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Coral World Ocean Park

Sizzlechest

By Sizzlechest,
in St. Thomas/St. John

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Sizzlechest

Sizzlechest

Posted
Posted

I'm planning on going to Coral World on July 6, 2016. We will be two adults and one 11 year old child. The cost for the excursion through NCL is $51 for adults and $41 for children ($143 total). Their website says taxi fare should be approximately $9-$10 per person depending on the port ($60 round trip). Admission is Adult $19 and Child $10 ($48* total). Total to do the excursion for us on our own is $108 for a savings of $35. It's not a huge savings, so unless I'm off on the taxi fares, it may not be worth the trouble.

 

* There are some extra fees that bring it to slightly over $50 that I discovered when doing a mock pre-purchase for tickets online.

 

Some questions:

 

Are the taxi fares the same for children? How easy/difficult is it to get a taxi? Do I need to buy tickets in advance or can I buy them at the gate? Any issue using credit cards or do I need to bring cash? Any better way to get there from the docks?

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SeaWatcher65

SeaWatcher65

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Don't waste money on the NCL excursion. Plus you will have more time on your own. I cannot imagine anything they offer other than transportation. It's a simple taxi/shuttle ride from the cruise ship dock to Coral World. If you really want to do one of the animal interactions or activities at Coral World, you can book it direct... on a busy day, they might not have time slots available if you wait until you get there. BUT...... Don't miss out on Coki Beach that is just steps away from Coral World! Beautiful views from the beach, food and drink service there too, and good snorkeling. My 9 yr old son was thrilled to snorkel there for the 1st time. We were at Coral World for about 30 minutes before we were all bored and went straight to Coki Beach.

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Sizzlechest

Sizzlechest

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Don't waste money on the NCL excursion. Plus you will have more time on your own. I cannot imagine anything they offer other than transportation. It's a simple taxi/shuttle ride from the cruise ship dock to Coral World.

 

I'm of the same mind as you, but for a $30 difference, I gotta wonder if it's worth the risk missing the ship if we don't get back in time. We're there from 8AM to 6pm, so I can't imagine not making it back since there's no way I'm staying there that long..

 

If you really want to do one of the animal interactions or activities at Coral World, you can book it direct... on a busy day, they might not have time slots available if you wait until you get there. BUT...... Don't miss out on Coki Beach that is just steps away from Coral World! Beautiful views from the beach, food and drink service there too, and good snorkeling. My 9 yr old son was thrilled to snorkel there for the 1st time. We were at Coral World for about 30 minutes before we were all bored and went straight to Coki Beach.

 

That brings up a good point. I heard there are lockers there, so I guess swimwear under regular clothes and then change if we want to spend time at the beach?

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SeaWatcher65

SeaWatcher65

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I'm of the same mind as you, but for a $30 difference, I gotta wonder if it's worth the risk missing the ship if we don't get back in time. We're there from 8AM to 6pm, so I can't imagine not making it back since there's no way I'm staying there that long..

 

That brings up a good point. I heard there are lockers there, so I guess swimwear under regular clothes and then change if we want to spend time at the beach?

 

Transportation was easy. From the dock, we took the taxi/shuttle straight to Coki Beach. When leaving, we did the same. There was a constant line of taxi/shuttles ready to take people back to the cruise ship dock. I think it would be easier to take the first one, instead of trying to find which one NCL arranged for. You will have plenty of time to do Coral World and Coki Beach. We used the lockers at Coral World to store some things while we went to the beach but probably was not necessary. There is a place to change clothes at Coral World and Coki Beach. Snorkeling (the 1st time ever) was fun at Coki. You can rent snorkel stuff but I suggest buying your own mask and tube before you go.... and if possible, practice in a swimming pool. Easy to learn the basics.

 

Our plan is to go back to Coki or another beach (Sapphire maybe) to snorkel. And will take some Fins this time. At Coki, you did not have to go very far out in the water to see all the fish.

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momof3cruisers

momof3cruisers

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I'm of the same mind as you, but for a $30 difference, I gotta wonder if it's worth the risk missing the ship if we don't get back in time. We're there from 8AM to 6pm, so I can't imagine not making it back since there's no way I'm staying there that long..

 

 

 

That brings up a good point. I heard there are lockers there, so I guess swimwear under regular clothes and then change if we want to spend time at the beach?

 

Got off the ship about 9 ish. Grab a taxi...super easy. You go to the taxi stand, tell them where you want to go and they point you toward the right one. You will most likely travel with several others. Taxi fare is $10 pp to

Coki, so I'm sure it's the same to Coral World. Take your time while you are there. Stroll over to the beach. Relax....grab a taxi back to the port around 3:00 and you will have more than enough time. :)

 

You can catch a taxi that is just there, or tell your driver when you arrive what time you want to leave and he'll be there for you.

