St Thomas/St John Port Beach/Excursion Help

[lucyem]

Most of the excursions are of no interest to us except one and of course my younger son will be a couple of months too young for it

While I would love to see the island I have boys ages 10 & 7 who have zero interest in that. No surprise there. They want beach time. Oh and while my oldest wants to snorkle my youngest and I would be unable to.

Disney has the Magen's Beach excursion for a price. I also keep reading about people doing the same thing for much less via taxi. My only concern is on that day something like 6 ships will be in port I really do not want to find ourselves in the midst of craziness trying to get to a decent beach and relax.

Why or why not should we do our own thing or should we stick with Disney?

Thanks for any advice!

 

[owensamo]

I priced it out for our June cruise, and doing it on our own would cost about half the price (for 3) that the DCL beach excursion would cost ($71 vs. $141)! We haven't determined if that's what we're going to do or not (this will be our 4th Eastern cruise) but I think if we do, we'll be catching a cab and doing it on our own.

The one DCL excursion we have done on St. Thomas (other than the butterfly farm on our own - which is *excellent*) was a Coral World and semi-sub tour. That was really cool. The "cab" ride included some island tour and sights, and Coral World itself was pretty neat. It's also right next to Coki Beach, and DCL runs combined excursions (or you can do it on your own). If you have a mix of interests, something like that might work for you. We have a kid who loves animals, so it worked great for us.

 

[meajuly5]

Magen's beach is very nice. I did the Dcl excursion. I am sure a cab would be fine and much cheaper but ibess nervous about getting stuck there. It was crowded but absolutely fine and clean! Yummy drinks and they sell food

 

[katienaps]

We leave in two weeks and I was still stuck on this one, too. (I had posted a question about this a few weeks back.) Could not decide what to do and with a 7, 5, 3 year old, we were limited (wished we could have done the doubloon). We have been to Megan's Bay before and to St. John. We also have approx 19k (total) coming in to port. The appeal of a Disney excursion is no need to worry/think about timing/what to do. Wasn't sure I was up for ferries and taxis around the islands, either. After doing a small amount of research (online reviews/youtube) we ultimately decided to tackle it on our own. Taking a pax ferry and taxi to Trunk Bay. Not really because of the savings standpoint, but simply because it worked for us. Do some research (including what you are doing - getting advice from others) and see what works for you. I'm excited! The ferries play island music and the taxis are open air and can accomodate large groups. Good Luck!

 

[Bear3412]

We also have approx 19k (total) coming in to port.

19,000 passengers possible in port on same day as said port of call due to other ships in port. Sometimes in port your ship is accompanied by one other, sometimes many others. If many others, it can make the ports filled with excitement.

Magens Bay is awesome. Not so much if there is 2000 people there. You could always walk north over the rocky coast and get to little Magens Bay.
Don't be shy about taking a cab. If there are 7 ships in port, the cabs/vans seen to come out of the hills. If crowded and a mob scene raise your arm up with a fifty, and you will be assisted. Still less than DCL.

Have you looked into this excursion? This was awesome for our DD11 and DD7. Below is the 1/2 day. There is also a full day too.
http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/c...slands/doubloon-turtle-cove-sail-and-snorkel/

Below is my post from this thread. http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3012500

"We just got back from this excursion. There is a full day and 1/2 day. We did half day to give us time on the island. We loved it. We saw sting rays, lots of turtles, and the reef had 100,000 fish of say 25 species. It was one of the best snorkel encounters we have had. My concern was all the folks would scare away the animals, but that didn't seem to occur, surprisingly. The crews are awesome. The wind was up and the 35- 45 foot boat was rolling and rocking. My guess we had 4 foot seas. Take bonine if needed. A couple folks were sick on the way back. We met in D lounge at 8am. walked 1/2 mile to boat. Sailing at 9am. 40 minute ride. 90 minutes snorkeling. Back on land @ noon."

HTH , Good luck.

 

[lucyem]

Thanks for all the info! The problem with most of the tours is that they all snorkel. My youngest is just barely learning to swim. Which is why we were looking at the Magen Beach. Coral World looks great but then we get no beach time. Between living in the north and having had to miss Castaway Cay on our only other cruise we all want as much beach time as possible

 

[Scillycruisers]

Thanks for all the info! The problem with most of the tours is that they all snorkel. My youngest is just barely learning to swim. Which is why we were looking at the Magen Beach. Coral World looks great but then we get no beach time. Between living in the north and having had to miss Castaway Cay on our only other cruise we all want as much beach time as possible

We did Magens Bay in Feb with DS 5. We didn't want to snorkel as until this cruise he didn't like putting his face in the water. After 10 mins in the ship pool with other kids going under the water, he did it and we now struggle to keep him above the surface! We went with Disney as it was all arranged for us and no worries about getting back and in the whole cost of the holiday (we are from UK), the extra didn't seem that much. It was a lovely beach with great food and drink available. A really relaxing day and DS loved playing in the sand and warm sea with some other boys he met on the beach also from our ship.

 

[scootch]

We did the full day to Buck's Island/Honeymoon beach. It was the best excursion!! Even if you don't snorkle. My one daughter chickened out about 5 minutes into it! but she went back on the boat and just watched. I travel without my hubby so the staff didn't mind watchign after her(she was 10) My 13 year old who did NOT want to snorkle, absolutely LOVED snorkeling with the turtles. She wasn't as hip when we over by the fish but still loved it. The water was so warm. Honeymoon beach is a great beach. The staff on Bones were all from the USA and played great music and had snacks. Lunch was included.. they showed the kids how to open a coconut on the beach(had a little contest to get kids involved).... truly our best day of the whole cruise!!

 

[Happy100]

We did the full day to Buck's Island/Honeymoon beach. It was the best excursion!! Even if you don't snorkle. My one daughter chickened out about 5 minutes into it! but she went back on the boat and just watched. I travel without my hubby so the staff didn't mind watchign after her(she was 10) My 13 year old who did NOT want to snorkle, absolutely LOVED snorkeling with the turtles. She wasn't as hip when we over by the fish but still loved it. The water was so warm. Honeymoon beach is a great beach. The staff on Bones were all from the USA and played great music and had snacks. Lunch was included.. they showed the kids how to open a coconut on the beach(had a little contest to get kids involved).... truly our best day of the whole cruise!!

This is what we have booked for our December cruise. Thanks for posting.