Booked 7-night Eastern on Fantasy but now having some doubts (vs Western)

We sail on the Eastern next month and unfortunately there are half the normal amount of St. Thomas excursions available because of the hurricane. We are regular day pass users and all the hotels I've called are closed due to the destruction so we're just doing a half beach day through Disney. If you can splurge, I would hire a private boat charter and have your captain zoom you around to a bunch of fun places for the day. We did this in St. Thomas 2 years ago and had a blast swimming with the turtles and such. I called the captain and his boat was destroyed :(. He recommended another private charter group but they were $150 more expensive than what we paid in 2015. Since we've already done the private charter, we're just doing the beach day.

Also have you guys received word that Tortola is still a go? We got an email a month ago that they were switching us to St. Maarten and so we're just doing a day pass at a local hotel in St. Maarten but there weren't a lot of options in St. Maarten either.
 
We loved Western more than Eastern. Cozumel's catamaran/snorkle trip is still our favorite excursion we've done. (We actually overall loved the excursions we did on the Southern more than the Western but didn't enjoy the Magic size as much and missed out on Castaway). That being said we are on the Eastern in a couple of weeks that we booked for Tortola and are now being changed to St. Maarten and we're pretty disappointed. Would have chosen Western had I known Tortola would be a no-go. I'm not at all impressed with St. Maarten. I am excited for St. Thomas though. We did St. John last time we hit St. Thomas and that tour was great.
 
We sail on the Eastern next month and unfortunately there are half the normal amount of St. Thomas excursions available because of the hurricane. We are regular day pass users and all the hotels I've called are closed due to the destruction so we're just doing a half beach day through Disney. If you can splurge, I would hire a private boat charter and have your captain zoom you around to a bunch of fun places for the day. We did this in St. Thomas 2 years ago and had a blast swimming with the turtles and such. I called the captain and his boat was destroyed :(. He recommended another private charter group but they were $150 more expensive than what we paid in 2015. Since we've already done the private charter, we're just doing the beach day.

Also have you guys received word that Tortola is still a go? We got an email a month ago that they were switching us to St. Maarten and so we're just doing a day pass at a local hotel in St. Maarten but there weren't a lot of options in St. Maarten either.

Attractions being closed because of the hurricane definitely explains why the excursions are seemingly so limited. I'm going to look up some non-dcl excursions to see if there are some better options. The consensus seems to be that people really like St. Thomas so I'm going to try to be more open-minded and positive about it.
 


We might stay on the ship on our upcoming Celebrity Southern Caribbean cruise at St Thomas. We have been there before and just found it ok. Having a day where you stay on the ship with most people off sounds heavenly to me though.
 
Regrettably, this starts at 6: https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/port-adventures/st-thomas-st-john-st-johns-eco-hike/

There is a means to book this non-DCL but getting to St. John for it is a bit of a handful. You could also do St. John On Your Own, which dala.with the transport, and hike the Lind Point Trail solo.

I was bummed by the age for this one as it looks exactly like what I would like to do. I might have to research doing it on my own, but that makes me nervous for getting to the boat on time type thing. Or maybe another tour provider has something similar.
 
We loved Western more than Eastern. Cozumel's catamaran/snorkle trip is still our favorite excursion we've done. (We actually overall loved the excursions we did on the Southern more than the Western but didn't enjoy the Magic size as much and missed out on Castaway). That being said we are on the Eastern in a couple of weeks that we booked for Tortola and are now being changed to St. Maarten and we're pretty disappointed. Would have chosen Western had I known Tortola would be a no-go. I'm not at all impressed with St. Maarten. I am excited for St. Thomas though. We did St. John last time we hit St. Thomas and that tour was great.

Was this a Disney excursion or did you book this on your own?
 


I was bummed by the age for this one as it looks exactly like what I would like to do. I might have to research doing it on my own, but that makes me nervous for getting to the boat on time type thing. Or maybe another tour provider has something similar.

Doing this one via another provider requires that you taxi to Red Hook, ferry, taxi to meet the provider, get back to the ferry, get back from Red Hook. While doable, it is a pain and a lot of taxi fare. The Charlotte Amalie Ferry is not yet running again post-hurricanes.

