Snorkeling excursion suggestions eastern caribbean

[rtazz17]

We leave in nov for eastern caribbean on allure with our kids,12,8 yrs old.

Weve done this cruise before with the kids and normally at all ports we just take a taxi to the beach which is enjoyable.But this time I think since the kids are getting older and we dont have to worry about them as much since they are very strong swimmers that we would do some snokeling excursions..Im lokking for any suggestions on them at

Nassau

St marteen

St thomas

 

I would rather stick to the rccl sponsored ones.Ive looked on cruise planner but theres not very many reviews and on some there are terrible reviews but only two reviews total which may not be fair to judge it by.Thanks for any help

[Clarea]

The cruise line has a decent excursion from St. Thomas to Sapphire Beach that includes snorkeling from the beach. It's not the best snorkeling, but the beach area is very nice, and includes food and drink,bathrooms, etc. It's a good compromise for groups where some may not want to snorkel.

[SnorkelAway]

I'm looking for any suggestions on them at

Nassau

St marteen

St thomas

 

I would rather stick to the rccl sponsored ones.

 

I know what you wrote, but in Sint Maarten, you really should do a private excursion - there are very good private snorkel excursions available which are MUCH better than what RC has to offer. I suggest you google and review the websites of Captain Alan (Alan or Paul), Soualiga Destinations (Bob Cass) - they are two of best and easiest for snorkeling, in my opinion, but there are others - you could check with Random Wind or Captain Morgan or Celine to see what would work the day you are there. It is a very competitive business and the well known private operators do an excellent job - anything is theoretically possible, but there just is no way that you are going to "miss the boat" with one of these boats. The two RC snorkel excursions with which I am familiar go to Little Bay and better than those RC excursions would be simply getting a taxi to Divi Little Bay and swimming out to the same area.

 

In Nassau, the ship's Rainbow Reef excursions usually are good snorkeling, they go to basically the same area as the private excursions, but it can get crowded on the boat and in the water. There are not the same private options in Nassau - at least not at the kind of pricing that you probably want (in any port, if price is no problem, you can charter anything you want to do anything you want). Also, many times the Nassau port times make coordinating with private operators more difficult - but obviously you can check your particular itinerary and then see what would work. For whatever reason, in our personal experience, the Nassau private operators are not as user friendly as in Sint Maarten (Sint Maarten is absolutely a place to go with a private operator and not the ship excursion).

 

St. Thomas offers different options. If you want a RC snorkel excursion, I recommend the Buck Island Catamaran excursion. You can, however, get the exact same excursion with a private operator - you can go online if you want and check some out - Fury is the big name but there are others. If you have sailing experience and would enjoy some small boat sailing, then I always recommend Island Girl - and Captain Mike. One advantage of Mike (or his crew if he is not doing the trip personally) over the private charters going out of Red Hook (which can be great and reasonably priced charters over to St John) is that Island Girl is anchored right there in Charlotte Amalie - to get to Red Hook you take a taxi, which can be arranged for you by the operator you are using out of Red Hook. Island Girl (and Mike) are both a little rough in appearance sometimes, but they provide a great day on the water with some snorkeling. If you would enjoy a monohull, then consider Island Girl or one of the boats going out of Red Hook. I will add that some 20 years ago or so when our daughters were about the age of your kids, we often went to Coral World - used the lockers there and did some snorkeling at Coki beach. We all enjoyed Coral World and Coki - if you do go to Coral, get a coupon out of a St Thomas tourist book and/or ask your taxi driver if he/she has a coupon - they often have good dollar-off coupons for you and they get (or used to anyway) something from Coral World for bringing you there.

[joanne59]

I've been researching the same islands for snorkeling and seem to find the same info as folks listed here. I'd skip Nassau completely--they have the worst snorkeling of the three. Beyond the tour info, I'm not seeing much in the way of decent snorkeling sites. They have a few turtles and a couple fish, but nothing like what we saw underwater 20 years ago. So sad that the reefs no longer are filled with all the beautiful fish species of years gone by. Enjoy your trip!!!

[gi_pam]

A long time ago, really (2009) but we did a kayak and snorkel excursion in St. Thomas and a catamaran snorkel excursion in St. Maarten. Kids were 6 and 9 at the time.

 

Booked the first one ahead of time, it took the kids a while to get the hang of snorkeling, but by the end they were hooked. So we went back to the ship and booked a snorkeling excursion for the next day in St. Maarten!

[gi_pam]

These sound like the ones we did:

 

St. Thomas - http://www.royalcaribbean.com/shoreExcursions/product/detail/view.do?sourcePage=shorexByPort&ProductCode=STH6&DestinationCode=CARIB

 

 

St. Maarten - http://www.royalcaribbean.com/shoreExcursions/product/detail/view.do?sourcePage=shorexByPort&ProductCode=SMH6&DestinationCode=CARIB