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Gem to Tortola.. Jost Van Dyke?

bbryan5

By bbryan5,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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bbryan5

bbryan5

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Anyone ever do the Jost Van Dyke excursion? I was curious if we could get there not using NCL. Are there other venders in the area that might charge less than NCL? I think $104 a pc with NCL is pretty expensive. Any other options to get there? I know if I miss the ship, and I'm not on an NCL excursion, I'm on my own.

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youngestof9

youngestof9

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I'm not much of a ship sponsored excursion gal, but escape to Jost van Dyke was the best excursion I've ever taken. It was great.

 

Viator has one which is cheaper but rebel yell catamaran through NCL is right at the end of the pier. Totally worth the cost.

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travelhound

travelhound

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One of my favorite excursions ever. Super laid back and we spend almost four hours at the beach. That's a lot when you take a cat somewhere. We were just in St. Thomas for a week this summer and thought about trying to get back there. It's not easy. Some vendors had an all inclusive package but they stopped at our places too and didn't spend enough time at JVD. Also, if you take the ferry on your own you have to pay a customs fee and get transportation to White Bay (I'm assuming that's where you're talking about going...Soggy Dollar, One Love, etc). I'd do it again as a ship's excursion in a heartbeat. A slice of heaven.

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Chesneygirl

Chesneygirl

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We did Jost Van Dyke many years ago while vacationing in St Thomas. It was a long process.... "hurry up and wait" kind of thing. The customs office in St John and Tortola moved VERY SLOWLY.

 

Having said that, Jost Van Dyke was so worth it!!

We are looking forward to going back with an NCL sponsored excursion next July. That way we know if there's any hold ups the ship will have to wait for us!! :)

 

Little Big Town recently released a song called Pain Killer appropriately named for the famous Soggy Dollar drink. Their video for the song was filmed on Jost Van Dyke. Enjoy!! :)

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armwinder

armwinder

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We did Jost Van Dyke many years ago while vacationing in St Thomas. It was a long process.... "hurry up and wait" kind of thing. The customs office in St John and Tortola moved VERY SLOWLY.

 

Having said that, Jost Van Dyke was so worth it!!

We are looking forward to going back with an NCL sponsored excursion next July. That way we know if there's any hold ups the ship will have to wait for us!! :)

 

Little Big Town recently released a song called Pain Killer appropriately named for the famous Soggy Dollar drink. Their video for the song was filmed on Jost Van Dyke. Enjoy!! :)

 

Thanks for the video, makes me want to go back, I only had a couple of painkillers then reverted to beer. I think the drinks were around $8.00 or $10.00. Beer $3.00 or $4.00. Just down the beach beers were $2.00 I think.

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firstprincesscruise

firstprincesscruise

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I just booked this tour two days ago and they charged my credit card and then the next day they canceled my reservation and said I would have to wait 10 days for my refund of $208. That did not make me happy. We are on the Gem 11/23 and will als be in Tortola from 7-1. They said it is not available for my sailing. Very disappointed. We were really looking forward to this tour.

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zqvol

zqvol

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Anyone ever do the Jost Van Dyke excursion? I was curious if we could get there not using NCL. Are there other venders in the area that might charge less than NCL? I think $104 a pc with NCL is pretty expensive. Any other options to get there? I know if I miss the ship, and I'm not on an NCL excursion, I'm on my own.

 

Because of where the ship docks you are better off taking the NCL excursion instead of doing it on your own.

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zqvol

zqvol

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I just booked this tour two days ago and they charged my credit card and then the next day they canceled my reservation and said I would have to wait 10 days for my refund of $208. That did not make me happy. We are on the Gem 11/23 and will als be in Tortola from 7-1. They said it is not available for my sailing. Very disappointed. We were really looking forward to this tour.

 

Unless you have a very low limit credit card, it is just a paper transaction. It's not like you are actually out any money or have spent anything.

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bbryan5

bbryan5

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Posted (edited)
Is it available? When I checked for our 1/2/16 Gem cruise, I didn't see it listed under excursions. Were you able to book?

 

I just booked it for my 01/12/15 cruise. Seemed to go thru just fine. But one poster here said they booked it for a cruise in Nov and they cancelled it a couple days later. I hope that's not the case with me as well.

Edited by bbryan5
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2boyzmom

2boyzmom

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WE have done this excursion twice and it is by far the best excursion through NCL. Don't try going on your own unless you want to take the risk of missing the ship. It is not like other islands with other available transportation. We booked it for February and taking the kids this time. This is a great day to spend our last island day.

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2boyzmom

2boyzmom

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Posted (edited)
I just booked it for my 01/12/15 cruise. Seemed to go thru just fine. But one poster here said they booked it for a cruise in Nov and they cancelled it a couple days later. I hope that's not the case with me as well.

Me too!

Edited by 2boyzmom
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Bonobochick

Bonobochick

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I spoke with the Excursion desk on Thursday cause I was booked for this excursion for Thanksgiving cruise and it seems like it's only cancelled for 11/23/15 cruise. She didn't have a reason why but said it was available for all the other sailings, but not that one sailing.

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Sotermarler

Sotermarler

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I booked this three days ago for my Escape cruise in 2 weeks. I keep checking the web site to make sure it's still there based on another posters experience. I was looking at this for a long time then when I went to book, it was gone from the site so I was bummed. Most likely sold out. Then a couple days ago someone on my roll call mentioned it was open again so I grabbed it. Can't wait!!! [emoji2]

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firstprincesscruise

firstprincesscruise

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FirstPrincessCruise,

We are booked on the Gem for 1/12. We are doing the excursion to the baths through NCL. I would look into that one, it got great reviews

 

I looked at that one first but I have Rheumatoid Arthritis and a lot of days have problems walking. If this happens to be one of those days then I will not be able to walk down to the baths and my DH has absolutely no interest in doing this. Thanks though.

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TonyFred

TonyFred

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3 of us did the NCL excursion to Jost last Wednesday. We thought it was worth the price. The Rebel Yell is a very nice boat and we enjoyed the smooth ride from Tortola over to Jost. We enjoyed a couple of pain killers once we got there and I had a great Jerk Chicken sandwich which I also got from the Soggy Dollar bar. The atmosphere is great, there is no overcrowding and the water was absolutely magnificent.

I do have one big complaint however.

After a couple pain killers, I decided to swim with my GoPro attached to my head harness. Everything went fine until I realized that I did not swap out the nonwaterproof housing for the waterproof one.

So, my GoPro is now useless. :mad:

That ones on me though!!!! :o

Edited by TonyFred
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2boyzmom

2boyzmom

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3 of us did the NCL excursion to Jost last Wednesday. We thought it was worth the price. The Rebel Yell is a very nice boat and we enjoyed the smooth ride from Tortola over to Jost. We enjoyed a couple of pain killers once we got there and I had a great Jerk Chicken sandwich which I also got from the Soggy Dollar bar. The atmosphere is great, there is no overcrowding and the water was absolutely magnificent.

I do have one big complaint however.

After a couple pain killers, I decided to swim with my GoPro attached to my head harness. Everything went fine until I realized that I did not swap out the nonwaterproof housing for the waterproof one.

So, my GoPro is now useless. :mad:

That ones on me though!!!! :o

 

Too many painkillers? Sorry :(

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