Eastern Excursion help: Catamaran sailing choices...

[professorandmom]

My adult daughter and I are trying to learn more about the Disney St Thomas excursion - Catamaran Sail, Snorkel and Private Beach Club that goes to ABI beach club. After lots of searching, I can find folks asking about this trip but not a review of it....
We have also been thinking about the St John Champagne catamaran excursion but know it is a great deal of travel time for a short beach trip...(and just read about the disappointing experience of some recent DISers on that trip)
Eastern experts...please help us out (yes, I know, my mileage may vary but your insights offer helpful info!) Thanks!

 

[WDWChloe]

My adult daughter and I are trying to learn more about the Disney St Thomas excursion - Catamaran Sail, Snorkel and Private Beach Club that goes to ABI beach club. After lots of searching, I can find folks asking about this trip but not a review of it....
We have also been thinking about the St John Champagne catamaran excursion but know it is a great deal of travel time for a short beach trip...(and just read about the disappointing experience of some recent DISers on that trip)
Eastern experts...please help us out (yes, I know, my mileage may vary but your insights offer helpful info!) Thanks!

Where did you read about disappointments in the St John Cat excursion? We've booked this based on so many positive reviews on TripAdvisor - including local's. Just curious

 

[rachelsmom97]

While I have not taken the excursion with DCL to Abi Beach, I did do an excursion to Abi Beach with Norwegian Cruise in May. I really enjoyed it. There is no dock so the boats get as close to shore as they can and then you either swim or walk to shore. There is not a road in so there are not a lot of people at the beach. They had lounge chairs, a bar where you could also get food and a small shop where you could rent snorkeling gear, paddle boats and paddle boards. We did not snorkel but soaked up the sun and hung out in the water. I liked it so much that I have booked the excursion through Disney when we are on the Fantasy in October for my husband and myself.

 

[professorandmom]

Where did you read about disappointments in the St John Cat excursion? We've booked this based on so many positive reviews on TripAdvisor - including local's. Just curious

Here:
http://disboards.com/threads/maybe-im-just-tired-but-im-pretty-disappointed.3516459/#post-55880434

I was surprised because so many folks have positive reports for this excursion...

 

[professorandmom]

While I have not taken the excursion with DCL to Abi Beach, I did do an excursion to Abi Beach with Norwegian Cruise in May. I really enjoyed it. There is no dock so the boats get as close to shore as they can and then you either swim or walk to shore. There is not a road in so there are not a lot of people at the beach. They had lounge chairs, a bar where you could also get food and a small shop where you could rent snorkeling gear, paddle boats and paddle boards. We did not snorkel but soaked up the sun and hung out in the water. I liked it so much that I have booked the excursion through Disney when we are on the Fantasy in October for my husband and myself.

Thanks a bunch!!!

 

[Sleepyluke]

We have done the champagne catamaran 4 times now and absolutely loved every trip. Most recent was Dec 2015.

 

[AKMamaT]

Thanks for posting this! I was curious about the Catamaran Sail, Snorkel and Private Beach Club excursion also. We have done Magen's Bay, which we loved and would do again, but I thought it might be fun to try something new too. Does anyone know how much time at the beach you get? I think the description said 2 hours, but I am wondering how accurate that is.

 

[Lolo1311]

We did the champagne catamaran excursion in November 2013 and it was the highlight of our trip! It was my husband and I and my parents. Everyone loved it! I still think about it frequently because it was so enjoyable. We saw some sea turtles while snorkeling which was really cool!
I am not a huge fan of snorkeling so I don't know how much time we had at the beach, but it was enough for our party. Personally, I was in it for the endless supply of rum and champagne! The drinks were fantastic.
I also saw some bad reviews of it recently which is disappointing. I'm not sure if the crew changed or if it was just a bad day for the excursion. I would still highly recommend it and I hope it hasn't changed!