Ok, DCL Veterans, seems you are tired of this, but I will ask anyway.

[heidica]

Trying to decide on which snorkel excursion we want to do on our 7 day eastern cruise and did a forum search for threads on snorkeling. Would you believe I found quite a number of threads that never got responses (or only got 1 or 2) asking for opinions on the different snorkel excursions. Seems to me that you veterans must be sick and tired of that question because you have already answered it a million times. I also posted another thread asking about snorkelling and shopping, got great responses on shopping but not much on snorkelling. I just found it kind of funny. It was like you could tell that people are getting tired of the same questions over and over again. Oh, well.

I did figure some things out with my search. Seems that pinel island snorkel excursion is not that great, shipwreck cove is pretty good but trunk bay seems to get great reviews.

Well, I have another question that I couldn't seem to find the answer for. Reading my excrusion pamphlet from DCL, it seems that both the Trunk Bay excursion and the 5-Star snorkel excursion take you to the same place (trunk bay) to go snorkelling. Is this correct? If so, what are the differences in the excursions?

Also, of all the DCL snorkelling excursions, which one actually gives you the longest amount of time where you are in the water snorkelling??

By the way, these discussion boards have been EXTREMELY helpful to me and my planning, so thanks to everyone for their help.

 

[prymsu]

most of the snorkeling I have done has been on the western ports of call. We did do the St. Christopher's shipwreck at St. Thomas and that was pretty good. We also snorkeled at Dawn's beach, but the water was pretty choppy the day we were there, so i didn't think that was so hot.

As far as the excursions to Trunk Bay, if i recall there were two to the small place, but the differences could be related to cost and length of trip. You don't get too much time snorkeling on these excursions from what i was able to gather. Also, does one include booze, and the other not? Maybe check the DCL web site under shore excursions, and they will list more info.

 

[kendall]

hi heidica,

We took the Golden Eagle catamaran in St. Maarten golden eagle online

Description from :
Sail to the island of Tintamarre aboard the 'Golden Eagle'. This state of the art, wing mast catamaran is the biggest, the fastest and best looking catamaran in the whole Caribbean. Enjoy home-baked pastries with Champagne, while enjoying the thrill of sailing in the sparkling waters offshore.

Count the flying fish or watch the dolphins while laying in the nets or lazing in the shade of our 80 ft tall sail, embossed with a giant Golden Eagle. Stop for a swim in a quiet cove, snorkel in the crystal clear waters or bob around on a beach float. Explore caverns or dive through coral formations teaming with fish. The Golden Eagle will nuzzle her bow into a fabulous sandy beach, without doubt one of the finest you will see in the Caribbean. Our friendly crew will provide you with snorkeling equipment, beach floats, and snorkeling instruction if necessary. Homeward bound, the gigantic yellow spinnaker will be furled. Enjoy cruising downwind listening to great music while enjoying cocktails and snacks from the open bar.

Please note: The island is located on the French side and some nudity may be observed. Operation of the vessel and beach selection are subject to weather and sea conditions. radisson seven seas website

We really enjoyed the Golden Eagle - snorkeling was the best we had - better than Coki Beach in St. Thomas. We didn't go to St. Johns, although I hear the snorkeling there is quite good. It is possible to do Trunk Bay on your own, and have more time to snorkel than what DCL schedules.

I would estimate we had about 1.5-2 hours for beach and snorkeling. The catamaran ride was fun, the crew professional, friendly, and wonderful hosts! Equipment was very good, too. We would do this excursion again!

 

[aalan]

last march, my wife and i did the trunk bay 5 star excursion. for me, it was the highlight of the cruise: i really enjoyed the snorkeling, and saw many fish and nice coral. at one point i was surrounded by a school of bright blue fish, it was great! the water is an incredible shade of topaz/teal, and the beach is unspoiled and beautiful. most "hardcore" snorkelers will say that trunk bay is over crowded and not that great, but we thought it was amazing. the biggest disadvantage to the dis excursion is that you get only about an hour and a half on site. you take a slow but enjoyable former oyster boat to get to st. johns, which takes about 45 minutes both ways, so that eats into your time. if you catch your own ferry boat, they motor over to st johns much faster, and you end up having almost 3 hours of time on site. but you do have to make all your own arrangements: taxi to shuttle, shuttle to st. johns, taxi to beach, then back again. if we were to go again, i think we would do this, because we would like to spend as much time as possible at the beach! by the way, i have read that hawknest beach is also a nice spot on st. johns. hope this helps....

 

[trishy]

We didn't go on any of the DCL excursions on the Eastern - they just didn't have enough time and we were afraid of the possible "cattle" conditions of these excursions. With 3 kids we wanted the option of doing our own thing. Soooooo we rented a boat out of Redhook and explored St. Johns on our own. The snorkeling was too good for words over there. Huge starfish, beautifully colored fish (BIG ones), turtles, rays. Was well worth it. At St. Maarten we did Dawn's beach and the waves were pretty mild when we went (July) - the kids did great with the waves -but they are all excellent swimmers. We saw a lot of little ones staying on the beach - afraid of the waves. So guess it depends on each individual kid. One of the nice things about the Eastern is the option of doing things on your own and not be tied to an expensive, limited time DCL excursion.

 

[kendall]

You mention you rented a boat out of Redhook - would you please share with us with whom you rented, were you pleased with the boat, and the price comparison with taking a ferry to St. Johns? Thanks!

 

[trishy]

there's a pm awaiting you, Kendall.
If anyone else is interested in this detailed info, pm me. I'd prefer not to post specific info on "good finds" because of lurkers, but I'd be happy to share with the DIS posters. Hope you understand.