Snorkel cruises all sound the same...are they?

[lbryant]

Do the catamaran/snorkel cruises all go the same locations? I've researched Calabaza, Cool Running, Silvermoon, and Shasa Catamaran... and most of the snorkel tours (3hrs - 5 hrs) sound roughly the same: turtles, shipwreck and beach/lunch stop. Can anyone share the differences and if some or all the stops are in the same area? How crowded does the water get? We do a lot of snorkeling in Hawaii (Kona & Maui) - can anyone say how it compares?

 

Also, many of them talk about open bar and rum punch - please tell me these aren't glorified booze cruises (or if some of them tend to get a party crowd - let me know which ones and we'll steer clear).

 

Thanks

Laura

[travellover39]

Do the catamaran/snorkel cruises all go the same locations? I've researched Calabaza, Cool Running, Silvermoon, and Shasa Catamaran... and most of the snorkel tours (3hrs - 5 hrs) sound roughly the same: turtles, shipwreck and beach/lunch stop. Can anyone share the differences and if some or all the stops are in the same area? How crowded does the water get? We do a lot of snorkeling in Hawaii (Kona & Maui) - can anyone say how it compares?

 

Also, many of them talk about open bar and rum punch - please tell me these aren't glorified booze cruises (or if some of them tend to get a party crowd - let me know which ones and we'll steer clear).

 

Thanks

Laura

 

What I liked about Calabaza is they limited there tours to 12 people. From what I was told there are 2 places to go for the turtles, so if one is very crowded you have another choice. I have never sailed with Calabaza but their reviews are all excellent. Gina is the person who answered all my questions in detail. Go to tripadvisor and read the reviews. Hopefully it will help. When will you be in Barbados? After our cruise in October I will post my comments here regarding Calabaza.:)

 

Good Luck:D

[lbryant]

We'll be there on Sun, 10/24 (7a - 4p) on the Emerald Princess. I've heard back from Calabaza and Silver Moon and it sounds like they go to the same place for the Turtles, possibly the same place for the ship wreck and different places to swim off the beach. It's hard to know which tour is the right fit for us because the descriptions sound very similar.

Any additional info would help.

Thx

[travellover39]

We'll be there on Sun, 10/24 (7a - 4p) on the Emerald Princess. I've heard back from Calabaza and Silver Moon and it sounds like they go to the same place for the Turtles, possibly the same place for the ship wreck and different places to swim off the beach. It's hard to know which tour is the right fit for us because the descriptions sound very similar.

Any additional info would help.

Thx

 

Does it matter to you how many people will be on the boat with you?

 

If that is the case, Silver Moon takes up to 24 people and Calabaza takes up to 12 people. You are probably correct in saying they go to the same place.

We will be there 10/26 so no help there. sorry...:(

 

Anyone else out there that did both tours??

[WeGo2]

We stopped in Barbados a few years ago on a cruise and said it was the one place we would go back to for longer. Later this month we're finally going back for a week. When we were there we went on Tiami (http://www.tallshipscruises.com/tiami.cfm) and we absolutely loved it. The crew was wonderful and very attentive. There was no drinking before snorkeling but they did supply (alcoholic) drinks afterwards. We were the only boat at the turtles when we were there but it was September. There were about 15 people on the boat but it was big enough that you didn't really feel like there were a lot of people around. It was the highlight of our cruise and my wife says that there is no way we're going to stay in Barbados for a week and not go out with them again. I'm looking forward to it.

 

:)

 

Cheers and enjoy.