Anyone done the DCL St.John Island and Beach excursion?

[BABYJOSIE98]

We have never done an excursioin through the cruise line before,but this time we want to be able to relax and know that we will make it back to the ship on time. Ecspecially since St.John is a different Island from St.Thomas.

I looked into the 5 Star Snorkel,but you only get an hour on the beach. Sounds like most of the time is spent on the boat.

The other has a tour of the Island and you get an hour and half at the beach (Trunk Bay) and that is what I want to see. Otherwise I would choose the Megans bay excursion.

If I could get some feedback. Did you feel like you had enough time?? The tour is 5 hours total and leaves at 7:40 am! Very early,but that is ok.

It will be $111 for the 3 of us and I think I have enough Disney Reward dollars to pay for this trip!

Thanks for any help.

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

we did a st john's excursion a year ago. We did the echo hike. It was very good. the guide was full of historical facts and after the hike we had about an hour to swim at a private beach. we saw boats nearby with snorkeling and scuba diving happening. It all looks like good fun. I don't remember the cost of the hike, but it wasn't very expensive compared to other excursions. The only bad thing was there were no rest rooms except on the boat that ferried us to st. johns. we were not told this ahead of time. but after 5 cruises we have learned that a lot of them don't provide adequete restrooms and some of the islands charge a dollar to use the public restrooms. The free ones are usually in the casinos. So you might ask about those facilities in making your decision. I know with a day long trip they should be required to have restrooms, but I've talked to lots of people who found out the hard way that they don't do things the way we do. Just something to think about!
Have a great cruise,
mom x4,grandma x4

 

[ohioworkingmom]

We took that tour last January, 2005. The tour of the island is on a open air type bus, a total riot, they drove fast and around curves and on the opposite side of the road, compared to US. No seat belts, kids need to sit still, but fairly safe. My kids (10 & 8) laughed because I was scared the most! Trunk Bay was awesome, water was rough before we came, so snorkeling was not as good as it could have been. Me and kids had never snorkeled before and enjoyed just playing around, hubby snorkeled and did the self-guided tour, after seeing his underwater pictures, wish I would have done it. Sort of a long haul to get out to where it started, and since we were new at this, we didn't feel comfortable. They give you all the equipment when you get to the beach, there are very clean restrooms and (I think) showere to rinse off in. An hour and half was good, could have used a little more time, island is beautiful and part of national park system, VERY CLEAN. Definitley worth the money and I would do it again. Driver did stop for some photo shoots on the way back. Ferry ride to/from St. John was also good, takes about 45 minutes and was narrated.