NCL Excursion to Trunk Bay ~ Questions

[amhcruise]

We plan on doing the Trunk Bay excursion through NCL in March and I have a few questions about additional costs. The excursion description makes no mention of snorkel equipment, so I am assuming we will need to pay to rent those at the beach? Anyone have an idea of the cost for renting snorkels and masks? While we are on the topic...how about rental fees for beach chairs, etc.? Any info would be much appreciated. :)

[emo]

We did a Trunk Bay excursion through Celebrity, so not sure if it will be the same or not. But the snorkel equipment was included. There was a park entrance fee which was included with the excursion cost as well.

 

Regarding the beach chairs, I don't remember seeing any for rent, and the beach is fairly narrow with thick vegetation behind it, which provides some natural shade. So not really enough room for chairs anyway. Maybe your excursion is longer, but ours was scheduled at 4.5 hours I think, and by the time you ferry over from St. Thomas and drive to the bay, you only have 2 hours at the most to snorkel and sit on the beach before you head back.

 

Hope that helps!

[amhcruise]

Thanks for the reply. Yes, ours is only about 4 hours also...so we will only have a couple hours on the beach. With such a short time, did you feel it was still worth it? We considered going to Trunk Bay on our own instead of with the cruise excursion (to save more time), but the newbie in me is more comfortable going with the excursion...too much stress about missing the boat! :eek:

[emo]

Yes, I thought it was worth it, St. John is such a beautiful and natural island. The snorkel trail was fun as well, we spent about an hour in the water, then sat on the beach for maybe 30-40 min or so. Between having to taxi to/from the ferry docks, and paying for the ferry itself, you really don't save a lot of money by doing it yourself anyway. We did the excursion in the morning, got back to the ship for lunch, then still had a few hours to shop on St. Thomas. You would lose all the extra time if you took the ferry on your own.

 

Since a picture is worth a thousand words :):

 

Trunk Bay from above:

 

The beach:

 

The snorkel trail is located next to that closest small island:

 

Snorkeling:

[amhcruise]

Wow, those photos are amazing! We are definitely on the count-down and getting more excited by the day. Thanks for the info. :p

[chirpy12345]

emo--your photos of Trunk Bay are beautiful. Do you have more to share, epecially any of the underwater trail? You've made my decision much more difficult now, LOL!

[emo]

Wow, those photos are amazing! We are definitely on the count-down and getting more excited by the day. Thanks for the info. :p

 

Glad I could help with your cruise prep :) We're about to go back to St. Thomas again next month, and will probably not visit St. John this time, though it's tempting. But Trunk Bay is a must see!

 

emo--your photos of Trunk Bay are beautiful. Do you have more to share, epecially any of the underwater trail? You've made my decision much more difficult now, LOL!

 

Thanks! I moved some of my photos of Trunk Bay into a public album that you can view here:

http://photobucket.com/trunkbay

 

The water was a bit cloudy that day, and I had forgotten to switch to "underwater" mode once we were there, so most of them turned out very blue :( I did remember part way through, so at least there were a few good shots!

[pjn]

Hello Emo. We are traveling with celebrity next month. I am wondering which ship excursion you took. There seem to be 3 to St. John and they all look very similar. None mention snorkeling. It looks like we have 3 hours after the ferry docks and then we must get a taxi on our own to head to the beach and back. Do you remember the name of your excursion. Thanks so much.

[emo]

Hello Emo. We are traveling with celebrity next month. I am wondering which ship excursion you took. There seem to be 3 to St. John and they all look very similar. None mention snorkeling. It looks like we have 3 hours after the ferry docks and then we must get a taxi on our own to head to the beach and back. Do you remember the name of your excursion. Thanks so much.

 

Just checked the Celebrity website, and this is the name of the tour we took:

St. John Beach and Snorkel Tour - STE8

 

If you don't necessarily care whether you snorkel or not, but are wanting to visit a beach on St. John, the tours you mentioned that include 3 hours of free time would be a good alternative. My parents did one of those when they stopped in St. Thomas last year. Once in St. John, picked up a map from the National Park Service building at Cruz Bay. They then walked an easy and well marked ~1 mile trail to a beach.