhat on the fence though I however did not consider how many ships may be in port that day. It may be beneficial to get there earlier by going on our own. I'll continue my research!

 

Here's what you need to do;

1) Get some boxes of cereal from the lido deck and pack 'em- they'll serve as lunch. Bring some water too.

2) As soon as ship is cleared RUN off the ship and grab a cab,ask driver to take you Hook ferry. I forgot prices for all this, do a search, I think it is cheaper with four people.

3) Get ferry tickets. Ferry leaves every 30 minutes (I think).

4) WHen you land at St. John, get another cab to take you trunk bay. The driver will also stop along the way to let you take pics.

5) When you get to trunk, you'll have to pay a few bucks entrance fee.

Keep in mind that the method I have discribed is very, very popular, well used.When you leave, don't worry about getting a cab as they'll be there, they know the drill.

One last thing- you can take the ferry straight from St. John to St. Thomas "near" the dock. It costs about the same as ferry +cab and the walk from where they dropped us off was kind of far.

You'll be at the beach early, lots of fish, quiet. Then the cruise tours show up with people acting like it is the first time they have seen a beach- they'll stomp about, trying to walk with their fins, creating a ruckus, disturbing the fish and quiet. Come noon, the place can get a bit crowded.

[hubofhockey]

Thank you all for your responses. I am still somewhat on the fence though I however did not consider how many ships may be in port that day. It may be beneficial to get there earlier by going on our own. I'll continue my research!

 

It is very beneficial to get an early start. We got there at least an hour before any ship type excursion folks arrived. It is also very easy to do as the taxis and other transfers are waiting for you at every stop. If the cruise lines include admission price, it still doesn't get the price close as admission is cheap to Trunk Bay is $4 for adults and free for kids. I am not sure there is any scenario where cruise line excursions are similar in price for transportation to beaches than doing it on your own.

[dclark]

I don't remember how much time we spend at Trunk when doing it on our own, I think it might be around 4 hours. As you can see from the posted pictures, it is one of those places that you don't get tired of and want to leave early.

[MindTheGap1918]

After reading all your replies and seeing photos, I think I have the courage to attempt going to Trunk Bay on my own. It seems like way too pretty of a place to only spend an hour or so. I'm not sure why Carnival spends such a short time there with 9 hours in port.

[Hurry&Wait]

There is a very detailed link on this over in the Port of Call thread. The link has lots of details on how to get to St. John on your own. Personally, I think its the only way to go ;)

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1196166

 

Kenny

[Upandadam]

Not sure how many hours you are in port. But this is an easy port to do on your own. Take a taxi to the ferry and another taxi to Trunk Bay. You may wind up with more time at the beach and a much cheaper price.

 

We tried doing this once and it turned out that they closed down the ferry due to a bomb threat. The cab driver said that was fairly common as the residents on St. Thomas like to keep people on the island. Don't know what we would have done had the ferry closed down AFTER we were already on St John.

 

As a result, we never leave the island the ship is on unless on a Carnival Excursion.

[MindTheGap1918]

There is a very detailed link on this over in the Port of Call thread. The link has lots of details on how to get to St. John on your own. Personally, I think its the only way to go ;)

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1196166

 

Kenny

 

 

What a great thread! You're right, it did provide some great ideas. Thank you for sharing it! :D

[MrPete]

Has anyone been on Carnival's Trunk Bay Beach and Snorkel trip? Their site lists it as being 4 hours long which does not seem like it leaves much time for snorkeling after travel time. Any input would be much appreciated :)

 

We did it once a bunch of years ago. Did not like the limited amount of time. Following year, we did it on our own. Didn't save much $$, but we were able to stay as long as we liked.

[MrPete]

We tried doing this once and it turned out that they closed down the ferry due to a bomb threat. The cab driver said that was fairly common as the residents on St. Thomas like to keep people on the island. Don't know what we would have done had the ferry closed down AFTER we were already on St John.

 

As a result, we never leave the island the ship is on unless on a Carnival Excursion.

 

And how would THEY have gotten you back?

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

We went there on our own - and the place was PACKED. Certainly beautiful, but not with those masses. It was a bit better once the cattle call occurred and the Carnival excursion left.

 

Tom

[MrPete]

We went there on our own - and the place was PACKED. Certainly beautiful, but not with those masses. It was a bit better once the cattle call occurred and the Carnival excursion left.

 

Tom

 

 

Tom....How many ships were in that day? I've been lucky that TB's never been packed while there (so far), with only three ships in port (and NO Oasis)

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

Tom....How many ships were in that day? I've been lucky that TB's never been packed while there (so far), with only three ships in port (and NO Oasis)

 

I honestly can't recall -- it was perhaps 6 years (and a couple of cruises:) ) ago. I would say 4-5 ships, as that is the average number we encounter there. If the Oasis was in port I would say "forget it"! Then again, the crowds don't impact everyone equally... some can tolerate them, others not so much.

 

Tom

[blindrid]

And how would THEY have gotten you back?

 

You don't use the same ferry :rolleyes:.

[MrPete]

You don't use the same ferry :rolleyes:.

 

We did when we used their excursion.