MORE questions about E. excursions

[hydster]

We are in an excursion planning nightmare! I need ANY AND ALL opinions on what to do for an excursion! I will need something that is fun for a 10, 9 and 5 year old and age appropriate. My older 2 kids swim fairly well and I'm pretty sure could do the snorkel but I worry about my 5 year old. Any excursions out there where they give them a lifejacket or something? I assume my child cant be the only 5 year old who isnt good at swimming yet. We had a couple of thoughts but if any of you have had good luck on an excursion please help us out with your opinion.

We have looked at doing the following:

St. Maarten~

Pinel Island Snorkel Tour

The Golden Eagle Catamaran

French Riviera Beach Rendezvous


St. Thomas ~

Trunk Bay Beach and Snorkel Tour

Barefoot Catamaran Sail and Snorkel

Atlantis Submarine (nervous about this after glass bottom boat tour in Nassau)

Doubloon Sail and Snorkel

Coral World

Sapphire Beach

or

Wild Thing Beach and Snorkel.

If ANY of you have done any of these with kids even close to my kids ages please let me know your feelings on them. We need to get them booked asap since we are now within the 60 day window but I have NO idea what to do.

Thanks!
Heidi

 

[Luv2Dream]

I'm sorry I can't really help you with this decision because I haven't been on the cruise yet. I go in April. However, I have a 7 yo DD and we are doing the Dolphin Encounter in St. Martin and the Sapphire Beach on St. Thomas. I went to castawayclub.com and Dave's DCL tribute site for information on the excursions as well as so much information here on this board. Good luck.

 

[dianna-tn]

A couple of years ago our family went on the Magic and our children were dd 10 and ds6. On St. Marten, we did the French Riveria Beach Day. We all enjoyed this. The kids loved the water. We did not like the food that was provided. Please keep an open mind that people could go topless or even in their birthday suit. We had 2 senior adults come past us in their birthday suits which was rather comical. lol. In St. Thomas, we did the Sapphire Beach Day. This beach is very rocky and very hard on your feet. We did not enjoy this excursion at all. The children had a hard time playing in the water. This is just my opinion and I'm sure others may have a different perspective about their excursions.

 

[Luv2Dream]

Oh, I had never heard that about Sapphire Beach. I'll have to make sure my daughter wears her water shoes.

 

[mobetsy]

I can't offer first hand advice for a few weeks, but we have sons age 9 and 5, and are going with friends with a 9 y.o. dd. (5 y.o. a non-swimmer who likes water if he's wearing a life jacket, 9 y.o.'s advanced beginner swimmers). We did a lot of research on St. Maarten excursions, and ended up choosing the Golden Eagle Catamaran. At one time or another a lot of people have posted that this is great fun for people of all ages; I gather the beach and water's edge they go to is nice even if some choose not to snorkel, and the catamaran ride is lots of fun. Also, I think that all the excursions that include snorkeling provide a snorkeling vest which adds a lot of buoyancy.

 

[PhotoLisa]

My granddaughters were 10 and 6 on our trip last week. Neither had difficulty snorkeling and neither had done so before.

Disney requires that their guests wear the floatation vests during snorkeling activities.

We did Pinel Island and the Doubloon. We felt that Pinel Island gave the kids the slow start they needed in order to have a great time on the Doubloon the next day.

At Pinel Island, you take a boat to the island and snorkel from the beach area. If they decide snorkeling isn't their cup of tea, you can chill on the beach (beware of nude sunbathers though).

On the Doubloon, you jump off the boat into the water.

The Doubloon is my absolute favorite for St. Thomas -- we've done it twice and loved it both times!

The girls really enjoyed their snorkeling adventures!

Lisa

 

[tvguy]

My kids were 12 and 16 when we did the 12-27-03 Eastern.

We did the America's Cup Regatta in St. Martin, (against my wishes) and it was a blast. My son (the 16 year old) and I worked our tails off, my wife was the captain, and sat on her tail, and my daughter was the timer. What was neat was not only learning how to race the yacht, but we were circling around the Queen Elizabeth 2, which drops anchor outside the bay because it can't dock. No swimming involved, but a very unique experience.

On St Thomas, we did the Coral World-City Tour in the afternoon, that would be great for young kids, and we did the Tramway in the morning. I'd skip the tramway, which does have a great view of the bay, but you get a similar few, from the other side of the bay on the driving tour.

 

[DOOGIERUNNER]

We chartered our own boat and spent the day in Anguilla. Awesome. Check out www.offshoresunsations.com. Click on testimonials, we're the family from Iowa.

 

[Magicboundagain4]

In March 2002 I took my older sons and twin 6 year old daughters...none of them had snorkeled before our 5 Star Trunk Bay Excursion.....they loved it...they were a little surprised by the taste of the salt water...but soon adjusted and they wore the flotation devices handed out with the equipment. Very pleasant experience and they had fun in the sand on the beach as well.

 

[anitad]

Last August we did Pinel Island on our own. It was a beautiful beach and the water was great. We took a taxi to the ferry and the ferry to the island. We were the first to arrive and had our choice of seats/location (there is a fee which is collected after the small bar/restaurant opens). In St. Thomas we took the Disney offered Champagne Catamaran Cruise to St. John. It was wonderful. The kids (2 11year olds and 1 14 year old) loved it (and so did the adults). The people running the boat were wonderful.

 

[hydster]

Thank you all for your replies! After our "meeting" (where mom gets to get out of cooking and we talk all things Disney trip related) we decided that we were going to just do Orient Beach on our own in St. Maarten IF we feel up to doing anything at all and then we finally decided to do the Doubloon Sail and Snorkel. I read alot of positives about it and decided to do it. Another reason we decided to do it was because with our Stateroom Credit from Dreams it would only cost us $6.00 total for the 5 of us to do that excursion.

But to all of you that offered your opinion thank you, thank you, thank you!!

Heidi

 

[jrabbit]

We did Orient Beach on our own. Cab is $7 to $10 per person each way. We had 7 people and we bargained the driver down to $5 per person each way (and we had to use her for the return trip). It worked out very well and we rented a couple of chairs and an umbrella at the beach for about $10. It was a lot cheaper than the DCL excursion that included lunch. We had a blast and the beach and water and area is beautiful.

We did the Barefoot catamaran on St. Thomas to St. Johns. The boat was spotless and the crew very good. We had a great time snorkeling at St. Johns and they had soft drinks on the way to St. Johns and soft drinks, rum punch and snacks for the trip back. I highly recommend this excursion. I don't think you will be disappointed in the St. Thomas excursion you selected.