TT70 family beach escape to Jost van Dyke. Any reviews?

[cvjw]

Tried searching and can’t find anyone who has done this excursion thru DCL. This excursion is always sold out when we sail the eastern on the fantasy. Just grabbed 2 spots, but need to cancel by Thursday - as we sail next week. Hoping someone has done this excursion and can give a review!

 

[ladyofthetramp]

We have been to Jost several times using a DCL excursion-I don't believe this excursion was offered. Last year we took a larger ferry and then an open air taxi. It wasn't the greatest-ferry was fine, open air taxis were crowded and we had to wait in a long queue. This sounds really nice. Looking at a map it doesn't appear to be near the Soggy Dollar and I am not sure it is walk-able to get there. Hopefully someone else who has experienced this excursion will weigh in. I absolutely adore Jost Van Dyke and never pass up on an opportunity to visit.

 

[hrhdhd]

We used Kuralu Charters from Tortola for a snorkel/White Bay Beach excursion. The dock is near the cruise ship dock in Tortola, and it was a less crowded tour. Highly recommend.

https://kuralu.com/

 

[minniebeth]

@cvjw, if you end up doing it, please come back and tell us how it was! It looks so nice!

 

[tigerchic89]

I did one thru DCL last April on the Fantasy, don;t remember the number. But we boarded a Catamaran right on the pier, super easy. It took up right to the beach/bar area. We stayed there for a few hours, had food, could buy drinks. Then re boarded the Catamaran for the ride back to the ship. The beach/water were really nice. The food was typical, and fine. I loved that there was no bus ride, we were on the water the whole time.

 

[cvjw]

@cvjw, if you end up doing it, please come back and tell us how it was! It looks so nice!

We are doing it next Tuesday! Will update this post next week!

 

[cvjw]

I did one thru DCL last April on the Fantasy, don;t remember the number. But we boarded a Catamaran right on the pier, super easy. It took up right to the beach/bar area. We stayed there for a few hours, had food, could buy drinks. Then re boarded the Catamaran for the ride back to the ship. The beach/water were really nice. The food was typical, and fine. I loved that there was no bus ride, we were on the water the whole time.

This is the one! Thanks for the review! Can’t wait to try it ourselves next week. This excursion seems to be very hard to book. I have tried to book it on our last 2 eastern cruises and finally got it last week as a cancellation. We aren’t big fans of ferries, so the normal Jost Van Dyke excursion didn’t interest us.

 

[cvjw]

We used Kuralu Charters from Tortola for a snorkel/White Bay Beach excursion. The dock is near the cruise ship dock in Tortola, and it was a less crowded tour. Highly recommend.

https://kuralu.com/

I am too chicken to do an excursion outside of the Disney bubble! We have been on multiple cruises where the ship didn’t leave on time because a DCL excursion was late. Can’t risk being late on a non DCL one!

We were delayed leaving Tortola in January because the DCL excursion to the Baths ran super late!

 

[hrhdhd]

I am too chicken to do an excursion outside of the Disney bubble! We have been on multiple cruises where the ship didn’t leave on time because a DCL excursion was late. Can’t risk being late on a non DCL one!

We were delayed leaving Tortola in January because the DCL excursion to the Baths ran super late!

Fair enough.

 

[MarriedAtDisney]

This excursion used to be available a lot. During or near Covid they replaced it with a similar excursion, but you went to the marina and then had a truck ride over to the beach. This is much better although you have to get wet. As long as you’re ok with that, I prefer this one.

