Sapphire on own or Ship Excursion all day sail/snorkel/beach

[TigerCruzin]

Having trouble deciding between these two options...

 

RCL excursion all day sail to Christmas Cove and Honeymoon for snorkeling, beach time and lunch.

 

or

 

Sapphire on our own.

 

This will be our only snorkel stop on the cruise (doing Bernards in St. Maarten). So want to make sure we get this in. However, I have only snorkeled officially twice on my last cruise. Husband, DD (10) DS (17) have never snorkeled. So want to have someone with more experience around.

 

Ship in port noon - 7 pm ( hate the timing, but what can I do :rolleyes:)

 

I know I can't "have it all", but I hate the fact that with the excursion we are out the entire time with no time for shopping or trip to PP.

 

If we go on our own, worried about logistics to Sapphire, to PP, then back to ship, with maybe a bit of shopping time at Havensight. I thought I read that a taxi could take us to PP and we would ride the tram down to the bottom close to the ship. How is this arranged?

 

The excursion takes the worry of the timing on return to the ship away so I can just relax and go along for the ride. But will I be missing out on that view and the shopping by only doing the excursion?

 

Decisions, decisions...

[TigerCruzin]

Sorry... this was supposed to post to the port forums. I added it there if you want to respond. :confused: