Jolly pirates snorkling

[Caume]

I will be arriving in Aruba on the AOS March 14 ,2006 and was thinking of booking the early am tour with Jolly Pirates and I am wondering if my ship arrives at 8:00a.m will I have enough time to make it to the tour which starts at 9:30A.M. as well does anybody know if they offer a refund if one does not make it ?

Thanks

Marlene

[grangermom]

I don't know the answers to both of your questions. Our Jolly Pirates tour isn't until April. However, if you e-mail them directly, they'll respond w/in 24 hours. They are extremely helpful. We are going on AOS, so we'll also dock at 8:00. We're taking the 9:30 tour with Jolly Pirates. Our e-mail from them gave us directions on how to get there, and it shouldn't be a problem at all to get there on time. Enjoy your cruise!:)

[Caume]

I did contact Jolly Pirates and asked them if they thought I would have enough time but they really didn't answer my question, they did however say they would refund my money if for some reason the ship didn't make it on time. I am worried because sometimes it takes awhile to get off the ship, but I did book it and I will let you know if we had any trouble.

Thanks again!!

Marlene

[Catsway]

We were on the Carnival Destiny in January. We had booked the early tour with the Jolly Pirates on line before we departed. They replied with all the information we needed, directions, mode of travel, etc in a email that served as our confirmation. We chose to ride the bus to the Holiday Inn Sunspree and walked down the beach a few yards to Moomba Beach where you meet the crew. We arrived with plenty of time to spare.

 

We can highly recommend this tour. It was truely 4 hours of some of the best snorkeling we have ever done. The crew was fantastic. The open bar starts as soon as you get aboard. The first two stops were great. We took lunch and then had a chance to use the rope swing. Then the final stop was at the sunken German ship. The water clarity was superb and the fish were abundant. After the trip, we bought tshirts and then retired to the beach bar for a couple of Balachi Beers (local brew). We took the bus back downtown and finished our day with a little shopping. You can't go wrong with the Jolly Pirates!

 

Have fun!

 

Wayne and Cathi

Miramar Beach, Florida

[Caume]

Thank you for your reply :) . I would like to know what time your ship arrived at the port. Ours is getting in at 8:00a.m. and I need to meet Jolly pirates at 9:00a.m at their location. Do you think I will have time to make it?

Thanks

Marlene

[jolly pirates]

Marlene,

Not to worry!

You should have plenty of time to reach MooMba.

Sorry, I didn't make that clear for you.

We have lots of guests each day fm various cruise ships

and this has never been an issue.

Have a great time!

-Carla

[Gonedownlately?]

I don't see your trip listed in the excursion options for our upcoming trip on the Royal Caribbean Adventure of the Seas. We will be in Aruba on April 4th. Do you not work with Royal Caribbean?

 

Also: do you run your trips in the afternoons? If so, what are the departure and return times?

 

Thanks!

[Nannan]

We are booked for the morning tour in a few weeks and have a concern about the timing. It is advertised to be from 9:30am to 2:00pm, but we have heard that it frequently runs longer. This would not be a problem EXCEPT- we have a 3:30 tee time at the golf course on the island and don't want to miss out on playing golf. Can anyone who has taken this tour let me know if they were back on time? Thanks!!

[grangermom]

Hello,

I am not Carla from Jolly Pirates, but I will be on AOS the same time as you. When you look at the excursions with RCI, it's not listed as "Jolly Pirates." I'm sure that's because they don't want you booking directly with them. It is listed as a snorkel, swim and swing (I think) excursion. Anyway, look for "swing" as your key word. RCI is taking the afternoon tour, which does not include lunch, for $42. It is a shorter trip than the morning excursion. We are booked for the morning excursion, which includes lunch. I booked it myself through jollypirates.com, and it only cost me $42.50 because of the online discount. Maybe you'll join us. We are four adults and twelve (yes, twelve) kids, ranging in age from 10-16. You can take this as an invitation or a warning!:)

[AAL]

I think it is wise to take the morning cruise if you have kids with you. We went on the afternoon cruise two weeks ago. Alcohol was freely available from the start and the intoxication level of some of the passengers was appalling.

 

We were packed on the boat like sardines; it was so crowded that the crew couldn't keep track of who they'd served (my daughter wasn't given a snorkel mask, so we had to track one down for her; we weren't offered sodas, although everyone around us was, etc.)

 

There were several other boats at the first snorkeling stop, which meant snorkeling with 100 other people in the water. However, my husband really enjoyed the second stop, the Antille wreck. The third stop was way longer than it needed to be, while the crew played on the rope swing long after the passengers were done.

 

This would have been a fun excursion if there had been a more reasonable number of people on the boat, the snorkeling was less crowded, and the alcohol not so free-flowing. (Every other excursion that I've been on has served alcohol only after the snorkeling has concluded.) The drunkeness was not something I wanted my kids to experience.

