Jolly Pirates?

[holdon216]

Looking for something to do next July while in port from 8am-4pm. Any pros and cons on the Jolly Pirate tour? Says there are 3 snorkel stops, open bar, and BBQ. How was the tour and the food and drinks? Anyone? Thanks!

[Arubalisa]

We did Jolly Pirates one year and would definitely do it again. It is in the top five favorite excursions that our family has done.

 

The seaweed was abnormal. From my review:

"Along with our friends and their two daughters we took the "Sail, Snorkel and Swim" excursion with Jolly Pirates. It was a nice day and the kids especially had fun. Most of our boat was filled with a family attending a wedding in Aruba and they were having their own little party, but not rowdy or drunken. We did the normal snorkel stops of Arashi and Malmok. Unfortunately there was a great deal of moss like seaweed, part of nature, but just kind of creeped me out swimming amongst green blobs.

 

There was less seaweed while we snorkeled the Antilla wreck but of course for anyone who has never been, there was a current, winds and waves. Dd wanted to see it, and I wanted her to see it so I went off with her holding hands to see the top of the wreck. Visibility in my mind is never terrific in Aruba and this day was no different. Dd was able to see the outline of one of the cargo holds and the mast from somewhere in the depths to where it sticks out of the water. That was about it. We were out of there. Dh and I have dove the Antilla over 20 times and still have to say that it is a much much more worthy dive than a snorkel. For starters, when you dive the wreck, you are able to see not only more fish but the abundant sponges which have grown all over the wreck.

 

After the Antilla it was back to the coastline along Malmok where we dropped anchor and lunch plates were handed out. Food included: a chicken skewer and a couple of ribs, a roll, pasta salad, Cole slaw and watermelon. Following lunch it was time for the infamous rope swing! Dd took her turn about 4 times and our friend took a couple of turns as well. Before we knew it was time to sail back to Palm Beach. En-route, one of the "mates" Javier led the revelers in some dancing. Everyone had a blast.

 

We took this excursion mostly for the kids and decided next year we will switch off and go on Tranquilo again. Better snorkeling, I love sailing and just an overall relaxing day. It is just a different type of experience. Just depends on which type of day you are looking for."

[cccer]

We just got back from our cruise today and used Jolly Pirates last week. Highly recommend them. The snorkel spot by the German ship was a little choppy buy they made everyone wear live vests. The other two were great. The water is beautiful.

Food was really good. They ship it in from a local place and hand out plates. I consisted of ribs, chicken, potatoe salad and rice. Not enough if you are a big eater, but it will hold you over.

Drinks were good. Basically anything you can make with rum. I hand mostly rum punch but I saw them making other rum drings.

Of the four ports we visited Aruba was the best because of Jolly Pirates.

[xrayvin]

Were either of you on a Carnival Cruise? I really wanted to do this but have read we have to book through the cruise line (for Carnival) and they will not let you do the swing. Of course that was a big part of what we liked about Jolly Pirates. Just wondering if this was still the case.

Thanks

[Feelin' Nauti']

Book this on their web site instead of on the ship.

 

That is what I did, cheaper plus they serve you a delicious lunch from a local restaurant.

 

My review is still on their web page...

 

August 25, 2007 Name:

 

Location:

 

Comments:

I booked online - easy/simple. confirmation letter arrived with directions.

crew were fantastic; Eager to help, friendly, caring. At each stop they gave us plenty of time for snorkeling. lunch was served and the crew were well organized.board. Drinks are provided throughout the cruise. But, it's not like a "Party Boat". No drunks on board, nothing like that.

At the famous rope swing- Everyone had a blast. The crew put on a great acrobatics show.

Very entertaining to watch the crew and guests participate in games.

I would highly recommend a Jolly Pirates cruise!

We had a wonderful time.

Oh, another thing, as we were snorkeling two other boats were there the Red Sails Sports and the Mi Dushi. I am so glad I booked the Jolly Pirate. The other boats did not have shade (canopy) protecting you from the shade, were the Jolly did. Plus, we noticed the other boats were crowded with people. The Jolly wasn't crowded at all. Plenty of room to move about.

