St Thomas excursion recommendations?

[jcemom]

Hi. Our group consists of me, DS 12, DS 11, DD 3...and possible my mom and sis.

We *think* we want to ride the skyway tram, do an island tour, AND visit Coral World and Coki Beach (no shopping). I've read about Godfrey Tours and how great they are, but the problem is that their island tour is from 12-2:00, then Coral World/Coki Beach from 2-4:00 -- I don't think 2 hours is going to be enough time for us to enjoy Coral World AND Coki Beach--I would think 3 hours minimum, right?

Disney has an Island Tour excursion that leaves at 8:15 / 2.5 hours long. Would it make sense to take that excursion (8:15-10:15), ride the skyway tram when we get back (11-12:00), then get a cab to Coral World/Coki Beach (12:30-4:00)? Is it possible to fit all that in? Is there another, better way, to do it?

Any and all suggestions welcome! TIA

 

[NYDisneyMom]

Originally posted by jcemom
Hi. Our group consists of me, DS 12, DS 11, DD 3...and possible my mom and sis.

We *think* we want to ride the skyway tram, do an island tour, AND visit Coral World and Coki Beach (no shopping). I've read about Godfrey Tours and how great they are, but the problem is that their island tour is from 12-2:00, then Coral World/Coki Beach from 2-4:00 -- I don't think 2 hours is going to be enough time for us to enjoy Coral World AND Coki Beach--I would think 3 hours minimum, right?

Disney has an Island Tour excursion that leaves at 8:15 / 2.5 hours long. Would it make sense to take that excursion (8:15-10:15), ride the skyway tram when we get back (11-12:00), then get a cab to Coral World/Coki Beach (12:30-4:00)? Is it possible to fit all that in? Is there another, better way, to do it?

Any and all suggestions welcome! TIA

First of all...a tour going until 4:00 will not get you back to the ship in time! Traffic in St. Thomas is baaaaad. You have to be on your way back to the ship by 3:00ish. You can literally be standing still in traffic for an hour.

Here's what we did. We took a cab from the port to Coki Beach. We swam and snorkeled all morning and then walked over to Coral World, had lunch and did CW for about an hour and a half. We left CW (again by cab) around 2:30 and traffic was already backing up to get to the port.

The tram is near the port, so my suggestion is leave CW a little earlier, around 2:00, then head back to the port and do the tram ride so you have plenty of time to do the tram, maybe have a drink up at the top -- supposed to beautiful up there, and then you're not stressing out about getting back to the ship in time!

 

[jcemom]

Thank you! The 4:00 came from Godfrey's site, not my idea, lol. I think we'll do just what you suggested and just skip the tour this time. I doubt it would have rated very high with the kids anyway! From what I've read and seen about Coral World I do think we will enjoy that, so it's on my "must do" list. Coki Beach just seemed convenient, though I don't think we'll need to spend the entire day there, so we should be able to leave in plenty of time to do the tram leisurely. After chasing after three kids by myself all day I'll probably be needing that drink at the top!

Thanks again! Sometimes I need to be reminded to "relax" as I tend to always try to "cram" too much in, lol.

 

[Disneycrazymom]

NYDisneyMom,

Were there cabs available at Coral World? Did you have to wait for them to call one to come and pick you up? I would like to do exactly what your group did and it seems much less expensive to do it on our own but I am worried about returning to the ship. Also how was lunch and are there really showers and lockers to lock up your stuff? I was thinking we would go into Coral World and get the arm band to return so that we could get a locker for the camera while we are at the beach. Any other suggestions? Thanks very much!

 

[NYDisneyMom]

Originally posted by Disneycrazymom
NYDisneyMom,

Were there cabs available at Coral World? Did you have to wait for them to call one to come and pick you up? I would like to do exactly what your group did and it seems much less expensive to do it on our own but I am worried about returning to the ship. Also how was lunch and are there really showers and lockers to lock up your stuff? I was thinking we would go into Coral World and get the arm band to return so that we could get a locker for the camera while we are at the beach. Any other suggestions? Thanks very much!

Yes, there were tons of cabs sitting outside of Coral World when we left. Just make sure you ask how much it is to get your group back to the port. I believe we paid $21 for the four of us in May.

Lunch was okay. Hot dogs, hamburgers, sandwiches, etc. It's just an open area outside with tables (there's also the same exact food once you get inside Coral World, so you can either eat and then go in or eat once you've gone in).

I think there were lockers at Coki, but I'm not sure. We really didn't need them. My suggestion: Don't bring your good camera to any beach...take disposables. We left all our things right on the beach chair we had rented (on Coki, beach chair and umbrella cost rental $5..and they gave us two Milk Bones to feed the fish!) and no one touched them. We were going back and forth from the chair to the water and the beach isn't very crowded. My DH had our DCL cards, money and ids in a waterproof box/necklace thingie.

And yes, there are showers in the bathrooms. I used them for my son -- when we sat down for lunch my little guy (7 1/2) started saying his 'legs' hurt, a few minutes later he said it really burned him. Uh Oh! Both boys had swam further down closer to the rocks by Coral World just before we got out for lunch. The little one got stung by something. In a matter of minutes he was crying from the pain. I went up to the front gate and explained to the girl what happened. She gave me a couple of packets of burn cream. I took him into the bathroom, put him under the shower and then put the burn cream on him (poor baby, of all places, his entire private area was bright red!) Five minutes later he was just fine!!!

So much for the Safe Sea I had bought and totally forgot to use that morning!!

I have some pics of Coki and Coral World on my webshots site:
http://community.webshots.com/user/phylliskelly

 

[jcemom]

Great pics, thanks for sharing!

 

[Disneycrazymom]

Thanks so much, I feel better knowing we will have a ride back! Your poor son, I will remember that story and use the Sea Safe!