Coral World in St. Thomas

[deannalew]

My hubby and I are investigating all the different things there are to do on St. Thomas/St. Johns just because we would like to investigate doing some excursions on our own.

We have found some information about a place on St. Thomas called "Coral World" It is an aquarium/aquatic park that offers lots of wonderful things to do in coorelation with another water sports place.

Has anyone been to Coral World? It sounds really neat.

 

[NCRedding]

We went to Coral World on 1/12 cruise. I would recommend it. The taxi over from the ship is $7 per person. The admission price was 18 adult, 9 child, but there are discount coupons on the web, and also in the local travel books that will give you money off. The place is clean, with several buildings and exhibits, including the dome shaped building that is partially underwater. I would go to Coral World first--get my all day pass, and then spend some time at Coki Beach which is beautiful and right at Coral World. You can rent a chair for $5 for the day. Then you can go back to Coral World to use their restrooms and showers as you wish (the restrooms at the beach were nasty).

 

[candleonwater]

Personally I was bored with Coral World, but I like the idea of being able to use their bathrooms!

 

[aprilgail2]

I loed coral world and if you want to snorkle at Coki beach you can rent snorkling equipment from coral world for a cheap price (I can't remember how much , it was years ago but it was not expensive) The snorkling is great there because you can go right close in by coral world and see beautiful fish in the coral!

 

[deannalew]

Erika,
Why did you find Coral World to be boring?

I wonder because I am from Virginia Beach and we have the Virginia Marine Science Museum here which I have visited MANY times on field trips with my class (I teach). It is a GREAT aquarium and museum, but I have seen it so much that I'm tired of it.

I notice you are from Alexandria (where I lived as a teen- ager....my sister lives in Dale City now! ). I was wondering if you found Coral World not as good as say the National Aquarium or others you may have seen?

Thanks.

 

[NCRedding]

Coral World is nothing like the National Aquarium. It is not an all day thing, but I found it worth the price of admission--loved the geo-dome which shows fish actually in the water. Haven't been to the VA aquarium, although I plan to soon.

 

[deannalew]

Yes, I imagine it is a smaller operation than National Aquarium or the Virginia Marine Science Museum.

The only thing about the VA MA Science Museum is they have a VERY small tank of tropical fish. They do have a sting ray tank where you can touch/pet the sting rays and a touch tank. They also have a shark tank (no petting there! )

I would hope that Coral World has a lot more tropical fish and the pretty coral to see than what is offered at the VA one.

Coral World does say to allow 2 hours to see the place, so it must be small. That's o.k. for $18.

We are looking into doing the underwater "walk" with the helmets at coral world OR the "Snuba" diving offered right there in connection with visiting coral world. It sounds fun if I can convince my hubby that he won't be eaten by a shark or attacked by "Sea Lice".

Can you believe it???? He grew up around here in VA beach and is afraid to swim/snorkel because of possible sharks/sea lice/ barracuda....

 

[LisaTxUsa]

We just got back from the 1/26 Magic cruise. Me and my 11 yr old son did the Coral World excursion. We were both rather disappointed. It isn't very big and there just isn't that much to do. The shark petting that they talk about really is nothing more than briefly touching the tail of a small nurse shark. I would not do it again - I'd rather spend time at the beach.

Just my opinion

 

[deannalew]

Lisa,
Was this an excursion given by DCL or one you did on your own? I thought that doing Coral World would be a quick trip and then if we wanted beach time we could go to Coki Beach right there next to it. Did the trip to Coral World take too much time?

Thanks.

 

[candleonwater]

Lisa,

I agree with you - there just wasn't enough to do! Maybe if I hadn't had my daughter with me, I could have tried the "dive" stuff... my daughter did enjoy touching a starfish, but was terrifed by the iguanas (or whatever they are) who kept harassing her. We didn't get to "pet" a shark because the one that was chosen decided to bite the guy holding him. They ended up taking him away in a wheelchair, and from what we heard later, the guy was okay, but the shark didn't make it.

Maybe next time, since we want to snorkel at Coki, and like the idea of using the restrooms at Coral World, we will give it another try.

 

[LisaTxUsa]

We did the excursion through DCL. You only get about an hour and 20 mins at Coral World. That is plenty of time to see everything. The park just isn't that big. I didn't really like the Mountaintop Island tour either. I felt like I had taken my life in my hands with our driver! The drive itself is rather harrowing. My son asked if we could just walk back down instead of going back with the driver. The driver tried to point out places of interest, but the PA system was so bad you couldn't really hear what he was saying.

 

[deannalew]

It sounds like I DO NOT want to do this thru DCL, but on our own if we do decide to visit Coral World.

Currently I am investigating doing the "Snuba" (a mix between scuba diving and snorkling) that includes admission to Coral World.

We are also investigating doing some Scuba Diving for beginners who have never experienced scuba diving before. The Coki Beach Dive place right near Coral World has the best prices so far and is the closet and easiest to get to from the docks. They also will pick us up from the dock, so that saves $7 a person in taxis one way!



Thanks for your opinions. We may just go to Coki Beach, do some snorkling and skip Coral World all together. Who knows?

 

[Karebear]

I have not been on a Disney cruise yet--am in the middle of booking one. However, I have been to St. Thomas about 8 times (my inlaws have a condo there). Coral World is ok--the package that includes SNUBA and Coral World is good--lots of fish. It depends what you are looking for. The best/prettiest beaches that I have ever seen are on St. John. If I was on a cruise ship, I would opt for a day trip to St. John. I guess it depends where else the cruise ship takes you and what other beaches you see too. Just my 2 cents.

If anyone has questions on St. Thomas, please feel free to email me.

 

[happylady]

Originally posted by LisaTxUsa
The drive itself is rather harrowing. My son asked if we could just walk back down instead of going back with the driver

My 11DS thought the taxi ride was one of the best parts of St. Thomas. We also did SNUBA at Coki Beach which is next to Coral World. The three of us (me, DH & DS) all loved SNUBA. The water was alittle cloudy due to a tropical storm a few days earlier and the current was too strong to go on the ocean side of the reef. Our guide said it was the strongest she has ever felt the current, so she sent us and the other DIS family the photo CD free. But, we still had a great time! Living in South Florida, we felt like Coral World would be repetious of our local marine parks. We used the showers to rinse the salt off and my DS got up close and personal with one of the iguanas.

 

[dbcruise]

hello just got backfro 1-26 trip I did these 2 on my own $7.00 taxi ride each way . (yes it is a wild ride ) Taxi driver gave me a $3.00 off coupon but I also had one printed from their web site . I said in the cashiers windows a $4.00 off coupon just like the one my taxi driver gave me so you may be able to save another buck if you get the right taxi. $15.00 to get in then $3.00 for a locker rental ($10.00 deposit for key you get back) . The price is high but they do research ,rescue animals so i figure the money is going to good cause so thats ok . I dropped my snorke gear in locker spent about hour walking around the park taking pictures feeding stingrays , watched the Turtles and sharks fed Then I walked to Cokie beach took pictures and video then locked my video camera in the locker changed into suit and headed to the beach with throwawy underwater camera but all valuables locked up while I swam and snorkled for 2 hours . Went back to coral world did the freshwater shower dressed shopped then headed back to boat . I thought it was a great day . and worth the money .