Getting to Red Hook is $10 per person each way. It's a set fare for "butt in seat" without a break for children. The taxi may wait to be full before leaving. RT ferry fare for adults is $16, for kids $2. So that's $46 per adult, and $22 per kid to get to St. John.

St. John On Your Own has a ferry from the cruise dock, short walk from the ship. No taxi required. $37 for over 10, $27 for kids. So it's a little more expensive for a kid, but cheaper for an adult, and it's a lot easier, although you do have some time limiters to get your return ferry, versus the posted ferry schedule for the Red Hook line.

If you do St. John On Your Own, you can hike the Lind Point Trail and be back to the ferry on time if you just monitor your time well. The LPT is what the eco hike does. It's a point to point trail that connects the National Park Visitor Center to Honeymoon Beach. It is 1.1 miles each way. If you do St. John On Your Own, you're out for the ferry (from the cruise dock, no transfer) at abut 8, and should be at St. John around 9-9:15. You need to be back to the ferry, which docks right behind the National Park Visitor Center, by noon. So if you allow an hour each way, you have about half an hour, 45 minutes at the beach. Neither Solomon nor Honeymoon have snack stands, so I recommend packing along water bottles and something to eat; fruit snacks and trail mix are our go-tos for this kind of thing.

There are several shops selling ice cream and smoothies nearby to the dock, also, for return; the ferry sells water and snacks on board.

This is a good overview of the LPT: http://stjohntour.com/LindPointTrail.html
I have a bunch of pictures I can post if you want.

Pro tip: wear trainers or hiking boots. Doing the trail (excursion or on your own) in flip flops is madness. I see people try and wince. There is donkey poop, rocks and cacti.
 
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If you are still scheduled for Tortola, I would recommend the Disney excursion to the Baths at Virgin Gorda and Devil’s Bay. It’s a fairly active excursion (with some beach time involved). We loved going through the caves to emerge at Devil’s Bay.
 
Doing this one via another provider requires that you taxi to Red Hook, ferry, taxi to meet the provider, get back to the ferry, get back from Red Hook. While doable, it is a pain and a lot of taxi fare. The Charlotte Amalie Ferry is not yet running again post-hurricanes.

Getting to Red Hook is $10 per person each way. It's a set fare for "butt in seat" without a break for children. The taxi may wait to be full before leaving. RT ferry fare for adults is $16, for kids $2. So that's $46 per adult, and $22 per kid to get to St. John.

St. John On Your Own has a ferry from the cruise dock, short walk from the ship. No taxi required. $37 for over 10, $27 for kids. So it's a little more expensive for a kid, but cheaper for an adult, and it's a lot easier, although you do have some time limiters to get your return ferry, versus the posted ferry schedule for the Red Hook line.

If you do St. John On Your Own, you can hike the Lind Point Trail and be back to the ferry on time if you just monitor your time well. The LPT is what the eco hike does. It's a point to point trail that connects the National Park Visitor Center to Honeymoon Beach. It is 1.1 miles each way. If you do St. John On Your Own, you're out for the ferry (from the cruise dock, no transfer) at abut 8, and should be at St. John around 9-9:15. You need to be back to the ferry, which docks right behind the National Park Visitor Center, by noon. So if you allow an hour each way, you have about half an hour, 45 minutes at the beach. Neither Solomon nor Honeymoon have snack stands, so I recommend packing along water bottles and something to eat; fruit snacks and trail mix are our go-tos for this kind of thing.

There are several shops selling ice cream and smoothies nearby to the dock, also, for return; the ferry sells water and snacks on board.

This is a good overview of the LPT: http://stjohntour.com/LindPointTrail.html
I have a bunch of pictures I can post if you want.

Pro tip: wear trainers or hiking boots. Doing the trail (excursion or on your own) in flip flops is madness. I see people try and wince. There is donkey poop, rocks and cacti.

