Reflection Shore Excursion to Nevis

[ChuckL]

Has anyone taken the Celebrity shore excursion from the Reflection to Nevis? The price is a little steep and I wondered if it is worth it. Also, did the tour include any beach time on it?

[Durkman]

I did this excursion last week (from Summit). I think the cost was $109 per person or something like that. It is probably the same tour as the one offered on Reflection. The main reason we went is that a colleague of mine has been to the Nevis Montpelier Plantation resort/hotel a few times and raves about it so we wanted to see what it was all about without having to spend the ~ $1k per night that it costs to stay there. :)

 

I made a few comments in my review at http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1796145. The tour includes some beach time (right next to where you have lunch), but the amount of time you get will vary. When you get off the boat in Nevis you will be directed to a van/bus depending on how many are in the tour. We were lucky to be assigned to a smaller van that filled up and left quickly, so we got a jumpstart on our tour and were the first group to reach all the sites and got to lunch first. We had about an hour on the beach.

 

The other part of the tour group was on a larger bus, which I understand was pretty nice because it was open air and had good circulation/views, -but it also had a lot more people on it and they ended up falling behind us and didn't get to the restaurant to start lunch until we were finishing up. They only had a few minutes on the beach and there were some complaints about that.

 

Lunch was pretty basic and included a rum punch (or regular punch/water) on arrival and one other drink (rum punch, beer, juice, water). Menu was a small portion of fish or chicken, some rice and a small side of salad. I think there was some dessert but I don't remember what (obviously not memorable). Not bad but nothing special, and if you have a large appetite you'll leave hungry.

 

Others had issues with the boat ride to/from Nevis. The boat was fairly small (one open-air deck, 2 large outboard engines, held around 50 people) and did not take the transit between the islands particularly well. I don't believe anyone got sick to the point of vomiting but I know a lot of folks were not very comfortable.

 

On balance, I thought it was fine (the boat ride didn't bother me that much), but knowing what I know now I probably would choose to stay in St. Kitts and do a shorter/cheaper tour.

[ChuckL]

I did this excursion last week (from Summit). I think the cost was $109 per person or something like that. It is probably the same tour as the one offered on Reflection. The main reason we went is that a colleague of mine has been to the Nevis Montpelier Plantation resort/hotel a few times and raves about it so we wanted to see what it was all about without having to spend the ~ $1k per night that it costs to stay there. :)

 

I made a few comments in my review at http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1796145. The tour includes some beach time (right next to where you have lunch), but the amount of time you get will vary. When you get off the boat in Nevis you will be directed to a van/bus depending on how many are in the tour. We were lucky to be assigned to a smaller van that filled up and left quickly, so we got a jumpstart on our tour and were the first group to reach all the sites and got to lunch first. We had about an hour on the beach.

 

The other part of the tour group was on a larger bus, which I understand was pretty nice because it was open air and had good circulation/views, -but it also had a lot more people on it and they ended up falling behind us and didn't get to the restaurant to start lunch until we were finishing up. They only had a few minutes on the beach and there were some complaints about that.

 

Lunch was pretty basic and included a rum punch (or regular punch/water) on arrival and one other drink (rum punch, beer, juice, water). Menu was a small portion of fish or chicken, some rice and a small side of salad. I think there was some dessert but I don't remember what (obviously not memorable). Not bad but nothing special, and if you have a large appetite you'll leave hungry.

 

Others had issues with the boat ride to/from Nevis. The boat was fairly small (one open-air deck, 2 large outboard engines, held around 50 people) and did not take the transit between the islands particularly well. I don't believe anyone got sick to the point of vomiting but I know a lot of folks were not very comfortable.

 

On balance, I thought it was fine (the boat ride didn't bother me that much), but knowing what I know now I probably would choose to stay in St. Kitts and do a shorter/cheaper tour.

 

Durkman--

Would you say that the boat was unsafe, or just not to the normal standard that we think of when a shore excursion describes it as a ferry? Were there life jackets on board?

[Durkman]

Durkman--

Would you say that the boat was unsafe, or just not to the normal standard that we think of when a shore excursion describes it as a ferry? Were there life jackets on board?

I would not characterize the boat as unsafe. There were life jackets readily available at the stern of the boat (which we were told in a safety lecture). And the crew did a good job watching the waves and slowing down/turning into them as larger ones approached. There was just a lot more movement than we all probably expected--much more so than if it had been a larger ferry (which does run between St. Kitts and Nevis).