 

[MomOTwins]

I had this one booked but cancelled it and switched to the standard JVD excursion because I found recent reports on social media that said they no longer take you to the part of the beach that has the soggy dollar. Also, you don’t get a reserved beach chair like you do on the other one. So overall did not think it worth the extra money ($400 more for our family of 5)

 

[ladyofthetramp]

I had this one booked but cancelled it and switched to the standard JVD excursion because I found recent reports on social media that said they no longer take you to the part of the beach that has the soggy dollar. Also, you don’t get a reserved beach chair like you do on the other one. So overall did not think it worth the extra money ($400 more for our family of 5)

Soggy is a must for me. I guess you can walk there, but it is a rocky endeavor from the place they drop you on this excursion

 

[MomOTwins]

Soggy is a must for me. I guess you can walk there, but it is a rocky endeavor from the place they drop you on this excursion

I did see someone said the walked across the rocky bit to get to soggy dollar but the path wasn’t the best and needed good footwear. We have kids so that made me anxious—wouldn’t want an injury that far from the ship. If just adults with no mobility issues would definitely consider it.

 

[ladyofthetramp]

I did see someone said the walked across the rocky bit to get to soggy dollar but the path wasn’t the best and needed good footwear. We have kids so that made me anxious—wouldn’t want an injury that far from the ship. If just adults with no mobility issues would definitely consider it.

agree- I would not do it with kids. And now you are needing the footwear. Chair at the Soggy for me. Low risk. LOL

 

[dcassetta]

We are doing it next Tuesday! Will update this post next week!

@cvjw Did you go on this excursion?

 

[mcd2745]

I had this one booked but cancelled it and switched to the standard JVD excursion because I found recent reports on social media that said they no longer take you to the part of the beach that has the soggy dollar. Also, you don’t get a reserved beach chair like you do on the other one. So overall did not think it worth the extra money ($400 more for our family of 5)

Soggy is a must for me. I guess you can walk there, but it is a rocky endeavor from the place they drop you on this excursion

TT70 JVD Family Beach Escape - states they go to Ivan's.

TT65 JVD Beach Day (which is cheaper) + doesn't state which one they go to, but says they go to the "home of the Painkiller". It's the one that ferries you to Great Harbor and then a taxi.


We are booked on TT65. Any chance they take you to Soggy Dollar? Or, if they don't, could you forego the taxi they arrange for yo land get your own taxi?

 

[DCL58]

@cvjw Did you go on this excursion?

We were delayed in arriving to Tortola on our December cruise. Medical emergency where we had to stop in San Juan. We ended up cancelling the excursion because we had an early Palo dinner. Have it booked for July. Looking forward to it!

Lost my cvjw account - have this one now!

 

[sponica]

TT70 JVD Family Beach Escape - states they go to Ivan's.

TT65 JVD Beach Day (which is cheaper) + doesn't state which one they go to, but says they go to the "home of the Painkiller". It's the one that ferries you to Great Harbor and then a taxi.


We are booked on TT65. Any chance they take you to Soggy Dollar? Or, if they don't, could you forego the taxi they arrange for yo land get your own taxi?

I have TT14 booked (which is the half day) but I watched a recent video which was TT65, and it looked like the chairs were set up at the far end of the beach but that you could easily walk to the soggy dollar and other places.

 

[dreamer17555]

The beach is kind of rocky for walking. We found it better to swim over (cash & card in the waterproof phone pouch).

 

[Makdex71]

We did TT14 Jost Van Dyke Beach Transfer and we ended up in the cove with the Soggy Dollar Bar. The trip was a 45 min ferry boat ride from behind the ship to a dock and then a open air taxi over a hill to the cove. On google maps it said it was "Ocean Seven Too" we went to. There were chairs, umbrellas, and facilities but no where to really wash your feet. The morning beach day excursion was leaving when we got there. We left the ship around 12:30 and got there about 1:45/2 with 2 hours or so time at the beach. We spent the morning walking around Tortolla and then had lunch on the ship. We got back about 40 minutes before all aboard time. We always do late dining so it was not a problem for us what time we got back. While at Jost Van Dyke after dropping our stuff off at some chairs it was an easy short walk along the beach over to Soggy Dollar Bar and got some shirts and Painkillers. Rest of the time we spent in the water which was clear and warm. The drink coupon we had for the excursion I traded for water as they gave us multiple rum drinks all the way back on the boat.