This is amazing feedback! (And I always love pictures! :) ) Thank you! I need to remember too that my parents will be with us and my mom may not be up for a hike too. She's not quite as active as the rest of us. I'll need to pick her brain about these options. I looked at the St. John tour as well and the Kon Tiki boat, but liked the active component of the hike. I'm a sucker for some ruins, big or small! ;)
 
This is amazing feedback! (And I always love pictures! :) ) Thank you! I need to remember too that my parents will be with us and my mom may not be up for a hike too. She's not quite as active as the rest of us. I'll need to pick her brain about these options. I looked at the St. John tour as well and the Kon Tiki boat, but liked the active component of the hike. I'm a sucker for some ruins, big or small! ;)
The ferry to St. John takes the island tour group, the eco hikers and the solo folk. So you could split your groip and still do the ferry together.
 
2 years ago we sailed on the Fantasy on a 7-night Western Caribbean itinerary. We had a blast and even though my boys were only 6 and 2, we did fun excursions at every port (except Falmouth for the 2 year old and me.)

We recently booked a 7-night Eastern that sails in 2 months. We considered the Western again but thought it'd be nice to try something new and I've read comments where people really enjoyed the Eastern. But, today, when I went on to look at port adventures, I was underwhelmed to say the least. St. Thomas was particularly disappointing. We consider Castaway Cay to be our beach day so we don't look for excursions to beaches, plus we live 10 minutes from the beach. Other port activities include tours that don't sound so exciting. I guess I'm just worried that we made a mistake in booking the Eastern and that it'll be, well, boring.

Looking for excursion advice, reassurance from those who love the Eastern itinerary, and wondering whether I should look at non-DCL excursions in St. Thomas and which ones.

Don't get me wrong, we are super excited to be crusing DCL again and to be giving our children a vacation they've been requesting at least once a week for the past 2 years. Just would like to do more than the beach. TIA!

We LOVED our Eastern itinerary. I grew up on an island in South Florida and still loved this itinerary better than the Western. For us, sailing, snorkeling, SUPing the islands was a must! In Tortola I highly recommend:

https://aristocatcharters.com/ (Please email them as they respond asap and I think by Feb 2019 they will be up and running 100% from the recent hurricanes)

I grew up sailing on the ocean and this company is the BEST!

I highly recommend going to St. John on your own via Red Hook. TONS of hiking on St. John.

I agree with previous posters, this itinerary is so low key and mellow that I truly felt like I had a vacation that I could enjoy instead of rush rush rush.

Hope this helps!
Cheers!
 
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http://www.bernardstours.com/

Bernards tours on St. Martin - highly recommend. You can join in on a group tour or schedule your own personalized private tour. We went with them several years ago and loved it. They are located right at the dock and are super nice. I thought about booking another tour with them for our June eastern cruise, but we really want to try the perfume excursion this time.
 
St. Thomas - as alluded - tons of great private trips. Choose one that fits your budget and schedule (and amount of people). We had private daysail on a catamaran - perfect - scenic, relaxing - took us to some secluded beaches and snorkel spots, gourmet lunch on the boat, refreshments. Perfect.

St. Marten - I know you did not want to do beaches but for us, there is nothing like Orient Beach almost anywhere - picture white sand, turquoise blue waters - but with waves - something to be said for waves, add any beach club/bar/restaurant of your choosing, pull up a chair, umbrella, order some grilled lobster, fish, chilled seafood, have a cocktail, go parasailing or rent a waverunner if you like, or boogie board.
 
Are you going to St Maarten or Tortola? I just booked the Soualiga Boat Tour in St Maarten because it looks awesome and has great reviews. We're sailing on 4/21 and I'd be happy to pass our thoughts along when we get back.

We're on the 4/21 and doing Soualiga as well!
 
It’s been almost 12 years since we’ve done an eastern itinerary on DCL. My ds was 5 when we traveled. We did a submarine adventure in St Thomas booked through Disney. This was fine, our son enjoyed it. In st Maarten, we used lord Sheffield tall boat(or something like that). We booked that independently. The crew were fantastic. They let my son steer the ship & shooed my husband away so we could relax for a little bit. Obviously it’s been quite a few years & there has most likely been turnover but that excursion was great.
 
Soualiga is AMAZING! One of our best excursion ever. If I go back to St. Maarten, we will do it again. Wonderful!
 

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