Fantasy Day Sail Review

[tjatczak]

We were onboard the Caribbean Princess 3/12. While in st. Thomas we made arrangements to day sail on the Fantasy with Captain Pam. Let me start by saying that she was great with our reservation and all other arrangements.

 

Pam made arrangements for 'Wally' to pick us uo at 8:30, for a brief islnd tour before our 9:30 departure from Red Hook. Wally could not make it, so he sent Raymond. Let's just say Raymond's open air safari taxi is a bit old, and his narrative was hard to understand. We made a couple of stops for photos and were at Red Hook Marina about 9:15. Raymond let us out, but had no idea what would happen next. He said either he (or Wally) would be back at 3:30 to pick us up. We stood around on the pier for about 15 minutes (we met some folks from our ship that were met by Admiral Jim, for his day sail, so we figured Pam would not be far behind.) We learned later that Admiral Jim is Captain Pams dad, and he runs his own daysail on another sail boat (can't remember the name.)

 

Captain Pam arrived at 9;30 in her dingy. She shuttled us 3 at a time out to the Fantasy. Ladies first, then the 3 men. Remember, no shoes or sandals aboard the Fantasy, please. - After some quick introductions to Kathy, the first mate, as well as reminders that Kathy was our waitress and bartender and only got paid from our tips, we were underway. The weather was beautiful, although not very windy. We sailed some, and motored some out to St. John. Captain Pam haD a wealth of stories about St. Thomas, how she got there, her husband Brian (who shares half of the week as Captain of the Fantasy) and more. We enjoyed a few laughs, and had pound cake and apples snack (ask about the Hatian Day Sail):) and soon arrived at St. John for snorkeling. I forgot to mention:

BE SURE TO HAVE A BLOODY MARY - THEY WERE GREAT!

Surprizingly, after being outfitted, we were basically dumped to snorkel on our own. Perhaps it was because we had all snorkeled before, but we thought that we would have a guide, a least for part of our adventure. Kathy armed us with some bread, and we were off!

The snorkeling was great - we hand fed a huge black angelfish - like it was or pet -WOW that was neat. Plenty of other fish were seen. We did not see any turtles, but did see a number of large active conchshells. After about an hour or so in the water (back to the ship was against the current:( ) we spent a short time on the beach. This was my first opportunity to see 'wild' donkeys. We headed back to the Fantasy for lunch.

Salad (very unique and quite tasty) curry chicken over rice (good, but kind of bland) bread(yum, yum) rum punch (tasty, but not potent) as well as oatmeal raisin cookies (good but only ONE per person?) it was time to relax, sun bathe and even a quick nap. Several cold beers were good also! Pam encouragd us to take another swim, but noone did. I think Pam became bored with us, and we were soon headed back to Red Hook. This is where I think we could have done some sight seeing, or perhaps a second snorkel site, or something...but no...we were on our way back. kathy shared stories with the ladies up front, and Captain Pam entertained the guys in back. We sailed some, but again needed the engine also.

 

We were back to Red Hook by 3. Captain Pam had called in for the taxi to be there early. This is my only complaint, since we were paying our $700 plus Kathy's tips for our sail, Pam could have done a bit more to find something that would have been of interest to us, rather than the quick sail back in.

Sightseeing, a second snorkel stop, closer up view of St John harbor, something. Just my opinion. There is no way that Pam or Kathy could have been anymore polite or concerned about our comfort, but ?????

 

Overall, we had a great day. Pricey? Yes! Relaxing? Yes! Perhaps we should have snorkeled or swam more, I'm not sure. One time day sail was enough. Altough a great day with great service, I could have easily spent my day another way, for much less money. My overall comment would be:

IF YOU WANT TO SPEND ALOT OF TIME IN THE WATER - YOU WILL LOVE THE FANTASY. OTHERWISE, FIND ANOTHER WAY TO SPEND YOUR DAY IN ST. THOMAS.

I would be happy to answer any other questions.

[stuffic]

Is that $700 per person or per group?

[tjatczak]

$115 per person (cash) or $125 per person (credit card)

 

The max they will take is 6 people.

 

Ted

[Logie]

Thank you for taking the time to write the review. I am sailing with High Pockets in a month and heard this is another relative to Pam, but have heard better comments.

 

I would be extremely upset if in 6 hours we only did one snorkel stop...I am sure our advertisment said 2 stops, I am going back now to check that out.

 

How much do you tip?

[gambler]

We sailed with Highpockets this past November. (search here for my review)

We ended up only with one snorkling stop but it was fine, we saw alot and were not rushed to "hurry and get up and go". It will depend on the wind and the weather. Just relax and enjoy. I asked Kathleen (the owner) and she said to just tip her first mate, Bill, for a family of three we gave him $50.