Advice about port excursions in USVI and BVI (St. Thomas/Tortola)

[fredandkell]

Hi all, would like advice about selecting port excursions for Sept. 2017 cruise.

We are two active adults with two kids who will be 7 and 10 on the trip. They are weak swimmers and a little timid, but decent hikers and explorers.

First, has anyone done both The Baths and the Dolphin Encounter same day Tortola? Is that possible? Those were the main two I wanted to do and I'm disappointed that both are in Tortola. (Yes, I know you can do the Dolphins riding over from St. Thomas, but I don't want to commit to an 8-hour trip with a 7-year old.)

Second, any suggestions for something fun in St. Thomas? None of their port adventures are really stirring my blood at the moment. We'd like something more than a "drive you to the beach and drop you off for a couple hours" trip. Has anyone done the Jeep Beach Adventure, Skyride, St. John's Eco Hike, or Coral World by Land and Sea?

Thanks for any advice you can give! I appreciate it!

 

[ladyofthetramp]

We did the St.John's eco-hike. Fun excursion, no swimming if you don't want to (there is a 20 minute stop at the beach to wade/swim if you want). My kids, just a bit older at the time loved it. Wasn't a taxing hike, but acquainted you with the flowers, plants and trees of the island as you made your way through a path in the national park. My husband and I swam (no changing facilities) my son made a sand castle, daughter took lots of selfies! LOL

 

[ICEMANPAD]

We just did the Jeep Beach Adventure in St Thomas last week. My dh, 17 year old son and I really enjoyed it! We drove up to Mountain top, then down to a beach near the Virgin Islands University and then back to the pier. The lead driver/ tour guide gave great directions and an interesting tour via handheld device.

 

[ilovebassets]

I highly recommend the Secret Sands Beach Getaway for St Thomas. It's relatively inexpensive and by far, the nicest and least crowded beach we've been to in St. Thomas (we've been there four times). It's part of a "state" park and therefore, the only other people there are a couple of locals. Like literally, a couple. Plus one guy who was raking the beach and keeping it clean. He didn't have to do much.

Beds are provided and there's tons of natural shade. It's not advertised in the excursion description but the guide provides free alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, salty snacks, and a few toys like noodles. (I think they don't advertise it to keep the excursion cost down and then just make money off the good tips people leave.) Very friendly guy. We've done this excursion twice we like it so much even though it sounds simple.

 

[tigerchic89]

We did the Baths through DCL this past Sept. Based on what you said about your kids, they would love the Baths excursion. I may have these "terms" wrong, but for this excursion we took a ferry then a bus to the Baths. Walked down a pathway and were able to get into the water.. a little wavy but not too rough. After about 30 minutes, the tour guide rounded us up for the hike to ?Devils Bay?. My (older) mother didn;t think she was physically up for the hike, so she stayed at behind, as did many others. This is the part that I think your kids would love. We ducked through caves, climbed over rocks, waded through pools. Water shoes like Keens would have been ideal, though some did it barefoot and some in tennis shoes. We wore our backpacks but sometimes had to pass them up to each other as the openings were too small for wearing backpacks. Anyway, it was challenging but not too difficult at all.. very fun. The beach area was gorgeous, the water was super calm, about 2-4 feet deep all around, and I don't know if it had a high salt content or what, but you could just lay there and float. Our family of 5 stayed in a circle talking, watching fish swim around our legs and goofing off. It was awesome. Then we walked back to the original place (it was a long walk on a regular trail, no climbing, etc). We met my mom and had the included buffet lunch (I think it was BBQ ribs, chicken, potato salad, cookies, and a canned coke or bottled water... pretty basic)

Anyway, we liked that excursion, but loved the hike and swim at Devils Bay. So my advice would be to find a DCL excursion that included Devils Bay and see if you can book that excursion early and if another excursion window opens to do the Dolphins in the afternoon then you could do both.

No advice on St Thomas.... the hurricane started coming in and we couldn't dock in St Thomas.

 

[fredandkell]

We did the Baths through DCL this past Sept. Based on what you said about your kids, they would love the Baths excursion. I may have these "terms" wrong, but for this excursion we took a ferry then a bus to the Baths. Walked down a pathway and were able to get into the water.. a little wavy but not too rough. After about 30 minutes, the tour guide rounded us up for the hike to ?Devils Bay?. My (older) mother didn;t think she was physically up for the hike, so she stayed at behind, as did many others. This is the part that I think your kids would love. We ducked through caves, climbed over rocks, waded through pools. Water shoes like Keens would have been ideal, though some did it barefoot and some in tennis shoes. We wore our backpacks but sometimes had to pass them up to each other as the openings were too small for wearing backpacks. Anyway, it was challenging but not too difficult at all.. very fun. The beach area was gorgeous, the water was super calm, about 2-4 feet deep all around, and I don't know if it had a high salt content or what, but you could just lay there and float. Our family of 5 stayed in a circle talking, watching fish swim around our legs and goofing off. It was awesome. Then we walked back to the original place (it was a long walk on a regular trail, no climbing, etc). We met my mom and had the included buffet lunch (I think it was BBQ ribs, chicken, potato salad, cookies, and a canned coke or bottled water... pretty basic)

Anyway, we liked that excursion, but loved the hike and swim at Devils Bay. So my advice would be to find a DCL excursion that included Devils Bay and see if you can book that excursion early and if another excursion window opens to do the Dolphins in the afternoon then you could do both.

