St.Thomas/St.john

[kdicey]

Looking for suggestion for excursions either good ones within DCL or other companies. DH &DW 40 and DS 9.undefinedundefined

 

[cramam]

I can highly recommend Capt. Nautica on St. Thomas. Nice folks, great snorkeling, fast boats. Picked us up at the pier. High speed boat to 2 stops with sea turtles, stingrays and lots of fish.

 

[faireygod mother]

We have done several things on our own and one with DCL while in St Thomas. We have snorkeled at Sapphire Beach and have swam at Magans Run. The taxi ride from the the pier is about 6.00 for each. There is a cost for Magans Run. I believe it was around 3.00 per person. We have also golfed on our own and with DCL. I highly recommend DCL. It was cheaper and we almost missed the boat on our own. We have never been to St Johns. Maybe next time.

 

[staylor]

Go to cruisecritic.com and look at the message boards there as well. They have a board for each island as well.

 

[musicgirl]

I also highly recommend the Capt. Nautica. Cramam mentioned 2 stops, we went on 3 stops. I'm not sure how they choose where and how many, but they do vary it so that you get great places to snorkel.

Don't worry if you have inexperienced swimmers or snorkelers. They have kick boards and noodles if you want additional floatation. They do provide life vest which work very well. Also, if you haven't snorkeled, they are very helpful. You can see alot just by putting your face in a mask and putting it in the water.

This is a top notch excursion through DCL.

 

[kdicey]

Has anyone done the St.John Eco Hike thru dcl

 

[gesamom]

We were on the Nov 13 cruise last month and did the St John Eco Hike. (Dh, myself, ds8, and dd6) It was incredible!! You board a boat for St John at the dock right next to the Magic and a crewmember spends some of the time talking about St Thomas and St John and pointing out various landmarks, etc. Enough to be informative without being annoying.

At St John, you walk a short distance to the National Park entrance and meet Thunderhawk, your tour guide. You then begin to hike from one side of the island to the other. The hike is not too tough. There is a little bit of scrambling in a couple of spots, but nothing my 6yo considered challenging. The scenery was unbelievably beautiful. The guide was awesome! He talked about the plants, animals, island history and geology and maintained a pace that everyone was comfortable with. He stopped multiple times to point out interesting things along the trail. He also discussed the differences between the dry side and the wet side of the island and we were all able to see and feel what he was talking about.

The "swim" portion of the trip was the only minor disappointment for us. The surf was just too rough for us to let the kids go more than ankle-deep. However, our kids were the youngest on the hike and I saw some older boys (young teens) having a great time. My children weren't too upset. They played in the sand, checked out the plants, and were thrilled to see an iguana wandering around the area!

The last stop on your trip is the Caneel Bay plantation. This is an old sugar cane plantation. We got to hear how sugar cane was processed and made into rum as well as the history of how Caneel Bay got its name. This may sound too much like a school field trip to some, but it most definitely is not. This guide was interesting and hilarious...and obviously had a sincere passion for the area.

Finally, you take an open air bus back to the St John dock and return to St Thomas via the original boat.

Sorry this got long, but I just can't tell you how much we liked this excursion. It was by far the best one we have done in 3 Disney cruises and if we would ever return to St John, we would do it again in a minute!

gesamom