Princess excursions

[LindaKE]

DH absolutely refuses to go on any excursion except those operated by the ship. We want to choose one that would give us the best view of the island scenery. We are not interested in going to a beach. Also, I can't walk too far and steps give me trouble. Does anyone have any suggestions about which Princess excursion would give us the most sights of St. Thomas? We were thinking about "The Best of St. Thomas Island Tour" which includes stops at Mountain Top and St. Peter's Great House, "St Thomas Scenic Drive & Mountain Top" which stops at Mountain Top and Drake's Seat, or "Views of St. Thomas" which includes Mountain Top and Paradise Point Tramway. Can anyone tell which of these would give us the best sightseeing in St. Thomas? Are there sights that are a "must do" or conversely "don't waste your time"? Thanks in advance.

[Host Caroline]

The Paradise Point tramway is really a waste of time if it's a really hazy/cloudy day but the view is awesome when it's sunny -- so on that basis I'd rule that one out since you obviously won't know ahead of time.. The other two sound like a toss up -- we've done both and most recently went with Godfrey on an island tour in Sept. It as nice but we spent a lot of time driving around in the hills, getting "chased" down a very steep road by a cement mixer (!) and not seeing a lot of scenery. The views from Mountaintop and Drake Seat are wonderful though and on clear day you can see BVI, etc. I'd opt for the non-tramway route.

[Sunwind]

We are just back from our cruise on dawn princess (Oct-4) my personal experience was take a taxi in the town - 10 minutes walk from the pier.

They offered us a sight seeing tour - including mountaintop, drakes seat and a lot of other nice stops. First we wanted to go only to magens bay but the

taxi driver (look for Patrick Moses) advised us not to go there as the water was not so clear and we were offered in addition to the sight seeing tour a 2 hours stop at coki beach or saphire beach. We decided for coki beach and it was just great (lot of fish and very clear water).

After our swim at coki beach the taxi came back to pick us up (There were a lot of other taxis waiting) and took us back to the pier. There we paid 20$ p.p. for the complete tour - it was great.

[meab]

Is that normal for the water to not be very clear at Magen's Bay? I think that's the first time I've read that. Maybe I'd better go read up on some of the previous Magen's Bay threads! I was just surprised to see you write that, Sunwind.

 

(Sorry to butt in on the thread, as I don't really have enough know-how to suggest a sightseeing tour...!!)

[Host Caroline]

Have been to Magens twice and the water isn't very clear and IMHO it's also quite salty -- don't really like to swim there and it's definitely not the beach if you want to snorkel off the beach.. Sapphire or Coki are better although Sapphire is less crowded.. you can sun on the beach or go back in the shade. Lots of watersports.