Is this enough time?

[Flowerem]

My family is booked for the Tree Limin' zip line excursion through Disney on St Thomas at 8:15am, which will have us back at the ship by 12. Do you think it would be possible for us to skip Disney transport back, and grab a cab to take us to Magens Bay instead? I think we could spend a few hours there and still be back at the ship before 4pm (All aboard). It says it's a 30 min cab ride from Magens to the dock. I'd probably leave the beach by 2:30pm to be safe.

Would anyone else consider this or is it too much?

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

I wouldn't do it just based on I enjoy the cruise to relax, not run from activity to activity.

If I was adding on a second activity that day, I'd just have lunch on the ship, then head up the tram on the mountain next to the ship.

Save your beach fun for Tortola and Castaway Cay.

 

[Otimon]

Personally, would not do it!

One thing you have to consider taking a cab on your own is the possibility of delay with that cab (breakdown, unexpected road delays, etc.) The ship won't wait.
Imagine the heartbreak of arriving at the dock only to see the Disney already sailing away! Not worth the risk.

Bon Voyage.

 

[RedSox68]

Personally, would not do it!

One thing you have to consider taking a cab on your own is the possibility of delay with that cab (breakdown, unexpected road delays, etc.) The ship won't wait.
Imagine the heartbreak of arriving at the dock only to see the Disney already sailing away! Not worth the risk.

Bon Voyage.

My continuing nightmare! I agree, I would not risk it. We did two excursions in one day several times -- but they were ship excursions, guarantying that if there was a delay, the ship had to wait. There is no guaranty the cab will come back on time to pick you up and that would be a terrible panic situation and could ruin your whole day.

Side story: We were in St. Thomas on the Magic, with Captain Tom, and we were supposed to depart at 4 p.m. By 5 p.m., people had started gathering on the top deck because several announcements had been made about two people from two staterooms reporting in. Down the sidewalk comes two women very happily intoxicated heading for the ship. At the bottom of one of the gangways was one of the husbands, with all their luggage packed, because he had been told the ship would have to leave. The only reason it didn't? They found out the other woman had a baby in the nursery! Otherwise, the captain was ready to pull up stakes. As a result, we were more than an hour late to Castaway Cay. A steward told us the next morning that dozens of notes had been slipped under their doors from angry passengers for missing time at CC. So seriously -- don't chance it because your names and room number will be announced and yikes, you'll get nasty notes.

 

[Sir William]

We are firm believers in going on a ship scheduled excursion if we are due to return in the afternoon. We did a DCL excursion in Barbados a few months ago. Transportation back to the ship was a challenge. There was a large number of us spread across about 5-6 buses. For the return one of the buses had broken down and one had been rerouted to support another excursion. There wasn't enough room on the remaining buses for everyone and they were scrambling to try and get some taxis to get everyone back to the ship on time (no one was worried about the ship leaving without us).

In the Med, we arranged our own tour of Rome and all went well until the drive home. Construction had caused a huge traffic jam and no one was going anywhere fast. Our driver assured us we'd be back in time but was talking to other drivers to see if there was a way around the mess just to be sure (he also said that if we missed the ship he'd take us to Naples, the next stop, and his company would put us up in a hotel until the ship arrived). DW was getting pretty anxious, but then I noticed several buses behind with signs saying "Disney Magic" and knew that as long as we were in front of them we were safe. Ironically, our driver did take us back by an alternate route and I was enjoying a glass of wine on our veranda by the time the Disney excursion buses returned, though the last arrived about a half-hour after scheduled departure, much to the relief of other passengers who were also arriving late due to the traffic jam. As far as I know everyone got back on board before we sailed, but it was a zoo on the pier with all the buses and taxis rolling in like a convoy at the last minute.

 

[Quellman]

Everyone is telling you not to do it.

I would want to clear it with the tour guide that you plan on leaving and not returning to port, because their job is to get you from the ship, to the excursion, and back. Otherwise you will have to return to port and then take a cab out to your next destination.

Lots of people book their own excursions. Just allow some time for delays and you can pack your day full of adventure.

