Bike & Snorkel Excursion Comments

[gelcys]

I realize that I'm writing about a specific excursion, but I don't think it's specific to the cruise line I was on - many cruise lines have it listed, so I thought it was best that my posting was on the general GC section. Also, I'm sorry to say that I don't remember the name of the tour opeartor - if I saw a list of names, I may be able to pick it, but I haven't come across a thorough list. The only name that I've come across that I think may be a possibility is Tropicana.

 

In Summary - Was It Worth it? If you're picking this excursion for getting active, doing something different, slowing down and hearing/seeing normal people and their roosters in their yards, without being on an air conditioned bus and feeling totally seperated from your environment - go for it. If you're going for snorkeling, and you end up going where we did - you'll be VERY dissappointed. I would not recommend the tour operators (I've written to NCL - see letter at bottom), but I have some happy memories and it wasn't totally spoiled.

 

BIKING: The roads were not scary, cars stopped for the group, and the roads were well paved - a couple of hills to get you peddling hard. We couldn't hear a word the tour guide said on the bike tour, too hard to get 23 people close to hear anything in a hiddle on their bikes.

 

STOPS: Although I don't like the fact that they raise turtles for food, they do raise them to release into the ocean, so I finally was convinced to go to the Turtle Farm - it was actually really cool - amazing to see the big turtles, and very cute to hold a little one and rub it on the neck to calm it down - our $7.50 picture with the turtle had the most genuine smiles of all our cruise pictures. Hell was useless. The stop at a Rum Cake bakery was unexpected, and could have been welcomed.

 

BEACH/SNORKELING: The resort we stoped at was relaxing for those that stayed on the beach, the snorkelling was not worthwhile. If you go on this excursion for snorkeling - don't do it.

 

WHEN: We went on this excursion on 12/26, I was wearing a tank top and shorts and sunscreen, and the weather was right for that. The water was cold on getting in but fine once you got swimming, even for a warm blooded Floridian who won't dare get in the water in Miami after Labor Day. Our excursion was to run from 1:30-4:30, 3 hours. I think it cost $59 or 69 pp.

 

**************LETTER JUST SENT TO NCL********************

I wanted to share our experience on this Bike & Snorkel Excursion which my family of 5. The description includes that it is a 3 hour bike trip, leaving at 1:30 (returning at 4:30), ride to the Turtle Farm, Hell, and snorkeling at the North Wall before returning to the resort. The actual excursion did not follow the description that we based our decision off of and paid for, and in fact, it was quite stressful.

This is how it deviated from what we purchased:

1. We did not start at the Spanish Bay Resort, we instead started at a parking lot at a public beach. There was no option to store snorkel gear or other belongings before biking.

2. We had to wait in the bus for close to an hour while we waited for the bikes to arrive from the previous excursion they booked with another cruise. We were not allowed out of the van until the bikes arrived, at which point, a lot of us needed to go to the bathroom – we were fortunate there were public toilets about half a block away on the public beach.

3. We did not bike to a snorkel location. We had not seen the Spanish Bay Resort once. It was 4:30 when we returned to the parking lot after the Turtle Farm and Hell and the tour operator was ready to return us to the pier. A few of us spoke up that we were expecting to snorkel on this excursion, the tour operator was taken by surprise it seemed and had to come up with extra plans. He made us vote with a show of hands who wanted to go back to the boat and who wanted to continue on to snorkel. I had made plans in-town, to return to shops that were to close at 6, and was not going to be able to if we extended the excursion, but we had decided not to snorkel at Cozumel the day before if our excursion in Grand Cayman would include snorkeling… and I’d been carrying snorkel gear on my back for 2 hours – I was ready to use it at the “famous North Wall” as it was described.

4. Instead of the North Wall, we were taken the Spanish Bay Resort for snorkeling. A few people decided to stay on the bus and asked to be taken back into town right away as they were expecting. I was not very concerned that we were not given snorkel vests since this was a beach snorkel, but we swam out a significant distance and depth! I’m not good at measurements, but we swam out far enough that you couldn’t distinguish the people on the beach. Fortunately, only the two most athletic people of my family were the ones that eventually went snorkeling, but we were still exhausted. I was happy my asthmatic husband who normally snorkels with me, decided to stay on the beach – he’d have had to turn back. This will go down as an adventure – unfortunately not as the “famous North Wall” where we were expecting to snorkel, but as the furthest I’ve swum to a reef from shore. We were able to float around the fish for about 15 minutes, at which point I noticed our guide was “chumming” (putting raw fish bits in the water to attract fish) which I know as a warning sign that you do NOT want to be in the water when someone is doing this – it can attract sharks!!! As I was pointing this out to my brother and we were deciding to swim back to get away from the raw fish, the guide pointed out the time, so we all swam back to change and be back on the bus at 5:30.

I am not confident that NCL will appreciate my comments, as:

1. the shore excursion desk closes as soon as there are no more shore excursions to book, so you can’t talk to them, and

2. After the cruise, comments are only accepted in writing, not via email or phone.

I’m not sure if this was a normal or unusual day for the tour operators, but the tour description was not followed, which is what we paid for.

Please exceed my expectations.