St. John Excursion Help

[woody64]

I just made the final payment today for our 2/21/04 cruise! YAHOO!

Now we want to plan and reserve an excursion to St. John. We are my DW, DS(9), DS(5), DMIL, DFIL and myself. The wonderful ladies(Christmas is coming) and the boys like playing on the beach while my FIL and I like to snorkle. Which ones have people tried and what would people recommend.

Thanks for your help.

woody

 

[buzz2400]

We did an excursion that brought us to trunk bay. They provided the snorkeling equipment. There were showers and bathrooms there. The beach was beautiful (it is a national park). We were in the water the whole time there. Wish it were longer though because we hated St. Thomas (we found the people there very, very rude-we ended up getting back on the ship).

 

[natdencro]

We didnt go to St. John just for the beach, so not sure which is the best one if you wish to snorkle, etc. However, we did the Disney Island tour - and were glad we did. You would miss so much of the island if you just want to sit on a beach. It's a beautiful island and very much worth spending extra to visit. I agree that you probably wont get long enough time to make the most of a beach trip, but the boat trip to the island is almost worth going for alone.Whatever you choose to do, it is much nicer to see the island, instead of joining thousands of others - shopping in St. Thomas, and sitting on a crowded beach.We still had time, after the island tour, to spend an hour or two in the Port, to pick up souveniers. Guess its just a personal choice. Nat

 

[DisneyKids]

We did the Champagne Catamaran Sail and Snorkel over to St. John - Honeymoon Beach (in 2002). It's a longer excursion than most which was one of the reasons we chose it and liked it so much. It was roughly a 2 hour catamaran sail over, 2 hours or beach, snorkel, swim, sun, lunch, etc. Once you were done snorkling, there were drinks served (adult variety). Then, 2 hours back to the ship. We took our 5 and 9 year old kids with us and they loved it. My oldest got to steer the catamaran with the other kids. The staff was excellent and the boat was beautiful. Here is the link on the DCL site that describes.

http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/d...ursiongroupingindex?id=StThomasStJohnExGrping

This is the website of the catamaran company (Dancing Dolphin).

http://www.thedancingdolphin.com/

Unless it's changed, this is the one. We're planning to do this again when we sail in April. It's a little more expensive than most but it was longer and well worth it, in our opinion.

 

[Nesnboy]

Can you take a three year old on this excursion? We would love to do this as a family.

 

[rae519]

Loved the St. John Island Tour - had 7 year old son and 73 year old mother with me - it was very, very enjoyable - I also brought along our water and snacks.

Rae

 

[alex1963]

We did the 5-star snorkel trip to St. John Trunk Bay. It was amazing! Beautiful beach and great snorkeling. It was about a 45 min. boat ride out, and about 1 1/2 hours in the water. The boat anchors a little way from the beach, so you jump from the boat into the water and there is a small motor boat that will ride you back to the boat from shore if you would like. Some have said they felt it was too short, I felt it was just the right amount of time (had my dd 7 1/2 who was playing on the beach). Complimentary drinks (rum punch and regular punch) served and snacks could be purchased. We would most certainly do that again. Hope this helps.

Alex

 

[S. C.]

scroll down & you will come to the Q&A forum for st thomas/st john
http://messages.cruisecritic.com/2/OpenTopic?a=frm&s=927093444&f=629097554


This website will also provide tremendous information:
http://vinow.com/general_usvi/cruiseship/

 

[Nesnboy]

Originally posted by Nesnboy
Can you take a three year old on this excursion? We would love to do this as a family.

Are they strict about the age of the St John excursion. We would to do the catamaran with my 3 and 5 year old. The five year old is a snorkeling veteran.

 

[DisneyKids]

I think they might be strict about age but I would definitely check, if you're intrerested. Since they know the age of everyone on the ship (birth certificate, etc.) it would be difficult to sneak. But, you never know.