Big Beards to Buck Island-Full or half day?

[blizzardwallace]

WE will be on the Celebrity in April. We are deciding whether to do the full or half day excursion to Buck Island. Any advice? Thanks

[Goldeneye]

Do the full day, we had a great time on March 6th... It includes a walk on the beach at Buck Island which we didn't get to do with the cruise ship tour the year before, we then went and did the snorkel trail on the other half of the Island and finished with a beach BBQ..

[one.new.island.a.year]

We're just back from the full day tour.

 

Both the half day and full day visit a gorgeous beach on Buck Island for a quick 45-minute stop to swim, sunbathe, or get used to your snorkel gear. Then you get back on the catamarans and go over to the other side of the island where the reef is for the snorkeling.

 

The half day tour goes back to Christenstead. The full day tour goes to another secluded beach on St. Croix. The rum punch starts flowing. The crew cooks a great barbecue of hot dogs, burgers, and fish sandwiches. There's also potato chips, water, and fruit punch. Pretty basic, but the setting was fantastic.

 

The time spent snorkeling is exactly the same on both tours. But if you want to add a second terrific beach and truly unique beach barbeque, go for the full day.

 

Have fun!

[newlifeca]

We just did the half day tour and had a great time. As noted above, both the half and full day include the same amount of time snorkling and time at buck island. The difference is the lunch. We chose instead to sleep in late that day, and do the half day that started at 12:30 in the afternoon. It got got us back to the ship with just enough time to look around the pier before boarding time.

[UMTerp]

We are just back and did the full day tour. Everyone in my family agreed that they loved the full day! Yes, the snorkel time is the same but the cookout and beach time are great!

 

UMTerp

[mortagegourmet]

We did the 1/2 trip with the Jolly Roger and had a great time. It left a little bit later and was longer then the other 1/2 day trips with other companies. We had a great time. We had drinks but no food but it was still great.

[gunnercade]

We did the full day with Big Beard, and it was worth every minute of it. The crew is friendly, the snorkeling on the coral reef is just marvelous, and the lunch on the beach with rum punch is the icing on top of a great cake. You can swim some more on their private beach if you wish. The water was so warm and clear that I never wanted to get out-and I am not a beach person!

The only downside is transportation. The shuttle to and from Christiansted is on 'island time' (we could have spent one more hour in bed, adding up all we had to wait...), and the last shuttle departs at 4, and they will squeeze in as many people as there are. This makes for a pretty uncomfortable ride, although we ended up chatting with nice people. But I wholeheartedly recommend the full day trip.

[janabm81]

Can't wait to sail with them later this month! We've been waiting to do the full day excursion for 3 years now...we were scheduled to back in 2009 but one of our kids was "sick" (aka too many sweets the night before...found out he snuck in a dozen cookies & 6 brownies from the buffet the night before and ate them all in one sitting on a dare from his other 2 brothers :rolleyes:) so we had to cancel. Have been wanting to do it ever since! :)

[LEtue]

Thanks for starting this thread! This looks like a great choice for St Croix and I have heard so much about Buck Island :D

[cheaptravel]

Yes, I would like to hear more about Buck Island.

 

 

If my husband snorkels but I don't - is it ok to just stay on the beach / boat ?

 

Any pictures ? Thanks.

[Pokers]

Booking full Day not on Celebrity shore excursion they only offer 1/2 day for same price as the full day .

 

Just to check if booking the full day theres no problem getting back to the ship in time before it leaves ?