Excursions from SanJuan / St Thomas Eastern

[MandM]

We are booked for the Sept 4th sailing, let's hope Frances behaves!!!

Since this is a new itinerary I am looking for feedback on any of the excursions from anyone who may have just come off of the last 2 easterns? We are booked on the El Yunque Rainforest Tour and trying to get some feedback on it? What about the St Thomas Island tour.

 

[Mulljac]

We just came back from our 8/21 cruise and we went on the Rainforest excursion in San Juan. Unfortunately it wasn't what we expected. The bus ride is 1 hour from the ship. We stopped at a little off the road mini mall to use the restrooms. I don't think anyone bought any souveniers. At the Rainforest there we no animals to see, hardly any flowers, maybe only 3 different species, just lots of trees and ferns. It didn't rain at all. Don't know if that's good or bad. The trails were slippery enough without the rain. Lots of walking up and down trails. When we finally got to the waterfall it was crowded. And it was so hard to navigate around all of the rocks to get into the water. And in the water the rocks were just as bad. One guy slipped, I thought he was going to break his leg. We only encountered 1 restroom and with all of the water we were drinking I thought I was going to burst. I wouldn't recommend this excursion. When we got back to the ship, we were asked for our comments of the tour. Disney wants to make sure that people are enjoying themselves and they will take everyone's comments seriously.
As for St. Thomas, we did our own excursion over to St. John Trunk Bay. Another mistake. We didn't realize how expensive the transportation was. A cab to the ferry, then another cab from the ferry to Trunk Bay. We didn 't want to take too much money and instead didn't bring enough. Didn't realize this till we were over there. We had to borrow money from some people on the beach in order to get back to the ship. Thank God they were also on the ship with us. The woman was nice enough to give me the money and I was able to repay her later that night. It was a headache. I thought we would be saving money by doing the excursion on our own, but when I figured it out, it would have cost the same. Now I know for next time.

 

[sstucush]

Mulljac-

We are booked on the "longer" rainforest excursion next week. Since you swam in the waterfall, I'm assuming you were also on the longer one. Could you give me specifics on exactly how many bathroom stops there were? Did you stop each way on the bus? From your post, it looks like Disney provided water. How about snacks? My kids are really looking forward to this excursion.......I just hope I can hold out for the bathroom breaks!

 

[sstucush]

Mulljac-

We are booked on the "longer" rainforest excursion next week. Since you swam in the waterfall, I'm assuming you were also on the longer one. Could you give me specifics on exactly how many bathroom stops there were? Did you stop each way on the bus? From your post, it looks like Disney provided water. How about snacks? My kids are really looking forward to this excursion.......I just hope I can hold out for the bathroom breaks!

Thanks!

 

[sstucush]

Sorry, I don't know how that posted twice!

 

[goingbacksoon]

sstucush -

We just got back and took the "longer" rainforest tour. Aside from the slippery trails (be SURE to wear rubber-soled shoes, flip-flops would be a no-no), we had a blast. The ride was longer than Disney had advertised, I think we left the port area around 8:50 or so, but didn't get off until 10:30 in the rainforest. There were no bathroom breaks along the way. Our snack bag consisted of Famous Amos cookies, a bag of doritos, and a nature valley granola bar to go along with the water.

The bus itself was the size of a hotel shuttle, about 25 passengers. The kids did remarkably well considering the dearth of bathroom stops. We returned to the ship about 2:45pm, just enough time to grab lunch at Senor Frogs and do little walking around the Old San Juan area.

There were two buses, and our group walked down to the falls whereas the other group walked "up" to the falls. We ended up doing what was listed in the booklet backwards, i.e., swim first then hike.

goingbacksoon

p.s. what bus were you on Mulljac, 21 or 13?

 

[AspiringCindy]

What other excursions for Puerto Rico were offered?
Bacardi? The Caves of Camuy?

 

[sstucush]

goingbacksoon-

So there were no bathroom stops the entire excursion? Oh my gosh............

 

[goingbacksoon]

sstucush -

No bathroom stops on the way to the rainforest, but once there, we had a break. Then after the hike to the waterfall (swim for 30 minutes) and return hike, we boarded again for another 10 minutes to the observation tower. Stayed (bathrooms available) for 10 minutes, then on the bus again for another 10 minutes to La Coca Falls, stayed 10 minutes (no bathroom) then all the way back to the port.

 

[Mulljac]

Goingbacksoon, we were on bus #9. We did a bathroom stop before we got to the Rainforest at the stores. Then once there we went to the observation tower first. Then continued up the mountain. Walked for a while and stopped at a rest area for another bathroom break. Then walked a long time without a bathroom in site. Got to the falls and swam just a bit. Then another half hour walk back to the bus. No bathroom again. We were suppose to stop at the stores on the way home to use the restrooms but never did. They did provide 2 bottles of water each and a snack bag with chips, cookies and granola bar. I just finished talking with someone who has done the Rainforest as an all day excursion and she said that there are many trails in the forest that can take about 4 hours to finish. They are nicer than the ones we took. But we didn't have that much time to explore. We were suppose to be back at the ship around 2 or 2:30 and didn't get back till 3:30. It really cut into our shopping time. We were a little annoyed.

 

[CM_Mom]

MandM, we did the St. John Island Tour on our cruise in May. We loved it. The boat ride over was fun and the guide on the boat provided sightseeing commentary about the islands we were passing. Be aware that the boat ride is rougher than the ship so take some Bonine if any in your group are subject to sea sickness.

The tour is in an open air taxi, six benches that seat about 5 across. No seat belts so seat children in the middle. The taxi driver has a microphone and speakers and does a great job of telling about the island and the places you stop. No swimming on this tour but that was fine with us since we had our 80 something mom and aunt with us.

Don't know the ages of your party but I'd recommend the tour. FYI, this tour and the Trunk Bay and St. John Eco hike tours take the same boat over to St. John so if there are several in your group with different interests they could take different tours and ride over to St. John and Back together.

The boat to St. John docks right behind the Magic so you just walk down the dock to the end of the ship and get on board. VERY convenient and no worries about getting back to the ship on time or figuring out where to go or how to get there. I'm definitely a NO WORRIES kind of gal on vacation.

Here are some prayers for a smooth sailing and blue skies and calm waters on your cruise.

 

[sstucush]

goingbacksoon-

Thanks for the detailed info. As long as there is at least one bathroom stop I'm not worried. But with Hurricane Frances, our itinerary may change so all my worrying about bathroom stops may be for naught.