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SeaWatcher65

SeaWatcher65

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Got off the ship about 9 ish. Grab a taxi...super easy. You go to the taxi stand, tell them where you want to go and they point you toward the right one. You will most likely travel with several others. Taxi fare is $10 pp to

Coki, so I'm sure it's the same to Coral World. Take your time while you are there. Stroll over to the beach. Relax....grab a taxi back to the port around 3:00 and you will have more than enough time. :)

 

You can catch a taxi that is just there, or tell your driver when you arrive what time you want to leave and he'll be there for you.

 

At Coki, I'd stand in line and take the 1st one available. There were other taxi vans on the side and we went with one thinking it would be faster than waiting in line but he had us wait anyway while he tried to get more passengers.

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momof3cruisers

momof3cruisers

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At Coki, I'd stand in line and take the 1st one available. There were other taxi vans on the side and we went with one thinking it would be faster than waiting in line but he had us wait anyway while he tried to get more passengers.

 

We really liked our driver on the way there and the same ten of us who rode there together were agreed upon time to return so it was all set. :)

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  • 3 months later...
kimlovesfl

kimlovesfl

Posted
Posted
Got off the ship about 9 ish. Grab a taxi...super easy. You go to the taxi stand, tell them where you want to go and they point you toward the right one. You will most likely travel with several others. Taxi fare is $10 pp to

Coki, so I'm sure it's the same to Coral World. Take your time while you are there. Stroll over to the beach. Relax....grab a taxi back to the port around 3:00 and you will have more than enough time. :)

 

You can catch a taxi that is just there, or tell your driver when you arrive what time you want to leave and he'll be there for you.

 

This is exactly what we did; our driver asked the group of us what time to pick us up, we agreed upon 3 (we got there at 11), and he was right on time. We only went to Coral World, the others with whom we shared a taxi went to the beach. It took about 40 minutes to get back to the port.

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Giantfan13

Giantfan13

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Can some one give me some info on Corral World itself?

 

We are 2 seniors, no kids, would we enjoy this place. We have been to St Thomas a couple of other times, so were just looking for something we haven't done before. We are really not beach people so we do not want to spend a lot of time on one.

 

Are there any sort of discounts around for Corral World?

 

Thanks

 

Cheers

 

Len

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kimlovesfl

kimlovesfl

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I don't know if they are, I would check online full price is $19 pp, plus $10pp cab dare each way. I think its a pretty good deal. Food is theme park prices, I think I paid $15 for 2 hot dogs, fries, soda and bottled water. Wait, less than theme park prices.

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lenquixote66

lenquixote66

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Can some one give me some info on Corral World itself?

 

We are 2 seniors, no kids, would we enjoy this place. We have been to St Thomas a couple of other times, so were just looking for something we haven't done before. We are really not beach people so we do not want to spend a lot of time on one.

 

Are there any sort of discounts around for Corral World?

 

Thanks

 

Cheers

 

Len

 

 

We have been to St.Thomas 8 times but never to this site . We too are seniors without kids .We are leaving on our cruise tomorrow and plan to go here .

 

Lenny

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frbmom

frbmom

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Hello,

 

We are looking for a fantastic beach to visit and snorkel from when our ship docks in St. Thomas in April. From reading many reviews it seemed like Coki Beach would be our best bet but reviews warned of major overcrowding when many cruise ships are in port. I looked up the schedule and there will be three ships in port when we are there... Any recommendations???? Thank you!!

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  • 1 month later...
Sizzlechest

Sizzlechest

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I found a whole bunch of printable coupons for the VI including the Aquarium here:

 

http://www.virginislandsthisweek.com/images/VI-This-Week-Special-Offers.pdf

 

It should get updated as time goes on. Also, Budget car rental has a discount coupon booklet, but it looks like it's only good for 2015. Hopefully, they will update their web page since it offered "buy one, get second at 50% off" coupon for the aquarium.

 

http://www.budgetstt.com/specials.php

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LuCruise

LuCruise

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I found a whole bunch of printable coupons for the VI including the Aquarium here:

 

http://www.virginislandsthisweek.com/images/VI-This-Week-Special-Offers.pdf

 

It should get updated as time goes on. Also, Budget car rental has a discount coupon booklet, but it looks like it's only good for 2015. Hopefully, they will update their web page since it offered "buy one, get second at 50% off" coupon for the aquarium.

 

http://www.budgetstt.com/specials.php

 

Thank you for posting. We're going next week so am going to print. Every lit bit of savings helps.

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