St thomas- excusion on own or disney?

[mom2missmous]

We recently booked the beach day in st thomas through disney, but are now having second thoughts. The original trip was to sapphaire beach which included use of a pool at a resort as well as lunch. The new beach trip doesnt seem to include lunch, cost about the same and goes to magens bay (more crowded we hear). We are now wondering if we should cancel and just enjoy the area near port on our own; maybe do the cable cars and some shopping and if we still want to do the beach use a local taxi (which we would decide to do early on if we were going to try the beach ). We are not big beach fans, but will we regret giving up st thomas' beaches and just waiting until castaway cay for our beach time? How hard is it to do the beaches there on your own?

 

[4formickey]

we are renting a car on ST Thomas and it is only costing us $46.00 for the day. a lot cheaper than booking a trip thru Disney

 

[kplatt]

We have vacationed at Sapphire Bay and also visited it while on a Disney Cruise, getting our own taxi from the pier and arriving before the shore excursions did. It is one of our favorite spots on St. Thomas, but as we haven't visited Magens Bay, I can't compare the two. I can say that Sapphire Bay has some shade, a very nice, two level pool, reefs in very shallow water for snorkeling, food available. On our first trip there were many large iguanas (3'+) roaming freely. On our second visit we saw only a few very small ones.

Another of our favorites is Coral World, which had discount coupons available on line.

We have done an excursion to Trunk Bay, beautiful water and good snorkeling, but the travel time to/from the pier really eats into the time available for swimming.

I am not a shopper, but did a little while there on vacation, and think that I found the "true" Pirates of the Caribbean!!

It's been about 1 1/2 yrs since we took these trips, so can't remember the cost of taxi fares.

Hope this helps..

Karen
Wonder 11/01
Magic 3/02
Magic 11/02
Magic 4/03
Carnival Destiny 12/03

 

[4formickey]

i just check out Coral World web sit and it sounds great

 

[4formickey]

dISNEY WEB SITE ,list coral world as a $39 excursion, the price that they charge is $18 plus they have a coupon that gets you in at a lower price.

 

[mickeymouse710]

I am so glad someone posted this question! We are also very interested in the beach options at St. Thomas. We are, an all adult party with no interest in snorkeling or any other type of water activities. Basically what we want is a nice beach with the lovely water, palm trees, a bar and a place to get lunch and snacks. The place to get lunch/snacks is negotiable since we can pack a lunch/snacks from DCL room service. The bar though is not negotiable and is mandatory--LOL! Also preferraby a bar with beach chair side service--but that is also not neccesary. LOL!! We also care about some very minor shopping.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[mom2missmous]

Thnaks for all the advice, we appreciate any insight anyone can give us. I know we don't plan on doing st john? as it is too long, we don't want all that travel time. We thought about coral world but decided against it as we have mystic marine aquarium near us ( and saw atlantis last year). So we are really only looking to spend an hour or two at the beach and/or do some nearby sightseeing. The car sounds great, but we are a little afraid of getting lost (can you say chicken? ) But again, we do need all the advice/help we can get, soany suggestions are welcome!

 

[TheWog]

Originally posted by mickeymouse710
We also care about some very minor shopping.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Look for the blue and white tents when you get off the tender or get into the main shopping area. They sell all sorts of stuff there.

 

[kcashner]

It is way cheaper and not at all difficult to do excursions on your own. Still it is scary the first time. We've cruised on the Magic 10 times. At every port, there is a tourist info booth right where the ship docks or tenders. Frequently these people have a discount coupon book....they can direct you to cabs and tell you what the government allowed cab rate is.

As to St. Thomas...Coral World with kids is great. This is a hands on aquarium place--hiking, snack bar, gift shop available. Across the "street" which is more like the parking lot, is Coki beach....a very nice family beach. The beach is free, cabs are easy to get both coming and going. There is a discount coupon for admission in the tourist book. You can spend an hour or all day there. I would strongly suggest doing this one on your own...take towels from the ship.

Most of the beaches on each port can be done on your own easily.....and you really don't gain anything by doing them thru DCL except the convenience of billing to your KTTW card.

 

[NJ Cruisers]

Don't spend all the money for an excursion to a beach in St Thomas. It is VERY easy to do it yourself. We usually go to Magen's Bay - it's beautiful - beautiful blue water, shade, bar, snacks, chairs to rent. But no umbrellas, water sports or snorkeling.

How to do it (and what it costs)
Just grab a cab when you get off the ship ($6/person each way)
Magen's Bay costs $3/person .... a little less for kids
When you're finished, there are cabs lined up to take you back

SIMPLE .... only $15 per person instead of the $45 or so they charge for a ship excurion. Of course, lunch and drinks can add up quickly - we usually bring our own sandwiches and water.

