Turtle & other snorkeling excursion decisions

[puablo]

I'm booked on the Carnival Victory for 5/10/09, and in Barbados I'm having a tough decision on which excursion to book. Hopefully one of you have been on one of these trips and can let me know what your experience was.

 

Ideally we'd like to snorkel with the sea turtles, snorkel the shipwreck, and the reef or a beach, in that order of importance. So we're looking at Carnival's "5 Star Catamaran & Turtle Encounter", the "Tiami Sail, Turtles, and Beach", or the "Sea Turtle & Shipwreck Snorkel". Their description of the "Sea Turtle & Shipwreck Snorkel" seems to be the best fit, but it's also the shortest of the three excursions, yet it seems to have the most stuff to do. We're leaning towards the 5 Star Catamaran even though the Turtle & Shipwreck one sounds like it has more activities, and Tiami has had good reviews on this board.

 

Can anyone convince me?

[puablo]

An update if anyone is interested, I had emailed these same questions to Carnival's shore excursions desk, and I didn't really think I'd get a detailed response from them (which is why I came here!) but impressively they gave me a great response. So for those who want to know the same answers, Carnival's answer was:

 

"Sea Turtle & Shipwreck Snorkel will give you the opportunity to snorkel at two locations while the catamarans will only allow you to do some snorkeling with sea turtles and then some off shore snorkeling... The catamarans are longer due to the sailing time while the Sea Turtle & Shipwreck Snorkel concentrates on snorkeling only and transports you to the two different locations by a speed boat. In my opinion, Sea Turtle & Shipwreck Snorkel would better suit your needs."

[CruisinJazz]

Thanks for the info!

[SECOCRUISER]

Hi we were in Barbados 12/17/08 on the NCL Jewel and booked this tour direct. My wife and I and two sons ages (8) and (10) had a great time. Steven was top notch. We took a cab from the port to the marina where his boat is located but walked back. Barbados was one of our favorite places. I hope you have a great time. Here is a link to some more information on the thriller tour.

 

http:///www.familytravelfun.com/thrillertourbarbados.html

[lovetocruise99]

I second the vote for Thriller Tour to snorkel with the turtles. Stephen will make sure you have a great time and it's so much better being on boat with a small group rather than the crowded cruise ship tours.

[Caribbean Sunsets]

I also did the tour with Thriller. Steve was prompt with responding to emails and runs a great tour.