Looking for info on a Cozumel excursion - Small Group: Luxury Catamaran Reef Snorkel at Pristine Sand Bar

[timcreech]

Has anyone done the Small Group: Luxury Catamaran Reef Snorkel at Pristine Sand Bar in Cozumel?

 

Looking for any reviews online, but can not find anything.  Below is the description.

 

 

Sail in luxury, snorkel, and enjoy the sunny as you sail to the world renowed Sophia's Cove Sandbar, accessible only by boat.

 

• Board your private luxury catamaran and catch some warm, Caribbean rays on your way to snorkeling a coral reef teeming with vibrant, colorful marine life.
• Back onboard, have a drink from the open premium bar and snack on fruit, meats, cheeses, ceviche, tuna salad and guacamole on your way to a beach paradise.
• Arrive to Sophia’s Cove Sand Bar, considered one of the most beautiful beaches in the Caribbean, to swim in the warm, turquoise-blue sea, lounge on the white sands, and bask in pure island bliss.

[daybrake]

@timcreech  Greetings!  I am just north of you -- near Daytona Beach.

I am also looking for any reviews from those who have been on this excursion.  Mainly would like to know the amount of time spent snorkeling vs. sitting on the beach.  If you find out any info, please share.  Thanks.

[go.without.you]

Following.  I have this booked for December and am wondering if the price is worth it.

 

Edit to add: you may want to post this under Cozumel as it is probably not a Celebrity exclusive excursion.

Edited July 21, 2023 by go.without.you

[timcreech]

Yeah, I thought of posting in the Cozumel forum, but there are several Catamaran excursions, I can not tell who Celebrity is using.

[daybrake]

@timcreech  This is what I found out from the Shore Excursions dept:

Max number of people in the "small group":   20 guests max.

How much time will be spent snorkeling? 1 hour

How much time will be spent at Sophia's Cove Sandbar Beach?  1 hour and 30 min.

 

@go.without.you Hi!  We are also originally from Tampa.  Since this is a "small group" excursion, it sounds like there will be more time snorkeling and less crowded rather than those bigger catamaran groups (Fury Catamaran with 40-60 people).  Also sounds like the drinks/food will be better.  I watched quite a few YouTube videos and read TripAdvisor reviews about the Fury excursion. It sounded like snorkeling time might be relatively short (20 mins) when there is a big group and some reviews indicated drinks on the Fury are watered down.  Also no food is included with the Fury excursion.

 

So, we booked the small group Luxury Catamaran Cruise/Snorkel  for our December 2023 Equinox cruise.

 

[timcreech]

1 hour ago, daybrake said:

@timcreech  This is what I found out from the Shore Excursions dept:

Max number of people in the "small group":   20 guests max.

How much time will be spent snorkeling? 1 hour

How much time will be spent at Sophia's Cove Sandbar Beach?  1 hour and 30 min.

 

@go.without.you Hi!  We are also originally from Tampa.  Since this is a "small group" excursion, it sounds like there will be more time snorkeling and less crowded rather than those bigger catamaran groups (Fury Catamaran with 40-60 people).  Also sounds like the drinks/food will be better.  I watched quite a few YouTube videos and read TripAdvisor reviews about the Fury excursion. It sounded like snorkeling time might be relatively short (20 mins) when there is a big group and some reviews indicated drinks on the Fury are watered down.  Also no food is included with the Fury excursion.

 

So, we booked the small group Luxury Catamaran Cruise/Snorkel  for our December 2023 Equinox cruise.

 

Thanks daybrake!!  Could you tell which provider Celeberity is using?

[go.without.you]

1 hour ago, daybrake said:

 

So, we booked the small group Luxury Catamaran Cruise/Snorkel  for our December 2023 Equinox cruise.

 

Thank you for the research! Based on this I'm keeping my booking for December on Connie. Normally I stay on the ship in Cozumel but since it is lacking the Retreat deck I figured I'd do something new and this being a smaller group is perfect.

[daybrake]

@timcreech  

1 hour ago, timcreech said:

Thanks daybrake!!  Could you tell which provider Celeberity is using?

I could not specifically find out from Celebrity the tour provider info. 

