Wildest Excursions

[TomCrooz]

My wife and I will be celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary next February aboard the Caribbean Princess and we've invited some our close family and friends. So far, we're up to 8 couples and we are so excited. We're looking for some wild excursions that'll blow them all away!!! We are all very adventurous and will try anything once. Any suggestions??? We'll be stopping in St. Thomas, St Maarten and Princess Cays. Thanks for you help.....

[serene56]

8 cabins booked-- did you go as a group so as to get the perks?

St thomas--not wild but cheap and a great excursion. check out [url="http://www.godfreytoursvi.com"]www.godfreytoursvi.com[/url] 20 bucks 6 hours
shopping, a whole island tour even snorkling and swimming. Best 20 bucks around.
St MArten is cheap for cigerettes. GOt those for 9 bucks a carton.
PS: Have you checked the ports of call board located on the main screen of cruise critic.

Going NOWHERE
[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=000080&cdt=2004;10;22;16;00;00&timezone=GMT-0500[/img]


Miracle, February 13, 2005
Legend, October 22,2004
Voyager August 31,2003
Victory September 22,2002
Regal Empress,June 2001
Sensation,August 2000

[Nanci]

Tom: I'm not sure if you consider this wild, but in St. Thomas you could go parasailing (not me) but in St. Maartin I did the America Cup Sailing Regetta. You actually do the sailing and race the other boat. It was great fun !!

[kryos]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> We're looking for some wild excursions that'll blow them all away!!! We are all very adventurous and will try anything once. Any suggestions??? We'll be stopping in St. Thomas, St Maarten and Princess Cays. Thanks for you help.....<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Ummmmmm ... Wild experiences ... my specialty! [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Shame you're not going to Costa Rica. I would suggest Costa Rica Bungee ... a 285 foot jump off an old bridge that spans a canyon strewn with rocks. No experience like it.

But for your ports ... you can check and see if either St. Maarten or St. Thomas has a drop zone (skydiving facility). Tandem skydiving (where you are attached to an instructor for the entire jump) is a quite popular activity in many resort areas. Bit expensive, though. Also, check to see if any of these islands has a small, recreational-type airport. If so, you'll usually find a variety of aviation-type adventures you can indulge in ... things like soaring or aerobatic flights.

Needless to say ... you'll have to research/book these type of excursions on your own. The cruise line won't touch them with a ten-foot pole. [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Blue skies and have fun!

--rita

[Guest]

In St. Thomas you can check out BOB, Breathing Observation Bubble. Basically it is a helmet placed over your head with air forced into it. It is part of a scooter set-up which allows you to drive around under water.

Great trip.

Don

[TomCrooz]

Thanks everyone...I especially like the notion of a skydive...I'll have to do some homework before our trip.

Keep the great ideas coming!

[kryos]

[quote name='TomCrooz']Thanks everyone...I especially like the notion of a skydive...I'll have to do some homework before our trip.
[/QUOTE]
[url]http://www.uspa.org[/url] or
[url]http://www.dropzone.com[/url]

Maybe those will help in your research.

I know there's a drop zone in Freeport, Bahamas ... but I'm not sure about possibilities in other foreign ports. Also, don't be overly concerned if the dropzone is USPA-sanctioned or not. Many of them won't be ... and that doesn't mean they are not good, safe operations. Just make sure the instructors are USPA-certified.

Blue skies ...

--rita

[cpayne]

Hubby and I are very adventuresome so don't get me wrong, but we have always strayed away from things like parasailing, sky diving, etc outside of the U.S. The reason being is because there are not the same type of regulations governing these types of operations in foreign territories as there are in the U.S. Safety is a big concern without these regulations in place. Not to say accidents can't and don't happen in the U.S., but I feel much safer knowing the industries are regulated.

Not to put a damper on your idea, but something to think about.....

[kryos]

[quote name='cpayne']Hubby and I are very adventuresome so don't get me wrong, but we have always strayed away from things like parasailing, sky diving, etc outside of the U.S. The reason being is because there are not the same type of regulations governing these types of operations in foreign territories as there are in the U.S. Safety is a big concern without these regulations in place. Not to say accidents can't and don't happen in the U.S., but I feel much safer knowing the industries are regulated.
[/QUOTE]
The United States Parachute Association certifies the tandem instructors, though. The manufacturers of the tandem gear used to do it, but they turned that over to the USPA in the past year or two. So, if you jump with a USPA-certified instructor, you should be getting the same level of safety in whatever part of the world you jump.

Now, aviation regulations (for the airplanes) I don't know much about. But I would assume aviation regulations and safety requirements would be pretty much the same in most "civilized" nations.

I understand what you are saying about shying away from doing certain things in a foreign country, and to some extent you are probably smart for taking that stance. It's just that I find that anyplace that caters to tourists as a big part of their economic survival is going to have some pretty strong safety regulations in place to govern their more "adventuresome" activities.

Of course, I have to admit that I am not an expert on this. I've only ventured outside of the U.S. once so far, on a Panama Canal cruise last March. Due to dumb luck, I missed the boat in Ft. Lauderdale and had to fly to Costa Rica to meet up with it two days later. While there, I went bungee jumping ... which probably wasn't a smart thing. But, I have to say that their attention to detail and safety seemed about equal to what you would find in the U.S., and the experience was a positive one ... though it scared the crap outta me.

But an area like Freeport or St. Thomas would seem to be even more tourist-oriented than a country like Costa Rica, and I, personally, wouldn't have any hesitation to try an "extreme" activity in one of those places. Accidents can happen anywhere and the only problem with having one happen in a place like St. Thomas would be the inconvenience and expense of getting home.

Blue skies ...

--rita

[CaribbeanCruisesRock]

[b][color=darkorange]Parasailing is wild. :o [/color][/b]

[cpayne]

If you do parasail, be sure to do a tandem. It's so fun being able to share that experience with someone instead of trying to explain to them what you saw/felt after the fact. Makes it more romantic for your anniversary!