CCLcruiserga

On 6/21/2020 at 7:05 PM, let's go cruising said:

I just watched the video. It is an excellent representation. Except I didn't see their lunch. Did I skip over it? I didn't watch every minute. They were BC's.

 

Renee

I don’t remember seeing the lunch specifically. I’d have to go back and watch again. I don’t think I’ve seen anything with negative reviews of it though. 

On 6/16/2020 at 6:05 PM, afamnheidi said:

Hi! I'm consider taking this excursion during our upcoming cruise in September (fingers crossed it actually sails). Your review definitely makes me want to take this tour as I've been to St Kitts twice now and would love to visit the sister island of Nevis and this excursion sounds really fun yet also relaxing. 

 

Quick question though... Do they make you wear life vests to snorkel? We are advanced open water divers with our own snorkeling gear and I know its a liability issue for the cruise ship/tour company but it drives me insane to be forced to wear one of those stupid things. Thanks for any info you can provide! 

There is a good video on YouTube of this excursion. Type in the name of the excursion and it should come up. It was a husband and wife. 

49 minutes ago, let's go cruising said:

 

Sounds like the itinerary we were on! We also just walked around Old San Juan. It was the only day we felt HOT. It was a short day anyway, so we walked for a bit and then went back to the ship for lunch and pool time. St. Martin we went to the Lazy Lizard and beach. Great day! Grand Turk we couldn't land. That made for more sea days than port days. HOWEVER, with how life is now... We were so fortunate with our timing. 

 

As for St. Kitts, I DO feel like we had enough time with the snorkeling and beach. It was a really fun time. It wasn't great snorkeling, so don't get your hopes up about that. We all just snorkeled near the boat. That works great for me. I felt very safe that we wouldn't get swept away or anything. It rained while we snorkeled, so most people got out of the water. I don't know why, we were already wet and it wasn't lightning or anything. We brought a dry bag with us and had put everything in it before we got in the water. We saw many fish and even the eel. Altogether, I just feel like it was a very nice day. Relaxed and very fun. 

 

I see you ask if it was crowded during the snorkeling. I would say no. There was one other catamaran there when we were there. I've been other places where I was worried that we could be separated from our group. I never did here. 

 

I loved it and just enjoyed getting to think about it again. Thanks!

 

Renee

 

I attached a picture of DH on the beach. There seemed to always be a rain cloud right there. But, it was NOT crowded!

Thank you! This makes me feel a lot better with booking it! Working on planning this trip is definitely what is helping keep me sane with all of this. I’m glad you got to reminisce! Thanks again for your help!

On 4/13/2020 at 1:27 PM, paul58 said:

The operators of the large sailing catamarans are for the most part have agreements with the cruise lines for the excursion you are looking for. The most popular excursion is the sail along the SE Peninsula with a snorkeling stop then continuing on to Nevis with a stop at Pinney's Beach with lunch. This excursion is almost always booked through the ship's excursion desk or their online website. 

Thank you! I was trying to avoid a ship excursion because they are typically overflowing but may be my only option it seems!

On 1/20/2020 at 5:35 PM, let's go cruising said:

We took the Fan-ta-sea Cat & Nevis Beach w/Lunch and Open Bar tour on January 8, 2020.  It was a Carnival Excursion, but it was put on by Blue Safari. 

 

We really enjoyed our day! We took the Catamaran right from the cruise port.  There were a lot of people on the boat; I think 61.  However, it didn't seem crowded.  We sat up front. There were benches to sit up front as well as on the netting. In the main area of the boat, there were benches and it was covered.  I don't think anyone got wet from the sailing. Our first stop was after a very nice sail. It was to an area to snorkel. There was almost no coral. It was mostly boulders. However, there were a lot of fish to see.  It was very nice.  There was also a LARGE green moray eel. We watched it for about 10 minutes swimming around on the bottom.  VERY COOL. 

 

After that, we reboarded and had lunch.  That's when the bar opened up.  It is absolutely an open bar. We drank beer, but there was also a rum punch. We enjoyed our lunch too. 

 

As we ate, we sailed to Nevis where we had our beach break. Everyone got off the catamaran right onto the beach. The cat backed back up into the deeper water to wait until it was time to go.  We were meant to stay in an area of the beach. The crew set up a bar right there.  DH and I didn't get anything from it, so I don't know what they had.  It was a nice beach.  There were chairs and umbrellas to rent.  We spent our time in the water.  I don't know if it was just the day we were there, if it happens every day.  There is a mountain or large hill on the island.  It caused a dark rain cloud to form RIGHT ON OUR BEACH.  We hardly had any sun and were rained on.  It was still enjoyable, but a little chilly, so be prepared for that possibility.

 

We then took the cat back to port. The bar stayed open and the dance music played.  Lots of fun and dancing.

 

I would do this again.

 

If you have questions, please ask.

 

Renee

Thanks, Renee! I was looking for a review of this excursion. I will be in St. Kitts in Feb 2021 with my mom and sister and we are considering this excursion. Do you feel like you got enough time snorkeling and at the beach? Out itinerary also includes San Juan, St. Martin and Grand Turk. Grand Turk and St. Martin will be beach days with a little shopping in St. Martin. San Juan will be a self guided tour of Old San Juan so I wanted to find a more active excursion for St. Kitts. Was is it overly crowded in the water during snorkeling? That’s usually a concern I have for shop excursions too. 