[Cornishpastyman1]

Looking for something to do next July while in port from 8am-4pm. Any pros and cons on the Jolly Pirate tour? Says there are 3 snorkel stops, open bar, and BBQ. How was the tour and the food and drinks? Anyone? Thanks!

 

I loved it. Between 1.25 - 3.00 on this

shows what it's all about. It's a fabulous day/experience.

 

All the best, Tony

[Nebr.cruiser]

We booked this independently a couple of years ago and had a great time. The snorkeling was just ok, as the water is kind of murky and the fish just so-so, but unfortunately that's getting to be the norm in many places. The ship wreck was kind of neat.

 

There's just something so awesome about being on a ship with sails (even though we motored out) the acrobatic show the crew did on the rope was fun and I did the rope swing into the water a couple of times--and I'm in my 60's.

 

The lunch was good (except I don't like chicken, but then I'm weird that way) and the drinks were flowing freely. We're not big drinkers, so a rum punch and some pop was enough for us, but lots of others got, shall we say, a little silly.

 

We did not have any kids on this cruise and I have to say that some of the dancing got quite raunchy (crew members with half-drunk passengers); I would not have wanted kids to see it, but they could have stayed in another part of the ship, I guess. Or, possibly, this part would have been toned down if there were kids.

 

We enjoyed the day and might do it again sometime. Hey, we're porting in Aruba again this December--hmmm.

[mojonah]

Can anyone tell me approx. how many people are on this boat during the tours. We looking at possibly doing this tour, but don't want to be with 50 other people - looking for something not overly populated. :D

[Nebr.cruiser]

I'm not sure how many were on our ship--I don't think 50, maybe 30-35 though. It didn't seem overcrowded, but I suppose that depends on how many book for a particular day.

[mojonah]

Thank you!

[Ms411]

I did this in September, but I did the afternoon tour which didn't include lunch. No big deal for me.

 

They wouldn't let me book it, though, online once they found out I was on the ship (that day it was Serenade of the Seas). Someone else was able to book it for me once I got to Aruba.

 

There were probably no more than 20 of us, but another group of 20 had cancelled, so we got lucky. The number was just perfect to me.

 

Like someone else said, these guys like to party, and they play loud, dance music. It wasn't an atmosphere for children, but then they didn't have any children that afternoon, so they may have adjusted the ambiance to match the crowd.

 

Everyone had a good time, but like someone else said, the water is a bit murky (I thought it was from the rain that had just passed). They let everybody swing at the last stop which is Malmok (sp?) close to shore where people are snorkeling. We didn't snorkel at that stop - just swing.

 

It's a perfect excursion for a 20-30 year-old (or a hip "mature" person like me:D), but if you want a relaxing, family atmosphere, you might want to check Mi Dushi.

[camofwilliamsburg]

I could not book through them privately since PCL was doing a tour using them. It was a bit cheaper which included the transportation but no food.

I hated the tour although the people were nice. The german sub we went to was surrounded by many other boats and we were told we could not swim too far in fear of someone getting hurt by the boats motors running. The water was very choppy and we did not get to see much.

Stop 2 was under a 2 min ride which was just close to a beach area which we could have done and snorkeled off the shore. There was very little to see.

Then the next stop was less than a min away which they really did was back up a bit to get us in a deeper area...and then allowed 20 min to snorkel at each spot and 20 minutes to jump off the boat using the rope.

They did serve drinks which were ok. I usually do not mix drinking with snorkeling. I would not do this tour again since the snorkeling spots were terrible.

[CarolRick]

Can anyone tell me approx. how many people are on this boat during the tours. We looking at possibly doing this tour, but don't want to be with 50 other people - looking for something not overly populated. :D

 

We have done this twice.

Once it was a blast.

 

The second time it was way too crowded. There were so many people you could not even move around. Snorkeling was literally bumper to bumper. No fun at all.

Personaly, we would not do this excursion again unless we knew how crowded.