Post your Eastern Caribbean Excursions here!!!

[sullins5]

Here's one I haven't seen mentioned:

We did the Rhino Rider in St Martin. Great fun on little boats. Two people per boat. You follow the guides out, see both sides of the island, then are taken to a small beach for snorkeling or relaxing on the beach. It was pricey (I think around $89 a piece), but was fun. Heads up though on something that Disney either doesn't know or doesn't tell you...If you're an 'odd' numbered family or crew, the one person does NOT get their own boat. You have to ride with a guide member or pay another $89. So, this chik rode with a guide (but wound up hearing more details than anyone else, going faster, and laughed more due to my guide).
It was fun! They do expect tips, and you are reminded constantly for that one. Anymore questions on this one, let me know.

On St Martin, dh and dd did the Skyride. Believe it was about $18 pp., really cheap, and you just walk from Havensight Mall. They took tons of pics of the Magic, RCCL, and another ship from the top. HTH's!

 

[LoveMickey]

Hi

Any feed back on the St. John's Eco Hike?

thanks in advance.

 

[smalltowngirl504]

I really would like to do Honeymoon Beach and Turtle Cove... But I will have a 4 year old with me ...as well as two older children, so how do I get there,because it seems all the DCL excursions are 5 and up

 

[peyjax]

We did excursions on our own- either we are cheap or adventurous. I suppose both! We traveled with our 3 kids ages 1 to 7.

St Maarten-best day of the whole cruise! Rented a four door Jeep from Coastal rentals right off of the ship. Loved driving with the top down and exploring the island. Dh just followed the masses and we never got lost and easily found the hot spots to visit plus some off the lesser known ones. It was no different than driving here in the states. It really was a cool island not sure why it does not get much love?

St Thomas - Rental fell through. This place is $$$- $10 taxi rides pp including 1 year olds! Went to the beach. It was nice but nothing amazing. We had lots of topless people on the beach and not the old people kind. Kids paid no attention though.

For some reason there is a big secret about St Thomas
public transportaion system. Found out about it while talking with locals at the beach.

They are open safaris like some of the other taxis. They cost $1 pp and go around the island on a loop. Look for the locals and the bus they are on or just ask one. The safaris signature seems to be a stripe on the open safari bus. Same as the taxis that cost $10 but a little older. They may not take you to the front door so you might walk a small way. It cost us $5 for our whole family to get back to the port and the kids liked the exposure to the locals. Did I mention it costs $1 pp? lol


Castaway Cay- the beach can't get much more easy than this!

 

[pacomom]

I'm in the same boat as Smalltowngirl504. We'd love to do Honeymoon Beach and Turtle Cove but our youngest will be 3 so we won't be able to. I'd love to find an independent company that does something similar.

 

[Sammybeau's Mom]

Great Info!

 

[luvslikepi]

Several years ago on a Carnival Cruise I did one of the open-air Saint Thomas Island Tours that included shopping. Although I enjoyed the scenery, I'm not a big high-end shopper, I prefer locally made items. It was great as an introduction to the island but I wouldn't try it again. Since my husband has never been on a cruise and I've been to Saint Thomas before I'm letting him pick our excursion here.

Never been to Saint Maarten. My husband and I are very active and were thinking about the Hike tour or something with kayaking and snorkeling. Luckily, I get to pick the excursion here.

For Castaway Cay we're probably just doing a beach day here - though we might participate in the 5k run. I know that's not an "official" excursion but has anyone done it before>

 

[Nette]

There is another thread on here with a few reviews of the Turtle Cove/Honeymoon Beach excursion, and they are giving it great reviews! Sorry, i don't know how to link the thread to here? Can someone more tech savvy do it?

We are on the Eastern Magic sailing Saturday, and are doing Bernards Tours (reserved with another group from our ship for a private tour). We are skipping Orient Beach and going to the other one since we have small kids and are not wanting to spend the entire time explaining to the boys that some folks walk around topless!

We are also booked for the Turtle Cove/HM Beach excursion through DCL.

I will post a review of both when we get back!

We did Bernards Tour as well, and when we went to Orient Beach we didn't even notice that we were parked at the line between clothing optional and clothing required. The ONLY person who was nude was a little old man who must've been 85 yo.

I'm looking for reviews as well. We have this booked for our April 21st sailing on the Fantasy. Would love to hear from someone who as gone.

We also booked the private Randomwinds snorkel on St. Martin and was so very glad to hear a good review.

Thank you!

Same cruise, we did the ECO hike, but this was more than 2 years ago. It was nice, but not fabulous... except for the stop at Honeymoon Beach. I used to think Castaway Cay was the end all be all for beaches, but no more. The hike itself was nice, the guide was knowledgeable and the walking was not difficult (I was right at the cut off for pregnant women and I was fine.).

I'd do it again, but not for a few years as I really wouldn't want to carry a 2 year old.

