Eastern excursions: Morning or Afternoon?

[JJsmama]

Does anyone have experience about whether it is better to book excursions in St Thomas & Tortola first thing in the morning or afternoon?

I was hoping to enjoy a less crowded ship for part of the day. So, my plan was to book excursions first thing in morning and have the afternoon on the ship. However, with the early all aboard times (4:00 and 5:45) perhaps a Lot of people will be back on ship early. So, then I thought we could sleep in, go to pool, then a 3-4 hour excursion right before return time. What do you think?

Also, are the beaches and snorkeling sites much better first thing in morning or does it not matter?

 

[Aby]

I always prefer to do the first excursion of the morning if I can. Yes, it means a very early wake up time sometimes, but I like to finish up early and head back to the ship to enjoy it while it's more empty. We did this for at least a few ports, and we found that even with an early all aboard time, the ship still felt relatively empty until right at that time.

For our snorkelling trip, we also had the benefit of being the first boat out to the snorkel sites, so there were more turtles around, and it was a lot less crowded. Once the other boats started arriving, it go so crowded it wasn't nearly as peaceful - not sure if this would apply to all the excursions but the boat we were on was a jet boat, so even though there were other excursions going to the same place we were, we beat them there by a long shot and had the place to ourselves for quite awhile.

Aby

 

[MinnesotaMouseketeers]

We also like the earlier excursions and the only shopping we do is hitting some of the more interesting looking shops on the way back to the ship. Neither wife and I are into shopping thing and would rather have more time on the ship. As time goes on the ship will start to fill up as people return from there outings. But I find that there is enough people staying on shore doing their thing excursions, shopping, casino, touring, eating, etc. So the ship does feel less crowded.

 

[JJsmama]

I can start booking very soon. I can't see the times yet, so I guess I will see "How Early is Early.." and then probably book the early one.

 

[Nanaree]

I booked our excursions directly as my DGD is 4 so couldn't. I scheduled them somewhat early, 9:30 and 10 am so we didn't feel rushed to get back to the ship. It worked out very well. The pools/Aquaduck were busy one of the days and not the other. Hmmm. Who knows?! LOL.

 

[phinz]

It's my experience that the boat gets gradually more and more crowded in St. Thomas. If I wanted an empty ship I'd book a later excursion and take my time going ashore.

 

[JJsmama]

Thanks for the input from all of you.

I think an afternoon booking actually Might be the way to go to get empty pool time in the morning BUT the reviews of both our Snorkeling and 'Baths' said that those places get crowded later in the day too (Sigh!) so I booked 8:15 excursion both days getting back to ship around 12:45. We'll see how it goes. Maybe we will go back into town after lunch or maybe the ship will be pleasantly empty. Will let you know.