No advice on St Thomas.... the hurricane started coming in and we couldn't dock in St Thomas.

So just to clarify, Devils Bay is part of the Baths area, correct?

 

[DIS_Ag]

We did a private charter to the Baths with Patouche. Loved it. You start at Cooper Island with some snorkeling and lunch on a beautiful beach then spend the afternoon at the Baths after all the cruise groups have left. It's less crowded and we you can hike/swim at your leisure.

 

[tigerchic89]

So just to clarify, Devils Bay is part of the Baths area, correct?

I hope I have the names correct, but yes. We booked the Baths excursion through DCL, and then we had the choice to hike in an additional beach-y area, I think that area was called Devils Bay. HTH

 

[hanscarlet]

we did a private charter with Island Wilson Tours, it was wonderful

 

[Sepo]

We just got back and did both of these on our own.

1) Tortola: we walked 10 minutes to the left of the cruise to the Ferry port and bought tickets to Virgin Gorda with Speedys. Smiths is the next window over. The ferries leave every hour or so in the mornings and do not fill up, so no worries about this. The round trip cost for 3 adults and 2 kids was $170. Spent 3-4 hours from 11-3:30 at the beaches and caves/baths. All aboard time was 6:00 but we had the main seating at 5:45 and wanted to be back in time to shower. Pirate night as well.

Tip: Do the caves part in the afternoon. The crowds die down. If you do this portion in the am you are usually just standing in a line, and the 15 minute path can be over one hour or so.

2) For St. Thomas, we rented a car from Avis (right at the dock, $75 for a full size) and drove to Lindquist beach (also called Smith's Bay). An absolute gem and NOT crowded. Clean bathrooms. No food, but some people ordered a pizza that was delivered to them on the beach. We packed food in a soft side cooler. Very relaxing.

 

[Beth06015]

Following as I'm trying to iron out plan for our May cruise on the Eastern Carribean itinerary! Very helpful advice here. The baths sound great and also the secret sands beach! would be a good combo of exploring and enjoying the beach. I have a soon to be 5 & 10 year old. Welcome any tips on favorite excursions!!

 

[AllSam]

We did the mini boars and snorkel on St Thomas with boys 8 & 9. Excursion was not crowded and was well organized. Boys had a blast and still talk about it. No beach time but we were back on the ship by lunch so we got to use the Acquaduck quite a few times uncrowded.

 

[My2Qtz0205]

Word of advice about the Baths: flip-flops are not permitted. This took many people on our excursion by surprise. The beach floor has many large rocks under the water, so I highly suggest close-toed water shoes. The path from Devil's Bay to the parking lot is lined with cacti, and the poor little boy walking barefoot in front of us got cactus needles in his feet.

 

[fredandkell]

Thank you for the water shoes tip! I've found them helpful on Disney Cruises multiple times - the Nemo reef, at Castaway, and now this!

 

[Bsmitty]

We just did the Jeep Beach Adventure in St Thomas last week. My dh, 17 year old son and I really enjoyed it! We drove up to Mountain top, then down to a beach near the Virgin Islands University and then back to the pier. The lead driver/ tour guide gave great directions and an interesting tour via handheld device.

I'm so glad to hear this. We are thinking about doing this one & it's been hard finding reviews or info on it. We will have myself, husband, 13 yr old DD & 4 yr old DD. Did you notice if anyone got a car seat or if they were easy to get? That's the one thing making me nervous. And is it a fairly safe road/trail? (We take our land cruiser out in the mountains all the time, but it makes me nervous having zero idea about terrain?)

 

[stacaka4321]

We did the Dolphin Encounter in Tortola....wouldn't recommend it to anyone. The place was unorganized and chaotic! This is what the encounter consisted of....got a group photo overlooking the ocean, went in the dolphin pen with about 15 people total and waited in line on a waste deep platform. Each person got to kiss the dolphin, get a kiss from the dolphin and pet the belly of the dolphin...for a total of about 1 minute interaction. 3 times the trainer would have the dolphin swim past the line of people so we could touch her for 1 second. We learned about 3 facts about dolphins and that was it! We personally considered it a waste of day at such a beautiful island with amazing beaches.

 

[ICEMANPAD]

We did not see any car seats in or near the jeeps. The jeeps were parked near the port. You may need to arrange for a car seat in advance. The roads were all paved and very safe. We hope you enjoy the excursion!

 

[Bsmitty]

We did not see any car seats in or near the jeeps. The jeeps were parked near the port. You may need to arrange for a car seat in advance. The roads were all paved and very safe. We hope you enjoy the excursion!

We'll make sure to arrange in advance then. Thank you!!!