RC excursion vs. 3rd Party

[Jerilf]

This is our first cruise and 1st time to St. Martin. I have found some amazing sounding tours through Billy Bones and Captain Bob's with very positive reviews. I am a huge review person and cannot find any reviews on the Royal Caribbean excursions. They offer a similar excursion though with speedboat and snorkel tour. I hesitate to go through 3rd party with concerns about refunds if changes made where I know that is covered by RC. Any advice appreciated about RC excursion experiences vs 3rd parties?

[hrmkr]

Check out Bernard's tours.  They offer great tours of the island and visit to several beaches.  Well worth the money.

 

The main differences that I have found between a ship excursion and a 3rd party company is that the 3rd party tour is usually much less crowded and cheaper for basically the same exact tour.  When going with the 3rd party, the cruise ship does not get a cut of the price. 

[lake show cruiser]

We were wondering the same thing.....On our November Harmony of the Seas the 3 island snorkel tour is a little less than the private companies. Does anyone know what tour company Royal uses for the 3 island snorkel power boat tour? 

[hrmkr]

18 hours ago, lake show cruiser said:

We were wondering the same thing.....On our November Harmony of the Seas the 3 island snorkel tour is a little less than the private companies. Does anyone know what tour company Royal uses for the 3 island snorkel power boat tour? 

Keep in mind how many people are on the tour.  The one's from the ship will be jammed packed.  The private tours will probably be less. May be worth paying a little bit more. 

 

For example, several years ago in Grand Cayman, we did a private tour to go see the stingrays.  There were only 6 of us on the tour.  We got to the stingray area very fast and had about 30 minutes all alone to be with the stingrays.  Then, there were 3-4 boats filled with 30-40 people on each coming to the area.  We had plenty of time to take pictures and "play" with the stingrays. When the ship tours arrived, everyone got out and each person had a few seconds with the stingrays to grab a quick picture. 

[Jerilf]

Thank you all. The private tour actually costs a little more than RC's. So there is no where to find reviews for RC's tours that anyone knows of?