 

[RedSox68]

We had a disastrous Disney excursion in Barcelona to Montserrat. Our tour guide was far from the best -- really spacey. She told part of our crew to be back at the bus at 4:00 p.m., but told another older passenger who was traveling alone to be back at 4:30. The reason we know this is she admitted it to us. She and the bus driver went all over to find him but couldn't and we had to leave to make it back to the ship. The problem was -- because we spent so much time looking for this passenger -- she had to forego our visits to La Sagrada and the Olympic Stadium. We watched the poor passenger being brought to teh ship by taxi -- which crew members paid for -- and rushing onboard. He looked very upset and disheveled and I truly felt bad for him. There was a line at the excursion desk that night for refunds -- which all of us got a percentage back because she missed two stops of the tour.

 

[Flowerem]

Thanks everyone for your advice!

I guess I was thinking that many people take taxi's on their own to Magens so that wouldn't be a big deal to catch one if I left plenty of time. I appreciate the warnings....I think we'll see how things go when we're there, and see if it's worth the risk to us.

 

[RedSox68]

I do think the suggestion above about clearing it with your tour guide is a good one. They may be required to bring you back to port before they can officially end the tour because they need a head count.

 

[Justacruiser]

Personally, would not do it!

One thing you have to consider taking a cab on your own is the possibility of delay with that cab (breakdown, unexpected road delays, etc.) The ship won't wait.
Imagine the heartbreak of arriving at the dock only to see the Disney already sailing away! Not worth the risk.

Bon Voyage.

would be a great picture from the port though......

 

[Sir William]

Thanks everyone for your advice!

I guess I was thinking that many people take taxi's on their own to Magens so that wouldn't be a big deal to catch one if I left plenty of time. I appreciate the warnings....I think we'll see how things go when we're there, and see if it's worth the risk to us.

Whether you go to Magens on your own is totally up to you. What folks are saying here is that you need to be fully aware of the some of the difficulties you may encounter that could potentially impact on your return to the ship in a timely manner. I'd do more research on Magens and see how easy (or difficult) it will be getting a taxi back to the ship, and what your alternate plan might be if you find yourself still there a half-hour before the ship sails.

On our beach excursion in Barbados there were several taxis out front but they soon were snapped up when our some of our excursion buses failed to show on time. On a beach excursion in Bermuda there were no taxis to be seen as they just dropped people off and left. You need to find out just how available taxis are at Magens, especially at the time you want one, so you can better determine your ability to get back to the ship on time.

We have done several excurions on our own without mishap (except for that traffic jam outside of Rome), but I always had a "Plan B" ready in case "Plan A" didn't work out, and I always allowed extra time for contingencies. I'd rather spend that extra 30-60 minutes on the ship instead of missing it by 10 minutes because I had "time to spare."

 

[Flowerem]

I do think the suggestion above about clearing it with your tour guide is a good one. They may be required to bring you back to port before they can officially end the tour because they need a head count.

Yes, I would definitely clear with the tour guide before leaving the group. Forgot to add that in my earlier reply.

 

[ktate82]

We did just this in Oct and had a ball! We were in the first excursion to zip line. At the end, we said we wanted to go to Magen's Bay. They had us sign a form saying we were giving up the transport back to port, and they called us a cab. We spent about an hour at the beach and got a cab back to port. They have lots of taxis at the beach and are constantly going back and forth. We were back on the ship about 2 and would do it again.

 

[Flowerem]

We did just this in Oct and had a ball! We were in the first excursion to zip line. At the end, we said we wanted to go to Magen's Bay. They had us sign a form saying we were giving up the transport back to port, and they called us a cab. We spent about an hour at the beach and got a cab back to port. They have lots of taxis at the beach and are constantly going back and forth. We were back on the ship about 2 and would do it again.

I'm glad to hear it can be done. Do you by chance remember how long it took to get from Magens back to port?

I appreciate everyone's feedback. We will need to decide if we're willing to take that chance when we're there I guess. Thanks!

 

[ktate82]

I'm glad to hear it can be done. Do you by chance remember how long it took to get from Magens back to port?

I appreciate everyone's feedback. We will need to decide if we're willing to take that chance when we're there I guess. Thanks!

We stopped in town to let some people off (it was an open air taxi) and even with that, I would say 20 mins or so. It wasn't very long at all. The taxi was $8 per person from the zip line to the beach, $5 per person over 13 to get into Magen's Bay, and then $8 per person taxi back. It was fairly easy.

 

[RedSox68]

would be a great picture from the port though......