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St. Thomas excursion

Miss Kellybean

By Miss Kellybean,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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Miss Kellybean

Miss Kellybean

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Hi Cruise friends!

 

I posted this message over on the St. Thomas board with no responses so I am hoping my fellow Carnival friends can give me some ideas.

 

I am here to absorb all of your wonderful ideas and suggestions for our upcoming day in St. Thomas. We will be there on June 7 (11a-7p) on the Carnival Magic and I know we will be docking in/near Charlotte Amalie. We are a party of 4 - myself & hubby, son (8) and mom (64). We are looking for a private tour or charter so DH can dive and DS and I can snorkel and mom can sit in the shade and take in the scenery. Any ideas? We have never been to this port before and do not know our way around at all.

 

Any info/tips/suggestions/ideas? I am open to official and unaffiliated excursions. If we took out the SCUBA part, would that help?

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Bringonthesun01

Bringonthesun01

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You can look at going to Secret Harbour. There is a dive company there (aadivers.com) that your DH can go scuba diving. The beach is a quiet beach with half being public and the other belonging to the resort. We take our own snorkel gear with us and snorkel from shore, or you can rent it at the dive shop as well. You can rent lounge chairs and an umbrella for your mom at the dive shop also. For you all to do one tour, I do not have any information on that. Hope it helps.

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Tyme2Cruise

Tyme2Cruise

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I have been to St. Thomas 3 times. I did the Castaway Girl Catamaran Sail and Snorkel to Buck Island twice, and the BOSS underwater scooter once. Next year I am going to do the Sail Snorkel and Beach tour to St Johns. I do not know of any tours that do scuba, snorkel, and beach at the same time. Maybe DH should scuba and the rest snorkel. Maybe Secret Harbour is the answer.

Edited by Tyme2Cruise
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Nic6318

Nic6318

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Hi Cruise friends!

 

I posted this message over on the St. Thomas board with no responses so I am hoping my fellow Carnival friends can give me some ideas.

 

I am here to absorb all of your wonderful ideas and suggestions for our upcoming day in St. Thomas. We will be there on June 7 (11a-7p) on the Carnival Magic and I know we will be docking in/near Charlotte Amalie. We are a party of 4 - myself & hubby, son (8) and mom (64). We are looking for a private tour or charter so DH can dive and DS and I can snorkel and mom can sit in the shade and take in the scenery. Any ideas? We have never been to this port before and do not know our way around at all.

 

Any info/tips/suggestions/ideas? I am open to official and unaffiliated excursions. If we took out the SCUBA part, would that help?

 

Hi there

 

I don't think you have to leave anything out .

 

I would suggest the " Coki Dive Center ". Google them and check out their web site. I did do the " discover scuba course " with them twice. It was great. They do dives for certified divers as well. Call the and make arrangements.

 

Coki beach is easy to get to by taxi for your group.

Great snorkeling from the beach. There is shade. Food, drink, etc.

Also right down the road is "Coral World " which might be of interest. You can find info online as well. Look for discount tickets. Otherwise ask taxi driver, they usually have them.

 

have a great cruise

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mykindaparty

mykindaparty

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I second coki beach there is shade for mom, snorkeling in shallow water with tons of Sargent majors fish, hint...they love to eat dog biscuits out of your hand...and coral world diving is less than a 100 yrd down the beach. The best for your money in my families opinion. If I knew how I would post some pics on here

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dolphin2012

dolphin2012

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We were there last summer and did a Carnival catamaran snorkel trip. It sailed for about an hour to st John and then took everybody to a snorkel spot. Then they took us to the beach for more snorkeling or beach time. If you didn't want to snorkel they had a little raft to take you straight to the beach, The sailing was really nice and fun. THe crew was funny and very helpful. It was the champagne trip. It had some snacks and champagne on the way back. It was my favorite excursion. St john was beautiful beach.

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k2excursion

k2excursion

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I third Coki Beach. My friends & I went there in 2014, and totally loved it. The beach can get crowded, but that didn't really bother us. The snorkeling was amazing there! I didn't expect it to be that good. It was almost as good, if not better, than the snorkeling at Trunk Bay over on St Johns. St Johns is a much more beautiful island, and Trunk Bay is spectacular, but that takes nothing away from the beauty of St Thomas. Coki Beach's snorkeling was so good, that I broke my $100 underwater camera from using it too much. The pics & videos were all saved though.

 

As others have said, Coral World is literally right next door to Coki Beach. It's about a 1-2 minute walk. DH can do the Sea Trek (scuba) tour for $79, which includes admission to the park. The rest of you might be interested in some of their other programs there, or you can do the cheaper route by just relaxing at Coki Beach, paying a nominal fee for beach chairs & snorkeling for free. There is shade from the trees there. You can easily take taxis to/from the ship, which doesn't cost much at all. Coki Beach/Coral World is almost certainly the best value that will suit your needs, and will probably provide a better experience than the more expensive options.

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k2excursion

k2excursion

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We took a taxi to Megan's Bay and it was idyllic. We were the only ship in port and the beach was mostly empty. Next time i want to go to St. John, and will do so through a ship excursion since it's further away.

 

Sent from my SM-G925P using Tapatalk

 

Magens Bay is very beautiful. I've been there before. However, there's no snorkeling there, so it's not a good choice for this family.

 

If you do get back & go to St John, I would highly recommend going over there on your own, not through the ship. This is especially true if you have more like 10 hours in port. Taxi, then ferry, then taxi to whatever beach (I recommend Trunk Bay). I have done this twice, without a ship's excursion, and got back to the ship with tons of time to spare. A little research, & it's a piece of cake to do it. The ship's excursions might get less than an hour at Trunk Bay. We saw groups come in, & they were being called to leave barely 30-40 minutes later. Meanwhile, we're there for 4+ hours at the beach, and still end up with over 2 hours to spare in the end. Even if you have only 8 hours in port, you can still have nearly 3 hours at the beach on your own, and make it back to the ship with almost 2 hours to spare.

Edited by k2excursion
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coevan

coevan

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We took a taxi to Megan's Bay and it was idyllic. We were the only ship in port and the beach was mostly empty. Next time i want to go to St. John, and will do so through a ship excursion since it's further away.

 

Sent from my SM-G925P using Tapatalk

 

 

not quite sure what you mean as the ferries are all the same. they run every hour from Red Hook. the only difference about using the ships excursions is they are more expensive, more hectic, and too many people. Coki is excellent as everyone has said. The island is St.John, St Johns is in Antigua. Coming from a diver who owns a sailboat in the Virgins, Trunk Bay's coral is completely bleached. There are so many great beaches in St. John like, Maho, Francis, Salt Pond, and the Lameshures, all with crystal clear water and colorful coral.

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glentally

glentally

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We were just in St. Thomas and I would recommend going to St. John. It is so beautiful there, with gorgeous, soft sand beaches and such clear water.

 

Going to St. Johns was awesome but too much time with cabs and ferry's and waiting, IMHO. Going with my sister in 30 days and leaning towards Lindberg Bay then after a cab ride walking downtown with stops at fun bars. Suggestions are welcome on the bars.

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glentally

glentally

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We took a taxi to Megan's Bay and it was idyllic. We were the only ship in port and the beach was mostly empty. Next time i want to go to St. John, and will do so through a ship excursion since it's further away.

 

Sent from my SM-G925P using Tapatalk

 

is there a bar/restrooms there?

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