I would love a copy if you don’t mind! Thank you for sharing this to everyone! I’ll be going with my sister and mom on our annual girl’s trip and I’d really appreciate it! Shannon.a.stuart@gmail.com

Hi! I’m going to be in St. Kitts March of 2021 and I’m trying to plan our day there. This is my first time to St. Kitts, so I’m starting from scratch. I’m looking for a private company because I don’t really care for the excursions Carnival is offering. Looking to make this a snorkeling/day on the water stop. The rest of our ports are going to be beach days/shopping days - St. Martin, San Juan and Grand Turk (already did the wall here). So, I thought we could find something in St. Kitts. Does anyone have a company they recommend? I’ve seen some but they don’t seem to work with the port times of the ships. I’m looking for a half-full day, sailing/catamaran, snorkeling and possible beach stops. Any help is greatly appreciated!

15 hours ago, amypintx said:

 

CCLcruiserga - which company did you use for your private snorkeling and sting ray excursion in Grand Turk?

I used White Sands and did the Supreme Snorkel. We did a few snorkel spots, including the wall then to Gibbs Cay for the sting rays. They also free dive for a conch and make fresh conch salad and you can take the shell back with you. When I saw the crowds on the ship tours, I was so thankful we didn’t do that. We had maybe 10 people on ours. 

1 hour ago, Mr305 said:

I'll be doing a new year's cruise on the Carnival Magic out of Fort Lauderdale.  Have a couple of questions for those that have sailed her recently:

 

1. What was your internet experience like?  Plan to buy prior to boarding, don't want to overspend if everyone is reporting a poor experience.
   1. We did not have internet issues until the last day when everyone was trying to check in for flights. I was finally able to get through on Delta's mobile app but it took hours. 
2. Any recommendations, as far as excursions, for Grand Turk or Amber Cove?  Considering going for an ATV like excursion.  Open to suggestions.
   1. Grand Turk - we did a private excursion of snorkeling the wall and swimming with Sting Rays at Gibbs Cay. Highly recommend! Amber Cover we did La Casa En Playa - it was amazing! The food was phenomenal. We are doing it again when we go back in May!

I don't have any insights on the rest. 

Highly recommend the Supreme Snorkel with White Sands Snorkel in a Grand Turk. The group was small maybe 10 people. We had a few snorkeling spots, including the wall - which is amazing, Gibbs cay for the sting rays and a conch dive. For Amber Cove, I know you said you don’t like cruise excursions but La Casa En playa is great and not a huge group. Maybe 20 people. The food is great and there are lots of beach toys. 

We did this two years ago when sailing Magic. We absolutely loved it! It was Me (31), sister (21) and mom (59) and everyone had a great day. Of course, the beaches there are not what they are in STT but it wasn’t dirty. Yes there was some sea grass but not to the point that you couldn’t enjoy the day. The food was better than a lot of food on the ship and we did have people bringing us drinks. But, if I did have to walk to get one, I wouldn’t have cared - not that far of a walk. The staff wanted to do everything they could and we had a great day with them!! They had beach toys and a nice house if you needed to a break from the sun. We loved it so much we are booking for our Breeze sailing in May 2020. 

They have a lot of options. Check out their website. http://hotrayzlimos.com/ 

We had three people and luggage and they brought an Escalade, but according to their site they have a lot of vehicle options. They are easy to work with and the service was spectacular!

Hot Rayz! Highly recommend 

We used White Sands Snorkel and booked the snorkeling + Gibbs Cay for the sting ray experience. It was amazing! Also had fresh conch salad from a conch pulled out of the ocean and we got to keep the shell. Highly recommend!

I went to Coki last week and we had a great time! It was me, my mom and sister (20-50+) and we all had a great time. Our ship was the only one in port and it was a full beach but I didn’t feel overcrowded. We just picked up a taxi right at the cruise port and it was $9/per person/each way. It was probably a 15 minute ride. If you can find him, ask for Curtis! He was a great driver. We rented chairs, one umbrella and snorkel gear. I believe the chairs were $5 each and $5 for the umbrella. We enjoyed a few buckets of beer and lunch while we were there. Ask for Wendy! She took great care of us all day. There were not lots of beach vendors but we did have one local come talk to us and he did a charcoal drawing of my sister. It was amazing and I tipped him for it. The beach is a little rocky (small rocks) until you get into the water a bit. The snorkeling was good and we overall had a great time! I definitely recommend it!

which do you recommend and why? There will be three of us in Mid-May. We would like a place where we can rent chairs, buy food and drinks and also snorkel. I’ve read you may need water shoes for Sapphire but also heard that Coki may not be the safest. Which would you choose?

My mom, sister and I will be in St. Thomas in May, ages 20-59. We will do some afternoon shopping but want a great beach day! We’ve been to St Thomas before but never really spent much time on the beach. I’d like somewhere that has good snorkeling, nice clean beaches, food and drinks. I’d also like to be able to rent chairs and an umbrella if need be. I was originally thinking Coki but some of the reviews make me nervous safety wise. Is this the case? What beach would you recommend?

I’ll be stopping in San Juan in May on a Carnival cruise. I’m trying to find recommendations on what to do. It will be my me, my mom and sister. I was thinking of just doing an all inclusive resort for the day? Any tips there? Anything you must do? I’ve been to San Juan once before and we just walked around. Any tips are greatly appreciated!

Thank you!!

I will be visiting Amber Cove on the Carnival Splendor in September. My dad won't be making this trip so I wanted to take him back some Dominican cigars. Does anyone know if they are easy to find close to port? Thanks!

Hi. I am booked into Renaissance Plantation hotel for one Night before the cruise what is the nearest mall and how much would a taxi cost ? I would be grateful for your local knowledge x

Hi Dee Car! How was your stay at Renaissance Plantation? I've been looking at hotels for a while and I've decided on that. I have 6 in my group driving to Fort Lauderdale on a Friday and sailing on Saturday. I really wanted a place where I could leave the cars at no cost, which is there. Plan on taking Uber to the port on Saturday.