AND ... have a BBC for me!!!

Diane

 

[mhb]

I hear Coki Beach is best for snorkeling. Someone said only about 2-3 ft of water and nice fish to see. Anyone know? I also hear that Magens Bay although beautiful can be crowded. We are going in Nov. I would think it may not be too bad then. Does anyone think we could do Magens Bay then head over to Coki Beach and still make the ship, or is it too much rushing. We would like to shop a little too.

Thanks

 

[4nana]

We did St T on our own w/ 'Godfrey Tours'. He will met you when ship docks, is very reasonable appx $20pp for a 2-3 hr excursion that he will help you plan or you can hire him for the whole day.

Our family hired him for the whole day, which incl. a historical type tour, then a view fr. Mt Top for pictures, a great visit to 'Coral World' for the children, parasailing for the men at 'Caribbean Watersports', then Coki Beach for snorkeling and a picnic we'd bought form the ship. It was a wonderful day and we made many special memories. Have a great cruise!

http://godfreytoursvi.com/

http://www.coralworldvi.com/

~ Sandie

 

[BABYJOSIE98]

I had been wondering the same thing. I checked out the website for that Godfrey tours and that sound great. I am going to check into that for our Eastern next October.

I really want to see the islands since we have 3 days at sea to enjoy the ship

If anyone else had tried this particular tour I would like to hear more????

 

[Lynda Silk]

We've booked with Godfrey Tours already because I had heard so many rave reviews on www.cruisecritic. But I had thought we would have to come back to the ship after the tour because the Magic leaves at 4:45pm. If we did the beach part, we would be there until 4pm and it seem to be cutting it too close to get to the Magic by 4:45pm. Did I get my facts straight? 4nana, I see you did the beach part; did you have any trouble getting back to the ship?

Any help would be appreciated! Thanks! Lynda

 

[NYDisneyMom]

We did Coki Beach and Coral World on our own in May. (We took a cab.) Way cheaper than the Disney excursion and you can spend a lot more time snorkeling than the hour or so Disney gives you.

Coki is right next to Coral World. We swam and snorkeled all morning, packed our stuff up and walked over to Coral World at lunchtime. We ate lunch there and spent about an hour and a half at Coral World (really that's all you need.)

just remember, if doing an excursion on your own in St. Thomas, to start heading back to the ship by 2:30-3:00. Traffic gets horrible --- ALL those tourists trying to get back to the ships at the same time.

I have some pics of Coki/Coral World:
http://community.webshots.com/album/145866050wkFUbs/4

 

[BABYJOSIE98]

is Coki beach really beautiful????? Sometimes after a few hours on the beach you are ready to head back to the ship???

 

[NCRedding]

We loved Coki. I thought it was beautiful. There are lounge chairs for rent, and people do circulate offering drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic). We took a taxi--that was enough adventure for us $7 per person--but I saw groups negotiate smaller fares per person. I am not adventurous enough to drive on St Thomas--driving on the "wrong" side of the road, with all that traffic, not the best roads, and not the greatest markings--too much excitment of me.

 

[IrishCowboy]

We always rent a car and do things on our own. You have more control over what you can do and its easy to move from different sites/beaches.

Have a great cruise!

 

[hydster]

We did the Doubloon Sail and Snorkel and it was awesome even for those who didn't want to snorkel it was a lot of fun!! They pick you up at the ship dock and take you out on a schooner. If it's windy enough (it was for us) they used the sails a little bit and some people get to help raise and lower them. It was an hour out on the boat, approx an hour in the water with a guide who took you around showing you fish and telling you what they were and an hour back. On the way out you get soda and water bottles and then on the way back it's chips, salsa, soda, water and 2 different kinds of rum punches either a banana bender or a painkiller. You can check them out at

www.doubloon.com

and it was fun to get to see some of St. Thomas from the pirate ship and we did the Paradise Point Tram earlier that morning on our own so we got to see it from up high as well.

It was the only excursion we did on the Eastern and we didn't regret it one bit. It was Disney sponsored but we felt worth the $$$ and the kids LOVED the tatoo's they got on the way back as well as the water fight with another sail boat. We did Orient Beach on St. Maarten on our own.

Heidi

 

[ImNarek]

If you do Coki Beach/Coral World on your own do you have to bring your own snorkeling equipment, or can you rent it at the beach? And if you can do rentals, is the equipment nice and clean and how much are they per person?

This is sounding better and better!