Excursion Recommendation in St. Thomas

[brett621]

Hi everyone,

 

I am cruising in late September on the Carnival Dream. My girlfriend and I are both in our 20's and were hoping to find a nice snorkeling excursion. I have seen the following three listed and was wondering if anyone had been on any/all of them and could recommend one over the rest:

 

Captain Nautica's Ultimate Snorkel Expedition

Castaway Barefoot Sail & Snorkel to Shipwreck Cove

St. John Champagne Catamaran Sailaway

 

Obviously there is a price difference in these which could come into play unless a more expensive excursion seems like it is worth every extra penny.

 

We are also open to other suggestions of excursions from the ones listed above if anyone has one they would highly recommend.

 

Thanks for all the input.

Brett

[blue_water]

Hi Brett,

 

Yes there are several excellent snorkel options between the ship excursions and self-excursions.

 

The ship excursions are probably great and if they depart right from the dock may be more convenient. The champagne sail is popular because you get a chance to see the coast of STJ as well as time to see Cruz bay or head to Trunk or Cinnamon Beach for a bit.

 

We prefer to look at the self-excursion options just because many of these are very popular and this is easy to do on St Thomas. For snorkeling from a boat the cays off St John are the favorite spots and a few monohull sails that are very popular ar New Horizons, Yacht Nightwind, and High Pockets. You can google their sites for details.

For off the beach snorkeling Sapphire Beach on the East End of St Thomas is the most popular, there's a reef as well as a sea grass area. The water is generally calm and there's a dive center renting anything you need. Also abundant natural shade along the beach which is a rarity.

You would need to taxi to Sapphire for these daysails or for the beach, that's a 1/2 hr drive and $16 - 20pp roundtrip fare.

 

You should get more feedback on the ship excursions and hopefully it will be an easy decision! :)

[OCruisers]

Brett .... Welcome to Cruise Critic! :)

 

Highly recommend doing an excursion that takes you to St. John!

 

Of the three you listed ... we have taken the St. John Champagne Catamaran Sailaway several times over the years and have never failed to have a good time! :)

 

LuLu

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[blue_water]

LuLu,

Does this one stop at different cays off STJ to snorkel? I know they are interested in that.

[brett621]

Thank you both for the insight. Like blue I am interested in the snorkeling that may be involved with the Catamaran as that would definitely play a factor in our decision. Would it be possible to provide a little more detail on that excursion as I have read nothing but good things and it sounds like snorkeling might be included to a degree so it is very appealing.

 

Thanks

[AZ ParrotHead]

You should also look into The Fury sailing excursion. They make several snorkel stops and its a nice boat.

 

Also, for a semi private charter, Rumbaba can't be beat out of Red Hook.

[GAMOM4]

We took the Champagne Catamaran Tour when we were in St. Thomas....we absolutely LOVED it....and we didn't snorkel at all.....the ride over to St. John was absolutely gorgeous.....when they the others off to snorkel we got on a little boat they were pulling behind the catamaran and took us over to the beach....and we are not beach people at all.....the only part of the trip that was bad at all (and I am thinking it would be this way no matter what you did in St. Thomas) the driver that took us to the catamaran was going really fast (at least we thought so) and that is one crowded island .... the drinks were free flowing on the way back to St. Thomas:) We are going to St. Thomas again in May we are considering doing the same excursion again...that is how much we enjoyed it.

[brett621]

Thanks again to everyone. I think we decided on the champagne catamaran based on what I've heard here and elsewhere. If I ever go back again I will definitely remember the other recommendations that everyone made.

[Tammy1617]

AZ Parrothead,

LOVE your crab picture!! Being from BMore and all!