[gambler]

Was this booked thru the ship or privately??? thanks

[AAL]

We booked directly with Jolly Pirates online. The morning JP excursion is often offered by the cruise line, but our ship arrived too late for it, so we arranged the afternoon excursion privately. I expected something better, since the cruise ships book with JP and I read several favorable reviews; however, the reviews were mostly for the morning trip. It's a nice boat; our trip was just too crowded and there was too much excessive drinking, both of which detracted from the experience.

 

If you book privately, be aware that the cab fare from the pier to Moomba beach is about $10 each way.

[Gonedownlately?]

Hello,

I am not Carla from Jolly Pirates, but I will be on AOS the same time as you. When you look at the excursions with RCI, it's not listed as "Jolly Pirates." I'm sure that's because they don't want you booking directly with them. It is listed as a snorkel, swim and swing (I think) excursion. Anyway, look for "swing" as your key word. RCI is taking the afternoon tour, which does not include lunch, for $42. It is a shorter trip than the morning excursion. We are booked for the morning excursion, which includes lunch. I booked it myself through jollypirates.com, and it only cost me $42.50 because of the online discount. Maybe you'll join us. We are four adults and twelve (yes, twelve) kids, ranging in age from 10-16. You can take this as an invitation or a warning!:)

Ah, it's all clear to me now! I would love to join you with my family of 16, but I've elected to go scuba diving in the morning. The rest of the brood is doing the De Palm Island snorkel, and we all want to do the 5:00PM Sunset Cruise; which doesn't leave us enough time to act out our pirate fantasies this time. Argh! Have a great time and thanks for the response!

 

PS: Can you believe it's only 10 days away!!

[Caume]

Just to let you know I arrived in Aruba at 0800 on March 14 on the AOS and had no difficulties making it to mooba's beach for 0900 to board the Jolly Pirates ship. We had a great time and would definitly reccomend this tour.

Thanks!!

[Alan&Anne]

Hi just to reassure you we did Jolly Pirates March 21st, we had to be at Moomba bar for 9.15 for a 9.30 start, we were on the sea princess, we docked at 8.55 were first in line to disembark caught a cab at the port and arrived with 5 mins to spare! you will love the trip it was fantastic.( tha cab ride took 15 mins and cost $10.

[25dbb]

We did Jolly pirates in May 2005 and liked everything but one thing---

we got second "tender" to pirate ship and by then all seats under cover were

taken, so we were in the sun from 9am to 2:30pm and no matter how much

sunscreen you put on, you got burnt!!!! The excursion was orderly (no

drunken folks on ours) and very entertaining and great snorkling, just no

shade!!!! Nearly ruined my daughter's cruise because she could barely put on

clothing over the sunburn. We are going to Aruba in July on AOS and are going to try another excursion or a beach day.

 

 

dbb25

[Kiki in Michigan]

My family of four did the Jolly Pirate excursion this past week (myself, husband and 2 daughters age 8 & 10) and we had a great time! Our ship arrived in Aruba around 8am and we had no problem getting off the ship and to Moomba beach on time. We took the public transportation which only cost us each $2 round trip. It was extremely easy to use and it brought us right to the Holiday Inn where Moomba beach is.

 

I didn't think the Jolly Pirate was crowded and we didn't have a problem finding either sun or shade when we wanted it. We went snorkeling and had a great time. The water at the Antilles shipwreck was pretty rough so my kids and I just watched but my husband said it was unbelievable.

 

The crew on the ship was very nice and entertaining. The rope swing was a HUGE hit with everyone! The crew even showed off some of their talents which put the rest of us to shame!

 

We had a wonderful lunch of chicken, macaroni salad, coleslaw, watermelon and roll. The drinks were very plentiful but no one got out of hand at all. They sell tshirts that you can purchase for $15--a great souvenier of a wonderful time!

 

We were back at Moomba beach at 2:00, sat around on the beach for awhile and then took the public transportation back to the ship. I would recommend this excursion to anyone! It was a fabulous day!

[Northender]

DH took this tour last week. He said it was the best tour ever. We booked online. You can contact them, they will get right back to you.

 

You will enjoy this trip. I do not believe they work through any of the hotels or cruise lines. JMHO:)

[terryde]

On the Jolly Pirate trip, what alcoholic drinks do they serve? Since we will have our own snorkeling equipment on the cruise, do you recommend we take it on this trip in case they run out? Thanks, will be there end of May!

[Kiki in Michigan]

For refreshments, I know they served rum and a mixture called Pirate Poison that was a fruit mix with rum (it was very good!). I don't believe I saw anyone drinking beer. There may have been other types of alcohol but we drank rum.

We did bring our own snorkel gear (masks & snorkels, not fins) just because you never know how other gear will fit and what variety they have. We used their fins. I didn't see anyone having problems with the gear they had though.

[dsciambi]

Off the top of my head I only recall three, Pirate Poison (rum and fruit mix, possibly grapefruit and something else?), Rum Punch, and Pina Colada's.

 

I know the OP already said they made it in time, but I just wanted to also mention that my wife and I sailed on the March 19th Destiny, arrived at about 8:30 to port and were able to make it to the beach well in advance of 9:30 (or anyone else who was boarding with us for that matter).