 

[Debbie19]

Here's one I haven't seen mentioned:

We did the Rhino Rider in St Martin. Great fun on little boats. Two people per boat. You follow the guides out, see both sides of the island, then are taken to a small beach for snorkeling or relaxing on the beach. It was pricey (I think around $89 a piece), but was fun. Heads up though on something that Disney either doesn't know or doesn't tell you...If you're an 'odd' numbered family or crew, the one person does NOT get their own boat. You have to ride with a guide member or pay another $89. So, this chik rode with a guide (but wound up hearing more details than anyone else, going faster, and laughed more due to my guide).
It was fun! They do expect tips, and you are reminded constantly for that one. Anymore questions on this one, let me know.

On St Martin, dh and dd did the Skyride. Believe it was about $18 pp., really cheap, and you just walk from Havensight Mall. They took tons of pics of the Magic, RCCL, and another ship from the top. HTH's!

Thanks for the Rhino Rider review. That it what we are leaning towards doing. Since we are a family of 4, the numbers should work fine!

 

[sullins5]

Thanks for the Rhino Rider review. That it what we are leaning towards doing. Since we are a family of 4, the numbers should work fine!

Aw...have a good time! DCL will give you towels, but you might want to remember a waterproof camera, baggies, sunscreen, and a cord for your sunglasses. Of course, if you forget...the little shop is ready and WILLING to take your money! Have a great trip!

 

[PrincessLynz]

Anyone ever done the Tortula Dolphin experience? Thinking of taking a 3 almost 4 year old. Any reviews?

 

[luvslikepi]

Anyone ever done the Tortula Dolphin experience? Thinking of taking a 3 almost 4 year old. Any reviews?

I've done the Tortola Swim, in my opinion it was worth every penny. But I love dolphins.

 

[bobbi565]

Anyone do the Lord Sheffield Pirate Cruise?

 

[patclairesmom]

Glad I found this thread. Although we aren't going till 2014, this will be our first cruise and I want to be as educated as possible.

 

[merriwthr]

Wow! I didn't think I could get anymore excited about my first DCL cruise in December - and then I read this thread... I WANT TO GO NOW! Yes - I am that child that snuck down and opened the Christmas presents before everyone was up...

I thought I knew what excursions I wanted to do on our December Eastern Caribbean Cruise - now you guys have me looking again! I'm sure that between now and December I'll change my mind a hundred times... but reading your reviews - I think I want to do them ALL!

Is it possible??

 

[Wendy&Grumpy]

Anyone ever done the Tortula Dolphin experience? Thinking of taking a 3 almost 4 year old. Any reviews?

We just did this and it was horrible!

We seriously felt like we were there just for them to take pictures to sell to us @ $25 each afterwards!

We were herded around like cattle and directed to look at the camera rather than looking at and enjoying our time with the dolphins.

A small child was bitten by one of the dolphins and none of the staff even checked on her to make sure she was ok!

Additionally, the orientation videos were apparently broken, the life jackets were falling apart, and the latches on the changing rooms were so rusted I almost couldn't out.

As far as lunch, we did not get the hamburgers & fries as advertised - it was soggy cole slaw, green salad & pasta salad, some type of potato casserole, chicken legs, and fried fish - and it was rationed out!! They did have hotdogs "for the kids who don't like the adult food" and I did manage to convince them to let me have one since the other stuff was not at all appetizing to me.

We also never got the island tour which was a huge disappointment to me. I had never been to Tortola before and was thrilled to be going to see the island with DH as it's an island he loves and has been telling me about for years!

I will never go back and I certainly wouldn't take my children.

I do have to say that I was quite surprised though, as I have read many great reviews of Dolphin Discovery... maybe it's just the Tortola location that's bad?

 

[SeaNana]

Last October my DH and I did the Two Flags tour on St. Maarten, just to get an overview of the island as we knew we were returning this year. It served its purpose, but nothing great. The short shopping stop was disappointing, though we did get a nice watercolor and some great hot sauce. We also did the St. John Island Tour (overview again), and we really enjoyed that. There is a stop at the ruins of a sugar plantation, which we liked for the history as well as the excercise. The boat ride to and from was very enjoyable. On CC we took the island cruise and saw lots of dolphins, with the captain taking us wherever they were and letting us enjoy watching them play. The grandchildren just want the beaches, so their parents will do that this year and we are staying on the ship - maybe a little port stroll.

 

[bobbi565]

Still hoping to get some feedback about Lord Sheffield Pirate Cruise. Anyone do this one?

 

[mom2LLN]

Has anyone experienced the Caribbean Sea Safari, Snorkeling & Beach Tour? Would love to hear any feedback about this excursion.

 

[safeti01]

I'm just wondering if anyone has done the Mountain Bike Adventure. Just wondering how "active" it is, how long it lasted any other good information.