Weather for St. John Half Day Champagne Cat Sail Beach & Snorkel

[kahcarre]

I'm very interested in the St. John Half Day Champagne Cat Sail Beach & Snorkel - ST82 booked through RCL. However, we won't be arriving into St. Thomas until 12pm that day, so the excursion goes from 12:30pm - 5pm. Does St. Thomas have daily afternoon storms like parts of Florida? Will we be able to fully enjoy our boat/beach/snorkel time, or will we be better off doing that in St. Maarten, which appears to have not as great of snorkeling, but we arrive at 8am?

 

Thanks in advance for your help, y'all!

[sabres431]

We did that tour in September while on Oasis. Fantastic tour, the water was fantastic, no weather issues at all. On the way back they have a cheese/cracker/fruit platter and rum punch.

[kahcarre]

Thanks Sabres431! The tour seems to be very highly recommended. Did you also go in the afternoon? Any rain? Did they take you to Honeymoon Beach as stated, or somewhere else? I figure they could take you to another beach if it were weather-related.

[leaveitallbehind]

While rains showers can occur anytime - and from time to time do - anywhere in the Caribbean, they are not a daily occurrence in our many cruise experience there. We've been to St. Thomas / St. John several times and have never had rain in the afternoon.

Edited March 31, 2014 by leaveitallbehind

[sabres431]

Yes I believe it was the same time schedule as you've listed. They took us to honeymoon beach where you had the option of snorkeling the whole time or laying on the beach or doing both. We snorkeled the whole time and enjoyed every minute of it. I had never snorkeled before. They were good about teaching you how to use the equipment.

[CntPAcruiser]

Yes I believe it was the same time schedule as you've listed. They took us to honeymoon beach where you had the option of snorkeling the whole time or laying on the beach or doing both. We snorkeled the whole time and enjoyed every minute of it. I had never snorkeled before. They were good about teaching you how to use the equipment.

 

I'll chime in with my agreement that this crew on the Champagne cat gave us the best description I've ever heard of how to use the snorkel and safety equipment. They were extremely helpful with getting out of the water and back on board. The drinks on the way back were okay, and the food (cheese, French bread slices, and a little fruit) was not sufficient for the number of people on board. For a tour of this price, we've had much better refreshments. One of the crew gave a nice description of the area and the islands we were passing on the sailing out, if you wanted to listen.

 

On the way back, they actually stopped before reaching the dock and made a lengthy speech basically trying to drum up tips. Note that the van/bus ride there and back was maybe 40 minutes each way and rather bumpy.