[daybrake]

1 hour ago, go.without.you said:

Thank you for the research! Based on this I'm keeping my booking for December on Connie. Normally I stay on the ship in Cozumel but since it is lacking the Retreat deck I figured I'd do something new and this being a smaller group is perfect.

@go.without.you  You are welcome. Enjoy your cruise!

[timcreech]

7 hours ago, daybrake said:

So, we booked the small group Luxury Catamaran Cruise/Snorkel  for our December 2023 Equinox cruise.

 

Would love to read a review after you have enjoyed the excursion. We have this bookedin January.

[daybrake]

@go.without.you  @timcreech   We just received notification from Celebrity that the tour provider cancelled this Small Group Luxury Catamaran Cruise/Snorkel that we had booked for our December NYE cruise on the Equinox.  The "Small Group" excursions is one of the reasons we chose Celebrity.  Now this only leaves us with the Fury Catamaran Sail/Snorkel excursion as an option. 

[go.without.you]

@daybrake What day was your excursion? Mine is on the 26th - no notification it has been cancelled as of yet.

[daybrake]

@go.without.you  Our excursion was on January 1st.  When looking at the excursions under "plan my trip" -- it is now showing as "sold out".  Celebrity did an auto-cancel and refunded our initial reservation.  We just received the email today.

[go.without.you]

@daybrake Maybe because its a holiday the vendor said, "yeah...we're not working that day now". Who knows. Mine is still showing booked. If they cancel I'll just stay on the ship. No big deal.

[go.without.you]

@daybrake So I haven't received a cancellation but yesterday it was not on the list of excursions. I checked today at 9am and it was there and now gone again at 11. Weird. I was checking to see if the price was lower with the current sale. 

[neverlaysup]

On 7/25/2023 at 3:44 AM, daybrake said:

This is what I found out from the Shore Excursions dept:

Max number of people in the "small group":   20 guests max.

We did a two small group excursions recently and on the first, there were 30 people jammed into a small 30 person bus. On the snorkel trip we did, there were 60 instead of 80 on the Catamaran that DID NOT have seating for the 60 persons on board. They felt is OK to just sit on the floor or in the blazing sun for 6 hours. Unless I am on a super small ship that I know will have less crowded tours, I will never book a "Small Group" from Celebrity again. Just my recent experience and I hope they were honest with you.

[daybrake]

@go.without.you  I checked the excursions for our sailing on the Equinox (sailing 12/29/23) and the Small Group Luxury Catamaran/Snorkel is still not available.  So . . . I'm guessing the vendor did cancel due to Jan. 1 being a holiday.

 

@neverlaysup  I  have never sailed with Celebrity before and part of the reason I chose them is because of the small group excursion offerings.  We have another small group excursion (max 6) reserved for fishing next year in Basseterre/St. Kitts for our Apex sailing.  If it is only a 6-pack fishing boat -- I'm thinking Celebrity will have to keep it to the specified "small group" size.  Time will tell.

[go.without.you]

@daybrake I've booked excursions thru the shipmate app or other cruise sites. They are always smaller groups for around the same price.

[cruzlova]

On 7/25/2023 at 9:37 AM, daybrake said:

@timcreech  

I could not specifically find out from Celebrity the tour provider info. 

Hi there! I’m also interested in this excursion for my December cruise. I did some research and found out that Celebrity uses Cozumel Windseekers as the tour operator. I reached out to Cozumel Windseekers and they confirmed it.

Edited September 8, 2023 by cruzlova

[cruzlova]

On 8/23/2023 at 2:27 PM, go.without.you said:

@daybrake Maybe because it’s a holiday the vendor said, "yeah...we're not working that day now". Who knows. Mine is still showing booked. If they cancel I'll just stay on the ship. No big deal.

They might cancel if they don’t get a certain amount of people to sign up. From what I’ve seen, most people prefer the Fury Catamaran because it is much cheaper but it’s a lot more crowded! Windseekers also confirmed their max is 20 people. Is anyone here on Summit Dec 16-21? 

[Sandmom23]

We were booked for this excursion on Dec 19-23 trip but it was canceled once we were on the ship.

[timcreech]

Checking in to see if anyone has actually been on this excursion lately. 

Edited February 15 by timcreech