Feedback on Sea Turtle & Shipwreck Snorkel Tour in Barbados

[judydoc]

Thinking of booking this tour. Anyone anyfeeback on the Sea Turtle & Shipwreck snorkel tour.

[Stevesan]

The cruise ship snorkel trips are often very crowded. Are you familiar with the phrase "Cattle Boat?" :p

There are several excellent independent operators at Barbados, some of whom pick up at the terminal.

In either event, it's a short taxi ride to the Careenage in Bridgetown.

 

A few suggestions:

 

http://silvermoonbarbados.com/

 

http://www.shasacatamarancruises.com/

 

 

http://www.caribzones.com/thrilleradventure.html

 

If you haven't already, visit the Barbados Ports Of Call board for mini-reviews.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=124

[judydoc]

The cruise ship snorkel trips are often very crowded. Are you familiar with the phrase "Cattle Boat?" :p

There are several excellent independent operators at Barbados, some of whom pick up at the terminal.

In either event, it's a short taxi ride to the Careenage in Bridgetown.

 

A few suggestions:

 

http://silvermoonbarbados.com/

 

http://www.shasacatamarancruises.com/

 

 

http://www.caribzones.com/thrilleradventure.html

 

If you haven't already, visit the Barbados Ports Of Call board for mini-reviews.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=124

 

Thankyou for the suggestions!

[stanford's girl]

The cruise ship snorkel trips are often very crowded. Are you familiar with the phrase "Cattle Boat?" :p

 

http://www.shasacatamarancruises.com/

 

I soooooo agree about the ship's excursions!! :p

I have just booked with Shasa for Nov 9th and am looking forward to meeting Captain Jason and his wife Tess. I'll let you know how it was once I get back. :D

[csaeroach]

We are booked with Heatwave on Nov 5th. I can also post a review when we get back, as I had a hard time to find info on this type of excursion as well.

[HarperSays]

We went a couple of weeks ago with Thriller. He goes out on a speed boat and we went to snorkel with the turtles, then snorkeling at a reef and then at a shipwreck. After all the snorkeling we went to a beach for an hour or so. Steve makes the best homemade rum punch also! Great tour and I would definitely recommend Thriller.

[rjcoon]

The cruise ship snorkel trips are often very crowded. Are you familiar with the phrase "Cattle Boat?" :p

There are several excellent independent operators at Barbados, some of whom pick up at the terminal.

In either event, it's a short taxi ride to the Careenage in Bridgetown.

 

A few suggestions:

 

http://silvermoonbarbados.com/

 

http://www.shasacatamarancruises.com/

 

 

http://www.caribzones.com/thrilleradventure.html

 

If you haven't already, visit the Barbados Ports Of Call board for mini-reviews.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=124

Which company do the cruise ships usually book through?

[Rustynail]

I highly recommend Sliver Moon. That was the highlight of our trip...awesome time.

[csaeroach]

I cannot recommend Heatwave enough!

Wayne and Damien were fantastic, and really made the day for the 4 of us. They were great fun, and couldn't do enough for us! This was my sister and I’s first time snorkeling, and we did not know if we would enjoy it or not but booked it as it was something the guys wanted to do. If it was not for Damien taking over and hauling my sister and I around on our first stop, we likely would of not lasted in the water very long. Our first stop was over a ship wreck, and the water was very deep and fish everywhere. Damien made us feel very comfortable, and he was absolutely awesome!

For a 6 hour catamaran cruise for $75 each it was worth every penny!

Transportation was arranged with Tricia to be picked up at the cruise pier, which our ship was about an hour late docking but they waited for us. Once we saw the boatyard we knew it was going to be a great day.

Damien and Wayne were amazing on the catamaran and always offered to get us drinks and collect all our trash! The banana bread they had for the breakfast was very good, but the lunch was amazing. So yummy!

The weather was perfect, great music, and there were only 8 people on the catamaran ( 10 counting Wayne and Damien) so we had lots of space, and enjoyed it so much.

The best part of this tour was snorkeling with the Sea Turtles - they were so close, and swimming all around us! It was really cool as there were fish everywhere!

They served a very delicious lunch and had floating noodles for anyone who wanted to float around for about half hour after lunch before sailing back to the boatyard.

This is one of the very best tours we have ever done, and I would highly recommend looking them up and booking an excursion with then if you are in Barbados. You’ll be very happy you did!

[A Son OF Sicily]

We sailed on the Caribbean Princess the week before Thanskgiving week and booked this through the cruise line at a pretty reasonable cost. The excursion boat was quite large, around 100' with 3 decks. We were taken from the excursion boat to the snorkel site by a little tender that had a drop down ramp in the front. The tender, or barge as the hosts called it, was jam packed with people - literally SRO! When we arrived at the snorkel site and they dropped the ramp into the water, I had visions of lemmings racing to jump off the cliff. While the shipwreck site and coral reefs they took us to were very good, the water was so packed with people swimming all over each other.

 

Now I stand 6'2" and weigh 215# and am very strong swimmer (Ocean City, MD beach guard in my younger, college days in the early '70's), but my wife is not a very good swimmer and at only 5'2" and 120#, she was getting trampled by the mob, so I had to grab her hand and pull her away from the cluster just to enjoy ourselves.

 

We did not do the Turtle swim - let's just say she's not too fond of being in close proximity with large marine life. I"ll have to keep working on that issue.

 

After the swim and back on the 100' "Pirate Ship", they served an excellent lunch buffet and a delicious drink called '"The Pink Ting", which served us well getting ready for the Conga line around and around the boat. We had a great time dancing!

 

Of all 7 of the snorkel excursions we've been on over our 4 cruises, this was the second best after the one we did in Cozumel. I would heartily reccomend it, being high in value and getting the most bang for you buck!

 

Just remember to try and avoid getting in the middle of the chaos over the wreck and reef.....suggest you leave & return to the dive barge after the mob is done.

 

Caribbean Princess, Oct. 2007

Ruby Princess, Nov. 2008

Monarch Of The Seas, Feb 2009 (Valentine's Day Weekend - Florida Smooth Jazz Cruise W/ The Rippingtons)

Caribbean Princess, Nov. 2009

 

Next up: Oasis Of The Seas, Nov. 2009

[houlacruiser]

We did the shipwreck and sea turtle tour booked through RCI in February and it was really nice. Not super crowded and staff was great. Price was reasonable around $65 and we did a shipwreck snorkel, sea turtle snorked (this was awesome!) and then an hour beach break. They served complimentary drinks and rum punch, plus banana bread. It was really nice.