Disgusting Sapphire Beach excursion

We just returned from a Southern Caribbean cruise on Summit. The Sapphire Beach Celebrity Excursion was absolutely disgusting. There is no power so they are on generators. The damage from the storm is evident and should not be a Celebrity sponsored excursion. Someone from Celebrity should occasionally go on the sponsored excursions to see if they are acceptable the entry and bar area you can see by the photos are destroyed and non functional. They do offer cold drinks at the snorkeling booth however. The beach had a lot of coral so it was tough on the feet getting in and out of the water. There was also tons of seaweed which is not their fault it is due to the storm. The bus we had been assigned was very old and felt unsafe. We made the best of it, but if anyone has this excursion booked this is a heads up on what you will find. Please see pics

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Did you ask for your money to be refunded? I would have.

With adequate supervision the excursion should be canceled and the money returned

You went on an excursion to a storm ravaged area. Did the excursion staff state that the area was fully restored and functional? We went to the beach in St Croix and it was basically in the same condition. I expected this as I knew that the area was hit hard by the storms. That is the choice we made by going on a cruise to an island that was recently hit by a hurricane

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Did you bring this up with anyone onboard?

Cruisnuts -- thanks for posting that. A picture really is worth a thousand words! BTW -- maybe you said, and I missed it -- but which island was this? Aside from the rough beaches, was the snorkeling any good?

I TOTALLY agree that X currently has some tours that fall way below Celebrity Standards. If Celebrity is going to offer tours & excursions as part of the X brand, they should be doing routine inspections of the premises and providers. We also recently had a 'horror-show' tour experience, on Summit:a post-cruise excursion. Turns out that we weren't alone -- there's a whole thread out there about the short-comings of X's 'Best of Miami' tour. I'm hoping that you (and anyone else) who takes an X tour, that is clearly not 'up to snuff', will take the time to contact Corporate, when you return. Bringing up and health/safety issues is very important. Celebrity clearly needs to fix the problems with some of their tours -- and, they can't fix what they're not aware of!

This is most unfortunate. Sapphire Beach was one of the best places in the Caribbean to snorkel from the beach. The hurricane has damaged the beach and removed a lot of sand; use to be easy walk into the water, no rocks until you snorkeled out. We were there in late Nov18 and a cab driver told us there was no damage to this beach. I did not believe him and elected to stay on the ship.

Why would you go on a Celebrity excursion to the beach when you could take a cab and go to any beach or get a day pass at a hotel beach?

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Why would you go on a Celebrity excursion to the beach when you could take a cab and go to any beach or get a day pass at a hotel beach?

 

 

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Interesting comment. If the beaches are damaged it would not matter how you got there. We took cabs to Sapphire Beach in the past.

A suggestion. You can find many photos/videos of these beaches on YouTube to see if damaged before you go.

So sad to see this! We were on Sapphire Beach several years ago and it was the highlight day of our cruise.

There was a beautiful bar and a wonderful band playing and people dancing and enjoying themselves.

The beach was gorgeous, great snorkeling and no problem with swimming.

I hope that the people of these ravaged islands can bring the beauty back to their piece of paradise!

That is just horrible. You should not have felt compelled to check it out yourself. You should have been able to trust Celebrity. That's the reason you pay the extra money for an excursion as opposed to do-it-yourself. I too would have been very upset. And I agree. It looks disgusting.

There's a Sapphire Beach on both St. Maarten and St. Thomas.....both were badly hit by hurricane. We were in St Maarten on Southern Caribbean (Eclipse) in March and damage was pretty evident....but the people are trying very hard to come back and bottom line, while the Dutch Gov't is doing all they can to help rebuild, the people who actually live there need the tourist income to repair their homes and replace their belongings. I do agree, however, that X should keep better track of exactly what people are paying for on shore excursions and either adjust the cost with a caveat or just suspend the excursion if it's really bad....and this one looked really bad.

What island is this?

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I believe St Thomas

We have been to Sapphire Beach on St. Thomas many times, and have in fact stayed there on land vacations as well. The last time we were there was in 2009, well before hurricane Irma hit last summer. At that time, the restaurant in the picture was closed (we didn't expect that since it was up and running in prior years) and didn't look all that different than in the picture in the OP. The tiles were still in tact and it didn't show the destruction pictured, but the choice for food was a hot dog stand or ordering from a lady taking orders from a nearby bar in Red Hook. The beach was beautiful and the beach destruction described hadn't happened of course. However since then, we've always avoided it I favor of other beaches and have in fact been surprised that X still offered the excursion to that beach even before the hurricane.

What island is this?

 

 

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St Thomas

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You went on an excursion to a storm ravaged area. Did the excursion staff state that the area was fully restored and functional? We went to the beach in St Croix and it was basically in the same condition. I expected this as I knew that the area was hit hard by the storms. That is the choice we made by going on a cruise to an island that was recently hit by a hurricane

 

 

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We actually contacted Celebrity to inquire about the state of the beach prior to booking and told it was back up and running prior to booking it in February for an April excursion. Obviously when we arrived they were only open for cruise excursions there were no resort guests. We also trusted the Celebrity brand.

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Did you ask for your money to be refunded? I would have.

We will contact Celebrity to

Let them know about the conditions.

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We did not snorkel but heard complaints that it was not good

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We actually contacted Celebrity to inquire about the state of the beach prior to booking and told it was back up and running prior to booking it in February for an April excursion. Obviously when we arrived they were only open for cruise excursions there were no resort guests. We also trusted Celebrity brand.

 

 

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WOW.....I think that would p... me off more than the quality of the excursion. I think I would write a letter to corporate, including those pictures, and request a refund....since the tour was clearly misrepresented to you when you specifically called and asked.

Why would you go on a Celebrity excursion to the beach when you could take a cab and go to any beach or get a day pass at a hotel beach?

 

 

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It’s our choice to book Celebrity excursions. In 14 cruises we have always had excellent excursions

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This is really unacceptable! Someone at Celebrity Excursions really dropped the ball. Cruise guests should never be brought to such a damaged facility...unless fully disclosed and consented to in advance..,and at a huge discount.

The whole bus should have gone to the Excursion desk asap with photos and their complaints,.`,,Refund for all or part would have been appropriate, Even now I would suggest pursuing this with X...for a refund and to make sure the Excursion Dept is called to task for letting folks go out there expecting a functional facility,full electricity and bus, Clearly not ready for guests,

Totally inexcusable!

If it was on St Thomas I am surprised. We have been going to Sapphire Beach for years and were there in January and early April. It was the same as it always has been - the same chairs and the same beach and the same rest rooms (a little rustic as always).

Why would you go on a Celebrity excursion to the beach when you could take a cab and go to any beach or get a day pass at a hotel beach?Sent from my iPad using Forums

Those places didn't look much better than that before the hurricane. I was there about 6 years ago and those shacks were pretty "rustic" then. Sounds like we had the same bus too. I've just come to expect that in much of the Caribbean/Mexico.

Sounds like you were expecting something more extravagant that a day at the beach, which is really all that excursion is. They drop you off at the beach all you should really need is a towel and maybe a lounge chair. Hang out in the water and get the waiter to bring you a bucket of beer every so often.