Celebrity excursions - solstice April 12 sailing

[lallak1]

We are interested in doing a snorkeling excursion on Tortola, and given the short time frame in Tortola that we have on the Apr 12 Solstice sailing, I am looking for opinions on these options...what's the best value/snorkeling?

 

tt05 Norman Island Snorkeling $59

 

tt08 Island Sailaway $59

 

tt09 Island Voyage to Virgin Gorda and the Baths $72

 

Thanks.

Linda

[bambam2972]

I haven't been to Tortola yet, but would you mind writing the description of the Norman Island snorkeling excursion here?

 

Since my cruise is a year away :eek::eek: I'm not able to see Celebrity's excursions.

 

If I can find an affordable independent snorkeling trip there (and/or to Peter Island), I'd book that, but most that I've seen are $100+ So $59 sounds good, but I'm wondering about the length of the tour and what, if anything, is included.

[lallak1]

Yes, I'll post which one we did when I get back. We would generally look at booking a private excursion, but the stop in Tortola is really short (like 5 hours) and I tend to get "freaky" about missing the ship, so I think we'll be booking through the ship. Haven't decided yet which one, though.

[New Hampshire]

We're just back from the March 29 Solstice sailing. The ship is magnificent and the cruise was exceptional in every way. This was our 18th cruise and was way up there among the best ever.

 

Due to the very short time we were in Tortola we did take a shore excursion through the ship out of fear of missing the boat! We did the Island Sailaway. We chose it because we rather sail than go by a motor boat. We had a fun day, BUT there were disappointments. We always take at least one sailing snorkeling excursion on every cruise we've been on. This catamaran was by far the smallest and oldest we've ever been on. When we received our tour tickets onboard the ship, we discovered that the provided snorkel gear did NOT include fins. If I had read this in the tour description, I would not have booked this tour. We went to Norman Island which offers a wonderful snorkel opportunity. I was there in November while on a vacation on St. John. What was an easy snorkel experience in November turned out to be very difficult without swim fins this time. We anchored at a considerable distance from the reef and caves and had to swim against a strong current. Some people couldn't make it at all and we did far less exploring than we would have had we been provided with fins. For this reason, unless you're a real strong swimmer or have your own fins, I would not recommend this tour.

 

We also stopped at a beach on Peter Island. Compared to every beach I've ever been on in the USVI and BVI, this one was a disappointment. It was vdery rocky and filled with broken coral. You definitely need water shoes to go in the water.

[lallak1]

We're just back from the March 29 Solstice sailing. The ship is magnificent and the cruise was exceptional in every way. This was our 18th cruise and was way up there among the best ever.

 

Due to the very short time we were in Tortola we did take a shore excursion through the ship out of fear of missing the boat! We did the Island Sailaway. We chose it because we rather sail than go by a motor boat. We had a fun day, BUT there were disappointments. We always take at least one sailing snorkeling excursion on every cruise we've been on. This catamaran was by far the smallest and oldest we've ever been on. When we received our tour tickets onboard the ship, we discovered that the provided snorkel gear did NOT include fins. If I had read this in the tour description, I would not have booked this tour. We went to Norman Island which offers a wonderful snorkel opportunity. I was there in November while on a vacation on St. John. What was an easy snorkel experience in November turned out to be very difficult without swim fins this time. We anchored at a considerable distance from the reef and caves and had to swim against a strong current. Some people couldn't make it at all and we did far less exploring than we would have had we been provided with fins. For this reason, unless you're a real strong swimmer or have your own fins, I would not recommend this tour.

 

We also stopped at a beach on Peter Island. Compared to every beach I've ever been on in the USVI and BVI, this one was a disappointment. It was vdery rocky and filled with broken coral. You definitely need water shoes to go in the water.

 

I will ditto these remarks. We also ultimately chose the Island Sail away excursion for the same reason, and too, felt the catermans were the oldest we've ever experienced. I will say not having fins wasn't too big of a disappointment to me; we saw some of the best coral in the caribbean and plent of fish. I really wish we would have forgone the beach stop on Peter Island and instead did a second snorkel stop...I don't think anyone thought the beach stop was that exciting.

 

That being said, if you have a tight time frame in Tortola, booking an excursion through the ship is really the only option, IMHO. We arrived back at the exact time that was the last call for passengers to be on board...too close for comfort for me. They did say as we were going through security that they were still waiting for an additional 188 pax to return from ship sponsored excursions, so they do wait.