Hilton Head - Tuesday BBQ and Shrimp Boil, Captain Scott's Beach Combing - Worth It?

[lat]

We have 11 people for this upcoming trip to HH from WDW in the 3rd week of August. I received this upcoming week's activities for a comparison.

What do you think of the BBQ and Shrimp Broils? Are they worth the $$$? The entertainment and activies, can they be done separately, or are only available if you sign up for these?

Capital Scott's Dolphin Tour $30 per person. However, if I want to do the beach combing, it becomes $60/$65 per person with still 2 hours dolphin tour and an additional one hour of beach combing at Pinckney Island beach. Is this so much better that the price is doubled?

I am covering pretty much all 11 people for everything for the 2 week trip (1 week at WDW and 1 week at HH), and have to be a little careful with the total expenses.

Thanks in advance!!

 

[Disneyaholic]

In order of preference, I would do:

#1: Dolphin tour or beach combing. We have done the dolphin tour several times, but have never added on the beach combing. *I* would like to the next time, but not sure the rest of the family will be as "into" it as me. There are other, less expensive dolphin tours you can do at Hilton Head (not through the resort), but they use larger boats and you don't get as close to the dolphins as you do with Scott. His tour is well worth the extra money.

#2: Shrimp boil. We have not done this personally and there have been mixed reviews of it. From what I gather, the food is good, if not great, and the entertainment by B'Lou is wonderful (as are all of B'Lou's programs).

#3: Poolside BBQ. We have done this, and IMHO, it's the one program HH does not excel at. The food is not bad, but it's difficult to get that many people fed in an orderly manner. The last time we did it, it rained, so they had to bring everything under cover in the recreation area, which caused more problems. You can still do the evening pool games and night sliding, even if you don't do the BBQ.

Hilton Head is one vacation where I truly don't mind cooking. We use the resort grills and semi-homemade meals in the villa. Expecially in the busy season, waiting in line at the restaurants can be a less-than-enjoyable experience. I like to go there to take it easy and do things (including eating, LOL!) on my own schedule.

 

[lat]

Thanks for the info. Shrimp Broil will be on my list. Do you know if the price $24.99 includes tax and tips?

I called Captan Scott yesterday and he told me to call back today. The boat can hold 10 while he only allows 6. I know DH will not be on it, so that will be 10 of us. I need to check if that will be OK.

 

[cgcw]

#3: Poolside BBQ. We have done this, and IMHO, it's the one program HH does not excel at. The food is not bad, but it's difficult to get that many people fed in an orderly manner.

Hilton Head is one vacation where I truly don't mind cooking. We use the resort grills and semi-homemade meals in the villa. Expecially in the busy season, waiting in line at the restaurants can be a less-than-enjoyable experience. I like to go there to take it easy and do things (including eating, LOL!) on my own schedule.

I could have written this myself.

If I had to give up one of the three, it would also be the BBQ. While it was ok, it wasn't anything to write home about.

We've done both the dolphin tour and the beach combing. The difference between the two is that with the beach combing, the extra hour is spent out on Dufuski Island.

You can walk the beach, play in the surf or our favorite, collect shells. Because it's done at low tide, by the time you get out to the island, many of the sand dollars and star fish along the high tide line are already dead and ready to be collected. I always say I'm not going to pick any up as we already have so many, but then it's very hard to resist the temptation. Scott has taught us about the different sea life that comes up out of the water, or is attempting to get back to the water or protecting itself until the tide comes back in. Sea snails and sea worms are two of the things that come to mind. One year we came upon the skeltelon of a heron, which my DH collected for the kids. I think part of the fascination is that we don't know what exactly were going to find until we come upon it.

One year, there we tons of star fish right along the area where the tide was at that moment. You couldn't walk in the water, for fear of stepping on them. It was very, very cool to see.

I would suggest that with a party of 11, you contact Scott before you arrive. In order for everyone one to go out at the same time, you'll need to have use of two of Scott's boats so you may need to coordinate the timing with him a bit earlier than you would if you were a smaller group.

Have a great trip and definately post your experiences when you return. We leave 1 week from today and can't wait!

 

[cgcw]

Thanks for the info. Shrimp Broil will be on my list. Do you know if the price $24.99 includes tax and tips?

I called Captan Scott yesterday and he told me to call back today. The boat can hold 10 while he only allows 6. I know DH will not be on it, so that will be 10 of us. I need to check if that will be OK.

I can tell you, based on my experience, 10 people on Scott's boat would be very tight.

 

[deerh]

We just came back from HHI, and to me, the price for both was not justified.
The shrimp boil was (I think) $30+, and for 11 people, that would be $330! The BBQ looked good, but again, not worth it for us. But, to each his own, we were only 4 people, and did not want to spend $220+ for 2 meals....

That is a lot of golf, and going out to eat, but to each his own..

The pool activites are free, enjoy those!!
Whatever you do, enjoy HHI, it is great!!

DeerH

 

[dvcfamily41801]

We were just there in April and we were supposed to go on the Beach Combing Tour, but it was cancelled the day we were going.

When I originally booked it, all of us were going to be going on the tour, 4 adults and 3 children 6 and under. He said we were going to have to have 2 boats as 6 was his maximum.

We had a great time at the Shrimp Boil and thought the food was super!

Looking forward to going back next April!

 

[Doctor P]

Just to clarify. It is a Shrimp Boil, not a Shrimp Broil. Just want to make sure the OP understands that, since those are kind of two different things.

 

[lat]

Thanks for all the feedbacks and the correction. Yes, I thought it was a broil, and could not figure out what it is. Now that it makes sense.

 

[mbhoxsie]

I have to agree with everyone about the BBQ...

While the entertainment was fun, the food was average... Your normal BBQ type selections... The night sliding was cool... So were the fireworks, but you could enjoy all of those things without having to pay for dinner..

 

[lat]

Thanks again for all the replies.

I spoke to Captain Scott regarding the Shark fishing, beach combing and the dolphin cruises.

Beach combing would be a lot of fun except that it will start around 12 or 1pm during the week we are there. I would much rather do it in the morning just because it will be so HOT at that time, so beach combing is out. Also, there is only one boat per day because it has to get to beach while it is low tide. Beach combing is out for us.

Shark fishing sounds a lot of fun, but we will need 2 boats because we have so many people. It is a chartered boat for $350 each. That would be too much money for me for 3 hours.

So I signed up for the dolphin cruise with Disney. Wednesday is member day so you get 10% off to knock the price down to $27 per person from $30.

As far as meals, I think we will skip both the BBQ and shrimp boil. Westin's Carolina Cafe offers seafood buffet for $31.99 per adult daily and it seems to be getting very good reviews. We will try that instead.

Thanks again.